Saturday, March 3, 2012

Fiction TWH- Chapter Seven

Title: The Waking Hours
Author: Restive Nature (aka Bavite)
Rated: up to NC-17
Disclaimer: All characters within this fiction are the property of Cameron/ Eglee. I just like to play with them.
Timeline: Sequel to Dream Within. Fiction starts about six weeks after FN.
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.
A/N- The movie that is obliquely referred to in this chapter is "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story". It just popped into my head as I was writing.

Chapter Seven
Dogged Moments


"Hey Josh!" Alec called as he knocked politely and waited in front of the door to Joshua's apartment. "You there?" He was pretty sure that the big dog-man would be. There wasn't too many places that Joshua liked to roam to yet and he had heard movement in the apartment as he'd approached. He sighed while he waited for Joshua to answer his door. He supposed he could have just let himself in, he hadn't hesitated before when he'd wanted to visit. But then, he decided, this way, if Joshua chose not to answer, then Alec could at least honestly tell Max that he had made the effort. Just as he was about to turn and leave, the door opened slightly. Joshua's visage peered out at him.

"Alec," Joshua spoke, but it wasn't a question. "Max sent you."

"Yeah she did buddy," Alec half-shrugged. No point in hiding that fact.

"Why?"

"Well," Alec groped about for some way to tell Joshua what was on the woman's mind in a way that wouldn't offend his friend. "She's worried about you." There, that was bland enough. Joshua gave a small grin and stepped back to open the door wide and admit Alec. Caught between relief, that he wouldn't have to tell Max that he hadn't talked to Josh, and apprehension, that he was actually going to have to sit and talk to Joshua about painful subjects, Alec went ahead and followed after his friend. He pushed the door shut behind himself, softly.

Joshua's living space was quite open. Alec had been there before a few times and he always appreciated the minimal amount of clutter the other man had. He especially liked the awesome view the large living room window afforded. He skirted around the pallet in the corner that Joshua rested on and stared out at the open sky. He heard movement behind him and glanced over his shoulder to see that Joshua was setting up an art easel.

"Hey," he grinned. "I didn't know you were painting again."

"Just started the other day," Joshua nodded, not bothering to glance at him as he continued with what he was doing.

"Did you tell Max?" was Alec's next question. Surely knowing that would appease some of her worries over the big man. Joshua shook his head.

"Kinda private right now," Joshua shrugged and gave Alec a meaningful glance.

Alec jerked his head minutely to the side. "I won't tell her," he promised. And he wouldn't. It was not like Max needed to know every last detail of people's lives. "Or anyone else for that matter," he amended as Joshua held his gaze. The bigger man grunted once, nodded and turned his attention back to the easel.

"So you're here," Joshua prompted.

"Oh yeah," Alec sighed. "Max was worried about, uh... well, earlier. About... Isaac," he offered softly. He wasn't surprised to see Josh's shoulders hunch slightly at the mention of his brother's name.

"What about Isaac?" Joshua finally grunted. Alec watched the dog-man continue moving the easel until it was balanced on the artist tripod. It was a slightly rickety affair, semi off-balance and Alec could see that it had been busted and then unevenly sanded. He glanced around to see if there was something that could be used as a wedge for the shortest leg. Maybe a rolled up matchbook cover would work.

"Well," he hedged, as his eyes searched, "Max thought that you might want to, you know, talk about what um, happened to him."

"Uh huh," Joshua nodded and Alec grimaced slightly. Was that a confirmation that Josh wanted to talk about his dead brother. Or was it Josh's way of acknowledging that he had already known this and that Alec was just confirming it for him. "And why are you here Alec?"

"Uh..." Alec again, wasn't sure how to broach this, but he was saved from, answering when Joshua continued on.

"Because if Max was worried, Max should have come," Joshua pointed out.

"Well she would have," Alec defended automatically, moving towards the big guy, away from the window. "She just thinks that you might be tired of listening to her take on things." He grinned slightly, realizing just how strange that would be for Max. The old Max, that was.

"But I still am," Joshua smiled back gently. His grin grew as Alec tried to puzzle out what the bigger guy meant. "Max say this, Max think that. Did you tell Max about painting?" He smirked down at the shorter man and pressed one long forefinger against Alec's forehead. "Alec's mind too full of Max, for anything else."

Alec grimaced and swiped Joshua's hand away. "It is not," he protested.

Joshua just gave a barking laugh. "If it sounds that way," Alec stressed, "it's because she's the one who sent me over here like her little errand boy-!" he began, slightly heatedly.

"Could have said 'no', Alec," Joshua pointed out.

"I did say no," Alec grimaced, recalling the minor episode Max had had not long ago. "But she..."

"Got Alec to agree anyway," Joshua finished for him as he moved to reposition the canvas on his working area.

"Yeah," Alec sighed again, shoving his hands in his pockets. "She's got that way about her."

"She cares," Joshua nodded, agreeing with the shorter man. But Alec was surprised to find that he took offense at that. Not the indication that Max cared about other people, because he had seen that before. But no, there was the slur that he didn't care. Because, lately, he did. Care that was.

"You know," he drawled, still wary of probing the sore spots, "she's not the only one."

"True," Joshua grunted, stepping back to make sure that the canvas was square. "Alec cares about a lot of things."

"Well not just things," Alec protested, knowing this diatribe. Smart-Alec who only cared about money, booze and scoring chicks. Truthfully, Max wasn't the only one he heard it from. To be honest, Normal had always gone on about certain skills that Alec had allowed himself to share with his former employer. And then there was his dismal failure of a protege in Sketchy, not that it was Alec's fault, he just didn't have a lot to work with. And all the people that Alec had worked with or hung out with,.pretty much the same since his and Max former co-workers had tended to migrate to the same watering hole day after day. They all had a certain expectation of Alec that unfortunately, he'd done very little to change. He sighed as he realized that he'd gotten himself off topic. "I care about people too. Why do you think I'm here? 'Cause I got lonely for the good ol' days back at Manticore and it's my dream to recreate the living nightmare?"

Joshua did look at him then, his eyes brimming over with understanding. Alec glanced away first, strangely feeling sort of unmanned by the sheer amount of empathy that Josh gave off. Damn it, he wasn't here to bare his soul. He softened his tone, still trying to explain to Joshua something that he felt he shouldn't have to. That he was more than what everyone assumed of him. "I'm just trying to do my part," he shrugged uneasily. "Just trying to help... look out for everyone. I mean, those who need it..."

"And that would be everyone," Joshua pursed his lips. "At some time or another."

"Yeah, I suppose," Alec agreed, pulling one hand loose to run through his hair, slightly unnerved.

"Max does the same," Josh continued, turning to face Alec full on, his arms crossing over his chest. "She tries to help everyone. Just like Joshua does. And like Gem and Dalton and everyone else." Alec smirked a little at that. "Try to help the people we care about."

"Makes sense," he shrugged. In a weird sort of way. These Manticore alum were the only thing close to a family that any of them, maybe save Max, had. It wasn't so surprising that they'd pull together. What was it that Max had said to that group of kids so long ago? They weren't just a unit. They were all each other had. Sappy, yeah, but ultimately true.

"But sometimes," Joshua continued, still regarding Alec, "taking care of someone else means taking care of you."

"What do ya mean Josh?" Alec questioned tiredly. Here he was, thinking that they'd have a nice painful conversation about killing people and why sometimes it was necessary and that the guilt wouldn't ever go away, but maybe fade a little with time, and now he was being bombarded with something else completely.

"Well Alec," Joshua began with a grin that Alec just knew forebode trouble, "if Alec is taking care of Max, and Max is taking care of Alec, wouldn't it just be easier for Max to take care of Max and Alec to take care of Alec? Then Max and Alec don't have to worry so much."

Alec couldn't help chuckling at the loopy roundabout, but followed it easily. "Nice idea Josh, but it wouldn't work. Max is too much of a natural worry wart."

"So is Alec," Josh grunted, more to himself it seemed.

"No I'm not," Alec denied once again automatically.

"So then why is Alec here?" Josh questioned again, his stance seeming to take on a hard line to it. Alec opened his mouth to say again that Max had asked him. "It's because Alec is worried that Max will do too much and make herself sicker. So if Alec comes, then Max doesn't have to worry so much and will take care if someone taking care of Joshua."

"I'm not worried," Alec began to protest, but knew immediately that he couldn't sell it to Joshua. The bigger man just knew he and Max too well by this point. "Okay, maybe just a little bit," he caved that much. Joshua began to laugh, having just proved his point and Alec gave him a lopsided grin. "All right big guy. So what should I do?"

"Maybe Alec should quit thinking so much and just do what is normal," Josh answered readily.


"You're right," Alec agreed quietly. Hadn't he already come to that decision himself? If only it weren't for that nagging voice in the back of his head that swore up and down that disaster was imminent when it came to Max.

"Well anyway," Alec continued as he watched Joshua begin puttering around with his paints. He recalled that Joshua had said that this was still kind of private. He realized suddenly that the big guy was just waiting for Alec to leave so that he could get back to it. "I'm gonna head off. Just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"As okay as I'm gonna be," Josh grunted and nodded. Alec clapped him once on the shoulder and with a ne'er-do-well grin that really had little of that feeling behind it, he bade his friend goodbye and left. As he pulled the apartment door shut behind himself, Alec firmly ordered his mind that he needed to forget about Max for the moment. He had things to do, people to see, or well, call. And after dinner... shoot. He felt like smacking himself on the head as he walked towards the stairwell. He had promised to bring Max something from the commissary. Of course, at the time he had promised, it had seemed like an excellent excuse to drop in on her and make sure that she was taking it easy as Dr. Carr had wanted her to.

Well, there was no reason that he still couldn't do that. He'd pick up the food, drop it off, make sure she would stay put and then go do his own thing. That sounded good. Except for the life of him, Alec really couldn't see what his own thing was anymore. For the last six weeks, he'd been caught up with transgenic and transhuman matters, following after Max, mooning over her like a teenage boy with an inappropriate crush. And damn, there he went thinking about her too much... again!

So, new plan. He would get Max some food, make sure she'd stay put and then find the nearest place with plenty of alcohol. There, a good solid plan. Except for the fact that there really was nowhere in Terminal City that could be termed a decent watering hole. And as luck would have it, his apartment was bare of any alcohol. Well, if the mountain wouldn't come to Alec... But he knew too that after just having been out in the city of Seattle, Alec didn't want to push his luck. He'd told Max that she'd been too visible during the Jam Pony incident, well the same could almost have been said for him. The cops that had initially shown up had gotten a good look at him. Okay, new plan.

Alec had reached the street and was heading for the commissary almost before he had realized it. He greeted the people he knew perfunctorily as his mind swirled on ways he could stop thinking about Max. In the end, he decided that he was just going to have to find a project that was so time and energy consuming, that he just wouldn't have the wherewithal to think about her.

Half an hour later, this determined thought still on his mind,. Alec stood outside her apartment door, holding a heavily laden tray with her dinner on it. 'Just get in and out,' he told himself. 'No more than two minutes of conversation and then you're gone.' Taking a deep, fortifying breath, he raised his hand and knocked.

"Come in," she answered almost immediately. Alec wondered if she had been waiting for him. He shook his head as he opened the unlocked door and pushed it open. He deftly maneuvered inside with the tray and nudged the door shut with his elbow. He stepped into the main room and found Max reclining on her ratty old sofa that had been left in the apartment she currently occupied. Of course, one of the first orders of her personal business had been to fumigate it. Apparently, she had a real aversion to rats. At least, that was what she had told him. At the time, he thought that she'd been making a slightly veiled slam against him. But her reminiscent laugh and a quick story about her and Cindy's apartment being taken over by the vermin had cleared that up.

"Hey," he greeted, his voice slightly huskier than usual. He frowned and cleared his throat. Damn it, he didn't mean to sound like... that! "I brought your dinner."

"Thanks," Max replied faintly, one hand covering her eyes. She gestured vaguely at the floor beside her. "Everything okay with Joshua?"

Alec took her gesture to mean to set the tray on the floor within reach. Which made sense as she didn't have a coffee table. He complied, studying her covertly. Her face still looked pinched and white. Was the episode that started in her office still going on, or was this another in a series of them. "Yeah," he answered finally. "Well, honestly, I guess he's good. He didn't really feel like talking."

She grimaced and Alec wasn't sure what caused it. But her face cleared as she heaved a sigh and gingerly sat up, removing the hand from her face. Her pupils dilated drastically and Alec realized that she must have been poised like that for a long time. "Well, at least you tried," she sighed. "Thanks."

"Uh, yeah, sure," Alec nodded, feeling foolish. That was different. But then, Max was thinking of Joshua, so no doubt her mood was going to be magnanimous.

"So what was he up to?" she asked as she pulled her feet up. Alec wondered if it was an unspoken invitation to have a seat. But, he reminded himself, he wasn't going to be staying. Less than a minute and a half now. He remembered his promise to Joshua and shrugged.

"Just moving some stuff around," he answered glibly. It was true, to a point. Max nodded carefully. "Well anyway, I got some stuff to take care of. So I'll let you eat and rest." He waited for the protest or questions, or whatever Max would come up with to circumvent the promise she had made. But she just nodded again, her eyes thoughtful. And Alec felt a sudden surge of resentment. How on earth could she just dismiss him so easily. But his thoughts were brought up short as he saw her lips move.

"I'm not hungry just yet," he heard her say. "I'll try and eat in a little while."

"Are you okay?" he asked before he could stop himself and then promptly bit at his tongue. Max sighed.

"Still have a bit of a headache," she explained. "I keep hoping it'll go away. But no such luck yet."

"Well, eating might help," Alec pointed out, trying to think when he'd last seen her eat something. It was that morning. Had she skipped lunch? Knowing her, she probably had.

"It might," she agreed calmly. "And I'll try. Thank you for bringing it."

 "You're welcome Maxie," his smile softened. How could he be angry at her when she wasn't feeling well. It was impossible when she was sitting there looking so.. delicate and knowing the ordeal she'd been through in the last few days. Alec bit his tongue harder. 'Alec's mind too full of Max, for anything else.' Joshua's words rang through his mind again. Back...to...the...plan! "I'll get out of your hair then and let you rest," he repeated, making to head out.

"Oh Alec," her voice stopped him cold and he steeled himself against whatever she could possibly say.

"Yeah Max?"

"When you have some free time," she began, her voice soft and hesitant, "do you think you could act as a sounding board?"

"A sounding board?" he repeated, intrigued. What on earth was she thinking now? She nodded gingerly and a spasm of pain raced across her eyes.

"I have some things I need to work out," she explained, "about TC and its future," Alec breathed a sigh of relief. At least it wasn't something personal. He'd really had enough of that today. "And I'd like to hear your input before I present it to the committee."

"The committee?" he questioned with a grin. What was she thinking of? The smile stayed as her own face lit up with a grin.

"Isn't that what we are?" she teased. Alec shrugged.

"I suppose," he chuckled and then thought for a moment. "I don't have time tonight," he lied. "Got that supply run to figure out." She nodded, accepting that. "How about tomorrow night?" He was a little surprised that she was turning to him for this. He would have thought that she'd turn to a certain someone else. But then, Logan wasn't a transgenic, nor did he live here. So maybe it made a certain amount of sense. "I could bring dinner again?" He cursed his stupid tongue. Damn it! It was always getting him into trouble.

"That sounds great," Max enthused. And did she sound... relieved? Alec shook that thought off. He must be imagining things. "So it's a date."

He choked a little on that. "No," he hurriedly corrected, "it's an appointment."

"I hated that movie," Max quipped and Alec goggled at her. "I mean, biographies never are right, cause it's usually just one persons view on the whole other person."

"Well she was his wife," Alec argued, finally having caught up to her conversational leap. "She did have a pretty intimate view on the guy. But the martial arts weren't too bad."

"They were okay," Max agreed. "But you know, actors," sh shrugged, "they can only carry it so far."

"True," Alec agreed. Not like genetically enhanced killing machines. "Anyway, I better, uh... go."

"Yep," Max leaned back in her seat, her hand creeping up to massage at her temple and Alec was hard pressed not to find some other way to offer her comfort. "I'll see you tomorrow then and we can go over what you have for that supply run."

'Sounds good," Alec nodded and hurried out the door, glad for the reprieve. Now he really did have something to occupy his evening with, courtesy of Max's words. He'd work all damn night if he had to, to have that supply run set up. He headed back to headquarters, making up a mental list of any contacts he had that would be, if not trustworthy enough, at least willing to be bribed or bought. He was in for a lot of telephone time, he sighed.

Once back at his little office that he'd protested getting, Alec set about to work. Shutting the door to block distractions, he realized that Max was actually right about that. When he'd been trying to work down in the teeming mass of bodies on the main floor, he'd be distracted too easily. And it wasn't always his fault. Down there, people approached everyone else freely, sometimes for TC related business, sometimes on personal projects, sometimes just to shoot the breeze. And Alec had no problem with doing any of that. Except that it cut into what Max had actually asked him to get done. And not liking the constant butt chewing, Alec had made the effort. He'd also found something else along the way. He was making headway for his people, providing them with things essential to their survival. He had stayed to make a stand and then was slowly learning to live up to that promise. So maybe taking a few bureaucratic steps along the way wasn't such a bad thing.

It was just after eight when someone knocked on his door. When Alec glanced up from his desk where he was poring over floor plans that Dix had provided of a food storage warehouse, he realized that it was indeed getting late. He shook his head to clear his vision that still had the imprinted blue and black lines running through it. "Come on in," he called. He watched the door to see who it was and was surprised to find one of the newest recruits, Jiminy on the other side of the door.

"Hey," he greeted, just leaning his head inside. "Alec, right?"

"Yeah," Alec nodded. "What'd you need?"

Jiminy opened the door further and glanced down at the brown paper bag he held. "Mole told me that you can show me where Max lives. I've got something here for her."

Alec's eyes narrowed. This little punk had been here for less than forty-eight hours and already he was trying to put the moves on Max? His voice was more curt than usual as he grunted, "just leave it on the desk. I'll drop it off on my way home."

"Sorry man," Jiminy grinned. "It's kind of personal." That caught Alec's full attention and he glanced at the bag. He couldn't tell anything that might be in there. And what the hell could it be? It had to have been something that the kid had scrounged up or brought with him. Since one of the cardinal rules around there was that new denizens were in a city lock down for an undisclosed, to them, amount of time. The risk of sleeper agents who might have to escape from the city again to meet their handlers. So Jiminy most definitely wouldn't have been allowed back out into Seattle so soon again after just arriving.

"Yeah, well," Alec groped for a reason to circumvent this kid from going over there. Of course, Jiminy would have been around long enough to possibly hear scuttlebutt on Max's accident. But did Alec really want to keep spreading the news around? Didn't want the wrong people to hear that the transgenic's leader was under the weather. But then, the people that it would really matter too, would or should know that when it came down to brass tacks, it wouldn't matter. That's why there was a chain of command. "Max is still recovering from her accident and isn't up for visitors."

"Two minutes man," Jiminy grinned. "If I have to, I'll just set it inside her door and not one word."

Alec continued to regard him. He let out a small sigh. really, who the hell was he to police who could and couldn't see Max. It wasn't as if... Even a concerned friend didn't have that right, and at best, that was all Alec could maybe consider himself in the world according to Max. Finally he nodded. "Give me ten minutes," he instructed. Jiminy nodded and backed away, pulling the door shut again. Alec used the time to stare blankly at the plans he'd just memorized minutes ago. Even with them right before his eyes, he couldn't make heads nor tails of them. Just like he couldn't make heads nor tails of Max and what the hell was happening between them.



Chapter Eight

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