Dark Angel fic: Secrets Chapter 11 {M/A}
Title: Secrets
Author: sanaazzy
Genre: Drama/Angst/Humour
Rating: PG-13 to M
Status: Complete: Multi-chaptered
Summary: During her stay at Manticore and the breeding program Max and Alec form a relationship. Now outside and back with Logan, Alec returns and wants her back. MA
Disclaimer - I don’t own anything
Chapter 11
Work to do
With the antigen safely in the pocket of her camouflaged pants, Max paced back and forth in the small space of the elevator and forced herself to breathe. She was almost there, just a few more seconds and she’d be with Logan. Hopefully his condition hadn’t gotten worse.
She inhaled deeply through her nose, and nodded encouragingly. Yes, Logan was going to make it. He was a fighter. He wouldn’t leave her, especially now.
She was back, and they could make this thing between them work. They can finally be together. No more games.
Max paused mid-step. Who was she kidding? Life as she knew it with Logan was officially over. There was no way for them to be together. She was a disease; an incurable disease.
Her chest tightened as tears burned behind her eyes. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Manticore was finally gone, she had done it, she had finally done it. She had burnt it to the ground. Manticore couldn’t hurt them anymore, it was over, and she was finally free.
Yet, she felt trapped.
Her chest tightened more and she gasped, the tears she had fought to control slipped and slowly rolled down her cheeks. Max dropped to her knees on the shiny elevator floor and let her head hang, breathing in through her nose and breathing out through her mouth. Once. Twice; until a pattern had formed.
She lifted her head and leaned back, wiping away the tears with her warm hands. There was no time for tears; time was not on her side.
The elevator jerked to a stop and she shot to her feet. The doors opened and she briskly walked out, pushed the doors to Logan’s penthouse open and stepped in, closing the door quietly behind her.
Her long strides got her to the living room in no time and she froze. A slim, tall woman with short blonde hair was leaning over Logan’s unconscious body. She was breathing heavily as if she had just done some heavy lifting. Max watched as the woman slowly removed his skewed glasses from his sweaty face, the deep red welts on his pale skin more noticeable than before. Her eyes slid to his chest, rising slowly and deflating with each laboured breath. He was dying.
A sob choked out from her tightly compressed lips and tears once again filled her eyes, blurring her perfect vision. She blinked a few times to clear them. The woman jerked up at the sound and twisted around to face Max, and her eyes widened.
“I thought you were dead.” She whispered, the tone of her voice hesitant yet slightly cold.
“No” Max stepped further into the living room and stopped in front of the couch, her hand gripping the arm. She wanted to touch him, to feel him. “How is he?”
“Not good.” The woman finally replied. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but I called his Doctor. He should be here soon”
Max pulled out the antigen from her pocket, scrutinizing the clear liquid. “Do you know where his first aid kit is?”
From the corner of her eye she saw the woman nod, then walk away towards the bathroom. A few seconds later, Max heard a cupboard door slam, and footsteps making their way back.
“I’m Asha” The woman said, thrusting the small red first-aid box at her.
“Thanks” Max took the kit from Asha, dropped to the floor and flipped it open. She pulled out a syringe, removed the outer packaging and plunged the thin long needle into the clear antigen, sucking it from the small vial and into the syringe. When the vial was empty she dropped it onto the floor, held up the syringe vertically, and tapped it lightly while softly pushing down the plunger, forcing out all the air bubbles. She stood up and turned to Asha and held the syringe out to her.
“I can’t touch him. It’ll just make it worse.”
Asha stared at her outstretched hand and then stared at the needle. Her blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What is it?”
“The cure”
“For what?”
“The virus. Look he doesn’t have much time left. Please.” she pushed the syringe out again and Asha grabbed it, looked at it apprehensively, and then sighed defeatedly. She bent down, kneeling on the floor beside Logan and grabbed a piece of wool, injected the antigen into his arm, pulled out the needle and pressed the wool onto his arm. Still kneeling beside him, her free hand pushed back his long hair from his wet forehead.
“What now?”
Max silently moved to the side of the room until her back hit the large window. What now? If only she knew. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Asha lovingly stroke Logan’s hair. Maybe Logan had moved on? No that wasn’t right; Logan wouldn’t have kissed her if he had moved on. Unless it was an ‘I’m-glad-you’re-alive’ kiss, not an ‘I love you and I missed you’ kiss. Max’s chin quivered and a vice-like grip crushed her heart, her stomach clenching, and the intensity of the pain once again blurred her vision. Mortified, she turned her back on them and let her forehead rest on the cool window as the tears fell.
There she stood questioning Logan’s love for her when she was the one who had cheated. She had lain with another man, an X5. Max bit her lips and squeezed her eyes shut as the tears increased. Piercing guilt wound its way through her very being, guilt for herself, guilt for Logan, and guilt for Alec.
Her breath hitched at his name, the tears subsiding. Alec.
How it suited him. The self-confidence and recklessness floated around him, like an invisible shield. Her very own ‘Smart Alec’.
A small watery smile slowly made its way to her lips. He sure was something.
“Max!”
Max spun around, quickly swiping at her face at the dried tears. Logan’s eyes were open; he blinked a few times, smiled at Asha and then turned his head to face her. Max took a step forward then forced herself back.
“You don’t have to stand all the way over there” he croaked, his mouth dry.
He tried to sit up and Asha rushed to help him, one of her hands on his shoulder the other on his elbow. She checked his eyes and handed him his glasses smiling.
“Thanks Asha”
Her smile widened “Anytime” She pulled back and looked at Max. “I’ll leave you two alone” she smiled then walked towards the kitchen, her footsteps and Logan’s breathing the only sounds in the spacious penthouse.
“Come closer”
Max looked at him, the red welts were almost gone though beads of sweat still lingered on his forehead. He was recovering. The corner of her mouth lifted in a little, almost smile.
“Better not risk it. We don’t know how easy it is for me to re-infect you, and...that was the last of the antigen.”
“We’re gonna find a way to beat this”
“Yeah” she nodded, not really believing it. Manticore knew what it was doing, heck it had made her. “But you should concentrate on getting better. I gotta go.” She took a few tentative steps, slowly making her way out.
“You know, things are different now. Back when you first got out, it was just the twelve of you. Now there’s a lot more” Logan called out and she froze, Alec and Joshua came to mind alongside the feeling of loss. Her pursuit of leaving Manticore and returning to Logan had caused her to lose them, and now Logan too.
How ironic.
“They’ll lay low” she hoped they would.
“You don’t want it getting around that you and yours are out in the world. People tend to get scared of things that are different. Keep your head down.”
A flicker of irritation ran through her but she squashed it down. She had lived in the corrupted world for a decade; she knew how the world worked. If homosexuals, who were human, were feared - then there was no hope for her kind.
“I always do.”
**************************************
Alec stood on the building opposite Eyes only aka Logan’s penthouse, watching. His features and the outline of his body swallowed in the dark shadows. He flipped his leather collar up, hunched his shoulders and stuffed his fists into the pockets of his dark khakis. Even with his body temperature three degrees higher than the average human, he was freezing. His enhanced vision zoomed into Logan’s window and he watched Max leaning against it, while a slim blonde woman paced.
Regret curled around him. He knew firsthand what it felt like to lose someone you loved, heck; he still had nightmares of Rachel’s death - no matter how hard Manticore had tried to torture it out of him. Some things were just unforgettable. And he didn’t want Max to face the same thing.
He knew whatever happened to Logan was not his fault - because quite frankly it wasn’t. It was his job. He did what he had to do; Survival of the fittest.
But - a part of him ached.
Not for Logan - even if the guy stuck his nose in government business, he didn’t deserve to die like that - but for Max. He knew no matter what she did to him, he would still care.
And that was his weakness. His flaw - according to Manticore. The one thing that was one day sure to get him killed.
The woman jerked to stand over Logan, and slowly helped him sit upwards. He had survived, this time.
They didn’t belong together - humans and transgenics just didn’t mix, one night stands didn’t count because you’d probably never see them again, but relationships were a big no- he’d tried and look where that had ended up, Rachel six-foot-under and a one-way ticket to psy-ops and reindoctrination for him. Maybe Max will finally see the truth- well the quicker the better. Laughter bubbled out of him, though there was no amusement. Yeah right.
He rolled his shoulders, trying to release some tension as he thought about what to do next. Manticore had betrayed them. It had tried to literally burn them alive and when they had escaped, shot at them like dogs. They were alone for the first time of their lives, children, anomalies, and the X-series. None of them knew what to do- but survive.
Manticore may of been the worst place imaginable, but it was home, it was the only place they knew, and it was the only place where they were somewhat accepted. They were too different for the outside world. Nothing good was going to come out of being out here, things were just going to get ugly. They weren’t free. They were going to have to fight to survive, again.
The end
Please review ;)
Next to the sequel - Secrets: Against his kind
back to chapters 6-10
back to chapters 1-5
Author: sanaazzy
Genre: Drama/Angst/Humour
Rating: PG-13 to M
Status: Complete: Multi-chaptered
Summary: During her stay at Manticore and the breeding program Max and Alec form a relationship. Now outside and back with Logan, Alec returns and wants her back. MA
Disclaimer - I don’t own anything
Chapter 11
Work to do
With the antigen safely in the pocket of her camouflaged pants, Max paced back and forth in the small space of the elevator and forced herself to breathe. She was almost there, just a few more seconds and she’d be with Logan. Hopefully his condition hadn’t gotten worse.
She inhaled deeply through her nose, and nodded encouragingly. Yes, Logan was going to make it. He was a fighter. He wouldn’t leave her, especially now.
She was back, and they could make this thing between them work. They can finally be together. No more games.
Max paused mid-step. Who was she kidding? Life as she knew it with Logan was officially over. There was no way for them to be together. She was a disease; an incurable disease.
Her chest tightened as tears burned behind her eyes. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Manticore was finally gone, she had done it, she had finally done it. She had burnt it to the ground. Manticore couldn’t hurt them anymore, it was over, and she was finally free.
Yet, she felt trapped.
Her chest tightened more and she gasped, the tears she had fought to control slipped and slowly rolled down her cheeks. Max dropped to her knees on the shiny elevator floor and let her head hang, breathing in through her nose and breathing out through her mouth. Once. Twice; until a pattern had formed.
She lifted her head and leaned back, wiping away the tears with her warm hands. There was no time for tears; time was not on her side.
The elevator jerked to a stop and she shot to her feet. The doors opened and she briskly walked out, pushed the doors to Logan’s penthouse open and stepped in, closing the door quietly behind her.
Her long strides got her to the living room in no time and she froze. A slim, tall woman with short blonde hair was leaning over Logan’s unconscious body. She was breathing heavily as if she had just done some heavy lifting. Max watched as the woman slowly removed his skewed glasses from his sweaty face, the deep red welts on his pale skin more noticeable than before. Her eyes slid to his chest, rising slowly and deflating with each laboured breath. He was dying.
A sob choked out from her tightly compressed lips and tears once again filled her eyes, blurring her perfect vision. She blinked a few times to clear them. The woman jerked up at the sound and twisted around to face Max, and her eyes widened.
“I thought you were dead.” She whispered, the tone of her voice hesitant yet slightly cold.
“No” Max stepped further into the living room and stopped in front of the couch, her hand gripping the arm. She wanted to touch him, to feel him. “How is he?”
“Not good.” The woman finally replied. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but I called his Doctor. He should be here soon”
Max pulled out the antigen from her pocket, scrutinizing the clear liquid. “Do you know where his first aid kit is?”
From the corner of her eye she saw the woman nod, then walk away towards the bathroom. A few seconds later, Max heard a cupboard door slam, and footsteps making their way back.
“I’m Asha” The woman said, thrusting the small red first-aid box at her.
“Thanks” Max took the kit from Asha, dropped to the floor and flipped it open. She pulled out a syringe, removed the outer packaging and plunged the thin long needle into the clear antigen, sucking it from the small vial and into the syringe. When the vial was empty she dropped it onto the floor, held up the syringe vertically, and tapped it lightly while softly pushing down the plunger, forcing out all the air bubbles. She stood up and turned to Asha and held the syringe out to her.
“I can’t touch him. It’ll just make it worse.”
Asha stared at her outstretched hand and then stared at the needle. Her blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What is it?”
“The cure”
“For what?”
“The virus. Look he doesn’t have much time left. Please.” she pushed the syringe out again and Asha grabbed it, looked at it apprehensively, and then sighed defeatedly. She bent down, kneeling on the floor beside Logan and grabbed a piece of wool, injected the antigen into his arm, pulled out the needle and pressed the wool onto his arm. Still kneeling beside him, her free hand pushed back his long hair from his wet forehead.
“What now?”
Max silently moved to the side of the room until her back hit the large window. What now? If only she knew. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Asha lovingly stroke Logan’s hair. Maybe Logan had moved on? No that wasn’t right; Logan wouldn’t have kissed her if he had moved on. Unless it was an ‘I’m-glad-you’re-alive’ kiss, not an ‘I love you and I missed you’ kiss. Max’s chin quivered and a vice-like grip crushed her heart, her stomach clenching, and the intensity of the pain once again blurred her vision. Mortified, she turned her back on them and let her forehead rest on the cool window as the tears fell.
There she stood questioning Logan’s love for her when she was the one who had cheated. She had lain with another man, an X5. Max bit her lips and squeezed her eyes shut as the tears increased. Piercing guilt wound its way through her very being, guilt for herself, guilt for Logan, and guilt for Alec.
Her breath hitched at his name, the tears subsiding. Alec.
How it suited him. The self-confidence and recklessness floated around him, like an invisible shield. Her very own ‘Smart Alec’.
A small watery smile slowly made its way to her lips. He sure was something.
“Max!”
Max spun around, quickly swiping at her face at the dried tears. Logan’s eyes were open; he blinked a few times, smiled at Asha and then turned his head to face her. Max took a step forward then forced herself back.
“You don’t have to stand all the way over there” he croaked, his mouth dry.
He tried to sit up and Asha rushed to help him, one of her hands on his shoulder the other on his elbow. She checked his eyes and handed him his glasses smiling.
“Thanks Asha”
Her smile widened “Anytime” She pulled back and looked at Max. “I’ll leave you two alone” she smiled then walked towards the kitchen, her footsteps and Logan’s breathing the only sounds in the spacious penthouse.
“Come closer”
Max looked at him, the red welts were almost gone though beads of sweat still lingered on his forehead. He was recovering. The corner of her mouth lifted in a little, almost smile.
“Better not risk it. We don’t know how easy it is for me to re-infect you, and...that was the last of the antigen.”
“We’re gonna find a way to beat this”
“Yeah” she nodded, not really believing it. Manticore knew what it was doing, heck it had made her. “But you should concentrate on getting better. I gotta go.” She took a few tentative steps, slowly making her way out.
“You know, things are different now. Back when you first got out, it was just the twelve of you. Now there’s a lot more” Logan called out and she froze, Alec and Joshua came to mind alongside the feeling of loss. Her pursuit of leaving Manticore and returning to Logan had caused her to lose them, and now Logan too.
How ironic.
“They’ll lay low” she hoped they would.
“You don’t want it getting around that you and yours are out in the world. People tend to get scared of things that are different. Keep your head down.”
A flicker of irritation ran through her but she squashed it down. She had lived in the corrupted world for a decade; she knew how the world worked. If homosexuals, who were human, were feared - then there was no hope for her kind.
“I always do.”
**************************************
Alec stood on the building opposite Eyes only aka Logan’s penthouse, watching. His features and the outline of his body swallowed in the dark shadows. He flipped his leather collar up, hunched his shoulders and stuffed his fists into the pockets of his dark khakis. Even with his body temperature three degrees higher than the average human, he was freezing. His enhanced vision zoomed into Logan’s window and he watched Max leaning against it, while a slim blonde woman paced.
Regret curled around him. He knew firsthand what it felt like to lose someone you loved, heck; he still had nightmares of Rachel’s death - no matter how hard Manticore had tried to torture it out of him. Some things were just unforgettable. And he didn’t want Max to face the same thing.
He knew whatever happened to Logan was not his fault - because quite frankly it wasn’t. It was his job. He did what he had to do; Survival of the fittest.
But - a part of him ached.
Not for Logan - even if the guy stuck his nose in government business, he didn’t deserve to die like that - but for Max. He knew no matter what she did to him, he would still care.
And that was his weakness. His flaw - according to Manticore. The one thing that was one day sure to get him killed.
The woman jerked to stand over Logan, and slowly helped him sit upwards. He had survived, this time.
They didn’t belong together - humans and transgenics just didn’t mix, one night stands didn’t count because you’d probably never see them again, but relationships were a big no- he’d tried and look where that had ended up, Rachel six-foot-under and a one-way ticket to psy-ops and reindoctrination for him. Maybe Max will finally see the truth- well the quicker the better. Laughter bubbled out of him, though there was no amusement. Yeah right.
He rolled his shoulders, trying to release some tension as he thought about what to do next. Manticore had betrayed them. It had tried to literally burn them alive and when they had escaped, shot at them like dogs. They were alone for the first time of their lives, children, anomalies, and the X-series. None of them knew what to do- but survive.
Manticore may of been the worst place imaginable, but it was home, it was the only place they knew, and it was the only place where they were somewhat accepted. They were too different for the outside world. Nothing good was going to come out of being out here, things were just going to get ugly. They weren’t free. They were going to have to fight to survive, again.
The end
Please review ;)
Next to the sequel - Secrets: Against his kind
back to chapters 6-10
back to chapters 1-5