Summary: They had been friends once; before he blew it. Now four years on and Max is back a changed girl and wanting nothing to do with him. Too bad for her, he won't give her a choice. Especially when the life they're living is nothing but a lie.
Warnings: AU, language, violence, adult themes, het. Unbeta
Disclaimer This is a work of fanfiction, written purely to entertain myself and (hopefully) whoever else stumbles upon this and finds it entertaining. I lay claim nothing but the weirdness and plot.
Pairings: Mixed. Eventual Alec/Max and some Ben/Max moments sprinkled liberally throughout. (Can't help it, I loved Ben's crazy ass.)

Artificial life

-1-

Prologue: The break

--x&x--

"Alec!" Max called.

He was meant to have met her after school for ice cream. But hours later, he hadn't shown and so she had made her way back to his place, Ben trudging alongside.

It wouldn't be the first time Alec had forgotten something as trivial as meeting up—his memory wasn't the best when it came to prior commitments and he always, always had to be doing something. No, Ben was the one who usually remembered things and it wouldn't have normally bothered Max except that she had something important to tell Alec.

Max had often wondered how things would have turned out if Ben, Alec's twin brother, had been her best friend instead. She shrugged the thought away. Now wasn't the time to ponder what may have been.

Tucking a short strand of hair behind her ear, the thirteen year-old continued the searched for her wayward friend and Ben vanished up the stairs with his bag.

"Alec!" Her words were a little louder. A little more annoyed.

"Oh, hello Max," Mrs McDowell greeted as Max nearly crashed into the grown woman's legs in the foyer. Mary Mc Dowell was tall and willowy with a soft cream complexion, honey coloured hair and bright blue eyes. She smiled fondly down at Max. It was well known throughout the neighbourhood that she would have adored having Max for her daughter and had even once joked about trading Alec. "If you're looking for Alec, he's out back with Jondy—let him know dinner's almost ready."

Jondy? Max inwardly rolled her eyes. Of course he was with Jondy. He had confessed to his little crush on the red-head a week or so before and Max had told him to man-up and tell the girl or she'd do it for him.

She liked Jondy. While the girl wasn't exactly in their circle of friends, Max would sometimes hang out with her. Just to get away from 'the guys' and Jondy seemed to enjoy Max's company about as much. Max supposed it was tough being from a family of boys and living on a block with yet more boys, with only one girl for company. A girl who fell in with the guys anyway. Not that Max minded. This way, she got all the inside information.

Like the fact that most of the boys liked Jondy. Max figured it was because she looked the most... matured. The summer had done wonders for the red-head. Filled out her previously scrawny figure and replaced it with soft, feminine curves that had all the boys noticing. Except, well... Ben.

Max wasn't sure who he liked because he was so quiet compared to his twin's attention grabbing exuberance. She thought that that was probably why he was usually overlooked.

"Thanks, Mrs McDowell," she said and went on her way.

If I have to search his entire backyard, Max groaned in frustration. Then I'm so going to kick his ass!

She needn't have worried.

She found them. Under the big oak tree at the back of his house, sprawled out on a red and green picnic blanket. Lips locked together in a clumsy looking kiss. It was almost enough to make Max laugh as she saw how awkward it was. Alec's hands on Jondy's bare shoulder, looking like he wasn't sure what else to do with the appendage and Jondy not appearing anymore knowledgeable than her companion.

Max didn't recall the few kisses shared with Seth being so... uncomfortable looking. All arms and lips and teeth. But then, Seth had been older and probably knew a little more than Alec seemed to...

She cleared her throat and watched in amusement as the pair sprang apart.

The scene was likened to the interruption of mating worms. At least to Max's mind. Though the two teens didn't go flying quite as far apart. Nor as high.

Jondy hastily got up, whilst brushing at the imaginary dust from her cut-off jeans and spaghetti strapped top. Mumbling something about having to get home while Alec tried to stop her.

When he failed, he shot Max a glare. "Why did you have to do that?" He snapped at her.

"Do what?" She questioned, coyly. "Was just breaking it up before your mother saw you trying to choke Jondy with your tongue down her throat. If you're gonna do something, you should at least do it properly."

Angrily, he grabbed the blanket he had been seated on. "This isn't a game, Max."

"Never said it was," she shot back. No longer quite amused by her friend's antics. She had forgotten how pissy he could get sometimes. "You were supposed to meet me—"

"Look, something came up."

"Yeah. Jondy came up," Max agreed. Crossing her arms over her chest. Only exaggerating her boyishly slim form and her lack of 'a rack' as Alec would have called it. "I thought that I told you it was impor—"

"Not everything is about you, Max," he stressed her name as he stomped by her. Headed for his house. "So I couldn't meet up with you for some ice cream? Big deal. We can always go for more ice cream."

She glared at him. "Actually—"

"God Max, just let it go!" He all but yelled at her. "I like, Jondy. All right? You told me to tell and I did and then you go and interrupt us."

"I'm fine with you liking Jondy—"

"Really?" Alec asked. His voice dripping with sarcasm. "'Cause I think you're jealous."

Max stopped dead. Of all the things he could have accused her of, jealousy was not something that she would have come up with. "What?!" She spun to face him. "What the hell are you on about?"

"You heard me," Alec continued, not looking at her. "You're no longer the only girl that I hang out with. Not the only girl that my world seems focused on. C'mon Maxie, breaking us up while we were in the middle of kissing?" He stopped, then looked her up and down. His expression twisted and Max didn't like it. Didn't like the way it roved her form in distaste—finding her lacking. He never looked at her that way—like she was a girl. "Now that's just petty." He turned away from her again and that seemed to hurt more than his stare had. "I'm going upstairs, I'm sure you can let yourself out."

He didn't stick around for her answer or the clip in the ears she was wanting to give him.

What a total jerk! She fumed silently, trying to keep her tears in. How can he be such an idiot? How the hell is he my best friend?!

Anger was always the easiest outlet for Max, so she clung to it and kept her eyes dry.

Instead of leaving straight away, Max slipped back through the house and passed the kitchen where Mrs McDowell continued with the night's dinner preparations. Max watched her silently. Always having found it therapeutic.

Observing the steady, smooth slicing motion of a knife being plunged into vegetables. Cutting them into equally thin slices. The way Mrs McDowell's slender fingers would sprinkle her special herbs over her roasts, making it taste that much tastier than any other roast Max had ever tried. That much more special than something store bought.

She was going to miss Mrs McDowell's home cooked meals.

"So going to New York," Mrs McDowell smiled encouragingly, oblivious to the argument her youngest son had just had with Max outside. "Ready for the big move? I hear your father has picked out a wonderful place for you."

Max tried to smile as she saw Ben suddenly appear in the doorway. "'Bout as much as I can be. Since I was only told last night."

Mrs McDowell nodded and wiped her hands on the handtowel she kept in the kitchen for such tasks. "Want to stay for dinner? Since this is your last night here I thought I'd make your favourite; roast chicken with the small potato's that you enjoy and double chocolate mousse to top it off."

"I'd love to," Max acknowledged. "But I can't. I'm sorry." She would have loved to eat with the family but seeing as Alec wasn't talking to her, she didn't want her last memories of Mrs McDowell being upset. "Early flight tomorrow morning. I should really get going now."

"You're leaving?" Ben abruptly asked.

Nodding, Max turned to him. "Yeah. Was why I wanted to see Alec since he's been away on that half-day trip thing."

Ben looked upset. "How long?"

Uncomfortable under the boy's current green-gold gaze, Max glanced to the stairs that Alec had vanished up. "It's a permanent move. Some big law firm wanted dad. Were willing to pay anything to get him up there and as soon as they could. So, we leave tomorrow."

"Is that why Alec's up in his room?"

Max bit her lip. She didn't like lying to Mrs McDowell or even Ben for that matter. "Yeah," she said after a moment. "He didn't take the news so well."

She wasn't surprised when a pair of soft arms wrapped loosely around her and she inhaled lilacs and vanilla. "Don't worry about Alec," Mrs McDowell said comfortingly and let her go with a pat. "He'll come around and then you'll be on the phone to him like all teenagers are. He'll be getting a job just to help pay the phone bill.

"Now, are you sure you won't stay for dinner?" At the shake of Max's head, the woman nodded and turned to her son. "Then Ben, why don't you walk her home?"

Immediately, Max tried to decline. "My place is only four house's away. I'll be fine."

But Mrs McDowell shook her head. "Anything can happen—even just in your driveway," she said and Max knew she was talking about the late Mr McDowell.

He had been a doctor—much loved in the community and he had been brutally gunned down in the driveway for tending to the injuries of some kid who happened to be from a rival gang of the area. A reason why the McDowells had moved closer to Max. It had cost a fair amount moving into a place that was on the top end of town, but it wasn't like they lacked the money. Mr McDowell had just liked living among those he treated.

"It's all right," Ben tried to coax, softly.

Sighing softly, Max let herself be led out of the house with a final goodbye to the woman who had been her mother figure for the passed nine years. She could never deny Ben anything. He was just too... sweet.

"I know you lied to my mom," Ben said quietly, casting her a look that had Max freezing momentarily until Ben squeezed her hand. When had he grabbed her hand? "But it's ok," he informed her, "I know that you were only trying to protect her. That you and Alec had actually been fighting."

"Ben," Max began awkwardly, wondering how much he had heard. She didn't want him also believing that she was jealous of Alec and Jondy's relationship. The one you helped get started, she huffed silently.

"You're not really jealous, are you, Maxie?"

There goes that answer, Max mused. "No," she answered honestly. "I'm not. I was just annoyed that he ditched me this once. Then again he didn't know that I was leaving and that it was going to be our last and since he wouldn't let me finish what I was saying, well..." she trailed off.

Ben nodded, as though he expected nothing else. "I'll still miss you," he said.

Max smiled back at him. "Yeah," she agreed. "I'll miss you, too." And she would. Because even though he wasn't Alec, she considered Ben her next closest friend. And while he wasn't her best friend, there were things about him that Alec didn't have and she would miss. Like Ben's deep and sometimes meaningful insights into life. The way he viewed the world or his outrageous stories that trumped even Alec's best or just his quiet strength that could calm her when Alec couldn't.

They stopped at the large stoop of her front door as she began fishing through her pockets for her keys. The security lights illuminating the path up her drive to the step and all around the house.

Finding the key, she unlocked her door. Letting out a sigh when she realised her dad wasn't back yet and neither was her older brother, Krit. Probably still over at his girlfriend Syl's place. Looked like she was going to have takeout again for dinner.

"I wanted you to take this," Ben mumbled and handed her a pendant.

Taking a quick glance at the proffered gift, Max hastily tried to give it back. It was a beautiful gold necklace with a tiny picture of the virgin Mary. She knew it was his favourite; it had also been his deceased father's. "I can't take this," she said. Looking up, she saw how Ben had taken her statement and tried to amend the hurt she'd caused. "Ben, it was your dad's," she explained. "I know how much this means to you."

"And I want you to have it," he insisted.

Max groaned. "Ben..." but she didn't try to stop him as he fixed it around her neck. It was a little big on her and came down to the middle of her chest but would no doubt fit better in a few years time.

"There," he said with a smile.

"Thanks," Max murmured a little embarrassed by the gift but also confused by the strange tension that had suffused the air around them.

Ben shifted, clearly as uncomfortable as her. What else was she meant to do? When Alec walked her home, he'd usually stay for a bit and then leave—which wasn't an option for Ben since he had dinner waiting for him—if Zane or Zack dropped her off, it was usually amongst an argument between them, so that hardly counted. Seth—he hadn't bothered taking her home since she brained him with that tennis racket and the others hadn't been to her place.

Then it occurred to her. Much in the way that a light bulb flickers to life.

Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she pulled him in for a hug which he immediately returned. He had always been the more sensitive of the twins. The one most easily hurt, so it made sense that he would want a hug from her since she was going. Turning, she pressed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

"We'll keep in touch, right?"

Smiling as she pulled away, Max nodded. "You bet. If I'm lucky, I might even be able to come back for the holidays."

Ben grinned. "Looks like I'll be holding out 'til the holidays then."

Rolling her eyes, Max grinned back while shooing him away from her doorstep. "Yeah, yeah now go. Oh and don't forget to eat some of your mom's mousse on my behalf."

He saluted her. "I'll be sure to think of your while I'm eating the chicken, too."

Laughing now, Max waved him off as he disappeared up her driveway. Once he was gone, she locked the door behind her and made her way in the darkening halls to the kitchen, where some boxes were stacked precariously atop each other.

The mover guys had been in then.

Navigating around the dark piles, Max went to check the fridge. She had leftover Chinese from the previous night stashed in the back, since the fridge was one of the things that wasn't going to be making the long move across the country.

Fishing the carton out from the cool depths of the white ware and reheating the food in the microwave, Max took it up to her room to eat.

Her room resembled all the others in her house. The majority of her possession boxed and ready to be shipped out the next day. Some of it, already on the long journey from Seattle to New York. Other things, like the furniture—the beds and vanity and couch—were staying with the house. Max suspected it was due to the sentimental value. The house and its contents was the last link to her mother and she doubted her dad was willing to give that up, even for his career. He was probably hoping that when Krit came of age he would take the house, keeping it in the family.

Max doubted her brother would, though. For Krit, the house was a reminder of their mother's sickness. How she slowly faded though their father had tried getting the best doctors to see her. Had tried the best treatments, hoping it would cure her.

In the end all had been in vain.

Cecelia Guevara had passed away in her sleep at the age of twenty-six. Just two days shy of her daughter's fourth birthday.

Peering down at the phone in her room, Max paused. Tempted to call Alec before she left. Sure, he was out of line for jumping to conclusions but she wanted to say goodbye, at least. Her pride however, wouldn't let her and she rolled over on her bed, groaning in annoyance and at the stupidity of the human race. The male species in particular. Growing up with them made it no easier than if she'd been given an instruction manual on their inner workings.

After all, how could Alec come to conclusion as deluded as that? She was happy for him. He got his girl and then to accuse her of being jealous?

"Pfft." She rolled over again. Discarding the now empty carton of noodles, stir fried vegetables and imitation pork on her bedside table.

The security lights flickered to life on the balcony. Spilling a bright beam through the open French doors. Not bothering to check them, she stood and closed the thick curtains. Enclosing her room in complete darkness. Then plopped back down on her bed, eyes going to her phone once more.

Alec always called. Whenever they had their fights previously, he was always the one who caved first. Always the one to apologise—even if it was her in the wrong. So she simply waited for him to call her. It wouldn't be too long before he realised he'd been an ass and taken everything out of context. So she settled in to wait for his call.

But he never did.

So we have the intro. I've got part of chapter two done, even though I should be working on other things but damn. I have way too much creative energy when dealing with DA lately. -shakes her head-

So guys, let me know what you think. A little early, since it doesn't explain much but that's covered more or less in the next chapter already.