Confused Much?

This fic is AU as follows. Due to a spilt cup of coffee on the thermal imager during it's testing process, Whites men can't pick out transgenics in a crowd so Biggs didn't die.

American spelling as an experiment. (I feel so guilty)

This is an answer to a Pai challenge on Nuns with Pens

Terminal City

April 30th 2021

Part 1

"Oh my God yes." groaned Alec, "I'm coming, I'm coming."

Warm spring sunshine shone brightly through filthy glass, on the naked sweating bodies of Alec, CeCe and Biggs.

Alec put down in his cell phone in annoyance. "Christ Max can be a bitch." He complained, to his former childhood unit mates, lying on their separate bed rolls in opposite corners of their temporarily shared room. It looked like the room they'd found hurriedly last night at three thirty am, was some kind of weird glass house. Now they were all sweating like pigs. Oh well at least their stuff would dry.

Max would be running late for work too, if a frickin' water tower had collapsed on top of her room in Oak Street at three am. Causing her and all her possessions to get soaked, Alec reflected annoyed. Not to mention evacuating the rooms all at once with fifteen other transgenics. Some poor bastards had started to have panic flashbacks to the float tanks at Manticore.

Alec pulled on his damp clothes in revulsion, and shook water droplets off his sun glasses irritated. This day was starting to suck big time, and he hadn't walked out his front door yet.

Max revved her motor in impatience. Crap she was never on time for work, and the one time it looked like she was going to be, freakin' Alec was holding her up. She saw him racing down the stairs and honked her horn.

Alec jumped on the back of her bike and put his arms round her waist. To think any passer by on the street would envy him, his close proximity to the witch. What a joke.

"What were you doing, crawling down the stairs?" Max snapped, tapping her handlebars with impatience. She drove down Oak Street, hung a left and shot out the gates of Terminal City.

Today as an efficiency experiment, Normal was only having Moto-Pony work the afternoon shift. Therefore Alec was back to pedal power lending CeCe his motorbike for the afternoon shift, hence his ride in with Max. He leaned against Max wearily, thankful they were pals now and she didn't mind him touching her in the slightest.

Alec and Max just made it to work on time. Their reward for that good deed turned out to be Normal making them double up to deliver some packages, into a district that had a turf war going on between rival gangs.

The two couriers pedaled into the Furies turf cautiously. They had heard the sound of gunfire ten minutes ago, and had taken the long way round. They were going to be lucky to avoid coming across someone shooting it out. It was why they were actually for once wearing the ugly Jam Pony safety jackets, Normal had made for his slacker employees. Anything not to look like a gang member.

They dropped off the first five packages to satisfied recipients, but the last package was in the thick of the urban warfare.

Chaining up their bikes in the crumbling tenement block stairwell, the pair raced up the stairs before knocking on the door of a smelly old man with twelve cats.

"I'll get a tip for you." the old man said leering at Max.

Alec and Max turned simultaneously to the stairwell, alerted by their transgenic hearing. They nodded to each other in perfect understanding. Max quickly pushed the old man and herself inside his apartment. Alec leapt in after them, slamming the door shut.

The old man turned frightened rheumy eyes on them.

Max wrinkled her nose at the smell of cat urine in the apartment, and tried to smile reassuringly at the old guy.

"Relax grandpa." Alec said soothingly. "We just heard a group of people coming up the stairs."

The man looked at Alec as if he was crazy. There was not a sound to be heard.

Two minutes later it sounded like the 4th of July was happening down in the lobby. Sounds of gun fire, screams and shouts could be heard coming up the stairs. The old man flinched in terror.

"It's okay sir." Said Max sweetly to the guy. "They won't want us."

"I'll make us some coffee." The old man offered trying to be brave. "And don't call me grandpa son."

"Can I use your bathroom sir?" Max asked their inadvertent host.

Alec looked at her surprised. He supposed when ya gotta go, ya gotta go, but he wouldn't trust anything in this dude's house, hygiene wise.

The old man pointed to the door and Max went in and was pleasantly surprised to find no animal excreta on the tiled floor. She took her cell phone out of her pocket and rang up Cindy.

Part 2

Original Cindy knelt on the floor, her face in front of Normal's chair. Her head bobbed up slowly and then down again. She looked up at the sound of her cell phone and answered it.

"Hey Max, you know what our fool boss has me doing? Checking all the wooden furniture in his office for African termites" Original Cindy complained. "He gave me this weird device to test for them."

"That sucks I guess." Max said impatiently. "Listen O.C. I'm stuck uptown with Alec, in some old man's apartment, waiting for the Furies and Roaring 40's turf war to die down. Can you do me a favor O.C. and drop twenty bucks worth of groceries off for Logan at Josh's old place?"

"Still avoiding Logan huh?" Original Cindy sighed.

Alec sat back on the old guys living room couch and leaned his head against the wall. Alec found he could accidentally hear every word Max was saying in the bathroom. He went to sit forward, when he heard his name mentioned.

"Yeah well, me pretending to go out with Alec these past six weeks, has cut down on the amount of times Logan calls me. But he is still making lame ass excuses to see me, and for his own hot braincase good we have to be apart." Max sighed sadly. "It's tearing me up to lie to Logan, and I'm startin' to feel kinda crappy about deceiving Alec as well."

Alec's eyes widened in surprise, he couldn't help eavesdropping now. Alec had feline DNA he was curious.

"Ya between a rock and a hard place boo." O.C. said sympathetically, leaning forward to test the front desk for South African termites.

"Yeah 'cause I can't make that clean break, 'cause I do need Logan sometimes for his contacts y'know? I still love him and Alec and I are kinda friends now too." Max sucked in her breath. "Am I just a bitch?"

Alec batted off a worm ridden kitten and silently applauded Max's self diagnosis. He looked up and smiled charmingly, as the old guy gave him some stale instant coffee.

Max came out of the bathroom and slumped beside Alec on the sofa. Alec felt sorry for her in spite himself. Max had a big heart and it was always getting her into trouble. Alec had somehow become her friend when she had told him about Ben. Someone she was growing to trust and like, and she was using him without letting him know about it. He knew it would be gnawing at her conscience. Thank god his own moral compass wasn't as developed as hers.

A blood curdling shriek of agony came from the corridor, Max winced in sympathy for the unfortunate on the receiving end. Alec put a friendly arm round Max's shoulders. Max smiled at him guiltily.

"There's no sugar I'm sorry honey." The old man said trembling, as he passed her a mug of steaming coffee.

"No problem Sir." said Max cheerfully, quickly grabbing her coffee off him, before he spilled it in her lap. "Hey what was in the package we delivered?"

Max and Alec made it back only an hour later to Jam Pony, than they would have otherwise. They had a collection of 10 new packages and letters given to them by desperate residents stuck in the disputed gang area.

This mollified Normal who told them to take their forty-five minute lunch break. Alec cajoled Max to take him back to his old apartment to pick up dry clothes, as he was sick of wearing wet jeans. Alec thought they were starting to smell.

Ten kilometers away, Logan couldn't believe how recklessly Biggs drove. Or that the persuasive young male had been able to rope in Logan to help shift furniture to Terminal City, from both Joshua's old place and Alec partially vacated apartment.

Logan was kind of curious to see what Alec's apartment was like. He wondered if Alec would have posters of semi clad girls draped on cars or something. If he'd see Max's underwear on the floor, Logan caught himself. Logan just couldn't believe Max didn't love him anymore.

Logan looked terrified at Joshua and Mole enjoying the ride in their ski masks. Like that didn't scream for attention from the sector police.

Part 3

Mole unlocked the door to Alec's apartment and walked in with the rest of his moving squad.

Max stood frozen at the kitchen sink, only wearing her bra with a blue towel wrapped around her waist. She was eating spaghetti out of a bowl.

Alec came out of the bathroom immediately, to see who had come in. Alec was bare footed, bare chested and only wearing his jeans, he was doing up his belt buckle.

"Max and Alec getting busy?" Joshua blurted out, with his zero social skills.

Nine minutes earlier

Max looked round Alec's apartment, he still had most of Brain's furniture there. Iincluding his double bed, as it had been too heavy to move to Oak Street on motorbike. The thumping from his neighbor's stereo was shaking the walls. Good thing there wasn't a gang war happening in Alec's apartment block, because Max couldn't hear a thing outside in the corridor.

Max went to his cupboard and opened a can of spaghetti, chucking it in the microwave. She had skipped breakfast to get to work on time, and she was hungry.

Alec looked round his bed room frantically for clean clothes, they had to be somewhere. Aha his gym bag, he grabbed some clothes and started to strip in front of Max unthinkingly, without bothering to close his bedroom door.

Max turned her back flushing, Alec with his ten extra years inside Manticore on her, often surprised her with the things he did. Alec thinking Max was a total hard core soldier like CeCe.

"Hey Maxie you smell." Alec told her, undoing his belt buckle.

"Hey I did you a favor by coming here!" Max began indignantly, astonished at the childish insult out of the blue.

"Nah I mean like dog shit or something." Alec explained patiently. He'd never known a chick as defensive as Max.

"Oh I thought it was drains in your apartment." Max said, twisting round examining herself. "Oh yuck there's somethin' on the back of my jeans from that old guys place."

Alec walked over to her without thinking and brushed her upper thigh. "Oh gross it's come off in my hands. I think its cat puke." He disappeared off into the bathroom.

Somehow the smell was worse now that idiot had rubbed it. Max quickly took her jeans off and wrapped a towel hanging on the door around her waist. She dashed into the kitchen to get a cloth, detergent and water.

The microwave beeped and Max looked at the sloppy spaghetti and at her brand new white t-shirt. She could hear Alec run the sink basin and the sound and smell of aerosol shaving foam being applied. Hmm he was having a shave.

After washing her hands Max recklessly tore off her t-shirt and started to gulp down the spaghetti. She was starving.

Max was astonished to hear the front door unlock, and see Joshua, Mole and Logan come in.

Mole and Joshua were both wearing ski masks, very conspicuous on a warm spring day. Max secured her towel tighter. Logan had been right with his comment about how transgenics never knock and now he was doing it too!

Alec came out of the bathroom clad only in his jeans, to see who the hell had just walked in.

Josh was just staring at Alec in bewilderment. As if in slow motion and from a great distance Max saw Joshua's mouth shape the fatal words "Max and Alec getting busy?"

"Nah just getting lunch," said Alec amused. Knowing no one would believe that for a second, and why was Maxie only in her bra anyway? "And we've only got ten minutes here left. Um guys, how the hell do you happen to have keys for my apartment?" he added.

"Biggs gave me his spare key to your apartment Alec, and told us to get your furniture. He's in van downstairs." Joshua said confused, looking at Max and Alec's states of undress.

"Great," Alec enthused, thinking eagerly of the comfort he'd enjoy, compared to a soggy bed roll. "Help me move the bed Josh buddy!"

Logan stared internally tortured at Max, as she put the spaghetti down and pulled her t-shirt back on. So Max and Alec had sex in the middle of the day woohoo. If it had been the right time Logan would have had sex with her during her lunch break too. Logan wondered what else the two transgenics did together.

The transgenics left carrying the bed. Mole giving Max a knowing smirk, the gossip was going to be all over Terminal City by evening Max guessed. '452 and 494 went home for lunchtime sex.' Hopefully Alec would tell them it wasn't what it looked like, but he'd probably think a mix up like that was funny.

"Well nice of you to help the guys move." Max said brightly to her former boyfriend. She couldn't bear the tortured look on Logan's face, but for his own good she had to go through with him thinking she'd just had sex with Alec.

"Yeah." Said Logan quietly, he picked up an arm chair. "See you Max."

Part 4

"Well slide it in that hole then, if it doesn't fit." Max told Biggs agitatedly, while experiencing genuine pain.

Biggs put her rolled up painting in the bigger gap of the dresser, and Alec quickly shifted her heavy bed head off her little toe.

"Sorry Maxie." Alec apologised. "I wasn't expecting you to turn that way."

Alec and Biggs had helped Max move all the rest of her stuff that evening, that she had left with Original Cindy.

Biggs good naturedly teased Alec and Max about their 'lunchtime quickie' on the drive back from O.C.'s place, Biggs now completely believed them that they hadn't done anything, but it was fun to make Max cross.

Somehow it had come out that Max had always been easy to get mad, right from when she was little. Zane and Zack used to tease her all the time.

"Do you think that farm you stuck Zack in is still the best place for him?" Alec asked casually. "I thought it was crazy at the time but you wouldn't have listened to me six months ago."

"What makes you think I'd listen to you now?" Max sniped defensively.

Max thought about Zack that evening, as she set up her room. Alec was right, it was crazy leaving Zack defenseless with ordinaries, he needed to be with his own people. She had people who could help her with Zack now. Now she saw Joshua for the adult he was, Max realized she could have enlisted Joshua's help with Zack six months ago.

Max bust into tears of shame, she couldn't believe she'd put Logan ahead of Zack. She should have left Seattle with Zack, if it meant keeping her big brother safe.

Alec walked in with a can of beer for her. He looked embarrassed, as he witnessed Max's tears. It wasn't a strange thing around Terminal City, everyone experienced some kind of trauma from being in Manticore from time to time.

"Is this something to do with Logan?" Alec asked her warily, wondering when if ever she was going to inform Alec of their 'dating' status.

"No, yeah, I dunno." Max said wiping her eyes and blowing her nose on a piece of a rag. Tissues were a big waste of money in Post Pulse Seattle. She pulled herself together. "I just thought it would be good if I could get Zack back y'know? Maybe with all of the transgenics here, I could manage preventing him killing Logan." She opened the can of beer and drank it.

"Yeah" Said Alec doubtfully. "I actually came in for a reason. 453 contacted me this evening. Her husbands bailed out on her and she wants to make contact with other transgenics in Vancouver. She thinks it's safer to stay up there than come down to Seattle."

Max was fascinated about any information about her clone. "I thought you and the rest of the 09 clones were discouraged from being close to each other." She stated.

"Totally." smiled Alec "But we share a history of hell, and 453 and I were often made to work together as teenagers because we complemented each other."

"Please don't tell me you slept with my clone." Max pleaded, making her bed.

"Okay I won't then." Alec smiled at her suggestively, helping her. "Nah, we were never allowed alone with each other, in case we encouraged each other into sedition." He never had wanted to tell her part of the reason he couldn't kill Max the time White had put a Microexplosive in his brain stem, was because she reminded him too much of Sam.

Alec raised his eyebrows suggestively at the made bed and smirked. "Wanna christen your room."

Max hit him on the arm affectionately "Not with you sleazebag." She unpacked a box on her dresser and said to Alec without turning round. "If we get new papers to Sam, could you come with me at the same time and get Zack?"

"We don't know where Zack is," Pointed out Alec. "But yeah I can swing a coupla days off."

"I'll go see Logan about the address." Max said "I'll do it first thing before work tomorrow."

"Hey Max can ya give me another lift into Jam Pony?" Alec asked her. "I'm lending my bike to someone, so they can get some supplies of tryptophan."

"Yeah sure." Max said uncertainly. How the hell was she going to be able to pretend to Logan that she was going out with Alec? When Alec was gonna be right there beside her first thing in the morning.

"Night Max." said Alec wandering out of her room smirking. He wondered how the hell she was going to pull off pretending she was going out with him tomorrow.

Part 5

Logan fiddled with his tool frustrated. Annoyed he gritted his teeth and twiddled with his knob some more.

It was no use, Logan sighed put his screwdriver down and looked at his oven in despair. There was no way that piece of junk was ever going to work.

Microwaved oatmeal again for breakfast, yuck.

He heard a knock on the door and Max came in to the kitchen. His heart leapt involuntarily and then sank as Alec came in a step behind her.

"Hey." Logan said to both of them. "What's up?"

"We wanted to ask you where those transgenics we sent to Vancouver are and where Zack is?" Max requested nervously.

"Why?" Logan asked.

"Sam's husbands ditched her and she wants to be with other transgenics." Alec told Logan. Well hell Zack wasn't his idea.

"I want to make sure Zack is safe." Max shuffled uncomfortably. "It seems too dangerous now, him not knowing who he is. We could get him to Vancouver as well."

"Hmm you don't care that Zack still probably wants to kill me?" Logan queried, trying to sound like he was kidding.

"Of course I do!" Max reassured her former boyfriend quickly, "but I have enough transgenic help to prevent that from happening now."

"Not worried that Zack might be in love with her?" Logan joked bitterly to Alec.

"Nah why would I?" Alec beamed at Logan confidently. Max flinched holding her breath. Alec felt like bursting out laughing.

"Why would you indeed?" Said Logan snarkily, looking at the handsome younger male.

"I'm going with her of course. Could do with a break" Added Alec casually, ablaze with curiosity to see if that would make Logan bring up the fact he was meant to be going out with Max. All these weird scenes and vibes with Logan the past six weeks made sense to him now.

"Of course," Logan smiled tightly. "You'll probably cook S'mores on the way." He seemed to accuse Max.

"Great idea." Said Max between gritted teeth "I know how you're not in to that kind of thing. Can I have the addresses please?"

Logan went and grabbed a disk from his computer. "You guys have photographic memory right?"

Max and Alec both nodded. Logan printed the two addresses they needed on screen.

'Thanks Logan." Max said sincerely. "I appreciate this."

"No problem." Logan told her. "When are you heading out?"

"This Friday morning," Max told him. "Have to be back in Seattle Sunday night, Monday night at the latest."

"Well see you." Logan fare welled them both swiftly, finding the sight of them together too painful.

"What no be careful?" Alec laughed to Max. "Logan must be shitting himself about Zack."

"Shut up." Max said curtly getting on her bike.

Alec glimpsed Logan staring after them, through a chink in the kitchen curtains. Alec put his arms round Max's waist as she took off and he could feel her body tight with stress. God she needed to relax. What was with all the S'mores crap anyways?

S'mores cooked round campfires had been one of the few fun things as a kid they'd done at Manticore. He could count the fun non violent things on one hand virtually. Campfire cooking, orchestra, choir, chess and go club and okay he'd never admit it now but line dancing. As an eight year old line dancing had seemed darn fun. Maybe he would get some crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars and surprise Max.

He wondered at himself, for bothering to make her happy like that. Max was just his pal like CeCe right? He smiled to himself.

No, he didn't want to have sex with CeCe because they had been raised together from the time he was a baby till he was ten and life got really bad courtesy of Max and her crew. In spite of his teasing of Max, he totally understood why Max didn't feel that way about Zack. Biggs had the same problem with CeCe. Biggs didn't want to sleep with her and CeCe was totally in love with Biggs, thank you Manticore for screwing with everyone's heads.

Alec had always wanted to have sex with Sam, he didn't know that was what his feelings were at fourteen of course. He had had romantic little fantasies about Sam for three years and then he got sent on his Mission to kill Robert Berrisford. He hadn't seen Sam for two years and then he saw Max back at Manticore.

When Alec saw Max's for the first time on parade, he immediately started having some hot little day dreams about her. Really sick ones looking back, as he was sure she was completely depraved from having lived outside Manticore for so long, and his only sexual experience at the time had been with a jaded Balkan prostitute called Lola.

Max shifted her body away from him slightly, as if sensing the change in his thoughts about her. Alec grinned unrepentantly. Max not wanting to copulate with him in Manticore had been disappointing, even though he totally got it. He guessed he must be in love with her in some weird way. He liked her, he admired her, he wanted to have sex with her and he kept risking his ass to help her. That must be love right?