For the author of this prompt: ''police sirens''

I hope you like it

Unexpected consequences

Alex was sitting on a bench, overlooking the city, when he heard a tell-tale sound of police sirens in the distance. His interest piqued he started searching the horizon for its source, the same way people cannot turn away from a car wreck. He soon noticed the police car stopping between to buildings in the western part of the city. Absently observing the happenings under him he was unprepared for another set of images that stirred up in his memory as he recalled one of his previous experiences with those sirens.

His earliest memories connected to this unmistakable sound reached far back into his childhood, in a time before Jack's arrival, when it was just Ian and him. They were on one of their regular trips – that time to Vienna, Austria, so Alex could also brush up his language skills a bit – when he got to see one of the famous police cars up close.

He was waiting on Ian's return at their in advance decided on meeting place, a place he was supposed to go to if (or better when, if one made an educated guess based on previous occasions) Ian had to leave without any notice to take care of some business dealing. Now, many years later, Alex knew that those meetings were none other than the missions Ian was sent on and that he only took Alex with him when he thought them uncomplicated (simple surveillance for an hour or two, passing on some information or packet, that sort of things) and not about to pose any serious danger that could have befallen Alex when he would have been doubtlessly left to his own devices. Their Vienna trip was one of such missions and therefore he thought nothing of leaving Alex alone in the park near the Opera House in front of which they were supposed to meet up again in half an hour. However, as he realised soon after, he had severely underestimated not only the difficulty of the mission assigned to him but also the extent of Alex's adventurous strike and the plots kids come up with when there's no one to rein them in. The case with Alex was that he was just in the phase when he was absolutely fascinated by all sorts of vehicles that came in packet with loud and shiny lights. Therefore it shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise as it did when Alex saw an empty police car (the policeman had to attend to some urgent matters and left the car unattended without even bothering to protect with anything more than by closing the door) and immediately viewed it as an ample and extremely rare opportunity to see one up close, therefore an irresistible opportunity.

He carefully approached the car (putting all Ian's recent lessons in stealth to good use – although they weren't used in the way they were meant to) and after some more careful maneuvring while keeping a close eye on the policeman that was still nowhere in sight he successfully secured his new position on the driving seat of the car. He managed the whole ordeal without anyone noticing and was, therefore, basking in the feeling of success and smugness at having one-uped not only the policeman but also Ian who had ordered him to stay out of trouble, but what Ian didn't know didn't hurt him, noted Alex, not letting such thoughts deter him from his goal.

However, his eyes soon started roaming the vehicle across many buttons, all at arm's length, in search for the one, that could turn on the infamous sirens. He finally found it and in a moment of recklessness pressed it without thinking. He smiled victoriously, completely unaware that his actions had just set off a series of events that no one anticipated.

Meanwhile with Ian

Ian was impatiently glancing at his watch. His contact was supposed to be there already. He was getting incredibly annoyed. Firstly, he had to cancel his plans to take Alex on a hiking trip to the Alps during which they would also make several stops in all the countries it cross in order to complete a mission and now that incompetent fool he was supposed to meet couldn't bring himself to honour the arrangement by coming to the meeting place on time and was wasting his precious time with his nephew. He already saw Alex less often that he would have liked due to the demands of his job and had started seriously considering hiring someone to take care of him during his absences.

Lost in thoughts he contemplated leaving and telling Blunt that mission was a failure, letting the other deal with the ramifications of it (especially since it wasn't at all that important of a mission, and he felt he was sent there just because he was between the missions at the moment) when he sensed some movement coming from behind.

He was just about to turn around and tell the other to stuff his message when the newcomer lunged at him with a knife. Immediately adopting fighting stance Ian barely avoided having his throat slit and started fighting back. He was at a severe disadvantage, his opponent was heavily armed and he couldn't have risked Alex seeing him wearing any weapons (not that he expected there would be a need for him to have it on him) when he heard the sound of police sirens nearby. His opponent swore and left after one last swing at his chest that left him with a long wound and ran off. Ian quickly followed his suit, it wouldn't do for everyone to find him in such a state, especially in such proximity to the police. Taking care of his wounds (covering the most obvious ones) he swiftly headed towards the place where he was supposed to meet with Alex but stopped at his tracks at the sight that opened in front of him.

There was his nephew, sitting in a police car, with a policeman trying to persuade him to leave a car, as he didn't want to use force on a child. Ian didn't know whether he should laugh, cry, berate Alex or thank him for essentially saving his life with that stunt. He settled on acting as a good citizen, approaching the car and making Alex aware of his presence. His demeanour changed immediately, he climbed out of the car and came to stop next to Ian with a seemingly chagrined expression that didn't hide the mischevious spark in his eyes. Ian just sighed and prepared for yet another talk to the authorities regarding one of Alex's many stunts. He managed to put on a concerned face and refrain from laughing for the duration of the conversation, despite it being very hard as he couldn't get rid of the image of the officer trying (and failing) to persuade Alex to leave his car. He performed tremendously and only let his true feelings out when he let Alex off without at least grounding him for his foolish action. Needles to say it left Alex very confused.

Back to Alex

Alex fondly reminisced over Ian's reaction and remembered how, many years later, he got to know the whole story about Ian's business, and how his stunt actually saved his life from Tulip. Good memories.