Disclaimer: I hereby bequeath my rights to Alex Rider, to... Oops, can't do that, since I don't own any rights in the first place. Dagnabbit.

Previously...

"You'll have to pick the lock." Alex didn't feel like explaining about the extra key, not when thinking was becoming a struggle again. "And I've got no... medical history."

"Figures." Ben sounded like he was suppressing a grin. "Just out of curiosity, how old is Alec?"

Alex smiled slightly. "Eighteen."

"Of course." Ben gripped his hand in a reassuring gesture, before turning to head out the door.

"Thank you, Ben." Alex mumbled, before finally drifting off to sleep.

CHAPTER 10: Secret from the Government

Ben was still in shock when he left Alex's room. He hadn't shown it, of course, but on the inside, he was shocked to the core. Alex, who everyone at MI6 thought was dead, had been living on his own—right under their noses—ever since the bombing. He was alive, mostly well, and more than a little annoyed by the fact he was in the hospital...

There was also the small fact that he was acting like someone was after him. Just the mention of MI6 had spooked him, enough for him to plead with Ben not to give him up. He was definitely running from something. Whether that something was real, or a figment of his paranoid imagination, remained to be seen. For the moment, Ben would have to keep an eye on the kid. Anything could happen.

And, he was supposedly eighteen? Ben found it impossible to believe that Alex was really eighteen. He assumed that the fake ID bumped up Alex's age, at least by a year—so he could get a job legally—but he didn't know how old the kid really was. Even if he was eighteen, Ben hated to think how young Alex would have been when MI6 got a hold of him.

The age did make things with the hospital more complicated. Namely, Alex was an adult for all intents and purposes. The moment the doctors had any kind of information on him, Ben would be removed from the chain of command. Unless Alex made an exception. At the moment, Ben wasn't putting out too much hope for that. Of course, he could always force his way in, use his governmental powers... but he feared that Alex definitely wouldn't trust him after that. He'd have to worry about it later.

Mere moments after Ben left the room, the doctor was waiting to speak with him. "Is he who you thought he might be?"

"Yeah..." Ben ran his hand through his hair, in a nervous gesture, stalling for time. What could he tell the doctor? "His name's... Alec Pierre. I... really can't tell you much more than that right now."

The doctor relaxed just slightly. Maybe having a name would do all the work for the moment. "That's excellent news. He was calmer after seeing a familiar face, am I right?"

Ben nodded slowly. Of course, that hadn't been until Alex actually opened his eyes. "It took a while, but yeah. I don't think he'll try to get away again, he was just really confused."

"With injuries like his, confusion is often present. It's nothing we haven't seen before."

"I'll be back in the morning with some more information on him. I just... uh... have to clear some things first." Ben hoped it would be enough to satisfy the doctor's curiosity for the moment, at least until he had some firm facts. Such as Alec Pierre's identifying information. He didn't want to accidentally give out some kind of information that he would just have to contradict later on.

Thankfully, the promise of coming back did the trick, and Ben was able to go back to Luke's room unimpeded. His mind turned over what he had seen of Alex, trying to make it fit with what little he knew of the teen from before. Not much. It seemed that just one conversation with Alex wasn't going to answer all of his questions...

Luke was asleep when Ben reached the room, so Ben settled in, trying to make it looked like he had been there the entire time, or at least, most of the time. He knew it was too much to hope that Luke hadn't noticed, as there was no doubt that over the past three hours Luke had woken up at least once.

Ben pulled out his phone, and started to download the information that the hospital had on Alex. He would get around to transferring it to his book reader later. For now, he needed to know just what was going on with Alex, and he couldn't wait for the hospital to officially release the information. He wasn't planning to inform MI6 about Alex's appearance. Not yet at least...

"Where'd you go?" Luke asked, almost the moment he was fully awake. "You left your jacket behind, so don't tell me you went out. I waited for an hour—an hour, Ben—and you still didn't come back. What on earth did you find here that was so interesting?"

Ben raised an eyebrow at his younger brother. "I was just wandering the hospital. You know I can't stand to sit in once place for so long."

"Uh huh." Clearly, he didn't believe Ben. "Tell that to Mum and see if she believes you anymore than I do. You had something else on your mind all morning."

"I might have." Ben leaned closer, smirking slightly. "I can also find better things to do, like not sitting with daredevil younger brothers in the hospital."

Luke sighed, glared at the wall for a moment, before focusing a new-found interest on Ben's phone. "So... got anything interesting on there? Government secrets... incriminating pictures... numbers for ex's?"

For not the first time, Ben turned over the conundrum of Alex. He had come to the conclusion that there had to be something real and tangible that Alex was afraid of. And it wasn't a figment of his paranoia. He was afraid of something, someone that was after him. Someone from his past. It definitely wasn't MI6, since they thought he was dead and Mrs. Jones had refused to use him after the incident in Cairo. While Ben didn't know what all had happened in Cairo, it was enough for Blunt to forcefully retire, and for Alex to leave the country—for what should have been—permanently.

For now, Ben would keep Alex's secret, and protect him to the best of his ability. It was hard to do that when he wasn't sure what he was protecting Alex from. An old enemy, one that had found Alex's new identity? Or was it something small, like a friend he had seen somewhere, and the reaction had been overemphasized due to the painkillers and injuries?

It was impossible to tell without more information, and Ben didn't see Alex talking to him freely. At least, not for a while yet. He had to show himself worthy of the trust. And if that meant keeping Alex's secret... then so be it.

After leaving the hospital, Ben headed across town to Alex's flat in Brockley. It was a modern looking building, though a few of the buildings in the surrounding area looked somewhat rundown. He wondered if Alex had chosen the building because there were plenty of hiding places nearby, plenty of buildings to escape into. It would be easy to lose a tail in the streets too. While the streets weren't extremely busy just after rush hour, Ben was sure that there were times that the streets were crowded with both pedestrians and cars.

He hiked up the stairs to the second level, taking note of each door that he passed. 24. That was Alex's flat. There was a note pinned to the door, and Ben took it down, skimming over it. A reminder that rent was due at the end of the next week. Just a friendly reminder, but Ben knew that Alex wouldn't be back by the end of the week. It seemed doubtful that he'd be back in even two weeks.

He grumbled at Alex for not having a spare key somewhere—or if he did, he had just been too out of it to remember. Ben's lock picking skills were rather underdeveloped and unused. Since he had only had a few lessons on the subject, it took a number of minutes to pick the lock. He kept thinking that some well-meaning neighbor would come by and see him, and call the police for breaking and entering. Thankfully, no one came by.

Finally, the door came open, and Ben slipped inside. He turned on the light in the small hall, before shutting the door behind him. He smirked, seeing the multiple locks and chains that had been installed on the inside. It would have looked paranoid to anyone else, but Ben could almost sympathize with the teen. He really did have people out to get him.

A glance around the rooms leading off from the hall proved that he couldn't be truly paranoid. The small flat was neat and tidy. Little reminders were stuck to the mini-fridge—some kind of shift reminders for a pub, telephone numbers for what looked like different carryout places, and other random musings. A clean mug was sitting next to the sink, as well as a nearly full container of tealeaves.

If the teen had truly been paranoid, there would be no homey touches to the small flat. No reminders of a normal life whatsoever. No links that anyone getting in could use against him. No, Alex wasn't completely paranoid, he was just cautious.

If Ben didn't know better though, he would have thought the flat belonged to some organized bachelor, maybe a successful office worker. Not to a teen that had only been living on his own for a few months—no matter his real age.

It was hard to correlate the two different images. Ben doubted that very many teens Alex's age could survive on their own with the same level of responsibility and maturity. With no outside help. Alex seemed to have nothing, except for his ability to blend seamlessly into a life that wasn't his own.

The bedroom was in almost the same pristine condition as the kitchen was. The flat had the barest of essentials, and Ben got the impression that Alex wasn't around for much more than eating and sleeping. There was no television or telephone in sight. No computer or clock either. In fact, the only electronic device in the flat was the iPod sitting innocently on the stand next to the bed. There was a wallet there as well, further giving the impression that Alex didn't expect anyone to break into his flat while he was away. Most likely, he suspected anyone breaking into his flat would already know enough about him that it wouldn't matter.

Ben flipped open the wallet, hoping it would have what he was looking for. He was surprised to find that Alex wasn't running low on cash. There was more than enough in the wallet, to survive for at least a week, if not longer. He pulled the ID out—what he was really after—and studied the photo. Alec Leonel Pierre, from France, and according to the ID almost halfway to nineteen. He was surprised that Alex had pulled off being eighteen, but obviously, it had worked. Or he had employers that just didn't really care.

Ben examined it, and knew that a professional had made the ID. This was no amateur's job. The quality was remarkable, right down to the patterns in the background. While he wasn't experienced enough to know the watermarks for each country's ID cards, it looked official enough for him. He had a feeling that if he looked on the French government's database, there would be a reliable history for the name as well.

He put the wallet and iPod into his pocket, figuring that at one point or another, Alex might enjoy something to entertain himself with. Maybe not for a few days though... Ben took a cursory glance through the rest of Alex's things in the room. While the clothes weren't threadbare, they definitely weren't new, and a few of the shirts had stains, presumably, from whatever his job was. If the note on the fridge was anything to go by, he had worked at a bar on the other side of town. He seemed to do a lot of traveling, and since he had no license, that meant lots of walking or public transport. Judging from Alex's accident, that meant lots of walking.

The bed wasn't made perfectly, giving the impression that the last time Alex had been in, he had to leave in a hurry. Late to work, possibly? It certainly gave the impression that someone actually lived in the flat, and that everything wasn't just for show.

A glance in the bathroom explained the differences in appearance that Ben saw in Alex. There was a box of black hair dye, sitting prominently on the corner of the sink. The blonde hair that Ben remembered seeing on Alex had to be natural, with the black dyed in. As short as his hair was, he probably had to touch it up every few weeks to keep the roots from showing through...

Ben checked the drawers, making sure there wasn't anything important in them, and found a spare pair of glasses, almost matching the ones in the ID photo. A glance through them told Ben that they were fake, with just glass as the lenses. No prescription. Alex probably would want them back, since they seemed to be a major part of his disguise.

There was money at the bottom of another drawer, taped to the bottom, but covered with what almost seemed like a false bottom. Obviously, Alex didn't trust banks, but it seemed like he was tempting fate to just leave the money lying around. Then again... maybe it was the safest place Alex had.

Ben closed the drawers up, and headed back to the main entry area. The flat told two different stories. One, of a person that was completely capable of living on their own, with plenty of money to provide for anything and prepared for the worst that life could throw at them. Another, of a lonely teen that was in danger constantly, and had to hide behind an identity that wasn't his. Of one that couldn't leave the building without having to wonder when—not if—someone was going to come after him. Constant edge.

Ben let out a long sigh as he locked the door behind himself. He needed to have a long talk with Alex about all this. It just wasn't right for a kid his age to live on his own, under so much pressure. It couldn't be healthy.

Ben walked back into the hospital the next morning fully prepared and ready to face the day. He had gone in earlier in the morning, hoping to catch Alex before going to see Luke. After having read—and deciphered—the entire doctor's report on Alex's injuries, he was slightly surprised that the kid was still breathing after his little jaunt. Or walking.

Which he wouldn't be doing any of for a while if Ben had translated things right.

Ben headed up to the second floor, intent on finding the doctor again. He circled around so he didn't even get close to Luke's room, afraid that a nurse, somehow, might have managed to get him out of his room for a walk. The last thing he needed was for Luke to find out about Alex.

It only took flashing his badge again to get a response from the nurse at the station, and within a few minutes, Ben found himself sitting down in an office-like room to talk with the doctor about Alex. Or rather, Alec.

"I've never heard of a government agent taking such an interest in a patient before." The doctor said, shuffling through the few papers that Ben had managed to scrounge together. There were no medical records, and Ben knew he was going to have to tackle that hurdle when he came to it, but it gave basic information that was already in the French government's system. "He's not involved in anything criminal, is he?"

Ben pulled up a smile, attempting to put the doctor at ease. "Oh, no. Not at all." Well, it depends on how you look at it... "He's the nephew of a deceased colleague that disappeared a few months ago, just after he turned eighteen. The search was called off, but a number of us have still been holding out hope that he'd show up again. It was merely by chance I found him here..." He had written out at least ten different cover stories, until settling on one that could even remotely be true.

"And this interested the government?"

Ben mentally cursed all curious doctors. Every question meant more lies. "Alec lived with his uncle, up until he died, and was on the receiving end of a few death threats—due to the position his uncle held. Since he's a French citizen, the government had a particular interest in him. It would look bad if anything happened while he was on British soil. Disappearing months ago was bad enough."

The doctor looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but it seemed even he knew the definition of privacy. "Well... I can see that Alec certainly had an interesting few months. I wish I could tell you more of his condition, but he is of age." The doctor sighed slightly. "He needs to give permission before I can legally tell you anything. Unless you wish to overrule that..."

Ben shook his head, trying to put the thought out of his mind that he already knew all about what had happened. The thing was... Alex needed to choose. He couldn't force Alex to accept his help, not without taking away the option of choice altogether. "No. The choice is his. I'm sure he'll decide what's best." Ben knew all too well of the number of times the option of choice had been taken away from Alex. That his life had been chosen for him. Ben wasn't about to join the list of people that took choice away. He wanted Alex to trust him, even if it meant going out on a limb in the beginning.

It was all a matter of trust.

A/N: Chapter ten. Gosh, would you believe it, the further I get into this story, the more clear the plot becomes, but the harder it is to write? It's very annoying. Maybe it's because I know exactly what I want to happen... and I just just can't get it to come out right. Hmm... dunno.

And look at that. I'm at 99 reviews! That means I'll hit 100 soon! I was tempted to wait for that 100th review, but then I decided that that would be mean :D It annoys me when authors do that, so I'll just celebrate one review early! Ahem. You guys are amazing, and I honestly never expected to get this many reviews. When I started out, a measly 30 reviews by the end of the story would have sufficed. *cough* We've passed that by a lot, and it's been just over a month since I started! Thank you so much, because each review keeps me inspired to keep writing, and—believe it or not—update faster. So keep those reviews coming in!

S.B.L.