Pleased to meet you
Title: Pleased to meet you
Author: me
Fandom: Supernatural/ Dark Angel
Disclaimer: I own nothing and no-one. I would try and make this comment more interesting but I'm too tired to care.
Summary: A sequel to Isn't it surprising - Or Alec McDowell meets the rest of the Winchesters
Thanks to
twinkiecat and
rospberry for looking at this for me.
Well quick update on my life - have finally gotten my exam results back passed which is good, but my backup plan for a 3rd year project has fallen through due to the machine I am suppose to do a pre validation and comparison on isn't working properly and the project it is due in three weeks, which is bad.
So right now I have half the information for one project that has fallen through and half the information for another that I can't finish until the rep comes to fix the machine and the only advice my manager can give me is can I fake the results on one of them so I'd have something to write about. This is resulted in me having a crummy couple of days with me feeling sorry for myself and trying to salvage something from what I have got as my project is worth a semester's worth of credits, (can't put project A info together with project B because two totally different things).
As you can tell right, I am now being very productive and instead of writing my case study up for the other huge piece of work I am suppose to do (hand in date is May, but as Lab I am doing it in is now in the process of decommissioning and everybody leaving at the end of the month I figure I should try and do the work now so they can correct any of my mistakes.)
Molly was sorting out the children’s collection at the door of the library when Alec walked in.
“Hello there,” she said as he breezed past her.
“Hey,” Alec said, turning around.
“Thought you’d be with your friends?” Molly asked.
“I was wondering if I could borrow your cell? Mine’s playing up, and I really need to call someone,” Alec asked.
“Your phone is fine, Alec, I saw you using it earlier this morning.”
“Please, Moll, I need to call someone and not have an argument about it.”
She sighed and went over to the collection's desk to get her phone. “Here, but don’t be too long on it.”
“Thanks,” he replied as she handed it to him, he dialled a number, which he knew of by heart and waited for a response.
“Speak, OC is listening,” the voice said on the other end of the line.
“Hah, I knew it: you are screening your calls,” Alec said triumphantly.
“Alec, long time, no talk. Hope things out in the boonies are hanging well.”
“Don’t let the next set of words that come out of your mouth be that you’re busy and have to be somewhere else,” Alec said quickly, cutting OC off in mid sentence.
“Why would I be doing that, pretty boy?”
“Why did you tell Joshua that Max needed to be on this one?”
“Why don’t you ask her?” Cindy replied.
“Like she’ll tell me what’s going on.”
“Then it’s Boo’s business, not yours.”
“It’s mine if she turns up on my doorstep,” Alec said firmly. “Cindy, what is going on?”
“Boo and Logan have had a final blow out.”
Alec sighed. “What do you mean final?”
“They had a shave with the virus bitch.”
“He’s all right, isn’t he?”
“It was close, too close, but he’s fine. Still out to save planet earth from all the bad.”
“Then, so what? They’ll do their usual, do the dance around each other, and then go back to making the moon eyes.”
“Think it’s gone too far for that this time, sugar.”
“How?”
“Logan took her advice about moving on; man can only take living like this for so long before something had to break.”
Alec couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What you're saying is that Logan went behind Max’s back.”
“No, he didn’t - he was all out in the open about it - went home with some girl. Not that he did anything with her; walked the girl home, that’s all. And before you get all high and mighty, don’t blame the man, she brought it all on herself.”
“How? They both always talked about how this more than a physical thing,” Alec said. “And seeing how I was usually made the scapegoat in their little melodrama, I’m not going to be defending anyone.”
“Good, anyway, as I was saying, she told him to move on and he did.”
“She’s always telling him that. He’s never taken any notice before,” Alec said. “You sure this is Logan you’re talking about? He wasn’t banged in the head or anything?”
“Yep, it was Logan,” she replied. “And the poor guy didn’t go easy. Max pushed him into it.”
Alec ran a hand over his face. “What did she do?”
“She's been telling him that he should stay away from her, that he deserved better.”
“So?”
“To prove her point she then gave some poor schmuck a lap dance right in front Logan, right in front of everybody in the bar.”
“What?” Alec couldn’t believe it. “Little repressed Max went full out stripper in Crash. Why didn’t anyone call me?”
“She didn’t strip off, just got in this poor guy's face and gave him a little show.”
“How did Logan take it?”
“Like he always does - asked me if she was in heat,” replied Cindy.
Alec was confused. “How would you know?”
“Men. Don’t know shit, do you? ‘Course I’d know if something is screwy with my girl.”
“What did you tell him?”
“What could I tell him? She had brushed off another guy before that, so even if I was going to try and cover for her, he damn well knew it wasn’t itchy time in kitty cat town.”
“Oh hell,” Alec said
“Then some two-bit blonde chanced her luck, asked if he wanted to walk her home, and he didn’t say no. She wasn’t even his type.”
“But if he didn’t do anything with this girl, then what?”
“Told Max what he was going to do. Man has got to have some pride, and she’d only gone and shaken her ass in someone’s face. Said that he’d always be there for her and for everyone at TC, but knew that she needed more, and that he needed more, too”
“Ohh - he’s never said that bit before.”
“True, sugar, true. Though I think he was trying to make himself believe it as much as he was mouthing off to her.”
“So what does that have to do with me?” Alec asked.
He could hear the tut on the other end of the line.
“Hey, Max is her own boss, not me. I’ve got my own scene going on here, and I’d appreciate if she doesn’t spoil it for me,” Alec said, cutting in.
“Good, ‘cause if you think that you now got a clean path to have guilt free fun filled time with her then I’ll take a swing at you. Don’t think I don’t know what happened before.”
“Hey, that was once, and at a real bad time for both of us, what with the siege and with me finding out about being a clone and all. I would never have told anyone about it - the only reason you know is that she told you, so she could get it all straight in her head before she confessed everything to Logan,” Alec snapped back. “Who, by the way, took it with a lot more good grace than I thought he would.”
“What did you expect him to do? Beat you over the head with his old wheelchair?”
“I don’t know - something would have been good.”
“Don’t bitch about the silent treatment you got from him,” Cindy said. “He was fine about her telling him that you two had gotten it on because he thought you and her were an item at the time even if he thought the two of you were on the way out. Then you had to go spoil everything.”
“She was the one that wanted to be open and honest with him, so what if when he asked about it I told him everything. I didn’t come up the whole fake boyfriend thing in the first place, other people did, behind my back,” Alec retorted. “You included.”
“I didn’t do any of the stirring on that one,” Cindy said in her own defence.
“No, but you knew before I did,” Alec said back. “Anyway, they sorted it out - as he said when he finally started talking to us again, it wasn’t like they were ‘officially’ back together at the time.”
“True, but as you said, it was a bad time for us all,” Cindy said. “But you are in a better place now, and she ain’t.”
“Fine,” Alec said. “But, why tell Joshua to bring her if you so were worried about what I was going to do when I found out? 'Cause I was expecting Biggs or one of the X6s.”
“She’s been taking it out on everyone here, and to be honest, she’s a danger to herself and everyone around her until she gets her head straight. I didn’t know what else to do than try and get her out of here, change of scene and all. Then you called saying you needed someone out there so damn right I told Josh and Mole to take her with.”
“So, as a last resort you decide to dump her on my plate. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, sweet thing,” she said. “Help her sort herself out and don’t let her come back till she does. I tried but I’m not getting through. Pretty boy, I need you to fix my girl.”
“Cindy, you know you have the lousiest timing in the world.”
“Why, what going down there?”
“Cindy, you’d never believe me, and having a Max on the edge right now is something I don’t need.”
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“Cindy tell you what you want to hear?” Max asked as Alec got back in the house.
“Told me the gist of it,” he said, walking over to her as she sat at the table. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She sat there silently as he waited for a response.
Alec sighed, as he pulled out a chair, sat down. “Max, if you think you and Logan are really over this time, the world isn’t going to come crashing down if you drop the tough girl act for five minutes and talk about it.”
“Why?” she said bitingly.
“Because from what I’m seeing and from what Cindy said, you don’t look like you’re handling it too well.”
She sat there solidly. “How I handle it isn’t your business.”
“Maxie, whether you like it or not, you are my business.”
Her lip began to tremble. She wasn’t doing this.
He tried to pull her into a hug as she began to sob, though she pushed away, not wanting to be comforted at that moment, and especially not by him.
Ellen sighed as she caught a glimpse of them through the back window. She turned and headed to the Roadhouse with her bag of supplies.
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Max stepped into the Roadhouse later that afternoon, finding the older woman stocking the bar.
“You have everything you need?” Ellen asked as she finished her task.
Max nodded. “Though I think Mole was wondering if he can hide in here until we go. I think the kids are getting to him.”
Ellen smiled. “Saw him trying to scat them this morning. They’re determined, I’ll give you that.”
“Yeah,” Max said. “I came over to say thanks for everything.”
Ellen shrugged. “We didn’t do much, those kids needed a place to stay, and you needed to be introduced properly to the regulars.”
“Some of your customers didn’t seem to happy about us turning up last night,” Max said.
“The guys here may not seem it, but once you pound an idea into their thick skulls they tend to be open minded, have to be in the hunting game What happens now is up to you.”
“Yes, though I’ll be honest, I can’t say I understand all of it, the hunting that is,” Max said.
Ellen picked up a glass and started to polish it. “That’s all right; you don’t have to like us.”
“Didn’t say I didn’t like you, just that I didn’t understand,” Max replied. “But if it’s what you believe, I’m not going to tell you I think you’re wrong.”
Ellen continued to polish her glass, though she raised an eyebrow at Max. “I think that would be a bad idea, tactically speaking, seeing how you are in my home.”
“You understand military tactics?” Max asked as she took a step closer to the bar.
Ellen nodded. “Know a little, picked up one or two things over the years. Anyway, telling your host that you think that they should be in a straitjacket isn’t going to win you a meal.”
Max bit her lip. “I didn’t say that.”
“I know you didn’t, but you were thinking it,” Ellen said, turning her attention to the glass, making Max feel a little uncomfortable.
“Ellen, I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with you,” Max said.
Ellen raised her head. “Then don’t.”
Max nodded her response before taking a second to think of what she was going to say. “As I said, I wanted to say thanks for looking after Smurf and the others.”
“They needed a place,” Ellen said calmly.
“A lot of people wouldn’t have,” Max replied.
“You have something sorted for them?” Ellen asked.
Max nodded. “Yes, they’ll stay together.”
“Really?” Ellen asked. “And what about Smurf? He’s a kid. Are you’re gonna make him raise three children all by himself?”
Max shook her head. “No, but we won’t split them up either. Though if ‘Smurf’ wants some time to figure what he wants to do then we can give him it, we won’t stop him, and he’ll be able to see them whenever he wants. If any of them want to go with their own, then they can, but they’ll have support no matter what - we won’t stop them choosing, we’ve had too many people telling us what to do.”
“What about school?” Ellen questioned. “Those kids should be in school and not the kind that Alec said he went to.”
“We have a school for the young ones, a proper one; it’s a little rough but it’s getting better. As for the older kids, we’ve even got some into the public system now.”
“You have thought this out, haven’t you?” Ellen replied.
Max shook her head. “Not just me, everyone did; we want a future.”
“Right.” Ellen started to polish the glass again.
“I’m not trying to be your enemy here, Ellen,” Max said.
Ellen let out a little laugh. “I’m not saying you are. I just want to know that those kids are going to be taken care of. Molly says it’s a mom thing.”
“Right.” Max sighed, not used to the sentiment. “You don’t have to worry, we are going to take care of the ‘Three Stooges’ and ‘Papa Smurf’.”
“Way I hear things; they ain’t any weirder than some of the names you lot have come up with.”
“I suppose they are all right as names go,” Max replied. “Hopefully our next generation will have more regular names.”
“Maybe you will, maybe you won’t,” Ellen said. “He was only trying his best.”
“Who?”
“Alec,” Ellen said with a suggestive raise of an eyebrow.
Max shook her head. “There is nothing is going on between us, and if he’s said that…”
“He hasn’t said anything. Even if there was, it’s your business and his.”
“Fine,” Max replied. “But why do I feel that I’m about to get the third degree?”
“I’m saying that if you need to talk to someone about whatever you have going through your head, then you could do a lot worse than Alec. By the looks of it, he’s willing to listen.”
Max stood there for a moment before opening her mouth. “No offence, but as you said, this isn’t your business and you wouldn’t understand.”
“No, it isn’t, and to be honest I don’t want to understand. Though since you been here Alec’s been on walking on eggshells, and I’m guessing so have your friends, but if you don’t want to talk about it, then fine. What you need then is a kick up the ass,” Ellen said, putting down the glass hard on the bar. “Whatever the hell is going on, deal with it, and stop taking it out on those around you.”
“I appreciate the advice,” Max said.
“Wasn’t advice,” Ellen replied. “But what do I know? I run an old saloon in the middle of nowhere that serves a bunch of old men who should really know better.”
Max nodded. “You do a hell of lot more than that, it seems.”
“I’m trying to take care of my own here, Max.”
“Your own?” Max asked, slightly confused.
“Yes, I take care of my own and what comes with them. Never thought it would mean I’d be dealing with things that were made in a lab, but Alec was and you have to roll with the punches,” Ellen replied. “That means, right now, dealing with you, because whatever the hell you are to him, friend, colleague, leader, whatever, because from the way you’ve been acting the hell if I know, you are part of his life, even if you are screwed up.”
“I’m not screwed up.”
Ellen raised an eyebrow. “Girl, you show me a person these days that shouldn’t spend some time in therapy, and I’ll show you a piece of bacon that flew onto my table under its own power, and don’t tell me you have something like that back in that terminal place.”
“You never know,” Max said, smiling.
“That’s better,” Ellen said. “I know you were planning to go this afternoon, but you need to get your head straight about whatever the hell is bothering you before you hit the road, so why don’t you stay another couple of days, or at least one more night.”
“I don’t know,” Max replied.
Ellen cocked her head to the side. “It’d also give you time to get a better footing with the hunters here if this is going to work.”
“Might be better to give them some space, and stops you getting caught in the fallout if they don’t take us up on our offer.”
Ellen shook her head. “Don’t worry about that, we can take care of ourselves.”
“That may be true, but Alec said that you have problems of your own at the moment, what with something being wrong with your son. You don’t need any of ours,” Max explained causing Ellen to bow her head.
“Billy’s health isn’t going to change because I worry about it. He’s doing fine at the moment,” Ellen replied. “And before you ask, there isn’t anything you can do unless you got a heart going spare.”
Max unconsciously touched her chest, feeling the beat from the organ given to her from her brother. “Alec said it was structural.”
Ellen nodded. “Yeah, he talked to one of those doctor friends of yours, something about a transfusion. But we were told it wouldn’t be helpful.”
“I’m sorry,” Max said.
“Why are you sorry? Not your fault,” Ellen said resolutely. “Just a stupid chromosome that was out of whack, one of life’s crap shoots.”
“I suppose,” Max replied.
Ellen picked up another glass and began to polish it. “Anyway, where there is life there is hope.”
“Yeah, there is,” Max said before turning and leaving the bar.
------------------------------------------------
Alec was putting some stuff away in the garage when Max found him.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” Alec replied. “You want something?”
“Sorry.”
Alec smiled. “Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry,” Max said, wanting this over with. “I’m pissed at myself and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
“Maxie, you feeling all right, or is the cleaner air here getting to you?” Alec asked, not sure how to take what she was saying.
Max exhaled. “I was an ass.”
Alec glanced around the garage. “Okay, I get it; this is a joke, right?”
“Fine, don’t take it,” she said, turning to walk out the door. He grabbed her arm.
“Okay, okay, I’ll take it,” Alec said quickly as she whipped around to face him. “It's just, I’m not use to getting apologized to, especially by you.”
Max glanced up, sniffing. “I’m so not going to do this.”
Alec smiled. “Hey, I swear I won’t tell anyone.” He raised his hand in a mock scout salute. “Scout's honor.”
Max smiled. “You were never a scout.”
“I could have been,” Alec said jokingly. “What is the saying - always try to be prepared.”
“Excuse me?” Max replied.
“Okay - not always exactly prepared, but you got to admit I’m damn good at winging it.”
Max rubbed a tear away from her eye.
She looked down at the ground. “I was the one that pushed him away, not any of you guys, and I shouldn’t be angry that he took my advice.”
“From what Cindy said it’s not like he did anything with that girl; walked her home, that’s all,” Alec said.
“Doesn’t matter, I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had done more, especially after what I did, and in front of everyone as well.”
Alec nodded. “No offence, Max, if it was my girl I would have dragged her off that guy the second she started.”
“Not like he has that option,” Max replied. “Stupid virus.”
Alec stilled for a second, waiting for the tirade to begin about how it was his fault.
“I’m not blaming you,” Max said, the tears starting again. “Why did I do that to him?”
“Because you’re you, and you were trying to do what you thought was right for him, and the only way he was going to listen was you doing something like that.” He pulled her close. “Give him time, Maxie - the two of you will be back to the way it was before.”
“I don’t know,” Max replied “I want something easy, Alec. Why can’t it be easy?”
“Wish I could help you there, but easy isn’t what you really want, Max.”
“What do I want?”
Alec smiled. “Maxie, you want the whole package. You’re still dreaming about the fairytale. You’re want what every little girl dreams of, Prince Charming on his White Horse who swoops in to take on the good fight no matter the cost.”
“No, I don't,” Max said, burying her head in his chest. “And isn’t that a little cynical?”
“You know me. I’m a realist, Max. I’m the ‘take what I can get’ guy, remember?”
She gave a little smile. “You know what?”
“What?”
“I’m happy to see this place hasn’t changed you too much.”
Alec let out a little laugh. “That’s me; same old same old.”
“Though it is strange to get blind-sided by mommy.”
“Mommy? Oh, Ellen.”
“Yeah, told me I needed a kick up the ass.”
Alec gave Max a little squeeze. “Yeah, well, you’re lucky she didn’t supply it.”
He looked down at her as she looked back at him. Alec coughed as they broke apart.
He stuffed his hands in his back pockets. “You still thinking of going today?”
Max shook her head. “Tomorrow morning, now. Give the kids time to say a proper goodbye to Billy, and let us get things straight with those hunter people.”
“Good, that is good,” Alec said, feeling uncomfortable.
“I’ll let you get back to whatever you’re doing,” Max said.
“Yeah, get this done,” Alec said, glancing at the small pile of stuff that he had been sorting through.
Max turned and walked out the door. Alec watched as she walked off.
He turned, resting his hands on the car parked there, gently tapping his head on the car roof.
“Don’t,” he said, looking at the polished body of Molly’s car.
“Don’t you say a word,” he said quietly. “It would be wrong, and she’s screwed up.”
He took a step away from the Impala, turning to go before turning back. “I’m not going there, all right, and don’t you say that Dean would. That it would be easier for her because then she could hate me instead of herself. But she still loves the guy. Why she does, I don’t know, but she does. Not that I’m saying that he’s a bad guy, cause Logan, he’s all right in a repressed WASP kind of way, it’s just that he's not right for her, Anyway, they have the whole virus thing.”
Alec stood for a second staring at the silent distorted reflection he saw of himself on the polished paintwork of the car hood. “Don’t look at me like that; I am not trying to talk myself in or out of anything. She can still fix things with him one way or another, and I’m not going to wreck it for her.”
He took a breath. “And I’m talking to a car. I am explaining myself to a car… Alec, you are seriously losing it, man.”
He heard a commotion outside; Max was screaming. Alec rushed out of the garage only to find himself on the ground with a weight on top of him. It took less than a second for him to focus on what was happening as Max continued to yell.
Joshua was holding her as she kicked and struggled while he was carrying her away. The large weight that was immobilizing Alec was Mole, who along with Smurf, was sitting on him.
“You’re not going anywhere right now, Princess,” Mole said, striking a match and lighting up his cigar butt.
“Joshua, put me down!” Max yelled.
“No, little fella, no get down,” Joshua said as he continued to walk toward the van that the transgenics had arrived in. “And Mole no going to let medium fella up!”
“Mole, you better move your ass or I swear to God…!” Alec said, trying to get leverage to push himself up.
Mole took the cigar out of his mouth. “Ain’t happening.”
“What the hell?” Billy said as he came out the house to see the strange sight.
“Look, man,” Mole said to the boy. “It’s for the best.”
“Mole!” Alec yelled as he futilely tried to get up. Billy ran back inside the house.
“You’ll thank me for it later, don’t want to embarrass yourself in front of the family, do you?” Mole said to Alec, who was squirming, causing Smurf to burst into a fit of giggles. Joshua was trying to work out the best way to open the van door while keeping hold of Max.
Smurf continued to giggle.
“It ain’t funny, kid,” Mole said, looking at the ditch digger beside him.
“Sorry.” Smurf wiped a tear from his eye as he continued to laugh. “They said, you know, but I didn’t think that it was actually true.”
“Well it’s true, kid, so stop laughing,” Mole said.
“Mole!” Alec yelled. “Get the hell off me!”
“Not until she’s out of here,” Mole said, nodding in the direction of Max, who was presently kicking Joshua in the shin as he tried to open the van door.
Alec sighed. “Mole, if this about what I think it’s about, then it's not happening.”
“Sorry, Princess, you would say that,” Mole said.
Smurf bit his lip. “X-5’s top of the range apart from this one tiny, tiny flaw.”
Mole clipped the other transgenic around the head. “I told you this ain’t funny.”
“Let him up!” Billy said firmly, returning back from the house with a baseball bat.
Mole shook his head, grabbing the head of the bat as Billy made an abortive swing.
Billy turned to see Curly and the other children in the doorway of the house. “Curly, go get my dad!”
Curly looked at the scene, not sure what to do.
“Please, go get my dad!” Billy yelled. The girl nodded, running off in the direction of the Roadhouse.
Alec was more than a little embarrassed, especially as Billy was trying to retrieve his bat from Mole and that Curly had gone to get John and Ellen. He decided to go the more logical route. “And can I ask what makes you think it's that ‘time’?”
“That time?” Mole said, raising for him what was an eyebrow, while still holding off the thirteen-year-old. “Oh shit, man, don’t tell me you haven’t?”
Mole turned to look a Joshua, who was grimacing at this point as Max kicked him again. “Joshua, he hasn’t told them!”
“That’s nice,” Joshua said, not paying any real attention to what Mole was saying as he was busy avoiding a head butt from one pissed off Max.
“I’m asking you, Mole, why have got it into your scaled excuse for a brain that is what is going on?”
“She apologized to Mole for being cranky, said we were going tomorrow, then said she was going to sort things out with you,” Smurf replied. “Mood changes - that’s a sign, right?”
“She apologized? That is your evidence?” Alec asked.
“Yeah, well, it's early stages, best nip it in the bud now before you two…” Mole looked at Billy, then over at Mo and Larry, before turning back to Alec, “before you two really get into things.”
“First of all, I would not, and secondly, she isn’t, so let me up!” Alec said, straining to push Mole and Smurf a couple of inches off the ground.
“Told you that isn’t happening, Princess,” Mole said, raising himself a little before coming down hard, forcing Alec flat.
“She is not in heat!” Alec yelled. “Max, tell them.”
“Joshua, I am not, I swear,” Max said as she stopped squirming.
“Little fella sure?” Joshua said, still holding on to her.
“Joshua, for crying out loud, smell her. You’ve got a better nose than me, so does she smell like she’s going into it?” Alec yelled to Joshua.
“They’re going to tell you what you want to hear, Josh,” Mole said.
“Yeah, big fella, I swear, on father’s work I swear: I am not in heat.”
“On father?” Joshua asked, to which Max nodded, causing the dog man to loosen his grip a little.
“See, Mole, she isn’t, and if she was, do you think I’d let you do this to me?” Alec asked, to which Mole didn’t reply.
“Think about it, man, we were alone, and if she was, do you think we would have voluntarily left that garage?”
“Not really.” Mole conceded that point.
“Mole, if Max was in heat, do you really think that if I was stupid enough to go there even though she’d probably tear me a new one after it was over, I wouldn’t have at least tried to introduce her to the back seat of the car in there? Hell, even the hood would do,” Alec yelled as his temper rose.
“What the hell is going on here?” John asked as he came around the corner, followed by Curly.
Joshua let go of Max, who turned and pushed the big guy. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
Joshua hung his head in shame. “Didn’t want little fella to do anything she’d regret.”
“Thanks a bunch, Josh. I’m something she’d regret,” Alec said sarcastically as Mole began to shift, letting him up.
“Don’t you dare have a go at Joshua,” Max hissed at Alec. “There were two of them who got it into their heads.”
Mole took a step back, making sure he was out of the firing line.
“This is my fault?” Alec asked, dusting himself off. “It isn’t my hormones that go out of whack. I’m not the one who has been such a bitch lately that when they decide to make a simple apology causes everyone to think that she needs locking up for her own good.”
“My own good? I’m not the one who makes the average alley cat look celibate!”
Alec bit his lip. “Go to hell, Max.”
“You first,” she said, stalking toward him.
At that point Mole tapped Alec on the shoulder, causing him to turn around, letting Mole hit him in the face. It also gave Joshua the opportunity to pick up Max and throw her into the van.
Mole looked down at the unconscious Alec before turning to John. “Better to be safe than sorry.”
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Alec started to come around to find himself on the couch with Molly holding an ice pack to his head. “What happened?”
“You lost to a chain-smoking dinosaur,” John said, smiling.
“Max?” Alec said, bolting upright.
“She’s fine; they finally let out the van after she started tearing the thing up inside,” John replied, handing Alec a bottle of painkillers. “Your friend Mole didn’t look too impressed at what she’d done. Strong, isn’t she?”
“Serves him right; I’m surprised she didn’t kill him.”
“She would have had Ellen not stopped her.”
“Where are they now?” Alec asked.
“At the Roadhouse, getting set up to see who turns up tonight.”
“Right,” Alec said, blinking. “Don’t suppose I got time to kill him before opening time?”
“Were you ever going to tell us?” John asked.
“Tell you what?” Alec replied, trying to get into the bottle of pills.
“About the going into season thing?”
“Going into season?” Alec was confused.
“Yes, Alec, going into season,” John replied.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Alec said.
John shook his head. “Alec, it’s okay, Joshua told us that it’s something in your DNA
“For crying out loud, she wasn’t, so why the hell are we having this discussion?” Alec asked.
“Why didn’t you think to tell us about this heat thing?” John replied.
“Can we do this after I stop seeing little birds that go tweet, and preferably after I get my hands on a new pair of lizard skin boots?” Alec said, nursing his head.
“Alec,” John said firmly, causing Alec to look up. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us?”
“Because to be honest some things are personal,” Alec replied.
“I get that, but you could have mentioned something,” John said sympathetically.
“Oh Jesus,” Alec said. He tried to stand up and sat down again quickly as the room still seemed to be moving.
“Understand that being hit in the face by a Desert Acclimatized Combat Unit is like being hit in the face with a sledge hammer,” John said as Alec ended up back on the couch.
“Yeah, well give me five minutes; he’s going to find out what it’s like getting his ass kicked by one seriously pissed off X5,” Alec retorted.
“I don’t think you getting in a fight with Mole would be a good idea right now.” John said as he looked over Alec's shoulder.
Alec turned around to see Mo peering around the doorway with Molly standing behind her.
“It’s okay,” John said to the little girl. “Come on.”
She slowly came out of the room and moved over to the group. John picked her up and placed her on his knee.
“See, he’s fine,” John said to the little girl, who looked a little nervous.
She tentatively put out a hand, pressing on the bump on Alec’s head. “Sore?”
“I’m all right, Mo,” Alec said to the little girl, taking her off John’s lap. “Got a hard head, so it would take a lot more than one of Mole’s sissy punches to keep me down.”
The little girl smiled a little before bowing her head. “Mole attacked you, so are you going to fight now?”
Alec shook his head, pulling the little girl into a hug. “No, no fight. Me and Mole will have a few words, but we won’t fight.”
“Promise?” Mo asked.
Alec nodded. “Yeah, promise.”
Molly turned to the child. “Why don’t you go and see what Larry and Curly are doing?”
Mo jumped off Alec’s lap and ran off.
“She got a little fright when she saw you go down,” John said. “Thought you weren’t going to get up again.”
Alec sighed. “Did everybody see me get humiliated?”
Molly shook her head. “Nope, I missed it, though if you want to repeat it I would be grateful.”
“Thanks,” Alec replied.
Molly tilted her head. “Well it does explain a few things.”
“Like what?” Alec replied.
Molly bit her lip trying not to snigger.
“You got to admit it’s funny,” Molly said, smiling.
“No, it isn’t,” Alec replied. “And I can damn well control myself, thank you very much.”
“Is there anything else we need to know?” John asked. “Don’t hibernate or anything?”
“No, for crying out loud, it’s her that goes through it, and I’m the one that gets hit in the face,” Alec replied.
“So you were never going to tell us?” Molly asked.
“Why should I have? Not like there is a whole load of females round here with feline DNA is there? And as I said, I can control myself,” Alec said.
“Really?” Molly replied. “You sure you don’t want to go by the old cat lady’s place in town to test that? Understand she has a couple of new Persians that might be your type.”
“Ha ha,” Alec replied.
“But according to Mole you’d react to whatever smell Max puts out,” John said.
“Only when she goes into it, and it isn’t just me it is any guy, ordinary included, that spends any real time up close and personal with her. Us X’s just get it a little worse than most, because we don’t need to get as close and what with the fact its part feline pheromones the girls put out,” Alec huffed. “And it doesn’t mean I’m going to jump anyone. After I get a sniff, all that happens is I get a little hyper, and more ‘flirtatious’ with the opposite sex, nothing else.”
“A little more?” Molly said disbelieving him.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Alec said to her. “It isn’t my fault. And when will everybody get it into their heads she has not gone into it.”
“Right?” John asked.
Alec pointed at Molly. “Girl in the room and I’m not acting like an idiot.”
“Thank God for that,” Molly joked.
“Now we have done the 'completely embarrass Alec' moment, can I please go and find out what the hell they are doing?” Alec said, in a slight huff.
“I’ll take care of it,” John said, getting up, before turning to Alec with a smile on his face. “Can I trust that you won’t be spraying the furniture or anything while I’m gone?”
Alec knotted his brow, slightly confused, before Molly burst into laughter. Alec sighed, picking up a couch cushion and threw it at John. “Very funny, yeah, very funny.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“You okay?” Max asked as Alec came into the bar.
“Sure, if we’re good,” Alec replied.
Max smiled, “Yeah, think I need a good screaming match.”
“Glad I could oblige.”
She looked at his slightly swollen eye, which was quickly disappearing thanks to his heightened healing ability, “Sorry about that.”
“Not your fault,” he said as looked over at Mole, who was currently arm-wrestling one of the larger patrons of the bar. “But when you guys are done here, I having a few words with him.”
“A few words?”
“Promised Mo that I wouldn’t hurt him.”
“Do you want me to?” Max asked.
Alec shook his head. “Nah, although I think if you tell the kids that he loves I-spy, as well as teaching them a couple of songs such as ‘A Million Bottles of Beer’, will probably do.”
“You do realize I have to be stuck in the van, too,” Max said, smiling.
“Can get you a pair of ear plugs?”
"Thanks,” Max said, taking a drink from her glass. “You’re going to stay here, aren’t you?”
Alec nodded. “Yeah, probably for the best. Can let you know what these guys are saying about this when you’ve gone.”
“Right,” Max said with a tinge of sadness in her voice, she turned away from him to see what Joshua was doing.
Alec put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her a little closer. “You need to talk, I’m on the other end of the phone, but you could just talk to Logan.”
“Maybe, maybe it’s for the best that it went down the way it did,” Max said, still watching Joshua.
Alec sighed. “Max, you know what you have to do, and if you don’t sort it one way or another then you’re a damn fool. Try and salvage something, Max even if it is only some way for the two of you to work together. I know it'll be hard but it's eating you up inside leaving things between you like this and don't say it isn't.”
“I know,” Max said, resting her head against his shoulder. “Are you going to be safe here, what with these hunters?”
Alec smiled. “Sure I am, Maxie, if anyone starts anything I’ll sic Billy on them.”
Max grinned. “He’s a good kid.”
Alec nodded. “Yeah, he is.”
Chapter 8
Author: me
Fandom: Supernatural/ Dark Angel
Disclaimer: I own nothing and no-one. I would try and make this comment more interesting but I'm too tired to care.
Summary: A sequel to Isn't it surprising - Or Alec McDowell meets the rest of the Winchesters
Thanks to
twinkiecat and
rospberry for looking at this for me.
Well quick update on my life - have finally gotten my exam results back passed which is good, but my backup plan for a 3rd year project has fallen through due to the machine I am suppose to do a pre validation and comparison on isn't working properly and the project it is due in three weeks, which is bad.
So right now I have half the information for one project that has fallen through and half the information for another that I can't finish until the rep comes to fix the machine and the only advice my manager can give me is can I fake the results on one of them so I'd have something to write about. This is resulted in me having a crummy couple of days with me feeling sorry for myself and trying to salvage something from what I have got as my project is worth a semester's worth of credits, (can't put project A info together with project B because two totally different things).
As you can tell right, I am now being very productive and instead of writing my case study up for the other huge piece of work I am suppose to do (hand in date is May, but as Lab I am doing it in is now in the process of decommissioning and everybody leaving at the end of the month I figure I should try and do the work now so they can correct any of my mistakes.)
Molly was sorting out the children’s collection at the door of the library when Alec walked in.
“Hello there,” she said as he breezed past her.
“Hey,” Alec said, turning around.
“Thought you’d be with your friends?” Molly asked.
“I was wondering if I could borrow your cell? Mine’s playing up, and I really need to call someone,” Alec asked.
“Your phone is fine, Alec, I saw you using it earlier this morning.”
“Please, Moll, I need to call someone and not have an argument about it.”
She sighed and went over to the collection's desk to get her phone. “Here, but don’t be too long on it.”
“Thanks,” he replied as she handed it to him, he dialled a number, which he knew of by heart and waited for a response.
“Speak, OC is listening,” the voice said on the other end of the line.
“Hah, I knew it: you are screening your calls,” Alec said triumphantly.
“Alec, long time, no talk. Hope things out in the boonies are hanging well.”
“Don’t let the next set of words that come out of your mouth be that you’re busy and have to be somewhere else,” Alec said quickly, cutting OC off in mid sentence.
“Why would I be doing that, pretty boy?”
“Why did you tell Joshua that Max needed to be on this one?”
“Why don’t you ask her?” Cindy replied.
“Like she’ll tell me what’s going on.”
“Then it’s Boo’s business, not yours.”
“It’s mine if she turns up on my doorstep,” Alec said firmly. “Cindy, what is going on?”
“Boo and Logan have had a final blow out.”
Alec sighed. “What do you mean final?”
“They had a shave with the virus bitch.”
“He’s all right, isn’t he?”
“It was close, too close, but he’s fine. Still out to save planet earth from all the bad.”
“Then, so what? They’ll do their usual, do the dance around each other, and then go back to making the moon eyes.”
“Think it’s gone too far for that this time, sugar.”
“How?”
“Logan took her advice about moving on; man can only take living like this for so long before something had to break.”
Alec couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What you're saying is that Logan went behind Max’s back.”
“No, he didn’t - he was all out in the open about it - went home with some girl. Not that he did anything with her; walked the girl home, that’s all. And before you get all high and mighty, don’t blame the man, she brought it all on herself.”
“How? They both always talked about how this more than a physical thing,” Alec said. “And seeing how I was usually made the scapegoat in their little melodrama, I’m not going to be defending anyone.”
“Good, anyway, as I was saying, she told him to move on and he did.”
“She’s always telling him that. He’s never taken any notice before,” Alec said. “You sure this is Logan you’re talking about? He wasn’t banged in the head or anything?”
“Yep, it was Logan,” she replied. “And the poor guy didn’t go easy. Max pushed him into it.”
Alec ran a hand over his face. “What did she do?”
“She's been telling him that he should stay away from her, that he deserved better.”
“So?”
“To prove her point she then gave some poor schmuck a lap dance right in front Logan, right in front of everybody in the bar.”
“What?” Alec couldn’t believe it. “Little repressed Max went full out stripper in Crash. Why didn’t anyone call me?”
“She didn’t strip off, just got in this poor guy's face and gave him a little show.”
“How did Logan take it?”
“Like he always does - asked me if she was in heat,” replied Cindy.
Alec was confused. “How would you know?”
“Men. Don’t know shit, do you? ‘Course I’d know if something is screwy with my girl.”
“What did you tell him?”
“What could I tell him? She had brushed off another guy before that, so even if I was going to try and cover for her, he damn well knew it wasn’t itchy time in kitty cat town.”
“Oh hell,” Alec said
“Then some two-bit blonde chanced her luck, asked if he wanted to walk her home, and he didn’t say no. She wasn’t even his type.”
“But if he didn’t do anything with this girl, then what?”
“Told Max what he was going to do. Man has got to have some pride, and she’d only gone and shaken her ass in someone’s face. Said that he’d always be there for her and for everyone at TC, but knew that she needed more, and that he needed more, too”
“Ohh - he’s never said that bit before.”
“True, sugar, true. Though I think he was trying to make himself believe it as much as he was mouthing off to her.”
“So what does that have to do with me?” Alec asked.
He could hear the tut on the other end of the line.
“Hey, Max is her own boss, not me. I’ve got my own scene going on here, and I’d appreciate if she doesn’t spoil it for me,” Alec said, cutting in.
“Good, ‘cause if you think that you now got a clean path to have guilt free fun filled time with her then I’ll take a swing at you. Don’t think I don’t know what happened before.”
“Hey, that was once, and at a real bad time for both of us, what with the siege and with me finding out about being a clone and all. I would never have told anyone about it - the only reason you know is that she told you, so she could get it all straight in her head before she confessed everything to Logan,” Alec snapped back. “Who, by the way, took it with a lot more good grace than I thought he would.”
“What did you expect him to do? Beat you over the head with his old wheelchair?”
“I don’t know - something would have been good.”
“Don’t bitch about the silent treatment you got from him,” Cindy said. “He was fine about her telling him that you two had gotten it on because he thought you and her were an item at the time even if he thought the two of you were on the way out. Then you had to go spoil everything.”
“She was the one that wanted to be open and honest with him, so what if when he asked about it I told him everything. I didn’t come up the whole fake boyfriend thing in the first place, other people did, behind my back,” Alec retorted. “You included.”
“I didn’t do any of the stirring on that one,” Cindy said in her own defence.
“No, but you knew before I did,” Alec said back. “Anyway, they sorted it out - as he said when he finally started talking to us again, it wasn’t like they were ‘officially’ back together at the time.”
“True, but as you said, it was a bad time for us all,” Cindy said. “But you are in a better place now, and she ain’t.”
“Fine,” Alec said. “But, why tell Joshua to bring her if you so were worried about what I was going to do when I found out? 'Cause I was expecting Biggs or one of the X6s.”
“She’s been taking it out on everyone here, and to be honest, she’s a danger to herself and everyone around her until she gets her head straight. I didn’t know what else to do than try and get her out of here, change of scene and all. Then you called saying you needed someone out there so damn right I told Josh and Mole to take her with.”
“So, as a last resort you decide to dump her on my plate. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, sweet thing,” she said. “Help her sort herself out and don’t let her come back till she does. I tried but I’m not getting through. Pretty boy, I need you to fix my girl.”
“Cindy, you know you have the lousiest timing in the world.”
“Why, what going down there?”
“Cindy, you’d never believe me, and having a Max on the edge right now is something I don’t need.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Cindy tell you what you want to hear?” Max asked as Alec got back in the house.
“Told me the gist of it,” he said, walking over to her as she sat at the table. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She sat there silently as he waited for a response.
Alec sighed, as he pulled out a chair, sat down. “Max, if you think you and Logan are really over this time, the world isn’t going to come crashing down if you drop the tough girl act for five minutes and talk about it.”
“Why?” she said bitingly.
“Because from what I’m seeing and from what Cindy said, you don’t look like you’re handling it too well.”
She sat there solidly. “How I handle it isn’t your business.”
“Maxie, whether you like it or not, you are my business.”
Her lip began to tremble. She wasn’t doing this.
He tried to pull her into a hug as she began to sob, though she pushed away, not wanting to be comforted at that moment, and especially not by him.
Ellen sighed as she caught a glimpse of them through the back window. She turned and headed to the Roadhouse with her bag of supplies.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Max stepped into the Roadhouse later that afternoon, finding the older woman stocking the bar.
“You have everything you need?” Ellen asked as she finished her task.
Max nodded. “Though I think Mole was wondering if he can hide in here until we go. I think the kids are getting to him.”
Ellen smiled. “Saw him trying to scat them this morning. They’re determined, I’ll give you that.”
“Yeah,” Max said. “I came over to say thanks for everything.”
Ellen shrugged. “We didn’t do much, those kids needed a place to stay, and you needed to be introduced properly to the regulars.”
“Some of your customers didn’t seem to happy about us turning up last night,” Max said.
“The guys here may not seem it, but once you pound an idea into their thick skulls they tend to be open minded, have to be in the hunting game What happens now is up to you.”
“Yes, though I’ll be honest, I can’t say I understand all of it, the hunting that is,” Max said.
Ellen picked up a glass and started to polish it. “That’s all right; you don’t have to like us.”
“Didn’t say I didn’t like you, just that I didn’t understand,” Max replied. “But if it’s what you believe, I’m not going to tell you I think you’re wrong.”
Ellen continued to polish her glass, though she raised an eyebrow at Max. “I think that would be a bad idea, tactically speaking, seeing how you are in my home.”
“You understand military tactics?” Max asked as she took a step closer to the bar.
Ellen nodded. “Know a little, picked up one or two things over the years. Anyway, telling your host that you think that they should be in a straitjacket isn’t going to win you a meal.”
Max bit her lip. “I didn’t say that.”
“I know you didn’t, but you were thinking it,” Ellen said, turning her attention to the glass, making Max feel a little uncomfortable.
“Ellen, I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with you,” Max said.
Ellen raised her head. “Then don’t.”
Max nodded her response before taking a second to think of what she was going to say. “As I said, I wanted to say thanks for looking after Smurf and the others.”
“They needed a place,” Ellen said calmly.
“A lot of people wouldn’t have,” Max replied.
“You have something sorted for them?” Ellen asked.
Max nodded. “Yes, they’ll stay together.”
“Really?” Ellen asked. “And what about Smurf? He’s a kid. Are you’re gonna make him raise three children all by himself?”
Max shook her head. “No, but we won’t split them up either. Though if ‘Smurf’ wants some time to figure what he wants to do then we can give him it, we won’t stop him, and he’ll be able to see them whenever he wants. If any of them want to go with their own, then they can, but they’ll have support no matter what - we won’t stop them choosing, we’ve had too many people telling us what to do.”
“What about school?” Ellen questioned. “Those kids should be in school and not the kind that Alec said he went to.”
“We have a school for the young ones, a proper one; it’s a little rough but it’s getting better. As for the older kids, we’ve even got some into the public system now.”
“You have thought this out, haven’t you?” Ellen replied.
Max shook her head. “Not just me, everyone did; we want a future.”
“Right.” Ellen started to polish the glass again.
“I’m not trying to be your enemy here, Ellen,” Max said.
Ellen let out a little laugh. “I’m not saying you are. I just want to know that those kids are going to be taken care of. Molly says it’s a mom thing.”
“Right.” Max sighed, not used to the sentiment. “You don’t have to worry, we are going to take care of the ‘Three Stooges’ and ‘Papa Smurf’.”
“Way I hear things; they ain’t any weirder than some of the names you lot have come up with.”
“I suppose they are all right as names go,” Max replied. “Hopefully our next generation will have more regular names.”
“Maybe you will, maybe you won’t,” Ellen said. “He was only trying his best.”
“Who?”
“Alec,” Ellen said with a suggestive raise of an eyebrow.
Max shook her head. “There is nothing is going on between us, and if he’s said that…”
“He hasn’t said anything. Even if there was, it’s your business and his.”
“Fine,” Max replied. “But why do I feel that I’m about to get the third degree?”
“I’m saying that if you need to talk to someone about whatever you have going through your head, then you could do a lot worse than Alec. By the looks of it, he’s willing to listen.”
Max stood there for a moment before opening her mouth. “No offence, but as you said, this isn’t your business and you wouldn’t understand.”
“No, it isn’t, and to be honest I don’t want to understand. Though since you been here Alec’s been on walking on eggshells, and I’m guessing so have your friends, but if you don’t want to talk about it, then fine. What you need then is a kick up the ass,” Ellen said, putting down the glass hard on the bar. “Whatever the hell is going on, deal with it, and stop taking it out on those around you.”
“I appreciate the advice,” Max said.
“Wasn’t advice,” Ellen replied. “But what do I know? I run an old saloon in the middle of nowhere that serves a bunch of old men who should really know better.”
Max nodded. “You do a hell of lot more than that, it seems.”
“I’m trying to take care of my own here, Max.”
“Your own?” Max asked, slightly confused.
“Yes, I take care of my own and what comes with them. Never thought it would mean I’d be dealing with things that were made in a lab, but Alec was and you have to roll with the punches,” Ellen replied. “That means, right now, dealing with you, because whatever the hell you are to him, friend, colleague, leader, whatever, because from the way you’ve been acting the hell if I know, you are part of his life, even if you are screwed up.”
“I’m not screwed up.”
Ellen raised an eyebrow. “Girl, you show me a person these days that shouldn’t spend some time in therapy, and I’ll show you a piece of bacon that flew onto my table under its own power, and don’t tell me you have something like that back in that terminal place.”
“You never know,” Max said, smiling.
“That’s better,” Ellen said. “I know you were planning to go this afternoon, but you need to get your head straight about whatever the hell is bothering you before you hit the road, so why don’t you stay another couple of days, or at least one more night.”
“I don’t know,” Max replied.
Ellen cocked her head to the side. “It’d also give you time to get a better footing with the hunters here if this is going to work.”
“Might be better to give them some space, and stops you getting caught in the fallout if they don’t take us up on our offer.”
Ellen shook her head. “Don’t worry about that, we can take care of ourselves.”
“That may be true, but Alec said that you have problems of your own at the moment, what with something being wrong with your son. You don’t need any of ours,” Max explained causing Ellen to bow her head.
“Billy’s health isn’t going to change because I worry about it. He’s doing fine at the moment,” Ellen replied. “And before you ask, there isn’t anything you can do unless you got a heart going spare.”
Max unconsciously touched her chest, feeling the beat from the organ given to her from her brother. “Alec said it was structural.”
Ellen nodded. “Yeah, he talked to one of those doctor friends of yours, something about a transfusion. But we were told it wouldn’t be helpful.”
“I’m sorry,” Max said.
“Why are you sorry? Not your fault,” Ellen said resolutely. “Just a stupid chromosome that was out of whack, one of life’s crap shoots.”
“I suppose,” Max replied.
Ellen picked up another glass and began to polish it. “Anyway, where there is life there is hope.”
“Yeah, there is,” Max said before turning and leaving the bar.
------------------------------------------------
Alec was putting some stuff away in the garage when Max found him.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” Alec replied. “You want something?”
“Sorry.”
Alec smiled. “Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry,” Max said, wanting this over with. “I’m pissed at myself and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
“Maxie, you feeling all right, or is the cleaner air here getting to you?” Alec asked, not sure how to take what she was saying.
Max exhaled. “I was an ass.”
Alec glanced around the garage. “Okay, I get it; this is a joke, right?”
“Fine, don’t take it,” she said, turning to walk out the door. He grabbed her arm.
“Okay, okay, I’ll take it,” Alec said quickly as she whipped around to face him. “It's just, I’m not use to getting apologized to, especially by you.”
Max glanced up, sniffing. “I’m so not going to do this.”
Alec smiled. “Hey, I swear I won’t tell anyone.” He raised his hand in a mock scout salute. “Scout's honor.”
Max smiled. “You were never a scout.”
“I could have been,” Alec said jokingly. “What is the saying - always try to be prepared.”
“Excuse me?” Max replied.
“Okay - not always exactly prepared, but you got to admit I’m damn good at winging it.”
Max rubbed a tear away from her eye.
She looked down at the ground. “I was the one that pushed him away, not any of you guys, and I shouldn’t be angry that he took my advice.”
“From what Cindy said it’s not like he did anything with that girl; walked her home, that’s all,” Alec said.
“Doesn’t matter, I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had done more, especially after what I did, and in front of everyone as well.”
Alec nodded. “No offence, Max, if it was my girl I would have dragged her off that guy the second she started.”
“Not like he has that option,” Max replied. “Stupid virus.”
Alec stilled for a second, waiting for the tirade to begin about how it was his fault.
“I’m not blaming you,” Max said, the tears starting again. “Why did I do that to him?”
“Because you’re you, and you were trying to do what you thought was right for him, and the only way he was going to listen was you doing something like that.” He pulled her close. “Give him time, Maxie - the two of you will be back to the way it was before.”
“I don’t know,” Max replied “I want something easy, Alec. Why can’t it be easy?”
“Wish I could help you there, but easy isn’t what you really want, Max.”
“What do I want?”
Alec smiled. “Maxie, you want the whole package. You’re still dreaming about the fairytale. You’re want what every little girl dreams of, Prince Charming on his White Horse who swoops in to take on the good fight no matter the cost.”
“No, I don't,” Max said, burying her head in his chest. “And isn’t that a little cynical?”
“You know me. I’m a realist, Max. I’m the ‘take what I can get’ guy, remember?”
She gave a little smile. “You know what?”
“What?”
“I’m happy to see this place hasn’t changed you too much.”
Alec let out a little laugh. “That’s me; same old same old.”
“Though it is strange to get blind-sided by mommy.”
“Mommy? Oh, Ellen.”
“Yeah, told me I needed a kick up the ass.”
Alec gave Max a little squeeze. “Yeah, well, you’re lucky she didn’t supply it.”
He looked down at her as she looked back at him. Alec coughed as they broke apart.
He stuffed his hands in his back pockets. “You still thinking of going today?”
Max shook her head. “Tomorrow morning, now. Give the kids time to say a proper goodbye to Billy, and let us get things straight with those hunter people.”
“Good, that is good,” Alec said, feeling uncomfortable.
“I’ll let you get back to whatever you’re doing,” Max said.
“Yeah, get this done,” Alec said, glancing at the small pile of stuff that he had been sorting through.
Max turned and walked out the door. Alec watched as she walked off.
He turned, resting his hands on the car parked there, gently tapping his head on the car roof.
“Don’t,” he said, looking at the polished body of Molly’s car.
“Don’t you say a word,” he said quietly. “It would be wrong, and she’s screwed up.”
He took a step away from the Impala, turning to go before turning back. “I’m not going there, all right, and don’t you say that Dean would. That it would be easier for her because then she could hate me instead of herself. But she still loves the guy. Why she does, I don’t know, but she does. Not that I’m saying that he’s a bad guy, cause Logan, he’s all right in a repressed WASP kind of way, it’s just that he's not right for her, Anyway, they have the whole virus thing.”
Alec stood for a second staring at the silent distorted reflection he saw of himself on the polished paintwork of the car hood. “Don’t look at me like that; I am not trying to talk myself in or out of anything. She can still fix things with him one way or another, and I’m not going to wreck it for her.”
He took a breath. “And I’m talking to a car. I am explaining myself to a car… Alec, you are seriously losing it, man.”
He heard a commotion outside; Max was screaming. Alec rushed out of the garage only to find himself on the ground with a weight on top of him. It took less than a second for him to focus on what was happening as Max continued to yell.
Joshua was holding her as she kicked and struggled while he was carrying her away. The large weight that was immobilizing Alec was Mole, who along with Smurf, was sitting on him.
“You’re not going anywhere right now, Princess,” Mole said, striking a match and lighting up his cigar butt.
“Joshua, put me down!” Max yelled.
“No, little fella, no get down,” Joshua said as he continued to walk toward the van that the transgenics had arrived in. “And Mole no going to let medium fella up!”
“Mole, you better move your ass or I swear to God…!” Alec said, trying to get leverage to push himself up.
Mole took the cigar out of his mouth. “Ain’t happening.”
“What the hell?” Billy said as he came out the house to see the strange sight.
“Look, man,” Mole said to the boy. “It’s for the best.”
“Mole!” Alec yelled as he futilely tried to get up. Billy ran back inside the house.
“You’ll thank me for it later, don’t want to embarrass yourself in front of the family, do you?” Mole said to Alec, who was squirming, causing Smurf to burst into a fit of giggles. Joshua was trying to work out the best way to open the van door while keeping hold of Max.
Smurf continued to giggle.
“It ain’t funny, kid,” Mole said, looking at the ditch digger beside him.
“Sorry.” Smurf wiped a tear from his eye as he continued to laugh. “They said, you know, but I didn’t think that it was actually true.”
“Well it’s true, kid, so stop laughing,” Mole said.
“Mole!” Alec yelled. “Get the hell off me!”
“Not until she’s out of here,” Mole said, nodding in the direction of Max, who was presently kicking Joshua in the shin as he tried to open the van door.
Alec sighed. “Mole, if this about what I think it’s about, then it's not happening.”
“Sorry, Princess, you would say that,” Mole said.
Smurf bit his lip. “X-5’s top of the range apart from this one tiny, tiny flaw.”
Mole clipped the other transgenic around the head. “I told you this ain’t funny.”
“Let him up!” Billy said firmly, returning back from the house with a baseball bat.
Mole shook his head, grabbing the head of the bat as Billy made an abortive swing.
Billy turned to see Curly and the other children in the doorway of the house. “Curly, go get my dad!”
Curly looked at the scene, not sure what to do.
“Please, go get my dad!” Billy yelled. The girl nodded, running off in the direction of the Roadhouse.
Alec was more than a little embarrassed, especially as Billy was trying to retrieve his bat from Mole and that Curly had gone to get John and Ellen. He decided to go the more logical route. “And can I ask what makes you think it's that ‘time’?”
“That time?” Mole said, raising for him what was an eyebrow, while still holding off the thirteen-year-old. “Oh shit, man, don’t tell me you haven’t?”
Mole turned to look a Joshua, who was grimacing at this point as Max kicked him again. “Joshua, he hasn’t told them!”
“That’s nice,” Joshua said, not paying any real attention to what Mole was saying as he was busy avoiding a head butt from one pissed off Max.
“I’m asking you, Mole, why have got it into your scaled excuse for a brain that is what is going on?”
“She apologized to Mole for being cranky, said we were going tomorrow, then said she was going to sort things out with you,” Smurf replied. “Mood changes - that’s a sign, right?”
“She apologized? That is your evidence?” Alec asked.
“Yeah, well, it's early stages, best nip it in the bud now before you two…” Mole looked at Billy, then over at Mo and Larry, before turning back to Alec, “before you two really get into things.”
“First of all, I would not, and secondly, she isn’t, so let me up!” Alec said, straining to push Mole and Smurf a couple of inches off the ground.
“Told you that isn’t happening, Princess,” Mole said, raising himself a little before coming down hard, forcing Alec flat.
“She is not in heat!” Alec yelled. “Max, tell them.”
“Joshua, I am not, I swear,” Max said as she stopped squirming.
“Little fella sure?” Joshua said, still holding on to her.
“Joshua, for crying out loud, smell her. You’ve got a better nose than me, so does she smell like she’s going into it?” Alec yelled to Joshua.
“They’re going to tell you what you want to hear, Josh,” Mole said.
“Yeah, big fella, I swear, on father’s work I swear: I am not in heat.”
“On father?” Joshua asked, to which Max nodded, causing the dog man to loosen his grip a little.
“See, Mole, she isn’t, and if she was, do you think I’d let you do this to me?” Alec asked, to which Mole didn’t reply.
“Think about it, man, we were alone, and if she was, do you think we would have voluntarily left that garage?”
“Not really.” Mole conceded that point.
“Mole, if Max was in heat, do you really think that if I was stupid enough to go there even though she’d probably tear me a new one after it was over, I wouldn’t have at least tried to introduce her to the back seat of the car in there? Hell, even the hood would do,” Alec yelled as his temper rose.
“What the hell is going on here?” John asked as he came around the corner, followed by Curly.
Joshua let go of Max, who turned and pushed the big guy. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
Joshua hung his head in shame. “Didn’t want little fella to do anything she’d regret.”
“Thanks a bunch, Josh. I’m something she’d regret,” Alec said sarcastically as Mole began to shift, letting him up.
“Don’t you dare have a go at Joshua,” Max hissed at Alec. “There were two of them who got it into their heads.”
Mole took a step back, making sure he was out of the firing line.
“This is my fault?” Alec asked, dusting himself off. “It isn’t my hormones that go out of whack. I’m not the one who has been such a bitch lately that when they decide to make a simple apology causes everyone to think that she needs locking up for her own good.”
“My own good? I’m not the one who makes the average alley cat look celibate!”
Alec bit his lip. “Go to hell, Max.”
“You first,” she said, stalking toward him.
At that point Mole tapped Alec on the shoulder, causing him to turn around, letting Mole hit him in the face. It also gave Joshua the opportunity to pick up Max and throw her into the van.
Mole looked down at the unconscious Alec before turning to John. “Better to be safe than sorry.”
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Alec started to come around to find himself on the couch with Molly holding an ice pack to his head. “What happened?”
“You lost to a chain-smoking dinosaur,” John said, smiling.
“Max?” Alec said, bolting upright.
“She’s fine; they finally let out the van after she started tearing the thing up inside,” John replied, handing Alec a bottle of painkillers. “Your friend Mole didn’t look too impressed at what she’d done. Strong, isn’t she?”
“Serves him right; I’m surprised she didn’t kill him.”
“She would have had Ellen not stopped her.”
“Where are they now?” Alec asked.
“At the Roadhouse, getting set up to see who turns up tonight.”
“Right,” Alec said, blinking. “Don’t suppose I got time to kill him before opening time?”
“Were you ever going to tell us?” John asked.
“Tell you what?” Alec replied, trying to get into the bottle of pills.
“About the going into season thing?”
“Going into season?” Alec was confused.
“Yes, Alec, going into season,” John replied.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Alec said.
John shook his head. “Alec, it’s okay, Joshua told us that it’s something in your DNA
“For crying out loud, she wasn’t, so why the hell are we having this discussion?” Alec asked.
“Why didn’t you think to tell us about this heat thing?” John replied.
“Can we do this after I stop seeing little birds that go tweet, and preferably after I get my hands on a new pair of lizard skin boots?” Alec said, nursing his head.
“Alec,” John said firmly, causing Alec to look up. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us?”
“Because to be honest some things are personal,” Alec replied.
“I get that, but you could have mentioned something,” John said sympathetically.
“Oh Jesus,” Alec said. He tried to stand up and sat down again quickly as the room still seemed to be moving.
“Understand that being hit in the face by a Desert Acclimatized Combat Unit is like being hit in the face with a sledge hammer,” John said as Alec ended up back on the couch.
“Yeah, well give me five minutes; he’s going to find out what it’s like getting his ass kicked by one seriously pissed off X5,” Alec retorted.
“I don’t think you getting in a fight with Mole would be a good idea right now.” John said as he looked over Alec's shoulder.
Alec turned around to see Mo peering around the doorway with Molly standing behind her.
“It’s okay,” John said to the little girl. “Come on.”
She slowly came out of the room and moved over to the group. John picked her up and placed her on his knee.
“See, he’s fine,” John said to the little girl, who looked a little nervous.
She tentatively put out a hand, pressing on the bump on Alec’s head. “Sore?”
“I’m all right, Mo,” Alec said to the little girl, taking her off John’s lap. “Got a hard head, so it would take a lot more than one of Mole’s sissy punches to keep me down.”
The little girl smiled a little before bowing her head. “Mole attacked you, so are you going to fight now?”
Alec shook his head, pulling the little girl into a hug. “No, no fight. Me and Mole will have a few words, but we won’t fight.”
“Promise?” Mo asked.
Alec nodded. “Yeah, promise.”
Molly turned to the child. “Why don’t you go and see what Larry and Curly are doing?”
Mo jumped off Alec’s lap and ran off.
“She got a little fright when she saw you go down,” John said. “Thought you weren’t going to get up again.”
Alec sighed. “Did everybody see me get humiliated?”
Molly shook her head. “Nope, I missed it, though if you want to repeat it I would be grateful.”
“Thanks,” Alec replied.
Molly tilted her head. “Well it does explain a few things.”
“Like what?” Alec replied.
Molly bit her lip trying not to snigger.
“You got to admit it’s funny,” Molly said, smiling.
“No, it isn’t,” Alec replied. “And I can damn well control myself, thank you very much.”
“Is there anything else we need to know?” John asked. “Don’t hibernate or anything?”
“No, for crying out loud, it’s her that goes through it, and I’m the one that gets hit in the face,” Alec replied.
“So you were never going to tell us?” Molly asked.
“Why should I have? Not like there is a whole load of females round here with feline DNA is there? And as I said, I can control myself,” Alec said.
“Really?” Molly replied. “You sure you don’t want to go by the old cat lady’s place in town to test that? Understand she has a couple of new Persians that might be your type.”
“Ha ha,” Alec replied.
“But according to Mole you’d react to whatever smell Max puts out,” John said.
“Only when she goes into it, and it isn’t just me it is any guy, ordinary included, that spends any real time up close and personal with her. Us X’s just get it a little worse than most, because we don’t need to get as close and what with the fact its part feline pheromones the girls put out,” Alec huffed. “And it doesn’t mean I’m going to jump anyone. After I get a sniff, all that happens is I get a little hyper, and more ‘flirtatious’ with the opposite sex, nothing else.”
“A little more?” Molly said disbelieving him.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Alec said to her. “It isn’t my fault. And when will everybody get it into their heads she has not gone into it.”
“Right?” John asked.
Alec pointed at Molly. “Girl in the room and I’m not acting like an idiot.”
“Thank God for that,” Molly joked.
“Now we have done the 'completely embarrass Alec' moment, can I please go and find out what the hell they are doing?” Alec said, in a slight huff.
“I’ll take care of it,” John said, getting up, before turning to Alec with a smile on his face. “Can I trust that you won’t be spraying the furniture or anything while I’m gone?”
Alec knotted his brow, slightly confused, before Molly burst into laughter. Alec sighed, picking up a couch cushion and threw it at John. “Very funny, yeah, very funny.”
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“You okay?” Max asked as Alec came into the bar.
“Sure, if we’re good,” Alec replied.
Max smiled, “Yeah, think I need a good screaming match.”
“Glad I could oblige.”
She looked at his slightly swollen eye, which was quickly disappearing thanks to his heightened healing ability, “Sorry about that.”
“Not your fault,” he said as looked over at Mole, who was currently arm-wrestling one of the larger patrons of the bar. “But when you guys are done here, I having a few words with him.”
“A few words?”
“Promised Mo that I wouldn’t hurt him.”
“Do you want me to?” Max asked.
Alec shook his head. “Nah, although I think if you tell the kids that he loves I-spy, as well as teaching them a couple of songs such as ‘A Million Bottles of Beer’, will probably do.”
“You do realize I have to be stuck in the van, too,” Max said, smiling.
“Can get you a pair of ear plugs?”
"Thanks,” Max said, taking a drink from her glass. “You’re going to stay here, aren’t you?”
Alec nodded. “Yeah, probably for the best. Can let you know what these guys are saying about this when you’ve gone.”
“Right,” Max said with a tinge of sadness in her voice, she turned away from him to see what Joshua was doing.
Alec put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her a little closer. “You need to talk, I’m on the other end of the phone, but you could just talk to Logan.”
“Maybe, maybe it’s for the best that it went down the way it did,” Max said, still watching Joshua.
Alec sighed. “Max, you know what you have to do, and if you don’t sort it one way or another then you’re a damn fool. Try and salvage something, Max even if it is only some way for the two of you to work together. I know it'll be hard but it's eating you up inside leaving things between you like this and don't say it isn't.”
“I know,” Max said, resting her head against his shoulder. “Are you going to be safe here, what with these hunters?”
Alec smiled. “Sure I am, Maxie, if anyone starts anything I’ll sic Billy on them.”
Max grinned. “He’s a good kid.”
Alec nodded. “Yeah, he is.”
Chapter 8