Title: The Waking Hours
Author: Restive Nature
Disclaimer: All characters within this fiction are the property of Cameron/ Eglee. I just like to play with them.
Rating: PG-15
Pairing: M/A
Summary: Dreams don’t often come true for Manticore-bred soldiers. So when the chance comes along for Alec, he’s not quite sure how to take it.
Spoilers/ Time line: Sequel to Dream Within.
Feedback: Always welcome!
Distribution: Ask first, please.
Chapter Eleven
Tricks & Treats
"And what could that possibly be?" Max chuckled, shaking her head slightly. She had rested her hands against the counter at which she stood, regarding him still from over her shoulder. "I thought you knew everything."
"Yeah, not quite," Alec countered with quiet tones. "See, I'm trying to figure out why you'd have a fancy little baby dress lying on your bed." And he was, trying to figure it out, that was. The garment was familiar to him and it had taken him a moment to recognize it from the haul that Max's acquaintance Angelo Biondello had given the transgenic moms. But why would Max have...
"Believe me Alec, my bed really is none of your business," Max snorted inelegantly and Alec's eyes shot up from his contemplation of the dress to her face once more. Instead of finding her pissed off about his presumptuousness, she seemed to be suppressing a grin.
"Yeah, well you shouldn't have sent me into your bedroom like a golden retriever then," Alec snarked back, remembering then the notepad of paper. He tossed it onto the table to be just as swiftly forgotten in light of more immediate concerns.
"I didn't," Max protested, her voice rising only slightly. Alec huffed as his arms crossed over his chest, the dress dangling from his fingertips.
"And I seem to recall not five minutes ago," he drawled, "'can you grab my notepad? It's got what I wanted on it.'" There, that proved his point decisively.
"And not two seconds after that, you couldn't find it," Max shot back.
"And you told me to look in the bedroom," Alec retorted. He was fighting the smile threatening to erupt on his face. This was actually kind of fun. Finally. Back on this give as good as you get footing that had been missing from their friendship for a while now.
"I did not," Max protested. "Never once did the words 'go into my bedroom and get it' pass my lips."
"That was already implied by the earlier 'grab my notepad'," Alec grunted. Really, simplicity itself. Any child could connect those orders. Couldn't they?
"I was going to get it myself," Max rolled her eyes, giving Alec the distinct impression that somehow she felt that if she was giving off the impression that she could read minds, then everybody should be able to.
"But you never said that," Alec stressed. "So really, I was being nice and doing you a favor, going into your bedroom and-!" He was cut off by a sudden distressed noise coming from her as she hunched slightly over the sink. Dread, instant and panicking, engulfed Alec until he realized that the sound he was hearing was laughter. She was laughing at him? "Max?"
"Sorry," she giggled, waving one hand as she turned around to fully face him, though leaning back once again against the counter. "Just, you and bedroom favors and... jeez." She was overcome by giggles again, pressing one hand against her mouth while the other wrapped around her stomach. And while it amused Alec to see her amusement, a small niggling worm of offense began to take hold. What was so funny about him and... well it was obvious to see that her mind had gone off on another tangent. She had admitted to it easily enough. But that didn't give her the right to be laughing at him. And what the hell was so funny about what she was thinking?
"Max," his voice was low and held a hint of warning. He really was not up for dealing with anything along these lines.
"No no no," she gasped, straightening up. "Just..." she shook her head and then made a very valiant attempt at sobering herself up, though when she faced him, her eyes still held a crackle of amusement. "How about bedrooms are off limits. Well, except in case of... dire emergency?"
Alec, striving to remain placid, felt something respond to that amusement in her eyes. It was so damn good to see her laughing, carefree, more like a woman, happy with her world, rather than a soldier bogged down in a fight they might not survive. "Depends on your definition of the word emergency," slipped out of his mouth, slightly husky and definitely teasing. Somehow it amused her even more, that he'd slipped back into the flirtatious rogue he'd once been.
"Dire emergency," she reminded him with a definite shake of her head that sent her ponytail swinging. Alec couldn't help it, he let go of the placidity fully and laughed, full out with her. When they'd both finally had their fill and were gasping out tiny breaths, Alec let himself relax. And was reminded of the item in his hand that had set off the whole chain. He glanced down at it once more, catching the other sleeve with his free hand and holding it up.
"But no, I was just wondering about it, since it seemed a really odd thing for you to have," he muttered. And it was only that the greater part of his mind and body were more attuned to her and not the slip of fabric in his hands, that allowed him to catch the sharp movement she made and her tiny inhalation of air. His head snapped up to see the sudden flare of something in her eyes. The mirth and newfound ease of the evening suddenly disappeared in a heart wrenching, gut twisting suspicion that Alec didn't dare want to give voice to. But the words seemed to have a mind of their own. If it were true, then everything would make sense again. Her hesitation after her accident, her mellowed personality, his instinctive need to protect her person, the bond she had with Gem... "Max, are you pregnant?"
And once again, her head snapped up, her eyes startled. Because he had found her out? Of course, that was why she wouldn't have stayed at Logan's after the accident. There was no chance in hell that it could be Logan's. Was that why she'd been on her way over there in the first place? To tell him? To devastate the man? "No!" Alec's head jerked back at the force of her voice, snapping his attention away from these dreadful suppositions. It took him a moment to focus, already having gone past the point of what he had assumed would be her answer. To realize that she had just answered him in the negative. But something was obviously still wrong. Especially given the strict tension in her body. The way her hands...fluttered... over her stomach. Oh shit, he'd seen that before.
A new panic gripped him and Alec actually could feel his throat closing, the difficulty in breathing. The accident. Damn it! He was so stupid not to have realized. He castigated himself, silently berated himself. No wonder she'd been that way when she had woken. She must have known somehow, that a whole piece of her being had been sheared away from her. And yes, her slightly irrational fears about further injury and Gem and the baby. Alec swallowed heavily. What the hell did he say to her? What, when he was still reeling from this himself? He watched her, confusion, about her, about him, them, everything in this moment, swimming around him.
"Nor have I ever been pregnant." She said it quietly, almost angrily and Alec felt like shrinking back from the pain in her voice, while feeling immensely relieved at the same time. He almost felt disappointed. Either one of those answers that he had come up with would have explained so much.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, not knowing what else to say. Sorry that she was upset? Sorry that he'd brought up a subject that was so obviously taboo with her? Sorry that he was elated to discover that there wasn't another guy in the picture to take her attention away? Maybe all of them. But those words did have the desired effect. She lost a bit of the tension around her mouth and nodded in acknowledgment of whatever the feeling behind the apology was. Alec ran a nervous hand over the back of his neck and then, realizing he held the dress still, settled it carefully on the table. "I just thought... well, given the way you've been..."
"More cautious than usual?" Max supplied for him, her voice wry. Alec smiled tiredly, feeling unsuitably drained from these last few moments.
"I guess the filter between my brain and my mouth experienced a mild coma," he offered. He hadn't meant it to, since it was the truth, but that statement got another smile. And then a sigh.
"Happens to the best of us," she shrugged one shoulder. "And, as it turns out, that dress is a gift for Angie."
"Oh," Alec pursed his lips and nodded, his attention directed back to the fabric that had set this off. And while yes, the filter in his brain was once again actively engaged, he still wasn't quite satisfied with that answer. "Um, don't hold it against me or anything Max, but, isn't that rather crass?" Before she could protest, as she obviously was going to, Alec rushed on. "I mean, I know we're hard up on stuff around here, but I never thought that you'd give a kid used clothing as a gift."
Max's jaw set suddenly and her arms crossed over her chest as disapproval at his presumption swept through her in apparent rapidity. "For your information, Alec," the words were sharp, "the dress is just part of it."
Alec, glad to be getting away from the earlier subject, warmed to this sudden show of his old Maxie, put up his hands defensively. "Whoa! I'm just saying." He was glad to see Max grin, if only slightly and her arms dropped away down to her sides.
"No, you're right," she nodded. "That would be crass. That's why I was saving it. It's too big for Angie at this point. And what I really wanted to do was, well, I was sort of hoping that Joshua would paint her portrait in it." Alec nodded along with her. "For Gem, you know? Maybe for Christmas."
"That's actually... a really nice idea," Alec admitted. But he could see a few problems with this. He pulled out a rickety kitchen chair and carefully dropped down into it. Max, apparently just as happy to move onto a different topic, followed suit, pulling out the chair opposite his, the only other one she had, actually.
"Yeah, but given the givens," she sighed, resting her elbows on the table and her cheek into one hand, her other finger tapped distractedly at the Formica table top. "And I don't know anyone else around here that does portraits." Alec chewed at the corner of his mouth for a moment. He could have alleviated her concern, but for the promise he'd given Joshua earlier.
"What about just a picture?" he suggested. They knew a couple people, namely Sketchy that were into photography. Or they could scare up the supplies themselves somehow.
"Yeah, I suppose," Max allowed, and then shrugged. "I just hoped..." She didn't have to give voice to them, since Alec was finally thinking along the same lines as she. But then she brightened a little, perking up some and her finger stopped tapping. "I mean, everywhere you go, you always see it. Mom's always have those typical pictures of their kids."
"And Gem's a typical mom?" Alec teased, pleased when she took a small swipe at his arm, also resting on the table.
"Idiot," she smiled and it felt just like old times. "No, I mean, I just wanted her to have something tangible, you know? Something normal that says she's got this kid, that-!"
"You mean aside from the oh so obvious baby that hangs off her neck twenty odd hours of the day?" Alec broke in and was pleased to see and hear Max's laugh.
"No!" she laughingly protested. "What I meant was, proof, other than Angie, that she deserves these little things, these normal things, just as much as the next ordinary." She half shrugged. "Know what I mean?" Alec nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I get it," he agreed. He leaned forward in his chair, growing thoughtful once more. "You know what?"
"What?"
"I think that you should tell Josh this plan of yours. Tell! Not ask!" he warned, holding up his hand when she would have protested. "I mean, if you just tell him what you were thinking about, then it's in his mind. And if he's not ready, or unable, then you've still got some time. I mean, you said yourself that the dress is too big for Angie right now, right? So if Josh doesn't, you can either find someone else, or have time to figure out a picture."
Max sat a moment, watching him and Alec waited. Finally she grinned and nodded slowly. "That's a good idea. Thanks Alec."
"No problem," he smirked.
"All right, that's settled then," Max sighed and reached for the pad of paper still waiting on the table. "Ready for some brainstorming?"
"Weren't we just?" he teased once again and though her half-hearted snarky quips were absorbed by him, Alec was more than a little pleased with himself. He'd managed to help Max with this dilemma, find a good subject for Joshua, since he was sure the big guy would readily accept Max's offer and yet keep Josh's secret all the same. And to boot, maybe he could add his name to the card for Gem and Angie at Christmas time.
If they made it that long.
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