Unspoken Love

Chapter 5

Alex was worried.

The word was infinitely better than others Michael could pick, but it didn't really encompass the distress pouring from the bond, the fear, the apprehensive, desperate need for Michael to be okay. And all he wanted was to just reach out and reassure him, take Alex in his arms and promise he was gonna be fine.

But if he didn't help himself, that was going to be a lie.

He do just about anything for Alex, including fight to live it seems.

He couldn't just twiddle his thumbs and hope. He couldn't give up either, it wasn't in his nature and Alex was...breaking in slow motion. Going to war hadn't broken him, neither had Jesse Manes for all both father and son thought he had. Alex was a survivor. But this? Losing Michael to death, that was breaking him.

Michael could feel the spiral happening but couldn't soothe it, couldn't pull Alex up until he was back awake and fine.

So instead of fighting to wake up, Michael remained in the liminal space deep inside his own head, trying to work out what was happening to him.

There was so much he had learned, discovered and for a little while that was what he focused on. He was ecstatic that Alex loved him and for the first time in a long time, he felt they had a chance to make a future together. And he was tempted to just focus on that. I mean who wouldn't be? The dream he thought he might never realize had become reality between what felt like 'one punch and a shot of whiskey' to quote Sanders. He's gone from taking time off to get his head on straight, hearing Alex's thoughts and freaking out, to a full blown bond.

With his soulmate - who he thought had moved on. Michael couldn't really comprehend how much Alex loved him but he couldn't deny its magnitude either, how devoted he was to him, even apart like they were now. Alex dreamed of the same future and Michael was more determined than ever to build it with him.

Of course the problem was that Michael was in no state to lift a teaspoon right now, let alone say marriage vows.

The energy hooks lodged in his head from the alien device were creepy remnants of the attack that caused this situation in the first place and Michael from the inside, couldn't work out if they were the problem. His core temperature was going haywire, his immune system was attacking healthy cells, his heart beat was irregular and his entire body hurt. His core power was weirdly stable with small fluctuations that had Michael nervous, in the same way small quakes often led up to big volcanic eruptions.

He didn't want to die again. Didn't want Alex to go through that for a third time, nor could he trust that Max would be able to save him without consequences. His brother's heart couldn't take it, he was sure and the cycle of die-resurrect hadn't fixed this problem, just put it off.

So rather than freak out, he decided to look at this like an engineering problem. Couldn't hurt. He wasn't doubting Liz, but no wonder in a bottle was gonna fix this, because the root cause was the alien device.

The obvious question was what the device was. That...he couldn't answer easily.

That Flint had the device in the first place was weird. Well yeah it is Flint, but why that device and where did he get it from?

Alex had obliterated Project Shepard over this last year, wiping records and ridding the world of Jesse Manes's influence and legacy. And...the tech wasn't Oasian but Flint mentioned seeing it work, probably in footage - hopefully not in recent times and personally observed - it didn't make any difference to Michael whether it was yesterday or in the Forties, those prisoners were his family, - but it would devastate Alex.