Ian Rider was excited, though his training schooled his features otherwise.
"Alex, come on! We're going to be late!" Jack Starbright yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
Immediately Ian's thirteen year-old nephew came barreling down the stairway.
Alex himself looked more excited than his uncle.
"And has every right to be," Ian thought proudly.
Today was Alex's first Karate match of the year. He would be going against one of the top students in the class (beside Alex himself).
Shane Adams. Alex was not on good terms with this older boy either. They hadn't liked each other from Alex's first class and they had demonstrated their hatred for each other countless times. Ian found himself having to pick Alex up early from his Karate lessons early more times than not because of their fighting. Ian also had to argue it out with Shane's father quite a few times. Their Sensei finally got wise and kept the two of them away from each other as much as possible. But now, with the tournament being set up how it was, they had no choice but to put the two boys together in a match because of their rank.
"Ready to go?" Ian asked as his nephew bounded up to him already clothed in his uniform.
"Absolutely," Alex replied as he followed Jack and Ian out of the house and into the car.
Ian smiled contently as they drove through the narrow streets of London. Both of they Riders were only half listening to Jack's insensate talking and half listening to the rock song that was blaring though the speakers.
It was peaceful. Something Ian wished he had more of in his life.
Soon enough they arrived at the karate building where the match would be held.
Ian quickly whipped the car into a parking place, then the trio filed out of the car and made their way up to entrance of the building.
"Alex? I want you to be careful out there, okay?" Jack ordered in her 'no nonsense' tone.
"I'm always careful, Jack," Alex replied with his cute little smile that he knew had won Jack's heart over.
"And remember to keep your head up," Ian reminded, gently giving his nephew a tap on the top of the head for good measure.
"Got it," Alex nodded as he knew this was his one weakness.
They entered the building which had mats spread out on the floor with people already sparring on them.
Soon Alex and some of his karate friends spotted each other and he sprinted over to join them on the mats.
"Well it looks like it's just me and you," Jack said, giving Ian a playful shove.
Ian out a friendly arm around her shoulder, "why don't we go find us a couple of good seats?" He suggested.
They frustratedly weaved in and out of crowds of people trying to find a suitable place to sit. Luckily they were able to find two seats located on the front row.
Soon the announcer came on the intercom and started the matches.
Jack pulled out a nutrition bar and began munching away on one while they watched the matches take place, and they waited anxiously for Alex's match to start.
Jack looked over at Ian who was watching her eat the fruit bar in awe.
"What?" She asked through a full mouth.
"How can you eat that?" Ian asked blankly.
"What are you talking about?" The American asked completely perplexed.
"That nutrition bar. How can you possibly stomach that? It tastes like sugar and fruit on a piece of cardboard," Ian stated.
"You're one to talk, Ian. Have you seen some of the things you eat? Always something healthy. Would it kill you to eat a cheeseburger from Mcdonalds?" Jack said, once again taking digs into his healthy eating habits.
Ian unfortunately didn't get to put in his reply because the intercom announced, "Our next match is between Shane Adams and Alex Rider."
Jack and Ian's attention was now fully on the mats before them as they watched Alex and Shane approach either sides of the mats.
Their Sensei ordered them to come forward, they bowed to each other then to their Sensei, the older man backed off the mats and motioned for them to begin fighting.
Ian watched Alex's every move. His nephew was good, but Shane Adams was just as good as he was, there was no doubt about that.
He continued to watch the kids before him score points on each other one by one. There was not much more time on the clock and both boys points were tied. And both Alex and Shane were getting more and more calloused in their hits. No doubt both of them would have some pretty nasty bruises.
Suddenly Shane brought a hard kick to Alex's stomach sending him crashing onto the mats behind him. The blonde haired boy slowly got up, and they resumed fighting.
When there was less than thirty seconds left on the clock Ian watched in dread as he saw Shane kick and strike Alex right in his left temple. His dread turned into horror as he saw his nephew's eyes roll into the back of his head, then fall to the ground and land in a heap on the mats.
Ian immediately flew out of his chair and to Alex.
"Alex? Come on now, wake up," Ian commanded, making sure he was still breathing properly, then proceeded to shake him gently in a failed attempt to wake him up.
"The paramedics are on their way," he heard someone say to him in a tearful tone. Jack.
Ian sat down onto the mats and picked Alex up so that his upper body was resting on Ian's.
He began talking to Alex in another attempt to get him to wake, while Jack squatted down beside them and ran a comforting hand through Alex's sweaty blonde hair.
Ian heard a pain-filled groan escape the boy's mouth.
"Alex? I need you to open your eyes," Ian said quietly.
He sighed in quiet relief when he saw chocolate blonde eyes meet his.
"My head hurts," Alex said in a whisper.
"I know, we're gonna get you to the hospital to get checked out, but you have to stay awake for me," Ian urged.
And as if on cue two paramedics made their way over to them with a gurney.
Ian gently picked Alex up and placed him on the gurney and the paramedics took over.
"Are you his father?" One of them asked as he checked Alex's pupil's for dilation.
"No, I'm his uncle," Ian replied, not taking his eyes off the boy.
"What's his name?" the other paramedic with red hair asked.
"Alex Rider," he answered.
"Are you riding with us to the hospital?" the first paramedic asked as they started moving to the ambulance with Alex.
"Yes, I am. Jack will you follow in the car?" Ian asked, noticing that Jack was still at his side.
"Of course, I will. Hand over the keys," Jack said, but she had already reached into Ian's pocket and retrieved the keys before he could even make a move.
She was gone before Ian could turn around.
As they filed into the ambulance he heard Alex's voice groan out, "I feel sick," and one of the paramedics swiftly grabbed a bag for the boy to empty his stomach out in.
Ian could only run a hand through this nephew's hair as he watched the paramedics work and his nephew in pain
"Alex, I need you to stay awake," the red-haired paramedic said urgently, shaking the boy as he noticed he had started closing his eyes.
"m' tired," Alex slurred out.
"We know and you'll get plenty of time to sleep later, but now you have to stay awake for us," the man said gently.
"Mr. Rider can you try to keep him talking and awake?" the other man asked as he pulled out a penlight to check Alex's pupils again.
Ian nodded and leaned closer to Alex head and began making him talk about pretty much nothing.
So much for this being a peaceful weekend.
Ian sighed as he pulled the car into their driveway at 9:45 P.M that night.
Jack turned around in her passenger seat to get a better look at Alex who had fallen asleep in the backseat, a nice bruise forming on the side of his left temple.
The doctor had ruled that the concussion wasn't as bad as it could be and that Alex could go home as long as someone was up to wake him up every two hours, along with the countless other concussion rules to abide by. And the symptoms to watch out for if the concussion got worse.
Ian stepped out of the car, and went around to Alex's side of the door and opened it up.
"Alex? Come on, we're home,"He said shaking the boy awake.
Alex groaned then slowly began to undo his seat belt. As he got out of the car and started to walk to up to the house he began to sway on his feet unsteadily.
Ian quickly caught him and wrapped an arm around him to keep him steady and together they walked to the house. Jack followed and unlocked the door to allow them in.
"Are you hungry, Alex?" Jack asked as he moved to the kitchen.
"Not really, thanks though. I think I'm just going to go up to bed," Alex said grasping the railing of the stairs and started up them.
Ian followed behind him to make sure he didn't fall down them. Once Alex was safely asleep in his bed he filed back down into the kitchen with Jack.
She had fixed him his favorite sandwich, with a glass of water to go with it.
"So are we going to split up the concussion checks?" Jack said munching on her own sandwich.
"No, I got it Jack. I was probably going to be up anyways. I'm still not completely over my jet lag," Ian answered, which was not a lie, he was on a 'business trip' for a week and a half in Bangkok and was still not completely used to the time switch.
"Well if you change your mind, wake me up," Jack said, kissing Ian on the cheek, then made her way up to her room.
Ian finished off the rest of his sandwich then made is way to the sitting room to watch a bit of television.
When it became time for Alex to be woken up, he slowly made his way up the stairs.
He found his nephew sleeping soundly, his hair mused in a way Jack would've thought was 'cute'. Ian sat down in Alex's computer chair and rolled it up to Alex's bed.
He shook him awake.
Alex groaned again as he opened his eyes blearily.
"Oh, I can tell already that I'm not going to like this," Alex said rolling over to get a better look at his uncle.
"Oh yeah, you get to see my bright and smiling face every two hours. Won't that be fun?" Ian asked in a very mocking tone.
Alex only groaned in response.
"Well lets get these concussion questions our of the way so you can go back to sleep...and then be woke up again," Ian said.
"Okay first of all; who am I?"
"My annoying uncle."
"Close, the answer I was looking for here was 'my amazing uncle'. But I'll let that one slide. Now how old are you?"
"Thirteen."
"Do you remember what happened to you?"
"Yeah, Adams' got in a lucky hit."
Ian smirked a bit at this,"Very good. Now this one's important; How do you feel?"
"Nauseous and a killer headache. But other than that, I'm just peachy."
"Good enough. Now you can go back to sleep. I'll see you in two hours, and I'll think of more stimulating questions by then," Ian replied, carefully ruffling Alex's hair.
"Great," Alex replied, snuggling back down into the warm comforts of his bed.
Ian sat back in the chair and put his feet up on the edge of Alex's bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping boy. Things were back, once again, to peaceful.
A/N- Just a little random one-shot that's been in my head for awhile, might be completely bad might not I never can tell with these. Lol, so let me know what you think!
And by the way; I have no idea if that was anything like a real karate match, I looked up what I could but didn't get much. Just that you score certain points for striking certain parts of the other person's body.
So if I was completely wrong I'm sorry. I only took beginners karate when I was like twelve, but I never entered a match.
R&R please!