So I varied a little bit from Horowitz's discription of Alex's hospital stay after being shot just other than that it mostly canon. Enjoy!

When you were Alex Rider's best friend there were certain things that were required of you. Patience was one. Compassion was another. But bravery was the most important. You had to stand up for him while the whole school tried to tear him down. You had to be able to listen to him tell you that you could die for being his friend, and then ignore the warning. You also had to be able to face the fact that when he disappeared, he might not come back.

Tom Harris knew all this. After a year of Alex disappearing for dangerous missions that he himself could never do, Tom was resigned to the fact that his best friend had become more of a fleeting thought. You could no longer make long term plans with Alex Rider because it was very likely he wouldn't be there when the time came.

Tom remembers once when Alex was home for a mere few weeks and they were doing surveys for a project in English class. Tom had asked him what he wanted to be like in five years. Alex had replied with a simple, "Alive." Tom had already known the secret by then and had forced a small laugh before telling the blond boy to stop being so dramatic and answer the damn question. So Alex gave a lie and things were smoothed over. It was the first time that Tom was able to recognize the fact that Alex was constantly in danger.

Alex disappeared a lot, and while Tom didn't think it would ever seem normal, he did get used to it. People always asked why he would hang around that druggie Rider. Tom would always reply, with an all knowing smirk on his face, that Alex kept it interesting. Which was true, Alex kept life very interesting. Alex was a hero, but with heroes came foes and Tom's friend had plenty of those.

It was one of these foes, on one of these missions that put Tom in a position that was sadly becoming familiar. Alex had been poisoned. They wouldn't tell him by who or what, just that it was a nasty mix of chemicals. Jack picked him up at his house and together they went to St. Dominic's. Alex was air lifted in from wherever he was when it happened.

His unit was there, Tom noted through his numbness. He caught a brief glimpse of Alex as they wheeled him through the doors of the hospital. He was pale and unconscious. His clothes were torn and dirty. He had an all new set of bruises.

It was a sight he'd only seen once before, but it was a sight he'd probably see again. Jack left with the doctors to talk medical history and other junk he didn't care about. Tom just made his way to the waiting area of Alex's ward. Then he did what he always did. He waited and hoped the other boy didn't die on him.

After all, Alex still owed him twenty pounds for that bet he'd lost last week and Tom fully intended to collect.

"Hey."

Tom glanced up from the TV he was watching to see a soldier he recognized. Tom had been sitting there for three hours now, just waiting.

"Hey," he replied as the man took a seat next to him. "Eagle, right?" The man nodded.

"I thought I'd give you a bit of an update," Eagle told him. "They got an antidote in him." He paused there, probably trying to figure out the wording to his next statement so as not to hurt Tom. The boy wasn't stupid though. He knew what could happen.

"But he still might die," he blurted out. The man didn't seem overly surprised by that though.

"Yeah," he agreed. "We'll know if he'll make it if he wakes up. It's all a big wait now." They fell silent for a few moments before Eagle broke it.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked. Tom nodded, looking over at him. He was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, hands loosely clasped. "What's with the weird code?" Tom couldn't help it, he laughed. K-Unit had heard all about Tom's codeword making skills when he'd been held hostage some months prior.

"Alex had just come back from a really bad mission," he said, noticing with some amusement that the guy was listening intently. "He suggested the code so we could get important messages to each other even if we couldn't talk freely. He said I should come up with the code words so that it would be easier for me to remember."

"That's what Cub said," Eagle told him.

"Alex looked so serious," Tom continued, his eyes going a bit dull as he remembered that day. "He was so tired. So I came up with the craziest shit I could, just to get him to laugh."

"Did he?"

"When I told him the code word for his boss was going to be 'cupcake', yeah, he laughed pretty hard." Tom had never met the man, wasn't even sure what his name was, but apparently Eagle had because he started laughing.

"Do you know his boss?" he asked. Tom shook his head. "If you did, you'd know why that was so funny."

"I think I get it without meeting him," Tom said and Eagle just nodded.

"You seem to be handling all this fairly well," Eagle noted after another silence had fallen on them. Tom got the impression that Eagle was a chatty person same as he was.

"This isn't the first time I've had to wait in a hospital for him," Tom said. When Eagle gave him a questioning look, he continued. "A couple of months ago I get a phone call from Jack at one in the morning. Tells me to come down to this hospital. Tells me I have to say my goodbyes to him. They didn't think he'd make it through the night."

"What happened?"

"He survived," Tom said, blatantly ignoring the real meaning behind that question. He may not be the superspy Alex was but it would take a lot more to get him to spill those secrets. Eagle looked a little annoyed but let it slide.

"You get used to it," Tom said quietly, more to himself than to Eagle. "It's just part of being his friend."

"Cub's strong," Eagle said. "He'll be alright." Tom appreciated the sentimentality, however lame or forced it sounded.

"Yeah, Alex has a tendency to survive things he shouldn't. He's just cool like that." Eagle gave a small snort of amusement.

"Yeah, you should hear this story Wolf tells about the time he worked with Cub in France," he said absently.

"Oh, when Al got hit by a train?" Eagle looked at him sharply, obviously not expecting him to know that.

"Cub told you about that?"

"He tells me about all his missions," Tom said with a shrug. "Not every detail but enough for him to feel better. I usually turn something he tells me into a joke. It helps sometimes." Eagle a small nod of acknowledgement to the point. "When he told me about the train, I asked him how he could be so good at saving the world when he hadn't even mastered the art of looking both ways. I mean they teach you that when you start walking!" Eagle was laughing again. Tom thought he was one of those guys who laughed easily. It seemed natural for him.

"What did Cub say to that?" he asked, fully amused.

"Just told me to shut up," Tom said with a wide smile. "He says that a lot but I don't think he ever really means it." Eagle gave another smile and looked ready to say something else when Jack ran into the waiting area.

"Tom!" she shouted and both of them were instantly on their feet. Tom felt a wave of relief at Jack's smile. "He's awake."

Tom all but forgot Eagle in his haste to follow Jack back to Alex's room. The boy looked just as sickly as earlier and shockingly vulnerable with all the tubes and wires connected to him. He had one wide tube going down his throat for reasons Tom didn't pretend to know. It kept Alex from talking but since he looked so exhausted Tom didn't think he really cared. His eyes were dull but he didn't seem incoherent. He seemed to recognize them when they came in. Tom gave his friend his usual sarcastic greeting.

"Jesus, Al," he said lightly with a big smile that, in his relief of an alive best friend, wasn't forced at all. "I know you want to avoid that stalker girl whose been trying to get you to go to Spring Formal with her, and while I agree wholeheartedly for wanting to avoid that one mate, don't you think dying is going just a little too far?"

And even though Alex Rider couldn't say it, the response was clear in his eyes and what little expression he could form in his exhaustion.

Shut up, Tom.

"Well?" Fox asked as Eagle rejoined his team about meter away from Cub's door. Fox was now officially back with the SAS.

"Funny kid, that one," Eagle said with a smile.

"That wasn't why we sent you over there," Wolf growled. "What does he know?"

"Sounds like a lot," Eagle reported, turning serious. "Knows enough details to make him an even bigger target than just simply being Cub's friend would. But the kid seems smart, won't get tricked out of details he doesn't know you already know. I only got him to talk about one mission and it was only because he already knew I knew about it."

"So he won't just blurt shit out?" Snake asked.

"Naw," Eagle said, shaking his head. "And it seems like those two are pretty close."

"We'll keep an eye on him," Wolf said. "At the very least keep him from becoming a tool to get to Cub." The others all nodded at his decision. Eagle had a feeling they'd be seeing more of Tom Harris. He didn't really mind, he liked the kid. The boy had a wicked sense of humor.