Hey guys, just like I promised another chapter before New Years =] Hopefully Ian isn't too OC in this cause I really think after so many years the man would slip up his emotions a little bit XD My last ever update in '09 Woohoo! And the last time in '09 that I ever say Enjoy! XD

Ian Rider could not sleep.

Try as he might he simply could not sleep.

So for about the millionth time he rolled onto his side and stared into the darkness of his room. It was four in the morning and he had returned from the mini-bar five minutes ago…or five hours….he wasn't too sure. This period in which sleep evaded him seemed to stretch on forever. And the main reason for his inability to sleep would be the millions of thoughts that plagued his mind.

Ian Rider had lost everything. Everyone and everything. After the loss of both his parents, then 2 mere years later his brother and his wife, Ian thought he had lost it all. There was nothing left to be taken from him. However today he found that statement was very much wrong. It was today that he had officially lost everything.

He'd lost the place h once had in the lives of the two people that he cared about most in the world. Alex and Jack. Because as much as he disliked to admit, both of them had moved on.

Eight years was a long time and they'd gotten over the fact that he would no longer be a part of their daily lives-not that he was a part of their daily lives before his kidnapping…Maybe that was why moving on was easier for them. Because he was barely even there to begin with. And now even that little part that he held was gone. Both Jack and Alex had better people to spend their lives with.

And for god's sake, this Christian character…

Ian really wanted to convince himself that there was something fishy about this guy. Like that girl that John had dated back in his college years that turned out to be an assassin bent on murdering him. But Ian knew Christian wasn't any undercover assassin or anything. His brother was an MI6 agent for god's sake; he had about as much of a chance of being a spy as Ian himself. He was perfectly normal, just another man. But the one thing that hurt Ian the most about him was precisely that.

Christian Kraell was everything that Ian was not.

He was always there for both Jack and Alex. He constantly called to check up. They were always welcome to crawl into his lap and gain comfort. He was social, kind and openly affectionate, exactly what they wanted. They didn't need someone as bland, secretive and reserved as him. Especially Jack.

Jack was seven years junior to Ian. She was 28 and he was 35. Yes Ian was only 35, despite the fact that he looked like he was 40 at the least (he suspected the beard and the stress marks had something to do with that.) Ian had not personally met Christian but just by seeing his picture, he could tell the man was several years younger than him. 30 at the most, though Ian doubted he was even that much. Ian knew he was young, vibrant and free from the worries and paranoias that plagued a man like himself.

And as much as he hated to admit it, Christian also pertained to every duty to Alex that he could not as an uncle.

Yes, he had lost everything.

Ian turned over to his back and stared up the ceiling. Story of his life.

Eventually as he blinked into the darkness, his conscience began to slip. And just as he was about to fall into an unsettled but nevertheless some kind of sleep-A blood curling scream pierced the air. And it was unmistakably from Alex.

Instantly, upon instinct and from having done it several times before in his life, Ian jumped out of bed without a second thought, pulled the handgun out from underneath his pillow and shot out of his room (he didn't even bother to hide it because honestly, who did he have to hide it from now? Eight years ago it was understandable, but now? No.) As he ran out of his room, he saw Jack come out of hers behind him. It was at this moment that Ian was glad Alex's bedroom was just down the hall (like it always was, for reasons he was sure Alex knew now) because down the hall was somewhere he could reach in five seconds flat. But as he had learned in his years, five seconds was the difference between being alive and well and having a bullet through your skull.

So he dashed forward and without hesitation, burst into Alex's room. But instead of seeing an armed stranger over the body of his nephew, as he had expected, he saw Alex was safely in bed, though thrashing uncomfortably, he was safe.

A nightmare.

Ian should have seen this coming. Though he wondered why Alex was still plagued with nightmares, the number of times Ian had leapt out of bed and barging into Alex's room with a gun only to find his nephew having a nightmare was countless. He was suddenly hit by a strong sense of déjà vu. Alex had so many nightmares when he was younger that this had almost become a normal thing for Ian. He would constantly be having nightmares about his parents, despite never having met them. The closest thing was having seen pictures of them around Ian's room. He hadn't even been aware of how they had died, since Ian never bothered to tell him. Because Ian Rider might be able to take down dozens of trained spies with a broken leg, one functional lung and a broken collar bone but he could never even dare to retell the tale of his brother's death. It would hurt a million times more than a million broken limbs or punctured organs. Ever.

Nevertheless ever since he was four Alex had been having nightmares about his parents and Ian would be needlessly barging into his room at the dead of night. And…it felt good to do it again to a degree-twisted and a bit selfish as it may have sounded. Because it was just like old times…except Alex was 22 now instead of 14.

He suddenly felt Jack bump into him from behind and turned quickly to look at her.

"Sorry, I didn't see you-"

"Nightmare" Ian whispered quietly, cutting her off.

"You mean the usual" Jack grinned a little. Ian didn't hesitate to return it. He tucked his gun into the waistband of his pants and walked over to Alex's bed, eying the entire room over once as he did so. He seated himself carefully at the edge of the bed and gently shook his nephew by the shoulder.

"Alex" he called softly "Alex, wake up."

When Alex didn't respond, Ian did something that had come so naturally that he was hit once again by deja vu

"Alex, wake up" he commanded in the strict voice he clearly remembered using all those years ago towards his nephew.

Alex immediately jolted awake (a very much expected reaction.) He looked around in a dazed manner before recognizing himself to be in his own room, out of the terrors of his nightmares. He looked up at Ian and with the most confused expression one could sum up, he asked "Why is it that the 'Alex, wake up' in a strictly commanding voice is all I ever hear from the outside world when I'm having a nightmare?"

Ian cracked a smile "Because you know better than to disobey my commands…even in your sleep."

"Heh, yeah I do" Alex smirked as he slowly sat up.

"Are you alright?" Jack called from the door.

"Yeah…I think" Alex replied.

"Good, I'm going back to bed. I've had it up to here with your mid-night intrusions young man" Jack said playfully as she turned to leave, giving the Riders some privacy.

"Parents?" Ian said once he heard the door to Jack's room click shut.

"First in eight years" Alex replied with a dry chuckle. "I remember once, when I was six I think. I asked you how my parents died. You looked at me real weird-I only realized over a decade later it was because I'd never seen you when you looked like you were about to cry-and you said to me 'I am your father's brother, Alex' -you never did like the word uncle and then you said 'I will help you when you need it, I will answer anything you ask me. But don't ever…ask me that again.' That stuck with me. I never needed an 'or else' part to know you'd really mess me up if I even dared to ask again. So I never did" Alex paused to gage his uncle's reaction, but the older man was simply listening. So he continued "And then years later when I found out myself how my parents died I suddenly realized why you didn't want to tell me. Because I didn't even know them and it caused me unbearable pain to hear it. And I can't even imagine what it would be like for you, who knew them all your life to retell it."

"I'm gad you understand" Ian said simply.

"Me too" Alex sighed "It's funny how I didn't have nightmares about my parents when I found out about how they died, and yet the second you step back into my house…" he trailed off with a small smile.

"It's a sign" Ian chuckled "The heavens are telling us we need to get things back to normal…and that I have a lot of making up to do."

"I like this" Alex smiled looking down.

"Like what?" Ian raised a brow.

"How you actually talk to me now" Alex looked back into his uncle's grey eyes "Not the whole, speak when spoken to, random pieces of advice, mysterious thing you used to do before. You really talk to me now…"

Ian chuckled and looked to his side "It was hard back then…actually talking." He wanted to say more but Alex seemed to understand by just those words so he left it at that.

Silence reigned over the two for a while in which both were lost in their own thoughts. But after a while Ian spoke up.

"Well, it is…" Ian paused to glance over on the digital clock at Alex's bedside table "4:42 in the morning, and both you and I have to be up tomorrow so I'll be heading back, and you try to get some sleep. A good sleep, so I don't have to have about three heart attacks in the same second and run over here again with this" he flipped out his gun and spun it twice in his palm.

Alex laughed "Will do, Ian."

"Good" Ian smiled and ruffled his nephew's hair as he stood up. He glanced back at Alex once before walking out of the room and heading back to his own.

He felt good really. Having done something like this for his nephew after so long. Like he had said, there was a lot he had to make up for…and this was a start. He'd finally done something useful since his return.

Ian sighed as he stepped into his room, knowing that he would probably spend another hour or so tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep. He placed his gun back underneath his pillow and hesitantly climbed back into bed. But much to his surprise, he second he lay down, he felt oddly relaxed and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep almost immediately.

I like this chapter =] Mostly because I love those little moments between Ian and Alex XD What about you guys, what'd you think?

Reviews are loved for the last time this year =]