A Cold Alpine Night

by Sir Aethelred

Set after the books, Alex and Sabina are put in a testing Situation.

Set after the books. Alex and Sabina are in there early twenties and both now working for MI6. The rest you can work out from the narrative. Enjoy.

Alex stepped out into the courtyard of the Castle, taking in a deep breath of the cold Swiss Alpine air as he looked around at the late gothic architecture draped in the latest covering of snow. He shoes crunching on the finely raked gravel as he took a few more steps out, stretching his legs after kneeling down in front of the safe for so long. He teased open the knot of his bowtie, while undoing his top button. Much better. As he let his hands come back down his torso he gently padded the breast pocket of his jacket, checking the diamonds were still there.

'Nice of you to make an appearance it the party Alex,' Sabina hissed, as she followed him out of the door. Alex turned, smiling back at her. She looked stunning, short cocktail dress, in a deep red, perfectly offsetting her brown locks and striking blue eyes. Every bit the girl friend of one of Geneva's top young businessmen, even if it was only a cover.

'The Safe had two redundant tumbler pins, took a bit longer than I expected.' He replied casually with a shrug of his shoulders.

'Well yes, but while you were off play international super spy, I was having to fend off the advances of the Hungarian Ambassador.'

'Oh come on Sabina,' he replied sweeping an arm around her waist, 'It's all part of the fun, all in the name of Queen and Country you know.' She quickly removed herself from his gentle embrace and walked towards the row of parked cars. Alex followed admiring the view of what was once his.

'So which do you fancy tonight, how about a Ferrari?' he asked as he gently let his hand glide across the bonnet of the 458 on the end of the row.

'Remember we are trying to make a quiet exit.'

'To brash?' as asked with mock surprise, before sliding into another smile. Sabina replied with a cold scowl.

You would have thought having the attentions of some of the most powerful men in Europe would be enjoyable, but then again things hadn't been going smoothly between the two of them since they had started doing joint missions. Don't mix pleasure and business, especially Sabrina Pleasure.

Alex's eyes fell onto the last car at the far end of the row, a 1968 Jaguar E-type coupe. The sweeping curves, the flared head lamps, the long majestic bonnet, the perfect harmony of British engineering and artful design. She was beautiful, almost as beautiful as Sabina.

He walked around the car to the driver's side door, running his hand along the body work.

'Come on Alex, can't you at least choose one with heating.'

Alex pointed to the number plate. Hungarian. A genuine smile crept across Sabina's features for the first time that evening.

There was a heavy clunk from behind them, and then a voice echoed across the courtyard.

'Mr Rider?'

Alex froze, he knew this had been going to well. He glanced up, the parties host and owner of the castle was standing in the pool of light being throw by the door they had just come from. Alex walked back towards the door, brushing past Sabina as he went, passing her the two picks needed to open the doors.

'Yes Mr Schmit, did we forget something?'

'Oh no, I was just hoping you weren't leaving so soon. I didn't get chance to get your view on the Canadian Diamond mines situation.' Alex slid his hands into his pockets, trying to take a casual stance.

'Unfortunately I have to be back in Geneva by morning, I have an early meeting with a client. I'm sorry that we couldn't stay any longer.'

'Oh that's a shame.' Alex turned to leave.

'Mr Rider, what about the Diamonds?'

Alex winced, scanned the courtyard for an escape. Sabina was already sitting in the car, eyes fixed on him, even from this distance he could see the tinge of fear in her eyes.

'Diamonds?' he asked, turning back to face Mr Schmit, desperately trying to keep calm.

'The mines Mr Rider.'

'Oh yes, they can only get better.' Mr Schmit smiled.

'Excellent, have a good evening, Mr Rider.' He turned and walked back towards the ongoing party, a footman closed the heavy door behind him.

Alex let out a deep breath and hurried back to the waiting car. As he slipped into the driver's seat and started fiddling under the steering column for the two wires to cross he glanced over at Sabina. she still had her hand wrapped around the grip of a small pistol.

'You weren't worried for me were you?' he asked with a smirk as the engine roared into life. She scowled at him again, replacing the gun in her clutch bag and turned to look the other way.

He gently let the clutch rise to the biting point before guiding the car out of the courtyard through the arch at the far end.

The sat in silence as the sped along the dark roads of the Swiss Alps away from the castle. He had done it again, he could tell. Pissed her off. Things were so much easier before when they didn't see as much of each other. Now all they seemed to do was argue about everything. He glanced across to look at her, the moon light picking out her features perfectly. God she was beautiful.

That's when it happened. He didn't know whether he had seen it out of the corner of his eye, or maybe it was just an instinct, but as he glanced back at the road ahead he saw a deer standing out in the middle of the two lanes. The rest was a blur, he must have stamped on the brakes and turned the wheel because the next this he knew they were facing the wrong way lodged in a snow drift.

He shook his head, clearing the buzzing sensation from his senses.

'Are you okay?' He asked, glancing over at Sabina. She was wincing slightly as touching the side of her head.

'Yeah I think so.' She replied.

'Here,' he motioned for her to turn her head so he could see the potential wound. As she did he gently ran his fingers through her hair at that point.

'No blood, that's always a good sign,' he said after a few second. He let his fingers linger there for a second, memories of how soft here hair was coming flooding back.

She raised an eyebrow slightly and he took his hands away, avoiding catching her eye.

He turned his attention to their predicament. He tried to open the door, but it was completely covered in snow and wouldn't budge.

'Any luck with yours?' he asked.

'Nope.' She replied when it wouldn't move either.

The windscreen was covered too.

'Looks like we are really buried,' she said after a few seconds.

'I think we must have gone through the bank of snow on the side of the road and into the ditch behind, the snow then coming in after us. No more than a couple of feet, but enough to trap us.'

There was a second's pause, before they both reached for their phones.

'I don't think this is going to be much help,' Alex said, lifting it up so she could see the broken screen. Sabina was silent for a few minutes as she sent a message to the contact they were meant to be dropping the diamonds off with in the next town.

Alex set about emptying his pockets of the rather bulky items he had used to crack the safe, and the diamonds from his breast pocket, depositing them on the dash.

'They will be here in an hour or so,' she said finally with a groan.

Silence consumed the small space for a few minutes as they let their own thoughts stew for a few minutes. Finally Sabina said something.

'You know if you kept your eyes on the road we wouldn't be in this mess.'

'My fault? If you had worn a dress that wasn't quite as revealing I wouldn't have been distracted.'

'Well sorry, I thought my job on this mission was to keep all the guests in the ball room. I wasn't going to manage that by singing now was I?'

'No but you didn't have to show quite that much thigh,' he replied motioning the hem of the dress which had risen up beyond halfway between her knees and hips.

She looked shocked. She slapped him, hard and on the cheek. 'I can't believe you.'

Alex swallowed his pride and looked away. An hour in what was little warmer than a freezer, another argument wasn't going to make it go any quicker.

They sat in silence again.

The seconds dragged by, one after another, only the occasional sound of one of them shifting in their seat breaking it, never looking at each other. It was then something struck Alex. Sabina was shifting around a lot more often than he was. He cautiously glanced across. She was sat, back to him, arms wrapped around herself, desperately trying to keep warm. It was a very thin cocktail dress after all.

He quickly took off his jacket and draped if over her shoulders. She shot a look of disdain at him over her shoulder and started to shrug it off.

'You will freeze in here otherwise.' She continued to scowl but let him place it back onto her shoulders.

He slumped back into his own seat, now very aware of how thin his own shirt was, but oh well.

'You know this is isn't dissimilar to the incident in the Sahara.' He was commented more to himself than her.

'Sahara was a hell of a lot warmer.' She mumbled back. He laughed slightly.

'True, but we were better dressed for it.'

'I was a tank top and a skirt that had more in common with a belt than anything else. I'm not convinced.'

Alex allowed himself a smile as he remembered.

'From what I can remember they didn't stay on very long though.'

Sabina shot him a look that could curdle cream before returning to glaring out of her window at the snow.

Alex frowned. 'I'm sorry, I sometime forget things have changed between us.'

'Well whose fault is that.'

There was another long silence.

'What did happen between us?' he asked at last.

She turned and looked at him.

'So you really don't remember?'

'No, I remember coming back from Prague and things suddenly being... well like this.'

'Oh so you don't remember Mrs Rotterdam then or that Russian call girl, or that Australian archaeologist.' Alex furrowed his brow.

'They were missions.'

'Oh is that what you call it.'

'Yeah, you're not the only one who has to seduce people for Queen and Country sometimes you know.'

'Oh so you're saying you didn't enjoy them then.'

Alex laughed, which didn't make matters any better.

'Of course not, Mrs Rotterdam I don't think had got any in a very long time, she couldn't remember how much tongue to use, so think how bad the rest of the evening was. That Russian call girl as you put it, was an ex KGB operative and slept with 9mm under her pillow, I've never been so petrigied about going to a bed in my life.'

'And the Australian Archaeologist?'

'Do you know how much archaeology there is in Australia? Well I certainly do now, since she didn't bloody well shut up about it for the whole evening. I didn't even get her bra off.'

That did make Sabina laugh.

'Oh the great Alex Rider, lover to rival Casanova himself couldn't get under a geek's bra.'

'See it's not all thrills and spills.' That made both of them laugh.

After a few minutes Sabina finally stopped giggling and they sat there looking at each other across the cabin.

'So she was the worst you ever had then in the name of Queen and Country then?' she asked.

'Probably, though I did once have to make out with Claire from the Embassy at Santiago to stop me being caught by a couple of guards for sneaking around the presidential palace. I have never met a woman with so little technique.'

'Not up to your exacting standards then?'

He laughed, 'No, not by a long way. How about you?'

Sabina thought for a second.

'Do you remember that Russian guard I lured away for you, so you could open up the doors of that secret listening station up in the Arctic Circle.'

'Yes,' Alex look puzzled.

'Well they obviously don't get much female contact when they are that far north, because he really didn't last very long.'

'I thought you just took him round the corner and clobbered him over the head?'

Sabina smiled that long seductive smile of hers. 'Oh no, you know how I get on missions, and you were too busy hacking the retiner scanner on the door to service me.'

Alex sighed and shook his head in disbelief.

'At least the body contact was warming, it was bloody freezing that day.' Sabina said as if stating any ordinary fact.

'Can't have been much colder than this though.' Alex replied, still getting his head around Sabina's revelation.

'True, but we weren't in formal evening dress were we?'

'Could always try the body heat thing though?' Alex had chanced his hand, he didn't know whether it was the biting cold that was even more apparent now he didn't have a jacket, or maybe it was all these memories of him and Sabina being dragged up that pushed him into it. But he had said it now.

Sabina frowned.

'You know, you can't just smile, and work your charm on me Alex. I know you to well.'

'Oh, I didn't mean like that, I just meant...' Alex stumbled over the words, going red. It had been an awfully long time since he had been stumped for words when he was with a woman.

'I know what you mean. But we both know where it will lead if I come over there and sit on your lap. And it will just make things complicated.'

'And they're not now?' he asked, looking back at her sapphire blue eyes.

She sighed, and looked away. Alex lent his head back against the head rest and closed his eyes. Great, first time in ages they were getting along, without arguing or sniping back at each other and he had ruined it.

He sensed a movement to his right and turned to see Sabina, rather inelegantly climbing over the gear stick and hand brake towards him. Before he had chance to say anything she had dropped herself onto his lap and began rearranging the jacket as a blanket over the two of them.

'I... er...,' Alex stuttered, wrapping his arms around her.

'You made a good point,' she said simply before rest her head on his shoulder.

It had been so long, he had almost forgotten how she felt in his arms. How right it felt. Her curves fitted him perfectly as they sat there in the dark. He could feel the warmth of their two bodies multiplying as they pressed together, so much better than when they had been apart.

They sat like that for a while, not talking. It was strange at first. They were both very careful about not moving too much, and where their hands rested. But gradually over time the old memories came flooding back.

'Sabina?' Alex broke the silence.

'Yeah.' She turned her head to look at him. Their faces were inches from each other.

'I don't want to ruin the moment, but is it just going to make things more complicated if I was to kiss you right now?' He edged closer to her.

'I don't think there is much we can do to make things more comp...' their lips met. Months of pent up sexual tension exploded in a moment of pure passion. Alex ran the tip of his tongue along Sabina's bottom lip, begging for entrance. As they parted his tongue encircled hers, making that ancient dance of lovers.

Her arms slid around his neck, pulling him closer as he let his hands lace around her back, pulling her body into him. She levered herself up, never letting their lips part, as she swung a leg across so she was straddling his waist.

His lips traced a line across her cheek and then down to her neck, where he covered it in tiny kisses, leading her to moan slightly, pulling herself harder against him. He let his hands fall down to her thighs, before running his fingers along the soft skin, and then back up under the thin fabric.

CRUNCH!

'Alex, Sabina. Are you alive in there.' The muffled voiced shouted from above them, followed by another crunch, a spade digging into the snow.

'Shit.' Cursed Alex as the two reunited lovers reluctantly pulled apart.

Sabina laughed, 'he always did have terrible timing.'

'Alex, Sabina.' The voice was clearer now.

'Yeah, we are down here.' Alex shouted back finally. Sabina was already moving back to her old seat, straightening her dress.

Soon they had been dug out, and were sitting in the back of the Land Rover their help had arrived in.

'Shall I drop you two back off at the hotel?' The rescuer asked.

'Err yeah if you could.'

As the 4x4 set off down the road Alex glanced across at Sabina, she smiled back that seductive smile of hers.

Authors Note: Firstly hope you enjoyed it. Secondly yes I do know there are a couple of inaccuracies, such as the air running out in a small space like that but I hope you will take them as writers licence.