Sorry for the wait guys. Austria used up loads of time and then home stuff. But here we go


Alex awoke in a soft, warm bed, he sat up rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. He looked at the clock and calendar and the wall it had been nearly 72 hours since he was shot. He touched the place the bullet had pierced, just to the left of his heart in some tissue and fat. That would have been a direct hit if his natural instincts hadn't kicked in. He had thrown himself to the side pulling Charlotte with him; he had vague memories of what happened after.

The SAS had taken the man; Charlotte hadn't been as badly hit. Upper thigh missed all major arteries and veins. She had turned Alex over and seen where the bullet was; at this point Alex squeezed her hand and blacked out.

Alex stood up and stretched, this was a whole new set of stitches he couldn't break. Sighing he walked straight into a doctor as he opened the door.

"Alex, why are you out of bed?"

"Thank you for asking yes I'm fine, and where is Charlotte?"

"Quit the sarcasm buster, she is fine in room 207. Now sit down I need to do some checks." For the next two hours he did checks, Alex got more and more sarcastic as the hours past.

"Right now you can leave," The man finally said, Alex walked out without saying thank you. He thought he heard the man say, nearly polite compared. Alex discarded this and ran down the corridor, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207


Charlie awoke the heavy breathing beside her; a blonde head was slumped on the edge of the bed. His mouth was slightly open and hand was grasped in a fist like a small baby, Charlie laughed the noise sounded alien to her after all that had happened here. Alex, she thought, was a strange person. Deprived of basics, over exposed to danger. Alex wanted one thing that every teenager hates, parents, somebody to love him day and night. Jack was always there for him, but she wasn't the same.

Every teenager wants a person from the opposite gender to like them, Charlie and alex were no different. But Alex was scared, scared of becoming attached to something that would inevitability one day get killed instead of him. His parents, his uncle and his lively hood. Ian might have been training him, but Ian had killed Alex Rider. Ian had ruined any chance of a normal life for Alex, brushed it away.

Charlie watched Alex sleep for a while, then without notice Alex's fist clenched. His face screwed up into uncontrollable pain, he first whispered then said the word Yassen over and over again. A tear rolled down his tanned cheeks, Charlie put her hand gently on Alex's shoulder and sang the only song she could remember.

Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid
To fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt
Suddenly goes away somehow

One step closer
I have died every day
waiting for you
Darlin' don't be afraid
I have loved you for a
Thousand years
I'll love you for a
Thousand more

Alex's face relaxed a little, his hand freed its grip on the bed, and then finally he opened his eyes.


Alex woke up to a voice, it was quiet and soft. She wouldn't be found singing on a live stage, she sounded shy of her own voice. She hit every note with precision and carried the tune seamlessly. It was a perfect piece of music. Opening his eyes he saw Charlotte sitting on the bed, awake.

He had gone to sleep with her in her induced sleep; he had found her and had spent every minute of the last day with her. Asleep or awake. Nobody had cared or noticed; most of this side of the hospital was like this. They were in Kidderminster hospital after both being transferred, Charlotte immediately, Alex after he was stable. Even though Alex was more hurt he had woken up first, the doctor said it was because his body was more used to being hurt. 'Due to the fact you are now programmed to assume danger your body will wake up as soon as possible. Probably in a bad mood, as your danger sensing mood correlates to being a grumpy little ****.' This is what he had said after Alex had found him and called him a grumpy little ****.

"You are adorable when you sleep." She grinned, Alex didn't reply, he just scowled at her. Charlie grinned again,

"Chill out," she ruffled his hair and he scowled again.

"Get off."

"Make me!" At this they glared at each other and burst out laughing.

"How much longer do we have at hell?" Charlie asked after 5 minutes of laughing. They exchanged a look which both of them read as, SAVE ME!

"A week and a half, damn it, that long!"

"That means that calendar is out," Charlie stated, Alex stared at her a second and changed the calendar. As he was doing that the door flew open, Alex shot behind a curtain in the corner. Charlotte slid backwards onto her bed and wiped the grin of her face.

"Charlotte!" The high pitched squeal made Alex cringe. Why on earth where they here? How did they get here?

"Charlotte, we refused to do anything until they brought us here." Molly sounded proud of herself for this piece of pure idiocy. Grace hugged Charlotte then sat down, Molly shut the door and also sat.

"So why we are here is to ask you what is going on between you and cutie?"

"Who?"

"Alex Rider!" They squealed together, Alex cringed and had to sit down. Girls were not his forte, Charlie wasn't a normal girl.

"Well, you look at him.."

"So do you."

"..you follow him, you work well with him, you talk to him, you don't flirt with him.."

"So?"

"What's happened?"

"Lost interest? Found somebody cuter?"

"If so we need to know!" Alex was nearly sick. Do they have lives? Charlie sat staring between them, they had no lives. No lives at all.

"Look, there is NOTHING going on between me and Rider. Nothing, at all."

"Oh okay, would you mind if I asked him out?"

"No problem." Alex cursed her, but then remembered that this would be his way to get them off his tail. Hopefully.

"Kk, we will go now. Oh, is Alex in this hospital?"

"Yes. He came and saw me."

"Whhhhyyyyyy?"

"To apologise for saving my life."

"And you said."

"I'm sorry that I was in the way for your life."

"But you guys are so nice to each other,"

"There is nothing," The tone she said it in was final.

"Byyyyyeeeeee..."

"Bye." Charlie shut the door behind them, swore and went to find Alex. By this point Alex had snuck under her bed and was killing himself laughing. Charlie heard him and pulled him out by his feet, he came out grinning and bedraggled.

"If you aren't careful you will rip those stitches."

"You sound like my non-existent mother, tell you what take her place." Charlie rolled her eyes and dragged him to his feet.

"Well someone needs to do it." BANG!

"...what room is, oh?" Molly and Grace had returned to find Charlotte sitting on her bed and Alex standing by the bedside table.

"Hi Alex." Grace flirted, Alex resisted the urge to exchange a look with Charlie. Instead he replied

"Hi," as dejectedly as possible.

"Alex, when you get back I need to talk to you."

"Okay. Why?"

"Tell you when your back," She winked and pulled Molly out after her. Alex fell into the chair, sighing.

"Why do they do that?"

"Well they think you are cute, I do as well to be fair. But they don't see past the muscles, tan, blonde hair, brains, popularity..." Alex scowled and stared at the floor, "...and now you are an international spy. What do you think? They think they will be living the James Bond life, money, posh cars, drinks. That sort of thing, and of course we have the fights..."

"How do you know this?"

"...You can flatten Harrison. You are a tactical genius, and nobody missed the fight between you and those men. What?" She had finally seen Alex's face, disgust, amusement and a questioning element all rolled into one.

"I repeat, how in hope and hell do you know this?"

"A certain element of them telling me and that wonderful skill called reading people which teenage boys tend to be crap at." Alex rolled his eyes and walked out to go back to his room. He had learnt the route off by heart, left, right, straight on, left second door on the right.

He sat on the bed and shoved the different liquids he was meant to be plugged into back in the cupboard after the doctor had got them out again. His room was blue, blue walls, blue bed, blue carpet, blue bathroom attached. This was a long term rehabilitation unit, basically for people they wanted to keep an eye on for a few weeks. A boy's corridor and a girl's corridor, only Alex was in his corridor. Charlotte had 2 other girls, Flo/Florence and Sarah all three girls were sick of being there. Whenever Alex appeared they would all sit in the corridor, greatly to the nurse's annoyance, and discuss either wounds or hobbies. Or spy's. In which Alex would suddenly be centre stage as he seemed to know a lot. Sarah wanted to be a spy for MI6, she had researched it all, and they were based in Nottingham and had other bases around the world. Alex agreed with her whole heartedly.


Alex grabbed his bag and wandered toward the reception to meet Charlotte, they were being released today. But not to go back into 'action' for at least a month. Which suited them both fine, a week left of SAS then they were back at school. Alex found himself wondering what would happen when they got back. A door slammed behind him and Charlotte appeared gasping for air,

"Wolf." Was all she managed to say before fainting. Alex dragged her to the reception chairs and laid her down, then ran in the direction of the noise. Alex almost collided with a bed, it had a white sheet over the man on it, and a blood red splodge was spreading from the man's head.