Title: Untitled fic

Fandom: Dark Angel

Pairing: Logan/Alec

Rating: NC-17 (eventually)

Disclaimer: DA is not mine. Cameron, Eglee, FOX, etc.

Code: Slash (m/m)

Spoilers: "Hello, Goodbye" (episode 17)

Archive?: Yes. If you’d actually want it :P

Feedback?: Please!

Summary: After "Hello, Goodbye", Logan tries to help Alec cope and things go from there.

Author’s Note: All of the L/A I’ve read so far (including my own) give Alec the dominant responsibility in making their relationship happen. I wanted to try things the other way around. Hope I can make it work!

Untitled

by Paril 106

Whatever Alec had been about to say, he didn’t say it.

He just turned on his heels and left. Nearly knocking some stranger to the ground in the process. The man didn’t even respond – simply shook it off and walked away. Not that Logan blamed him. There was something tense and dangerous about Alec’s posture; something predatory about the way he walked when he was angry. Something totally Manticore, even if only a privileged few could identify this for what it was. There was also, Logan imagined, something violent in Alec’s eyes, at the moment, that even the less sober of Crash’s patrons tonight had to recognize. So Alec had a clear path straight out of the bar as he stalked away.

And Logan turned from watching his departure to where Max was sitting across the table, shaking her head with an angry pout on her face. Why, Logan didn’t know. It had been her comment that had started the argument between herself and Alec that had ended in his leaving. All he could figure was that Max always had an angry pout on her face after arguing with Alec, which was almost all the time. Something about the two of them just rubbed wrong, which was why she’d probably made that comment in the first place; something unpleasant and unwise she’d thrown out about Alec’s latest brush with the law.

The fact that she could even bring that subject up so casually surprised Logan. After all, Alec had been arrested for the murder of one of *Ben’s* victims. Logan knew how touchy Max could be about Ben. But then, there wasn’t much Max did or said lately that *didn’t* surprise Logan. He felt sometimes like he didn’t even know her anymore.

"You’re not just gonna let him leave like that, are you?" Logan asked anyhow, coming out of his reverie.

"Looks like I just did," Max said, grabbing her beer glass with a raised brow. It wasn’t exactly the response Logan was looking for. He frowned in irritation.

"Max…he’s upset. Someone should talk to him."

"So go talk," Max said, with a little smirk. "*That* should make for some interesting conversation."

She was being childish. She was being childish and snide to avoid the fact that she didn’t want to go talk to Alec, and she knew it. Suddenly tired of her attitude, Logan sighed.

"I can’t believe you’re being like this."

"Like what?"

"*This*. I can’t believe you said that to him in the first place."

Max sat up straight in her seat and glared.

"I was joking, Logan. Alec doesn’t have to be so touchy."

"Wouldn’t you be?" he asked. This was Alec’s brother they were talking about. Well…his twin. Max’s brother, really, according to her.

"This isn’t about me," Max said.

‘For once,’ Logan caught himself thinking, then shook himself, surprised at his own thoughts. Maybe he was being a little hard on her. Alec did have a way of pushing her buttons the same way she pushed his. But that didn’t mean she had to make things worse by purposefully provoking him. It was obvious this whole situation with Ben’s past being dredged up had bothered Alec more than he was letting on. He’d been tense for weeks, and now he’d practically lost it at the slightest ribbing on Max’s part. Much like he had done during that fiasco with Robert Berrisford. He needed help. And Max was always quick to help her fellow X5s when they needed someone to talk to. Why was Alec any different? Max wasn’t being fair.

"I’m just asking," he told her finally, "as a friend…" Good. It actually hadn’t stung quite so much when he’d called her that this time. It had taken him quite a while to adjust to the fact that that’s all they were now. Friends. "…worried about another friend, to go and talk to him."

Logan wasn’t even certain anymore why he was so desperate to get Max to go help Alec. Maybe he just wanted to see if he could. If Max really even cared, at all, whether or not Alec needed help. If she really even cared about Logan anymore, enough to fulfill such a simple request.

Max just sighed and rolled her eyes.

To Logan, in the mindset that he was in, that was a confirmation of sorts. His eyes began angry. "Or am I even that anymore?" he found himself saying before he could think about it.

That seemed to startle Max a little. "What’s that supposed to mean?" she asked.

Logan didn’t answer her. He just stood and grabbed his jacket.

"Nothing," he said, suddenly needed to get out of there, as well. "Nothing. I’ll go talk to him myself."

"Logan…"

Max called after him, but he didn’t respond. So Max just sat there as the second man that
night stalked away from her table.

END PART 1