M A K A Y L A

I put my head on my forearms as I watched her twist a wrench against the bike.

"Didn't Proximo want to speak with you?"

"Probably." She answered, unbothered. The dark leather riding gear along her legs was doing wonders for my imagination. Something clicked and she released it going for another glowing tube.

"Alex, is this safer than the last one..."

She paused with the glowing tube in hand and smirked at me from the floor.

"It's definitely faster."

I couldn't help but match the smile she wore as she fitted it in next to four others. It didn't need to make sense to me but it did to her. She had walked in and dismissed the rest of her engineers to see it for herself.

A stark red, mean looking piece of machinery. Nothing less for Scorpion.

I pulled myself off the boxes of spare parts and god knew what else. She was still snapping in the fusion canister when I strolled over to scan the intricate network of metal and holo design of the dash. It had no clear ignition this time. There was a grunt of approval beneath me before the metal clicked again and she began the process of sealing it shut.

I dropped my gaze down to her and crouched beside her hip.

A trail of dark oil ran across her neck and I smirked. Without warning she moved her thumb off the metal and ran a line directly across my face. My smirk vanished and a glare took its place.

"Such an improvement." She noted dryly, turning the screws in place again.

"I clean myself up for you and you manage to ruin it before we go anywhere." I stated, watching the muscles of her arm flex with the tool.

"I'm taking you for a ride–not ballroom dancing." She smirked, setting down the tool in her hands and pushing out from under the bike. She scanned the dark smear on my cheek all the same.

"Both sound pretty good to me." I shrugged with a knowing smile.

Alex leant back on her arms and raised an eyebrow, "My intentions were innocent... yours however seem to be different."

I ran my eyes along her with a shrug and caught the corner of her lips twitch. Smeared with oil or not this was Alex we were talking about. She pushed off her arms quickly and pulled me up out of my crouch with her. I was dropped onto the seat of the fusion cycle and left looking up at the woman who left her hands on my thighs as she watched me.

God damn it just kiss me.

She smiled slowly and flicked her eyes to the dash of the bike.

"Put your hand on my dash." She said evenly.

"Is that an innuendo?"

"You wish it was."

She wasn't wrong there.

I complied and placed my palm on the screen between the handles. It came to life under me all at once. The power of it hummed and a complicated computer system announced my presence by full name.

"Control granted." A male sang back.

I took my hand off quickly. Alex leant over me and touched the screen. I was more focused on the way her leg pinned the side of mine against the bike and the hand she left on my leg–but I'm sure she was all too aware of her own actions. The side of her face contorted with focus as she ran diagnostics on the system but all my senses were geared towards the sweet smell of her proximity and the cut of her jaw line.

"It's configured to your voice as well as mine–" She stopped when I kissed the side of her jaw.

"Sorry. Carry on." I murmured.

Those gold eyes appraised me. Then she pushed a hand into my hair and kissed me much more deeply on the lips. It took the breath out of me and sent my mind out of my head. I only had a second to return it before she drew back like nothing had happened at all and continued running a finger against the screen. Only now her leg was left firmly against my own and her free hand was pinned against the seat.

The things I would do for this woman–or to her...

"You know I can practically hear your thoughts from here, Makayla." She murmured, without turning.

"I'm fine with that, Alex." I uttered simply, despite the heat on my face.

She grinned shaking her head as she completed her work. I got to enjoy a few more moments of this until she leaned back and drew her hands together.

"Ready to go?" She asked unable to hide the anticipation.

"Promise to fly this safely?"

"You'll be safe." She promised, pulling a helmet from the table behind me and moving my plait over my shoulder. I watched her slip it over my head and glow behind the glass with information not dissimilar to a dive helmet.

"You said this is faster and I didn't even see the limits of your old one... Please don't test that."

"Me? Push the limits of a fusion cycle just for the hell of it?" She drawled with an innocent smile. "Never, Makayla. Just a cruising speed."

"You're so full of shit–"

She shut the visor over my face and a computer alerted me to my current location and speed of zero. Alex drew her own off the table and slid it over her head without delay.

I sighed and kicked my leg over the other side and gave her space to jump on. She touched the side of the helmet and I heard that amused voice inside the helmet.

"You know it's not too late to back out."

"Okay. I'm definitely out–" I quipped about to move before her hand caught me and she turned in place. She bumped the top of my helmet with the heel of her palm.

"Cruising speed. That's all this is." She said with a grin beneath the glass.

The fusion cycle suddenly growled low beneath us and I wrapped my arms tightly around her waist. "Then promise me you will!" I demanded, watching the hatch doors opening in front of us.

Her helmet shook.

"Can't."

"Why not?"

She chuckled, taking one hand off the handle and squeezing my leg.

"Because then I'd be lying to you."

"Alex–"

She kicked her boot into the gear change and the thrusters took us through the tunnel that looked designed more for land cruisers than it did for fusion vehicles. Lights flashed past my vision as the speed increased along with the incline. I grit my teeth and held her tighter. The low blue lights flashed faster until we were finally spat out of her base in a blur of motion and wind.

"Makayla, I promise you will be okay." She laughed, as the fine tuned machine took to the night sky faster than any craft I'd ever sat inside. My grip on her was unbreakable and I was sure anyone else would struggle to breathe by now.

"You–can't promise–anything dead!"

She took us in a quick arch through the line of fusion crafts and higher above the towers. In the brief glimpses I could get through the side of my helmet I noted the outer sectors more. The buzz of the night and the glow of neon that told us the night life was alive again. I trusted her ability to fly–hell she could fly a combat jet on her own but it was the damn speed and information that came at you all at once. Not to mention how exposed we were to everything else in the sky.

"Still alive back there?"

"You're doing your best to give me a heart attack but sure!" I quipped, pulling my head off her shoulder enough to see the disappearing glow of buildings and streets below us.

"Alex?" I ventured, noting the beginnings of clouds.

"Makayla?"

"I didn't think these had much altitude..."

"This one does." She answered, sending us faster into the night sky. I flexed my fingers and kept my body pressed close. "I also wanted to see just how far that was..." She added calmly.

"You're testing this? Now?" I demanded in a higher voice. "No–no Alex take us down–"

"Really?" She asked. "You're sure?"

"Yes! Take us down–I'm not seeing the limits to when we stop climbing!"

"Your wish, Xavier." She stated, before cutting the fusion engines entirely.

I felt the insides of my body drop along with every other sane part of me. She didn't.

She did.

The climb stopped and the fusion cycle dipped in the sky as gravity drew fast hands around us. Then we started falling.

"Alex!" I shouted into the helmet. She was insanely relaxed under my grip–no one could be sane and do this. "Alex! This isn't funny!"

The altitude flashed downwards from 7,000 ft in my helmet and a computer warned me about engine restarts. The winds tore past us like we were when we fell from a Falcon in the night. When she was insane enough to do that too–and I let her.

"You trust me?" Her voice came through, despite the rushing death as the cycle was tearing through the night in free fall.

"I trust you–just please stop! ALEX!" 

The city rose up to meet us rapidly as the weight of us and the cycle crashed through the sky without any fusion power to send it. I shut my eyes to it all as the city rushed us and my fear peaked. Then the sweet sound of fusion thrusters fired under us and countered the drop. I sucked in a deep lungful of air as I heard her laughter through the helmet. 

I slapped her hard across the helmet and she laughed harder.

"What. The hell. Is wrong with you?! You know I didn't want to see speed–and you drop us out the sky?" I growled, hitting her shoulders when the head wasn't enough.

"Hearing you scream like that is almost as good as the other version–"

"I'm going to kill you. In your sleep. Painfully."

She levelled our altitude and I finally felt what cruising speed was meant to be. All my energy had gone into my terror and I sagged against her back pressing my helmet between her shoulder blades. "I hate you." I mumbled.

"You see? It's not so hard once you try it." She said with a smirk in her voice.

"Or maybe I hate loving you. I can't decide yet."

"Hating me has never been this much fun. Admit it Xavier..."

I breathed more steadily as the wind blew more comfortably around us and the city lights gleamed like a million sea of stars beyond. I eyed the distance below.

"You think that was funny?" I asked carefully.

She sobered slightly and tried to gauge the new tone in my voice.

"Yes..."

"How high are we, Alex?" I asked casually.

"About 3,000 feet." She ventured, turning her head over her shoulder, "Why–"

"Enough to catch me?" I asked, loosening my arms around her. Her hand had never left the handle so fast as she grabbed the side of my leg.

"Makayla don't even think about it." She growled, with half her attention on charting a clear course above the buildings and on my body that relaxed around her.

"You're a pretty good pilot, Scorpion. I bet it wouldn't be so funny if–"

"You're not going to try anything." She stated, tapping the screen rapidly and having the computer confirm the autopilot.

I lifted both arms off her with a smile as she turned and caught the front of my jacket.

"Makayla! Stop!"

"I'd trust you to catch me." I drawled with a lazy smile under the visor. I leaned back further and she twisted in a fluid move to flick her leg over and face me directly in the seat. Both her hands grabbed my waist and stopped me in place.

"And you think I'm the insane one?" She demanded, pulling me forward.

I touched the side of her helmet and the visor came up. I did the same for my own until I could hear the rush of wind around us and her uneven breathing face to face. Those gold eyes burned into mine and I felt the fire deeper in my bones.

"Next time you want to scare the life out of me. You can expect it right back." I said over the wind.

Her expression darkened and she smiled back, "That's what this is? You're returning the favour?"

"Now you'll listen to me." I answered her, without breaking her gaze.

She appraised me seriously for a moment before she relaxed her grip on my jacket and I fell back. I didn't satisfy her with shock. I simply watched her back as thousands of feet and a metal fusion cycle separated me from a long drop. My back hit nothing but air before she stopped me. Her face neared me as the wind ripped a few strands of my hair loose.

"I would catch you."

The heat of her body crushed me against her. She made gravity break its laws.

I took the sides of her helmet in my hands and kissed her hard. I didn't want the brief promise of her lips. Not up here. There was nothing and no one to stop me from kissing her as much as I liked. She shaped her lips around mine before taking my lower lip like we were no where unusual at all. The only difference was the unbreakable hold she had on my body. It told me I was safer here than anywhere else. She would sooner let herself fall than let me slip an inch.

My legs were forced higher over hers as our distance disappeared and the fusion craft cruised in an unconfirmed destination. I savoured every press of her lips against mine and run of her hands as she held me close against her on the seat.

If it wasn't for the computer system warning of weather conditions changing I would have forgot our surroundings all together.

Alex kept her lips on mine for moment before breaking an inch back and kissing my forehead. She tapped her visor back into place and scanned the screen. I did the same and saw my breath fog the glass before it levelled.

"Lightning storms aren't great for flying." She said slightly breathless.

I smiled and secured my arms around her once more.

"Let's head back and you can cook for me."

She chuckled and took the front handles again. "By that you mean steal a bottle of wine and have the chefs make us good food on site."

"That works too." I smirked, thinking of eating back in our quarters with wine and Alex lying beneath me. "Didn't you learn anything from waitressing?" I asked curiously. 

"I learnt how to steal food pretty well." She noted, kicking the cycle into gear and sending us down at a more controlled speed. "What's your excuse?"

I laughed and tightened my hold on her.

"I had poison tasters, Alex. Do you really think I got the chance to cook it?"

"So we're both useless with food. Good to know."

The rain just started hitting our visors when we broke through the skyline and back into the noise and hum of the city building limits. Considering the speed she had just put us through this was slow in relativity. I couldn't even begin to imagine what she considered fast.

For some reason I thought of the warm metal pressed against my neck. I thought of what it meant to her past and what it meant as an object. Of why my dress was the same material. Why she chose that for me. I felt my face heating at the notion of it all. At the words that had been so carelessly thrown around when there was talk of merging political powers. Words like. Union.

"What's wrong?"

I flinched against her and realised my entire body was a signpost to my emotions when it was wrapped this tightly against her. I tried to relax it.

"Nothing." I said quickly. Think of a half lie–of something–

"Makayla..." She half turned. I turned her helmet back in place with my hand. She chuckled as we neared her base once more. "You will tell me."

"There's nothing to tell I was just thinking things through."

"What kind of things?"

I tried to think of a rational answer that did not involve words along the lines of union and ring and the meaning of such things–and her dismissal of such things, but perhaps that was because of who was involved–if it was on the subject of us...

The hatch doors opened to us and the rain suddenly died as we cruised through the tunnel. The lights flashed past my face again and she slowed us down until we could glide back onto the landing platform. I loosened my death grip on her the moment we touched the metal but she stopped me from escaping her completely.

She tore her helmet off and stopped my waist with her other hand.

"You tensed up like you'd been electrocuted. Tell me." She murmured frowning at me.

I felt my blood flash cold and hot at the same time. Those words were too heavy–too meaningful and too soon for them to leave unwarranted from my lips. How could I? We had just started to feel like us again.

She took my helmet off me so I had no where else to hide and levelled me waiting.

"Alex I... It's just." I breathed unevenly and felt suddenly far too hot in my own jacket. It only made her more concerned. She dropped her hold on my waist and leant back against the seat.

"It's too soon isn't it... We're not where we were–"

"That's not it." I blurted, taking her collar in my hand.

"Then what?" She murmured, "You look terrified..."

"That's because I am." I laughed humourlessly, avoiding her eyes. But she only tilted my face back up.

"Then tell me when you're ready... I'm not pushing you for anything–"

I sighed and pushed my hands onto her shoulders. Maybe a grip on her would ground me and stop my heart from beating out of my chest.

"I leave this and then I miss my chance to ask you and things happen..." I rushed out, steadying my breath. She waiting with growing confusion until I pulled the ring out from my neck and kept it between my fingers. She looked down at it.

"Did this mean something–I mean. Did you coincidently have that dress made the same way because you felt it... meant something more?" I got out hating the anxiety I held in my own voice.

"What do you mean..." She ventured, meeting my eyes slowly.

I stared back and lost the ability to find a follow up. I dropped it from my hand and let it hit my chest again. "Nothing. That was really weird."

She stopped me from leaving again. I sighed and looked anywhere but her face.

"Alex I didn't mean like that... I just wondered if it meant–something else."

"You wanted to know if it was a coincidence that I had a dress made for you from the same metal as the ring my mother wore?" She stated plainly. "Does it sound like a coincidence, Makayla?"

I swallowed and tried to think of something. Alex was good at defusing situations with humour–why the hell wasn't I?

"It's not."

I met her eyes and felt my heart beat erratically.

"Alright. That's answered my question." I got out.

She smirked. "Has it?"

I nodded and stepped out of her hold. "I was promised dinner and stolen wine."

"Maybe I'll ask you some more direct questions when you've been drinking that wine." She finished with darker promise.

I felt every nerve in me jump like a kiddy child that had just been given far too much sugar. I wanted to mentally slap myself for a number of reasons–predominantly the fact that she hadn't implied I was wrong to think something more of this... 

And because I was terrified of being right.