I know the Alex Rider books are predominantly action but I'm writing a romance. I just love Alex and Sabina together and I love writing romance so I put the two together and came up with this…

If some things don't match exactly to what the books say, then I'm sorry but I've tweaked things a little to fit in with the story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and any OCs.

Rekindled Flame

Alex Rider shifted around in his seat trying, and failing, to get comfortable. He opened his eyes and looked at the surroundings, the typical inside of a plane. Plastic walls, plastic windows and cramped seats. Thankfully he was sat on the aisle and so he was able to stretch his legs out and try and regain some feeling in the limbs.

"You okay?" Asked the redhead next to him.

Alex smiled at Jack Starbright and nodded, he was still in shock after what had been some of the weirdest days of his life, and that was saying something. Alex had had some pretty strange days but this one took the biscuit.

Flashback.

Alex sat on the brown leather sofa, his pulse quickening with every breath. Jack had said she needed to talk to him, seriously. That usually meant bad news and judging by the look on her face she had very bad news.

"Alex. I had a letter from your government, it seems there's a problem with my visa. I have to go back to America."

Alex's heart sank. Jack had looked after him ever since he could remember, he had no parents but she was the closest there'd ever been to a mum. She'd been there when he needed a shoulder to cry on after no-one would play with him on the first day of school, unlike Alex's official guardian. Ian Rider had probably been off on some death defying mission for MI6, that's where he had always been when Alex had tried to turn to him for comfort or love. But he had never been there, it had always been Jack mopping up the bloody knees after football and cooking the tea when he came home from school.

"No" Alex's voice was weak and Jack could see tears brimming in his eyes. It broke her heart to see him like this. She loved him like a son and knew he felt the same way.

"Let me finish Alex. I've had an idea, I'm not sure if you'll like it but I'm going to ask anyway…"

Alex could tell Jack was nervous. She was twiddling her hair, the way she always did when she was nervous about something.

"I've asked the right authorities and cleared it with everybody. But you, of course. What I'm trying to say is, wouldyoulikemetoadoptyou?" Jack said the last question so quickly that it came out as a blur of noise.

"Pardon?" Asked Alex, confused.

Jack took a deep breath and tried again. "Do you want me to adopt you?"

Alex just sat and gaped. Looking back on the situation he thought he must have closely resembled a goldfish, but at the time it was all he could manage! The news would not sink in, after 15 years of having no parents, to be told that he could have a mother within five minutes was incomprehensible. The thought was too big, too strange to even start to contemplate.

"Are you joking?" Alex managed to splutter somewhere between trying to restart his heart and remembering to breathe.

"No, do you really think I would joke about something like that?" Jack asked and when Alex shook his head she continued, "I've always thought of you as my own. We've spent so much time together in the last eight years, I've grown to love you as much as I would love someone of my own flesh and blood. We have been together through so many hard times I feel as though I am closer to you than anyone in the world." Jack stopped when she realised she was rambling.

"I cannot tell you how much that means to me. You have always been my best friend, my mum, my dad, my world." Alex said simply moving to put an arm around Jack.

"Does that mean you wouldn't mind it if adopted you?" Jack asked, looking up at the big brown eyes staring down at her.

"Wouldn't mind??" Asked Alex, incredulously. "I would be over the moon, hell, forget the moon, I would be over the sun if you adopted me. I love you more than anyone in the world, Jack."

At this point Jack was so overcome with emotion that she was incapable of speech, she just looked up at the face above her and burst into tears, enveloping an also teary Alex into a hug.

When Jack had calmed down enough to make sense she said "It does mean that you would have to move to America with me. Is that okay?"

Alex thought for a moment, in England he was known as the weird kid. The boy who alwys had illnesses and had to have time off school. In America he could be whoever he wanted to be. There was only one flaw in the plan. "What about MI6?" Alex asked, thinking of emotionless Alan Blunt and motherly Mrs Jones.

"I've spoken to them and they aren't too pleased but they can't actually do anything about it. the one way they were keeping you working for them was by saying if you didn't then I wouldn't be able to stay in the country, but if you move with me then that's not a problem, is it?" Jack replied.

"I suppose not." Alex nodded, "But I'd still like to talk to them for myself."

"Of course" Said Jack, "they gave me a phone number for you to ring when you'd made your decision." Jack held out a small slip of paper with a number on it.

"Okay, I'll ring them now." Alex moved over to the phone on the table and dialled the number.

"Hello?"

"Hello, this is Alex Rider. I'm calling for.." But he was cut off before he could finish.

"Yes, putting you through."

"Alan Blunt" Said the toneless voice of Alex's boss at MI6.

"Hello, it's Alex Rider."

"I know. I've sent a taxi to pick you up it should be there in about" there was a brief pause "28 seconds. See you soon." And the phone went dead.

Alex put the phone down and stared at it bewildered, sure enough roughly 28 seconds later the doorbell rang.

"See you soon, wish me luck" Alex said to Jack.

Jack just smiled weakly.

Back on the uncomfortable airplane seat Alex thought about his brief meeting with the head of Special Operations and his secretary. It had been unemotional and efficient. They had quickly come to the agreement that Alex would only be a phone call away if they ever really needed him. It was the best possible outcome that Alex could see. He knew they weren't about to let him walk freely out of there, never to be seen again. That's not how MI6 worked. And anyway, it might be useful to have an agent in the USA.

"I hope you'll like where I live" said Jack, smiling at her son.

"I'm sure I will" Said Alex "I've heard good things about LA."

Jack had legally become Alex's mother about 22 hours ago. But Alex secretly thought that she'd become his mother when she walked through the door of their house in Chelsea on a blustery November morning eight years ago. Jack had fallen in love with the little boy standing in front of her the minute she's set eyes on the toothy grin and big brown eyes. She'd also taken an immediate liking to Ian Rider, a good looking man with the kindest heart you could wish for. Jack had been hit almost as hard as Alex when the news of his death arrived.

"The school's good. I went there myself" Jack Said. They were moving back to Jack's parent's until they could find a place of their own.

"Sounds cool" Said Alex. "I've always wanted to move to America, I loved your accent" reminisced Alex.

Jack laughed and ruffled Alex's hair. The rest of the flight went smoothly enough, Alex read and watched a movie. After about four hours he finally fell asleep and didn't stir again until the voice of the captain said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts and return your tables to the upright position. We are about to land in Los Angeles, thank you for flying with us; we hope you had a pleasant flight."

Alex's stomach flipped in his body. This was it. The start of a new life. As Alex stepped off the airplane and into the sticky heat of LA little did he know that he was going to meet more than one old 'friend' in this new adventure.

R+R please.

Love Izzy x