It was so soft she almost didn't hear it.

"Max?"

She heard little Alec's voice in the coms, trembling and confused and frightened. It tightened something in her chest that she didn't think was there?

"Are you okay? Alec? Are you-"

"Please come, Max," he said, sounding as if he might burst into tears.

"I'll be right there. I got you, Alec, I'll be right there," she said as she ran toward the east wing. Whatever it was that Alec found, she didn't want him facing it alone.

The theft had gone off without a hitch. Alec grabbed them and tore up the office to make it look like a standard robbery, while she took care of the guards before they even saw Alec run by.

The files they stole were as good as Logan promised. It included the blueprints and the location of a new Manticore facility only a few miles outside the limits of Seattle. It was a good bet.

They did it high-tech, since it had to be done right. Coms and everything. And since Alec had proven to be so cool under pressure the last mission, Max tried her best not to worry about him.

But like any Manticore facility, this one had plenty of security measures. The plan was for her to grab some scientists and ask them some questions about Alec, preferably not asking nicely. Alec, meanwhile, would sneak into the east wing, which was supposed to be empty storage, and report back if there were anything relevant there. Alec had objected to such a 'little kid' task, but Logan had pointed out that the east wing might have nothing or it might have the most ultra secret stuff. Alec had replied, "Don't condescend to me, dickhead," but he seemed to accept the logic of the argument.

Truthfully, Max had been hoping Alec would see nothing more adventurous than boxes in storage and maybe a couple of guards to tie up.

But when she heard his voice over the coms, she knew it was much more than that.

When she got to little Alec, she could see his faced pressed against a large glass tube, glowing blue. There was a man inside, probably alive. She immediately regretted letting him come, now that he was Manticore-traumatized.

But before she could reach over to run her hand through his hair to comfort him, she saw why little Alec was so confused sounding.

The man in the glass tube was Alec.

The adult.

Or a clone.

But... the letters on the tube said X5-494.

Little Alec looked up at Max and said. "That's me. Big me. But... if he's... who am I?"

"We'll figure it out Alec," she promised, desperately hoping to herself that she would be able to keep that promise.

They heard footsteps then, coming fast. Security, they both knew.

Little Alec looked at Max who nodded her permission. Little Alec scrunched up his face in determination then, and punched the glass tube hard. Pieces of glass fell to the floor along with an alarming amount of blue liquid. They both almost jumped when the man - when Alec - sat up suddenly and gasped in a painful breath of air.

"Are you -" Max asked him, trailing off before finishing the question.

"Maxie! Wow, you must have really missed me to go to all this trouble," he said, barely getting the words out as he panted air in still. Definitely Alec, she thought.

"We have to go!!!" little Alec whined.

Adult Alec looked down on him, face full of compassion and regret. "I am so sorry they did that to you," he said.

"Questions later, escaping now," Max interrupted seeing the confused look on little Alec's face. And the three of them ran as fast as they could.

They eventually managed to find some air ducts large enough to crawl through, with a little direction over the coms from Logan and his blueprints, and they did their best to stay quiet as the guards ran wild below them. When they were finally out of hearing range, they talked.

Alec had been there the whole time, submersed in that device. They kept him in an altered state and he wasn't able to move or speak or do anything, but he was conscious enough to hear their conversations.

He knew Manticore's plans. And they weren't good. Even by Manticore standards.

They wanted more soldiers. And they didn't want to wait 20 years to get them. And so...

X5-496. They were determined to make a good soldier out of him yet. They picked him first because his boxing career made him visible - as in, easy to catch - and because the two versions, Ben and Alec, had turned out so differently. Made for a nice experiment.

Once they picked Alec, they rapid-grew another clone. Little Alec.

Who wasn't Alec at all.

Because as soon as the boy was cognitively developed enough to handle it, Manticore took the adult Alec, and proceeded to copy his memories into the boy. Muscle memory, tactical training, every experience that Alec remembered: they all went into the little boy's brain. It wasn't necessary to spend years training the boy; just download the adult's memories, and Manticore gets the perfect assassin, with the bonus of being in a body that no one would suspect. Too bad for them that the boy went into a frenzy as soon as they copied the memories into him, injuring several guards and running out, causing much destruction as he went.

Hearing this, Max felt a swirl of things, most of them sickening - guilt that she had taken so long to find Alec and that he had been trapped in that tube all this time; horror that a little boy would have to live with the guilt and bitterness that a highly trained adult could barely cope with; and something else, something unexpected, some feeling of being cheated, since all the times she had finally learned to make little Alec feel safe and warm weren't really with Alec at all.

But she pushed these thoughts down, since it mattered much more what little Alec - what the little boy - felt.

He seemed amazed. "So... I'm not me?" he asked adult Alec.

Alec looked at the boy with regret, saying, "I am so sorry you had to have all those things in your head."

"But then... who am I?"

Alec looked pained. "You're a five year old boy. And you're an escaped clone, like me and Max, which means we're all basically related. Not to mention that you're the guy who just saved me from a chemically-induced forced paralysis."

Little Alec pouted and put on his sarcastic face. "In other words, you have no fucking clue who I am."

Adult Alec sighed. "Listen, I think I can reverse the process, put you back to-"

"No! I'm Alec!" the boy said, and Max covered his mouth so the guards wouldn't hear.

Adult Alec held the boy by his shoulders and said, very carefully avoiding Max's gaze, "Look, we both know it's no picnic in my head. And if they were really your memories, I'd say keep 'em, you deserve to have to live with them. But they're not yours. The things I've done... they are not yours. I know it feels real, but these memories are a lie. And I will NOT live with the knowledge that you are bearing all that bullshit when you have never done anything bad to anyone."

A tear ran down little Alec's face. "But... if you take away being Alec, I won't be anyone."

"Yes you will," said Max, "You'll be my friend. And Alec's too. And you'll get to grow up and become whoever you want."

Little Alec looked up at her and said softly,"You'll still like me even if I'm not Alec?"

Adult Alec snorted. "Believe me, kid, she'll like you way better when you're not me."

Little Alec pouted and said, "Stop making fun of me. Us. You know what I mean."

"You really think you can reverse it?" Max asked adult Alec.

"If we can get to the south wing lab, I can put him right."

"But you won't leave me here, right?" little Alec asked.

"Of course not," they answered at the same time.

"We help little Alec," she contined, "And then we make sure the research ends."

"We'll burn the whole thing down," little Alec said solemnly with a nod.

They all nodded assent and then started to crawl toward the south wing.

"By the way that wasn't true. What you said," mumbled the boy as they crawled along.

"What isn't?" adult Alec asked.

The child answered, matter-of-factly,"That I've never done anything bad to anyone. I kicked Max in the shins."

"Don't remind me," grouched Max.

"Seriously? You did that?" Alec said with a chuckle, "Wow, little me is awesome! ... OWW, geez, Max, I was just kidding."

The reversal process was fairly straightforward once they subdued all the personnel. As the boy sat for the device, Max and Alec talked.

"How did you find the kid?" Alec whispered.

"He just showed up, saying that he was Alec and he didn't know how he got trapped in a kid's body."

"So he instinctively went to you? I never knew I had such poor survival instincts, "Alec joked, "...Wait... does that mean you've been taking caring of him this whole time?"

"No," she said quickly.

"Awww... that's adorable, Maxie, you were trying to take good care of me," he needled.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Original Cindy did most of the work."

Alec grinned. "Sure."

"She did! I wouldn't touch your snotty-nose child self with a ten foot pole."

"Yeah, that's why you were practically offering the kid cookies and cocoa back there, when he was all scared."

"Technically, since he has your memories, that was you who was all scared," she pointed out.

"No way. Doesn't count." Alec grinned smugly and for a second Max wondered how she could have been stupid enough to think that adorable little boy was actually this jackass in front of her.

But then Alec's face turned serious and he asked, hesitating, "So, um, I've known about the kid for a couple of weeks but there was nothing I could do for him."

"He knows that, Alec. We took good care of him, don't worry."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, thanks, but... trapped in that tube, I was thinking that if I ever got out, I'd make sure the kid got a real childhood. Not like ours, you know."

Max nodded. "Definitely. Logan can find parents who-"

"There's no one who understands what it means to grow up transgenic. And who can deal with the threat that Manticore will always pose to him," Alec said, frustrated, seeming almost nervous for some reason.

But the conversation was interrupted by an unexpectedly happy and sweet-looking little boy jumping out of the device. "All done!" he announced, as if he were proudly saying he had just finished brushing his teeth or drawing a picture, "And I picked out my name!"

"What is it, little man?" Alec asked.

"Mac. It's a combination of Max and Alec."

Alec looked at Max, amused and with a raised eyebrow. Max ignored him and said to the little boy, "We're both very honored. So I take it you remember the last couple of weeks still."

The boy thought and said, "Yeah, mostly. Some parts are blurry. But I don't remember much before that. But I know I like you two!" He smiled a more innocent smile than Max was used to seeing on him.

"We like you too," Alec grinned, "Now do you want to help me light this place up like a can of oil??"

Little Mac's eyes widened. "How do we do that?"

Max smiled. "Don't worry, we got this one."

And after they evacuated the tied-up Manticore employees and gave the rest a fire alarm and time to get out, they did exactly that. Alec carried the kid since he no longer had Alec's skills, and they all ran toward home as the exploding lab lit the sky behind them.

When they arrived, Mac was sleeping on Alec's shoulder, and Max took him from his arms and carried the child to his bed to tuck him in.

"Wow, did you and me get cozy while I was gone?" Alec smirked.

"I must have sensed that he wasn't really you and decided he was worth being nice to," she shot back.

He nodded, letting the comment roll off him.

"Logan's trying to find some people he can stay with," Max said.

"Yeah, that's the thing. He's my clone. And I know that genes don't make us who we are - I mean we of all people know that. But he's made from my genes, he had to suffer my memories. And hell, he's even named half after me. I don't want to just ditch him."

Max looked at him strangely, not sure if she was really hearing what she was hearing. Alec, the guy who thinks it's better to not get involved, Alec, the guy who thinks a houseplant is too much commitment. Alec, the guy who thinks a smartass comment is the response to everything, who feels a responsibility to no one and nothing.

Alec couldn't possibly be suggesting...

But apparently Alec saw the skepticism on her face. And her face froze, even as she became more and more surprised by what she was hearing.

"Look, Max, I know that I'm the last person in the world who should... I mean... obviously you think I couldn't possibly do a good job raising a kid. But he's either my twin or my son, depending on how you look at it... And I... Fine, you know what? I don't care what you say. He's staying with me, and he's going to have a real childhood, and he'll never feel ashamed to have transgenic powers, and he'll never be asked to use those powers to hurt anyone, and maybe none of that makes me father material, but it's a hell of a lot better than you and I EVER had, and I'm keeping him with me. I don't care what you think," he muttered.

And Max was stunned by Alec then. And she studied his face and recognized just the tiniest hint of those weeks she spent with 'little Alec.' All those times that kid had looked up at her, needing her so badly but not wanting to say it, hiding that need with anger and walls. Alec still did that.

Hell, Max herself probably did that sometimes, if she were really honest with herself.

But with the adult Alec, she could see his facial muscles carefully preventing him from making a face like he wanted to cry or scream. But the pull of those expressions was still there, hidden, and now Max knew it. And she knew that he damn well did care what she thought.

And she wasn't about to abuse that trust, any more than she would for Alec at any age.

"I wasn't going to say that you'd be a bad father," she quietly.

He turned, tried to hide the surprise and relief. "Really?"

"Really. I think you're good at most things you try hard at."

He grinned lecherously. "Does that include-"

"Don't ruin the moment," she snapped.

"Right," he answered, before pausing, "... So you don't have a problem with me raising Mac?"

She looked at him, at his big hopeful eyes, his not-quite hidden fear that she doesn't believe in him, his need for her to say something honest and kind, even though in the world according to her those are usually opposites.

So she smiled. And she said, "No problem at all. But if he starts acting like you, I'm charging you double to baby-sit."