Between The Lines -- Chapter 2

[parallax23]

 

2: FACE

“Do you think you can find her, Logan?” Max asked expectantly as she leaned in the doorframe to his office, maintaining a safe distance from where he was sitting at his desk. 

“Well, I can’t make any promises but I’ll do my best,” Logan told her and wheeled closer to her.  She took a step back when she thought he was too close, but he continued speaking.  “We’re working under the assumption that he gave you her real name.  Even then it won’t be easy.  She could have changed it since then or left country…  But knowing that Manticore likes to clean up their messes pretty neatly—” 

“I get it Logan.  I know not to get my hopes up over what is probably a lost cause.  But I still have to try,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. 

“Sounds like you’ve been hanging around me too much,” Logan smiled.  He was tempted to reach out and let her know that it was okay to hope for the impossible.  But he couldn’t. 

The flash of longing in his eyes hit Max like a bucket of ice water and she recoiled further away from him. 

“I told the guys I’d meet them at Crash like an hour ago,” she told him.  “But I’ll catch you later?” 

Logan nodded.  “Right.  I’ve got some Eyes Only stuff to do, and I’ll see what I can find for you on the informant net.” 

“Thanks,” Max said with a warm smile and taking another step backwards before turning on her heel to leave.  “I’m not expecting any miracles though.” 

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“Hey boo, what’s on ya mind?” asked Original Cindy as they were sitting in Crash at their usual table, working on their second pitcher of beer.

“Why do you ask?” Max questioned her, taking a sip from her mug.

“Because you’ve got your ‘I’ve got the weight of the world on my slender shoulders’ face on again,” Alec answered as Cindy shot him a dirty look.  He shrugged it off.

Max stared at her beer, firmly holding the mug in her hand.  “I think I found the name of my mother and Logan’s helping to see if he can track her down.”

“Damn girl, that’s good news for once!  What’s the long face for?” asked her friend.

“It’s no big.  Just a name,” was her detached reply.

Alec looked confused.  “You have a mother?”

“Yes Alec, I have a mother,” Max replied dryly.  “The person who gave birth to me…  Or did you miss Human Reproduction 101?” 

He rolled his eyes.  “I slept through it, but I prefer practical application to theory anyway.  So you’re looking for your surrogate?  Why?”

“Because unlike you, family means something to me,” Max said.

“And I’m sure family meant a lot to her too…  I mean, why else play Mary Immaculate for a paycheck?” Alec shot back casually, standing up and picking up his drink.  Though he was trying to play it off, it was obvious that this was a sore topic for him from the way he gripped his glass so tightly.  “What makes you think she’d want anything to do with you?  You don’t even have the same DNA.”

“Shared DNA doesn’t make people a family,” Max pointed out.

“Whatever,” Alec sighed. As he was walking back to the bar, he muttered under his breath, “Stupid 09ers and their phony sentimentality.”

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It was six days, nineteen hours and twenty-three minutes later when Logan called Max to say that he had found something about her mother.  She tossed the clipboard at Alec and left him with all the packages as she pedaled off to the penthouse.  She hadn’t expected to hear something so soon, if ever, and she couldn’t wait.  Knowing her luck, Martina Emilia Ledesma was probably a butch woman in prison or a prostitute in Albuquerque, or both.

“She was last heard from in San Francisco two months ago,” Logan told her as they stood in his office.  “Or at least someone using that identity to take a Tomas Ledesma off life support was.  Records list her as his daughter.  Born in March 17, 1980 to Tomas and Mercedes Ledesma in Los Angeles, the family moved around a lot her whole life.  She’s been off the radar since 1998 when she was picked up for breaking and entering, of course anything from before would not be on her record due to her being a minor at the time.  SFPD still had her mugshot on file…”

He fingered a large manila envelope on his desk that Max had overlooked.  He picked it up and held it out to her, keeping his reaction to himself until he saw hers.  Max stared in disbelief at the envelope for a moment, unsure what to think or feel.  She carefully took it from him, making sure her hand didn’t get too close to his.  The envelope felt like it weighed more than it actually did.  Maybe that was because it was holding the weight of a lifetime of hopes and dreams about a nameless, faceless mother.  It had started with the name of a girl not so much unlike herself, desperate and just looking to survive in a cold, cruel world however she could.  Now the name would be matched to a face of a girl who rented out her uterus for some insane government experiment to create the perfect soldier.

Max drew in a deep breath and slipped her fingers into the envelope, pulling out the color photo of teenaged Hispanic girl who stood at five foot six with short brown hair and big brown eyes.  The look on her face said she wasn’t the type of girl people messed with, and if they did, they were in for some serious trouble.  Her face was rounder than Max’s and her complexion was a little fairer, but aside from that she looked the way Max would have imagined her mother would look like.  She was pretty in that bad girl with a secret love of happy endings kind of way.

She studied the picture for a minute, trying to glean what she could from that moment frozen in history.  Her brow furrowed in concentration.

“She went into Central California Women’s Facility in ’98 but there’s no release date,” Logan went on, attentively watching Max absorbing the photo into her eidetic memory.  “I’m not sure how she got recruited by Manticore.  That’s a question only she can answer.”

“Something tells me she didn’t answer some ad in the paper going ‘Chimera embryo seeks surrogate…,’” said Max, finally looking up at him.  “Do you think she’s still in San Francisco?”

Logan didn’t break his gaze from her as he leaned on the edge of his desk, using his hands to support himself.  “Don’t know.  Tomas Ledesma was involved in a lot of petty crimes and had just been let out on probation for drug trafficking when he passed away, so there wasn’t really a funeral.  And Mercedes Ledesma died back in 1994.  She probably left town to get anyone off her tail.”

“I’m going to find out.  What’s the name of this hospital she was at?  Maybe they can tell me something, give me a clue,” Max said in a determined voice. 

His face fell.  She was jumping in head first without thinking again.  “Max—”

“I need to see if she’s still there.  This is the closest I’ve ever come, the closest I’ll probably ever get to finding her.  Either you tell me, or I wander around with this picture for the next few weeks,” Max declared indignantly, waving the picture in the air as she spoke.  “Your call.”

He should have seen this coming.  Letting out a defeated sigh, he told her that the Ledesmas had been at San Francisco General Hospital.  It wasn’t much but it was still more than she ever imagined she would know about the woman who gave birth to her.  The entire scenario felt unreal.  She had been dreaming of finding her mother since the day she found out what one was, and that she must have had one too.  She knew better than to expect a woman who would bake her cookies and ask her ‘You’re wearing that?’ as she walked out the door, but it was the chance to feel a bit more human by knowing that she came out of a person and not a machine. 

Max wasn’t sure what she was looking for in San Francisco.  She wasn’t sure about a lot of things except that she wasn’t going to waste an opportunity like the one that had come her way.

It was downright unbelievable.

“What’re you doing here?” exclaimed Max when Alec stepped onto the bus with a blue duffel bag slung over his shoulder.  She almost jumped out of her seat, ready to throttle him by instinct.  She didn’t though.

Alec stopped dead in his tracks to let out a frustrated sigh and shake his head.  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Hey buddy, you’re holding up the line,” growled a hefty middle-aged man right behind him.  He looked in the direction Alec was staring, and his expression went from furious to friendly as he brushed back his greasy hair and flashed an equally greasy smile.  “Hello there, Miss.  Is this young man bothering you?”

Max made a disgusted face and didn’t reply to him.  Alec rolled his eyes and kept walking into the bus; the man in the sweat-stained white T-shirt kept his eyes on Max.  When Alec was close enough to Max, she realized she was either going to have to sit next to him or Mr. I Probably Haven’t Had a Shower This Week.  She grabbed Alec and pulled him into the seat beside hers before he knew what happened, and held him firmly in place as he grinned smugly at the disappointed man making his way down the aisle.

“I hope you realize that this means we’re sitting together the whole ride.  All twenty hours and sixteen minutes,” Alec pointed out.  Then he looked over to the greasy man giving him a dirty look, and said in a louder voice, “Well, it beats a dark closet we were in last time.  What is with you and getting me into closed, confined spaces?”

“What’re you doing here, Alec?” Max demanded, ignoring his chattering.

“Got some business deal, that’s all you need to know,” Alec said.  “Of course, you weren’t supposed to know at all.”

“Look, once we’re out of Seattle, you’re someone else’s problem since you’re no longer in my jurisdiction,” Max replied, leaning back into her seat.

“So what are you going to do in San Francisco?  Off to find the cure again?” he questioned, trying not to sound too interested as the bus shut its doors and the engine hissed as the vehicle pulled out of the terminal.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I heard that my mother was down there a few weeks ago and I wanted to check it out.”

Her companion let out a soft chuckle.  “Still chasing lost causes?  Why do you keep doing this to yourself?  She wants nothing to do with you.  Sometimes I wonder if you’re a masochist and get off on all of this.”

Max punched him in the shoulder.  “Shut up before I decide to rearrange your face.”

Alec just smiled and pointed at his face.  “Yeah right, you wouldn’t dare.  It’s the only part of me you seem to like besides my ass.  Yeah buddy, I know you can hear me over there!  And I’d like you to know she gave me a lap dance once!  Albeit a really bad one…”

The greasy man scowled and pretended to read his newspaper.  Max smacked Alec hard across the head.

“If we make it there without me killing you, you owe me dinner,” Max informed him.

Alec kept grinning.  “How can I say no to a face like yours?”

“This is going to be a long ride.”

“Funny that’s what all girls say to me when I have to get them dinner.  Ow!”  He clutched his shoulder and pouted.

“God, will you two keep your foreplay to yourselves!” someone behind them yelled.

“Someone kill me now,” Alec said, covering his face with his hand.

“That can be arranged,” Max snickered, crossing her arms and scowling.

 

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hey! This was a great spin-off from the XYZ affair. I'm glad you're doing more with it. I love the interaction between Max and Alec, especially at the end there in the bus. It was hilarious. Can't wait to see what you've got in store.

[(Anonymous)]

ahaha Oh, that was angelofdarkness78 (Rae). I forgot to log in.

[parallax23.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the comment on here! I'm glad you're enjoying it. The original started like an M/L and I needed to rectify that ASAP.

[vintage0soul.livejournal.com]

OMG From the second that Alec stepped onto the bus you had me rolling. This was FANTASTIC!!! lol More! I demand more! As soon as possible. hehe And I have to tell you, I can't remember the last time I did that. :D

[parallax23.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks! I haven't written a light M/A story in a long time. It's funny that you should ask for more, because I finally have time to write again. *take that real life* :)

[wesgibson.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha I love this! I haven't read any stories that pick up the looking for mom story the show so unceremoniously dropped

[parallax23.livejournal.com]

There are a few lurking about somewhere, but I haven't come across one that really did justice by it. I don't remember the title, but there's one where Max and Alec both break their mothers out of the mental institution, and it was kind of trite with the women's families reuniting with them. The way Max and Alec were put together was odd too.