Max mumbled incoherently and pressed her face further into the neck of the muscular man lying beside her. Her arm was slung across his taut, bare abdomen, and her leg was thrown over both of his. She smiled sleepily and snuggled her body closer to him. She fought reality away as she stubbornly tried to stay in her slumber. She felt so warm, and the man next to her was scrumptiously hot against her flesh.
Alec stirred slightly and squeezed the woman in his arms. He slowly trailed his fingertips along the smooth skin of her back, and the light friction gave her goosebumps. Her raven hair sprawled silkily across his chest, and its delicious clean scent was filling his sleep-dazed brain. He felt himself harden in want and pushed himself against her. He was vaguely delighted when she responded with an almost inaudible purr and gently nudged her thigh closer to his groin. He groaned and placed a brief kiss to the top of her head, drawing her even closer.
"Mmmm...Alec." Max whispered, and turned her face toward his...
...Alec...
Alec!
The name registered in her foggy brain, and her eyes flew open. She shot straight up as her drowsiness rapidly fled.
Oh. My. God.
Alec.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled, scrambling from him in horror.
Alec?!?
He sat up lethargically and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, his expression reminiscent of a little boy whose mother just woke him from a nice dream.
"What did you think I was doing?" He asked with attempted sarcasm, but the effect was lessened by his sleep-induced gritty voice and slightly slurred words.
Max's gaze frantically shot from his face to take in the cramped room. Her eyes caught something on the ground and she became fixated on them..
Clothes. In a heap. On the floor.
His jacket. Her jacket.
-Oh-
His shirt. Her shirt.
-My-
His pants. Her pants.
-God.
She looked down at herself. Her almost wholly naked self, and whipped her head back to Alec. A quite exposed and adorable Alec.
Oh God. She did *not* just think he was adorable. Because she didn't think of him in those terms. She had called him a pretty boy before, but that was just to incense him. Not because she really thought he was pretty.
Did she?
No! No, she didn't! She couldn't!
He sighed, breaking into her thoughts, and she watched as a slightly annoyed look flitted across his face.
Had they slept together? Well, duh! She had woken up in his arms...but had they really *slept* together? The kind where *sex* was involved? She searched her mind desperately for a memory, but she came up blank. There was absolutely no way, though. No. They couldn't have slept together. Not her and...Alec..! Sure the guy was attractive- in fact, he was the epitome of a perfect male - but she cared for Logan. Of course, her and Logan had grown apart since the virus had come between them, however, she wouldn't have just gone off with Alec. And if she did, would she have no recollection of the encounter? She raked her eyes up and down his body.
She doubted it was possible for any woman to be with Alec and not remember.
Max placed her hand on her hips and looked at him angrily, her nostrils flaring slightly and red tinting her cheeks. Alec tried not to be turned on by the action. He tried hard. She was *not* cute when she was riled up; she wasn't beautiful standing there clad only her bra and underwear, all long limbs and smooth curves.
Nope. Not attractive at all. In fact, he decided she wasn't a morning person. Her eyes were slightly puffy, and her hair was mussed. Yep. He wasn't impressed with her whatsoever.
Riiiiight. If that were all fine and dandy, then why in the hell did he feel his lower anatomy tightening up? Why was his blood beginning to stir and threatening to boil like he was some X in heat?
Because no matter what his head was telling him, that wasn't the head in control right now. And if he admitted it to himself, whenever he was around Max, that's how his body usually worked. Of course, this was hardly a time for honesty, he reasoned, and pushed that thought right to the back of his mind.
Lord, he needed to get his pants on before she saw the effect she was having on him. If she thought she was mad now, just wait until she saw *that*. He stood abruptly and pushed his way past her, irrationally upset with her because she had this power over him. With jerky movements, he reached down grabbed his pants.
From behind him, Max's very pissed voice called.
"Um, I'm waiting." Alec shrugged his jeans on and turned to face her. He plastered his ever-present devil-may-care smile on his face and slowly stepped toward her.
"What, you can't tell, Maxie?" he tilted his head to the side and continued. "Your clothes are on the floor, my clothes are on the floor. You woke up practically naked next to me, and if I remember correctly, you seemed quite content to be there for a moment." He had no idea why he didn't just to tell her the events of the night before - about how he had discovered her there in the cellar and how he had needed to get her body temperature back up to a healthy level. But, for some reason, he was just so...annoyed with her. Annoyed with what she was doing to his brain; to his body. Annoyed with the fact that no matter how much he wanted to, he hadn't been able to deny her much anything since they had first met, and she had always treated him like he were some lower life form unworthy of her mere presence.
However, he stopped his wondering the minute he felt her fist slam into his jaw. The action stunned him, and he staggered back a step.
"What did you to me?" she asked through clenched teeth, her eyes flashing death rays through him. It was enough to send him from being annoyed to getting outright furious.
"What did I do to you, Max?" he stared at her a moment, absently rubbing the tender skin where she hit him. "Let's see, what did I do... I stumbled upon this little hole-in-the-ground room and discovered your *unconscious* body on the floor. Hmmm...I guess I should mention that your lips were turning blue, and it was obvious you were suffering from hypothermia. Apparently, you had already been in here for quite a while." He watched Max's face as she processed this info. She must be starting to remember some of what had happened before she had passed out, because a look of guilty recognition sparked in her eyes as he spat his words out at her. "So, you ask, what did I do? I warmed your ass up to save your life. If you remember from field med - wait, did you take that class?" He questioned, the words coming out as a snarl. "I mean, after all, you skipped out on Manticore and the rest of us at a very young age. Anyways, do you know how to help someone who is suffering from hypothermia? Do you?" As he had spoke, he'd leaned his face closer, almost coming nose to nose with her. His heated green eyes dared her to look away, and she could not. She had been wrong to jump to hasty conclusions, and they both knew it. He had probably saved her life, and she how had she thanked him? By slugging him in the jaw. She felt about two inches tall, and was truly sorry. However, her pride and her general distrust of Alec refused to let him see that.
Finally after several beats, she tore her gaze from his and turned to get her clothes from the floor. "So what, you expect me to thank you for that?" she tossed sarcastically over her shoulder, and like lightning, his hand was gripping her arm and thrashing her around to face him again. His blue eyes were ice and for the first time, Max realized that Alec was truly *angry*. She had never seen him like this before, but she knew this was one of the rare times when Alec let his guard down and let himself be...human.
"That's exactly what I expect Max. A 'thank you, Alec'. Or, 'I appreciate that, Alec'. Hell, even just an acknowledgement that while I'm far from perfect, I'm not the total asshole you make me out to be. Damn it!" His voice was climbing and he brought his hand up to grip her chin, making sure she couldn't turn away from him this time. "I'm sorry I can't be the trusty knight-in-shining-armor sidekick like Logan, or even be naïve and innocent as Joshua. But you know what? *I* never asked for any of this. I never asked for *you*! I had no choice the day *you* decided to blow up Manticore."
Max could feel his breath against her cheek, and his fingers tightened slightly on her chin. She couldn't say anything to him, and self-loathing washed over her. She may have felt two inches tall a minute ago, but right now she just wished she were invisible. He was right. About everything. She tried to shrink away from his gaze because she was so ashamed, and he let her chin go before turning away from her in disgust. She paused for a moment, searching for the right words to apologize to him, but she couldn't find them. So she sighed inwardly and busied herself with pulling her clothes on, and watched Alec's back as he did the same thing.
Alec called himself a hundred kinds of a fool. He shouldn't have blown up like that. He should've had better self control over himself. When he had felt her back away from him a second ago, a look of repulsion in her eyes, he felt like a total ass. He shouldn't have grabbed her face like that. Granted, she was an X-5, and more than able to take it, but he'd still crossed the line. He felt guilty about it, but couldn't bring himself to apologize. Pride, his only friend, prevented him from doing so. Instead, he finished dressing and turned back to look at her, not failing to notice how her eyes rapidly shifted away from him when he did so. The tension hung thickly in the air, and suddenly Alec wished for nothing more than to be back home in Seattle, away from her so he could collect his thoughts. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, and she fumbled her hands together nervously.
Outside, they both could hear the winter storm raging on as the wind howled ominously above them. The blizzard was still going strong, and they knew that they wouldn't be able to leave the cellar for hours, not if they wanted to stay alive.
So, they were still trapped down here.
Alone.
Alec feeling guilty about going off on Max; Max feeling guilty for never giving Alec enough credit, and for forcing a life on him that he hadn't asked for.
Both subconsciously wanting to offer the other some kind of comfort and apology.
Both deciding that maybe declaring a truce and becoming tentative friends wouldn't hurt - for a little while, at least.
Both trying not to wonder why they allowed each other get under their skin so badly.
Both trying to ignore how gorgeous the other was when they were irritated.
It was chaos. Pure madness.
God help them.