His Fight -- Chapter 10

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Alec, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (Brenda/X5-008, etc.).

After thinking things over and somehow getting through the rest of that day with Max avoiding me as much as possible, I was getting ready to do something that had the potential to be even more excruciating than getting your toenails ripped out: going back to Josh’s house to meet with Logan about even more information that he found for us. Guess who I’m going with? If you guessed Max, then you win the grand prize. I just have to psyche myself up for this. No problem. Max probably still is at least pretending to be pissed at me and I know that Logan would want to bludgeon me if he gets the chance. Ha, I’d like to see that moron try! Even if he puts that exoskeleton on, I’m still faster.

“Are you going to open your eyes so that we can see Logan and get this information or are you going to fall asleep on your feet?” Max asked.

“Relax, Maxie, I’m just thinking,” I said. “Which of his contacts did he get this information from? Was it Sung again or somebody else?”

“Somebody else,” Max said. “Though you were close. It’s another cop in the Seattle P.D.” The door opened and Max smiled. “Hey, Logan.”

“Hey, sweetheart,” Logan said. He immediately pulled Max into a kiss and wouldn’t let her go until Max pushed him away. He was beaming at Max, but his eyes glanced towards me and I really wanted to gag. The guy was even more territorial than an X5 but without the subtlety. He turned to face me. Nice fake smile, dude. “Hello, Alec.”

“Hey, Logan,” I said.

“Come on in,” Logan said. He stepped aside to let us in. What, you’re not going to try to stick out your leg in a vain attempt to try to trip me? “Have a seat while I go get the print outs of the information and the disc that it came on.”

“Thanks,” I said. I sat down on the couch. Max sat next to me, but kept her distance. I frowned. I wanted like hell to move closer to her, but I didn’t want to piss her off even more than she probably still was. I settled for moving half an inch closer. “This information could really be put to some good use. It might give us the leverage we need to try to get something going about officially getting us out into the general public.”

“Are you purposefully avoiding the issue between you and me?” Max asked.

Leave it to Max to get right to the point. “Only because I don’t know where the boundaries are about that for you,” I said honestly. “If you want to talk about it, then I’ve got no problems talking about it.”

Max nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“I’m sorry that I just let it out the way that I did,” I said. “I wanted to tell you, but I wanted to try to tell you at a more appropriate time. My mouth, on the other hand…” I shrugged.

“What is it with men and patience?” Max said. She shook her head, but I could see that twinkle in her eyes that meant that she was teasing. Yes! She’s warming up. Take this slow, Alec, nice and slow. Don’t blow this now.

“I don’t know,” I said. “But if I ever find that one out, I’ll clue you in.”

“About what?” Max and I turned around and a few moments later, Logan finished walking down the stairs and over to us.

“Why men are so impatient sometimes,” Max said. She sighed. “On that note, I’ve got to go use the bathroom. I’m sorry.”

“No problem,” I said. I stood up and stretched. “I’m going to go sit on the back porch for a few. I wanna enjoy this weather while it lasts.” I walked through the house to the back door and went outside and sat down on the steps of said back porch. Things are starting to look up. What am I going to do for my next move? I should still keep things relatively subtle. Maybe I should invite Max to hang out with some of the other guys. Hmm, maybe I should let Krit and Syl in on the plan, or at least Krit. He told me that he doesn’t like Logan much so I’m pretty sure that he’ll be a good ally for me. I suddenly turned my head back in the direction of the house and frowned. Just what I need when I’m trying to strategize.

Logan opened the door and stepped outside. “Enjoying yourself, Alec?”

“The weather’s really nice,” I said.

“It is,” Logan agreed. He sat down next to me. I took a quick look at him and mentally groaned. Here it comes. “Max mentioned something to me when she came over.” He gave me an evil look. “She told me that you just blurted out that you loved her as more than a friend.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Listen to me,” Logan said. “Max is my girlfriend. I don’t give a rat’s ass what your feelings for her are, but you are to keep your hands to yourself. How dare you throw yourself at her the way that you did! You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“I didn’t throw myself at Max,” I said. Don’t you just love how Logan seems to bend the facts around to his benefit? I wonder if that’s something they taught him in the journalism classes back at Yale. “I didn’t go about telling her in the way that I should have, but give me some credit here. I know better than to throw yourself at a woman, especially one who’s dating somebody else.”

Logan narrowed his eyes. “Just stay away from Max.”

“I’m her friend,” I reminded him. “Not to mention that I help her keep Terminal City running. Staying away from her is going to be next to impossible. I’m not going to be forcing myself on her if that’s what you’re worried about. Max has made it clear where the lines are in our friendship and since I have an even clearer picture of where they are, I won’t be crossing them.” Until she gives me the green light to take a flying leap over them, that is. “I don’t blame you for being paranoid. With somebody as special as Max, I’d be worried myself.”

“She is special,” Logan agreed. He frowned. “She shouldn’t be putting herself in danger day after day like she’s been doing for the past few years. She shouldn’t be doing half of the things that she does.”

Breathe deeply. Don’t strangle him yet. “She’s been in danger from minute one of her life,” I reminded him. “She knows how to handle herself. Don’t worry so much about it, Logan. Max knows what she’s doing.”

“No—I mean, I guess you’re right,” Logan said. Did I just almost hear you say that you don’t have faith in your girlfriend? “But she still shouldn’t be—“

“I still shouldn’t be doing what?”

I love you, Max. “Hey.”

“Hey, Alec.” Max gave me a quick smile before she turned to Logan. Do you have any idea how happy I am that the look that she’s giving him is for Logan and not for me? The last time she gave it to me was before the Jam Pony hostage nightmare. “Logan, will you please just relax and trust me? Alec is right. I know exactly what I am doing and silly me, I was under the impression that you were aware of that fact.”

“I know that you know what you’re doing, but I’m still worried as hell about you,” Logan said. “Just because you’re sure of your actions doesn’t mean that you should be doing them in the first place.” I could practically see the bonfire in Max’s eyes. I sighed mentally. As much as I really wanted to see Logan get his ass verbally roasted from here to New York City, we really did have some business to take care of.

“How about we cool off here, kids,” I suggested. “Where are those print outs, Logan?”

“Right inside,” Logan said. “I left them on the coffee table.” He waved us towards the house and Max and I followed him inside. I was grinning to myself. Next time, I wasn’t going to save Logan from the verbal ass kicking. Hell, I’d tape it.