When the pair entered the kitchen all eyes watched them warily, but once they saw Ian's arm around Alex's shoulders they're faces relaxed some.

Jack gave a sigh of relief, went over and wrapped them both in a hug.

The trio stayed like that for awhile, this time ignoring the eyes on them. Then, Alex's phone went off, which was laying on the kitchen counter, he had forgotten it in his rush to get to school that morning.

(1)But Alex's regular ringtone didn't go off but, to his embarrassment, "Best Friend", by Toy Box(2) started blaring.

'He's my best friend, best of all best friends, do you have a best friend too? It tickles in my tummy, he's so yummy, yummy, hey you should get a best friend too,'

"Tom," Alex said simply, remembering that he had seen his friend messing with his phone the day before.

Ian laughed, "Alex, is there something you need to tell me?"

"Yeah," Alex grumbled snatching up his phone, " Tom's a moron."

Already knowing who it was with out glancing at the caller id he pressed the 'accept' button on his phone and asked, "you know that's not funny right?"

"You're just mad because now everyone around you are laughing at you right now," came his friends smooth retort.

And he was right, looking around he could see everyones smirks. Even Blunt looked like his face was on the verge of showing the emotion of laughter.

"But seriously though; Are you leaving again?" Tom asked sadly.

"No. Well, yeah, but not for the reason you're thinking. Well not completely. Look it's really complicated," Alex stuttered, not knowing what to say, "Tom, hold on for a second."

Alex put his hand over the speaker and took the phone away from his face and said to know one really particular, "He's my best friend. I can't just leave like this, with no explanation. I owe Tom that much."

He hoped someone would understand and speak up, but the person he wasn't really expecting to was Ian. The man who never seemed to have friends, not that he was anti-social, but that he was reluctant to have any acquaintances outside of 'work'. Alex understood that perfectly now.

"Tell him to come over and we'll explain it to him while you and Jack are packing. You know how long it takes Jack to pack anyways. We have some time," Ian reasoned.

Alex nodded and put the phone back up to his ear, "Tom can you come back over hear for a minute?"

"Er, sure, I'm on my way," Tom said, confused. And then the line went dead.

Tom never did bother with formal goodbyes on the phone.

Ian nodded, "Alright Alex, Jack, you both need to go pack, while we wait on Tom. We do have some time but now all day. We risked enough time waiting on Alex to get out of school."

Alex felt weird being told what to do by a male authority figure that he actually trusted again, but nevertheless he followed Jack up the stairs to their rooms.

As soon as the pair reached the top, Jack engulfed him in a huge hug.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think. Though I could still be in shock," Alex joked....kinda.

Jack let Alex go, " I know what you mean, it feels like this has all been a dream. Well actually a nightmare. But it's over now. Ian's here, maybe now things can get back to normal."

"Yeah, maybe," Alex said dully, not being able to wrap his head around having a 'normal' life again.

Jack noticed, because she gave him a reassuring pat on the back, before retreating to her room to pack up some of her things.

Alex followed suit and headed for his own room.

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"Rider, Crawley, , and I are going to leave you in the capable hands of the K-unit. We have to get back to headquarters," Blunt said as he stood up to leave, Crawley and Jones following.

Ian, leaning up against the door frame that Jack and Alex had just disappeared into, only nodded at his boss (maybe soon to be ex-boss).

"We'll be looking forward to hearing from you again soon," Blunt commented lightly.

"You might hear from me again, but not Alex, not after this," Ian stated firmly.

And with that the three people walked out of the Rider house.

"Mike? There's another teenager coming in, spiky, black hair, a little shorter than Alex, names Tom Harris. Do me a favor and make sure he gets in okay," Ian said as he turned to go help Alex and Jack bring their stuff down.

"You got it Ian," Snake replied to the retreating mans back.

ARARARARARARAARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARAR

"What's gonna happen to all the stuff we don't bring with us?" Alex asked, noticing Ian had walked in, and was sitting on the edge of his desk.

"MI6 will put everything into storage until we get everything settled," Ian replied, watching Alex drop clothes unceremoniously into a big black duffel bag. "Like he always did when he was packing," Ian thought.

So much and so little had changed about his nephew in the time that he had been gone. Ian knew Alex was hurting inside from all the unexpressed emotions he kept bottled up. He knew a lot about what had happened on Alex's missions, he had demanded every file from Blunt he had on Alex as soon as he heard what Blunt had sent Alex into.

Seeing his only uncles shot up BMW, that he had supposedly died in.

Seeing the Russian general commit suicide.

Seeing his Godfather, betray all the Riders, then die.

All the people,good or bad, he had seen die.

"But that's just it," Ian thought grimly, "he's seen too much. And that's just the mental pain. You still gotta count all the physical stuff he's been through."

And he felt more than a little responsible for it. Maybe if he wouldn't have trained Alex so soon, Blunt wouldn't have bothered with sending Alex in. Or maybe he would've done it anyways, and got Alex killed immediately. Ian would have surely murdered Blunt on the spot, if that had happened.

"Ian?" Alex asked, snapping him out of his thoughts, " Are you okay you kinda spaced out."

And indeed he had, Alex already had his things together, ready to leave.

"Yeah, I'm fine just thinking," Ian answered.

Then, suddenly Snake appeared in the door way, "Ian, Cub, the kid is here. He's in the sitting room."

Ian raised his eyebrows at Alex, "Well that was quick."

"Tom's parents are finally getting divorced. But now their fighting over everything, and even throw Tom into their little disputes. He probably sprinted over here, anything to get away from his parents," Alex explained sadly.

"Well it's about time those two got a divorce they've been fighting for years," Ian said remembering seeing them at Tom and Alex's football games, arguing on the sidelines, not paying their child any attention.

"Well go in there and explain it to him. But do be gentle, people randomly coming back to life isn't something you just cope with," Ian warned, "I'm gonna go help Jack." He added hearing her mumbling about how her suitcase wouldn't zip.

Alex grabbed his two bags he had thrown together and made his way to the sitting room.

"Alex what's going on?" Tom demanded as soon as Alex entered the room, where he had been impatiently waiting.

Alex sat down on the couch beside Tom and tried to think of a way to begin. After a moment, Alex noticed that Tom was staring intently at him, making Alex more than a little uncomfortable.

"What?" he finally asked.

"You look relieved. But that's usually not an expression you see on your face when MI6 has just been in contact with you," He commented.

And Alex couldn't really deny it. He did feel like a weight had been lifted. Ian was alive, he wasn't alone anymore. And more importantly, MI6 couldn't use him anymore. Maybe he was finally safe again.

"Well Tom, you know how you were told that my uncle had died in a car crash at school?But that had actually been a lie. And then I told you that he was actually shot?" Alex asked.

"Yeah," Tom said slowly.

"Well that's really only partly true. He really was 'shot' it just didn't, uh, kill him," Alex stuttered. This was hard! And Tom wasn't even related to him. How do you tell somebody something this crazy without sounding completely mental?

"What are you talking about, Alex?" Tom asked, more confused now than ever.

Alex sighed. He should have known the subtle way wouldn't work with Tom.

"Tom, Ian's alive," Alex said bluntly, " He didn't die, he was captured by SCORPIA. MI6 found him, accidentally, and he's now upstairs helping Jack pack," Alex continued, casually slipping in the word 'pack'.

"Very funny Alex now seriously, what's going on?" Tony asked not taking him seriously. And Alex didn't blame him, he did sound nuts.

"Oh, come on Tom you believed he was a spy, but now believing his dead uncle is actually alive is so hard to believe?" Ian asked, as he trudged down the stairs, carrying one of Jack's overloaded bags awkwardly on his shoulder, to avoid his injuries.

"Ian? What the hell?!" Tom said jumping up from his seat and backing up into Alex, who had also stood.

"Funny, that's nearly the same reaction Alex had," Ian commented lightly.

Alex looked at Ian who had dropped Jacks bag on the floor, "What happened to being gentle?" He asked.

"Well that wasn't exactly working was it?" Ian countered.

Alex smirked and turned to his friend who was staring at him and Ian like they had both grown five heads.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked.

"I-yeah, I guess. If you are, I mean after all it's your non-dead uncle in your sitting room, not mine," Tom said, then as if it had just now hit him he asked, "Wait you and Jack are packing. Why?"

"Well SCORPIA is more than likely looking for Ian, and probably me as well now," Alex answered simply.

"So you're going to have to leave," Tom said sullenly, "Will I see you again?" He asked.

Tom had a feeling a day like this would come, no matter how much he had tried to convince himself otherwise. Tom might not be that smart in school, but he made up for it in common sense. He could put two and two together. Alex's father hadn't made it out of the spy business, and Ian....Well whatever happened to Ian couldn't have been good, and he didn't want that to happen to best friend. So he understood if it took his friend leaving to keep himself safe, he was all for it. No matter how saddened he was because of it.

"For awhile at least, but if everything works out we might be able to move back to Chelsea, or close to it at least. And as soon as I get a chance, and it's safe I'll call you," Alex reassured.

"And Tom you shouldn't notice them if their doing their jobs right, but if you do, I'm gonna warn you; MI6 is keeping an eye on you too. Just in case," Ian threw in.

Then, the door to the kitchen came open and the K-unit came in, "Are you guys done? Cause we really need to get going," Snake said.

"Yeah, I think we're done. Tom, can you give me a hand with Jacks bags?" Alex asked, as Jack stumbled down the stairs with two more bags.

"I'll help you too, Cub," Eagle said as he shot forward, grabbing the heavier bag with ease, leaving Tom with the two lighter ones.

Tom, stopped in his tracks, and looked at Alex, "Cub? You told me the SAS didn't give you codename!"

"Would you want someone to know that your codename was Cub?" Alex retorted, grabbing his bags and walking out, with Tom and Eagle following suit.

"If you think that's good, you should hear the other one," Eagle hinted.

"Eagle!" Alex shouted as they reached the black Hummer H3 (3) and tossed the bags into the trunk.

But Tom and Eagle ignored his protests, "There's more?" Tom asked, smirking at Alex.

"Well his official codename was Cub, but most of us got into the habit of calling him Double-Oh-Nothing," Eagle said over Alex's groan.

Tom nearly dropped the bags he was carrying because of his uncontrollable laughter.

"Great, thanks Eagle," Alex said sarcastically, leaning on the car, while waiting on everyone to file out of the house.

"Well, I better get going. I guess I'm gonna head to the park and play football with the guys. What do I tell them?" Tom asked, throwing the bags he was carrying into the trunk as well.

"I don't know, tell them Jack got a job out of town. Yeah, that should work," Alex reasoned.

He watched as Ian came out of the house with a hat pulled low over his head, presumably to not be recognized by old neighbors. Jack followed closely behind him, she was obviously very happy that Ian was back, and alive.

The rest of the K- unit filed out last, closing the door behind them.

"I guess I'll, uh, see you later, Alex," Tom said awkwardly. How do you say goodbye to your best friend?

"Yeah, but hey, I'm gonna call you. And as soon as this while thing dies down, we'll see each other again," Alex said more to himself than to Tom. He was his friend, his confidant. Alex knew he wasn't going to be judged when he confided to Tom about something. He didn't want to lose that. He refused too. Him and Tom were too close, like brothers.

"Alright Alex, I'll believe you. Do me a favor though? Try to stay out of trouble," Tom sighed.

"I'll do my best," Alex promised.

Tom started to walk off, before turning back and yelled, "Bye Cub! I'll miss you Double-oh-Nothing!"

All Alex could do was smile and shake his head sadly.

"Ready?" Jack asked, resting a hand on Alex's shoulder.

When he nodded they all filed into the Hummer, it was snug but the big vehicle fit all seven of them.

As the car started moving, Alex looked back at his house of fourteen years.

So it was decided, that part of his life was over. He was moving on.

A/N- Wow. Okay enough people reviewed that said they wanted this as a story. I don't know how good it's gonna turn out but I'm gonna do my best.

But this chapter won't have MUCH action in it. It's more of a Rider-family-remembrance their will be flashbacks of Ian and Johns life as Ian's telling them to Alex. But you never know, I'll probably put in some action scenes....I mean what's an Alex Rider story without some action? Lol

And sorry for the slooooowww pace of this chapter I'm very disappointed in it. But Alex needed to say goodbye to Tom, you can't just leave without telling your best friend goodbye. So don't get too discouraged if you didn't like this chapter too much, it should get better.

(1)- this had NO relation to Prone2dementia's story A Small World. I had already wrote

it but hadn't posted this chapter yet and when I read it in her story, I PM'ed her and explained it too her so she would not think I was stealing her beautiful scene, because her story is amazing I laughed the whole time.

(2)-Best friend by toy box is an amazing song! If you haven't heard it yet you really need too! I know I put alittle part of it in the story but it's more funny when your listening too it.

(3)- A Hummer H3......SHOULD fit all everyone. But then again that's coming from my friend so if it doesn't fit everyone I'm sorry. You can blame it on my friend, it's all his fault! Or you could just pretend someone had to ride on the top of the car. Haha.

Anyways let me know how you like it!...Or didn't.