A/N: I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this. I have a couple of chapters lined up, and a few plot twists, but nothing definite. My first (intended) chaptered fic.

DISCLAIMER: I write fanfiction. By definition, I am therefore a FAN. This means I cannot own the Alex Rider series. But hey... If you enjoy paradoxes (is that the plural? Can't say it sounds normal) feel free to believe what ever you wish.

***

Alex was slumped in front of the TV, not really paying attention to the game show playing there. He figured it probably wasn't worth watching. He turned up the volume anyway, to drown out the raging storm outside. Jack had gone to bed hours ago, but he couldn't sleep. Something about the rolling thunder had put him on edge; it seemed foreboding. The lights flickered and went out. He swore mildly under his breath and ducked into the kitchen to find a candle and match. Despite the raucous climate, the silence within the house was deafening. He rolled his shoulders slightly, as if trying to rid them of an invisible weight, and returned to the living room, candle in hand. He picked up the book lying on the coffee table and turned to the page he had been reading, before becoming distracted by third-rate late night television. He was reading it for school, and he had to finish this scene for tomorrow. He had never really got to grips with Shakespeare, although he had to admit that Macbeth was a good play – once you had spent half an hour interpreting the language. He read the last two lines:

"Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell."

He dropped the book carelessly. There, he had read it. No doubt there would be a thousand subtle nuances and meaning that he had missed, but it was almost midnight, and he was too tired to care.

He was already on his way to bed when the doorbell rang.

"Who the hell would be ringing at this hour?" he muttered, equally annoyed and curious. He seriously considered ignoring it, but in the end his curiosity won out. He was a spy for a reason after all. Had been he corrected himself mentally. He wasn't one anymore. He was well out of that world.

Sighing, he stalked down the stairs towards the door. He pulled it open and blinked.

There was a woman there. She was soaked to the skin and it was obvious that her wet cheeks were not just due to the rain.

"Please…" she whimpered. "You have to help us. He told me that if we were ever in trouble we should come here."

Alex shoved his surprise and curiosity aside as he noted her white skin… and the little boy clutching at her dripping skirt.

He stood back, speechless, and motioned for them both to come in.

He led her through to the kitchen and sat her down, deliberately keeping his hands busy making a pot of tea while his head tried to figure out which question to ask first.

He decided in favour of the obvious.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Amethyst. And this," here she nudged the little boy forward. He really was the most angelic child. He had sandy blond hair that curled slightly around his ears and the bluest blue eyes that Alex had ever seen. "This," continued Amethyst, "is David."

Alex smiled and reached out a hand to the toddler. "He's adorable. Is he yours?"

She smiled and nodded, reaching out to run her hand through her son's flaxen hair. Alex sighed and pulled his finger gently out of the little boy's grasp.

"Why are you here?" he asked eventually.

"He said that if anything were to happen – after he was g-gone – that you would protect us. He said we could trust you to look after us. He said you were a good man, Alex Rider. Like your father."

Alex looked into her large, trusting eyes and asked is final question.

"And who, exactly, is 'he'?"

"Yassen Gregorovitch."

***

A/N: Please, sir, I'd like some more... so if you could just click on that little button that says review and feed me... :D