I am extremely proud of this story and apologize profusely for straying away from it for so long. I own nothing and mean no harm. Please let me know what you think.

They had been left alone for a full two days after Max had taken the shot. She had not spoken for the first twelve hours after, there was before and now there was after, and she had been unable to form words or abide being apart from him. His hands had stayed tight around her, he had talked to her without pause, from experiences to observations to how to field strip rodents he had simply left his voice wash over her. Max had finally shaken off her stupor, it was like a flip had been switched and she had leapt from the bed and made it to the toilet in time to empty her stomach.

Tears had come, finally, he had crowded her in the shower and let her cry into his skin as he washed the day away. "We're going to be okay Max. I promise." He shouldn't promise that, couldn't, but she had pressed a kiss to his neck just the same. Her first words after had been the same promise in return.

There had been more testing after, more blood and tissue samples taken, but nothing like what they had been subjected too before. The doctors it seemed were content with the microscopes and questions. So many questions. How did she feel, smell, think, etc.. on and on and on and on there were the questions. Max wasn't saying she prefered the life and death scenarios but they had been far less invasive than the unraveling of her thoughts.

Alec had fared slightly better under the barrage of questioning. Life in Manticore had meant few secrets and no illusion of privacy. He had just walked in after his latest round of inquiry when she had tugged his arm towards the bed and pushed him onto it. Max swallowed his question with a kiss and ground down onto his lap. He groaned into her mouth, she stole the sound and dug her fingers into his shoulders as he bucked back up against her.

Clothes disappeared, Alec sat up, wrapping his arms around her, his lips pressed against her forehead. She whispered how much she loved him, wanted him, needed him. All the words she had not spoken for all those hours tumbled out of her as she rode him, his cock thick and warm inside of her. A part of her wondered if this was it, the moment that they would finally conceive, it would be poetic. Biology didn't care about poetry, but weeks later when it was confirmed that she was in fact pregnant, she would think back on their first time after and she would know that was the time.

Renfro had been delighted by the news, there had been a look in her eyes a calculating, hungry look that had Max fighting the urge to wrap her arms protectively around her belly. They had to get out of there. They had too.

They didn't get anywhere. Five months into her pregnancy, she didn't care what the doctors or Renfro said these babies belonged to her and Alec, they were still under lock and key. By some stroke of benevolence Renfro had allowed them to stay together even after they had been successful in getting pregnant. Alec was telling her about his first trip to a grocery store, her head was lying in her lap and he was rubbing circles into her scalp. His hair should have grown out by now, but the assholes had continued to shave it, hers on the other hand was growing almost wild. The pills she had overheard, pregnancy vitamins, had made her hair longer and richer than it had ever been and don't even get her started on her fingernails.

Finding out she had been carrying twins Max had been as terrified as the white coats had been ecstatic. Taking care of one baby was going to be hard enough, but two, she could hardly wrap her brain around it. Every day that her due date drew closer she was forced to think about it more and more, her belly was larger than anyone she had ever seen pregnant before. Admittedly she had not been around many pregnant women but the doctors were delighted with the progress.

Max had sworn an oath that if she were to ever catch one of the white coats alone who kept referring to her 'litter' she would make them understand what a cornered mama cat could do.

So her belly grew and her hopes faded.

The explosion that rocked the ground beneath them on the morning of her eight month knocked her nearly over. Alec caught her before she could hit the ground. A silent message passed between them. Whatever this was they had to take advantage of it. The door slid over the bars and she couldn't help the cry at the lock sliding in place. Alec wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back into the corner furthest from the door.

A few well placed kicks and the footlocker was in pieces. He handed her one and took two for himself. Whoever came thru that door was going to bleed.

Truthfully Max didn't remember much after the lights went out. There was the sound of the door opening and she felt Alec tense in front of her, but then there were familiar voices. Voices she had not thought she would ever hear again.

The fear, the adrenaline, the sheer relief at being rescued and the following hours were a blur.

Before they could get any kind of explanation or give any thanks they were being shuffled off and onto a waiting airplane, no time for thank you or goodbye.

From the porch they watched the sunset. There had never been any clear answer as to where they ended up, she guessed somewhere in old Quebec, given the accents, but she hadn't asked. After the twins had come not a day after their week long getaway she had had little time to think of anything but them. Now though she had time to think of everything that had happened in just a year.

Alec sat to her right his hand reached for hers and she took it automatically. Their daughter was a curled up tiny on his chest, their son curled up on hers, and they shared a smile. Her Alec, her mate, her heart, they had made it out of there and here, now they were finally starting to live again.

She couldn't say there wasn't still fear that Manticore would come for them or their children. Training was done daily in between feedings and diaper changes. While they were enjoying their freedom they would never take it for granted. If someone came for them they would be ready.

Had she known a year ago that Alec would be part of her heart, that her heart would grow to include two perfect children, she never would have imagined it, could never have thought such a thing possible. Max had a new understanding of the impossible, she knew that she had and would kill to protect what she loved, that even dying for them would not be beyond her abilities.

For now though there was the sunset, Alec's hand in hers and the warmth of her child against her skin and all was right in her world.