Fiction FAtZR2- Red

Title: From A To Z Round 2

Chapter Title: Red

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: schmoopy romance

Pairing: Max/ Alec

Summary: Welcome to Joshua's Flying Fat Baby Angel Delivery Service. What may we deliver for you today?

Spoilers/ Time line: Post series, mid February...

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.

R is for Red

“And I keep telling you Mole, that trying to lock up the females will not help anything!” Dex yelled out, pounding his fist on the table in command central, reiterating the point that he had been making and trying to pound into cetain people's heads, for the past several days.

“Well, we gotta do something,” Mole snapped back, yanking his cigar from his mouth, dropping his feet back to the floor, as his chair hit just previous of his appendages with an audible thump. “All you transgenics,” he said the word with a heavy sneer, “are screwin' around, no pun intended and it's messing everything up.”

“Mole,” Max interjected with a heavy sigh and a weary glance at her co-commander, person in charge, whatever the hell people wanted to call them, Alec. He returned the look with a slight shrug. He didn't have any better idea how to handle this whole mess than she did. “The transgenics were not in charge of what DNA the scientists used on them, any more than the transhumans were. We are trying to get this resolved, not assign blame, because we all realize what a problem this has turned into.”

“Well if your damn females would just lock themselves down, like back in the big house,” Mole snarked his suggestion, rolling his cigar between his leathery fingers.

“And if we had the facilities available here that there were there,” Alec sighed, “then that's exactly what we would be doing. We all know this. We've gone over this. Right now we need to figure out how to get a handle on it before it gets worse.”

“It's gonna friggin' get worse?” Mole demanded, his eyes popping somewhat humorously and incredibly. “Oh Jesus, take me now!”

“You don't believe in Jesus,” Max reminded him dryly, a trace of a grin on her lips. “And if you'd read the report that Dex was kind enough to compile, you'd note that the amount of females that report experiencing heat, are increasing in frequency of cycles per year and more of the dates are coinciding with other females than they were before.”

“Which means?” Mouse piped up. She was a slightly diffident transhuman, included in the meeting only because she had been elected (read pushed forward while all her peers stepped back) to head the sanitation department of Terminal City.

“It means that it's happening more often and because of the amount of hormones that the females are giving off, it's triggering other females, so that their heats are close together,” Dex explained kindly, his voice modified. He had no beef with Mouse, as this was the first that he knew of that she was hearing about this problem. Mole, on the other hand...

“And this is bad because it's taking both the females and the males attention from other more important issues?” Mouse asked carefully. There were tired nods all around the table. With a puzzled frown on her face, she turned to Max. “Then how come it isn't bothering you?”

Max sighed, not wanting to admit that it was actually getting more difficult to get a handle on, but she had learned through the last several months of the siege about the reins of leadership and never letting them see you sweat, in more ways than one was a very useful adage. “I had a lot of years on the outside to learn to deal with suppressing or controlling my heats. Unfortunately, it's not a lesson than can be taught and shared in a matter if days.” Without even seeming to have noticed the faces that Alec was making at her little speech, her hand shot out with unerring accuracy to hit him in the shoulder. He grumbled and rubbed at the offended spot, but neither did the blow or the complaints thereof have the power of their early days of trying to lead these ragtag soldiers into a nation unto themselves.

It was now, as it was intended to be, a tension breaker. There were a couple chuckles and those present at the meeting seemed to deflate a little and the nitty gritty of the problem arose once more.

“Okay,” Mole sighed, leaning his elbows on the table as he eyed those around him with earnestness. “I admit, I don't get the jist of why you soldiers just can't mate off like you're supposed to and be done with it.”

There looked to be a butt load of offense taken at his words, but Max silenced them all with one quick cut of her hand in the air. “Mole, we don't quite understand either, which is obviously part of the problem. We're trying to figure this out, but the science and psychology of it all is racing ahead of our understanding of it. Once we figure something out and try to do something about it, it seems another problem crops up. We're running to catch up and admittedly, not having much luck with that.”

“Okay then,” Mole nodded, trying his best to be conciliatory, an unusual trait with him, Max realized, but one that was welcome. “Is there something that can be done now and something that can be done long term? Anything? And what the hell do you mean about psychological? I thought this shit was all physical for you guys?”

“So did we,” Alec snorted with another shake of his head.

“What we've discovered,” Dex supplied, “is that with the surplus of transgenic males available, the females have a lot more going on in the decision making process than just taking the first comer.” He seemed to realize what innuendo could be drawn from that and shook his head towards Max, who would seem the likely candidate to take offense at what he had said, but she just tiredly lifted her chin, indicating for him to get on with it. “Also, with less females available, the males are fighting amongst themselves for the available females. And then there's the aspects of birth control and suppressants, neither of which we have a reliable steady supply of.”

“And the females are aware of this?” Mouse piped up and there were nods all around. “Hence,” she went on, drawing the correct conclusion, “why some of the females are trying to ride this out, instead of hooking up with someone.”

“So again, I ask,” Mole grumbled, “why don't you just find your mates and be done?”

“Because mating isn't a biological imperative when you're not in heat,” Max snapped and then seemed to instantly regret it. Mole's eyebrows, or what would have been his eyebrows, had his biology allowed for them, shot up.

“So you have to be in heat to find a mate?” he demanded, again incredulous.

“Sort of,” Dex saved her from answering, a fact that he was sure Max was glad of, if judging by her suddenly reddened cheeks was any indication. “There are way too many factors to list about transgenic mating to get into here.”

“Man, we're really FUBAR'd, aren't we?” Mole grimaced. Again, there were nods all around.

And just as this sweeping realization once again made the rounds of the unsurprisingly rectangular command room table, the lone silent member of this mini council smiled and carefully stood from his seat. All eyes centered on him and he grunted before speaking gently. “Problem is not just females in heat and males fighting. Heat just an excuse for what really going on.”

“And what's the real problem big guy?” Max asked of Joshua.

“No one finding mates because everyone scared,” Joshua declared, blithely ignoring Alec's attempts in vain to get him to hush. “We talked,” Joshua went on, ignoring Alec's universal motion of slashing at his throat, “and we figured out,” Joshua continued, not revealing just who “we” was, that had talked, “fear of rejection, fear of commitment, fear of no commitment. Lotsa fears, no action.”

“Interesting,” Dex mused, pursing his lips, “which does make sense,” he announced as he took in the rest of the group. “For all our lives, Manticore tried to suppress or teach us how to suppress our emotions and now that we can supposedly express them without fear of reprisal, we all seem to be running the gamut.”

“Okay, that's all sunshine and lollipops and rainbows out my ass,” Mole chuckled, “but what the hell do we DO about it?”

The debate that had gone in circles for days, started up again. With a smile in Alec's direction, Joshua shuffled his chair back so that it didn't topple over. He had an idea and he knew just who he needed to help.

*****

“You sure about this suga?” Original Cindy asked, her tone full of doubts.

“I'm sure Cindy,” Joshua declared, his big hand delicately cradling the cell phone that Max had pressed on him early on during the siege. “But if it's a problem, getting them...”

“No, no,” Original Cindy immediately protested, “dere's no problem on that end Boo. I know a guy. Might take a week or so. This girl's jus' tryin' to imagine a bunch of emotionally repressed, super soldiers fallin' in line with this plan.”

“Got nothin' better,” Joshua explained again. “They are getting desperate.”

“A'ight,” she finally capitulated. “You'd know betta than I do. Usual drop off?” When she received his affirmation, she made her goodbyes. Joshua pressed the end call button on the phone and decided that since the first step was accomplished, it was time to move on to the next.

*****

Max rubbed her forehead as she sat at the desk she shared with Alec in their “office”., when they had need to work together. His own was actually smaller and she didn't like the smell of it. So he had graciously given in to using hers when need arose. Which was usually about every single day. She had ducked in here several minutes ago as the arguments went around and around. She had caught Alec's eye as she went and he had given her the nod. The one that meant, 'go ahead, I've got you covered'. It was many of the surprising silent signals that they had developed over a short amount of time. Of course, Max knew that it would only be fair of her to relive him and give him a break in the near future too.

As she leaned back in her seat, her arms loosely crossed, she mused on how far she and Alec had come. If anyone had told her in those first days after she had met the cocky little s.o.b., that she would come to rely on him like another appendage, she'd have called them crazy and sent said person off to the nice men in the white uniforms with the funky jackets and trippy ink cards. Of course he could still act like a certain appendage some of the time, but now, that was just an accepted part of his personality, just like her being a frosty bitch was.

With a sigh, Max scooted her chair closer to the desk and reached for the pile of papers that had been stacked on her desk the last few days. Things that had been tabled because of this newer ongoing issue with the transgenics. These things needed attention just as much as this heat situation did.

She was just getting into the first report on the food situation when there was a short rap on the door and when she glanced up, Alec had popped his head into the room.

“Hey Maxie,” he greeted amiably, but tired. Max didn't even bother protesting the nickname anymore. “Joshua just showed up again. Says he has a plan and he wants you down there.”

“Okay,” Max groaned slightly, debating if she could get away with bringing a few of the reports with her.

“Tonight,” Alec declared, having read her hesitation for exactly what it was. “After mess, we'll come back and tackle this.”

“When the hell did we get so predictable?” Max snorted out a laugh as she pushed back from the desk and stood.

“Oh, along about the time we inherited a couple hundred trannies, a world full of pissy, self-righteous normals and not enough money or supplies to deal with either,” Alec quipped. He opened the door further and stepped back to allow Max through as she laughed aloud.

“You got that right!”

*****

After several hours, many more heated debates and discussions, the big reveal of what was in the box that Joshua had brought into command with him and the tension that had been pervading headquarters had eased by quite a bit. Mole of course, had argued, but only on a minor point of the transhumans role in the entire plan. But when Max had pointed out that using the transhumans to facilitate things, it would minimize the fights and the troubles. And then, when Alec had slyly pointed out that perhaps it wasn't that, but the fact that Joshua had this plan for the transgenics, but not the transhumans, that got Mole all hot under the collar.

There was some teasing of the big lizard and for all he blustered and threatened, no one missed the fact that he hadn't actually denied Alec's claim. Joshua had brought a halt to that by declaring that they could do the same with transhumans. After all, the fears and concerns that he had mentioned earlier, were present in the transhumans as well.

After they decided how they would approach this with the rest of the populace, they broke, relieved to be going on their ways. But when Joshua caught them on their way up to their offices, to let them know that there was a little more good news on the heat situation front, the day just got a whole lot brighter.

*****

“I don't know why I didn't think of asking Cindy,” Max chuckled once more to herself. Alec shook his head as well.

“I didn't think of it either,” he pointed out, full of relieved humor. And Max shook her head at him. “I mean, not like I would have asked her, but I was taught to think outside the box on occasion.”

“Yeah well, we were coming at it from a medical standpoint,” Max nodded tiredly, as she leaned back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other. “No one was really thinking of it as a teenage, young adult thing that has to be dealt with in everyone's life.”

“If they're responsible, yeah,” Alec agreed. “Do you really think she'll be able to get a hold of it?”

Max grinned. There was one thing shr had learned about her former room mate. When Cindy decided to get something done, nothing really stood in her way. “Believe me Alec, she has enough uncles, that happen to just “find” certain things falling offa trucks... it might take a little while, but she'll get it.”

“Thank goodness,” Alec sighed, leaning against the wall and letting his head fall back tiredly as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Because honestly, I'm not so sure Josh's plan is gonna fly.”

“I know,” Max agreed. She hadn't had the heart to say so earlier, to his face. “But look at it this way, we can tell everyone that this is the jumping off point in a larger plan.” Alec was nodding along with her. “It may not work for everyone, but at least we're all going to be pro-active about this, instead of arguing circles like we have been.”

“That's true,” he sighed. And then turned to glance at the door. They could both hear the heavy clatter of footsteps on the floor below them, in the main room of headquarters. “Sounds like the party is about to get started. You ready?”

Max slowly uncrossed her legs and stood from her seat. “As ready as I'm gonna be.” Together they moved to the door, Alec opening it before Joshua could knock.

“Everyone's ready,” Joshua announced happily as he handed them each a sheet of paper. Both transgenics glanced at the bullet points that their friend had created to help answer questions about the plan that they might encounter.

“Thanks Joshua, these will help,” Max smiled up at the larger male as she carefully folded her sheet and tucked it into her pocket, unlike Alec who just stuffed it into the back of his cargo pants pocket. “Are the females all gathered?” she asked next. Joshua nodded.

“Females in warehouse, down by your apartment,” Joshua told her and then turned to Alec. “Males on the opposite end of the city,” he went on and then gestured to the lower floor. “Transhumans here and the youngsters are all down at gym complex,” he finished, referring to the rough indoor training area that they had created. “Mated couples staying to watch over babies and little ones. Older ones helping.”

“All right,” Alec nodded as he clapped Joshua on the shoulder. “Sounds like every thing's good to go. Let's get this the hell over with.”

“Good luck Alec,” Max smirked as she began to move off. Alec gave a suffering sigh and a quirky look to the transhuman below them.

“We're gonna need it,” he agreed. And with that, they all separated to their appointed tasks.

*****

“I don't understand,” one of the gathered females piped up after Max had pointed in her direction during the question portion of the meeting. Max could not recall name or designation, but it mattered little in the moment. “How is this going to solve the problem?” Max, relieved that she and Alec had already talked this out, was ready with her answer.

“It's not a solution,” she offered and then had to take a moment to let the uproar settle down, again! “Ladies, come on!” she shouted. When it was back to a manageable level again, she continued. “I should have said this is not our long term solution. This is what we're doing in the mean time, to get control, or as much as we can, on the situation.” There were agreeing nods from some of the older females and Max was relieved that they were calmly assessing this, rather than dismissing it. Thinking quickly, she relaxed her stance. “I want to ask, and don't feel weirded out by this, please. But, how many of you have not had a heat since you got here?”

To Max's amazement, only three or four of the females raised their hand from the collective group. Her next words addressed them, as the girl that had asked the last question was in that group. “Okay, so you guys don't already have a clear indication where you would like to go, if you want to at all.” There were relieved, agreeing nods. “That's okay,” she said. “There is absolutely no requirement to participate in this, if you aren't there yet. We can save this as an option for you down the road, when you're ready.”

There were relieved sighs from many in the group. And then another hand shot up. Max turned and gestured to Nan, one of the older women of the group.

“Yeah Nan?”

“I'm just wondering,” she began hesitantly, almost a blush staining her cheeks. “What if we don't, I mean what if the guy... guys, well, what if it's not what we want?”

Again, Max was relieved that Joshua had given her that sheet of answers as this was highlighted upon it. “Like I said, if you don't get what you want in a pairing, Joshua has the answers. Now, as I mapped out, we're letting the guys go first, since we all know that they like to think they're in control.” There were some titters and giggles through the room and Max allowed herself a smile. “We have some time to figure out our response. If, again, you don't like what you get, then we women have the chance to make our move.”

“Well, what about the rejects?” another woman, Suni, called out without catching Max's attention first. But since others were nodding, Max allowed it. “I mean, we all know how the males,” she paused and glanced around the room, smiling apologetically at the others, “and we, I guess everyone when it comes down to it, takes rejection.”

“That's why we're doing this kind of remotely,” Max offered. “That's the part that we can't control. All we can do is kind of suspend the feelings as much as we can and try not to hold anything against anyone. What we're looking for here people is getting things settled in the best way possible, for everyone!” she stressed. Thee was a small silence and then Max gentles her tone. “I know rejection hurts, in whatever form, but we gotta deal with this.” She eyed the room at large and there was finally murmurs of agreement in all quarters. She let out her breath as the women as a group seemed to accept this.

“Okay, just another question?” Nan called out again and Max turned with a chuckle. “What about after. I mean this takes care of the first concern, but what about after?”

Max debated quickly and then made the decision that none had been sure about yet. The women needed this information too to go ahead with this plan of theirs. “All right, this is no confirmation and please don't be spreading this around.” There were more non-verbal agreements. “We may have found a supplier for a medical remedy other than the obvious abstinence.” Faces and interest perked up. “It's going to take a while, but we believe that we've found a drug that can be used as a contraceptive that is compatible with our DNA. The only hitch is procuring the amounts we're going to need. We are already on getting a small supply so that we can dose the females that go into heat immediately and request the drug.”

“Is it going to be mandatory?” one of the girls, Pacey, who'd just become old enough to start her heats, asked, sounding nervous and unsure.

“I would like to say no,” Max offered tiredly, hating having to play the commander on this one. “But I have to urge you to think about the situation we are in currently. Yes, I know that pregnancy takes nine months, gives you plenty of time to prepare. But in the interim, we don't know what's going to happen and we need to prepare for every eventuality. That includes fighting, weapon deployment from the other side, the Familiars.” She lowered her voice, the sympathy throbbing from her. “Do you really want to be in that position?” she asked as gently as she could. The girl, Pacey, tears in her eyes, shook her head and one of the girls closest to her, wrapped an arm around her. Max resolved to find the girl after the meeting and find out what was going on there. Just another one of her duties she told herself ruefully.

She could only wonder how Alec's meeting was going.

*****

It was chaos!

Utter and complete f-ing chaos. Alec groaned as he listened to the shouts around the room, trying to figure out who had started it this time. But that was pointless. Straightening up on the chair he was standing on while the males were milling around the building, he shouted.

“Hey you assholes!”

Well that certainly got their attention, Alec snorted to himself as he mentally kicked himself for insulting a room full of testosterone driven males who felt like they had been in turn, insulted, denigrated and manipulated. He had to forcibly sooth his own hackles at the sheer number of eyes glaring at him.

“All right,” he went on, still loud enough to be overheard, “you guys don't like this plan? Fine by me. Excuse us for trying to give you all something to work with. But, just so you know, the first one of you pussy assed wankers that comes crying to me because some other guy has walked off in the arms of the woman you wanted because you were too much of a limp dick to man up and try this, will be working the new drainage ditches for a month.” He glared back at the room at large and the all seemed to shrink back, whether at the insults or the thought of the disgusting work in store for the complainers. He shook his head. “I'm done. I got better things to do than convince you that something needs to be done, which you all, already know.”

He was about to jump down from his chair when a voice, younger and thinner than most of the others, a noticeable hint that the speaker was still an adolescent, piped up.

“They're gonna use this against us!” he called out and Alec realized that finally, finally one of them managed to address the heart of the problem. And for all that he wanted to, he couldn't deny what this kid was saying.

“Look, all of you,” he spoke again. “I can't say that they will or they won't. Personal experience leads me to believe that there are gonna be grudges all around.” There were some laughs at that and Alec shrugged modestly. “But how much worse is this going to get? When one of you kills each other? Trying to prove to the ladies just how manly you are?” And then he hit upon an idea. “Look at it this way. Ladies, ordinary or transgenic, they love this shit! It's all about the angle, right? If you go up to a lady and tell her, 'hey baby, I've been beatin' the crap outta that guy that looked at you wrong, wanna go get it on?' how's she gonna react.”

“Kick your ass to the curb man!” one of the males shouted out and there was laughter.

“Exactly!” Alec crowed, pointing his finger in the general direction that the voice came from. “But you tell a woman, 'hey babe, you've been on my mind, so I give you this gesture blah blah blah, 'cause you're a unique creature unlike any other,' you get my drift?”

“Then you wanna get it on?” the obvious heckler shouted this time and someone, probably a buddy guffawed and commented as well.

“And you still get kicked to the curb!”

“Well for Christ's sake, leave the 'wanna get it on' out of it!” Alec shouted back, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at the apparent mindless sex drive of his gender as a whole. Even he wasn't that bad... usually. “To start anyway,” he ruefully added. “Think guys. Play it right and this is gonna be a hell of a lot easier. Besides, if you don't make a move, the females will and then things will just get all screwed to hell.”

“He's right!” another unidentified voice rang out. “Give those chicks an inch and they take a mile! We gotta move fast before they start thinking they're gonna control this whole thing!”

Apparently that was the right thing to say because there was agreement ringing out from all quarters. And then, to Alec's amazement, there was nearly a stampede to get to the door to enact this plan. As the last of the males, a younger X-6 gave him a jaunty goodbye wave, Alec realized that he hadn't even gotten to talk to them about the score of a damn impressive shipment of condoms that his contacts were bringing in.

“Fuck!” he swore, squeezing his eyes shut as he realized what Max's reaction to that little oversight would be. Then, rubbing tiredly at his eyes, he wondered idly, if Joshua's meeting was going any better than his had.

*****

“This is a very interesting proposal,” Neena, a human crossed with more bat than the other way around, unlike the unpopular X-7's, leaned forward to address Joshua, her hands placidly folded in her lap. “But I would like to ask, since it is addressing the problems that the transgenics are experiencing, why are we included? Other than to help them, I mean?”

“That's a good question,” Joshua replied with a smile. He threw a quick glance at Mole, who was resolutely watching the table before him, yet another clue of what Joshua was coming to suspect. “It was pointed out to us, that just because we don't go into heat, maybe there was interest too. In finding someone to be close with.”

There were nods all around the room, from those seated in the limited chairs and scrounged sofas, as well as from those standing.

“Is it perhaps a new form of coded bonding?” Luke, another transhuman asked. When the others glanced his way questioningly he smiled and shook his head. “Sorry, perhaps I should expand on that.” At the encouraging nods, he went on. “We all know that we have ways of communicating non-verbally. Manticore taught us those obvious ones and we all know about body language. But I'm thinking that maybe these things aren't enough in this realm.” There were nods again. “If we agree to do this,” he paused and glanced back at Joshua again. Joshua shook his head.

“No one required,” he offered again. “This is by choice only.”

Luke nodded. “So if we agree, then it gives us the chance to make the offer with the understanding that it's another cue to perhaps open negotiations to a bonding. If nothing comes of it, that's fine, but if the other party is receptive, then we no longer have to worry about misunderstandings. The offers and the answers are decisive. I like it.”

“So do I,” Neena smiled. “It's always been difficult to read others. For me anyways. Sometimes the discreet direct approach is the best.” There was no mistaking to where her eyes darted, Joshua noted, trying to hide his grin.

He leaned forward again to address the whole group. “Okay, one more thing, then we go get ready.” Silence reigned again and he raised his voice slightly so he knew he would be heard in the back. “Headquarters also making headway on procuring birth control drugs and condoms. Still don't know how the mixes are going to work or if babies can be produced among us. But better if we have these options now. If you want to take that precaution, please see the medics and watch for announcements when shipments come in. They will be available to everyone.” Happily there was even more relief evident on the faces before him. “All right,” he smiled. “Any more questions?” He waited, but none were forthcoming. “Good. Now, need to go get art room ready. Gotta lot of work waiting for us.”

There were chuckles at his pronouncement, but none at that moment realized just how serious it would be, until they were met with a herd of stampeding male transgenics, all eager to... get it on.

*****

Alec shook his head as he moved along to headquarters. After the disastrous seeming meeting of the day before of all the transgenics, seperated by gender and the transhumans, he'd thought they might see the first riot on their hands. But once the guys had made it to where Joshua had set up the remainder of his little project, things had been surprisingly organized. Joshua's team was working well together and when Alec had caught up to them intent on correcting his oversight about the birth control issue, it was to find that several of the transhumans were making up lists, talking to several of the males about their preferences. Relieved that he didn't have to, he'd quickly checked and found that when reminded, all of the males, those who didn't have their own stashes, had signed up to received whatever they could.

But when Joshua had caught sight of Alec, he had quickly made his excuses to the big guy, that he' just come along to make sure that things were going smooth. Joshua had pulled him over to a table, covered with materials, but Alec, in the strictest sense of self preservation to date, had claimed that he needed to check in with Max to see how her meeting had gone. He patently ignored Joshua's claim that Max was still talking to some of the younger females. He'd escaped to his office and started putting in calls to his contacts. It wasn't long before things were coming together even more.

And now, in the morning, once the males queries had been prepared, the transhumans were dashing all over the city. There was so much laughter and the feeling of doom that had been pervading their small city had lifted quite a bit. Alec could sense it as he walked, well strolled along. He had caught sight of Mole and another female transhuman carrying several packages between them for delivery. But as laden as their arms were, it didn't hide the fact that the couple were definitely being couply. At least, that was what the hand holding indicated. Alec had smirked as a whole new avenue of opportunities for teasing the big lizard man had made themselves known.

It was quiet inside headquarters. Which was to be expected when there was just a skeleton crew in there, because most everyone else was out playing around with this new project in one form or another. He saw Jake, one of the older transhumans and one that had already declared that he would not be participating in this whole debacle. Alec had never quite figured out what the story was with this guy, but he had made no push about finding out. Everyone had a story and if Alec spent all his time trying to pry those loose, he'd never get anything else in his life done.

“Hey Alec,” Jake greeted. “How goes it on the concrete jungle of madness out there?”

“Chaos,” Alec dead panned. “Utter and complete organized chaos of people offering and waiting, with you guys making the rounds at a good clip.” He chuckled as Jake shook his head good naturedly. “Too bad Normal couldn't have hired more of us. If there's anything we are, it's efficient, huh?”

“Too bad there aren't any tips to be made,” Jake snorted as he shook his head. “We could be rolling in it by now.”

“Uh huh,” Alec agreed and then wrinkled his nose. “Until the females have their say. Might be lucky not to be a messenger then.”

“That's true,” Jake nodded.

The males shared a chuckle, but as Alec started to head upstairs, Jake made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat and Alec turned to regard him. “Problem?”

“Yeah, one of the times not to be a messenger?” Jake hinted as he lifted his eyes upwards. Alec followed his line of vision that was centered on Max's closed door.

“Oh don't tell me she's in a snit again,” Alec sighed, long used to this. Jake shrugged.

“I don't know if snit's the right word, but-!” he broke off as another transhuman entered headquarters, her arms full of fake blossoms. “Hey Lizzie,” he greeted. “Sal not coming back?” he asked easily. The woman smiled a greeting at both of them, but then shook her head.

“Nope, I've got this section now,” Liz confirmed. “And I need to hurry, so...”

“By all means,” Jake gestured grandly with his arm and the hybrid creature took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and made a quick dash up the stairs, straight to Max's office. Alec quirked an eyebrow. Someone had sent Max a rose? He should have known, he decided, muffling his not so subtle groan. Jake was already watching him with amusement on his face. There was an unintelligible shout and then the slamming of a door as Liz raced back down the steps, her arms empty. Alec's eyes widened.

“They were all for her?” he demanded, his voice higher than usual as panic swept over him. Liz nodded as she dashed past him, muttering about getting out of the line of fire. Alec stared helplessly after her. There had to have been more than a dozen of the now familiar pink and red fake roses. “What the hell?” he ground out and noted that Jake was laughing, slapping one hand against his thigh, his feet now resting on the desk top.

“They've been in and out of here all morning,” Jake confirmed. “And I don't think it's over yet.”

“Wait, what?” Alec demanded, his eyes darting up to the closed door of Max's office constantly. Transgenics... the males of the population were sending Max... roses?

“I have a theory,” Jake offered, his amusement not hidden at all, though Alec didn't realize that it hadn't surfaced until he had seen Alec's face at the realization that there were males that weren't unafraid to make a move on the caustic, acerbic, though beautiful leader of their people.

“Uh huh,” Alec muttered as he began the ascent to her office. Jake was just shaking his head. The words 'they've been in and out all morning' were rolling around his head. How long had this been going on, he wondered. Was it serious? There was another thought that plagued him. He reached her door and he could more clearly hear the distress from inside and acting quite like Liz had only moments ago, inhaled deeply and puffed up his chest, squaring his shoulders and pasting his trademark smirk on his lips. He knocked politely, but was surprised by the vehement yell that was returned.

“Go away!” she shrieked, and Alec could hear the stress plainly evident in her voice. “I'm not available!” The grin turned real at that assertion and he turned the door knob and carefully poked his head in.

“It's just me Max,” he announced and saw her, just barely, since her head was buried in her arms, behind a mound of flowers. He scowled slightly as he saw, from her perspective of course, just why this was insane. It was like an explosion of pink and red had taken place within a tiny radius of just her desk top. Whatever she might have been seemed to be buried. Her head came up, her eyes darting around, to see if there was anyone else and Alec took the moment to slip inside the room, allowing the door to click sharply shut behind him. “No one else.”

“Oh thank God,” she groaned and her head fell back to the desk momentarily. But then it came back up. “This is nuts. Do you see this?” she demanded, picking up one of the red roses before her, waving it around like a sword before she tossed it contemptuously back on the pile. “What on earth are they thinking? Is this a joke?”

Alec wished very much that it was. He clenched his teeth together as he moved closer. Though Cindy had come through for them and found them fake flowers that were unscented, the scents of the transhumans and the males that had handled them were very clear and the melange of pheromones was raising his ire. It was almost like he was in the middle of a pack of very horny tom cats, all trying to mark the same territory at once. And the big cat in him was protesting, loud and hard. Turning his face to the side, to try and get a breath of clearer air, he shrugged.

“I doubt it,” he shrugged one shoulder. “I mean, come on Max, is it such a surprise?” The startlement in her eyes told him that it was. Which meant that she had given no thought to how this would affect her. Like since she was the leader and not one of the followers, this situation didn't apply to her. Or maybe, his heart began to wish hopefully... but he quickly shut it down. He couldn't... after what had happened before... he wouldn't allow himself to go down that path.

“But why?” the whine of not wanting to have to think about this, to not want to deal with it was very apparent in her voice and it did make Alec smile, just a little. He was more used to this than the majority of the people that dealt with Max now. It still annoyed others, where it amused him.

“'kay,” he began, moving closer and regretting it slightly as the aromas made themselves clear again. He just mentally grit his teeth and bore up through it. “Look at it this way. It's not so surprising, because you're our leader.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Max demanded archly, her face dark. Alec was about ready to backpedal there, knowing, like a fool, that he should have immediately appeased her ego, that she was a beautiful and desirable woman. But... honestly, she should have known that already and the last time he had said that to her, it was right on the cusp of having to do something she didn't particularly want to and he knew that she wouldn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about it because the situation had gotten way too close to being personal and when Alec got personal on thoughts of Max, hours could pass and the drool was not attractive at all.

But then, he also knew that the back track might not work on her. So he forged ahead. “Max, not all of these are a... a...” he lost it, unable to say what he meant, because he also, did not want to contemplate it.

“A proposal?” she asked, plucking several of the pink roses up and tilting her head to the side questioningly.

“Not a... a,” he tried again and then gulped a little. “It's political!” he blurted out suddenly. And when she looked a little surprised and then... relieved, he ran with it. “You're our leader, you're unmated and some, most of these guys? They probably want to be the big fish in our little pond and bein' with you...”

“Yeah,” she muttered, looking disgusted as she glared at the lot of roses littered over her desk. “Convenient.”

The clenching around his heart eased as Max pushed herself away from the desk and stalked around the moderately sized furniture to grab a milk crate that had some files tossed haphazardly in it. She upended the files onto a filing cabinet which already had a precarious pile atop it, but the tower of paper held and she held the crate out to Alec. “Throw those in here,” she instructed, jerking her chin in the direction of her desk. Alec, with a wondering frown, slowly took the crate from her and turned to the desk. He heard her rifling through some things and wondered what she was thinking about now. But he was just as glad to take this task, though his anger was rising once more as he was able to decipher single scents of those who had handled the fake blooms.

Like Philly. L'il Bastard had just told Alec four nights ago that he'd had no intention of settling down anytime soon. There was a red rose from Kyle, but the guy was a pussy in more ways than one. He was startled by the amount of pink roses from which he discerned scents of barely mature X-6's. Did they not realize that Max would have a problem with an age difference where she was the older of the couple? History had shown that she didn't mind the sugar daddy type. Hell... Logan. But younger, nuh and uh to that shit. It was when he came across Adolpho's that the rage almost surfaced. He had known, for a fact that Dolph had sent a rose, red to Lana. Was the dick trying to play the odds here? Had he just flooded the population with roses hoping to get lucky somewhere? He wouldn't put it past the jerk. He didn't realize until he heard Max's annoyed snort, that the fantasies of hunting Dolph down and tearing him a new one for his impertinence was translated on his face.

“You won't think it's so funny when it's your turn you know!” she snapped as she leaned over her desk, paper and marker in hand.

“What was that?” he asked, blinking rapidly, to try and dispell the satisfying mental image of a broken and bloody Dolph on the ground while Max sheltered in Alec's arms. He had the flowers all bundled up and was trying to avoid the scents rising from them as she wrote something out in bold block letters. He read over her shoulder and caught his lower lip between his teeth trying not to snicker at what she had written.

Unavailable. Deposit deliveries here!

There was a large arrow underneath, pointing downwards and Alec understanding what she wanted, grabbed the crate and followed after her. She yanked open her office door and moved around the corner. She found a nail in the wall, close to her office door and jammed the paper upon it. She whirled around, skirting around Alec as he settled the rose filled crate on the floor below, giving it a slight kick for good measure and followed her back into the office. He slammed the door just in time as they heard the footsteps begin to ascend the stairs. The click of the lock on her door had never sounded so satisfying.

*****

It had taken a while, but the deliveries to Max's office had trickled off. Finally! When it had been silent for more than an hour, out there in the main office floor, Max finally allowed Alec to poke his head out. To both their relief, there was just Jake, sitting at his desk, watching the main door. As soon as Max's door had opened, he uncrossed his arms and glanced up.

“Is it safe for me to come up there?” he called up to Alec with a grin.

“Yeah man,” Alec nodded. He studiously avoided looking down, not wanting to see the pile of offensive flowers that he was sure was littering the floor now. He watched as Jake gathered up some boxes, fairly small and started climbing the stairs. The smell of food wafted before him and Alec's stomach grumbled frantically.

It was that hunger that had prompted the two transgenics to chance a peek out. And to their surprise, as Alec stepped back to let Jake in, taking a few of the boxes from him, someone had evidently realized that the leaders hadn't made it down to mess hall.

“There's a couple more on my desk,” Jake told him as he began to unload his largess before Max on her desk. “Can you grab 'em?”

“Sure,” Alec nodded, his mouth salivating. “No problem,” he muttered as he made his way down to Jake's desk. There were three more boxes and he stacked them efficiently and then made a quick turn, when he heard Max's shriek.

“I'll kill them! What the hell was Joshua thinking! Why won't they stop! Do I have to paint myself white and stroll around the city so they'll get the idea! This is too much! Get me Joshua on the phone now!”

The tirade was continuing as Alec, puzzled, ran up the steps to see what the hell was happening now. Was Max being bombarded with rose arrows through her window or something? But Jake had apparently found more amusement in this situation as he ducked out of Alec's way, probably to get out of the line of fire.

Alec entered her office, the boxes of grub almost forgotten, to see Max, furious, holding her phone to her ear. Her eyes widened as she took in his laden arms and then she crumpled once more, to the position he had first found her in. Sitting on her chair, her arms on her desk, head buried.

“Max... what-?” he began, but then, the overwhelming scent of pheromones hit his nostrils again and his eyes widened as he glared down at the boxes in his hands and then stormed over to the desk. All of them contained, as expected, food to tempt their fair leader. But taped to the undersides of the lids, were more of those freaking roses! The boxes dropped from Alec's hands to the floor and dismayed at the persistence of those assholes, because there was another friggin' rose from Dolph, all he could do was breath, hard and fast.

Without even stopping to think on how his behavior might be viewed, Alec started tearing the roses from the boxes, gathering them up, mangling them slightly as he did so, and then, stalking to the door, threw them with as much strength as he could muster, into the mountainous pile outside her door. Alec gripped at the door frame with one hand, the other creating very deep crescent marks in his palm as he tried to calm down.

It wasn't as easy this time around.

At least it wasn't, until he heard Max grab up her phone again. She connected right away and he heard her ask, “Joshua? How many of those white and yellow roses did Cindy provide us with?” There was a pause and then, “yeah, well, can you put my name on the taken list?” His heart clenched and then eased when she scoffed. “No! I just want them to stop. No more roses, no dinners, no presents! It's distracting, annoying and it's pissing me off! Just please, have the roses ready for me. It looks like I've got a long night ahead of me.”

His clenching fingers eased. Was he hearing things right? Making the correct leaps of logic? She didn't want any of them. There wasn't one that she wanted... He gulped, just a little. Did that mean, he might still...?

He turned, an easy smile on his face once more as he made his way back to her side. “Hey Maxie?” he called softly and she glanced up at him from where she was seated. “I get that it's pissing you off, but you should still eat.” He pushed one of the boxes towards her, noting that it wasn't her favorite. He scanned the boxes, bending over to pick up the three he had dropped. He settled those on the desk and with a charming grin, opened them up one by one. “Looks like, crud on a stick, burger of indeterminate meat origin or there's roadkill casserole in this one.”

He was startled when she started laughing. Honest to God laughter, so much that after a few minutes she was hanging on to her sides. It was a good sound to hear and finally helped to wipe the residual anger completely from his mind.

“Oh God, Alec,” she finally sighed, wiping at her face as she started pulling the boxes towards herself and grabbing a fork. “How the hell did this happen?” She obviously saw something she wasn't too happy for and pushed it towards him. He glanced in and saw his favorite of the transgenic offerings, the closest approximation to tacos. He grinned as he took it from her. He was about to push the canned chicken dinner towards her, but she had found it for herself. He waited a moment, so they could sate the worst of their hunger before he wiped at his mouth with a paper napkin that had been provided.

“It's like I said earlier,” he shrugged. He pondered a moment and then admitted to her. “It's mostly political. And playing the odds.” She gave him a sharp glance and he swallowed a gulp. “I mean...”

“Some of the boys went wild on their offerings,” she smirked and Alec, after a moment, nodded. She did so as well. “I was afraid that might happen. Them trying to cover as many bases as they could.”

“You think the females might as well?” he wondered. She shrugged.

“Probably,” she sighed and then took another bite of her dinner. “You know what pisses me off though?”

“What's that?” he asked hesitantly. She leaned back a little and gestured to the boxes.

“They wasted a bunch of food,” she replied acerbically. Alec couldn't hide his smile. Just typical of Max to be thinking that way.

“Well you know,” he mused for just a moment. “I bet the transhumans haven't gotten much chance to stop, since they've been on the go all day. Why don't Jake and I pack these up and take them down to Joshua's? I'm sure they'll get eaten.”

“Would you?” Max asked with a relieved sigh. “That'd be great.”

“Not a problem Maxie,” he returned. “You know I'm happy to help.”

“Uh huh,” she muttered dryly. “And probably laughing your ass off at me the whole time.”

“Now would I do that?” he asked automatically, his hand moving to cover his chest. She didn't look upset and Alec was relieved that it wasn't that she thought badly of him, just that it would be his natural inclination to find humor in the situation.

“Well just remember this for when it's your turn tomorrow,” she warned and Alec fought a grimace of distaste at the thought. Did she truly think they were going to have a repeat of this? Surely not.

“Hey, I'm in the same boat you are,” he teased, watching her from the corner of his eye as she shook her head. “I've got absolutely no interest in any of these guys either.”

“Well it's a good thing they're not sending you roses, huh?” Max smirked. “But no, you do realize that there are going to be a flood of roses for you. Unless you already got your answer today.”

Was it Alec's imagination, or did her voice sound just a little thicker, a little sadder? No, probably just wishful thinking on his part.

“Well,” he murmured, “even if I do end up in a rose blizzard, there's not one female out there that holds my interest for longer than it takes to have a conversation about their assigned tasks.”

“Seriously?” Max demanded, looking incredulous, but now Alec thought she sounded pleased. She seemed so guarded.

“Yeah, seriously,” he answered softly. There was a moment, just the tiniest millisecond where it looked like she might say something, but then... it passed and in silence, they continued their meals.

*****

The meals that Alec had Jake help him deliver, more than they originally thought, since it seemed to be a popular idea that had caught on quickly among the power hungry and cajoling males that couldn't bear to take no for an answer. Several more meals had appeared while Max and Alec had gotten their fill. Alec told the last messenger to redirect the meals to the transhuman deliverers, which they'd been more than happy to do.

Once in the converted room that Joshua was finally able to concentrate on cleaning up, since all the rose deliveries had gone out. He'd happily told Alec as he'd eaten the meal he had chosen, that they could cross several females off the lists, since they had received the rose they'd wanted from the right male and had returned said rose to accept the proposal. About one quarter of the population participating in this scheme had now paired off, and very happily too. He then regaled Alec with a tale of one of the males that had come in with several packages.

Len, or X4-198, as he had formerly been known as, had picked out one pink rose and one recipient. After it had gone out, he had sat patiently until the answer from X5-612, Ashley had come back. Her scent was mixed with him. His next act had been to attach a little trinket, he wouldn't say what it was. He sent that off and then again, waited. The return had been the rose with a note that had made him laugh. This had gone on all day until, just an hour ago, Len had tied a small jewelry box to the rose.

The return, had been Ashley herself, wearing the ring that Len had made out of some polished copper piping, throwing her arms around him, screaming yes! The entire room had broken out in applause. And then Len had taken their rose and put it through the buttonhole of his shirt to let their world know that he was a happily taken man. Apparently, according to Joshua, the females were still sighing over that.

And Alec couldn't blame them. Transgenics knew how to plan, how to be patient, in most cases. Good things came to those who waited. At least that was what he had constantly told himself over the last few years about many things. It was Joshua's comment, that he was relieved that none of the other males had picked up on the gift exchange, or they would have had even more deliveries for Max, that pricked at his heart.

He spent quite a bit of time entertaining Joshua, just as the big man entertained him with conversation, while Joshua ate two of the meals that they had brought back. All of the work he had been putting in on this project needed fuel and none begrudged him that. But kind hearted Joshua of course loaded up all the trays and boxes and made it known that he was heading down to mess to return the utensils and plates. Several others added their detritus to his and Joshua gave Alec a farewell nod, tilting his chin just a little. A few softly spoken words to others on his way out and then he was gone, promising to be back soon.

Alec didn't realize it then, but Joshua had been uttering soft instructions to the others. So when he suddenly found the others making excuses to head out of the craft room, he didn't think much of it. Until all of a sudden he realized with the last transhuman remarking that she needed to meet her friend and walked out the door, that he was utterly alone. With a sigh, he gathered himself, debating on waiting for Joshua here or walking back to the main offices and check on the situation.

Remembering how angry, how betrayed he had felt, seeing all those roses surrounding Max... It was probably better for everyone, and he did mean everyone, that he stay here and try to remain calm. Leaning against one of the tables that the transhumans had re-organized, Alec barely realized that he was rubbing one of the fake pink petal leaves between his fingers, until he turned his hand and felt the slight sting of a fake thorn.

Glancing down, he chuckled as he lifted up the flower. It was in a discarded pile, probably because of the too true to life thorns. A random bit of trivia floated up in his mind as he stared at the fake flower. Roses technically didn't have thorns. They had prickles. Smirking to himself, he realized that the flower he held would have been the perfect one for Max. Partly soft looking, deceptively sharp, but beautiful nonetheless. If only it were real...

The idea had been fulminating in his brain for much longer than he cared to admit and Alec dropped the pink rose with a sigh. No matter what way he thought, what careful plan he came up with, there was always the certainty, that little nagging voice in the back of his mind that told him she'd never go for it. She would never be interested in the schmuck she saw him as. And no matter how hard he had tried to change her image of him, the first impression was the greatest and the worst. He'd never recover from her thinking that he was the reincarnation of her brother, dead at her own hands.

Then there was that little issue of telling her he had to impregnate her, as per Manticore's orders. Yeah, romantic as hell, as much as that kick to the gut had been.

But if he could... Alec smiled, his hands reaching out to gather roses to him. There weren't enough in the room to convey... Not even when they had first been delivered. Of course the roses were just symbolic, standing in where words failed. Maybe a little more symbolism wouldn't hurt? Alec wasn't artistic, not as he thought of it. Yes, he knew how to play the piano, but he hadn't truly learned the passion for it until Rachel had died. He had learned the hard way that passion wasn't all beauty and intensity, it was pain and forging strength to fuel your drive. But the bouquet of flowers that he had assembled had a certain flair to it. Especially when wrapped from bottom of fake, plastic stems to the lowest bloom in a wide baby pink and the intricate knot of gold braid to hold it together. It was doubtful that many knew what the knot would mean, hearkening back to the days when 'tying the knot' was the very literal translation.

Smiling softly, Alec lifted the bouquet to his face. Too bad it didn't smell like the real thing, he decided. There was only his own scent. And that was probably all there would ever be. He sighed and was about to take it all apart, when the bouquet was torn from his hands.

“Hot run!” Joshua barked out as he whirled away from Alec, taking the blasted flowers with him. Alec was so stunned for a moment, that he hadn't heard Joshua return, that Joshua had taken the bouquet, that he was running off...

To where? God and Joshua only knew. But Alec was fearful of two very distinct things. That Joshua had it all wrong. Or worse? That he had it right.

Unfortunately, Alec's fear and startlement gave Joshua enough of a head start that catching him was going to be impossible. The transgenic, for all that he was huge, was fast. Probably too many years of learning to scurry away from the guards at Manticore. Or the scramble for food. Both were powerful motivators.

Alec didn't care that they were creating a spectacle, racing through the streets of Terminal City as all and sundry stared after them. Of course, it didn't help that Joshua was laughing, yelling things like 'hot run!' and 'special delivery coming through!' to clear his path as he headed straight for headquarters. The largest group that had broken apart for Joshua to pass had quickly bunched up again to turn and stare after the large transhuman. Thus they didn't see Alec coming, who bowled several people over, thus slowing him even further. Going around them hadn't even entered his mind.

When he at last reached head quarters, he dashed inside and was stopped cold when he saw that Joshua had already reached Max's office. Swearing under his breath, Alec's eyes darted around, but the main office was empty, abandoned. Quaking under the thought of going up there and trying to play it all off as a joke, Alec instead hurried to the support wall opposite the stairs across the room. He shimmied up the braces and once atop the catwalk, finding the appropriate placement to see through the open door, stilled and watched the horrific episode unfolding before his eyes, across the way.

“Joshua, hey,” Max greeted happily, standing from her desk. Alec could just see her head over Joshua's shoulder from his new vantage point. “Did you bring those answer roses I needed?”

“Not yet Max,” Joshua answered gently, his voice slightly muffled as he was facing away from Alec. “One last offer before Max make her decision.” He took his hand from behind his back to present her with the bouquet that Alec had created as the transgenic male muttered curses under his breath. His eyes however, were glued to the figures across the way. He had to know...

“All these?” she sighed. “Who're they from?” Joshua's hand dropped, empty, so she must have taken them.

“Max smell,” Joshua said simply. Any other time, Alec would have snorted and giggled over that, but he was straining, waiting.

“This is...?” Max's voice was high, sounding... panicked? Suddenly her dark hair disappeared from his view and Alec winced when Joshua suddenly moved forward. He could see little more, but heard her voice again. “What does he mean?” His lower lip started to hurt, he was chewing on it so hard as he tried to breathe quietly.

“Let's see,” Joshua mused as he leaned over the young woman. “Count twenty-eight roses. Enough for a month, a moon time. In month, a few white roses, Alec not want anything from Max. Yellow roses, days Alec just want Max to be his friend. So many red, must have a great passion for Max. And look, more than one pink. Alec must really want to be Max's mate.”

There was a moment of silence and then her voice, higher than before, pained and upset. “For a month?” Joshua laughed, loud and hard before reaching to pat at some part of her body. Probably her head, as he did when she didn't fully understand something he had to explain to her.

“Not enough roses to last for every day of Max's life,” Joshua told her calmly. Alec, as tense as he was, was still relieved that someone had gotten it. It was exactly how he had meant it. And even though Max hadn't gotten it, at least she'd had someone other than him to explain it. Because as it was, Alec didn't think he could ever look her in the eye after this moment. But that didn't stop him from watching. She murmured something that he couldn't decipher and Joshua chuckled again. “Joshua go get answer roses now. Max have decision to make.”

She didn't answer and Joshua simply turned and exited the office. Once he was out of the way, clattering back down the stairs, Alec had a clear view of the woman that he loved desperately, intimately and would for the rest of his days. Crouching, poised, barely breathing, he watched her leaning against her desk, staring down at the bouquet in her hands, his heart screaming mutely.

At long last, one of her hands moved and Alec watched with a sinking heart and stomach as her hands deftly found the few white roses and plucked them from the bouquet before she set the rest of the bouquet on her desk. His breathing picked up, heaving almost now as he watched her regard the white roses in her hand and then give a small nod before she pushed herself away from the desk and moved out of his eye line.

With a gasp, Alec collapsed silently the rest of the way to the rickety floor of the cat walk. He hadn't realized until that second that there had been some secret part of his heart that had been hoping so desperately...

And all he wanted now was to be somewhere hidden away, somewhere he could lick his innumerable wounds. After all, he finally had his answer.

*****

The walk down to the bar seemed longer than ever. That could have been exacerbated by the fact that it seemed no matter which way Alec turned, there were couples that had found their happy ever after.

They had been there before, but Alec had been in a much more magnanimous mood to deal with them before. The before where his heart hadn't been ripped out, shredded into bits, trampled, thrown into a blender to be pureed and then handed back to him with an indifference that cut deeper than a sword.

He noticed too though that there was a crowd spilling around The Crook's Nook, not their brainchild of a name, but what they could make out of the faded paint on the sign over the door. Not just a heavy rotation of patrons, all male, inside, but lounging out of doors as well. Not like the sector cops were there to enforce the no bottles outside of a bar rule. Not like there were bottles, since the only thing the Nook offered was Mole's rotgut brew. It was not for the faint of heart. And it was the only thing aside from certain death that numbed a transgenic.

The other thing that he noticed as well, was that all the males seemed to be sporting white roses somewhere on their body, most on their shirts or jackets. Here and there were a few yellow roses and when he saw the glum faces that went with the flowers, he understood. Len, that blasted example had pinned the rose that Ashley had returned to him as a clear signal, like the rest of the population had needed it, that they were now together.

So those that had been rejected were gathering to commiserate. But that was not what Alec wanted. He just wanted numb, unfeeling... he wanted a bubble. Where people couldn't see his true misery and therefore ask about it, where they couldn't hear the pain in his voice. He was sure it would be there as he edged his way through to the bar. But it wasn't necessary, because the moment someone realized that he had no drink, one was pressed into his hand.

And grateful for teeny tiny mercies, Alec gulped the brew down, ignoring the burn it produced in his throat immediately and probably the steam coming out his ears. Once the liquid had disappeared down his throat, he gasped and held the glass out before himself. “Another,” he commanded breathlessly. Glasses were switched out and he repeated his actions, only seconds slower than the first draught.

“Damn man,” Ford grunted. “Guess we don't need to ask who you finally got the stones to...” he trailed off as Alec managed the amazing feat of glaring daggers at the man while finishing his drink. Ford handed him a third glass and spun away to fill more orders. A slight buzz filling his ears that he knew wasn't the hum of conversation, though there was plenty of talking going on, Alec stumbled to the closest empty seat. Right into the midst of a sob session of who had been approaching whom and why it was the saddest day ever to be a male. He snorted softly as one of them, he couldn't be bothered to look and see who it was, murmured wistfully,

“It'll be better tomorrow. Who knows, probably some chicks out there that are just waiting to make their moves.”

“Yeah,” replied another disembodied voice from close by, “why the hell are we sittin' around here like asses. We should be out checkin' out what's left.”

“Fuck man, I'm not trollin' the losers!”

“And you wonder why you're sittin' here tonight, ya dick!”

It went on like that for some time before the matter was settled to everyone's satisfaction, though Alec could care less. Before, he would have been with the group that had left, lookin' to offer solace and sex to those that hadn't found a mate that night. Looking for a good time. He could try that again, but fresh in the face of rejection, Alec wasn't sure he'd be ever to look another female in the face again.

Alec had no idea when or how he came to be poured into his bed. What he did know was that for the first time in his life, and even with drinking Mole's brew before, he had woken with a hangover. The pounding, the nausea, the dizziness, all like Sketchy had complained of before. Alec knew then that he'd never tease Sketch again as long as he lived. Which, if the pounding continued, might not be that long of a promise to fulfill.

Gradually, he worked himself, still in his clothes from the previous day, thankfully minus footwear, to the edge of the bed, where, instead of sitting up, he just rolled over, landing on his hands and knees on the floor. The pounding intensified and this time, came with an obnoxiously happy voice.

“Alec up?” Joshua called through the door. “Delivery time!”

Squinting at the red numbers of the clock face on his dresser, Alec couldn't make them out as they blurred. Whatever the time was, it was still too damn early for Josh to be there. Maybe a few years from now they could discuss delivery time. But Joshua was not a happy transhuman to be ignored. The pounding started up again as Alec tiredly trailed to his bathroom.

Every squeaking floorboard, every protesting metal groan, it all thrummed straight to his head. But water was needed because even transgenics could dehydrate. Of course, it was a measure of how messed up he was that he didn't realize that dehydration could lead to his death and thus end this mess he had created with his spur of the moment idiocy. Well, that and Joshua's fleet footedness.

“Alec! Got delivery for you,” Joshua called again. But there was no noise on the door and the man sounded much closer than he ought.

“Go away Joshua,” he called back. “I'm not a business. I'm not open, just... leave!” With a muffled groan, blinking wearily, Alec tossed back the tepid water from the glass he'd just filled, feeling like he'd drunk a mix of bile and cigarette butts. Smacking his lips together disgustedly, he stared a puzzled moment at the glass in his hand, until he realized that he had tasted that before he had drank the water.

Feeling decidedly stupid, he set the glass back down and reached for his toothbrush and paste. His movements slow, he began the task of cleaning up, studiously avoiding his reflection in the mirror. It was then that Joshua, standing outside the bathroom door now, tried again.

“Alec, have delivery for you,” he repeated. “From Max.” It was said simply but Alec still cringed instinctively.

“Forget about it man,” he finally answered, defeated, leaning heavily on the counter surrounding the sink. “I already know her answer.”

“How Alec know?” Joshua chuckled. “Alec not have special sight. Not a mind reader.” He laughed again at his own joke as Alec pulled the toothbrush from his mouth fully.

“Didn't need it,” he snapped slightly. “I saw her last night. When you delivered them. I heard what she...”

“Alec cheated?” Joshua sounded so surprised and taken aback that Alec winced.

“No!” he protested automatically. And then tiredly. “Yeah... whatever. Fact is, I've got my answer already. So you can just toddle off and finish making your rounds.”

“Yes, Joshua needs to go,” the big man sighed. “Flowers getting heavy.”

“Well then, go,” Alec grunted. “I'm not stopping ya!”

“No,” Joshua snapped back. “Joshua chubby angel today. Alec, you take these flowers!”

Flowers? Alec squinted his eyes once more, twisting slightly to see Joshua pushing the door open. “Flowers?” he repeated out loud. “Christ! She hates me that much that she has to send a bouquet of fuck you's...” his voice trailed off as the first sight of a large bouquet of flowers entered his sight. He had to blink several times rapidly to make sure that his vision hadn't suddenly gone wonky.

There before him in a mass of greenery were the luscious reds, vivid yellows and most of all, the delicate pinks of the system they had denoted. His hand came up automatically as Joshua thrust them forward. The weight of the bouquet in his hand brought him out of his stupor.

“These...?” he began, but somehow, a suspicious moisture in his eyes and a lump in his throat kept him from saying more. His gaze darted from one flower to the next. Not a single white among them.

But surely that couldn't be right. He brought them closer and a familiar tang of scent exploded in his face and he inhaled deeply, savoring it, then realizing that it was more than that. He buried his face deeper, taking in the combined scent of her... and him. And just a hint of Joshua, but Alec's mind was quick to assure him it was just from the big guy handling it as his duties suggested.

“There's no white,” he mumbled and glanced up when Joshua started howling with laughter.

“No white, barely any yellow left,” he guffawed. “Max have to use them up to send her answers today.”

“Really?” he had never known his own voice to sound so... so young and hopeful.

“Yeah,” Joshua nodded. He clapped Alec on the shoulder, making the shorter male wince. “Better hurry though Lots of males still see red for Max.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alec repeated, his eyes wide, his mind whirling. “I should... I should... go? Right? I mean, she...”

“Uh,” Joshua leaned back to regard his friend and then shook his head. “Alec clean up first?” he tried to suggest delicately and Alec, a clear plan given to him, nodded his head for just a moment, his eyes still lit up though, even against the monster stomping in his brain.

“Right,” he agreed. “Shower, shave, fresh clothes,” he decided, but first, reached for the pink rose that held her scent alone and pulled it clear of the rest. He held it aloft to his nose and inhaled deeply. “It's gonna be a good, good day, Josh my man!”

“That it is,” Joshua nodded back solemnly.

It didn't take an electrically charged Alec long to finish preparing. Yes, he wanted to run to her straight away, but he also had the good sense not to insult her by making her ill with his appearance and lingering scent of Mole's home brew. So when he left his apartment, he was dressed as impeccably as possible, his hair smoothed down, every inch of skin gleaming from the scrubbing he had applied to himself.

While he had dressed, Joshua had created a bouttionere for his lapel with the flower that he had chosen. Alec had grinned and expressed his thanks and then left the big man to his other deliveries. It wasn't a far walk to Max's apartment from his, but it felt like he was walking on clouds the entire way. He knocked gently at her door, holding the bouquet she had returned to him before his chest, like the enraptured suitor that he was.

When she made it to the door, he could almost swear that he heard heavier than usual breathing, making him wonder if she was still nervous or unsure about this. And when the door swung inwards, he could see it in her eyes. The half smirk that lifted one corner of his mouth was softer than usual as he lifted the bouquet anymore.

“Seems that this lovely flower arrangement was waiting for me when I got up this morning,” he offered quietly. “Sure brightened my day. Thank you Max.” The words were full of sincerity and he hoped to any major deity that he couldn't seem to wrap his mind around at the moment that she could sense that. Know that.

But her attention faltered just slightly as she leaned on the door. She had made no move to invite him in and in the tiny silence that followed his words, Alec began to feel his nerves trying to make their way back up his throat. But then, her hand reached out, past the bouquet, past his arm, the tips of her finger resting against the boutonnière that Joshua had made. Alec's eyes followed her hand as she brushed the petals and then back to see her lip tremble and the tears gathering in her eyes.

“I was hoping that I'd see this,” she whispered before her hand dropped. With that admission, Alec took one large step forward, pushing the door shut behind him and swept her into his arms. There was no hesitancy now as his lips descended to hers already turned up to meet his. The moment their mouths met, it was like an explosion of every known firework was going off between them and Alec finally felt like he had found where he belonged.

As he held her as close as physically possible, she squirming and burrowing further into his embrace, Alec realized that it didn't matter if the rest of the world saw red for her, because together they would only see pink. And in the long run, as always, it only mattered what Max thought. And he had definitely received her answer.

*****

Tucked up together in bed, Alec stretched out his full length, he was musing on the events that had led them here, to this place.

“That was effing amazing,” he sighed happily. Then turned his head slightly. “Wasn't that amazing?” Max, turned in to his side, her head cradled on his chest, murmured something and he tilted his head to hear. “What was that sweetheart?”

Max lifted her head and turned it slightly, smiling beatifically, and repeated herself. “Yes, amazing. Tired now. An' a little sore.”

“Oh, of course,” Alec nodded, his left hand coming up to gently nudge her head back to his chest. “Sleep. You deserve some rest.” She did as he instructed, dropping off quickly as Alec continued to stare up at the ceiling. He was full of restless energy, but instinct told him to stay put with his mate. He wanted to crow from the rooftops, but Maxie needed him here. After the miraculous moments they had shared not long prior, it was the least he could do. To stay by her side, instead of hieing off to brag his devastatingly well shaped arse off about their insane happiness.

He chuckled to himself as he thought that scenario through. He was quite sure that the populace of Terminal City would be quite bemused with him. Bragging over something that the majority of whom he would be bragging to, having already accomplished said task. Mating, so huge, so intense and so very private when you came right down to it. There really was no need, the news was sure to be spread through other means. Alec would stay put where he was truly needed. Where he had found bliss. He glanced down at Max once more, the amazement and love not abating one iota.

The pride that had been building in his chest over the last several hours was nearly ready to burst when a knock came at the door. He called out softly, waiting to hear who it was before he bade her enter.

Luna came in slowly, her flowered outfit making Alec grin again. He had no idea who it had been that had found scrub outfits for their med team, but it gave the nurses a sort of festive air. And for an event like this, it was entirely approapriate.

“Hey hey, Daddy,” Luna greeted, her arms full as she approached the bed. “Max asleep?”

“Yeah,” Alec nodded, extracting himself from his mate's side just a little. She turned in her sleep, wincing some as the movement pained her in some way. “Just a few minutes ago, she dropped off.”

“Good,” Luna nodded. She was right by the bed as Alec got himself to a seated position. He held his arms out as Luna deposited their newborn daughter into his arms. “We had a good bath, excellent check with Doc and now she's probably about as tuckered as her momma. Did you guys pick a name yet?”

“Still undecided,” he grinned, barely sparing Luna a glance as he watched his child yawning delicately. Max however, seemed to be more aware than she had been letting on, because she patted at his leg.

“Rose,” she mumbled and Alec grinned. He carefully extracted his left hand from his daughter's underside to sooth his wife.

“All right honey, if you insist,” he chuckled and then did look up fully at Luna. “Looks like we're going with Rose Elise McDowell.”

“Gotcha,” Luna nodded, whipping out a slip of paper and pen from her scrub top pocket and writing it down. She moved over to the bassinet, old and used, but still serviceable and inserted the card into the slot that held the baby's information. She gave it a pat and then another smile to Alec. “Call me if you need a hand with anything,” she instructed and then slipped out of the room. Alec was already worshiping at the tiny altar of love his, no, their daughter had brought with her arrival.

“Yeah,” Alec murmured as his daughter waved one tiny fist that had worked it's way loose from the pink blanket she was swaddled in. He inserted one finger into her hand, her grip as strong and as sure with him as her mother's was. “You're definitely a Rose. My little flower bud. I'll tell you something sweetie,” he crooned, lifting her slightly, enjoying the fresh clean scent of baby. The mixture of him, of Max and something that was all Rose's own, mingling and invading his mind like incense. “Just like pink has always been the softer side of red? You're definitely the softest side of Momma and me.”

And as Rose Elise yawned once more and fell to sleep to dream baby dreams, her father plotted and planned, glad that he had bought all that pink paint for the baby's nursery. That Joshua had gladly volunteered to paint it for him. That Cindy had created a beautiful cake to celebrate the coming McDowell baby. That friends and their family had come together to help them prepare with clothes, food and furniture.

Amazed, that all the love that had started with some red roses and even more colorful passion could culminate in this miraculous event.

FAtZR2- Taste