A/N: Thank you for the reviews on the previous chapter! To the guest that reviewed, I agree that Logan never really accepted Max for what she was. I don't hate the character however I do believe that he loved what Max could do to further this EO work than he actually loved her.

X is for Xerox

"We should get married," Asha said casually. Max, who had been paying more attention to their table a few yards away than she had her date, choked on her beer, barely managing to swallow it down without making a scene.

Alec wasn't so lucky. Max watched from across the room as he sputtered, trying to regain control over himself before he finally gasped out. "What?" Asha seemed blissfully unaware of the panic in his bright green eyes but Max knew him better than that.

Asha smiled at him, excitement and love shined brightly in her eyes. "Yeah, we've been together for a year now, it's the next logical step!" Max fought back an incredulous grunt as she listened in, her senses now completely tuned to the other couple.

Alec cleared his still burning throat and raised a brow. "I'm not sure which staircase you're climbing but I think you skipped a couple," he retorted teasingly but Max could hear the strain in his tone.

"You okay Max?" she suddenly heard as a hand waved in front of her face. She turned her attention back to Logan.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. Just spacin' out," she laughed uneasily. She looked back over at Alec but saw that he and Asha were headed out of the building, she had missed whatever else had been said. Their unexpected conversation had been a shocking distraction from the one she came here to have with Logan. She tried to stamp down the uneasy feeling in her gut at the thought of Alec getting married.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" her boyfriend asked kindly with a bright smile.

Max swallowed hard, she had asked him to meet at Crash because it was her turf and she felt more comfortable. "I—uh, well…" she trailed off as she struggled to find the words. She took a deep breath. "Idon'tthinkthisisworking," she breathed out, barely understanding her own words.

Logan frowned as he worked to untangle the verbal web she'd spun. "What?" he asked, sure that he had misheard her.

Max sucked in another deep breath and focused on talking clearly. "I...don't think this is working," she said quietly, not looking at him as she heard his quick intake of breath.

"Max…" he began, at a loss for words at the worst possible moment. How could he not know what to say?

She finally looked at him and smiled sadly. "I think we've just changed too much. Our lives and priorities have changed too much," she theorized.

Logan couldn't really deny that but it didn't mean he was willing to just give up. "We just need to try harder," he told her confidently, his voice soothing.

Max shook her head. "We shouldn't have to try so hard Logan," she told him sadly. "I'm sorry," she said as she stood up to leave. "I hope we can still be friends," she breathed out, wincing at the old cliché.

Logan watched in a shock that he knew shouldn't be so prevalent as she walked away from him. From them. Things hadn't been good for awhile now, but ever the optimist he had thought they would prevail. His head hung down as the reality sunk in of a four year long dream crashing to a halt.

~DA~

"How did I get here?" he asked himself as he stood in front of a mirror wearing a tux. "What the hell am I doing?" he interrogated his reflection as he looked into his panic stricken eyes. He was a super soldier. He wasn't a husband. He loved Asha, he really did. She was beautiful, kind, smart and enough of a badass that he could overlook that fact that she wasn't his equal. Not really. She couldn't understand him, no matter how hard she tried. And he would never let her because the burden he bore would crush her under it's weight. He didn't know if he ever had been or ever would be in love with her. Wasn't that what marriage was about? Contractually connecting yourself to the person you were in love with?"

Three months ago she had casually proposed at Crash and he had told her she was crazy. She had just laughed at him and carried on with wedding plans as though she thought that he just didn't understand the custom. He had tried to turn it into a joke. "Isn't the man supposed to propose?" he had asked. She had just rolled her eyes and laughed. "Wake up to the times baby, girls kick ass."

He had just floated by in a haze since then, why wasn't he putting an end to the insanity? He was broken and that was why he had finally decided. If he broke her heart and told her he wasn't interested in getting married then he'd be truly alone again. He'd gotten really used to having her there even while he was alone.

Max had a strength he hadn't realized he lacked. She had broken up with Logan. Her dream, the man she had pined over for nearly two years before they got the cure. How did Alec end up with the ordinary?

"Why are you going through with this?" she had asked him a few weeks ago. He was surprised that she'd held her tongue as long as she had, he knew that she was bursting at the seams with questions and observations. All the things only she could tell him. His best friend.

"I don't know," he had replied brokenly and the knowing, sad look in her eyes as she sat down next to him and pulled him into her arms hadn't made him feel any better.

As he continued to stare at his reflection he didn't even recognize himself. When had he become so...weak? A knock was heard at the door. "You okay in there?" he heard Asha call out.

Alec was silent for a beat before he forced his voice to come out calm and steady. "Yeah, be right out." He closed his eyes and steeled himself before he opened the door to the changing room and stepped out. Asha's breath caught in her throat as her eyes roamed over him. His already perfectly toned body was complimented perfectly by the form fitting tuxedo, how had she gotten so lucky?

"You look amazing," she told him with a bright smile that only widened when he shifted uncomfortably. She was somewhat surprised that he was uncomfortable dressed up, she knew that he had done missions that called for formal wear for Logan in the past. She thought it was adorable that her strong, sexy, cargo pants wearing fiance was finally shy about something.

Alec, of course, was not uncomfortable in the tux, he had worn far more expensive outfits during solo missions for Manticore. If there was one thing about himself that he didn't ever doubt it was his looks, that was one luxury that being created in a test tube provided. "Thanks, hey I gotta get to TC. I promised Mole I'd help him out with some logistics," he suddenly informed her, desperate to get out of the formal wear shop. He hated to see the light dim in her eyes as the reality of his life once again interfered with her fantasy. He shot her a charming smile and swaggered back into the dressing room to put his street clothes back on.

Five minutes later he was kissing her goodbye outside the store before hurrying away. As soon as he was out of sight he ducked around a corner and whipped out his cellphone. "Go for Max," she answered.

"What am I doing?" he choked out roughly.

"Alec?" she asked in surprise.

"I can't do this Max. How the hell did I get myself into this?" he demanded.

The other line was silent for a moment. "Where are you?"

Alec snorted out a hysterical half laugh. "Down the street from some tux shop on 5th," he replied.

"Meet me on the Needle," her calm voice ordered. Direction. That was what he needed and it was something Max was always happy to provide him.

"'Kay," he agreed obediently before hanging up and briskly walking out of the alley towards the Space Needle.

Max got there first and she waited anxiously for her second in command to arrive. She had been in the middle of a movie day with Original Cindy when he'd called and he'd sounded so distraught. Luckily for her she had stand-up friends and OC had practically pushed her out the door once she explained the phone call. "Go talk some sense into yo' boy," she had said forcefully and in that moment Max knew that she wasn't the only one worried about the path Alec was headed down.

She had been helpless to do anything but watch the whirlwind of wedding planning that had seemingly taken over all of their lives overnight. It was rough to watch the dreamy, high on life frantic energy that Asha was practically floating on clash against the carefully controlled, panicked, helpless vibe that rolled off Alec in waves. She had forced herself to stay on the sidelines and stay out of it. Only once had she asked Alec what he was doing and he had been so lost that she was helpless to do anything but embrace him and offer her support. She had the thoughts but she didn't know how to form them into words and, uncharacteristically, hadn't wanted to overstep her boundaries. They had become close over the last couple years, he was a fixture in her life that she never wanted to find herself without and while she knew that there was something deeper in her feelings she barely acknowledged it.

She felt him before she heard him and when he finally appeared in the window of the dilapidated old restaurant he looked so broken. An icy chill ran through her and she walked quickly over to embrace him as he stepped outside. He tensed at the unexpected gesture before his arms folded tightly around her. They stood there like that for a long moment.

Finally Max broke their hold and backed up a step. "What's going on, Alec?" she asked and he knew she didn't just mean in this moment.

"I thought she was joking at first, ya know?" he asked, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and rocking back onto his heels. Max was feeling a bit unsteady herself as she found herself engulfed in the frenetic energy bouncing off of him. "I mean, marriage? I just barely got my freedom. We're not even living together. I tried to tell her that it was too soon, I really did Max. She just thought that I was ignorant to the custom and she was so...excited. How could I break her like that?" he asked, looking at her with such lost eyes that Max's heart broke for him. He laughed self deprecatingly. "I broke Rachel. Killed Rachel. I promised myself that I would never love an ordinary again but she was just so goddamn persistent and I watched you and Logan and thought that maybe I was wrong. Maybe I could have a little bit of that too…" he trailed off and when he looked back at her Max's breath caught in her throat. "I'm not in love with her," he confessed roughly.

"Alec…" Max whispered sadly as she grabbed his hand and gently pulled him down so they were sitting. "You have to tell her," she told him softly.

Alec sighed and let his head fall back. "I know. I know," he muttered. "I kept thinking that I just needed time, you know? That eventually I would fall in love with her, that I was capable of loving. I just kept waiting and then I was standing in the men's shop trying on tuxedos and I felt like the world was collapsing around me," he explained quietly. "And I found this last night," he continued, pulling something out of his pocket and handing it to Max. She grabbed it and looked down, it was a xerox copy of a wedding invitation.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of

Alec McDowell

Asha Barlow

on Saturday July Eighth 2023

"I think she was going to surprise me with them," he mumbled as she flipped it over to read the back. "I didn't even know she had picked out a date. It's a month away Max."

"What are you going to do?" she asked him gently.

"I have to end it. Just...how do I do it?" he asked her, his eyes connecting with hers begging for answers. "How did you break up with Logan?"

Max snorted. "I took him to Crash and told him it wasn't working and then left before he could argue too much," she said derisively. She shook her head and gave him a small smirk. "You'll find I'm not the best and ending relationships...you've been a pawn in more than one past attempt," she reminded him, gently pushing her shoulders against his.

Alec laughed and it warmed her up. It had been way too long since she'd heard that sound, one that used to ring out daily. "And if he had been planning your wedding? How would you have done it then?" he asked, bumping back into her.

Max looked at him pensively. "I think I probably...would have taken him to Crash and told him it wasn't working," she mused. Alec cocked a brow and rolled his eyes.

"You're not very helpful," he muttered.

"Hey!" she protested. "My method might not be the smoothest but it works," she insisted. "You'll be on neutral territory and it's easy to make a quick escape. It's very practical."

He nodded and sent her a small smirk, it wasn't anywhere near it's usual blinding wattage but she'd take what she could get. "I don't think I can go that route but I appreciate the idea," he said as he forced himself to his feet. He couldn't put it off anymore. It was time to man up and be the genetically empowered super soldier he was created to be.

Max stood up alongside him and placed a hand on his arm. "Hey. You know I got your back no matter what. Me, Cin, Sketch and all of TC. You're doing the hard thing but it's the right thing. For you and for her," she told him sincerely.

Alec smirked down at her, warm amusement glinting within his eyes. "Who knew you could be so mushy, Maxie," he said lightly.

Max grinned and shrugged. "Yeah well, I figure if Alec McDowell, king of repressed emotions, could open up to me then Max Guevara, queen of ice, could warm up a bit," she joked.

"What a pair we make," he laughed, casually throwing an arm over her shoulders. "Thanks Maxie," he said softly before pressing a kiss to the top of her head and making his way back into the Space Needle.

"Hey Alec?" she called before he disappeared completely from her sight.

He paused and glanced over his shoulder to her. "Yeah?"

"Call me later, okay?" she requested. "I don't have anything important going on."

He hesitated a moment before nodding. "You got it." Then he was gone and Max hugged her arms to her torso and bit her lip, she didn't envy him the next few hours. She frowned at the relief she felt pulsing through her body knowing that he wasn't going to be getting married after all. Why did it matter so much to her? It was just because she wanted him to be happy, right? She sighed and sat back down, nearer the edge now that she was alone and not worried about her best friend's mental state. She had some serious thinking to do.

~DA~

Asha wasn't at her place when he got there so he let himself in and quickly packed up the meager belongings he had kept around her apartment. He had stopped by his place first to grab the many items she'd had scattered around his apartment. He tucked the bag full of her stuff out of sight and quickly took the newly packed duffle full of his stuff out to the building hall and hid it in a nearby supply closet. He didn't want to make things harder for her, he'd end it as gently as he could and leave. She wouldn't have to watch him pack or be faced with the knowledge that he'd be back for his stuff. She wouldn't have to see the reminders of what a piece of shit he was dispersed throughout her personal space.

He was thankful that they hadn't spent much money on the wedding and the money they had spent had come out of his reluctant wallet. She wouldn't lose anything monetarily, at least. He now sat on the edge of the couch, his arms draped down over his knees and his head bent down in defeat. His stomach clenched when he heard the lock turn and he took a deep steadying breath as she opened the door and made her way into the apartment.

"Hey! What a nice surprise!" she exclaimed when she caught sight of him. He looked up at her and her smile immediately fell. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly. It wasn't too often she could get a read on his mental state just by looking at him but she could right now. Anxiety and sorrow were too easily read within his beautiful green gold eyes.

"Asha…" he croaked out. He winced at the broken sound and cleared his throat. "We need to talk," he told her quietly.

Her shoulders sagged at the four words that no woman ever wanted to hear. "If this is going to break us then I don't want you to say it," she told him haltingly.

Alec frowned. "What?" he asked incredulously.

She sighed and gingerly sat down on the chair across from him. "Look...I know that I've been excitable and things have moved really fast and it's all stuff that you're not used to. I'm not completely blind, I know that it's been overwhelming for you," she admitted lowly before turning a dazzling smile on him. "But you'll see, once the ritual aspect is over and it's just you and me...our lives are going to be amazing Alec. I can't wait to meet the family we're going to create."

Alec blanched and she realized that maybe she was getting ahead of herself again. Despite her badass reputation with the SW1 Asha had always wanted a little slice of the good life for herself and had always had a deeply girly side that she typically kept hidden. She wanted the gorgeous husband and beautiful children. And she wanted that with Alec.

Alec cleared his throat again. "Asha...I want you to have all of that and more. I just...I can't be the person you have it with," he said slowly.

"What?" it was her turn to ask. She figured he was going to tell her that they needed to slow down on the wedding planning not that he was going to leave her. She shook her head numbly. "Why would you ask me to marry you then?" she gasped out in disbelief.

Alec raised an eyebrow. "I didn't," he pointed out sardonically. He didn't mean to sound like he was mocking her, he really didn't, but he wasn't going to let her turn this all the way around on him. Sure, he should have put his foot down months ago but she should have listened to him when he had tried to talk to her about it instead of just assuming he was ignorant.

Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she fought for a response. "Okay," she said slowly. "So...we don't have to get married right now. You're right, I didn't...I just assumed," she recognized, her eyes widening as she realized her blatant misstep. "We can just continue like we have been," she continued quickly, her eyes begging him to compromise.

He shook his head slowly, his sad but determined eyes locking with hers. "No, Asha. We can't," he replied. "I should have stopped this a long time ago and it's my fault that we got to this point," he said, claiming responsibility.

"But why?" she whispered. "I love you, Alec. Don't you love me?" she demanded, her voice gaining strength.

He smiled wistfully at her. "I do," he confirmed but he continued on before her watery smile could grow too wide. "I'm just not in love with you."

Asha's head reeled back as though she'd been slapped. "You're...not in love with me," she repeated in disbelief. "So why would you stay with me? How could you lead me on like that?" she asked furiously, swiping angrily at a few stray tears that had started to leak from her bright blue eyes.

"I didn't know," he told her honestly. He really, truly had not over-analyzed his feelings or lack there of for her until she'd started talking marriage. He had known that he loved her, he had loved her like he had loved Rachel. For her optimism and innocence because despite the fact that she was much more world weary than his first love she would always be more innocent then he had ever been. He hadn't realized until he was facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life with her that it wasn't the kind of love she had for him. He didn't burn for her. He could live without her. The thought of leaving her didn't tear him up inside for any reason other than not wanting to ruin her.

"You didn't know," she parroted. "If you're going to do this then don't lie to me Alec. I know you better than that," she told him heatedly.

He looked at her appraisingly, eyes probing deep into hers. "Do you?" he asked her quietly. Her mouth opened to reply but something in his expression stopped her. Did she? "You don't know how I grew up, Asha. You can try to understand but you never will. You can't and that's okay. It's good, I'm glad you can't. But you tell me how a person can grow up absent any representation of love and then just know what it is. What it feels like. The difference between love and being in love," he said, trying desperately to convey his honesty, his faults.

"So how do you know now?" she countered, equally desperate in her quest to make him realize that he was wrong.

His smile was sad and his eyes were tender. "Because I can see how you feel when you look at me," he told her softly, closing his eyes briefly before dealing the killing blow. "And I don't feel the same."

Her heart broke. Tears streamed freely down her face and she wasn't even aware that her head was shaking back and forth as though she was trying to wake herself up from a nightmare. He stood up and squatted down in front of her, gently taking her hands in his. "I'm so sorry that it took me so long to realize it, Asha. I really am," he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You're an amazing person and you deserve someone who loves you a fiercely as you love them. I really wish I were him...I'm just not," he said sorrowfully.

She was silent, her ability to speak had been stolen from her and it was all she could do just to focus on forcing air in and out of her burning lungs. He rose up a bit and gently kissed her forehead. "Goodbye Asha," he whispered as he stood up and walked out of her apartment. The quiet click of the door closing behind him echoed through her apartment, through her head.

An hour later she finally forced herself to stand up and took a look around for the first time since she had come home. All the little things that had made her place his were gone. The casually thrown shirt over the dining room chair, the small stack of pre-pulse movies he loved to watch, the two jackets he had hung up by the front door. She walked numbly into her bedroom and over to his drawer in her dresser. Empty. His toothbrush holder in the bathroom. Empty. His side of the bed. Empty. Her life. Empty.

She nearly tripped over something as she blindly made her way back towards the living room and reached down to open it. Her stuff from his apartment spilled out onto the floor and she collapsed, fresh tears breaking free from the feeble dam she'd constructed as a new wave of sobs wracked her body.

Original Cindy walked up to the front door after hearing the knock, Max had just gone into the bathroom before the next movie and Cindy was curious to see who was crashing their movie day this time. She opened it and found she really wasn't surprised to see their boy on the other side.

"Come in boo," she said kindly. He shot her a weary smile and stepped over the threshold. She did something that she hadn't done too often with him and pulled him into a fierce hug, smiling as he tensed up in surprise before relaxing slightly and returning it. "I'm proud of you baby boo," she whispered into his ear before pulling back.

Max stood in the hall entrance, leaning against the wall as she watched her girl pull Alec in for an impromptu hug. He looked over to her when they broke apart and Max smiled widely at him. "We were just about to put in a new movie, want some popcorn?" she asked.

His eyes flashed with relief and she was thankful that she'd deciphered his mood correctly. He wanted company but wasn't ready to talk. "I'd love some," he replied gratefully and OC pulled him over to the couch and started telling him the summary of the movie they were putting in. He groaned dramatically as she started describing an old romcom. Max laughed as Cindy lightly slapped the back of his head in retaliation.

~DA~

"Hey Max," Asha said quietly as she walked up to the table Max had claimed for the rest of the group that hadn't shown up yet.

"Uh...hey Asha," Max replied uncomfortably, managing to shoot the other girl a small smile.

"Have uh...have you seen Alec lately?" she asked in a small voice. "I haven't been able to get ahold of him."

Max bit her lip at a loss of what exactly she should say. "Yeah, he's been around," she replied vaguely.

Asha sat down across from her. "Do you think…" she trailed off, unsure. "Do you think he'll change his mind?"

Max looked at her sympathetically. It had been two weeks since that day on the Space Needle that had preceded Alec ending his relationship with the blonde. "I don't think so, Asha," she told her honestly.

"I just don't understand," Asha ground out, helplessness alight in her eyes.

Max leaned forward and took pity on the girl she had never been overly fond of, it had always seemed like Asha was hanging around in the rafters waiting for one of the men in Max's orbit to fall from grace so she could snatch them up. Max now realized that maybe she had been too hard on the other woman. "Alec is...complicated," Max said slowly. "He doesn't seem it on the surface but Asha...he lived in Manticore for twenty years. He wasn't loved, he didn't have a family or friends. He tried for you, he really did. I know him better than almost anyone and I saw him try," she told her kindly.

"I just wasn't enough," she muttered despondently.

Max shook her head. "Someone once told me that my relationship with Logan was doomed because I belonged with my own kind. I think maybe they were right. Love is deeper than people like me and Alec realized. For us...I think we need someone who can really understand us...which really only leaves us with each other," she explained haltingly, leaving out the bit about how it was Alec who had told her that.

"How is he?" she asked, eyes pained but accepting.

Max smiled a bit. "He's okay. You know that feline DNA...he always lands on all fours," she joked lightly.

Asha smiled a bit. "You'll watch out for him?"

Max nodded and bit back the automatic urge to snap at her for implying she'd do anything else. "I always do," she replied instead. Asha nodded once more before getting up and walking away.

~DA~

Three Years Later

"You ready?" she called out from the other side of the door.

Alec smirked as he looked at his reflection, the tux fit him perfectly. He opened the door and stepped out. "I'm always ready," he replied with a wink.

Max rolled her eyes. "You're such a dumbass," she muttered but the insult was tempered by their years stood side by side and lacked any heat.

Alec smiled down at her and pressed a light kiss to her lips. "How's the bride doing?" he asked with a wide grin.

"She's freaking out," she replied. "What about the groom?"

Alec snickered. "I'm pretty sure he's about to piss his pants."

"Ew," Max groaned as she swatted at his head. He laughed and ducked away from her, grabbing her hand as he went and leading the way to the ceremony hall.

They took their places on either side of the alter and watched as first Logan and then Asha made their way down the aisle. Alec still couldn't quite tell you how he and Max had gotten roped into being best man and maid of honor but he figured it was worth it to see her in that gorgeous form fitting gown and judging by the way she couldn't keep her eyes off of him she wasn't complaining about his attire either.

As the officiant started talking about love and all that gooey stuff Alec reflected on his past with the bride and his present with the maid of honor. He smiled as he realized that he was indeed capable of love and more importantly of being in love.

His eyes flicked over to Max again and he gave her a sultry smirk when he caught her staring at him. He couldn't wait for the reception where he would be looking for the nearest closet.