So I've had this chapter on my old laptop since like…early October. But this whole university thing put ff on hold. I'll try and update more often and I miss the AF section- it is the best of all the ones I have written for! But yeah, medicine ain't no walk in the park.


Alex, Paulo and Hex were sat in complete silence in the Brown's living room. Hex was cross-legged on the armchair, frowning at his palmtop and biting his lip in a manner that Paulo and Alex had become accustomed to. Paulo was flicking through a magazine, not really taking in anything he was reading; he was still tired from his plane journey. And Alex sat on the floor, checking the contents of his pack as though it were a daily ritual.

"You don't need that thing on this holiday," Hex muttered as he flicked his eyes up to Alex and then to his screen again.

"You must always be prepared." Alex said under his breath in a slightly evil, pathological voice. Paulo, who was lying on the sofa, looked up from his magazine.

"Well, if Zara comes that condom might come in handy-"

"I'm never going to hear the last of this, am I?" Alex asked no one in particular but both his friends looked up and shook their heads at him. "I don't get it," Alex said, putting down his pack, "everywhere we go Paulo flirts and chases skirt and no one says anything! I compare one girl to a fairy tale princess, and all of a sudden I want to sleep with her?" Paulo and Hex looked ashamed of themselves slightly for upsetting their friend before they grinned at him.

"Yes."

"Pretty much." They answered at the same time and Alex looked like he was going to shout before he took a deep breath and went back to attending to his pack.

"You're both nuts." He murmured.

"Come on, Alex," Paulo sighed at him, "we are only joking." As he finished his sentence they all looked around as they heard the doorbell ring.

"That's probably Zara," Hex said and stood up from the sofa. His hands moved with lightning speed as he bashed some keys on his palmtop and then turned the gadget off. Hex walked out of the room and Paulo and Alex followed him into the hallway. At the front door Hex turned to the other two. "Alex," he said seriously and the blonde boy gritted his teeth, preparing for another jibe, "I might like to make fun of you for it but try not to hit on her while she's here-"

"I don't want to-"

"And Paulo," Hex completely ignored Alex's protests, "just, don't hit on her OK?" Paulo thought about it for a moment before sighing in defeat and nodding too. "Good," Hex opened the door and the boys saw the small flecks of sleet shoot down from the night sky-

"About time," A figure pushed past Hex and walked into the hall, "it's freaking freezing out there!" Zara said and took off her hat, she looked around to the other two boys, "hello!" She said brightly, her fair cheeks bright red against the cold. She shook her hair to get some sleet from the parts that were not covered by her hat. In the coffee shop her hair had been tied back but now the boys were surprised at how long it was; jet black and waves that shimmered in the light of Hex's hallway. "I made banoffee pie." Zara said happily and handed it to Alex.

"Why did you bring pie?" He asked and she paused in taking off her coat.

"Well, if you don't want it," she went to take the box away from Alex's hands but he put it protectively up to his chest.

"No, we want the pie." He nodded quickly and she smiled at him.

"I am chilled to the bone," Zara whispered and threw Hex her coat to reveal a short white dress with grey flowers and thick, grey, woolen tights that reminded Hex of the ones girls used to wear at his primary school. "I want some tea," she said and walked through to the kitchen. "Does anyone want some?" The boys all shouted their thanks and Paulo turned to Hex.

"I thought you said she's a klutz?" He asked, "she seems pretty-" but Paulo was cut off as they heard a crash come from the kitchen.

"Yeah, that's Zara for you." Hex said and they all walked to the kitchen door and opened it. Zara was sat on the floor, looking at them all; she'd clearly fallen, they could see blood ooze through the tights on her left knee. Her shoulders shook and her bottom lip quivered as her big brown eyes glazed over with tears.

"Woah," Paulo said and went down to her, "don't cry."

"It really hurts," she said in a high pitched voice and Paulo knelt beside her, put an arm underneath hers and helped her up.

"What did you do?" Hex asked in a bored voice.

"Hex, don't be mean," Alex said as he walked past him, put the pie on the kitchen table and walked to the kettle. "Would you still like that tea?" He asked her sweetly and Zara smiled despite her pain and nodded.

"Hex is always mean to me when I fall over." She told Paulo as he helped her onto the kitchen counter where she sat and looked down at her knee.

"That's because you always fall over." He explained and she stuck her tongue out at him. "It's like dealing with a little kid!" He rolled his eyes at her and she simply smiled at him.

"We should clean it," Paulo said to himself and began to look for a first aid kit.

"Over there," Zara said and pointed to a kitchen cupboard next to Hex. Paulo went over to it, opened the cupboard door and began to rummage through it. "What have you guys been up to?" She asked and looked around at them; they shot her the same, bored, lazy look that she was used to receiving from boys when she asked this question. "So that's the standard don't-ask-questions-when-you-know-you-won't-like-the-answer look?" Alex shook his head.

"It means: not much." He explained and she nodded.

"Did you come straight from work?" Hex asked and went to help Alex find the way around his kitchen.

"Do I look like I'm dressed for work?" Zara asked in a dull, monotone voice. They all looked to her as she indicated her dress; usually at the coffee shop she wore all black. Hex shook his head. "I was in town, needed some bananas for my pie," she muttered and grabbed the bottle of TCP that Paulo was struggling to open, "I buy them, completely forgetting that I should also have bought cream," she handed him the open bottle and he smiled his thanks, "so I go back in to Sainsbury's, looking like a total prat, and buy the cream." She then opened the packet of cotton wool that Paulo was trying to master. "I make the banoffe, I leave the house, I arrive here, you three take my pie, I fall over and here we are." She finished and as she looked to Hex and Alex who were stood by the kettle, she yelped and grabbed her knee. "What is wrong with you?!" She shouted at Paulo who looked just as alarmed as she did and hit his arm before grabbing her knee.

"What did I do?" He looked to Hex for some kind of explanation.

"TCP?" Hex asked and Paulo nodded. "Oh," he sighed as he understood, "Zara's a wimp-"

"Am not!" She snapped at him, "it stings!" She complained to Paulo who nodded with a bemused look.

"It's TCP on an open wound. If it didn't sting, something would be seriously wrong." He said to her but found it was difficult not to laugh when Zara sniffed at him. "I had to cut through your tights by the way," he said and she looked down to her knee and nodded.

"Alright." She said with solemn determination, "I'm ready-"

"Would you like someone to hold your hand?" Paulo asked and she looked at him with a bored face. "No? Alright." He said and applied the damp cotton wool to her cut again. As she whimpered he found it difficult not to laugh. As she went through her torture the boys decided that ordering pizza was the best thing to do and she nodded her agreement. Paulo helped her down from the kitchen counter and they all went into the living room and dropped onto the sofas. It was strange, that Zara didn't seem to stand out in any way, she melted into the group of three boys as though she were another. Alex and Paulo guessed it was because she spent a lot of time with Hex and his younger brother. Soon, talks of dinner turned into suggestions of a good movie to watch and again the boys were surprised that Zara did not protest at their choices of films. And when Paulo asked her if she wanted to watch a more "girly" movie, she told him that he shouldn't use her as a means to get what he wants. She fit right in.


A few hours later, after a dinner of terrible junk food and a decent film, he boys stretched and figured they were ready for bed. Earlier they had agreed the sleeping arrangements but Zara had fallen asleep against Hex's shoulder and he didn't think it was wise to wake her. So he placed a pillow beneath her head and brought a blanket from another room to place on her. The three male members of Alpha Force gathered in the living room and looked over to her.

"She takes some getting used to." Hex whispered, "took me three years before I could have a conversation with her when I actually got to say something."

"She does know how to talk." Alex nodded.

"She's adorable." Paulo said quietly and Hex smiled.

"She's also awake." Zara said and sat up. "Can I just sleep here?" She asked Hex through a yawn, he nodded and she fell back onto her pillow.

"Alex is sleeping on the sofa next to you-"

"Brilliant." She said sleepily and waved a hand at Hex to be quiet. The boys left but Zara heard Alex fumble round the living room for a while as she drifted in and out of sleep. Eventually she opened her right eye a fraction and saw him sat on his sofa, a lamp on beside him as he rummaged through his rucksack. He looked over and saw she was awake.

"You don't mind the light, do you?" He asked and she shook her head. Alex was aware, as he kept looking through his bag that she was still looking at him. "Zara, how did you and Hex become friends?" He asked suddenly and she sat up slowly, "you're very different." She giggled and stretched.

"It was because of Ben." She said simply, "I was friends with Ben first and then," she paused, "he became very ill when we were only little." Zara smiled as she reminisced the beginnings of their friendship. "I was scared, Hex was scared but no way near as scared as Ben was." Alex knew that Ben was an asthmatic but never knew the full story; Hex didn't like to talk about it very much. "So while Ben was in and out of hospital, I ended up spending more time with Hex. I used to be dropped off here after school and Ben and I would play but when he wasn't around, Hex looked after me, I guess." It was the slowest Alex had ever heard her talk and slowly his arms moved to his side and he stopped searching. "Then, when Ben went in for his operation Hex and I came up with the most awesome plan I think has ever existed in the history of awesome plans." She said triumphantly and Alex smiled at her enthusiasm.

'What was the plan?" He asked and she laughed as she thought about it.

"You wanna see them?" She asked and Alex, who had no clue what she was talking about, nodded. Zara was suddenly tired to longer and threw her blanket away, she stood up, inspected her knee and held out her hand to him. Alex got up and took her hand. In an instant she fled the living room, dragging him with her. In the hallway she opened the cupboard under the stairs and went through the coats. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Are you taking me to Narnia?" He asked and she popped her head past Hex's coat.

"Something like that." She answered and disappeared again. Alex followed and as he parted the coats he saw stairs. "Just to the basement." She called from the bottom of the stairs and Alex followed her voice. As he emerged into a dimly lit basement he looked around and saw there were only cardboard boxes in a large space and he jumped as Zara pulled out an old fashioned cloak, it was red velvet and she held it up in front of her. "Can you see me?" She asked and Alex looked at the opaque material.

"No, of course not-"

"That's because it's an invisibility cloak." She said and peered around the red material. Alex, who was becoming concerned as to Zara's mental stability, simply looked confused. She put the coat down and her smile faded slightly. "Ben is the only person I know who reads as much as I do. It's why we became friends. When he went in for his operation, Hex and I wanted to do something special for when he came home. We were both ten, I think, he was eight." She put the cloak back in the box and pulled out a plastic sword. "He had read more books than most people read in their entire life and I was slowly catching up. So Hex and I searched our houses and antique stores to find objects from books he loved-"

"Like King Arthur's sword?" Alex asked and indicated the sword in her hands. Zara nodded.

"The one and only, Excalibur…that existed in Jake & Penny's costume store seven years ago." Alex stepped towards the box she was stood by and extracted a dusty bottle. It had the label "drink me" attached.

"Alice in Wonderland." He muttered and she took the bottle from him.

"That was my favourite book." She exclaimed and blew dust off the bottle. "Don't open that!" She shouted and Alex jumped, nearly dropping the small gold pot he had picked up. He was about to remove the lid but stopped as she warned him.

"Why not?" He asked and held the pot at arms length to avoid any harm.

"It's Pandora's box." She gasped and laughed when Alex looked totally unfazed by this. "It'll release evil into the world-"

"But at the very bottom lies hope." Alex interrupted and she smiled. "Why is all this stuff here?" Alex asked but when he looked up to Zara he saw she was no longer paying attention to what he was saying but her eyes were chasing the light at his feet.

"Alex?" She muttered and looked up at him. "Who's Amber?"


Reviews appreciated!