A/N: I own nothing. Honestly. Actually that's not true. I own an iPod and a dog. But the iPod's broken. And the dog has fleas. Oh and if you're thinking of suing, you should probably be warned: if I were making money off this, I'd own more than a broken iPod and a flea-ridden dog. The song is "When You Were Young" by The Killers, with my own dark and twisted interpretation of it.

A/N 2: This is set in Season 2 (obviously a little AU). It's a bit heavy and angsty (Again: Dark and Twisted) but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Enjoy! Oh and the characters are out of character here, I know. Apparently nervous breakdowns will do that to you. Plus, in my world I am god and can make them do whatever I want. Na na na boo boo.

Alec walked into Crash. He knew Max was here, he caught her scent before he entered but she wasn't where he expected her to be. Usually she and OC had a table by the pool tables but tonight he could tell she was by the bar. Odd. Maybe she's getting the table drinks. But as he got closer he could tell that wasn't it. As he walked closer, the scent of desperation was coming off of her in waves so heavy it was hard to think of anything other than finding her. When he finally caught sight of her he caught his breath. She was sitting at the bar with two bottles of Jim Beam. One was empty. Her hair hung in a curtain around her face hiding it from her view. Her head was in her hands. She was deep in thought. Obviously the alcohol wasn't helping. Alec knew how that felt, desperately trying to drink away the pain, to forget. Unfortunately their metabolism made it virtually impossible to drink themselves into the required oblivion. But it was clear that Max was giving it a good try.

"What's wrong Max?" She lifted her head and just looked at him. Alec was taken aback by what was circling in the brown depths. She was frantic. There was a certain recklessness there just beneath the surface begging him to… he didn't know. It just needed to be freed.

"Me," she replied. "I'm wrong." What? What does 'I'm wrong' mean? Alec touched her shoulder tentatively, unsure if she'd push him off but not knowing what else to do. It was the same thing he'd do to for one of his unit mates when life got to be too much. Physical comfort was necessary for their kind, but it was something Max was unused to and she was often standoffish about it.

"I'll never be right Alec, don't you see? Never be normal, never be good enough. Never right. No matter how hard I try, I'll never be right." Her voice broke on a sob. Alec sat down on the stool beside her, wrapped her in his arms and made soothing sounds. His hand made circles on her back. Over her shoulder Alec saw OC heading towards them looking distressed. She caught Alec's eye. Alec knew that whatever she saw there satisfied her because she abruptly turned and walked away.

"Alec?" Alec turned his attention back to Max.

"Yes Max?" She had lifted her head off of his shoulder, just far enough away to look into his eyes. She was close. Too close. He could feel her breath across his face. Oh God. Alec just looked at her, at a complete loss for what to say next.

"I've been trying so hard Alec, so hard to do the right thing. Because I never knew that I was so wrong. But…" Max drifted off. She looked away forlornly. "I'll never be them Alec. Never"

You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now- here he comes

At that moment a sudden stillness overcame Alec. Something was wrong. Besides the beautiful woman falling apart in his arms. Something was wrong. The smell hit him a fraction of a second before Max. Logan. Max stiffened and then broke out into another, louder, round of sobs. Whatever is going on between them, he is part of the problem right now. Alec turned to face the threat. The Ordinary was no real threat but his instincts couldn't help but bristle at this man who dared to upset Max again.

"What the hell is going on here?" An indignant Logan practically shouted when he saw Max in Alec's arms. "Max? What are you doing?"

"Logan, back off. I'm dealing with it." Alec declared tersely. He hoped that Logan would see Max was upset and have done, but he was far from convinced.

"You're dealing with it? What the hell does that mean? Max doesn't need YOU!"

"Alec," Max whispered so low no Ordinary could hear her, "Alec, don't let me go." With that the usually strong brunette collapsed the rest of her barriers. Her 'perimeter defence system' was finally disengaged. "Get me out of here." She curled up in Alec's lap, and buried her face in his chest. Her hand griped his shirt so hard he was sure it would be permanently bent out of shape.

Alec had become indignant at Logan's statement. He tried to hold his tongue around the man, but he'd gone too far tonight. The possible truth in his statement hit too close to home and it hurt. That's enough! It's me she's clinging to. ME. "So she needs YOU? Is that what you're going to say? She needs YOU to hold her?" Alec knew it was a low blow but at the moment he didn't care. "She needs YOU to pick her up and carry her home? Because unless that's your plan, we're really rather busy."

With that he slipped one of his arms under Max's legs and carried her to the door. Ignoring the curious and sometimes downright flabbergasted looks from their audience, mostly made up of Jam Pony employees, Alec gave Logan a final glare. Then he ducked his head and pressed his lips to Max's hair. He rubbed his cheek against her purring and he turned around and walked out the door with her still safely anchored against him.