What's Next? -- Chapter 10

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, 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:  Thank you so much to jracklesfan77 for an idea that she gave me that I ended up using in this chapter!

“Hey, there,” Max said to Zack as he returned to their apartment a few days later. “Where have you been?”

“Talking with Biggs,” Zack said.

“About what?” Max asked.

“Setting up a security service,” Zack said. “Staffed by transgenics and run by Biggs and I. Security and bodyguard-type work only, no assassinations or anything like that.” He smirked. “We figured it’d be a real money maker.”

“Sounds like something the rich-and-famous would love,” Max said cynically, but she smiled. “I think it’s a great idea.”

“Thank you,” Zack said. “Once we get established and get a few clients, we can start looking for an apartment out in the main part of the city.”

“Great,” Max said. “It’s not that I mind this apartment. I actually like it, but the second bedroom is pretty much a closet. There won’t be much room to maneuver when there’s a crib and other furniture in there.” She smirked. “Though it will be nice if we can actually get an apartment where neither of us have to do a million hours of work on plumbing or electricity or anything like that. Original Cindy told me that she still has to replace the hot water heater practically every other time she wants to take a hot bath or shower.”

“Are you getting lazy?” Zack teased.

“No, I’m just not like Zane, with whom you have to get a freaking bucket and a mop to clean up all of the drool that he has when he sees anything that’s going to involve him using tools,” Max said. She laughed. “He’s going to have so much fun when his and Krit’s shop gets up and running. When it does, I need to bring my motorcycle in for a tune-up. I know I’m not supposed to and I won’t be riding it until after the baby is born, but it’s been awhile since it last had a tune-up and if there’s one person that I trust to fix my motorcycle other than myself, it’s Zane.”

“He’s got a gift with anything mechanical, that’s for sure,” Zack said.

“Not to mention explosives. Thank goodness for everybody else that he’s not making that his career,” Max said, laughing. “He used to absolutely love live ordinance training back at Manticore. Remember that? There would be Jondy, Eva, Gale, Parker, and Krit standing off to one side looking nervous as hell and there would be Zane who’d be practically singing a song and tossing around the C4 as if he was playing catch with somebody.”

Zack started laughing as well. “I think that the trainer was the only one who didn’t think at least once during live ordinance and that was because he was even more gung-ho about it than Zane.”

“We did have some good memories from there,” Max said. Her face darkened briefly. “Not nearly enough to make us consider staying there, but we do have some good memories.”

“With each other,” Zack agreed. “Every good memory that I have from before we escaped, it involved at least some if not all of the members of our family. Do you remember the time when we were running laps around the facility about a year before we gave ourselves our names and Ben had passed Parker and Krit and he turned around to stick his tongue out at them and he didn’t see the mud puddle and he slipped and fell?”

“I couldn’t believe that he’d gotten so much mud on him,” Max said, giggling. “He was so lucky that it was raining like crazy that day so by the time we reached the trainer again, most of it had washed off and the trainer didn’t say anything but the look on Ben’s face was absolutely priceless. What about the time that—“

A cell phone rang and cut off what Max had been about to say. “That’s mine,” Zack said. He took it out of his pocket, looked at the caller I.D., and opened it and answered the call. “Dennis, what’s going on?”

“Have either of you watched the news yet today?” Dennis asked.

“No. Why?” Zack asked.

“It finally got out,” Dennis said. “About you and your sister and your mother and I.”

“I’m surprised it took this long,” Zack said. “What’s going on?”

“Channel Five asked one of us to do an interview on their evening news magazine program later today,” Dennis said. “Caroline will do the interview since I’ve still got some wrapping up to do out here.”

“We’ll definitely be watching,” Zack said. “Does Becky know about this yet?”

“Caroline is on the phone with her as we speak,” Dennis said. There was a pause. “Becky seems to be taking it well. Either that or she’s a really good actress.”

“She is a good actress, but I think she’s also probably taking this news well,” Zack said.

“I think so, too,” Dennis said. “Listen, I have to get going. I’ll talk with you again sometime soon. Take care, Zack. Good-bye.”

“You too, Dennis,” Zack said. “Good-bye.” He disconnected and put his phone back in his pocket and sighed. “This better go over well.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Max said. “This will be fine. It’s just an interview and you’re not even the one who’s going to be giving it. Relax and let your mother handle it.” She smiled seductively. “If you want help relaxing, I know exactly what will do the trick and Wayne did say that it’s perfectly fine for us to do this and it won’t hurt the baby.”

Zack reached out and pulled Max close to him. “I’m not exactly sure what you have in mind…”

“You don’t?” Max said teasingly. “D—“ This time, she was cut off by Zack’s kiss.

TBC