Alec stood wearily on his feet, shaking slightly. Max moved over to him, allowing him to lean on her. "I told you to wait a minute and I would help you, you're so stubborn."
"Max, there's no need to baby me, I told you I'm fine."
"Well, no offense Alec, but you don't look very fine."
Alec rolled his eyes, and walked with her to the bathroom. Max had already started the water and turned off the tap when they got there. Alec took off his ruined shirt, sharply inhaling. He stared at the back of it and realized there was blood on it. He strained to look at his shoulder, where he was sure it was coming from. He lightly touched the wound that had been torn slightly open. The gash was bleeding slightly, and he winced when his fingers made contact with it. Max watched him, feeling her face redden realizing it had been done by her.
"I'm sorry." She told him, reaching over to dab away the blood.
"It's not your fault, we both got carried away." Alec said, kindly, grabbing her hand.
Max nodded silently, walking over to get some clean towels. Alec reached for the fly of his pants and let them fall slowly off his legs, only slightly twitching from the pain of his exposed cuts. Max watched horrified. His legs were a perfect match to his chest and maybe even worse. Footprint bruises were clearly visible on his shin, calves and thigh, leaving virtually no spot unmarred.
"Alec! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Would you have kissed me or touched me the way you did if you knew?"
Max turned from his gaze, not wanting him to see the slight moisture in her eyes.
"I'm okay Max, it looks worse than it feels." He laughed softly.
Alec stood, grasping the stink for leverage and went to the elastic band of his boxers.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting naked." He told her nonchalantly.
"Oh no, not with me in the room. You can wait until you're in the tub before you take them off."
"But they'll get wet." He said, looking at her incredulously.
"Relax, I'll hang them so they can dry, besides you have an entire suitcase full of clothes."
Alec shrugged his shoulders feigning annoyance. "But these are my favourite pair."
"Alec, stop being so difficult." Max told him, putting her hand around his waist and guiding him into the bath.
Alec leaned back, relaxed by the hot water against his skin. He got a mysterious grin on his face and reached down pulling off his boxers. As Max headed out the door, she turned to tell him just to leave his shorts on the floor and she'd get them later, when she was slapped in the face with his soaking wet boxers.
Alec cringed, ready for her reaction. "Sorry?" He offered, suppressing his desire to laugh.
"Alec I swear...ahh Nevermind!" She retorted, taking the underwear off her head and throwing them to the ground. "I'll be in the other room if you need anything. And Alec, you better not need anything!" Max slammed the door and walked away, aware of Alec laughter as she did so.
Alec remained in the bathtub for over an hour, admittedly feeling better. Even feeling strong enough to lift himself out of the tub. He wrapped a towel around himself, letting the water drip onto the floor as he stared at himself in the mirror. The bruises on his face looked much better than they had but still Alec was disgusted by the way he looked. He smiled slowly to himself though, when he realized Max had kissed him, even though he looked like a mess.
Searching through the cabinets, he came across some cologne. Splashing a little onto his chest and neck, he laughed to himself. "Alec my man, you've still got it!" He told the mirror out loud.
He searched the small bathroom, realizing he had forgotten to bring in a change of clothes.
Feeling revitalized, he decided it would be okay to walk around on his own. In the living room, he found his suitcase and pulled out some clothes, putting them to the side then zipping up the bag.
"Alec, are you wearing cologne?" Max called from somewhere unknown to Alec.
"Don't be ridiculous. Where would I get cologne?" Alec called back, turning to see where her voice was coming from.
Max opened the back door, coming inside. "I was out in the field and I swore I could smell cologne."
"It's not me." He told her, trying to pull his shirt over his head.
Max came over to him and helped pull it down. She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes. "No, you are. I can smell it." She sniffed his skin all over, ready to devour him. She was intoxicated by the powerful manly sent.
"That's all me, baby! Eau Du Alec." He teased lightly.
"Alec, be serious."
"Fine, I found it in the bathroom and thought why not? Now you be serious, were you spying on me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No!"
"Then how did you know?"
"I told you I was in the field and I could smell it." She looked at him seriously.
"That's impossible."
"I'm telling you, that's what happened." Alec reached for his boxers, shaking his head.
"Unless you have canine in your cocktail or..."
"Or what?" Max asked desperately.
"Maybe it's just another side effect." Alec told her, slipping on his boxers under his towel. He flung the towel across the room and started with his pants, unassisted.
"Do you think that's possible?" Max asked, forcefully pulling herself away from him, furthering the gap.
"I don't see why not. In fact, I would say that there are probably a whole bunch of side effects that we don't even know about yet."
"This can't be good." Max whispered to herself.
"It's fine Max. Don't be so worried. What could be so bad about having an acute sense of smell?"
"Alec, take off that cologne."
"What? Why?" He asked smelling himself. "You don't like it?"
"No, that's not the problem." She said, swallowing hard. "I think I like it too much."
"Oh." Alec said confused. "OH! I gotcha." He told her, giving her a small wink.
"You don't have to be so smug about it."
"Wait Max. Are you sure it's not something else?"
"Something else? Like what?"
"Maybe you're in heat." He told her and then ducked, sure she was about to swat him.
"Grow up Alec." Max told him, moving even further away.
"What!? What'd I say? It's possible, isn't it?"
"No, Alec, I'm not in heat. I'd know if I was in heat. If I knew you were going to be such a jerk, I never would have brought this up."
"Come on Max, what other kind of jerk would I be." He laughed softly. "Look, I'll go wash it off if that'll help."
Max nodded and sat down on the couch, biting her bottom lip.
Alec had scrubbed himself gently to try to remove the smell. He came back into the room for the forth time. "Can you smell it?"
Max nodded avoiding his gaze. "Still?" He said, not believing it.
"Look, just forget about it. It's not working. And it's not like I'm going to attack you in your sleep."
"Are you sure about that? Because I wouldn't mind." He told her lightly, receiving a smile from her.
"Go ahead and take the bed. I'm not tired anyway."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm just going to hang out here for a while."
"Suit yourself." He told her too tired to argue or convince her to come to bed. Max was too strong willed for him to win out anyway.
Alec walked into the small bedroom, pulling back the sheets and lowering himself to the bed. He sank into the cool comfort of the mattress and fell asleep instantly.
Max sat for a long time, thinking things over in her head. Something Alec said stuck with her, what if there were more side effects? What was her body going to do next?
Unnerved, and more than a little frightened, she made her way into the bedroom. Standing at the doorway for a few minutes, she noticed the smell of the cologne was not as strong as before. It was tolerable now, instead of driving her insane with need. Making her way to the bed, she got in beside Alec, wanting to feel comforted more than anything. He rolled over and draped his arm over her protectively. Max smiled into the darkness, no matter what she knew Alec would be there for her.