Max and Alec + locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

Disclaimer: situation's mine - the characters aren't, except for Ernie - bless him!

Rating: probably somewhere between PG-13 and R - I'm not really sure where the divide is! Actually while we're on the subject, I would be seriously grateful if someone would e-mail me and tell me how the American ratings system works (coming from England it's all a bit of a mystery to me!) Thanx! (Email me at: [email protected] )

Summary: see title! Logan asks for Max and Alec's help with an eyes-only job - not his greatest idea! Oh yeah, and a locked room, rising temperatures and funny breathing noises all feature somewhere! Admit it - ya wanna know what happens now right?! And don't panic - I'm going for funny not smutty! LOL!

Author's note: Okay, it's recently come to my attention - since reading back over some of my other M/A stories that most of them aren't all that funny! They all have elements of humour in them, but they seem to end up as dramatic-angsty type things with people getting shot and a surprising number of blood transfusions! (Don't know why they keep coming up!) Anyway, I'm really proud of those stories - I'm writing another one so I have to say that! However, I thought I'd try something different with this one! So this time - no-one gets seriously injured, there's not really too much angst and it might actually make ya laugh! (At least that's the plan!) Hope ya like it anyway! *SS*

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Max and Alec + locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

INTRODUCTION

Even before she got to the apartment that morning, Max had decided that it was going to be a lousy day. She woke up on what should have been a warm, relatively sunny June day to find that the heavens had opened during the night and that it was currently pouring down with rain! Just what she needed when she was running a full shift at Jam Pony that day! She cursed at whatever higher power seemed to have it in for her at the moment and tried to get out of bed.........tried to get out of bed. What actually happened was that she none too gracefully landed in a heap on the floor!

She'd managed to get herself tangled up in the sheets during the night and as a result had caught herself as she tried to stand up, making her fall flat on her ass in the process! Cindy came into the room at that point, suppressing a smile as she saw Max sitting on the floor, hair hanging messily round her face as she seemed to be trying to fight the bed linen!

"Morning boo!", she called eventually, unable to stop herself laughing as she saw caught sight of Max's face as she whirled round. "Damn!", she said through her laughing, "I wouldn't do that if I were you hon! What if the wind changes and your face gets stuck like that?!"

That evidently did not go down too well with Max as she growled under her breath. "I'm going!", OC said, holding up her hands in mock surrender as she backed out of the room quickly, "Oh but by the way - your alarm clock's running slow", she added. Max's brow furrowed in confusion as she looked at the digital display reading 7:38. "It's about twenty past eight", OC went on, "so if you don't move yo' ass in the next five minutes you're gonna be seriously late!" She went then, leaving Max to throw her pillow across the room in frustration!

She'd managed to get dressed and ready to leave in about fifteen minutes - which was quite an achievement for her, especially with OC laughing hysterically as she watched her run round the apartment like a headless chicken! And then he had called. The one thing she really did not need at the moment! Normal had been on her back all week about her missing so much work. She reckoned he was actually about ready to fire her, and now she was running late and Logan wanted her to come over! "Can't it wait?", she asked impatiently as she tried to fasten her boots with the phone propped underneath her chin - except that never really works and she dropped the phone, swearing again as she got up to get it.

"Not really", Logan said, a little uncertain what was going on, given the funn noises coming through over the phone, "sorry Max but it is important, and I promise it won't take too long".

Max rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, but she eventually agreed, hanging up and reaching for the keys to her motorcycle. So far she was gonna be so late for work that she'd probably lose her job, she was gonna get drenched the second she walked out the door 'cause it was still raining really heavily, she had to go over to Logan's when things were awkward enough between them right now - and it was only 8:45! All she needed was to get knocked off her bike and run into 'sarcastic' Alec (one of his less attractive personalities as far as she was concerned) and it'd be just about the worst morning ever!

PART #1

So she was half right! She hadn't been knocked off her bike on the way over there, but as soon as she got inside Logan's apartment there he was - sprawled on the sofa even though his clothes and hair were dripping wet from the rain - and grinning like a Cheshire cat! Murderous thoughts weren't always wrong - right?!

"Geez Max I thought I got it bad", he said as he caught sight of her - grin still plastered across his face, "but you look like you swam here!" If looks could kill he would have been six feet under and well on his way to becoming worm food at that moment!

Luckily for him, it was at that moment that Logan reappeared, handing her a towel to dry herself off with. Max hesitated for a second, worried about leaving the faintest trace of her DNA that could infect him again.

"Relax", Logan said, nodding to the towel, "I'll burn it afterwards - not a major problem". Max accepted that and started to roughly dry her hair and clothes. She took off her jacket, but was not planning on stripping off any more in front of the two of them. She caught Alec's eyes as she pulled off her jacket and then he jokingly pouted as he saw that she wasn't going to take anything else off.

Logan returned from the kitchen again, setting a cup of coffee down in front of Max, Alec already had one. "I guess we should get started then", he said, taking his own seat in front of the computer, leaving Max only one seat left - next to Alec on the couch. She sat down gingerly, trying to keep as separate from him as possible, as he was still soaking wet.

"Oh come on Maxie!", Alec joked, causing Logan to turn around as the younger guy put an arm round Max's shoulders, "I promise I won't bite!"

Logan shook his head, turning back round, tapping away at the keyboard to bring up the data he needed. He really wasn't in the mood for Alec today, but he swallowed his pride and just tried to ignore him! A slight smile crossed his face as he heard Alec try to stifle a pained grunt - 'thank you Max!' he silently thought. He was right of course - she'd given him a rather sharp dig in the ribs just then, though Logan didn't know the real reason why. After he had said 'I promise I won't bite', he had added something else, but in a tone of voice quiet enough so that only Max would hear it.

Thinking about it now, 'Unless you want me to!' was probably not the smartest thing in the world to say at that point, but Alec couldn't resist - winding her up was just too much fun!

"So what's the story?", he said quickly, changing the subject and avoiding the smug grin of satisfaction on Max's face.

"Arthur Milton", Logan said, tossing a photo over onto the coffee table in front of Max and Alec.

"And he would be?", Alec asked as Max picked up the photo.

"One of the richest men in Seattle", Logan supplied, frowning at the glint that suddenly appeared in Alec's eyes.

"He owns the Milton banking chain which operates pretty much all over the US, but that's apparently not all he's interested in". "He's been involved in some fairly shady deals for a long time", Logan went on, scrolling through the files he'd pulled up on the computer screen, "but he's pretty careful about covering his tracks so the police have never managed to pin anything on him yet".

"So this guy's a black hat", Max said, standing up and walking over to the computer desk next to Logan, followed a few seconds later by Alec, "where exactly does that leave us?"

"Well I've had a few informants keeping tabs on him for a while", Logan continued, "word is, he's getting a little more aggressive in his negotiating". He tapped a few more keys and a picture of another building appeared on the screen, "This is the Herriott Bank, just a couple blocks down from one of Milton's major branches, and his major rival in the foreign exchange sector". "He tried to take them over last year but they rejected his offer - that didn't sit too well so now his plan seems to be to get his hands on their reserves by robbing the place instead".

"Nice!", Alec remarked, drawing disapproving looks from both Max and Logan, "Oh lighten up!", he protested, "I'm just saying that's a pretty ballsy way to do business!" Max laughed under her breath, trust Alec to admire the corrupt, cut-throat millionaire!

"Anyway", Logan said, trying to ignore him, although the look on his face meant that Max had to hide a smile of her own, she couldn't manage to stay mad at Alec for long! "He's got the blueprints for the Herriot building already, but they're not at his home". "It took a lot of digging", Logan said, "but I eventually tracked down this house on the outskirts of town", he finished, dropping another photo on the coffee table. "The house itself is lived in by an elderly couple, but Milton's got a vault in the basement. The house looks so run-down he figures it's the last place anybody would try and steal from so he stores most of his valuable property in there - including the blueprints".

"So we're stealing again?", Alec interrupted. Max shot him a look, but he just held up his hands in mock surrender, "I just wanna know what the deal is!"

Instead of going off at him, Max just turned back to Logan, "What about security?"

"Well like I say, there's not too much on site", Logan said, "the husband of the elderly couple sits and keeps an eye on it, but that's basically it".

"Are you kidding?", Alec interrupted again, in disbelief, "You asked two of Manticore's finest genetically-engineered super-soldiers to come and help you with one old guy?!"

"I said there wasn't much on site!", Logan said exasperatedly, "There is an alarm system though and he has a response team close by if the system is triggered by anyone".

"I see", Alec cut in again, "and this 'response team'", he said, making air quotes with his fingers, "they wouldn't happen to be a heavily armed, highly trained, SWAT-team style 'response team' would they?" "Of course they would!", he added himself when he saw Logan's expression, "I guess we have to go kick ass again Maxie!", Alec went on, playfully nudging her in the side. "But hey - at least we can avoid the sewers this time - that's a nice change huh?"

"I should be able to bypass the security system anyway", Logan said quickly, as he was getting more and more annoyed and he did not want Alec to interrupt him again, "I just wanted the two of you there in case something does go wrong".

"Well I feel better!", Alec retorted, "Real comforting, man!"

"But that's it right?", Max said, trying to force the meeting along as quickly as possible, if only to stop Logan from trying to kill Alec! "We just get the blueprints and get out again?"

"That'll do it", Logan replied.

"Well there shouldn't be a problem then", Max said, standing up and dragging Alec up with her towards the door before he had a chance to protest. "Call us this afternoon to set up times and everything and we'll get it done", Max called out just before the door slammed as she shoved the still bewildered Alec through it!

"Okay what did I do?", Alec asked as they reached the ground floor and retrieved their bikes, knowing he had made her mad - again. He quickly regretted asking though when he saw Max's expression. 'Damn!' he thought, 'I just hope the wind doesn't change!' "Oh come on!", he said, laughing a little when he guessed what was making her mad, "I was just playing with Logan up there - he's a big boy Max - he can take it!" "I'm sorry", he added, putting on something between the most adorable and the most comical puppy-dog pout that Max had ever seen, making her burst out laughing at last, despite how mad he made her at times.

"Do you ever take anything seriously Alec?", she asked as they rode off together.

"Not if I can help it!", he teasingly retorted, tagging her as he rode past her, making her chase off after him. Logan flinched as he stood by the window, taking in the whole scene below him. There were times when he really hated that guy!

AN. Okay, so that was the intro and part one - I'll post some more soon, and as always, feedback is nothing but welcome! *SS*