Author's note: Here it is ... the last chapter!!! ... and I hope you enjoy!
Music suggestions: 'Undiscovered' by Ashlee Simpson, 'Sorry' by Buckcherry, 'Got you (where I want you)' by The Flys, 'Memory' by Sugarcult.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Cameron Eglee Productions and FOX. The original characters and plot are the property of the author (which is me, enchantra626 in this particular case). I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 8
"So, Boo. When was the last time you went into heat? Should I be preparing soon?" OC asked, a few days later at work. It was nearing the close of the work day and the duo was preparing to leave, sitting on the bench outside their lockers.
"That's strange, actually. A couple months back I thought I was, but none of the usual symptoms, such as jumpin' every male in sight, never showed. And I felt fine after a few days." Max replied, sitting back on her hands while she straddled the bench.
"Oh, you mean that week that Alec went missing? I knew you looked off, but like you said, you never got all wack-ado on the three-legged population." OC added thoughtfully.
"Hmm...I'd forgotten about that. Things got kinda hectic that week. It was something I put off until things cooled down." Max said in a light tone. "Now that I think about it, that's around the time my feelings for Alec started to change. And I mean really change."
"You don't say?" OC trailed off in a flat tone. "Hey, Alec! Get yo' ass over here." she called out.
Max looked over her shoulder and smiled when she saw Alec headed in their direction. After a moment, she glanced around warily and checked the smile as if she hadn't known it to appear.
"You rang?" Alec asked once he'd reached them and leaned against the bank of lockers to his right.
"I know this is a long way back, but you've all got that photographic memory anyway." OC began. Alec merely raised his eyebrows as if it were obvious and to get to the point. "Where were you that week you vanished a few months back?" OC finished, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at him accusingly.
His demeanor shifted instantaneously. "Umm...out of town?" Alec answered evasively.
"Alec..." Max bit out, turning to face Alec with a look that actually made him cringe.
"Alright. I got a lead on that guy that knew how to make the cure." Alec replied quickly in surrender. At her frown, he added, "The one that cut that bomb out of my head."
"Are you kidding me?" Max asked monotonously. "And?"
"The trail went cold." Alec said in a self-depreciative tone. "Besides, I felt this strong pull to come back home. It was indescribable. It was almost a good thing I lost the guy because I couldn't follow anymore. I couldn't resist it." Alec continued in a bewildered tone.
"What are you talking about? It wasn't something that ever happened at Manticore?" Max asked.
"Not to me or anyone else I know." Alec replied seriously.
"And when you got back, the feeling disappeared?" OC asked inquisitively, standing up and opening her locker.
"The feeling went away about a day before I got back to Seattle." Alec said.
"What day?" Max stressed, looking up at him strangely.
"Thursday." Alec answered slowly, confused by the girls' line of questioning.
Max looked over to OC, who was now staring back at her with her eyebrows raised.
"What?" Alec asked impatiently, annoyed at their silence and their knowing something he didn't.
"You don't think there's some weird connection, do you?" OC asked Max, ignoring Alec.
"How could there be? It's not something I've ever been witness to. And I've seen some pretty freaky stuff." Max replied, also ignoring Alec.
"Max!" Alec interrupted, standing up from the locker and moving between them. "What connection? What's going on?"
OC peered around him with a raised eyebrow, but Max merely shrugged and answered him.
"I might have passed through a heat cycle the same time you were gone." Max replied quietly, staring up at him.
"Might?" Alec asked in a mystified tone. "You're not sure?"
"Isn't that what I just said?" Max replied in a snappish tone. "I felt all the usual starter symptoms: naughty dreams, running hotter than usual, totally antsy. But then, nothing."
"Nothing?" Alec echoed monotonously. "As in?"
"No impulse to have sex with the first available male." Max supplied, a slight smile gracing her lips.
"Oh, right." Alec replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "So, connection again? I'm not following."
"Max? Who'd you dream of in your 'heat' dreams?" OC nudged, putting quotation marks around heat. Even though she knew of their relationship, she also knew that Max hadn't yet disclosed just how long she'd had it bad for her boy.
"Alec." Max mumbled after glaring pointedly at OC.
"Me?" Alec asked, surprised. Then the typical playboy charm set in, and he continued. "It was an inevitability."
Max pursed her lips and rolled her eyes before looking back at OC, who then leaned forward and smacked him on the back of the head.
Alec looked over at OC incredulously, who merely cocked her hip to one side and said with an attitude, "Take it like a genetically-engineered man, fool."
Looking back at Max, OC continued. "Anyway...as I was saying, do you all mate?"
"It has been known to happen. Just look at Biggs and Cece. They've been hooking up since we broke out." Alec supplied, stepping away from OC to sit behind Max on the bench.
"What if you two did?" OC asked, indicating them as Alec brushed Max's hair away from one shoulder and rubbed his nose against the back of her ear. Max hummed in contentment and began to relax back into Alec.
"Boo! I just asked you a question." OC said when she noticed that neither were listening to her any longer.
"Yes." Max responded automatically, her gaze rushing up to OC's.
"Did you even hear my question?" OC asked, more as a statement than a question.
"You think Max and I have mated." Alec replied before Max could open her mouth, turning his attention to OC.
"Yeah, I do." OC said matter-of-factly.
"That would explain the overwhelming attraction I've felt ever since my return." Alec thought out loud.
Max frowned and turned to look at him over her shoulder.
"You felt it too?" Max asked. She swatted at him when he nodded.
"Would you all stop hitting me?" Alec snapped out in a incredulous tone.
"You know you love it." Max retorted, a small smile lighting her face. "Now why didn't you make a move sooner?"
"Are you kidding me? There was no way of knowing how you'd react. You had to make that first move." Alec replied.
"Chivalry's been dead for a long time, Boo." OC said sadly after he finished speaking.
Alec rolled his eyes at her response. "Also, it's not something we'd experience often at Manticore due to the females being separated during their heats and given proper medication to suppress it." Alec spoke, picking up their earlier line of questioning.
"What about all of my other heats? How come I didn't draw you then?" Max asked contemplatively.
"Because you never came into contact with him before." OC stated before Alec.
"How do you know all this?" Alec asked in a bewildered tone.
"Just comes naturally." OC replied without missing a beat. "It's kind of like that saying: You can't miss what you don't have. You never met him and picked up his scent, so you kept wanderin' around looking for Mr. Right until you did. Damn well took you long enough, Boo." OC continued, looking at her pointedly. "And then you denied it for weeks."
"Yeah, well..." Max trailed off defensively. She then sighed defeatedly. "Okay."
"Wow. I don't think you've ever given up that easily before." Alec said, mocking her.
"Do you think it's wise taunting me while sitting so close?" Max said calmly, looking back over her shoulder and patting him on the face a few times.
"And that's my cue to leave." Alec said after taking a deep breath, scooting back on the bench and standing. Leaning down, Alec then placed a light kiss on Max's lips before smiling mischievously and saying, "See you later, Maxie."
"How did that even happen?" Max asked in a mystified tone, staring after Alec as he made his way to Normal's desk and leaned against it.
"Which part?" OC said with a lilt in her voice. "Life is just weird like that, suga. No matter how you look at it."
Max shook her head and stood up to open her locker. After pulling a few items out, she shut it and was preparing to leave when a loud crash sounded in Alec's direction which was quickly followed by "You did what?" shouted out in surprise.
Max turned towards Normal's desk with a curious look on her face. However, the look quickly morphed into a mixture of anger and trepidation when she saw Alec still standing in the same spot and Normal looking as if he were about to pass out. Either that or spontaneously combust. Neither prediction faired well with Alec concerned.
Her suspicions were confirmed when Normal yelled out, "You did what with Missy Miss?"
Max all but blurred to Alec's side and clamped a hand over Alec's mouth before he could reply.
"Nothing. He was just making it up." Max countered sweetly, forcing a smile and dragging Alec in the opposite direction. "Now if you'll excuse us...we were just leaving."
"Be kind, don't recline." Normal yelled out to more than a few confused stares. Max halted and squeezed her eyes shut in mortification as she thought of the implications of that statement before continuing to drag Alec to the broom closet at the end of the hall.
All but tossing him inside, Max followed him inside and shut the door rather forcefully behind her.
Alec was barely holding it together he wanted to laugh so hard, which served to piss Max off even more.
"Alec, what the hell? You told Normal we hooked up?" Max demanded incredulously, holding her arms out at her sides in askance.
"Relax...Max." Alec replied calmly before snorting a few times and collapsing into a fit of laughter, unable to hold it back any longer.
Max's mouth gaped open and shut a few times as she tried to reign in her ferocity – not to mention the surprise at how unaffected he was by it.
After looking up to see Max due to her silence, Alec attempted to stop laughing and walked up to her. Cupping her cheek in his palm, he said, "Max, it'll be okay. We wanted everyone to know we were together. What faster way to spread the news than Normal?"
"Well, yeah. But Alec, it's Normal. Now he's never gonna give me a break." Max complained pitifully, gazing up at Alec with a petulant expression.
Alec smiled warmly at her response. It was moments like this that made him love the woman in front of him even more. The completely atypical Max moments that no one else got to see.
Backing her up gently until her back was pressed against the door, Alec stared down at her with an expression of tenderness and wickedness. Deviant behavior was to be expected.
"Remember the last time we were in here?" Alec asked in a reminiscent tone, one hand trailing down her side to rest lightly on her hip.
Max's breath caught in her throat as words escaped her once again. How could this one man have such an effect on her?
"Perhaps." Max whispered seductively in his ear, standing up on tip-toe with her hands flat against his chest.
Alec placed both of his hands just below her butt and tugged her up onto him. She complied without complaint and snuggled her face into his neck and wrapped her arms around his chest in return.
"Care to finish that thought?" Alec asked with his head tilted to one side as his hands skimmed along the outside of her shirt in preparation of taking it off of her.
"Nothing would please me more." Max replied as she lifted her gaze back to his and rubbed her nose against his in an Eskimo kiss before finding her way to his mouth.
A few minutes in, Max pulled away and attempted to glare at him accusingly.
"This doesn't change the fact that I'm still upset with your telling Normal." Max said seriously.
One corner of Alec's mouth quirked up into a smirk. "In a few minutes, your sweetness, it won't even matter." Alec said in a tone filled with promise.
Well, is that enough closure for everybody? Again, I hope it wasn't too abrupt an ending. It was nice to write a chapter that consisted of one scene once again. Like I just asked, I hope that this chapter explains the attraction they each felt in the first chapter and that they ended up as mates once again. Because that's what I do. It was quite nice actually how the idea for this chapter came to me. I was listening to 'Undiscovered' in the car after a long hiatus from said CD and I got this vision of Max and OC talking about Max's last heat cycle and "Bam!" there it was. And now the rest is history. Let me know what you think. Suggestions are welcomed, so if you have something in mind...drop me a line. Sooo...it's been fun and don't worry! I've got more stories in the making. See you all around! WBL.