Author's Note : This is my answer to Pai's Challenge "She asked for it".
No I wasn't drunk or stoned when I wrote this!
Thanks to my twin for her betaing skills and bitchiness!

Disclaimer : Well, you know... The usual... Just don't sue me!


BACKFIRE-Part 2


A light knock at their door interrupted Max's attempt to comb her hair. Finally settling for a simple ponytail, she ran to the entrance highly annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm coming!"

As she pulled the knob, she was met by "chocolate-brown" eyes looking at her with mischief.

"Cindy, what are you doing here?"

The woman pushed the door and entered the room.

"That ain't no way to welcome your gal', Boo... 'Lost your manners or what?" OC said, hands on her thighs.

Recovering her surprise, Max hugged her friend warmly and smiled.

"Well, it's just that I wasn't expecting you..."

Original Cindy raised a suspicious eyebrow. "What? Lover Boy didn't tell you he invited me over for dinner?"

Max rolled her eyes at the evidence.

*Of course, she should have known that it had been his idea!*

At the same time Alec came out of the kitchen a wooden spoon in his hand, dressed simply in black jeans, his cream sweatshirt covered by a large pink apron.
He greeted the newcomer with an unexpected kiss on the cheek.

"So how do you like my surprise, Sweetie?"

Max just looked at him blankly while OC was trying to overcome the fact that she had just been kissed by a man!

After a few seconds of ackward silence, Alec looked at his watch.

"Geez, girls, I'd love to stay and chat but I have to go back to my dishes... Otherwise, you'll just have to settle for Max's peanuts and chips!"

Still in wonder, the girls watched his back as he returned to his cooking quarters.

OC cleared her throat and gave her friend a bemused look.

"Huh, Max... Is he on drugs or something?"

The transgenic let out a nervous laugh.

"I don't know. He's been acting weird lately... "

"What do you mean?"

"Well I think he's been taking this whole thing a bit too seriously."

OC made a snapping sound with her tongue and smirked.

"Hey, he's an X5... He just wants to perfect his mission."

"Yeah, right... I'm sure he's just up to something."

The other woman tried to hide her amusement.

"We'll see..."

She looked around the apartment and whistled in appreciation.

"At least you have a nice little place..."

Max beamed proudly at the compliment. She had been quite reluctant at the idea of sharing the place with Alec, but now she didn't regret it that much.

"I took care of the whole decoration. Alec is basically a slob so I told him that I wouldn't go through with this living arrangement if he didn't let me do whatever I wanted to do with the place... He just replied that as far as he was concerned, he didn't give a damn as long as the place had electricity and running water..."

Original Cindy rolled her eyes.

"Typical..."

She stopped in mid-sentence as something caught her attention in the middle of the living room.

"Why do I have the feeling this wasn't your idea?"

Max bit her lip with a grin.

"We did argue on that one... But you know him. He couldn't live without his 'Boob Tube'!"

OC let out a snort and sat on the couch.

"SO he's doing the cooking, huh?" She laughed. "Thank, God!"

Max gave her a hurt look.

"Why, thank you!" She sat next to her friend.

"If it can make you feel better, he does know haw to handle a pan... Though sometimes I'm afraid about his experiments..."

She bent next to OC's ear, keeping an eye on the kitchen's closed door.

"He's stuffing strange things in my oven..." She whispered.

"Oh, really!" Her friend answered, a smile starting to crack-up.

The X5 gave her a tap on the shoulder.

"You know what I mean..."

"I hope I do..."

Max ignored the comment.

"Anyway, he loves experimenting! Not that I complain, mind you, he always comes out with something absolutely delicious..."

Original Cindy held a hand in the air.

"We're still talking 'bout Wonder Boy's cooking skills, ain't we?"

Max made a face and was about to answer when somebody knocked at their door.

"That must be Logan." The X5 said excitedly.

Chocolate brown eyes fixed her face, as she was about to get the door.

"Hold on, Boo!" She bit her lower lip seemingly unsettled. "Logan? You're kidding me right?"

Max started to twist a strand of hair around her finger.

"Absolutely not. Another one of Alec's great ideas!"

"OK.... So are we waiting for somebody else?"

"Not that I'm aware of..."

Max could see her friend was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable. Another knock was heard, slightly louder this time.

"'Coming !" The X5 shouted her eyes still on OC.

The woman crossed her arms on her chest and laid back her shoulders.

"Alec, Logan, you and me... Hmmm... So what's this supposed to be? Some kind of double-date or so'thing?"

Max watched her friend's face carefully, searching for a sign that she was joking.

But all she could see was... Horror? Disgust?

"Oh, come on you silly! Of course not..." She rapidly turned away to get to the entrance as their visitor had somewhat lost patience and was banging on the door.

*This was going to be a long night!*

***
The four of them were silently seated around the table, forks and knives clicking against the plates. Logan felt it was his responsibility to break up the ice.

"Alec, I have to say I am impressed... This is a gourmet dish."

The young man smiled politely and picked up the glass in front of him.

"Well, I have to say the wine you brought us goes perfectly with it... And it's pre-pulse, the best!"

OC thought she could see the man blushing. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, boo... The food's great. Never tasted meat so tenda'. What ya' call that?"
Cindy continued stuffing her mouth with what was left on her plate.
Alec lovingly looked at Max and squeezed her hand. The girl controlled herself not to look in Logan's direction. She knew if she did, she would blow the whole thing up. She kept her eyes on Alec's eyes and gulped. His acting skills were freakingly good; she had to grant him that much.

"Actually, it's Max's favourite... Beef's Tongue." The young woman nodded with a smile, raising the fork to her mouth.

"She just loves anything with tongue."

Logan nearly spitted out the wine he had been drinking.

Original Cindy, though disgusted at first at the idea that they had been eating some animal's tongue, was desperately struggling not to choke with laughter.
Glancing at Max, Alec could almost feel the slap coming next. But seconds past and Max was just looking at him angrily, hands perfectly still on the table.
She straightened herself and looked at their guests.

"He meant that I love everything he PREPARES with tongue..."

This time OC let out a loud laugh, desperately holding her sides. Alec smirked at the sight.

"Of course, that's what I meant." He winked at Logan meaningfully.

"Ouch..." Somebody had kicked him under the table.

"Hum... We should get ourselves a larger table, honey. I just keep banging my feet."

Max stood up and picked up the plates.

"That's because your feet are too big!" The woman said disdainfully.

At the other end of the table, OC giggled some more.

"Wait, I'm gonna give you a hand." She followed her friend in the kitchen, wiping the tears in the corner of her eyes.

***
They had gone through desert in silence. Concentrating very hard on the delicious "Norwegian Omelette" their cook had prepared.

Max wouldn't look at Alec, still highly irritated about his cocky behaviour.

Alec wouldn't look at Max, knowing it was too early for his next move.

Original Cindy wouldn't look at anybody, scared of having another fit of hysterical laughter.

Logan on the other hand seemed to be fully enjoying the turn of events. And looking at the couple in front of him, he knew that one of them would soon give up the act. More likely Max. He smiled.

When everybody was finished, it was Alec's turn to clear the table. Max held his elbow back.

"No. Let me, I need to do some washing up right now." She hid the harshness in her voice pretty well, but the message was clear. He gave her the plates he had in his hand and turned to Logan.

"Well, Log, my man... Seems the ladies want to stay on their own for now. There's a bottle of Cognac a friend of mine gave me that I wanted your opinion on."

"Cognac, huh? I'm not even gonna ask who that friend was."

Alec smirked and pointed to the sofa.

"So shall we settle for the living-room?"

***
"I think I know what he's up to..." Max said angrily sponging the plate in her hands.

"Yeah, it don't take no genius to know what he's up to, boo... You know, if you keep rubbing that thing, you can forget the sickening little flowers on it..."
OC said drying the glasses.

But the transgenic woman didn't seem ready to listen to what her friend was saying.

"He's still angry about the whole "lying-to-Logan" thing... Can't he just move on?"

Cindy steadied Max's hands and made her look at her.

"Boo, you know I love you and your guts. You're my best friend. But I have only one thing to tell you and then you'll stop whining, alright?"

The woman nodded, bubbles dripping on the floor.

"You brought this on yourself. Now either YOU face the consequences and submit yourself to his twisted mind... Or you go see Logan and tell him up front what you did. You're call!"

*** The brown liquid turned golden to the light. Logan took a sip and enjoyed the warm feeling at the back of his throat. He closed his eyes.

"Hmmm..."

"Cigar?"

The older man opened up his eyes and looked into green perfection.

"Huh, sorry?"

Alec opened a box in front of him.

"I was asking if you wanted a cigar."

Logan picked one and brought it to his nose.

"Tell me you had nothing to do with the break in that took place last week in that Cuban Night Club."

The transgenic smiled sincerely.

"I had nothing to do with it."

Alec sat in the fluffy chair facing Logan and poured himself a glass.

"Nothing like pre-pulse alcohol, huh?"

"Yeah..." The older man didn't feel like talking. But he didn't want to be rude to his host either.

"Actually, Logan since we're only the two of us here, I wanted to talk to you about something."

The famous "Eyes Only" finally focused on him, repressing a smile.
The transgenic knew he had to play that one really smoothly.

"I know things haven't been easy between us since you learnt that Max and I were an item. I felt a bit guilty 'cause, you know, we were kind of friends. But now, I want you to be the first to know the truth."

*And there I thought Max would be the one to spill it first!* Logan kept his face serious, slightly nodding.

"Max and I, man what a story! She used to hate me, my attitude, everything I represented.
But we've grown to know each other and eventually, I'm proud to say we became friends. And being an X5, friendship means a lot to me." Alec ran a hand through his hair dramatically.

"This girl could make me do anything!"

*Aha..*

"Even lie?" Logan asked innocently, not taking his eyes off the other man's face.

"Yeah, even lie..." Alec said in a low tone, bringing his glass to his lips.
The older man finally let himself smile.

"Don't worry, Alec... I already know."

*Gotcha..* The transgenic threw a seemingly surprised look at Logan.

"Really? But I never told anyone? 'Guess it must have been pretty obvious then!"

"Yeah, pretty much..."

Alec sighed with relief.

"And I thought it would be so hard to tell you."

"I'm very perceptive you know. Even more so when it's related to Max."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I felt you should be the first to know."

The transgenic stood up and pulled the chair closer to Logan's side.

"Max is lucky to have you... Growing up in Manticore, the only family we had was our unit. Lydecker called us his children but we both know he had some parental issues. When Max escaped, she lost everything she knew. Good and bad. But even then, she didn't find anyone she could fully trust. Until she met you."

Logan was about to talk but Alec raised a hand in the air.

"Of course, there was OC... But you were the first one to know she was a trangenic. That means a lot." He took another sip, lost in thoughts.
"And your relationship evolved. You became friends. For a little period of time you were even more, but Fate decided you couldn't be. But after everything you went through together, what you two have, I know it can never be destroyed."

Alec put his hand on Logan's shoulder.

"I know now that you're more than a friend to Max, you're family. Like me, you want to make her happy."

The older man was utterly satisfied by what he was hearing.

"Did you know that Max was a hopeless romantic?"

Logan nodded. Alec blushed and looked away.

"I cannot believe I'm doing this..."

The journalist raised a quizzical brow.

"We are not lucky enough to know our parents. So I had a long chat with Sketchy and I came up to this conclusion... You're the closest thing Max has to a father!"

"What...?"

Alec took the older man's hand.

"Logan, I love her and I want to make her happy."

His hands were trembling.

"I’m asking you her hand in marriage?"