A/N: Just can't seem to break this habit of posting on Fridays :)

This is a flashback I actually published as part of Happy Birthday when I published the first part on here in 2009, but with the re-write and re-format, it wasn't necessary for the story, and I was unable to fit it in in a way that made sense. Another Alex-centric piece. Quite a few of these are. I like his character.

Music was Alexander's life. Though he didn't play a note, he'd always loved just being around it. It wasn't hard, seeing as his aunt owned a big London record company. He had plenty of friends at the studio, he'd been coming there whenever he could for as long as he could remember, despite the fact that he and his aunt didn't get along.

He had been visiting on Jude Harrison's first day. It was his birthday, and he'd wanted to celebrate it with Rob and the guys, instead of with the stuffy former prep school boys his mother would rather he socialize with.

Nora was excited that day. Some hot new artist was coming over from Canada and leaving her old record label to come work at Burmondsey. Apparently she was incredibly famous. Alexander had definitely heard of her, (something about being trapped in a basement..?) and that was a feat on its own, as he made rather a point to ignore celebrity gossip. Her music was good. The whole studio was atwitter before she got there. It was actually rather annoying. No one was even talking to him, and he'd been about to leave when he'd seen her.

The cloud of people circling around her made her easy to spot. She was wearing dark sunglasses, carrying her battered guitar case, and seemed to be in a sort of fog– muttering polite replies to people who asked her questions, but mostly looking down at her shoes.

Then she took off her sunglasses to talk to Nora. Her eyes were red and puffy, as if she'd been crying a lot in the last couple days, but she smiled at something her new boss said, and the smile, tired-looking as it was, turned her face from pretty to magnificent.

"Doubt she's single, mate, girl like that." Danny, a thirty-something drummer in one of the more popular bands on the label, and the exact stereotype of the musician that his mother didn't want her baby boy to associate with, laughed from his left.

"Who says I care?" Alexander snapped.

Danny laughed his rough smoker's laugh again, and said, "Your jaw was hanging 'bout down to your knees." Alex glared at him.

"–and this is Daniel, one of our artists, and my nephew, Alexander." His aunt was saying, guiding Jude over to them.

"Danny's the name. Drummer for Pale Contraband" Danny said, giving Jude a broad smile and extending his hand. "The drooling fool is Alex."

Alexander brought a hand up to his mouth, startled. Had he been drooling? Finding his lips dry, he smacked Danny in the head. The drummer just laughed, though Nora scowled. Before she could do anything to him, her mobile rang. "I have to take this, Jude. Alexander" she said his name with her usual distaste "can finish showing you around. Daniel, you record in 15 minutes. Studio 2." She answered the phone and walked briskly away.

"She seems…" Jude hesitated "nice…"

Alexander laughed, having gotten ahold of himself. "She's vile, most of the time. But I'm biased. She hates me."

"Aw. I'm sorry." Jude said

"No problem. I'm used to it." He reached out his hand to shake hers. Her skin was soft and cool. "I'm Alexander. Alex."

Jude smiled her tired smile again. "So I've heard. I'm Jude Harrison. Jude."

"No kidding." He laughed, and reluctantly let go of her hand.

"Listen, Miss Harrison." Danny said.

"Call me Jude, please."

"As long as you don't call me Daniel."

"Deal." She smiled a little more

"Jude, young Alex and I have made a bit of a wager..."

"We have?" Alexander looked over at him, confused. "No we haven't."

Danny ignored him. "See, I keep telling him that, girl like you– beautiful and famous and everything– no way you don't have a boyfriend, but he don't believe me. So, what do you say?"

Alexander was mortified. "Please don't feel like you have to answer that."

"It's ok. I'm…" She hesitated and bit her lip. "Yeah. I'm single." It looked like that words hurt her to say, making Alex wonder if she'd just gone through a bad breakup, but she smiled a little at him and he felt like he might lift off the ground.

"So I believe that's twenty quid you owe me, Danny." He asked smugly when he'd gotten his sense of direction back.

The drummer narrowed his eyes but reached for his wallet.

Jude laughed, shaking her head. The laugh was thin, insubstantial, turning into a sigh halfway through.

"So, Alex," Jude asked when the exchange was done. "Do you play?" She gestured to her guitar.

"Um… well… I play a little…"

Danny cackled. "Not a chord. No rhythm either. Besides that, his singing voice is atrocious."

Jude's eyes widened. "You don't play at all?" She asked, as if it was unconceivable that anyone didn't play guitar.

"Guilty as charged." He answered sheepishly.

"Well," she smiled up at him, more brightly than before, and Alexander's breath caught in his throat. "We'll have to fix that."