Fuhgeddaboud Alec

Rated M

A M/A Fuhgeddaboudit AU

Chapter One

Another night, another Eyes Only mission.

The cappuccino had warmed her, as had the heated look in Logan's eyes, as she'd stepped out of his penthouse apartment in the tight, zippered black dress and platinum blonde wig. The warm feelings that Logan's appreciation had inspired hadn't really withstood the cool Seattle evening, or the lecherous gazes from the mobsters that she'd weaseled her way into the midst of.

For a moment, she thought it was awfully funny that a man that loved her so much was so willing to throw her, scantily clad, to the wolves.

But she was a transgenic, so what did it matter. She could take care of herself, and if one of those stupid mobsters tried to put a hand where his eyes were, she'd break it off and beat him to death with it. As it was, the muscle behind the Sperrenchino family, Logan's latest and greatest Big Threat, seemed more interested in feeding her than anything else. They'd plopped her down in the middle of a ritzy, family-owned restaurant, definite emphasis on family owned, and had proceeded to order her a glass of wine and a large plate of spaghetti. That she was now picking at in disinterest while they ignored her to talk about horse racing.

She would have killed for some chicken. She'd had about all she could stand of pasta, at this point.

To be honest, she really didn't care much that the men at the table were momentarily ignoring her; her main target, after all, was Dougie, the short, balding one on her right. Not that she was doing all that well. Hence, the picking at her food and longing thoughts of fowl.

Dougie just didn't seem that interested. Tony, a man with a personality oily enough to sell used cars with a suit to match, had helpfully pointed out to her that the shorter man was a narcoleptic and wouldn't be much for conversation. But even when he was awake, Dougie's droopy eyes darted around nervously and it was like he barely even registered that she was alive. She could have shrugged, whatever, can't win 'em all, but it meant so much to Logan that she found herself at the table long after she would have left for the security of combat boots and Crash.

She resolved to give it one more shot, one last hurrah, before calling it quits and Logan Cale be damned. She had better things to do than freeze, be ogled, and eat pasta.

Maybe in another universe, things would have gone differently… Maybe Max would have been more charming. Maybe something would have worked out and Logan would have eventually got his man. Maybe they'd toast each other over candlelight and even more pasta, who knows. Max just knew that she turned to smile vacantly at Dougie in time to watch him sauntering up, his arm around some blonde doxie. The girl's hair was just as fake as Max's, maybe even more so, but it was no wig. Just another reject from a bleach junkie's beauty school. The girl in the short, red sequined dress barely even registered though, locked in as Max was on him.

Her face, frozen in surprise, held on to the sickly sweet grin long after it should have died. Her brown eyes had gone a little bit too wide to be pleasant. The men at the table paused in their conversation and turned in curiosity to follow her strange gaze.

"Wellll…" Tony grinned. "If it isn't Monty-friggin'-Cora." He shoulda known. Women had a terrible habit of trailing off mid-thought when they caught sight of the former underground boxer.

The frozen smile was beginning to hurt Max's face and part of her realized she must look a little crazed. She could feel an angry kind of laughter start to bubble in her chest. If she got mistaken for a crazy woman and was kicked out of here, it would be his fault. What was he even doing here? He was gonna hurt for this.

Dougie frowned at her, leaning over, opening his mouth to ask her if she was alright.

Alec's expression didn't give away a thing. Maybe he recognized that Dougie was about to call attention to Max's strangled, manic expression, maybe he recognized the older man was her target and wanted to annoy her, who knows what he was thinking. Whatever the case, he released the girl that had been hanging on to his arm and she teetered and fell into Dougie's lap, giggling, the sequins of her dress flashing in the warm light of the restaurant. Alec's hand clapped Tony on the shoulder, and he smiled genially at the seated men. "Heya, boys."

Max finally felt her face relax as he broke the silence. She leaned into Dougie, pushing away her annoyance that the thin, obviously tipsy, girl Alec had brought was now blocking her route of conversation. "Who is this guy?" Max asked sweetly, then had to lean away when the blonde in his lap snapped around to look at her, her long hair whipping into Dougie's face. The blonde glared prettily at Max and Max wanted to reassure her, I have no intention of making off with your stupid prize. Instead, she focused on Dougie, who had leaned as far back into his seat as it would allow, looking uncomfortable. For a moment, Max vaguely wondered if he even liked girls. Maybe Logan should be the one sitting here in a tight leather outfit. The vindictive thought warmed her even more than his earlier heated look had.

The man seated next to Tony, Shakes, she'd heard him called earlier, cracked his knuckles and grinned at her, answering her question before Dougie could. "This, baby doll, is one of da best boxers in Seattle." He shook his head in amusement. "Damn good poker player, too."

Yep. She was definitely going to kill him. Alec had ambled closer, so Max turned and blinked up at his bland face with big, brown eyes, her nose wrinkling cutely in confusion. "Him? But isn't he a little… small?"

Alec's eyes narrowed for only a moment as he took in her, quote-unquote, "dumb girl" voice, before he smirked, leaning over her, one arm on the back of her chair. She resisted the urge to pull a Dougie and shrink away, even when his smirk became downright lewd. "Don't worry, baby," She wanted to smack that expression off of him. "I'm big in all the right places." He winked at her, too.

Max resisted the urge to gag as the men at the table laughed. Neanderthals. The man on her left, the one that she'd never caught the name of, leaned forward and Max did her best to remain relaxed. Even though every fiber in her being was telling her to duck under Alec's arm and get the hell out of there, get away from him, from Alec, from Alec's nearness. "Darlin'," The man was saying, "the best boxers in history have all been small, fast men. And Alec here is bigger than them, but he's faster, too."

Her eyes widened, almost startled. They even knew his frickin' name? There was no question about it now; she was definitely going to kick his ass. She forgot that she was supposed to feel uncomfortable when this close to him, forgot the panic that had been rearing up to choke her when he'd leaned in. "Alec, huh?" She cocked her head, turning back to look at him, still leaning over her chair. His face was still too close to hers, but the warmth of her annoyance flaring within her made her forget, made it seem like it wasn't even an issue. "As in smart-aleck?"

He frowned, straightening suddenly. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name." Hah, maybe she'd made him uncomfortable for a change…

"Dorothy," Dougie helpfully supplied, shoving long blonde hair out of his face once more. The girl's strong perfume made his nose twitch and for a moment it looked like he was about to sneeze.

"Dorothy." Alec's tongue rolled around the name and his eyes dipped down past the platinum locks to the tanned curve of her neck and then to the curve of her… She had to resist the sudden urge to draw the dress's provocative zipper up. She wouldn't have to, because his eyes snapped immediately back to her face, apparently refusing to linger on skin. His voice, when it came again, had an edge of hardness to it that she didn't recognize. "Shouldn't you be scampering back to Kansas, Dorothy? I'm sure the Tin Man is waiting."

Max's eyes narrowed.

Tony sighed. "Nobody watches the classics anymore. The Tin Man was in Oz, not in Kansas."

Alec's face fell into blandness, his eyes never leaving her face. "But it's so nice and normal in Kansas. Exactly where I'm sure Dorothy would like to fit in best." He punctuated the comment with a cheeky little grin and a gentle bop on her nose with one index finger. Her hand curled into a fist in her lap, the bite of fingernail in her palm the only thing stopping her from decking him. Alec didn't seem to care about the fire igniting in her dark brown eyes; he seemed pretty intent on getting his money's worth in while she seemed so unwilling to fight back. Maybe he just wanted to see how long she would hold on to the bimbo act before she couldn't stand it anymore and tried to throw him out a window. God, what a masochist, Max thought to herself, not for the first time.

Tony shook his head, "Don't worry 'bout him, sweetheart. He's always making' some kind of scene in front of the ladies."

"Nice of you to call me a lady, Tony."

Heads turned to take in a perky brunette, suddenly hovering at Dougie's shoulder. Where the hell had she come from? Great, Max wanted to huff. More competition. Alec was the only one that didn't turn to look. But only because he took the moment of distraction to yank her from her seat, twist around her to take her spot, and pull her back down, all in one fast, fluid motion. She'd beaten on him so many times, sometimes it was easy to forget how quick, how strong, he could actually be.

Still, she couldn't do much about it now. Either make a big show out of it and ruin Logan's good night, or deal with it and give him hell later. She let herself be pulled into his warm lap, but 3 ½ inches of black heel dug into his foot as glorious retribution. His face twisted in a grimace but it didn't matter because no one noticed, busy as they were looking at the newcomer.

"Wasn't talkin' 'bout you, Mia." Tony was saying in cool annoyance, so guess they knew who this woman was. "Now scram. You know the boss don't want you 'round Books, here." Books was apparently Dougie's 'gangster' name, or whatever, by the way Tony thumbed at the older man. Max wondered if Alec had gotten a nickname too, but pushed the thought away because it was too ridiculous.

The classily-dressed brunette was taken a little bit aback by Tony's easy dismissal, Max could tell. Mia glanced down at Dougie, at Alec's date, still in Dougie's lap, her eyes narrowing in hurt. "Shouldn't that be up to Dougie?" She asked and Max almost wanted to wince at the imploring tone behind the pretended strength.

But whatever this woman was to him was not enough to stand up to the glares of the well-dressed gangsters sitting at the table. Dougie's eyes darted around nervously, shifting uncomfortably under the girl in his lap. "You heard 'em." He reached around the girl to grab at his fork, obviously distressed. Max almost kind of felt bad for the guy. "Scram."

Mia's eyes darted to the blonde in Dougie's lap and Max once again caught the undertones of something deeper. "Who's the skirt?" Mia shifted, unhappy. Max vaguely wondered if Mia was some kind of wounded ex.

Before Dougie could say anything else, Shakes chimed in with a soft voice, "You want we should start barrin' you from the club?"

The mobster on Max's left put in his two cents as well. "Beat it!"

Alec's date even had that annoying accent. Jeez, where did this club in the middle of Seattle even find these people? The blonde sniffed at the brunette in a high, nasal timbre. "See ya lateh, old news."

Max felt a little bad for the woman as she watched her flounce off. Then Mia stopped a few feet away, speaking softly to a waiter. Max's sympathy turned to amusement and grudging respect when only moments later, the waiter walked by and 'accidentally' dumped a martini into the lap of Alec's date. She shrieked, leaping from Dougie, whirling on the apologetic server. Max smirked, wondering how much Mia had bribed the guy. She tuned out the drama of the thugs threatening the waiter to gloat about it to Alec.

"Shouldn't you go clean up your date?" She asked. "Or is it even possible to clean up something that trashy?"

He took another bite of her spaghetti. She looked down in alarm to realize half her plate was gone. "Trixie? Not my date," He spoke around the food and her face twisted in disgust. "Just one of the club girls."

"Hey, that's mine!"

"You want it?" He opened his mouth to show her the partially chewed pasta.

Her eyes widened and she reared away from him. He grinned, his mouth snapping shut smugly to finish chewing.

So, had he picked up a drunken girl, or had a drunken girl tried to pick up him? Had he been trying to help Trixie or had he just been trying to 'help' her back to his place? You never could tell with Alec. In the long run, the girl was unimportant. Whatever the reason, he shouldn't be here right now, he was ruining everything… and he had eaten all her pasta! (It didn't matter that she hadn't actually wanted it in the first place). Her fist clamped into the collar of his suit jacket and she leaned forward to tell him off… Wai-

Wha-

Suit jacket?

Alec was dressed up?

How had she not noticed this?

She glanced down. No, not really dressed up, she realized. The maître d at the front door had probably forced the jacket on him before he'd finally been allowed into the upscale establishment. Underneath the dark blazer, a blue t-shirt was obvious, and he was wearing some loose blue jeans to top it all off. She glanced back up and colored when she realized Alec had paused in his eating to study her, watching her look him over.

"You'll be talkin' to Jerry, tomorrow." Tony's threatening voice brought her back to the present conversation and she turned away from Alec's strange intensity in time to watch the waiter scamper away. Trixie the blonde stomped off in the same direction that Mia had gone, headed towards the ladies' bathroom. Tony turned to look at the table, rolling his shoulders in annoyance. "After tonight, I almost don't feel like headin' to the back."

"What's in the back?" Max's voice was a little sharp as she reluctantly released her hold on Alec's blazer. Maybe a little too sharp. So she added a cutesy giggle at the end when Tony looked at her, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Alec snorted and her elbow dug warningly into his ribs.

The damage had been done without Alec's help, though. Tony's voice took on a soft edge of menace that she hadn't heard before. "You know, you sure do ask a lot of questions."

Shakes' dark eyes narrowed in agreement. "Yeah. That's pretty much all you been doin' the whole night." Then, as if it was an even worse affront, "You barely even ate your spaghetti."

She only had a moment to feel alarm, because Alec had put down the fork to lean back into the chair, his fingers rising to rest lightly, warningly, on her shoulder. "Ahh, c'mon guys. You know how nosy chicks are. Always sticking' their cute little faces in other people's business."

She didn't dig the spike of her heel into his shoe because everyone was watching him and would have noticed his grimace. Plus, as weird as it was, it was like he was helping her, and she didn't know that gouging his foot would be the best way to say thank you... So she just mentally held her breath, waiting. It took a long moment, but Tony finally loosened up with a half-hearted shrug. "Dames," He shook his head and Alec's soft laugh seemed to be a kind of agreement. Scratch that 'thank you' business. First chance she got, her heel was going' so far into his foot he'd need a surgeon to dig it out.

Then Tony smirked. "What the hell. Let's see if I can't win some money out of those deep pockets of yours." He turned to leave, pausing only when he noticed Alec hadn't gotten up to follow. "You coming or what, Mr. Monty Cora?"

He smiled blandly at the older man, his hand still resting lightly upon her shoulder, like he was trying to hold her back or something. "Yeah, sure, just give me a chance to work my magic on Dorothy here."

Tony rolled his eyes and the three 'respectable business men' headed towards the back of the restaurant where they were promptly let through a mostly inconspicuous door by a large man in dark clothing. As they were walking away, Alec's hand dropped immediately from her shoulder and Max twisted in his lap to scowl at him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded when she was sure no one was close enough to hear. "And how the hell do you know those guys? And what's in the back? And why are you even here?"

"You already asked that," He pointed out blandly. He reached up, like he couldn't help himself, and tugged at a fake blonde lock in seeming amusement.

"Don't make me hurt you," She hissed, pulling her head away from him.

Alec sighed, shaking his head sadly as his hand dropped back down. "Why are you always so kinky, Maxie? Two years of waiting really's worked up an appetite, huh?"

She recognized a diversionary tactic when she heard one. So she didn't say anything, just arched one cool eyebrow, her foot tapping impatiently in time with the classical music playing in the background.

"Fine," He groused. "I met them back when I was still pit fighting. They won some money off me a couple times so they took a liking to me and started inviting me to play poker."

She shoulda known.

"Way to hang with the bad guys, Alec."

"You keep telling me I'm not allowed to take money from the good guys," He replied, all charm.

She rolled her eyes, looking away from him so she could sigh in pretended unhappiness. Her mobsters had escaped, so guess that was an end to this night. It wasn't so bad, was it? Logan would find something else to fixate on eventually. Hopefully next time he'd find her something to kick instead of someone to seduce. Ah well, if nothing else, at least she'd get to blame the entire thing on Alec, she realized with dawning delight.

The thought lifted Max's spirits a little and she started to stand, getting ready to leave. So she was a little surprised when his arm circled her waist and she was pulled back down.

"Do you want me to get you in the back or what?"

She paused, blinking, turning to sit sideways in his warm lap. "You… you would do that?"

It was in the back of her mind, even as she was talking to him; it was the second time she'd noticed how warm he was. She'd lived so long on the outside, sometimes she forgot that transgenics ran so hot. Or maybe it'd just been a while since she'd been so close to somebody, physically. She tried to ignore it though, and he seemed oblivious.

"Yeah," Alec frowned, like even he couldn't believe he was offering his help. Which he probably couldn't. Then he fixed her with a warning glare. "Just don't do anything that'll get us shot, okay? I know you've got this desperate need to please Logan-"

"This has nothing to do with Logan." She hissed in embarrassment. Except that they both knew it had everything to do with Logan, because she wouldn't be here if it weren't for Eyes Only. "I'm here for the good of the city." She finished with as much dignity as she could muster, hard to do in the make-up and high heels and blonde wig and black dress.

"Yeah, and I'm sure the fact that you stopped by Logan's apartment first has nothing to do with your outfit." Alec replied blandly. Then he smirked, his eyes caressing the short, platinum wig. "But I gotta say, I'm impressed. Who knew that you were so naturally…" He paused there, his gaze lowering to the strip of skin at eye level, the hint of breast, and a slow smile spread across face, "…perky."

Her eyes widened, her arms folding protectively across her chest.

"Not helping things," He pointed out.

"You're a pig," She muttered, twisting slightly away from him. He chuckled softly as he heard the sound of the zipper being drawn up and over her breasts, hiding her surprisingly delightful cleavage from him. If she weren't so asexual, he would almost be saddened by the lack of view. Still, he was doing her a favor, he told himself; she'd probably be thanking him if she knew the way other men had let their eyes linger on her skin. Really, he was just helping her out by pointing out the low, low zipper to her.

"Isn't it kind of pointless to dress like that for Logan's benefit?" He found himself asking. "Robo legs or no, isn't the guy paralyzed from the waist down?"

He must have picked the wrong subject. She snapped back to him suddenly, quicker than a blink, and her fists gripped his suit jacket as she shoved him roughly into the seat, pressing close to snarl into his face. He couldn't help that his eyes darted to her glistening lips. "Listen, buddy-"

"Am I interrupting?"

They turned as one to gape in surprise at the brunette, looking down at them. They'd been so caught up they hadn't even heard Mia walking up. Max released her hold on his suit jacket, almost uncomfortably. Alec cleared his throat, glancing away from Max's mouth to look at the other woman that he hadn't paid much attention to earlier. And his eyes narrowed, almost in anger.

"You're Alec, right?" Mia asked, eyes darting between the two people, embarrassed that she'd chosen what seemed to be an intimate moment to pose her question. She would have gotten to him sooner, but the blonde woman that'd been sitting in Dougie's lap had to be taken care of first. As it was, Sarah, her real name had been, was in a cab on her way home with a sudden desire to clean up her life. Now, butterflies flared in Mia's stomach at the reminder of what she was about to ask X5-494 to do. But she calmed them with force. No way he would remember her from his time in Psy Ops. And the human bimbo in his lap would never guess in a million years what she was, what they were. This should be easy. Or at least Mia had hoped it would be until she caught Alec's expression.

His green eyes were moving over Mia's familiar face and he was frowning, like he was trying to remember a long forgotten slight. "Don't I know you?"

Max snorted at the lame attempt at a pick-up line as Mia glanced away. "No, I don't think so."

"Are you sure?" His hard voice had Max turning to look at him. Maybe not a pick-up line after all, Max realized, he sounded almost annoyed. His gaze was narrow and searching, almost as if he was angry, and Max's face twisted in confusion. Alec seemed oblivious to her look, continuing, "Cuz I never forget a face, and I could swear-"

Mia held out a hand, around Max's turned body, smiling genially. "I'm Mia."

She was looking directly at him. So Max watched as Alec's eyes went completely blank, just for a second, she felt as his body relaxed under hers, just for a moment. But before she could snark at him with a tinge of alarm, his cocky grin came back up. In real time, the transformation was almost instantaneous. The hint of anger had melted away, being replaced by easy charm. He reached around Max to take the brunette's outstretched hand. "Alec. How's it going?"

Warning bells were ringing in Max's mind, even though she kept her expression pleasant enough. Something isn't right here.

"I was wondering if you could do me a teeny, tiny little favor?" Mia asked, in that cutesy little girl voice that Max was deciding she didn't much like.

"Hey, no problem." Alec shrugged, oblivious to Max's discomfort and growing unhappiness.

Mia made a self-deprecating face as she laughed lightly. "You know I hate to ask you, but really, it's just a small thing. You see," She gestured at the door the mobsters had disappeared into early. More importantly, she gestured at the burly bouncer lounging next to the door. "They won't let me into the back. And I'd ask Bruno myself." Bruno must be the muscle bound lug protecting the small swinging door, Max realized. Then snorted. Bruno the bouncer. Heh. How trite. She tuned back in to Mia. "But he's already let me in without permission so many times, if I ask him to do it again, they'll probably can him. But everyone knows you, and I thought maybe-"

"Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" Alec leaned forward around Max, peering hard at the brunette's face.

Okay, now she knew something was up.

Mia glanced at her, shifting awkwardly, hoping that the bimbo front the blonde in Alec's lap was using wasn't just an act, otherwise this could get uncomfortable real quickly. The shorter brunette preferred group settings to help dispel suspicions, but sometimes pulling in more than one person at a time could leave her a little drained. So instead she giggled, hoping her previous efforts would carry her through. "Silly, I just introduced myself, remember?"

Alec's voice was soft, almost confused, and she didn't even have to use coercion. "Yeah… yeah." He reached around Max and made a grab for the wine glass near her plate, downing the pale liquid quickly.

"Maybe you've had too much to drink?" Mia suggested.

Alec frowned, setting the glass back down abruptly. "Yeah." He shook his head. "Man, I've had way too much to drink." He sagged back into the chair, his fingers playing absently with the short hem of Max's skirt at the outside of her thighs... almost like he didn't realize that was a no-no with Max. Almost like he really was tipsy and was dealing with lowered inhibitions. "I don't know if I'll be even to play in the game, tonight."

Mia shot Max a knowing smile. "Men." She shrugged. Max's vacant smile didn't reach her hard eyes.

Alec couldn't get drunk. His metabolism wouldn't allow it. What the hell was going on? She was tempted to end this whole charade right now and ask him who the hell this girl was, what the hell was this, but something that felt like self-preservation kept her mouth shut. She wouldn't be able to hold out for long, though. Without the benefit of clothes to dampen his heat, his fingers were even hotter than his lap was. She knew, because she was acutely aware of them every time they brushed like fire against her skin. Then, even worse, one hand slid suddenly, surely, from the outside of her thigh to the inside and she bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from jumping away from him, to calm a heartbeat that, for a moment, was pounding.

Then, she wouldn't have to do anything, because Mia immediately realized her mistake. "Oh, I'm sure it's just a little tipsiness. It's probably nothing. It'll clear up in no time." She glanced away, blushing lightly. Mia's round brown eyes had caught the movement of his hand just as surely as her sensitive ears had caught the speeding of Max's heart. Maybe that hadn't been the best suggestion to make when he'd had an attractive girl in his lap. "So, do you think you could take me with you into the back?"

Alec blinked, shaking his head. "Whaddya know. I am feeling better." He paused for a moment, suddenly realizing where his hand was and he snatched it away from Max's skin quickly. Then to cover his embarrassment, he looked at Mia, shrugging apologetically and pretending like nothing had happened. "I would, but I already promised Dorothy here that I'd take her."

"Oh," Mia's gazed shifted between the two of them in surprise and she backed out of her earnest pose to smile warmly at them both. She'd thought the woman in Alec's lap had just been another club worker, brought in to keep society's aristocratic blood hot and their money flowing, but she couldn't be if she had to be escorted to the gambling rooms.

The air didn't seem as thick anymore, Max noticed, her brain struggling to connect the dots between Mia's previously intense smile and Alec's oddball behavior. She refused, however, to think about his hand on her thigh only moments ago. Couldn't even think about kicking his ass. It seemed dangerous, somehow, like maybe she should just forget it happened. Then Mia was asking, "Are you two a couple?"

Max and Alec exchanged a quick glance.

"No," She said as he said "Yes."

They exchanged another glance.

"Yes," She said as he shrugged, "No."

Mia smiled sadly, nodding in something like understanding. "It's complicated, huh? I know how that goes. Me n' my guy can't even speak much 'cuz of these mob jokers."

Max's eyes widened in sudden understanding. The strong tone with pained eyes. The whisper to the waiter. "You n' Dougie?" Maybe that's why he hadn't been biting. He already had a someone. It was almost kind of cute… or would be… if everything about this woman wasn't making Max's hackles rise.

"Caught that, huh?" Mia shrugged, a bit sadly. Then she leaned forward again, smiling brightly, fixing Alec with another look that made the hairs on the back of Max's neck stand on end. "So, can we go to the back now? I'm sure they won't mind if you bring us both."

Alec blinked. "Yeah, sure. I don't think they'll mind if I bring you both." Alec's fingers curled around Max's forearm, like he was grasping for help, but Max was still too weirded out by the whole conversation and the heat of his skin and the purr in her mind and she didn't even want to know where that came from.

Max shook free of his grasp quickly. "What's in the back, anyway?"

Alec blinked, and then smirked at her, his hands coming up to rest on her hips. "It's the mob, baby. What do you think?"

It wasn't a freezer full of bodies, Max noted in relief. Just a lot of gambling, catered towards Seattle's elites, and even more alcohol. Alec had no trouble leading the two women past Bruno the bouncer, who did genuinely seem to like Alec. Max rolled her eyes. Scum of the earth, unite. The thought felt a little petty, though, a little like payback for the hand that had been on her thigh.

Truth be told, there wasn't a whole lot of excitement in that large, well-lit back room. Just a lot of drunk business men, card tables, roulette wheels, and scantily dressed women. Max frowned. She'd expected something… dunno. Scarier. Crowbars and people begging for the safety of their kneecaps or somethin'. This was just sad.

"Hey, what's she doing here?" Tony demanded, breaking away from a roulette table to follow them to another smaller, even plainer door at the back of that room.

"She's with me," Alec's arm draped loosely over Mia's shoulders. Mia smiled sicky-sweet at Tony. Tony snorted, not buying it for a moment, before turning to run lascivious eyes over Max's body. He seemed slightly disappointed that the zipper of her dress had been pulled up to more respectable heights.

"Well. Whaddabout her, then?"

Still, Max didn't like that look on the guy's face. So she pressed into Alec's side, giggling, batting long eyelashes up at him. "I'm with him, too."

Tony shook his head, muttering. "That was fast. Change your name to Magic Man," He turned to push through the door, staying surprisingly good natured despite his hot temperament. Guess he liked Alec, or Alec's money, more than he liked dames. Then Max shook herself, pulling herself away from Alec and ignoring his amused glance. Dames? Jeez, she almost sounded like Logan.

There was no muscle bound bouncer before the door Tony had pushed through. But it didn't need one. Only an idiot woulda walked through that door and not backed out immediately at the sight of the two thin men, leaning back in chairs, guns displayed prominently in leather shoulder holsters. Tony led them past the men, through another door, down a narrow hallway, past the bright, noisy kitchens, and into a small room near a fire exit. It could have been a storage room with its swaying, solitary light bulb, shelving with food stuffs, bare brick walls and uncovered concrete floors. Could have been if it weren't for the round table in the middle of the room and the mobsters lounging in rickety chairs around it.

Alec shrugged off the suit jacket and Max had to admit he was probably the only person on the planet that could pull off a dress jacket with only a dark blue t-shirt underneath. He plopped into a chair. "Who's dealing?"

Max glanced sharply at him. There was no way he was stupid enough to try and cheat at cards with a bunch of mobsters. Idiot. She rolled her eyes, glancing around the room for her target. Dougie wasn't taking part in the game. He was leaning in a chair over by some shelving, fighting hard to stay awake. Mia looked like she wanted to go speak to him but Tony's critical eye had her stayin' put. For the moment anyway.

Well, that left him open for her. She felt a little bad for Mia, but she'd promised Logan she'd give it a shot. She already had a feeling Dougie would continue not biting the bait, especially with Mia here, so she kept one eye on the card game just to make sure Alec wouldn't do anything stupid. She needn't have worried. He wasn't cheating, she realized after the first hand. As the games progressed, he was winning a bit more than he lost, but he was playing on luck and skill alone, without any slight of hand. Guess even he wasn't stupid enough to try and rip off a bunch of gangsters. He probably liked his own ass too much to have it shot at. At least he was doing a little bit better than her. After an hour of trying to pull Dougie into conversations, the short accountant still wasn't much interested, just as she'd suspected he wouldn't be.

Even so, Mia was getting antsy and a bit annoyed at all the attention Max seemed to be paying her secret-boyfriend. So, when Alec lost a hand and grunted, leaning in annoyance away from the table, Mia seized at the opportunity.

"It's cuz you don't have a good luck charm." She said breezily, hovering momentarily over Alec's shoulder.

"True," One burly man agreed. He squeezed the girl in his lap and she let out a giggle. Alec grinned.

"Hell, I brought two of 'em." Alec shook his head with a rueful laugh. "Shoulda known neither of 'em would be lucky." He leaned to the side to pull more cash from the pocket of his jacket. Max glanced over, wondering where the hell he was gettin' all his money from. Glanced over and into Mia's soft eyes.

"Dorothy, you and Alec are close, why don't you come sit with him?"

Max wasn't entirely sure how she ended up across the room, nestled into Alec's lap, but there she was. Alec seemed almost as confused as she was. "Jeez, you must really want this guy," He hissed into her ear as he leaned forward to throw in his opening ante.

Yeah. That's why she'd done it. Didn't want to seem out of place. She'd make another play for Dougie in a little bit. Sure.

Dougie was almost immediately forgotten though. She found herself watching the cards, watching Alec rearrange his hand. It'd been so long since she'd been in a game. What had it been? A year ago? Yeah. A year ago when they were tryin' to bail out Sketchy and she and O.C. had fleeced some macho punks for all their dough. She turned the memory over fondly; it'd been good times in a happier, more care-free past, one that seemed so disconnected from her life at the present. That's how girl power should really be used, she thought wistfully, winning money and kicking ass, not on seducing some narcoleptics that already had a girlfriend. She squeezed Alec's thigh when he was getting ready to throw out a face card. She wiggled a bit to get the point across and he swallowed, shifting in discomfort before shoving the card back into his hand, discarding a lesser suit instead.

One full house later, Alec took the pot. She clapped her hands in pretended girly glee, before giving him a quick hug to cover her murmur. "Half of that's mine, buddy."

He smirked at her, green eyes glowing as he whispered right back. "Night's still young, Maxie."

He wasn't kidding. These guys were poker aficionados. It was well past three a.m. when Max decided she needed to stretch her legs, snatching for her purse and heading to the bathroom. She hadn't realized how tense Alec had been until she lifted herself from his lap and watched him wilt a little in relief. She was tempted to scowl at him; it's not like she was heavy or something… But she didn't, because even she was getting unnerved at how easy it was to melt into his front, to watch the cards shuffle and re-shuffle, to forget that this was not her life. So she left him to it. Maybe his moral compass wasn't always in perfect alignment (not that hers always had been either, a thought that she easily ignored), but at this point she had faith in Alec's poker skills if nothing else. As long as he didn't lose any of their money, no big, she could leave him alone for a little bit.

It occurred to her that it was getting late, and she hadn't checked in with Logan yet… But the night wasn't over yet, she'd just have to do it tomorrow. Her eyes glanced across Dougie as she left the room. Not that she'd have much to report…

Mia must have caught her glance, because she followed her to the restroom. Max was a little annoyed by it, not having ever been the type of girl that felt the need to travel in packs. Or make small talk.

"Alec sure is doing good," Mia gushed excitedly.

Max shrugged, blowing it off. He was good, she had to admit, but so was she. Let people gush over Alec's skill. As long as she got half the money, she'd let him have all the glory. Plus, she was still pretty sure that she didn't like Mia, so she kept her answer short. "Yeah. He's got a knack."

Mia must be more observant than her airy voice let on. "You helped him out a little, though, right? You two could be a great team! Could win all sorts of money," Mia smile was large and bright, wheels beginning to turn. She fixed Max with a probing stare. "Where did you say you worked?"

"At Jam Pony, with Alec." The words poured, unbidden, out of her. Max blinked, shaking her head. Huh. Weird. She hadn't meant to say that. She looked away from the brunette, trying to cover her surprise at her blurted answer.

Mia was still watching her as Max dug through her purse, looking for a tube of pink lipstick. "You said you n' Alec are dating, right?" The woman asked her back. Mia willed Max to look around and look her in the eyes, but Max was still stubbornly trying to stop the conversation before it started.

Max shrugged noncommittally, her fingers closing around the tube at the bottom of her purse, not answering either way.

"And you work together too, how cute!"

Max controlled her expression, the roll of her eyes, by turning to the mirror to apply the color in the small black tube. She glanced up though, and her gaze widened as their eyes connected in the mirror, as she was caught in Mia's unblinking stare.

"What I don't understand, is if you and Alec are dating," Mia's eyes narrowed, and there was something strangely soft about her face, something warm and inviting. "Why were you trying so hard to spend time with Dougie?"

Max's smile became secretive as she turned away from the mirror to speak to the woman who was so amazingly wonderful and trustworthy that she just had to share everything with. "Well, my name isn't Dorothy. It's actually Max." She opened herself up warmly. "I'm on a mission. I'm supposed to get Dougie to flip on the Sperrenchino family. Get him to finger the boss for Eyes Only."

Mia's eyes widened as Max let her in on the secret. Max dreamily wondered if Mia was her best friend, because she sounded so concerned when she said, "My goodness! That sounds dangerous! Is that why you brought Alec, because he's a transgenic?"

It was like an ice bath.

Max shook her head, alarm flooding her body. "Wait, what?"

"Oh, nothing," Mia smiled at the girl before her, drawing Max back into her gaze. "Forget I said that." Max nodded dumbly, instantly forgetting that Mia knew that Alec was a… was… what had she forgotten? She didn't know, but it didn't matter, because Mia was talking again and Mia was the most important thing on the planet.

"But if Alec's not here to protect you, why is he here?"

Max snorted. "To play poker. Plus he probably gets off on the fact that he could get shot at any moment. Sometimes I can't tell if he's an adrenaline junkie or just a total masochist."

Mia blinked. That was… way too much information. She shifted uncomfortably, not really wanting to know any more about Max n' Alec's private relationship. "Well… you two certainly are… unconventional." It seemed like the politest thing she could think of to say. Then she paused, her smile becoming hard as she came back to the only thing that really concerned her. "Do you think you'll try and make any more passes at Dougie?"

"Probably," Max shrugged, her shoulders rising and falling in the black material of her tight dress. "This is kind of a big deal."

That was so not going to work for Mia. She was pretty confident in Dougie's love for her… but she wasn't blind, and neither was he. Max wasn't anything even remotely resembling unattractive.

"But you look so tired," Mia's expression softened in seeming concern. "And Alec probably wouldn't much like that anyway. He seems like the jealous type, you know. Wouldn't you rather he just take you home?"

Max yawned. Was it really past three a.m. already? "Man, I'm so beat. Maybe Alec should just take me home." Besides, wouldn't it be awful if he got jealous that she was trying to pick up Dougie for Eyes Only? She couldn't let that happen. He did seem like the jealous type after all, always busting in on her n' Logan, interrupting them just so he could make smart ass remarks.

"Why don't I get him for you? You look like you could go to sleep at any second!"

God, she couldn't stop yawning. Her eyes were so heavy. When was the last time she'd slept? She couldn't remember. "Yeah," She spoke around her hand. "Would you really do that for me? That'd be great."

"No problem," Mia grinned. "You two are just so cute, I'm glad to help. I'll go tell him right now."

Max and Alec were grinning goofily at Mia, less than five minutes later, as she expended all of her energy on keeping them both locked in her gaze. A headache started to develop behind her eyes as she forced them both into her will. "Now, you two march straight home and get right into bed, and you get a good night's sleep, you hear? And you remember just how lucky you are to have each other." She added the last part because she felt a little guilty for sending them away when they were just trying to help out the Eyes Only character. Maybe she was just feeling wistful that she couldn't be open in her own relationship, maybe she just wanted someone else to have a little bit of happiness. Whatever it was, as the good looking couple walked away from her and into the early morning darkness, Mia beamed to herself. Job well done.

Max's eyes opened slowly and blinked in confusion at the sunlight glinting across her face. Her eyes fell back shut at the annoyance and she snuggled back into the hot body at her back, smiling as a heavy arm tightened around her. She sighed as she sleepily remembered how lucky she was to have him there. She'd been so tired last night, she hadn't even changed clothes. She'd barely had time to kick out of her shoes and pull the wig off before falling into bed. She was glad he'd been around to take her home.

Alec sighed in response, breathing against soft hair, a gentle, feminine scent tickling his nose. He smiled, his eyes still shut, his head operating on instinct to turn and nip at the warm skin of her neck. He sleepily remembered how lucky he was to have her here, in a situation so extraordinary, especially when she murmured so appreciatively at his gentle little bite and her hips rocked backwards into his.

Wait.

Wha-

Green eyes snapped open only moments before brown. They scrambled out of bed to stare at each other from opposite sides of the room, chests heaving in horror.

"What the hell?! What are you doing in my apartment?" Max shouted. She was still dressed in her clothes from the night before, but then, so was he.

He glanced around, confused. "Your apartment?" It had to be, because it sure as hell wasn't his.

Cindy pushed through the bedroom doorway, having heard Max's shout. "Everything o- hh my god!"

"This isn't what it looks like!" They shouted in unison, glaring at her. Then they started in surprise, turning back to glare at each other.

Cindy took the wisest option available to her. She retreated quickly.

Alec would be running out only moments later, one of Max's discarded heels only narrowly missing his head.