Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider...
02: Home
"These fallen heroes represent the character of a nation who has a long history of patriotism and honor - and a nation who has fought many battles to keep our country free from threats of terror."
~Michael N. Castle
"Welcome home!"
Alex rolled her eyes as she climbed the steps to Ben's house. She still had a bit of difficulty doing so, but she was much better than she had been in the previous week.
"Good to be back," Alex commented, throwing herself onto the couch that she had previously claimed as hers. She stretched out, reaching for the remote control to the television. Flicking through the channels, she settled on a football game.
Ben headed to the kitchen, calling out, "I've invited a couple of… friends over. I hope you don't mind. We made plans a month ago."
Alex raised her head to look at him quizzically, "Who are they?"
Ben had his back turned to Alex, but she could hear the awkward tone in his voice, "K-Unit. I haven't seen them for half a year."
The silent please was incorporated.
Alex contemplated on what to do for a moment before settling on, "I'm your cousin who thinks you're still in the SAS. I lived in Liverpool for four years, then moved to Chelsea, which is why I don't have an accent. I used go to university in America, but I got kicked out because I kept on badmouthing a professor- Professor… Whitehall. I decided to visit family, since we're close. My parents – my mum was your mum's sister – died in a car accident three months ago."
Ben didn't question the seemingly random statements, "Is that all?"
Alex grinned a little, "The name is Bond. Alex Bond."
He let out a chortle, "That's inconspicuous." Alex picked up on the underlying sarcasm.
"Fine," she folded her arms in a teenager-ish fashion and huffed, "Alex Watson. Like John Watson, but Alex. And not John B. Watson, the guy with Little Albert in Psychology."
Ben chuckled a little, "Sure Al, whatever you want. If you're really craving 'Sherlock' so much, I'm pretty sure they're playing a rerun on one of the channels."
"So specific." Alex muttered, not bothering to change the channel. She turned back to the game, cheering half-heartedly as a player made a goal, "When are they coming anyway?"
There was a pause as Ben checked his watch, "Soon. Probably in the next ten minutes."
Alex sighed, but nodded, "You're not cooking are you?" Although Ben could make edible food, it always tasted like dry flaps of cardboard – no matter what he was trying to make.
"Pizza," Ben called, picking up the phone, "How does California pizza sound? And pepperoni?"
Alex waved her hand lazily to let him know she didn't care.
Five minutes later, the doorbell rang. Ben jumped up, saying, "I'll get it."
Alex followed him anyway. Ben tapped something on the wall and a screen flickered to life. No doubt it was Smithers' work. A security camera showed the man outside, waiting patiently with four boxes of pizza. Ben tapped the screen again and the imaged changed. The man was now a skeleton. X-ray.
When Ben was satisfied that the man did not have any weapons, he opened the door and paid the man.
"Smithers?" Alex asked when the door was completely shut.
Ben tapped the screen again and it shut off, "Yeah. I can't keep it on because it sends out x-rays. Radiation is bad."
Alex sent him a look that clearly said 'I know'. A year ago, she had gotten tangled up with a mad scientist who had decided to experiment on her. She now knew she had a blood type of AB+, had a BMI of 18.8, and was allergic to Chrysanthemum.
"Right, sorry." Ben grinned a little, heading for the kitchen. Alex lingered at the door for another second before heading back to the couch.
"I'm going to put this stuff away." She gestured at her rucksack. It was filled with clothes, though she didn't have much.
Ben acknowledged her statement with a short, "Up the stairs, last bedroom on the right."
Alex made her way up the steps. Her right leg still seemed to be a little stiff. She ignored it as she found the right room and collapsed on the bed. The room was small, but Alex found it cozy. The walls of the room were painted a shade of mint green. The bed covers were brown, like chocolate. She found that it looked sort of like a mint chocolate ice cream scoop.
The doorbell rang again and Alex made her way to the window. There was one. She felt a surge of gratitude when she finally noticed why Ben had given her this room. The window was far from the bed, and from the vantage point, she could see the people in front of the door.
Four men stood, waiting for the door to open. Alex recognized three of the four men. Wolf was the most prominent, with his dark hair and narrowed eyes. He had large, squared shoulders, much like the other three men. The man standing next to Wolf had copper-red hair. Alex couldn't see much of him, seeing as Wolf was mostly covering him. She remembered that Snake was the one with red hair. Behind them stood another familiar muscled man. He had light brown hair. As if sensing that she was watching him, the man turned, scanning the rooftop. Alex ducked out of the way. It was Eagle, the sharpshooter. When Alex tentatively looked back, he had turned back to the rest of unit, seeming to be talking. The last man beside Eagle was unfamiliar. He had dark brown hair and a serious expression on his face. He seemed to be batting Eagle away.
Ben opened the door a fraction of a second later, letting in the four soldiers. The four loud soldiers.
"Fox, man!" Eagle, "How've you been?"
Ben was quieter as he answered, but Alex could still hear his voice drifting into her room, "Fine. And you guys?"
"Great!" Eagle replied, just as Snake responded, "Horrible."
Alex could hear the amusement in Ben's voice, "Why?"
Wolf now spoke, his husky voice, a growl, "We were in Iraq. Didn't see any fighting. Just the sun and a lot of sand."
"Yeah," Ben laughed now, "I've been there. Not your ideal place for a vacation."
"Who's here?" An unfamiliar voice questioned, "I saw someone in the window. I think."
Alex poked her head out of the door. When she deemed it was safe, she crept down the hall and the stairs.
Ben sounded impressed, "Yeah. My little cousin is here. She recently got kicked out of University in America and decided to crash here."
"Wow," the man said. Alex could faintly hear an American accent in his voice, "Which university?"
Alex was behind them now, Ben facing her. She grinned mischievously, before wiping the expression off her face, "University of Pennsylvania. Not my first choice, by the way."
The unit spun around, wearing identical horrified looks on their faces, their hands shooting to their waist, where their guns were probably stored.
"Chill, SAS dudes," Alex didn't bother to put a trace of an American accent in her voice. She hadn't been there long enough anyway, "I'm Ben's cousin. Alex."
Wolf recovered first, his glare quickly sliding onto his face. It was weird not to see him without it, "Wolf. Unit leader."
Eagle rolled his eyes, grinning, "Eagle, but you can call me Evan. I'm the sharpshooter."
"Nice to meet you, Evan." Alex said coolly, fighting off a grin. Who knew K-Unit, the mean, muscular men, had normal names?
"Snake. Medic," was Snake's short introduction. Alex just nodded.
"Lynx," the last man said, "communications."
"Pleasure." Alex smiled faintly, making her way towards Ben, who slapped an arm around her shoulders. She shrugged it off and waved a hand, "Do whatever you must, SAS men. I'll be watching football."
Grinning to herself, she waltzed away from the group and collapsed on the couch, her right leg throbbing slightly. She was overdoing it. Maybe she should take it easy.
"We're going out after we eat." Ben called over to Alex, "Hope you don't mind."
Alex looked up at him lazily, "Sure. You're not my babysitter."
Ben sent her a look that clearly said 'you want to bet on that?'
"I'll be fine." Alex promised, smiling innocently at him. Ben sent her another suspicious look before nodding. He grabbed the boxes of pizza, making his way to another room, where K-Unit was busily chattering. He didn't even leave a slice for her. Twat.
She watched the football game until she heard the heavy tread of the soldiers file past her and the front door slam with enough force that she wondered why it didn't break.
Alex turned off the television, tiptoeing to the window to watch them go. She suddenly felt like a little child, doing something wrong.
Once she was satisfied that Ben and K-Unit was gone, she carefully slipped on her trainers.
She was going home. Just for a while at least.
A/N: Tell me how it was! Another impulsive chapter post... I'm supposed to be studying for a Spanish test haha. I was going to post this on Friday or Saturday, when I usually post, but as you can see, that didn't happen.
I didn't expect this to get three reviews! And so quickly too! -squeals-.
Reviews:
xxarxx: Thank you so much!
Ceriarcher: Thanks! Haha, at first, I wrote this with Alex being male, but the thing is that I totally ship Alex with like... everyone. Lolol, no joke: Alex/Wolf, Alex/Ben, Alex/Eagle, Alex/Yassen (stopping now LOL). Yeah, but I feel uncomfortable with a male/male pairing, though I have nothing against homosexuals. I made Alex female just in case I wanted to pair her with someone later on!
Guest: Thanks for you review! I think I finally uncovered a small plot forming in my brain... I searched for hours.
Please tell me what you think (preferably nicely lol). I shall now eat some of these unfinished Valentines' day candies. The sad thing is that the candy was for my mum from her patients... Yeah. I have no one to loooooooove...
JUST KIDDING. I HAVE YOU GUYS. AND CANDY. AND ICE CREAM. AND MY VIOLIN. DID YOU KNOW MY VIOLIN'S NAME IS RORY? I NAMED HIM AFTER RORY WILLIAMS FROM DOCTOR WHO. OR RORY POND. TAKE YOUR PICK
As always, please review, favorite, follow yadayadayada (wtf is that lol). I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
-Alice