Sarah glanced back over at Alex. He was sitting at the table, listening to his iPod. Every couple minutes or so his eyes would sweep the room; as if he were trying to locate any threats or dangers present.

He probably is, Sarah mused. Watching the boy the CIA agent actually felt bad for the child. He seemed to have been through so much; it just didn't seem right. Sarah stopped working in order to think about the teenage spy in the room. He looked to be the same as any other normal teenager. He was tan and muscular, with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes. He was a handsome boy, and Sarah could imagine girls having a crush on him. That was why she had found it odd that he did not seem to be close to any girls. Why could that be? As Sarah examined the boy she realized what set him apart from others in his own age group; his eyes. Although Sarah had noticed the seriousness of Alex's eyes before, she didn't realize how sad they were. They were constantly on alert, flickering often to the exits and to herself.

Sarah blushed, realizing that Alex had caught her staring at him. He offered her a tentative smile, but the attempt at warmth did not reach his eyes. A physiatrist would describe Alex as having the eyes of a soldier. A smile did not reach his eyes, the laughter when he laughed at Casey also did not show a small "twinkle" in the boy's eyes.

Sarah knew that large amount of stress, fear, and horrifying events could make the eyes turn that cols. She wondered how much trauma the child had experienced to give him such a hard look. The only definite information was the mission on Skeleton Key. Certainly that particular incident with Sarov didn't help. It must have made quite a negative impact on Alex; seeing someone commit suicide in front of you definitely had an effect on your mental state.

Sarah stole another glance at the boy and met his wary eye. This time it was she who offered a smile. She recalled a comment from the day previously; Alex had mentioned that he had been kidnapped. And he proceeded to say that it happened a lot. It couldn't have happened too many times, could it? And for how long? And the most important question—why? Certainly the incident with Sarov was the only mission where he was directly involved; perhaps he simply went as an accessory for more experience spies, as he was doing now.

Sarah followed Alex with her eyes as he got up and walked around the room a few times, stretching his legs. She tried to dissect his mind and find the answers to her questions and learn more about this British boy. It was fairly obvious that it would take a large amount of time and patience to get Agent Rider to open up. As Alex sat back down, Sarah shook her head, attempting to clear the thoughts of Alex from her head. The boy was a child; he was a tough kid, but nonetheless in too deep. And Sarah didn't want him getting hurt. He seemed to be pretty apt at defending himself, but Sarah made a mental note to tell Casey to go easy on the boy. He wasn't very dangerous, just a teenager playing a deadly game with adults.

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Thud. Casey's body hit the floor with a resounding sound. The boy smirked.

"Shall we call it day?" he cheekily asked. "It's nearly supper, and I need a shower."

Casey groaned softly as he got up. Sarah was trying not to allow her face to betray how truly shocked she was, but was failing miserably. Chuck wasn't even trying to be discrete; he visibly flinched when Alex looked at him. Alex raised his eyebrow. Rethinking her thoughts from earlier, Sarah amended them to the truth. The boy was dangerous and could play this deadly game very well.

Chuck watched in awe as the boy left the dojo and went back to the main room, grabbing a water bottle on the way out. His mind rewound everything that he had just seen.

"Kid," Casey barked coming down the stairs, "Ready to began?"

The boy simply nodded in affirmation and dutifully followed Casey to the fighting arena.

"Who would you like to spare with first?" Sarah asked Alex, who shrugged. "How about me then?" Sarah wanted to go easy on the child, not for Casey to humiliate him on the first go around. Alex nodded in approval. "Don't go easy on me," Sarah warned, "because I won't go easy on you." The boy didn't know that she actually would.

"Ready?" Casey called loudly. "Begin."

The boy had moved faster than Sarah thought he would. She barely had time to block the punch that Alex sent her way. Sarah went to knock the boy's feet out from under him, but he leaped over them like he was expecting the move. She stepped forward and threw and fury of punches to Alex, who dodged almost all of them. One did manage to land on his stomach. Alex sent a punch of her own flying towards her face, which she dodged. A kick to the head sent her stumbling, dazed. Alex, taking full advantage of the situation, pinned her arms behind her back as he knocked her to the ground.

"Do you submit?" he asked, an impish smile threatening to appear on his face.

"I submit," Sarah said, defeated. Shock spread across her face as Alex helped her up from the ground. Casey had looked down right murderous as Sarah walked off the mat and he walked on.

"Ready kid?" he growled. "Let's begin." Casey let loose with a vicious fury of punches, quite of few caught Alex, but he managed to block many all the same. He staggered, but quickly recovered. He lashed out and hit Casey in the gut. While the man was doubled over, Alex kicked him and caused him to fall to his knees. Alex pounced and tackled him to the ground. He placed his left hand around Casey's neck as he formed a fist with his right hand and held it right above Casey's face. He was breathing heavy, but there was a triumphant grin on his face.

"Shall we spar again?" Alex asked casually as Casey pushed the boy off of him. Casey grunted as he threw a punch and the second fight began.

Unfortunately, the second fight ended the same as the first, although Casey managed to get in a few more punches the second time around. Chuck thought about how long it would take Casey to get over losing the fight. He sighed. It would sure be an interesting dinner.

Alex had his cell phone out when the three American agents walked into the room. He put it away and looked up at the three of them.

"And your judgment?" Alex asked, seemingly innocent. "Did I pass or fail?"

"Pass," Sarah said, as Chuck nodded in agreement and Casey glowered at him.

"My life-long dream has been fulfilled," Alex said sarcastically.

"How did you learn all that?" Chuck asked amazed. "I mean, you're a teenager, so…"

"Lessons," Alex blandly replied.

"What level are you?" Sarah curiously asked.

"The equivalent of a first grade dan black belt," Alex told them, his voice devoid of any pride or smugness.

"Wow," Chuck said and Sarah nodded. Even Casey looked impressed. Alex nodded at them, took out his phone and sent a text to Tom.

"What's the plan?" he asked.

"For…" Chuck began, confused.

"Tonight's supper," Alex replied. "Are we going home soon or anything? Because I really want to change. My collared shirt is all sweaty. I don't want to scare anyway away because they think I don't wash."

"Oh, yeah," Chuck nodded. "You and Casey are going to change and shower and arrive at Ellie's house around 7:15ish. Sarah and I will already be there. Please try to act like family," Chuck pleaded. "And don't give Ellie or Awesome any reason to think you're a spy!"

Alex looked startled. "They know about you?"

Chucked shuffled awkwardly. "Um…not exactly. See, they know about Casey and Sarah being spies, and they know that I used to be. But they don't know about me know."

"Okay…" Alex looked at him in slight disbelief. "I promise that I'll be a perfectly normal, James Bond-free teenage boy. No spying for me at all tonight, I promise." He gave Chuck a grin, but Chuck didn't entirely trust him.

"And," Chuck said, turning so that he could face both Casey and Alex, "please don't antagonize each other or kill each other over dinner. Or I'll kill both of you!" Casey grunted and Alex rolled his eyes; Chuck didn't make very good threats.

"Time to go home and get ready," Sarah announced. The four agents left Castle and drove home to prepare for Ellie and Awesome's dinner. Chuck was fervently praying that Alex didn't give anything away, the Casey didn't bring more than one gun, and they wouldn't fight with each other.

"If I make it through tonight without getting one gray hair, it'll be a miracle," Chuck muttered under his breath as he got in his car and drove home.

OK, hope you all enjoyed it and I did ok with the fight scenes.

Side note: did anyone else realize that the last AR book comes out in less than a month? I'm sooooo sad! :(

Anyways, please review!