Chapter 1: Arianna
Disclaimer: Dark Angel doesn’t belong to me... sniff, sniff.
Summary: Alec finds a baby, and has NO clue what to do with her... He needs Max’s help!
Spoilers/Timeframe: season 2
Rating: PG
*****
Alec woke up at 10am on a Sunday morning. He was dead tired from staying up most of the night at Crash, drinking and winning pool games. Slowly he rose out of bed, changed into his faded jeans and black t-shirt, and sat in his lounge to watch TV. Over the noisy cartoons, he heard a harsh knock at the door but chose to ignore it. If it was Max, she would have picked the lock...or kicked the door down if she was mad at him; if it wasn’t her then it would probably be some annoying salesperson. Alec then heard a muffled thud, as someone put something down at the foot of his door.
“Ok, fine, I’ll bite”
Alec got up and strolled to his door, opening it widely. A tiny box lay at his feet, stuffed with a faded pink blanket; so, he cautiously picked it up to peek inside. Alec almost dropped the box when he saw two big brown eyes looking up at him intently…
“No way! Not going to happen!” he yelled down the hallway. “Whose kid is this? Come back here right now! I’m no nanny!”
Alec looked around, but everything remained silent except for the delicate sigh of the baby he held in his arms.
“Okay, kid, don’t panic. We’ll find your mother, maybe she just forgot where she left you, or...or maybe there’s a note!”
Alec brought the baby into his apartment, gently set her box down on the table and found a scrap of paper inside.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dear Brain, I know we haven’t talked in a long time but I need a favour. This is my daughter; Arianna and I love her more than anything else in the world, but I can’t take care of her anymore. I have a malignant tumour, there’s nothing the doctors can do. They said I only have a few more weeks. I sent Arianna to you because I knew you would look after her. Tell her that I love her very much. Thank you.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alec stared at the note in disbelief. “Oh, crap.” He returned his gaze to the baby, her life pretty much sucked right now, but she was so perfect, so innocent... No, stop it. Alec, you can’t keep the baby. The woman thought she was giving it to Brain, a reliable genius. Not a irresponsible X5, he thought to himself.
Alec scrambled to find his cell phone; he needed Max’s help now. He quickly dialled Logan’s number. She’ll undoubtedly be at his place, he thought irritably.
“Hello?”
“Logan, it’s Alec, is Max around?”
“Sure, hold on,” he answered, and handed the phone to Max.
“Alec? What’s wrong? Is Joshua alright?”
“Joshua is fine, I’m the one in need of help...ME, Alec!”
“Oh, that’s alright then, what’s the matter?”
“Can you get over here, fast... oh, and could you stop off somewhere and get milk?”
“What’s the matter? Are you having seizures?” Max asked anxiously.
“Look, I’m fine, nobody is in imminent danger of dying. Just please get over here quickly! I’ll explain everything later.”
“Fine, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Bye.”
For a second there it seemed to Alec that Max was genuinely concerned about him... “Nah, she’ll always think of me as a major screw up.”
Alec returned to Arianna, and gently lifted her into his arm. “Well looks like it’s just you and me now, kid.”
Arianna giggled and gazed at Alec.
