Fiction- From AtZR2- Kill

Title: From A To Z Round 2

Chapter Title: Kill

Author: Restive Nature

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Dark Angel. They belong to Cameron/ Eglee. No infringement is intended and this fiction is for private enjoyment only.

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Dark Angel

Type: sadness

Pairing: Max/ Alec

Summary: They never gave much thought to the term “do or die” until moments like this.

Spoilers/ Timeline: Early season two.

Feedback: Always welcome!

Distribution: Ask first please.

A/N: This is my interpretations of the second round of A to Z fictions, using the prompts that Seamagik has come up with. Thanks for the inspiration, as well as Nickeldime17 for getting this all started.

A/N2: Just a little throw back to season one.

K is for Kill

“Okay Max,” Alec sighed. They had been standing, rooted in the same spot, a cemetery of all places, for the last fifteen minutes and while that was not really a problem, his curiosity was getting the better of him. “Not that I'm against breaks during the work day, but why here?”

“Shut up Alec,” she replied tersely and while he heard it all the time from her, there was something tight in her voice that caught his attention and kept him from dismissing the latest snarl.

“Seriously,” he sighed again. He gestured to the woman that Max appeared to be watching, one that was kneeling a short distance away, tending to a grave, wondering just why Max was watching her so intently. “What's the deal here?”

There was a long, quiet moment before his erstwhile friend shifted a little and Alec was surprised to feel that he was actually going to get an answer instead of another insult.

“I killed him,” she murmured. Alec's brows furrowed as he ducked his head to hear her. Her words were very quiet and he kind of figured that she was whispering so that the words didn't carry to the woman at the grave. He would have said she was the mother, given the ladies' apparent age and dedication to her care of the grave, but you never knew. “There was a hostage situation, group took a little boy. Had to get him back.”

“And the problem is?” Alec demanded, keeping his voice low. Actions like such as she had committed were understandable, even without their Manticore given abilities. It was a crap world that didn't always work the way it should.

“I never knew his name until now,” she gestured with her chin, to where the women had set aside a small framed picture of the man, before setting to work clearing weeds from the head stone.

“If it was a hostage situation, didn't they have coverage on it?” he wondered, thinking that it would have been easy to get a hold of the information afterwards, had she cared to.

“Plenty,” she snorted delicately. “It wasn't that.”

“Then what was it?” he wondered. She shrugged one shoulder.

“He's the one I regret... sometimes,” she admitted with a small shudder.

“Why?” Alec wanted to know. This was another interesting little tidbit coming out into the light of day.

“He was going to kill Lydecker,” Max told him flatly. “I made a last split second decision not to let him. And some days I wonder...”

Alec tilted his head to the side, considering that. “I suppose a lot of crap would have been avoided, but then...”

“What?”

“You never would've met me,” he teased, automatically going for the joke to lighten the tension in the air. It worked, as she chuckled.

“Some day, some how, I'm almost certain that you would have gotten loose,” Max teased back, a rarity with her. “No way in hell Manticore could contain your havoc wreaking.”

“Just bidin' my time before the plot for world domination kicks in,” he bantered right back, relieved to see that she had shifted again, taking her seat and setting her pedals to move on. He followed after her and caught up after a few revolutions of their wheels. “But you know,” he continued, “ain't no use in thinking about what if, right? I mean I'm pretty sure we've both figured that much out.”

“No use in it,” she agreed, “but that doesn't still mean we don't indulge. Or can you tell me honestly Alec...?”

He couldn't, though it was no bother. Sentimentality had its place, which hopefully, wasn't often in a transgenic's life. Like a duck, letting it roll off his back, he changed the subject and Max let him. It was just, he decided, another little piece in the puzzle that she was.

Red