Road To Discovery (DA)
7 Feb 2010 21:35![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skylar0graceTitle: Road To Discovery
Author: SkylarGrace.
Status: Multi-Chaptered.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Sometimes the thing you’re looking for is right in front of your face.
Spoilers: Set after Freak Nation so all of them
Disclaimer: Dark Angel and all related elements belong to Cameron Eglee Productions and FOX. No infringement intended.
Notes: Okay, so this is the first DA fic I worked on and is old in terms of my writing style. One day I'll get around to redoing it but until then, you can all check out what I was originally doing :)
Jondy picked up the clipboard from the base of the bed and quickly took in the notes written. She then moved around to the side of Alec’s bed and began checking his vitals. She froze when she saw his body slightly arch and his face scrunch up in pain. Suddenly his eyes flung open and she watched them scan the room before stopping when they landed on her. She smiled.
“It’s okay Alec. You’re in TC. Now you have some serious wounds but I …”
“Max,” Alec croaked.
When he saw her smile falter his heart sank. Something was wrong. He sat up and saw Dalton in the bed across from him with a look of shock on his face. He began tearing the lines off of himself, not hearing Jondy telling him to lie back down. He could feel his whole body and knew it was in a lot of pain. He pushed the pain to the back as he tried to stand, the adrenaline aiding him. Jondy was quickly standing before him.
“I said, lay down Alec! You’re in no condition to be up.”
“Max,” he replied simply but firmly. Once again, Jondy faltered.
“Just let me explain,” she pleaded.
Alec pushed her aside and stood, gritting his teeth in pain. As he began walking he smelt the air; she was here but her scent was weak. He started to panic and moved as quickly as he could out of the doors, ignoring the people in the med bay and heading for the only other operational recovery room.
Sam heard the doors fly open and glanced up in time to see Alec purposefully limp out. She saw the panicked expression on Jondy’s face and sighed. Excusing herself from Kellie, who she was going over supplies with, she followed Alec into Max’s room.
As he pushed open the doors, his eyes landed on the figure on the bed and he stilled. Krit and Syl were standing on opposite sides of the bed, each holding one of her hands. Zane stood at the end of the bed with one hand resting on her covered feet. But Alec didn’t see either them or their surprised expressions. Instead, he limped slowly forward as he took in her pale complexion and closed eyes. Her body lay completely still in the bed. Alec’s mouth opened and then closed. He couldn’t find any words.
Krit slowly lowered Max’s hand and took a step toward Alec. In a quick action that Krit didn’t see coming, Alec grabbed him by the front of the shirt.
“What the hell happened?” he demanded.
Krit saw Jondy and Sam enter behind him and from the expression on his sister’s face she hadn’t gotten the chance to tell him. Krit looked back at Alec. He could see that he was furious but overriding every expression on his face was fear.
“She went in to get you,” he began calmly, “White’s men brought you out to us…”
“You let Max go in alone?” Alec cut in angrily, slightly shaking Krit.
“It wasn’t Max,” Sam said, finally entering the conversation. Alec let go of Krit and turned around to face Sam and Jondy standing behind him. Sam noticed the frown on everybody’s faces but she focused on Alec. He needed to hear what she had to say.
“We were having a meeting with Max when the team came back. As soon as Max found out that White had you, Max was gone and 452 stepped up, she reverted back to her training.”
Alec looked at her confused. He turned back and looked at Max lying on the bed before placing his attention back on Sam. Krit took a step back from Alec.
“When Bullet relayed the message that White sent, 452 was gone as well.” She looked at the absolute confusion on his face as he looked at the floor and tried to make sense of what she was saying. “Her eyes were blank, almost dead. She was like a shell… she didn’t go after her 2IC, Alec, she went after her mate.” Alec’s head shot up and horror was the only emotion displayed.
“What?” he said as he took a wobbly step back and sat in the chair behind him. He put his head in his hands and muttered ‘No’ over and over. When he looked back at Sam, everyone could see the grief written on his face as he asked, “What did she do?”
Sam gave a tight smile and stepped toward him. “She packed her bag full of C4.” Alec’s face displayed horror again as he quickly glanced at Max.
“She ordered us to wait outside while she traded herself in for you. We don’t know exactly what happened after you were brought out, but I think she fought White. Someone shot her and she ordered us to blow the C4.” Alec gave another quick glance to Max. “Our mission was to take you back to TC ASAP. Zane stayed behind, against her orders, and found her in the water outside. He doesn’t know how long she was there for. She has some sort of infection, probably from the water, that her body is fighting off.” Alec put his head in his hands. He shook his head and muttered ‘No’ under his breath again. Syl started to stand.
“Alec?” she asked. She looked him over and knew that he shouldn’t be out of bed. She was surprised he was.
“This shouldn’t have happened!” he said angrily, his eyes filling with tears. He furiously blinked them away. “It should never have happened!”
“You thought it should have been you?” Jace asked from the doorway.
Everyone turned to her in surprise. They hadn’t heard her come in. Alec nodded slowly. Jace walked forward and knelt before him, resting her hands comfortingly on his knees.
“You should have known better,” she said softly.
“No! I turned her away, this shouldn’t have happened. Not to her,” Alec replied shaking his head.
“You turned her away?” Zane said defensively. Alec and Jace both ignored him.
Jace shook her head. “Alec, you should have known that wouldn’t work.”
Alec glared at her. “Yes, it should have. It did with the others. She loves Logan; it was supposed to work!” he yelled.
Jace did not move an inch and just glared back at him.
“It worked with the others because they were only looking for an alpha. Max wasn’t…”
Jace was cut off by Alec angrily standing up, a position that she quickly followed.
“Max didn’t know what was going on! She didn’t understand. I wasn’t going to let the fact that I love her pull her into something that she would regret. And I certainly wasn’t going to put her in a position where she would get herself killed; not when White is on our asses.” The room stood still. Alec gave a heavy sigh before speaking softly. “I didn’t care if it was my life on the line but it should never have been hers.”
He sat down again on the seat behind him. He felt exhausted. His energy had quickly drained away and he could now feel each wound acutely. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hoping to hold the pain at bay. Jondy moved forward and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Please, let’s get you back to your bed. You shouldn’t be moving around.” Alec looked up at her sharply.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he growled. Jondy removed her hand from his shoulder.
“Fine!” she huffed, “but you are going to finish getting the blood and the meds.”
She turned around and walked out of the room muttering to herself. Alec sighed and closed his eyes. He was too tired.
“So, you love her huh?” Syl asked. Alec opened his eyes and looked across at her.
“Always have,” he replied sincerely. Syl smiled. Alec took a deep breath and looked down at Max’s still form.
“I don’t understand. Didn’t Bullet tell her I didn’t want her to come? I thought I made myself clear,” he looked at Syl for answers, almost pleading with her for answers.
“You did and Bullet told us that. He also told us your condition before he left you, that he doubted you were still alive. But Sam is right, Alec. Max wasn’t there anymore; it was like she was running on autopilot. She was so calm but so cold, even with us. Especially with Zack. We tried to get her to consider another plan but she wouldn’t. If we hadn’t gone, she would’ve taken others with her.” Alec looked down at Max.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” he almost whispered. Syl stood.
“Maybe you should ask her when she wakes up.”
Syl looked at the others and gave a small nod. They all turned and left the room, Syl closing the doors softly as she left. Alec reached out and brushed a lock of hair out of Max’s eyes.
“What did you do Maxie?” he asked softly.
~
Jondy had come back earlier and hooked him up but had insisted on moving him to the other side of Max’s bed. She wanted to be able to see him as she walked past and keep an eye on his condition. He had watched over Max for as long as he could but his eyes had grown weary and he fell asleep, his head resting on his arm on the edge of the bed and the other hand sitting over hers.
Max opened her eyes and had to blink a few times before her eyes adjusted to the light in the room. Her hand felt warm and she looked down, only to see another hand over it. She looked up and saw Alec asleep beside her and she closed her eyes, relief flooding through her.
When she had seen him in the warehouse she had seen the damage and hoped that her siblings could get him back to TC quickly enough for him to survive. Obviously they had. Alec sat up when he noticed Max’s breathing change. He looked over at her and she opened her eyes.
“Hey!” she said, giving him a soft smile.
Alec blinked. A series of emotions ran over him and he was sure she had seen each one of them on his face. He ran a quick glance over her features and noted the bruise over her left eye.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he asked angrily. He had surprised himself with the anger and from the look on her face, she hadn’t been expecting it either.
“What?” Max asked incredulously, still somewhat speechless.
“You could have gotten yourself killed. You nearly did!” he said, his voice rising slightly.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a couple of people standing still outside the door but he couldn’t have cared less. He needed to get this out. Max sat upright, with some difficulty and glared at him.
“I saved your ass didn’t I? she yelled. “Next time I won’t bother!”
“There might not have been a next time, Max. Come on, C4? That wasn’t coming to my aid that was just suicide,” he yelled.
Max glared. She really wanted to kick his ass. This was how she was thanked?
“I weighed the options and I went with the best one. It got the job done. What the hell is your problem? ‘Thanks’ not in your vocabulary anymore?”
Alec sighed and forced himself to calm down.
“Max,” he said, trying to say something, anything else but failing to find anything appropriate.
“What?” she snapped. Alec took a deep breath.
“Max,” he tried again.
Max felt furious. “Is that all you can say, Alec? My name?” she yelled.
He looked straight at her and stared unflinchingly into her eyes. Max blinked uncomfortably and looked away.
“Why did you do it?” he asked.
“As I said, it was the best option for the desired outcome.” Max looked back at him.
“Max, look at it from an outside point of view. You went alone into a warehouse full of the enemy who are just as strong, if not stronger than you. You didn’t take any weapons or backup. You only took explosives, with the sole purpose of exploding them and no plan of escape. Tell me. Would you have let someone go and implement that?” he asked her.
Max stared at him. “Anything can sound stupid in hindsight Alec. I did what I thought was best at the time and it worked. Stop badgering me about it,” Max said annoyed.
She was annoyed that he was right: it did sound stupid now, but at the time it hadn’t. And it worked didn’t it?
Alec looked at his hands. He was a sucker for punishment. But if what Sam had said was true, then he had to know.
Had to know just who to protect. The lines he had drawn so long ago in the sand were suddenly blurred and he needed to correct them.
“Max, I could have lost you,” he said quietly.
She looked at him as if he had grown two heads. “What? I got through it all right and even if I hadn’t, TC would still have gone on without me. Hell, even if neither of us had made it, Mole and Dix could still run this place.”
Alec sighed and leaned over, touching his forehead to hers.
“Max, I could have lost you,” he reiterated, eyes closed.
His heart hammered in his chest as her felt her hand come up and lay on his cheek.
Author: SkylarGrace.
Status: Multi-Chaptered.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Sometimes the thing you’re looking for is right in front of your face.
Spoilers: Set after Freak Nation so all of them
Disclaimer: Dark Angel and all related elements belong to Cameron Eglee Productions and FOX. No infringement intended.
Notes: Okay, so this is the first DA fic I worked on and is old in terms of my writing style. One day I'll get around to redoing it but until then, you can all check out what I was originally doing :)
Jondy picked up the clipboard from the base of the bed and quickly took in the notes written. She then moved around to the side of Alec’s bed and began checking his vitals. She froze when she saw his body slightly arch and his face scrunch up in pain. Suddenly his eyes flung open and she watched them scan the room before stopping when they landed on her. She smiled.
“It’s okay Alec. You’re in TC. Now you have some serious wounds but I …”
“Max,” Alec croaked.
When he saw her smile falter his heart sank. Something was wrong. He sat up and saw Dalton in the bed across from him with a look of shock on his face. He began tearing the lines off of himself, not hearing Jondy telling him to lie back down. He could feel his whole body and knew it was in a lot of pain. He pushed the pain to the back as he tried to stand, the adrenaline aiding him. Jondy was quickly standing before him.
“I said, lay down Alec! You’re in no condition to be up.”
“Max,” he replied simply but firmly. Once again, Jondy faltered.
“Just let me explain,” she pleaded.
Alec pushed her aside and stood, gritting his teeth in pain. As he began walking he smelt the air; she was here but her scent was weak. He started to panic and moved as quickly as he could out of the doors, ignoring the people in the med bay and heading for the only other operational recovery room.
Sam heard the doors fly open and glanced up in time to see Alec purposefully limp out. She saw the panicked expression on Jondy’s face and sighed. Excusing herself from Kellie, who she was going over supplies with, she followed Alec into Max’s room.
As he pushed open the doors, his eyes landed on the figure on the bed and he stilled. Krit and Syl were standing on opposite sides of the bed, each holding one of her hands. Zane stood at the end of the bed with one hand resting on her covered feet. But Alec didn’t see either them or their surprised expressions. Instead, he limped slowly forward as he took in her pale complexion and closed eyes. Her body lay completely still in the bed. Alec’s mouth opened and then closed. He couldn’t find any words.
Krit slowly lowered Max’s hand and took a step toward Alec. In a quick action that Krit didn’t see coming, Alec grabbed him by the front of the shirt.
“What the hell happened?” he demanded.
Krit saw Jondy and Sam enter behind him and from the expression on his sister’s face she hadn’t gotten the chance to tell him. Krit looked back at Alec. He could see that he was furious but overriding every expression on his face was fear.
“She went in to get you,” he began calmly, “White’s men brought you out to us…”
“You let Max go in alone?” Alec cut in angrily, slightly shaking Krit.
“It wasn’t Max,” Sam said, finally entering the conversation. Alec let go of Krit and turned around to face Sam and Jondy standing behind him. Sam noticed the frown on everybody’s faces but she focused on Alec. He needed to hear what she had to say.
“We were having a meeting with Max when the team came back. As soon as Max found out that White had you, Max was gone and 452 stepped up, she reverted back to her training.”
Alec looked at her confused. He turned back and looked at Max lying on the bed before placing his attention back on Sam. Krit took a step back from Alec.
“When Bullet relayed the message that White sent, 452 was gone as well.” She looked at the absolute confusion on his face as he looked at the floor and tried to make sense of what she was saying. “Her eyes were blank, almost dead. She was like a shell… she didn’t go after her 2IC, Alec, she went after her mate.” Alec’s head shot up and horror was the only emotion displayed.
“What?” he said as he took a wobbly step back and sat in the chair behind him. He put his head in his hands and muttered ‘No’ over and over. When he looked back at Sam, everyone could see the grief written on his face as he asked, “What did she do?”
Sam gave a tight smile and stepped toward him. “She packed her bag full of C4.” Alec’s face displayed horror again as he quickly glanced at Max.
“She ordered us to wait outside while she traded herself in for you. We don’t know exactly what happened after you were brought out, but I think she fought White. Someone shot her and she ordered us to blow the C4.” Alec gave another quick glance to Max. “Our mission was to take you back to TC ASAP. Zane stayed behind, against her orders, and found her in the water outside. He doesn’t know how long she was there for. She has some sort of infection, probably from the water, that her body is fighting off.” Alec put his head in his hands. He shook his head and muttered ‘No’ under his breath again. Syl started to stand.
“Alec?” she asked. She looked him over and knew that he shouldn’t be out of bed. She was surprised he was.
“This shouldn’t have happened!” he said angrily, his eyes filling with tears. He furiously blinked them away. “It should never have happened!”
“You thought it should have been you?” Jace asked from the doorway.
Everyone turned to her in surprise. They hadn’t heard her come in. Alec nodded slowly. Jace walked forward and knelt before him, resting her hands comfortingly on his knees.
“You should have known better,” she said softly.
“No! I turned her away, this shouldn’t have happened. Not to her,” Alec replied shaking his head.
“You turned her away?” Zane said defensively. Alec and Jace both ignored him.
Jace shook her head. “Alec, you should have known that wouldn’t work.”
Alec glared at her. “Yes, it should have. It did with the others. She loves Logan; it was supposed to work!” he yelled.
Jace did not move an inch and just glared back at him.
“It worked with the others because they were only looking for an alpha. Max wasn’t…”
Jace was cut off by Alec angrily standing up, a position that she quickly followed.
“Max didn’t know what was going on! She didn’t understand. I wasn’t going to let the fact that I love her pull her into something that she would regret. And I certainly wasn’t going to put her in a position where she would get herself killed; not when White is on our asses.” The room stood still. Alec gave a heavy sigh before speaking softly. “I didn’t care if it was my life on the line but it should never have been hers.”
He sat down again on the seat behind him. He felt exhausted. His energy had quickly drained away and he could now feel each wound acutely. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hoping to hold the pain at bay. Jondy moved forward and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Please, let’s get you back to your bed. You shouldn’t be moving around.” Alec looked up at her sharply.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he growled. Jondy removed her hand from his shoulder.
“Fine!” she huffed, “but you are going to finish getting the blood and the meds.”
She turned around and walked out of the room muttering to herself. Alec sighed and closed his eyes. He was too tired.
“So, you love her huh?” Syl asked. Alec opened his eyes and looked across at her.
“Always have,” he replied sincerely. Syl smiled. Alec took a deep breath and looked down at Max’s still form.
“I don’t understand. Didn’t Bullet tell her I didn’t want her to come? I thought I made myself clear,” he looked at Syl for answers, almost pleading with her for answers.
“You did and Bullet told us that. He also told us your condition before he left you, that he doubted you were still alive. But Sam is right, Alec. Max wasn’t there anymore; it was like she was running on autopilot. She was so calm but so cold, even with us. Especially with Zack. We tried to get her to consider another plan but she wouldn’t. If we hadn’t gone, she would’ve taken others with her.” Alec looked down at Max.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” he almost whispered. Syl stood.
“Maybe you should ask her when she wakes up.”
Syl looked at the others and gave a small nod. They all turned and left the room, Syl closing the doors softly as she left. Alec reached out and brushed a lock of hair out of Max’s eyes.
“What did you do Maxie?” he asked softly.
~
Jondy had come back earlier and hooked him up but had insisted on moving him to the other side of Max’s bed. She wanted to be able to see him as she walked past and keep an eye on his condition. He had watched over Max for as long as he could but his eyes had grown weary and he fell asleep, his head resting on his arm on the edge of the bed and the other hand sitting over hers.
Max opened her eyes and had to blink a few times before her eyes adjusted to the light in the room. Her hand felt warm and she looked down, only to see another hand over it. She looked up and saw Alec asleep beside her and she closed her eyes, relief flooding through her.
When she had seen him in the warehouse she had seen the damage and hoped that her siblings could get him back to TC quickly enough for him to survive. Obviously they had. Alec sat up when he noticed Max’s breathing change. He looked over at her and she opened her eyes.
“Hey!” she said, giving him a soft smile.
Alec blinked. A series of emotions ran over him and he was sure she had seen each one of them on his face. He ran a quick glance over her features and noted the bruise over her left eye.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he asked angrily. He had surprised himself with the anger and from the look on her face, she hadn’t been expecting it either.
“What?” Max asked incredulously, still somewhat speechless.
“You could have gotten yourself killed. You nearly did!” he said, his voice rising slightly.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a couple of people standing still outside the door but he couldn’t have cared less. He needed to get this out. Max sat upright, with some difficulty and glared at him.
“I saved your ass didn’t I? she yelled. “Next time I won’t bother!”
“There might not have been a next time, Max. Come on, C4? That wasn’t coming to my aid that was just suicide,” he yelled.
Max glared. She really wanted to kick his ass. This was how she was thanked?
“I weighed the options and I went with the best one. It got the job done. What the hell is your problem? ‘Thanks’ not in your vocabulary anymore?”
Alec sighed and forced himself to calm down.
“Max,” he said, trying to say something, anything else but failing to find anything appropriate.
“What?” she snapped. Alec took a deep breath.
“Max,” he tried again.
Max felt furious. “Is that all you can say, Alec? My name?” she yelled.
He looked straight at her and stared unflinchingly into her eyes. Max blinked uncomfortably and looked away.
“Why did you do it?” he asked.
“As I said, it was the best option for the desired outcome.” Max looked back at him.
“Max, look at it from an outside point of view. You went alone into a warehouse full of the enemy who are just as strong, if not stronger than you. You didn’t take any weapons or backup. You only took explosives, with the sole purpose of exploding them and no plan of escape. Tell me. Would you have let someone go and implement that?” he asked her.
Max stared at him. “Anything can sound stupid in hindsight Alec. I did what I thought was best at the time and it worked. Stop badgering me about it,” Max said annoyed.
She was annoyed that he was right: it did sound stupid now, but at the time it hadn’t. And it worked didn’t it?
Alec looked at his hands. He was a sucker for punishment. But if what Sam had said was true, then he had to know.
Had to know just who to protect. The lines he had drawn so long ago in the sand were suddenly blurred and he needed to correct them.
“Max, I could have lost you,” he said quietly.
She looked at him as if he had grown two heads. “What? I got through it all right and even if I hadn’t, TC would still have gone on without me. Hell, even if neither of us had made it, Mole and Dix could still run this place.”
Alec sighed and leaned over, touching his forehead to hers.
“Max, I could have lost you,” he reiterated, eyes closed.
His heart hammered in his chest as her felt her hand come up and lay on his cheek.
