Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah.you know the deal. Dark Angel is Cameron and Eglee's baby. But if I ask really nice, can I have Alec? Pretty please? Jensen Ackles will do, too. ;)

Rating: R, for now. Probably will get changed to NC-17 later. BWUHAHAHAHAHA! ;)

Summary: Joshua is captured by White and taken to a remote location in Wyoming. Max convinces Alec to help her since he owes her, and they trek halfway across country together. Unfortunately, Max and Alec get in trouble on the way, and have to rely on each other for survival. But it's the realization of their mutual attraction that starts to make things very complicated on their journey.

A/N: Alrighty, this is a story that happens sometime during S2. It has spoilers for S2 eps up through 'Some Assembly Required'.

This story starts in the middle of Max and Alec's search for Joshua. It will pick up from there.

This is for all the M/A shippers out there who just don't get enough fic...yet.


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BODY HEAT

by

hobbes

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CHAPTER ONE

Lucky

Alec couldn't help but wonder how the hell they had gotten into this situation as he looked down at the female figure that lay unmoving on the cellar's cold, hard floor.

"This is all your fault, you know," he whispered as he bent down and pressed two fingers to Max's neck. Beneath them beat a steady but unnervingly soft pulse. He let out a small sigh of relief. At least she was alive. They may be transgenic super-soldiers that were designed to take extreme circumstances, but even 24 hours in sub-freezing temperatures would eventually take its toll on their superior bodies.

He had literally stumbled upon the locked cellar just a few minutes before. He had been getting very worried - hell, he had been scared- at being unable to locate Max for such a distinct time period. When he had opened the underground room's door and saw Max lying still and curled up in a thick blanket, his heart had jumped in his throat. For just a second, he thought that he was too late; that she was already dead.

If he hadn't of tripped on the handle of the door, he may have never found her. The snow was now coming down hard outside, and the cellar's entrance had been almost entirely covered with the pure white substance, successfully hiding it from view. He could have passed right by and never even known that Max was dying right below him. Alec blanched at the thought. He didn't believe in anything as fancy as a God, however he sent up a silent prayer of thanks that he had found her. If she had died, he would have never been able to forgive himself. Sure, it had been Max's idea to come traipsing out to Wyoming and search for Joshua. And yeah, she had dragged him quite unwillingly along with her. And, of course, she was quite a hothead who acted before she thought and therefore had a knack of getting herself into tight situations. However, her being out here alone to begin with was on him, one hundred percent. If he had just stayed with Max instead of letting her go on her own yesterday, she may not of been caught by White's henchman and subsequently trapped in here.

Sighing again, he stood up and put the lantern he was carrying on a small table that sat in the corner of the cramped room. If Alec were totally honest with himself, he would've admitted that when Max first approached him -well, harassed was a more appropriate word - about coming to Wyoming to get Joshua, he had been a little excited with the prospect of spending a few days alone with her. If he were totally honest with himself, he would have also recognized the fact that it was precisely because she was such a hothead that he found himself as attracted to her as he was. The fact that she was such a knockout didn't hurt either. And, if he were totally honest with himself, he would know that the unconditional loyalty that Max had to those she cared for was what drew him to her as nothing else in his life ever had.

If he'd just acknowledge those tiny facts, he would also admit that it was those very same feelings Max brought out in him that had him frightened like no Manticore mission ever did.

Of course, Alec was a great liar, especially when it came to lying to himself.

And now, here they were in a cellar in the middle of Nowhere, Wyoming with a blizzard raging outside and Max suffering from the mid-stages of hypothermia. No doubt that that bastard White and his men were on the lookout for him as well, and sure to be close by. The snowstorm acted as both a blessing and a curse. The upside was that the harsh weather would keep them safe from White for a while. The downside was that him and Max wouldn't be able to leave anytime soon because the storm presented equally dangerous consequences for both of them as well.

Yep. This was a big mess, and it was all her fault.

Alec knew from his Field Med training how to help when one of his unit were suffering from the symptoms of hypothermia. Of course, Alec didn't picture Max as one of his soldier's in trouble. She was something.different. Something he hadn't wanted to think about too much, cause thinking about her was trouble. And the affect that she had on him was damn unnerving.

However, there was no getting around it. Max needed him now. He turned the lantern up to its full flame and looked down at Max again. She looked so innocent and vulnerable while she slept, and the orange glow from the lantern highlighted her beauty. However he knew that under her goddess looks, she was a fireball- all guts and glory. And he admired that. He wouldn't want a woman to be a pushover, someone who was readily intimidated. Not that he wanted Max or anything. Not at all...

"God damnit!" he exclaimed and ran an impatient hand through his thick, dark hair. He had done enough thinking, and now he needed to get into action. He wasn't going to 'think' Max into getting healthy, after all.

Alec kicked off his socks and shoes and shrugged out of his leather jacket and gray sweatshirt before tossing them into a messy heap on the dusty cellar floor. Then, he undid the button and fly on his jeans, and sent them to the same fate as his other clothing. Standing in only his boxers, he felt a small chill creep up his body as the cold shocked his system. Outside, the wind howled as the storm raged on, slightly rattling the door above them.

Now was the...interesting part, to say the least. Sinking to his knees, Alec unwrapped the blanket from around Max and turned her so she lay flat on her back. Starting with her feet, he took off her shoes and socks and tossed them into the same pile his clothes lay in. Slowly, he began massaging the tiny appendages. They were cold- so cold- and he wanted to warm them up a bit before he headed further up.

There was also no denying that he was a little apprehensive about 'attending' to the rest of her body. Her wonderfully supple body.

'Whoa, boy! She needs you to help her, not lust after her while she is lying here unconscious. Get a fucking grip!'

"Have I told you this is all your fault, Max?" he asked her, more than a little irritated.

When he was satisfied with the temperature of her feet- and when he couldn't drag the process out longer, he moved to her chest. With slightly shaking fingers, he began unzipping her jacket. He convinced himself that it was the cold air that caused his shivering, and not the fact that he was acting like a sixteen year old school boy getting to second base for the first time.

After he successfully removed the leather coat, he began working on her shirt. What in the hell was she wearing a T-shirt for? Didn't she know how damn cold it was outside? How in the hell did she survive for ten years out of Manticore? Damn stupid idiot. He got the shirt off tossed it aside and groaned at the sight before him.

Oh. My. God.

She was wearing a black bra. With lace. Thin, black lace. Over the edge of the bra, the upper half of her milky breasts peaked out, practically beckoning for a man's fingers to run over them. His fingers. He felt his lower body stir and he groaned again.

"What in the hell?" He questioned himself impatiently. He wasn't here to ogle her wonderfully put together body. What kind of sick pervert was he? He was a soldier, for crying out loud! He was supposed to be able to get through these situations without the little head thinking for the big head.

Steeling himself, he moved down to her jeans and began undoing them. When he saw the matching lacy, black underwear that revealed more than they covered, he nearly died. God help him, he would have died pretty damn happy.

Max and black lace? He wouldn't have thought it before, and now that image would forever be etched in his mind.

Alec may have been trained and raised a soldier, he may have different kinds of animals in his genes, but right now, he was just a man. A very human man with an enticingly beautiful woman halfway undressed and under his care.

Taking a deep breath, he finished tugging off Max's jeans from her legs- her beautifully long and slim legs.

He groaned for the third time in as many minutes.

Heat. She needed his body heat. While he may have had chills when he first took off his clothes, the sight of her before him was getting his blood pumping; he sure as hell wasn't 'cold' anymore. He was practically sweating.

Slowly, as if he were afraid she'd bite - as she no doubt would if she were awake - he lay down beside her and drew her into his arms and pressed as close to her as possible. He started working his hands up and down her arms, trying in earnest to get the cool skin up to a decent temperature.

Underneath his roughly textured palms, her skin was silky curves and satin crevices. He turned her onto her side so her backside spooned into his front. There was no use in trying to tame down the very male response of his lower body. No way in Hell would he be able to get his blood to circulate in a different area as long as Max was pressed against him this way.

Not while they both only wore the barest articles of clothing.

Not while the scent of her filled his nostrils, intoxicating him with it's sweet naturalness.

Not while her lush bottom curved perfectly into his midsection.

A few minutes ago, Alec hadn't believed in God, which meant that he didn't believe in a place such as Hell, either. Now, however, he had changed his mind, because he was surely experiencing the most wonderful fruits Heaven offered, and the most sinful delights of Hell.

They just had to get through the night, the storm. Max's body just needed to get to a temperature that was healthy. They just needed to go on tomorrow and get Joshua back.

He just needed a cold shower. He was a damn pervert. Max was practically on the brink of death, and here he was drooling over her when his sole focus should be taking care of her. It's just that taking care of her involved both of them in a vast state of undress.

Not like he didn't want her while she was awake, he just didn't have it shoved in his face or his entire body for that matter - as he did at this moment.

He once again reminded himself that this was all her fault.

Alec sighed and continued rubbing. He just had to continue for a little while. Just until she woke up, then he'd be fine, and she'd be fine. Until then, he'd just have to keep his overactive mind in check.

Alec could do that. He was a strong man, damn it. He had confronted worse things in his days with Manticore, and on his own as well. But when he felt his groin brush against her bottom -again - his resolve flew out the window.

It was going to be a one hell of a long night.

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A/N: Please R & R! I've never tried a story with sexual chemistry before, and I'm really afraid that it sucks. Please let me know what you think.