Title:
Break Up By The Book
Chapter
Title: Creature Comforts
Author:
Restive Nature
Disclaimer:
I do not own the rights
to Dark Angel. They belong to Cameron/ Eglee and Fox Television. No
infringement is intended and this fiction is for private enjoyment
only.
Rating:
PG-13 up to NC-17 (just to be on the safe side, down the road.)
Genre:
Dark Angel
Type:
friendship/ romance
Pairing:
M/A
Summary:
When she finally made the decision, she knew that she would have to
do it and do it right.
Spoilers/
Time line: Mid second season.
Feedback:
Always welcome!
Distribution:
Ask first please.
Break
Up By The Book
Chapter
One
Creature
Comforts
“So
what's got your head spun tonight suga?” Original Cindy asked,
glancing up from where she was leaning over her room mate, co-worker
and best friend, Max's hands. It was their weekly ritual of primping
and nail care, among other things, that they had reinstated when Max
had returned from her capture and incarceration, the latest, from
Manticore.
One
of the things that Cindy had noticed, observant as she was, was that
despite Max being a genetically revved up female, created by
scientists and soldiers, the girl sure got confused by the same
things that the rest of the ordinary population did. Most
specifically to the straight set of the females of the human gender,
boys. As she was expecting, Max would probably start to ramble on
about her love interest, Logan Cale.
Cindy
had figured out a long time ago, long before Logan or Max had
cottoned on to the fact, that Logan had a thing for her girl. And it
was no fly by night, bumping uglies, scratchin' an itch. There was
actually something between them. And since Manticore had taken it in
their ugly little minds to screw with the couple, though from what
Max told, they didn't know that Logan Cale and Eyes Only, being one
in the same person, had retrofitted a particularly nasty virus to
take out Eyes. But it was Logan and Max suffering the breakdown of
that one.
Smiling
as she thought back to those early days, before she'd had much to do
with Logan and how she'd misjudged him a little, how much he denied
his feelings too, like Max had. But things had progressed, with some
massive bumps in the road, proving to Cindy, that even if her girl
was souped up, she still fell into the 'just like everybody else'
category. She just had a few... extras.
“Hmmm?”
Max mumbled, also watching Cindy dexterously manipulate the emery
board. She'd been looking forward to the evening. While she liked the
job Cindy did on her nails, that she generally kept short because of
work, and the bonding time, she knew that she was being quieter than
usual. Most of the time, these weekly sessions were filled with
catching each other up on their lives, the gossip making the rounds
at Jam Pony X-press, where they worked, or just talking over life's
inaccuracies or injustices. “Oh, sorry,” she muttered as she
realized she had gone silent again. She peeked up under her lashes to
see that Cindy still had her head bent over Max's digits.
“I
guess I've just had a lot on my mind lately,” she finally offered,
which got a chuckle out of her friend.
“And
how that different from any other day of the week, Boo?” she
teased. Max smiled gently at the dig.
“Not
much,” she admitted. “But I've...” she trailed off, mostly
because she was concerned with how Cindy would deal with her latest
revelation. Knowing Cindy, she'd either be rolling her eyes, or
totally supportive. She grinned as she realized that really, Cindy
would be doing both. But she needed to talk this bitch out. So taking
a deep breath, she jumped into it. “I've decided to break up with
Logan.”
As
she thought, there was a momentary pause, before Cindy went back to
her work. “Okay,” her friend murmured. “And may I ask,” she
began.
“What
makes this different from any other time?” Max finished for her.
Cindy paused again and this time looked up, meeting Max's gaze with a
brutal honesty written all over her face. Max sighed helplessly and
shrugged one shoulder. “I love him. You know I do,” she pressed
and Cindy nodded. “But we're living in limbo here. I can't do it. I
can't keep doing it,” she gulped, the words coming quickly, like
they had just been waiting, like a cancer, to swell and grow and
finally burst forth. “I hate being so scared all the time. It's too
much. It hurts too much to be away from him and it hurts too much to
be with him and not be able to be with him. And to be so careful and
cautious all the time. Thinking about what happens if I get too
close. The stress is just too-!”
“A'ight
boo,” Cindy broke in gently, squeezing the hand that she held and
setting the emery board to the side. She reached for Max's other
hand. “I get it. You scared and hurting. Original understands that.
And yes, you have reason to be afraid girl, but I thought you hand a
handle on dealing with that sorta thing?”
“There's
a lot to be scared of in this world,” Max countered, feeling
comforted, just by the physical comfort that Cindy was giving her.
Comfort that she could not hardly find elsewhere. “And yeah, for
most of it, I'm okay. Disease, poverty, corrupt cops, I can deal with
all those. Government agencies gunning to put a hole in my hide?
Covered. But Logan dying? I can't. I just... can't.”
Original
sucked in her lower lip, thinking, contemplating before she spoke
softly. “Nobody like that thought Boo. And I hate to say it, but
you run that risk with every person in yo life. Not as high as with
Logan. But accidents happen, people get sick,” her voice broke
slightly and Max wondered if she was thinking of her old girlfriend,
Diamond who had been infected with a deadly disease by a sick, money
grubbing bastard, looking to make money of the prison population in
any way he could.
Max
knew that it was a comparison that she could draw, though it would
pain Cindy further. But the topic was already there. “That's how it
feels sometimes,” she admitted and her room mate watched her
quietly. “Waiting, wondering, is this it? Will this be the
accidental touch we never meant? Will this be the one that kills him?
Will there be enough time to try and transfuse him? Would that be
enough?” She shook her head slowly, dejectedly. “I can't be
strong like that. I wish I could, but I can't be strong like you were
Cindy.” She wasn't surprised by the tears she could see gathering
in her friend's eyes. “There's such a huge difference between
supporting someone you love when they are terminally ill and being
the one to cause that illness.”
They
were silent for so long, digesting that. Finally Cindy let loose of
her friends hands and shifted in her seat so that she could wrap an
arm around Max's shoulder. Max let her head drift down to the woman's
shoulder. “A'ight boo, what can I do to help?”
“This
is pretty good,” Max sniffled, even as she smiled a little. “You've
always been good at this.”
“Yeah,
Original knows all about comfortin' the female of the species,”
Cindy teased, shaking her friend a little. “And while I may not be
on intimate terms with the boys, I can still call it.”
“You
got that right,” Max nodded. “So what do I do? To break up with
Logan and make it stick? I mean, it's not like I haven't tried
before.”
“And
what happens to change that?” Cindy asked, though they both knew
that each was aware of the dance Logan and Max did. They would pine
for one another and then come up with a totally legitimate excuse to
see one another. There would be guilt and love and then the dance
started over again.
“Business,”
Max sighed. “It always comes back to business.”
Cindy
chuckled, a little darkly. “Now, I know that Eyes Only like to put
salt in the man's game, but honey, he was around a good while afore
you an' Logan hooked up. How'd he manage before you came along?”
“With
lots of informants, bribes and time,” Max grinned a little
ruefully. “Having a super soldier designed to do all the things
they could do and more just sped the process up. But it's not just
cops on the take anymore. It's gotten so much bigger.”
“The
rest o' the transgenics,” Cindy nodded sagely and Max mimicked her.
“So why don't you ask 'em to help out?”
“I
have asked,” Max began, but Cindy was shaking her head.
“You
mean y'all roped Alec into goin' wich you. That ain't askin' girl,”
she teased. “But not just him.”
Max
began to protest, but then fell silent. It was true, she hadn't
approached any of the others that were slowly filtering into the
city. The majority part of it was that Max remembered very well the
resentment and treatment she had received away from the trainers at
the base just outside of Seattle, when she had been re incarcerated.
They hadn't been pleased at all with her. She didn't know any of
them, not like she knew her own unit. Out of everyone that she had
set free on that fateful night, she was only close to Joshua and
Alec. One because she truly liked, and the other because he just
wouldn't go away. The corners of her mouth turned up at that.
“I
guess I'm more like Zack than I thought,” she mused and at Cindy's
puzzled look, expanded. “I don't really play well with others.”
“Nah
girl, you just have trouble settin' it up,” Cindy shrugged. “Once
you get to know a person, you usually jus' fine.”
“I
guess,” Max sighed. “But, you're right. If Logan were to ask, I
mean, I could ask the others for help, right? I mean, when it's their
safety on the line? It'd be the right thing to do.”
“And
you tell them what's the what,” Cindy agreed, “they be down with
it, I'm sure.”
Max
nodded, ideas starting to form in her head. “I wouldn't ask for
anything else. I mean, they have to stay safe too. It's not fair to
ask them to risk exposing themselves on anything else.”
“Like
it not fair for Logan to ask that of you?” Cindy pointed out and
Max slowly nodded again. “So you gonna limit contact to transgenic
concerns only?”
“Yeah,
limit contact,” Max decided and then winced. “And cut off contact
everywhere else.”
“Oh
hell no boo!” Cindy growled out and Max glanced at her in surprise.
“You can't be sayin' you wanna give up Crash.”
“Not
totally,” Max smirked. “I mean, it is our place, right?” She
didn't wait for Cindy's agreement. “But there are other places we
can go, to relax and get our swerve on. Hey, maybe we can invite some
of the others, too. The new transgenics. To be honest, the only
reason I kept going back to Crash was because it was familiar, I knew
everyone there or likely to be there.”
“It's
a safety thing?” Cindy asked, pursing her lips and Max nodded
slowly. “So's if we had some people backin' each other up, we be
okay?”
“I
think so,” Max huffed. “I mean, it wouldn't hurt to ask.”
“Sure's
no harm in that honey,” Cindy encouraged. But then Max groaned.
“What?”
“So
I've got a plan how to deal with Logan after,” she pointed out.
“But what am I gonna tell him? How am I going to do this? If I just
tell him that I don't think we should see each other, how is he going
to think that this is different from any other time?”
“I
see you point boo,” Cindy sighed too. “But no matta how you cut
it, it's gonna be hard. Gonna hurt, both of ya.”
“Yeah,”
Max grumped and then wailed, “argh! I wish this had been another
hook-up, you know.”
“You
mean one o' your heat cycles rearin' it's nasty head?” Cindy asked
dryly. “'Cause those were so joyful to deal with.”
Max
chuckled and shook her head, leaning back against the couch cushion
now and glanced at her friend when she reached for the emery board
once more. “Well at least after the deed was done, it was pretty
simple to get rid of them. Just ignore them until they got the
message.”
“Or
cut them down so bad in public that they slunk off, tail between they
legs, jus' like the dogs they are,” Cindy reminded her. Max nodded.
“But
I can't do that to Logan,” she whimpered slightly, more from the
hang nail Cindy had found than anything.
“Emotional
investment,” Cindy pointed out. She was quiet for a moment before
pointing at the collection of nail polishes on the coffee table
before them. Max took some time to deliberate over the colors before
she settled on one, a dark plum that she liked with her skin tone.
“Okay girl, we gotta come up with a game plan. Do this bitch right
so there be no doubt in Logan's mind.”
“And
what would that plan be?” Max rolled her eyes. Hadn't that just
been what they were trying to figure it out?
“This
girl don't have no experience lettin' the males down gently,” Cindy
giggled, “but she heard plenty o' good stories.”
“Oh?
Do tell.”
“The
way I understand it?” Cindy began as she took the polish from her
room mate. “You set up one last date, do something nice, but not
too nice, have yo'self some nasty hot break up sex, tell the boy that
it's not him, it's you, boot him out the door and then drown any
sorrows in a pint of ice cream.”
“Geeze
Cindy,” Max giggled as well. “Remember we're trying not to kill
him. And who says you have no experience with that? I seem to
remember well enough when Lindsey broke up with you that I found you
piggin' out on my cherry almond stash.”
“A'ight,”
Cindy shrugged. “You got me there. On both counts.” She stilled
and then mused. “But at least I knew that it was definitely ove'.
There be a feelin', a vibe or something, I guess, when you do it like
that.” Max narrowed her eyes.
“Maybe
it was that emotional investment thing, like you were saying,” she
offered quietly. “'Cause I seem to remember how much you loved
Lindsey.”
“I
did boo,” Cindy agreed with a wisp of a sad smile. “But, I had
you and the ice cream, plenty o' tissue. You know, all the creature
comforts.”
“Comfort,”
Max mused. “I could use some of that.”
“Then
we get this done, and that's what we have,” Cindy decided. “You
know I'll always be there for my girl.” Instead of answering, Max
just smiled gratefully and relaxed back into the sofa as Cindy
continued her ministrations.
Chapter Two- Priceless Things
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