Hi guys! So, here's another chapter for you all! This one has definite changes as compared to the original, but it's all just to get it to flow better and fit with changes in character traits and such. But I'm still keeping to the same overall plotline! Or, at least, trying to! It's a little hard when everything feels like a filler, but then you realise in the original quite a lot of it was kind of like a filler...
Anyway, thank you to DS2010, AureaD, LEx (Guest), Riderkitty, and Napstaaa for your reviews! No matter how short or long they are, I really like hearing what you guys have to say about the story so far! I hope you guys enjoy reading what's coming up next!
Oh, I'm no longer on holidays anymore! I actually just finished my 1st Semester exams, so hopefully my writing will pick up a bit more soon so that I can keep up with this story during 2nd Semester.
Anyway, read on!
Alex honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd been a morning person, but this morning he couldn't help waking up early, and he couldn't get back to sleep. He didn't get why, but from around 8 in the morning he was already up and moving – and by up and moving, he meant awake and playing Super Mario Bros on his DS. That, and thinking over everything that had gone down the night before.
After spending a good amount of time alone in Andrew's room unpacking what he could and leaving the rest in his duffel, Alex had decided to take a look around – and not just at Andrew's room, but he supposed his new place of rest could use some examining first. After all, it was his curiosity that got him into so much trouble in the past – surely in one fostered teenager's room, there wouldn't be anything that classified or dangerous.
Getting up from the sleeping bag on the floor, Alex first decided to approach Andrew's wardrobe, hesitating for a moment before pulling the door open. There was nothing really exciting in there – just t-shirts, shirts, jeans, basically anything Andrew wore. A lot of it happened to be hoodies and sweatshirts, which Alex definitely didn't blame him for – winters could be cold. There were a couple of other things too, like football (no, soccer) jerseys, a gym kit, and various other bits and bobs that had been stuffed in there. Closing the wardrobe, Alex decided to take a look at the things on top of the dresser.
The items on the top of the dresser didn't seem to be anything other than normal, really. From what he could guess, Andrew was into sports and liked collecting things – as shown by the football that sat there (American, not British) alongside a hastily folded jersey and a snow globe that was probably a gift from someone. If anything, the stuff on top of the dresser made Andrew seem more like a guy he'd like to be friends with than before.
His eyes shifted down to the drawers in the dresser, but he concluded that he had to at least leave the guy with some privacy.
Moving on, his eyes landed on the small table by the door. The photos were still as he'd seen them yesterday: three sat up, with one face down. And he was still curious about the one that was face down on the table. It would take all of three seconds for him to approach the table, pick up the photo and set it face-up on the table so that he could observe it… but something told him that it was face-down for a reason. And he didn't want to give this boy another reason to dislike him or anything.
Besides, at that moment Andrew decided to return to his room from… wherever he had been. The teen had what seemed to be a sleeveless hoodie on, with a pair of shorts and running sneakers; earphones were plugged into his ears, and he didn't seem to realise Alex was watching him until he made to move towards his dresser. He furrowed his brows as he pulled one earphone out.
"What?"
"Where were you…?" Alex asked, looking just as confused himself.
The other boy shrugged as he continued to go about his business. "Out," he replied simply, heading straight for the dresser and beginning to rummage around in it for clothes.
"…Where…?"
"It's not really any of your business, is it?" Andrew shot him a look over his shoulder before going back to what he was doing. "Why do you want to know anyway? It's not like you need to care about this stuff. I'm just living my life – you don't need to get involved. You're only under protection." As he finished talking, the teen pulled out a set of clothes, grabbing a towel from his wardrobe before heading past Alex towards the door. "You don't need to make an effort to learn about my life. You stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours."
Alex remained silent as Andrew left the room, shutting the door behind him, before scowling. Granted… he supposed he could understand the other boy's reasons for behaving this way – he probably felt threatened, or something along those lines – but that didn't mean he excused it.
"What an arse," he grumbled under his breath, before moving to head out of the room himself – hey, if there was nothing else to snoop around in there, he might as well move on to somewhere else in the house.
Heading down the stairs, Alex decided that the first place he would try snooping was the kitchen – he was getting hungry, and no one had called him down to eat or anything. He supposed he could find something to eat in the cupboards if he searched hard enough.
When he reached the kitchen, however, he was pleasantly surprised to find a plate of breakfast bagels sat on one of the counters; there appeared to be at least ten on there or so, with empty plates stacked beside the plate of food, so Alex decided to help himself to a couple and set them to the side before continuing to look around the kitchen.
Other than the numerous drawings on the fridge, the kitchen looked like any other normal kitchen – a stove with an oven, counters, cupboards and drawers filled with utensils and food, a fridge that was probably also packed with food… there was nothing special about the room to Alex. Other than the fact that it was quiet.
That last fact was what set him on edge, however, and he moved out of the kitchen and towards the lounge to find that it wasn't just that room that was quiet, but the whole house was quiet – save for the shower that was running upstairs. Apart from Andrew, Alex hadn't seen or heard anyone all morning… which kind of worried him.
Where was everyone?
"Gibbs is in the office," a quiet voice piped up from the doorway, and Alex turned quickly to see the small redheaded girl stood there, a plushie and a book clutched to her chest. Her eyes widened when he turned, and she visibly jumped back, moving out of the doorway to hide in the shadows either side. Alex realised too late that this was probably the only chance he would ever have to speak with the girl, and he'd just terrified the heck out of her. Softening the expression on his face, he wrapped his arms around himself in an effort to look less intimidating.
"When did he go…?" he asked.
There was no reply for a little while, and Alex was afraid he'd actually scared her back to her room, but eventually she moved to look around the doorframe a little, blinking big green eyes for a few moments before speaking.
"He goes in every morning."
Alex's brows furrowed. So… he'd been gone for a few hours, he guessed? He hadn't heard anyone leave the house, and he didn't quite think that the walls and doors were soundproof in the house. How had he disappeared for so long? It was as if he hadn't even come back but had been there since the early hours of the morning…
"There are people outside…?" she offered, as if she thought it would provide some sort of solace to him. Of course, by the startled look on his face, that didn't work.
"What kinds of people?"
"…Agents…?" She didn't get why he was so concerned about this. It happened before – when it was herself and Andrew in witness protection. It wasn't anything to worry about. It was actually a good thing.
From the way she mentioned "agents" – in that confused way that made him question why he was so worried – he calmed down, internally berating himself for panicking so much. These guys were there for a reason, and it was a good one. No need to panic.
Instead of responding to her, he gave her a simple nod in affirmative. If a little girl who barely spoke to or trusted anyone could trust these people, then he would be fine. So instead, he sat down and began to dig into his small pile of bagels.
It was a couple of hours later that Gibbs returned – most likely for lunch so that he could check on the kids. He was fairly surprised to find that Alex was sat on the couch, playing on a Nintendo DS… and Jessica was also sat in the lounge, drawing in her sketchbook. As far as he could remember, she didn't like anyone being in the same room as her when she was using it. His eyebrows rose, and he leaned on the doorframe, watching the two until one of them noticed his presence.
Jessica was the first to notice his appearance, looking up at him and jumping visibly when she realised he was there, letting out a squeak. Alex looked up sharply at this, not knowing what to expect, and visibly calmed down when he realised it was Gibbs.
"You two alright?" the older man asked, remaining in his position leaning against the doorframe. When Jessica didn't answer but instead went back to what she had been doing before, Alex decided to speak up for them both.
"We're alright," the teen answered, continuing to play his game as he spoke. "This couch is comfy, and I promised Jessica that she could draw me whilst I'm on here."
Gibbs' eyebrows rose at that. He definitely hadn't expected the little girl to become attached to Alex – and certainly not this quickly. Whatever Alex had done to earn her trust that quickly was something Gibbs probably needed to tell people about.
Instead of commenting on that, Gibbs decided to change the subject. "Where's Andrew?" he asked, not directing the question to either of the children in particular.
"He hasn't come downstairs since I have," Alex answered, his eyes still glued to his game. Gibbs' eyes narrowed at that answer and glanced over at Jessica – realising that he wasn't getting any sort of social cues indicating that Alex was lying, he moved straight towards the stairs, heading up to see what Andrew was up to.
He was met with the teen laying back and relaxing on his bed, playing on what seemed to be that iPad that McGee had bought them for Andrew's birthday earlier that year.
Gibbs knocked harshly on the open door, causing Andrew to jump and fumble the device in his hands before safely placing it down on the bed. He glared at Gibbs once he'd calmed down. "What was that for?" he snapped.
"What are you doing up here?" Gibbs demanded, though it sounded more like a curious question; Andrew knew that it wasn't.
"Jessica likes to be alone," he stated bluntly, before moving to go back to playing on the iPad.
Gibbs raised a single eyebrow at that. "You think she's alone right now?"
"She might as well be; she's with that guy."
"Andrew."
"What?" He hadn't intended to be so snappy that time, but it came out that way.
Gibbs narrowed his eyes, about to respond to Andrew's snarky behaviour with his own snippy comment, but instead just sighed. He never got anywhere with Andrew when he was like this – it had happened too many times before.
"How about you go out and get some fresh air?" he suggested.
"I went for a run this morning," Andrew stated, not even taking his eyes off the iPad. Gibbs sighed through his nose; what was it with kids these days and their technology?
"I mean with friends," Gibbs added, emphasising on the word 'friends'. Andrew looked up at Gibbs when he made the emphasis, and sighed. "You've spent the last couple of weeks avoiding them, Andrew, and the new year starts next week. Hang out with them whilst you're still free."
Andrew appeared to take a few moments to consider this, before pressing a button on the side of the iPad that made the screen turn black and placing it on the bed. He still had a slightly grouchy look on his face, but seemed a lot less sour than a few moments before. "I guess I'll head out, then."
Gibbs nodded, a small smile on his face. "Good."
"Would it be okay if they popped by here first?"
Gibbs raised an eyebrow at that, before smiling. "Of course."
A smile grew on Andrew's face. "Awesome! I'll, uh… I'll text Alice now." The teen got up to grab his phone – an old Blackberry that McGee had donated to him – and text his girlfriend to ask her to come over.
Gibbs nodded and turned to leave the room, a smile on his face as he headed downstairs. Maybe he couldn't stop Andrew from feeling so hostile towards Alex, but he could definitely make him feel that little bit better whilst they had a guest in the house.
It took little over half an hour for Alice to arrive at the house, dressed in her typical denim shorts (knee-length, because there was no way her mother would let her get anything higher) and t-shirt with sneakers. She bounded right up towards the front door, only making it as far as halfway up the pathway when she realised that there was an extra figure she didn't recognise in the lounge. She couldn't recall Andy mentioning anything about having a guest, but she supposed she could meet them now anyway.
Reaching the front door, she knocked a couple of times before standing back and letting her eyes wander.
That was when she realised that the black sedan outside Gibbs' place was actually an official Federal Agents' car, and that the two people sat inside were agents. Which worried her, really.
A new person, and the sudden appearance of agents? Couldn't be a coincidence.
Before she could think too much on it, though, the door opened to reveal Special Agent Gibbs, who gave her a short nod and moved aside to let her in. "He'll be down in a minute," he told her, shutting the door behind her once she'd entered and making his way to the kitchen – most likely to continue with preparing lunch or dinner or whatever he was doing.
She gave a simple nod, even though she knew that he wouldn't be able to see it, and headed to the lounge to wait.
The lounge where that new guy was.
Reaching the door to the room, she hesitated when she saw him.
Fair haired, and from what she could see, not that bad looking either. Though, why he was there, she had no idea.
There was also the fact that Jessica was in the room – Jessica who didn't like strangers Jessica. And she seemed at ease, using the sketchbook that Andy always complained she never let him see. This was… definitely strange to Alice.
"If you want to come in, there's nothing stopping you."
Alice jumped at the sound of his voice. Huh, British. This guy just got weirder and weirder. Either way, she walked into the room, moving to stand at the end of the couch so that she could observe the new guy more fully. He seemed to be playing on a Nintendo DS, and when he realised she was watching him, he paused his game and looked up at her, offering a polite smile.
"Hello."
She returned the smile with one that was significantly warmer. "Hi," she greeted, "I'm Alice." When he didn't respond, she stuck out her hand, offering it to him in a handshake. "And you are?"
The male hesitated, before eventually putting his DS down and deciding to stand himself and take Alice's hand in the handshake, startling her slightly. "Alex," he told her.
"Nice to meet you, Alex." She pulled her hand out of the handshake. "Andy didn't tell me anything about you arriving – are you new?" She didn't know whether to assume he was some sort of new exchange student, or whether his stay was temporary.
He gave an awkward shrug in response to the question. "Kind of…?" He didn't know how much he was allowed to disclose.
Alice was tempted to purse her lips at that. This was a guy living with Andrew, and he was "kind of" new? Yet, she hadn't heard anything about him, and from the way he seemed to be really into playing on that portable game console of his she was assuming he was also kind of lonely.
"Then maybe we should show you around!" she offered, a bright smile growing on her face. "I mean, if you don't know how long you're going to be here, you should at least know all the hotspots and best places to head to – just in case."
Alex blinked at that. He hadn't expected her to be so nice to him, considering this was one of Andrew's friends (and from the vibes he got from Andrew, he was getting the feeling he wasn't wanted), and now she was offering to spend an afternoon with him?
Before he could answer, Andrew came bundling down the stairs. "Hey, Al, I'm—" He stopped short when he realised she and Alex were in the middle of something. His brows furrowed. "Alice, what are you doing?" he demanded, going from looking at her in confusion to shooting glares at Alex.
Alice didn't miss the looks he sent them both, but decided to ignore them in favour of trying to be nice. "Well, Alex here is new, and since you didn't tell me anything about him, or tell him anything about where you live, he'll be hanging out with us this afternoon."
Andrew's jaw dropped as he looked between the two, not quite comprehending. "…What?"
Haha, thought it'd work better if I just ended it there. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, guys!
