Max and Phoenix :The end

A/ N: This is the final chapter of their storyline. I had so much fun crafting their common past. I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

Xxxxx

Max didn't come back. He couldn't possibly come back to Phoenix after he nearly killed her. The whole moment was nauseating. He tried to convince her to leave his side and not participate in his vendetta and she ended up saying things that made him angry. The assassin hurt him with her dismissal of his personal tragedy and he couldn't contain himself anymore. He wanted to silence her, make her pay for insulting him and killing her came to mind. She looked at him, ready to die by his hand but the defiance in her eyes snapped him back to reality. Max couldn't do it, he refused to kill her so he left the motel room.

Phoenix chose to stay in that room and used her goggles to spy on the compound that was a couple miles away. Max and she decided that the best moment to attack Cesare and his men was the night, so she spent the day eating burgers and thinking of last night event and what it truly meant to her. She went too far, she was aware of that. Nobody in their right minds would accept the verbal abuse she forced on Max last night. She could have driven the point differential and was now wishing she had done that instead of trying to dismiss the man's pain. He lost his family and his pain was still very real, very palatable and she stomped on their memories without any regards to them or how it would make him feel. Then, he did try to kill her and she welcomed it without a fight.

Her neck recovered from his strangling. She still had the marks of his fingers on her skin but she didn't mind much. Those would heal but the damage she inflicted on Max would not wear off. As she was laying on the bed, waiting for the moment to move, Phoenix leaned her head against the headset of the bed, clenching her fingers at the thought of her behavior. Yes, she acted that way because she felt insulted that he tried to save her. Phoenix felt she was beyond redemption and always told him so. She had blood on her hands and while she didn't regret taking the lives of the crooked and criminals, she did have some serious regret about taking the lives of innocent victims. All the people she had killed regardless of their age and gender.. all those people who shouldn't have been dead were dead by her fault, their blood was on her hands, so dying in itself wasn't such a bad idea. She tried to take her life so many times since she wiped out the organization that turned her into this monster to being with. She tried, so what was one more try?

Her eyes closed as she leaned her head a little harder against the headset. Max was special. He was opening up to her just like she was to him. He went past her defenses and got close to her in ways many people couldn't. She let her fingers run over her plump lips, remembering the taste of his when he kissed her. Her eyes opened and she realized that her heart was aching at the thought as well. Phoenix felt her heartbeats get faster at the thought that maybe, just maybe she actually cared about Max more than she wanted to admit. Her eyes started to look from left to right and she cursed under her breath. «Shit! Shit! It's not true! » It wasn't ! she wasn't attached to Max! It couldn't be! She put her feet on the floor and pushed herself at the edge of the bed, her eyes were still wide open at the realization that actually yes, she did care about Max a lot more than she pretended to. Him leaving, not sending a text or giving her a call was more stressful than tonight's mission. Him leaving felt like a loss, it felt like losing Phaser the first time around and she hated that feeling.

She kept cursing under her breath and felt tears fill her eyes. Why was she like this? Why did she have to push him away after all that happened between the two of them? Did that mean she was beyond repair? Did that mean she was unable to actually build a life for herself? A life she could be satisfied with? What did Max have to do with her ability to find happiness? She couldn't breathe.. she started to take deep breaths and looked left and right, unfocused, unable to stop. Her heart started to beat faster and she ended up screaming. She held fists of honey hair in both hands and started to cry. It was indeed a loss, Max left to never return because she pushed him way too much, way too hard. How could she do something like that to him? Her tears kept rolling on her cheeks, warm, bitter like her heart at the thought that maybe, just maybe, she did actively sabotage herself.

Deep down, she knew that sticking by Max was her way to tell him that she cared for him and wanted to give him the support she thought he needed. Neither of them was good with emotional support, neither of them could give the other what they truly needed. Max needed to snap out of his vendetta before it killed him for good. He needed to give himself a fresh start and mourn for his family's loss. He should have but he couldn't. He allowed anger and despair to take over him, hence why he decided to avenge his family but with his body that dropped on his wake, he sunk further into his pit of darkness with no possibility to get better He was destroying himself but there still was a sliver of hope and he found it in Phoenix. She understood him, she was as broken as he was and yet, she was still trying to do the right thing. He felt guilty, for a brief moment, when he asked her to come with him when she wanted to stay in Boston. She had started to turn on a new leaf, saving lives rather than taking them and he took her with him in his spiral of darkness. He had her kill people again and pushed her in this path. He did that.

But she made him smile again. She made him laugh again. She made life better for him and it scared Max. It scared him because when he looked into Phoenix eyes, he saw a potential future. He saw himself outgrow his vendetta and actually invest in the future, believes in the future and that couldn't happen. It felt like betraying his family and himself. So he had to distance himself from her, push her away so she would return to a better life and to having a shot at redeeming herself by doing good.It didn't work, obviously but it wasn't just because of the way he said it, or the moment he chose to say it. It also didn't work because of her dire need to die and pay for her crimes. Part of him believed that she did it on purpose, rile him up so he could kill her. Better die by the hand of the one you love than one you hate, right? Right? Wait...Did he just assume she loved him? Or did he know already? Max couldn't say. He felt it, the connection between the two of them and the ways she looked at him, talked to him, touched him. He could tell she was attached by the way she kissed him, the way she said his name... They never had sex, they never went as far as a couple of kisses because she still had issues with being touched but they didn't need that to establish how attached they were to one another. They were. He was and coming to realize that he nearly killed her horrified Max. It made him think, it made him leave.

Standing in a room filled with broken pieces of furniture and in tears, Phoenix looked at the compound where Cesare had been hiding and glanced at her watch. It soon was the time she and Max chose to start their assault on Cesare. She cleaned her face with the back of her hand, vowing to herself that she would still carry Max' mission and eventually would meet him there. He wanted answers Cesare had so it made sense he would still go there and kill the man himself after he took the information he needed. She wore her white spandex suit she was infamous for, started to gear up and when she was ready, she looked through the goggles one last time and noticed suspicious movements towards the compound. Intrigued, she left the motel room and went on the rooftop where she would have a better view of what was happening and would have an easier access to the compound without being seen. She heard gunshots on her way to the rooftop and started to run to get there faster. What sounded like an actual raid gone wild. Once on the rooftop, she used her goggles to have a better view of what was happening and noticed FBI vans. She blinked and knelt on the floor as she realized that the feds were called in. Max called them, otherwise, they wouldn't be attacking at the same time the two of them agreed on.

Why did he do that? She sat on the floor, coming to the realization that her journey was abruptly stopped there. She couldn't go further with Max, he wouldn't be back. She couldn't help herself but sob, hard. Her tears kept rolling down her eyes as she realized that this was it. It was over. All she could do now was to move forward and think for herself once again. She would have to come back to the life she left in Boston, helping people again now that her appetite for Death and Destruction was sated for the moment.

«Damnit! Damnit, Max! What did you fucking do? »

She kept repeating, running her hand through her hair. What did he do? Did he actually save her life? Max liked to think he did. It became obvious that the only thing he could do to prevent Phoenix from wasting her life would be to tip the feds on Cesare's whereabouts. They would come and stop Phoenix from actually dying. He wouldn't need to physically be there when that would happen, although he actually did. Because he wanted to make sure she would not be stubborn and actively get herself killed. He hid well, on the rooftop of the building next to the compound and watched a distraught Phoenix, cry out of anger and confusion. He didn't expect her to nor did he enjoy it, but at least she was alive and she didn't try to stop Cesare by herself. At least she was alive and she would return to her old life. He watched as she kept cursing him and cry ugly and watched as she calmed down and just sat there in silence. Allowing Cesare to actually escape from him -he got arrested which at least gave Max a possibility to visit him later on and question him- and be handed out to a system he didn't believe in, was Max' way to actually move forward, try and not let the abyss suck him in. It was a tiny step forward but at this point in his life, he would have taken anything.

« We'll meet again Phoenix. » -He whispered to himself, turning on his heels and leaving the rooftop as he was now certain she survived the night. -

It was the end of their adventure together and both knew that despite taking different paths and being deprived of one another, they both gained something. He did, he found Hope again. He saw a glimpse of what his life could be, once he got his revenge and Max knew he would hold onto that thought. He would hold onto the idea of finding Phoenix again and building something with her. Someday...Maybe. She gained something too. She found parts of herself, of the woman she truly was. With Max she wasn't a fake identity, she wasn't pretending. She was herself, her true self and he unknowingly helped her accept that part of her life, at least, helped her begin to. With Max, she started to have Hope, yes, Hope for a better life. Hope for redemption. She considered a life by his side, something new and sweet with someone who understood and didn't judge her. It felt like a dream but she intended to go back to Boston and work hard to make sure it became true.

But was it an end?

-THE END-

Max and Phoenix: The night before the carnage.

A/N: All usual disclaimers! everything BUT Max belongs to me. Max belongs to a friend. A bit graphics.

xxx xxx

Weeks went by since Kara Morgan's rescue. Kara herself survived her OD and recovered enough to become a key witness in Cesare Marconi's traffic. She knew everything and started to cooperate with the Feds in order to stop the new drug's traffic and take it off of the streets. She also worked closely with the FBI to track Cesare and put him away for good. Phoenix recovered as well, quite fast given Max excellent stitching skills. She was quickly able to help Max in many ways like before, including fighting off and wiping out mob circles. Now that she saved a life, she had no qualms about killing again. Max and she worked tirelessly and after months of chasing down Cesare -who was pushed away by the feds- they finally located him. He was hiding in a small motel complex at the border with Mexico. He was planning to cross the border during the night and escape from the FBI.

It was going to be a stand-off, a pure carnage. Max was determined to kill this son of a bitch but he knew that the feds might have been tipped off too and might intervene.

Phoenix found him near the window, a cigar in his mouth as he was trying to smoke his frustration off. She had cleaned her guns and knives but paused in order to talk to him. His blue eyes looked at her, hard, empty and tired. Ever since he began his vendetta against the people who killed his family, Max never really stopped. He kept looking for clues and leads and was burning his whole life on each side of it. She tilted her head to the side and put her hand on his shoulder. He shrugged and wrapped his larger hand around her slender one. His leaned into her touch, his head rubbing softly against her arm. She planted a kiss on top of his head.

« Are you sure about tomorrow? » -He shrugged and shook his head-

« Not really. » -She crouched and looked up to his face. Her hand cupped his cheek and gently stroked it.-

« Talk to me. »

They could still cancel it. Tomorrow didn't need to happen.Max didn't have to die. It was a risk to take, of course, him getting killed in order to avenge his family and him taking so many risks just to have a piece of information about the murder of his family. What if Cesare didn't give it to him? He could very much keep his mouth shut and all of this would have been for nothing. Phoenix was aware of that element and she mentioned it to Max a while ago. He decided to keep going despite knowing there was a risk he didn't get what he wanted but now that it was close, His perspective changed. His worn out blue eyes looked at her and his large hand cupped her soft cheek.

« We might die tomorrow. » It was a declaration, it unphased her and she lifted a brow.

«So? »

« Are you sure you want to die for a cause that isn't yours? » He asked again, his hand still stroking her cheek. She looked away for a brief minute, her eyes staring at the wall and focusing on that wall for a minute. « I know we have already talked about it and I know what you said. »

« Then you know what I am going to say right now. »

She insisted, her hazel eyes now staring at him. Her gaze was cold, piercing like two arrows and it made him swallow hard. She was determined, always had been. She followed him in his crusade against the people who wronged him in order to avenge his family. She followed without many complaints. She followed without a word, to be honest, and it didn't sit well with Max. She had skills, he couldn't deny that, but she could put her skills in service of her community, of the women in distress in Boston like she had tried to do in the last couple of years. Her going with him, following him in this dark endless pit of darkness wasn't what Max wanted for her.

« Phoenix... » She leaned into his touch, eyes half closed as she relished in the rough sensation of his fingers against her cheek. « I don't want you to die for a lost cause. »

« Idiot... » She kissed his wrist and stood up.

Max wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a hug. The assassin wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and leaned her chin against the top of his head. He leaned into her, feeling her comforting weight against his. He wanted to say something witty about being able to touch her when not so long ago they were sleeping with pillows in between them. She grew close to him enough to allow this kind of intimacy and he grew close enough to accept it from her as well. She glanced past the window, to the compound a little further away from theirs. It was Cesare's and Phoenix was already calculating the outcome of tomorrow. She had studied the place, listed her arsenal and had several potential scenarios in mind about how things could unfold tomorrow. They had one chance out of 20 to come out alive and not apprehended by the FBI. Was it worth the try?

« I feel like I'm repeating myself over and over again.....I know he has a vital piece of information for me. He had a name. I need a name to keep on investigating. »

« I know... »

« I need to confront him tomorrow. I need to crack his skull. I need to kill this son of a bitch... » He repeated, exhaling smoke again.

« I know... » She repeated, her arms wrapped tighter around his shoulder.

« But then there's you. » He said, looking up at her face. She sighed deeply and pulled away from him. Her hands were on each side of her waist and she growled lowly.

« We're not doing this again. Max... I AM A KILLER. That's what I fucking do. I kill people. I'm an assassin.I have been all my fucking life! Let me CHOOSE the reasons I spill blood. Let me choose the way I fucking die. If we do die tomorrow, then so be it! Okay? SO BE IT! I'll get to die to fight for the right cause. »

« You could do BETTER than that! This is not your fight! This isn't your family! This IS NOT YOUR LIFE! » He was trying to push her away for reasons he didn't fully understand. Remorse maybe or maybe it was the fact she had a potential future. Maybe it was the fact he didn't want to have her blood on his hands? Maybe it was the fact... maybe it was the fact...She was pissed off and Max looked at her eyes turn into fire and fury.

« So what? Your family wasn't special! Your family was one of the many families I had decimated. Yeah! Yeah! I went there! » She said, furious against him. Max's eyes grew wide as she spoke, her venom stung harder than if she had stabbed him in the back. « Your wife and kids are just ONE story. One of the many stories I am responsible for. I kill people since I was 5 years old. What else do you want me to say? I remember every kill, every name, every face and every way I ended people lives. It's right there in my fucking mind! I close my eyes and I see the blood, the guts, I hear the screams and the cries... I hear children at night..as old as I was or younger that I killed without remorse because I was told to. Your family is a couple of names I scratched on my ledger. Stop treating them as if they were special. Stop acting as if you were special. »

He couldn't take it anymore and grabbed her neck. Her eyes grew wide as she felt the lack of air. She didn't struggle that much, instead just pushed his chest away from her as if she was encouraging him to strangle her. He used his other hand, grabbing her neck harder, clearly suffocating this woman who insulted him. His eyes were a thin white line as anger took over and he held tight, strangling the assassin who insulted the memory of his family in order to spark a reaction from him. Just like that, he could have snuffed her life and the realization that his words were hypocritical hit him hard. He kept holding her neck, urging her to fight back but she didn't, she let her hands fall on each side of her body and looked at him with a judgemental gaze. See what you're doing ! See how hypocritical of you it was to dare say « I deserved better ». it shocked Max who released her neck and watched her fall onto the ground, coughing as she finally felt a rush of fresh air into her lungs. He nearly killed her and the horror of the moment, coupled with her resignation and determination to die had him leave the motel room to clear his mind. He couldn't come back, not now.. not until his mind was fresh and clear.

-TBC-

Max and Phoenix: Stitches

Max and Phoenix: stitches

xxx

A/N: Ah.. these two. Finally talking about the elephant in the room without actually naming it :p All the usual disclaimers! Max belongs to my friend M. and Phoenix belongs to me.

xxx xxx

Max, once they arrived at his apartment, helped an injured Phoenix walk into it and sit on the couch. She leaned her head against the headrest of the couch and looked up at the ceiling. She wanted to know if Kara made it but knew that she should not go the hospital and take the risk of being busted by police or even walk into a trap. Whatever happened from now would, either way, be a victory against Cesare? Kara would have died if she didn't intervene and if she hadn't then her death would have fueled Phoenix need for revenge. Saving her thwarted Cesare's plan to come legit or at least try and win the hearts of his target audience. Saving kara was saving a little bit of her own soul. Even if Kara died now, Cesare would have lost an asset. 

Nevertheless, she realized that Max sacrificed a perfect opportunity to get Cesare. He came to her and rescued her from a certain death. It became crystal clear as soon as she entered his car and she couldn't shake her guilt off of her mind. Cesare was Max's end goal. He wanted to find him and make him pay for what happened to his family, so she realized how big of a sacrifice he actually made to save her life. Her eyes grew wide and she looked at her hands and injured knee. Max walked around, she didn't pay attention to him and instead moved her leg away to take a better look at her injury. After a while, Max finally puts a stool in front of Phoenix and sat on it. He grabbed her leg and poured some alcohol on a large cotton disk. She looked at him, chewing on her bottom lip as she anticipated the pain He started to clean the wound, making her hiss at the sensation of the stinging alcohol on her torn flesh.

« Max.. max... » She began with before Phoenix rolled her eyes and bit her bottom lip.

« You're used to worse. C'mon, don't be a baby. » He said with a chuckle before he stroked her smooth leg. « Considering what you went up against, it's great you didn't get more injured. »

« The toughest job I've ever had to do...keeping someone alive,... » She sighed and leaned into the couch. « I'm a killer... that's what I do. Saving Kara....if I have saved her... »

« You did your best. You saved her back there, from the OD, from her bodyguards. Don't be so hard on yourself. » He said as he'd cleaned up the whole leg area from her blood. He pushed himself a little further so she could rest her whole leg on his and he used a wet towel to clean her leg from all the blood that rolled down her soft skin.

« If you say so... »

She said, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't convinced that she did enough to protect Kara but he was right about something, she at least... tried. She hissed again and watched as he grabbed some needle and some surgical thread to start stitching her up. She glanced at his hands, working fast and steady on her leg and stitching her up quite fast. Max was right, she had been hurt in way worse ways before and endured extreme pain, this was almost like a peck on the lips and she didn't feel much. As he worked on her leg, the brunet looked up at her face, seeing guilt she didn't want to express just yet.

« Maybe we can talk about the elephant in the room? » He said, putting the final touch on his stitches.

« Which elephant? » She asked as she rolled her head to the left. « Oh... you mean that one. » She said, looking back at Max.

« Yeah. I mean that one. I know you've been trying to say something since you got into my car, so say it. » Phoenix pursed her lips into a pout and watched as he put her leg back on the floor now that he was done stitching her up.

« You didn't have to come back to me. » Phoenix finally said, her voice barely hiding her guilt as she spoke.

« Of course I had to. » He countered and sat on the couch next to her.

« You didn't have to. I had it under control. You.. you helped me and Cesare escaped you. It was a-- »

« I chose to come back. »

« It was a one time opportunity! You could have killed this son of a bitch instead of coming to my res...help »

« I /chose/ to come back. » He repeated but she grew more agitated and sat straight on the couch.

« I don't care! You let him run away and what for? »

« I did it for /you /! I chose to come back for you! It was a suicide mission and you know it more than I do. I couldn't let you die.»

« What the fuck? »

She was dumbfounded by his words and looked at him with eyes wide open. Max scratched the back of his head and growled, unease at his own words. He admitted that he decided to go back and find her rather than let Phoenix handle the rescue mission on her own. Of course, he knew she was a very capable assassin, he heard about her reputation, he saw her in action. He just couldn't live with himself if she simply died while trying to do the right thing. Her hazel eyes stared at him, almost getting wet from unshed tears as she didn't understand what his words implied, or maybe she did but refused to acknowledge it. He cupped her left cheek to make her stop moving and stroked the soft skin with his thumb. Phoenix was shaking, internally screaming at what she'd just heard. He gave up his one shot at revenge to save her life? He did it for her? Because he wanted her alive? Why did he want her alive? She looked confused, scared even but his hand on her cheek was soothing so Phoenix held his hand there, leaning into his touch while she kept giving him questioning looks.

« I did it for you. » He repeated again, cupping her other cheek. « Because I couldn't live with myself if you had died back there. I couldn't. I refused. Do you understand? » She nodded softly and then shook her head.

« I do. I think I do.. I'm not sure I fully understand why you did this Max. I'm an assassin...I have so much red on my ledger... I deserve to die. » She looked down and shut her eyes tight. « Are you saying you care about me? That you couldn't let me die because you care about me? » -He lifted her face so she would look at him and nodded-

Max wasn't ready to say too much, these kinds of things took time and he wasn't even sure of how he truly felt for her. All he knew was that holding her face, being in front of her, being sure she was living and breathing was enough to put his mind at ease. He knew she would have done the same, how many times did she come back to save his ass when they were working together? How many time did she put herself in danger just to ensure his safety? She would have come back to him just like he did and he would be in her shoes wondering why she did that when she didn't have to. His heart was beating faster in his ribcage and he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. Her lips were still trembling but she nodded as he answered her truthfully. He cared for her and because he did, Max came back and saved her from a certain death. She rubbed his hands and gently pressed her lips against his inner wrist.

« You would have done the same. » He finally said, searching for confirmation from her. Phoenix nodded quietly and looked back to his face.

« I would have. I would have done the same thing... I would have come back for you too. I wouldn't be able to live knowing I let you die and I could have prevented it from happening. »

She finally said, collecting her thoughts and saying what she was the most comfortable saying. He grabbed the back of her neck and gently pushed her face closer to his, so his lips could crash on hers for a kiss he had been wanting to give her since she left him. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her as she laid on the couch. It was the first time she didn't stiffen against him, the first time she kissed him in such a soft fashion. Max made sure he didn't press his whole mass against hers and kept giving her small pecks, all the while stroking her cheeks. She sighed in the kiss and closed her eyes again as he rested his head against her chest and wrapped his arms around her waist.

« I will get Cesare. Missing this opportunity won't make it any less easy for him. I'll have another. »

« I'll help you. My journey with Kara is... » She picked up the radio that was playing in the background, talking about the events of the evening and how many people really got injured. Curiously, the only injuries that occurred were the ones that involved people being stomped on by running victims. Nobody died but there were many injured. Kara was said to have OD'd but thanks to a good Samaritan, she survived that night. They also reported the heavy presence of police to ensure the reporter's protection since it was common knowledge that the mob had kidnapped her, which made Phoenix sigh in relief and run her fingers through Max's hair. « Yeah.. just like I said, my work here is done. She's safe now... Cesare and the drug traffic need to be stopped...for good. »

« You need to rest up. You've done enough gymnastics tonight. » He said, planting a kiss on her chest and then her neck. He smiled at her and gently pulled away from her. « Are you hungry? » She nodded and rubbed her belly. « Gotcha. I'm gonna getcha burgers so you can have your fix. » He said, standing back up. « Phoenix... »

«Yeah? » She asked, tucking some black locks behind her ear.

« You did great tonight. »

She gave him a sheepish smile and waved her hand as he left the apartment. Now with herself, she leaned back on the couch and wrapped her arms around her waist. A lot had just happened in less than an hour and her mind was confused as to how to proceed all that information. She ran her fingers over her plump lips, relishing in the taste of Max. A smile crept up and she covered her face with her hand. How on Earth could she, an experienced assassin, find someone who actually cared about her to the point of coming back. She chuckled at her own situation and curled into a ball to a corner of the couch, falling asleep a little bit while waiting for Max to return with food. They still had a lot to deal with, but tonight eventually, they could rest some and enjoy what they had: Each other.

-TB C-