You and Me -- Chapter 8

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, 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.

Max and Jamie got off of the bus in front of Max’s apartment building a few days later laughing. “I can’t believe he had the nerve to say that in the meeting,” Max said as she pressed the button for the elevator. “What drugs was he on when he called her that?”

“I don’t know, but it was pretty damn funny,” Jamie said as she wiped a tear from one of her eyes. They got in the elevator and Jamie shook her head as she pressed the button for Max’s floor. “I absolutely loved the look on her face afterwards. The shade of red that it turned was a nice touch.” They got out of the elevator and walked over to the apartment and Max let them in. “Too bad that Chris from billing got them to calm down. It would have been really good if they’d continued to go at it.”

“I don’t doubt it for a sec,” Max agreed. “Hey, Mark, we’re back.”

“Hey, Kara,” Zack said, making his way into the living room. He nodded to Jamie. “Hello, Jamie.”

Jamie smiled flirtatiously. “Hey, Mark. You’re looking pretty good.”

“Jamie,” Max said warningly.

Zack glanced at Max out of the corner of his eye, feeling strangely pleased at her reaction. “My ribs feel much better. I get them and the leg checked out again in two days. Kara, do you know what we’re doing for dinner tonight?”

“Men, always about food,” Max said teasingly, though she felt her stomach flutter when Zack had said ‘we’re.’ “I was planning on just getting a pizza. I’m not in the mood to actually cook anything tonight.”

“Sounds good to me,” Zack said. He nodded to Max and Jamie and then went back into the guest bedroom.

“That takes me back,” Jamie said. “When I was growing up, it seemed like all my brothers wanted to do was eat.”

Max raised an eyebrow. “Brothers? You never mentioned that you have more than one.”

“Yeah,” Jamie said. She looked thoughtful for a moment before she sighed and turned back to Max. “I’ve got a twin brother. Damn, I miss him.” She saw the look that Max was giving her and she smiled a little. “He’s got some job down in the States. I’ve seen Brett about as often as I’ve seen Brian. Brett’s my twin, Brian’s my older brother.”

“Brian and Brett?” Max said, amused. “It sounds like those two are twins.”

“Yeah, go figure that one out,” Jamie said, interrupting Max’s chain of thought. She sat down in a chair. “Man, I am hungry. You got anything decent to eat around here?”

“Well, I think I finally figured out why you’re friends with me,” Max said dryly. “It’s my usually fully-stocked fridge.”

“I can’t help it if you’re as big of a pig as I am,” Jamie said. She grinned and laughed. “Seriously, do you have anything to munch on? I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

“It’s called waiting another hour when you’re back at your own apartment and eating dinner,” Max said. This time, both of them laughed. “I’ve got a few things to snack on. What do you want?”

“Mark,” Jamie said half-jokingly.

Immediately, the smile on Max’s face disappeared and she glared at Jamie. “Sorry, he’s not on the menu.”

“Oh, will you fucking lighten up?” Jamie said, exasperated. “It was a joke. I know that you are aware of what those are, Kara, so drop the bitch act sometime in the immediate future. All I did was say that I find Mark to be exceptionally good-looking. Besides, it’s not as if he said that he was taken.”

“But it’s not as if he said that he wasn’t taken, either,” Max said immediately. She mentally shook her head. What’s gotten into you?

“Oh, so this is what this is about,” Jamie said. “You’ve got a crush on Mark, too.”

“I never said that,” Max said.

“It’s practically written all over your face, Kara,” Jamie said. “If you do, I guess that’s cool, but it’s not like you’re doing anything about it.”

“That’s because I don’t think of Mark like that, Jamie,” Max said through gritted teeth, though she found herself unable to quite look Jamie directly in the eye. “However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t feel that the way that you look at him, talk about him, and act around him is disgusting and bordering on skank whore.”

Jamie’s eyes widened. “Excuse me? Skank whore? Where the hell have you been? I have not been acting anywhere even remotely close to that and you damn well know that. You know what? If I’m acting like the whore that you’re apparently insisting that I am, then you are acting like an immature little brat who’s whining about not getting her favorite Barbie doll for Christmas.”

“Get real, Jamie,” Max snapped. “I’m acting like a friend who’s concerned for Mark’s well-being.” Her right hand twitched and she immediately hid it behind her back, grasping it tightly with her other hand as her heart suddenly skipped a beat. Hell no! I don’t need this on top of all this crap!

Jamie looked at Max, concerned. “Are you okay, Kara?”

“I’m fine,” Max insisted. “I’m just a little frustrated.”

Jamie snorted. “Yeah, you and me both. I thought that you would have more sense that to act like this.”

“What exactly is that supposed to mean?” Max yelled. “You know, this is stupid and it’s only going to end up going around in damn circles, so I’ll just finish it right now: you are being a complete inconsiderate, skanky bitch and if I ever see you acting that way again, I’ll—“ Max stopped suddenly when she felt a tremor pass through her. She took in a shaky breath. Oh, shit. I better be able to get to my tryptophan before it really hits.

“Kara?” Jamie said uncertainly.

“I said that I was—“ Max suddenly collapsed to the floor, seizing violently.

“Kara!”

Zack sat on the bed and sighed, his gaze drifting towards the bedroom door. Get with it, soldier and face the facts. You need to let her know. I love Maxie so much, but how the hell am I supposed to tell her? He frowned. Okay, I technically know how to say the words ‘I love you,’ but it’s not that simple. Zack snorted. If Tinga was here, she’d be insisting that it is this simple. If it were Zane, Krit, Duke, or the rest of my brothers, they’d tell me to get my shit together. Krit and Duke would probably at least try to slap me upside the head, too. I want to let her know, I really do.

“That’s because I don’t think of Mark like that, Jamie. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t feel the way that the way that you look at him, talk about him, and act around him is disgusting and bordering on skank whore.”

Zack caught the edginess in Max’s voice and a faint smile came across his face. I know that voice. Jondy used to call it Max’s ‘I’m-in-denial’ voice. Maybe, just maybe…

“Excuse me? Skank whore? Where the hell have you been? I have not been acting anywhere even remotely close to that and you damn well know that. You know what? If I’m acting like the whore that you’re apparently insisting that I am, then you are acting like an immature little brat who’s whining about not getting her favorite Barbie doll for Christmas.”

Jamie need to cool down, Zack thought. He frowned as his thoughts drifted to the other young woman. Something about Jamie is off. I swear that I’ve seen her before, she looks familiar to me, but I can’t quite place the face. I just don’t get it. I can count the times that this has happened to me on one hand and it gets me every single time. I’ll figure it out eventually.

“I’m fine. I’m just a little frustrated.”

“Yeah, you and me both. I thought that you would have more sense that to act like this.”

Bad move, Jamie. Max is not going to like that one.

Max’s reaction didn’t disappoint Zack. “What exactly is that supposed to mean? You know, this is stupid and it’s only going to end up going around in damn circles, so I’ll just finish it right now: you are being a complete inconsiderate, skanky bitch and if I ever see you acting that way again, I’ll—“

“Kara?”

Damnit, something’s wrong. As quickly as he could, Zack got up and reached for his crutches.

“I said that I was—“ There was a soft thud and Zack felt his heart jump into his throat. He barely registered Jamie’s panicked yell of Max’s alias as he somehow managed to practically fly into the living room. He nearly panicked himself at the sight of Max seizing on the floor before the commander in him took control. He quickly glanced over at Jamie, who was as white as a sheet and staring at Max in shock.

“Jamie, Kara has medication. It’s in the bathroom underneath the sink.” Jamie remained frozen in place.

“Oh my God, oh my God…” she whispered.

“Jamie, move!” Zack commanded. He winced internally at how harsh he had sounded, but it seemed to snap Jamie out of it and almost before he knew it, she was handing him Max’s bottle of tryptophan. Zack quickly opened the bottle and shook out several pills and held them to Max’s mouth. “Come on, open your mouth for me so you can swallow them.”

“I—I’ll—“ Max attempted to keep her mouth open long enough to take the medication, but couldn’t quite do it and began to seize even harder.

Zack was barely able to restrain his panic. No! “Jamie, try to hold her mouth open long enough for me to give her the medication. Jamie nodded and gently opened Max’s mouth and held it in that position long enough for Zack to place the tryptophan inside. She and Zack watched tensely as Max swallowed the tryptophan shakily and continued to seize in Zack’s arms until the tremors finally started to die down a minute or two later.

Max blinked up at Zack, still slightly dazed. “I’m—“

“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Zack immediately assured her. “Get some rest. You need as much of it as you can get.” He watched Max close her eyes and when he was sure that she had fallen asleep, he leaned in as whispered into her ear softly enough that even another X5 would have had a hard time hearing him. “I love you, Maxie.” He brought his hand up to move a stray lock of hair away from Max’s face when the sound of somebody crying quietly caught his attention and he looked up to see a still shaken Jamie sitting on the couch. “Jamie, can you do me a favor and get Kara into her room and into her bed?” Jamie immediately nodded, wiped her eyes, got up off of the couch, and walked over to Max and picked her up. Zack carefully got up and made his way over to the couch and sat down where Jamie had been only moments before and put his head in his hands.

My God, I haven’t seen any of us seize that hard in years. Why didn’t I see that one coming? I’m normally so good about that. He sighed. Well, you weren’t exactly with her at work all day. You did everything that you could have done and you know it and because of that, Max is going to be fine. Get your head together, soldier, and move on. She’ll be fine!

“Hey,” Jamie said quietly.

Zack looked up and saw her standing in front of him. “Hey, Jamie.”

“Mind if I sit here?” Jamie asked.

“No, go ahead,” Zack said.

Jamie sat down and sighed. “Mark, I just…I want to apologize for a few things. I’m sorry if I was being a little too obvious flirting with you over the past couple of days. Kara’s right, I shouldn’t have been quite as obvious. I’m normally pretty good with the whole subtlety deal, but not when it comes to guys.” She chuckled.

“I understand,” Zack said. “Apology accepted, Jamie, but…”

“I know,” Jamie said. She managed a smile. “I know when to bow out gracefully.” At Zack’s surprised expression, she laughed a little. “I saw the way that you were looking at Kara. You’re madly in love with her. It’s painfully obvious now.”

“You don’t mind?” Zack asked cautiously.

“Not at all,” Jamie said. “Maybe I’m annoyed a little bit, but whatever I was starting to feel towards you is obviously nothing compared to the way that you seem to feel about Kara. What I was feeling was mostly if not all lust, anyway. It’s fine.”

“Thank you,” Zack said.

“You’re welcome,” Jamie replied. She stared ahead of her and sighed, the look on her face clearly troubled.

“What’s wrong, Jamie?” Zack asked.

“I don’t know, Mark,” Jamie said honestly. “I really don’t. I remember a few years ago when I was working as a paramedic, two of the calls that I went out on were for a seizing epileptic. On one of them, the patient was still seizing when we’d gotten there and on the second, that patient had stopped but started again after we’d arrived. It was a little nerve-wracking, how can it not be, but I was able to deal with it. I definitely didn’t freeze like a deer caught in headlights. But watching Kara just now…” She shivered and grew thoughtful. “I don’t know. I guess it’s harder when it’s a close friend.” Jamie closed her eyes for a few moments. “I just couldn’t do anything. I hadn’t felt that helpless in years.”

“I know the feeling,” Zack said. They were both quiet again for a few minutes before Jamie got up off of the couch.

“I should get going,” she said. “I’ll come by tomorrow sometime to check up on Kara. Maybe I’ll call, too. I’ll see you around.”

Zack nodded and started to reply, but something in his field of vision caught his attention. “Your hair.”

“Huh?” Jamie said, confused. She saw Zack point to the top of her head and she laughed. “Oh yeah, I’ve got to touch up my roots again. As if you couldn’t tell, I’m not a natural blond.” She nodded to Zack and left the apartment. Zack just stared at the door for a few moments before he got up and made his way into Max’s room, pulling up a chair and sitting down at her side for the rest of the night.