Together -- Chapter 55

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, 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 (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: More spoilers and spoiler-ish stuff for “The Berrisford Agenda.”

Alec was still relatively quiet when he got back to his apartment that night after hanging out with his friends at Crash. He took off his jacket and sat down on a chair and turned on the TV and watched for a minute or two before he got up and went into the kitchen. He saw the light blinking on his answering machine, so he pressed it and listened to the message while he dug out some food from the refrigerator.

“Alec, it’s Brin. Max and Becky and Jeff called me when I was at work and they told me that you had been acting a little off this afternoon and I was wondering if everything was okay. Call me if you need anything. I might come over tonight anyway at some point after I get back from work. I’ll talk to you later. ‘Bye.”

“Figures they’d go blabbing it around,” he said to himself as he grabbed a fork and started eating the leftover Chinese food that he’d found. He’d only had a few bites when the doorbell rang. He rolled his eyes. “All that time I spent in Psy Ops must have given me psychic powers.” He went over to the door and when he opened it, he saw not only Brin standing there, but Max and Becky and Jeff as well. “It’s a whole party here tonight.”

“We were worried about you.” Max said.

“I’ve been fine all day,” Alec said. “There’s nothing to be worried about. Honest.”

“You were pretty quiet all afternoon,” Becky said. “You didn’t make any smart remarks at work, you didn’t even try to antagonize Max, and you were just sitting in the corner at the table at Crash tonight. You didn’t even want to play Sketchy for money at pool and you never miss an opportunity to do that, no matter how much any of us tell you how crappy that is of you.”

“Even I can have a bad day. It’s not unheard of for somebody to actually have a bad day once in awhile. Remember?” Alec said.

“I want to know who are you and what you did with Alec,” Jeff said. “If that was a bad day, then I must be on cloud nine right now in comparison.”

“All right, sit the hell down and I’ll spill the whole story,” Alec said. He waited until they had sat down on either the couch or the floor before he sat back down in his chair. “I’m gonna guess that the whole story never leaked out because if it had, Jeff would have found out and told you and you would have been telling me how sorry you guys are for me and crap like that.”

“I only heard what I guess were the basics,” Jeff said.

“Here’s the entire story then,” Alec said. “I got called into Renfro’s office about four months or so before the DNA lab got blown up. They wanted to send me on a solo deep cover mission. Robert Berrisford was involved with Manticore. He supplied funds and medical equipment through his company. Somehow, Manticore heard rumors that he was going to withdraw his support and possibly expose them. They decided to put somebody in to keep an eye on him and they decided to send me. My cover was as Berrisford’s daughter’s piano teacher so I actually learned how to play the piano before I left. I was sent out, killed the real piano teacher, and went to Berrisford’s mansion as planned and I met Berrisford and the daughter. Her name was Rachel. I taught her piano and I kept an eye on her father, just like I had been instructed to do.”

“This is the part where you tell us that something happened that you weren’t quite expecting, right?” Max said.

Alec nodded. “I wasn’t expecting Rachel. I knew she existed and helping her with her piano playing was part of my cover on the mission, but I wasn’t expecting her to be so nice and so funny and so pretty and so…everything. It was the weirdest thing. I actually started to seriously like her. We became just about best friends pretty quickly and one night I realized that it was becoming something more than that. We didn’t sleep together, don’t worry. I’d been invited to a party that her dad was throwing and she and I ended up going outside for awhile and we kissed and I realized how much I had fallen for her. Yes, I was in love. I was actually in love with Rachel.”

“Wow,” Brin said quietly. “What happened?”

“Manticore did,” Alec said bitterly. He paused before he continued with the story. “Almost a month into the mission, I confirmed what Manticore had suspected. Berrisford was making the arrangements to withdraw his support from them and was seriously considering exposing them. When I checked in with my superiors and showed them the evidence, I was ordered to plant a bomb in the Berrisfords’ car within the week so that both Rachel and her father would be taken out. They wanted Rachel to be killed as well because they were afraid that her father had told her everything, even though I knew and had no evidence to support that. I pointed that out to them, but they ordered me to do it anyway.”

“Did you really plant the bomb?” Becky asked.

“I didn’t,” Alec said. “My plan was to warn Rachel and make sure that she and her father were safely hidden away before planting the bomb in their car and detonating it to make it look to Manticore that I had carried out my orders. The next day, I showed up to the house for Rachel’s piano lesson as usual, but Rachel’s father told me that he was taking Rachel into the city for awhile to do some shopping for something that she needed for school and that the lesson would be delayed by an hour and that I was free to stay around the house until they got back. He and Rachel said good-bye to me and they got into their car. After they had gotten in, I heard a clicking noise. I knew what the noise was. It was a bomb that had just been armed from a distance by a remote. Manticore must have gotten a little impatient and had someone else plant the bomb. I knew that logically, whoever it was from Manticore was probably close enough to hear me either on their own or with listening devices, but I didn’t care. I screamed for them to get out of the car and run. Rachel’s father managed to get to a safe distance from the car, but Rachel wasn’t able to get far enough. The explosion threw her forward and I saw her hit her head. I thought she’d died.” Alec frowned. “I guess they must have gotten me and taken me back to the facility then because the next thing I remember, I was in Psy Ops. I guess they decided that Berrisford had enough of a scare because he’s obviously still alive.”

“Holy shit,” Jeff said.

“You were really in love with her,” Max concluded. “I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry doesn’t cover it nearly enough.”

“Thank you,” Alec said.

“You want to see Rachel again, don’t you?” Brin asked.

“I would,” Alec admitted. “It said she was in a coma, but it didn’t say where she was being treated. I don’t know where she is. It’s not like I can just ask her father. He’s probably figured out that I had been sent to kill him and changed my mind at the last minute. The guy most likely wants to strangle me if he has the chance.”

“One of us could find out,” Becky suggested. “That article mentioned that charity event that he was throwing. One of us could get in and find out where Rachel is. That’s the least suspicious way that I can think of. Brin obviously can’t go and we’d have to disguise ourselves, but that seems like the most viable option.”

“That does sound like a good idea,” Alec agreed. “Who wants to go do this?”

“I could go,” Jeff said. “I could pass for at least eighteen.”

“Yeah, especially since your birthday is in two-and-a-half weeks,” Becky teased.

“Knock it off, you guys,” Max said. “Come on. Let’s get back to our homes. We’ll plan the rest of this all out later.” She, Becky and Jeff left the apartment. Brin lingered behind.

“If you need anything, let me know,” she said.

Alec shook his head. “I’m fine. You should be getting back to your place and get some sleep. It can’t be good for the baby if you’re staying up late and worrying about me.”

“You’re my friend,” Brin said. “I’m going to worry about you no matter what. The baby will be just fine. I should get back to my apartment and get some sleep, though. I am getting a little tired. The rugrat hasn’t even been born yet and he or she is already starting to sap my energy.”

“That’s my kid,” Alec said. He smiled a little.

Brin smiled too and gave one of Alec’s hands a supportive squeeze. “I’ll see you later.” She turned and left the apartment.

TBC