Hey there cuties! I know, it's been a while. And I'm sorry. I don't deserve to be forgiven, and I've already apologized to you numerous times. But hey, here's a chapter. Enjoy! And tell me your thoughts! Thanks for your previous reviews! You guys are so good to me. - Plainsong30 :D

"Oh, God! Alex!" I rush towards him and grab him by the shoulders, heaving him up and looking at his bloodied face. "What happened? What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"D-Dim," he shudders. "D-Dim and G-Georgie-boy. My… m-my old mates. They n-nearly drowned me."

"Those assholes!" I cry, the very scene flashing before my eyes. "Those jerks!" Pity surges through me as I try to help him stand up, remembering how F. Alexander's bodyguard swept Alex right off his feet and carried him into the house. And here I couldn't even help Alex up the stairs.

"S-Sofia," he mumbles to me as I help him towards the back door. "Y-you don't know h-how happy I am to see you right now."

My heart honestly swells two sizes larger in that instant. I want to "Awww" out loud but keep my mouth shut, just feeling a smile spread across my lips instead.

"I'm really happy to see you too, Alex," I say, half-honest, half-confused about what in the hell he's doing here. In our world. In fact, where he should be right this instant is at F. Alexander's doorstep. Not the frickin' kid who's name is that one city from Texas, but he's not originally from Texas anyway…

"You're not hurt real bad, are you?" I ask, propping the back door open. The music in the house blasts once again, the power returning as quickly as it had gone.

Everyone turns and eyeballs us, the more sober kids asking us what in the hell happened, the drunk ones just going "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

"Excuse me, excuse me," I grow menacingly, daring to step on anybody's foot who decides to get in my way. Yeah, I'm that tough.

"Who's that kid?" someone asks.

"Christ, look at that suit… bit out of style, ain't it, buddy?"

"Leave him alone!" I cry, shoving some little shrimp of a boy into the nearby couch. "You wanna get blood on your shirt, kid? Then get outta my way!"

We finally make it upstairs and to the bathroom, and I order Alex to sit down on the toilet so I can have a look at him. I grab the bath towels available and wrap them around his soaked shoulders, wondering if its best that he just take his drenched clothes off altogether. Good excuse…

"You better get those clothes off," I tell him, half grinning to myself cheekily.

He doesn't even react at the thought like I know he normally would have. It's then that I remember that he's… different. He's not the same Alex DeLarge. If he really did just get beaten up by Dim and Georgie like in the film, that means he's still under the Ludovico treatment. Which means, any sexual or violent urges that might brew up inside him are suppressed by that terrible sickness. So in other words… I'm sitting with the most gentle creature on earth. A person without choice, sadly.

"I'll be right back, okay? I'm gonna go find you some dry clothes."

He seems a bit disillusioned and exhausted. I watch him stare down at the floor for a moment, not registering what I'm saying to him until he finally looks back up and nods. The poor guy…

I leave the bathroom and sneak passed people in the hallway into what I think is the room of the kid who owns the house, the one with the city-name from Texas. I'm pretty sure it's Dallas, right?

It's an ugly room. The walls are full of posters of death-metal bands and Playboy bunnies and a bunch of icky laundry everywhere. I hope to God that there's something suitable for Alex. At this point it doesn't really matter, but I manage to find a basic black t-shirt and a pair of denim jeans. They seem like Alex's size. If not… whatever.

"Can you hurry the fuck up in the bathroom?!" this little turd says to me as I approach the bathroom door. "You guys 'bout to fuck in there or something?"

"Mind your own business, you little shit!" I growl, smacking him upside the head with the t-shirt I carry. My cheeks turn fiery red just from his insinuations. "And learn some goddamn manners!"

I sneak into the bathroom before the boy can say anything more and lock the door. Alex hasn't even frickin' changed out of his clothes. He's still a bit rattled, glancing up at me nervously as I enter the bathroom.

"C'mon, let's get you changed," I say gently. He's like a little kid, unable to speak after a fight that didn't go well, shell-shocked and worn out.

He manages to pull off his jacket and I take it from him, hanging it over the shower rod and begin to help him remove his tie. I fumble with the knot, peering up at him to see how he's doing. He's got that expression on his face similar to the scene by the bridge, directly after having been disowned by his parents.

"Are you okay, Alex?" I ask him, removing his tie. He looks up and meets eyes with me.

"I've been…" he starts. He gulps and uses the back of his hand to push his hair out of his eyes. "A lot of strange vesches have been happening to me, Sofia. I'm not really sure…"

"It's all right," I say, remembering that this was the turning point for Alex. First he was kicked out of the house by his parents. Then, abandoned and alone, made his strange encounter with the homeless man, who attacked and robbed him of every last bit of his belongings. And then Dim and Georgie came along, like in the film, giving him a taste of his own medicine. Poor guy… I probably sound like a complete loon just from saying that. Others will believe he deserves it – and in a way he does – but of course not having his own choice or free will, that seems a little unfair to me.

I begin to undo the buttons of his shirt and he pulls the rest off himself. To try to embarrass myself a little less, I throw a second towel around him so he's covered up. I can't help but rest my hands on his shoulders as I do, peeking at his exposed, skinny body, then quickly looking away as I reach for the other clothes.

Silently he changes out of his trousers, then gathers the dry clothes and pulls them on slowly. We hang the rest of his wet clothes over the shower rod, and I know there's no guarantee that they'll be there when we get back.

"Rather odd sort of platties…" Alex comments, stretching his arms out and staring down at the clothes he's wearing. "A malenky bit out of style, eh?"

"Mmm… you look good," I say. "I think they're fine."

He looks up at me and gives a smug grin. "Thanks very much," he says, almost proud. He seems to be a little bit back to his old self.

"C'mon, there's a line outside. We'd better get out of here," I tell him, opening the bathroom door and nearly butting heads with that little turd from earlier.

"It's all yours," I say to the boy with a growl, pushing him aside as Alex follows.

"A rustic domy this is. Lots of molodoy lewdies out and about. Pyahnitsa lewdies."

I try to figure out what in the hell "pyahnitsa" is, because I honestly can't remember. I realize it probably means drunk, because Alex immediately recoils from a boy probably around fourteen who looks like he's about to vomit all over the two of us.

"Eh? The fuck you say to me?" the drunk fourteen-year-old growls at Alex, me having to step forward between him and Alex and try to explain. "The kid not know English or something?"

"Nope, he's my cousin from… Estonia."

"Did you just fuck your cousin from Estonia in the goddamn bathroom?" the little turd that I now hate to death asks me.

"Do you want to die?!" I nearly yell as I point a finger in his direction.

"My, my, thou never would've messeled that Sofia, love, knows of such like grazhny slovos," Alex comments, an amused grin spreading across his cheeks.

"C'mon," I say, now actually laughing as I grab Alex by the arm and drag him down the stairs.

"Never viddied a mesto like this odin here, love. Can't skazat that thou is in radosty. And the music… such oozhassny like music!" He shakes his head, and I try to remember what "oozhassny" means. Drake's "Pound Cake" is blasting from the kitchen, and just by the look on Alex's face, I realize "oozhassny" is probably not a good compliment.

"Just be happy you're out of the rain," I tell him, wondering if we can find somewhere quieter to hang out. We get to the main floor and I can tell we're not going to have any luck. I think about the basement and see the stairs leading downwards in the far corner of the living room. "Let's go this way."

"Quite happy to be dry and osooshed and warm. Never in my jeezny had I been so happy to viddy a like choodessny devotchka such as thou when I was stumbling through that baddiwad, storm."

I feel my cheeks burn and my lips form into a smile as we start down the stairs, wondering when Alex turned into such a sweetie. I remember the Ludovicio treatment at that point though and wonder if he even has a choice in being so nice.

Luckily the basement isn't as busy as the main floor. It's a bit quieter as well, and though it's probably more reserved for couples and that kind of lot, I pull Alex into a back guest bedroom. After all, I do have a few questions I need to ask him.

"So… Alex, what are you doing here?" I ask him, watching as he sits down comfortably on the bed, bouncing a bit as he takes in its soft consistency. He reminds me of a little boy.

"Can't skazat that I have an answer for thou, love," he tells me, smiling as he leans back on his arms. "Just… slipped and goolied right into here. Like the storm led Uncle straight to thou."

"Really?" I ask, cocking an eyebrow as I sit down next to him. He's such a talker, a perfect gentlemen, able to woo any girl he wants, probably. "But… you're in-" I think about telling him that he's in the United States, but figure that's probably not a good idea. That would require a lot of explaining, and probably me sounding like a complete crazy person. Alex wouldn't believe me anyways… and how was I to explain that he is a fictional character, stepped out from the pages of a book, and into the world of reality?

"Home led me here," he explains to me. "I was quite sure that 'home' belonged to a different mesto, odin that I cannot quite remember… but perhaps if I were to try extra hard and wrack me poor mozg…"

I didn't have to think twice about the place called "Home" that he was taking about. That was F. Alexander's home. But if he says he saw the sign before he stumbled upon me, he must have somehow entered our world directly before stumbling upon F. Alexander. But why?!

My thoughts are broken when I catch Alex staring at me, my cheeks turning pink in response. I can't help but get freakishly nervous around him.

"It's been a very long raz since we've last viddied each other, hasn't it?" he asks me. "Nearly dva years, love."

My eyes widen as I remember how long Alex had really been in prison – two years. And here it'd only been a few weeks for me since the last time I'd seen him. What is going on…?

"Alex, I…" I was about to say out loud to him that I missed him, but immediately closed my mouth, knowing what a foolish thing it was to say. Falling for a psychotic criminal?

"Come on," he says. "What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Skazat anything to Uncle, darling," Alex replies. "I've been on my oddy knocky for quite some raz now. To have a malenky govoreet with a beautiful devotchka such as thou is no bother in my opinion."

I am falling for his compliments like a gullible young schoolgirl. I can't help it. I remind myself that he has no choice in being himself any longer, but I want to believe him. I can't help but believe him.

"Let's slooshy that lovely goloss of thou, eh?"

I sigh out loud and look away from him, leaning beside him on the bed. Then I finally meet eyes with him and just decide to do it, crazy or not. "I missed you, Alex," I say.

"I missed thou as well," he responds very quickly. "In fact, thou owes me an explanation. From what Uncle remembers, though, just… poof. Thou was gone. Disappeared like. And with no explanation for poor Alex."

"I know," I say, feeling so guilty about it as he brings it up. "And I'm really sorry. I couldn't help it though. It was just… something I couldn't control. I didn't mean to leave you like that. I'm so sorry!"

I bite on my lip in embarrassment and guilt, hoping that maybe he might forgive me. I expect him to be angry or aggressive, but when I stare up at him, he doesn't have any of those features lingering on his face. In fact, he looks quite content.

"Many odd vesches I had gone through over the years, love. Years that will probably be etched within my mozg for the rest of my jeezny. After being snatched by the rozzes like that, and after viddying you just like disappearing right before me glazzies, things went very downhill, Sofia, love. I was guilty of murder, of murdering the Cat Lady that is, sentenced to nearly fourteen years in the staja. Can thou viddy a vesch like that, love? Your lovely Alex becoming a plenny, with no like droogs, and completely on his oddy-knocky… my so-called droogs. They were the reason I ended up in that like oozhassny mesto.

"And never in my jeezny whilst being locked away in that staja had I ever felt so very much betrayed, love, so very much alone. Your Alex was clopped and brosayed by all kinds of grazhny sods, chassos as well as other like plennies.

"I knew that I had to escape from that merzky staja, and the messel that kept me going was of thou, love. Thou's lovely litso in my rassodock, that soft goloss and choodessny like glazzies imprinted within my gulliver."

My face has now turned a shade so dark that I feel my cheeks heating. Is he telling the truth? Had he really been thinking about me all that time while he was in prison?

"And an opportunity presented itself before Uncle Alex, love. It was the Ludovicio treatment that cured me entirely, that allowed me my like freedom. I'm completely reformed, love!" he exclaims in what seems to be a happy manner, although I'm not convinced. "Though my first day of freedom was not, like, quite what I expected, all is grand now. Now that I've found thou."

I'm speechless as I sit beside him, listening to the words that slide right out of his mouth, not knowing if I can trust him. But after a moment's thought I realize then that I am in no real danger – if Alex were to even think about assaulting me here and now, the Ludovicio treatment would throw him off entirely. And here he was, sitting before me, as normal as ever. Perhaps he was telling the truth… but at the same time there was no telling. Perhaps the Ludovico treatment was forcing him to act this way. He didn't have a choice, after all.

Many thoughts plow through my mind as I stare at his brilliant blue eyes, which are now revealing a curiosity and perhaps hunger I know I probably share. I glance down at his mouth very quickly before looking back at his eyes, ignoring my previous thoughts.

"Such a sladky devotchka thou are, Sofia, love," he tells me, one hand reaching for my head and playing with my hair. "I've messled of this moment for quite some raz, love."

I'm still for a moment as I realize he's staring at me and leaning in towards me. I begin to do the same action, ready to meet lips with him once again, so excited for it.

Suddenly he freezes, then he recoils and seems to curl up into a ball on the bed. He begins to rasp and cough, noises similar to him perhaps puking up a lung. I realize it's the sickness, and though I'm disgusted and feel as if I'm might just be sick as well from all his noise-making, I try to comfort him as much as I can.

"Are you okay?" I ask. I reach over and touch his shoulder. "Alex? It's the Ludovicio treatment, isn't it?"

He pulls away from me so quickly that I'm too surprised to respond. He's off the bed in an instant and running towards the door, continuously shaking his head. "I n-need some air," he gulps painfully.

"Wait, let me come with you!"

He takes off quite quickly out of the room. I nearly chase him upstairs and finally catch up with him on the main floor, where he seems to be talking to someone. It's a boy I don't recognize, six-feet tall with broad shoulders and is fairly well built. He looks extremely cocky and drunk, and at the moment he's jabbing his forefinger right into Alex's chest.

"What the hell you doing wearing my clothes, huh?!" he growls at Alex. I realize it's the famous Dallas Rogers, the kid with the Texas city name who isn't really from Texas. He's practically cornering Alex at this point, who is retching and rasping in such an awful way that I almost can't bear it. "What's the matter with you, kid? You gonna puke or something? Man, get the hell out of here if you're gonna get fucked up like that. Honestly? You come to my party and puke all over here? You don't even know me, man!"

That's when Dallas totally belts him right across the face.

"ALEX!"

Alex flies right across the beer pong table, red Solo cups and ping pong balls flying everyone. People are hooting and hollering. I run passed Dallas and yank Alex up, his nose bloody all over again. I lead him towards the back doors. Dallas, though, is hot on our heels.

"Mick!" I scream to nobody. I wonder if maybe he's around again, but I don't see his familiar smile anywhere in the crowd. "MICK! Damn it, Mick!"

"Why you fucking running off, huh?" says Dallas from behind us. I can barely hold Alex up, who seems to be on the verge of collapse it's so bad.

"C'mon, Alex! Outside, let's go!" I tell him, afraid that he actually might get sick all over the floor. Then Dallas would really be pissed.

I'm genuinely frightened at this point as we run outside into the storm again. Dallas won't leave us alone. I push us down the back patio stairs, running faster and faster, the rain pelting on us like bullets, Dallas's voice slowly getting fainter and fainter as we go farther and farther.

"C'mon, let's take a walk," I tell Alex as I push us around the house. I lead us to the gated fence and unlock it for us, and we start down the side of the house, Alex leaning on me all the while for support, blood now dripping over his mouth and down his chin. "You're all right, you're fine. C'mon, just keep going."

I expect to see the bright street lamps from the familiar road ahead of us and maybe Mick's car just a block away…

And then there's the biggest streak of lightning breaking across the sky, followed closely by a thunderclap so loud that I let out a loud yelp.

"Oh my God!" I cry, turning towards Alex as he heaves and buckles beside me. "Did you hear that? Did you see that?! That was so frickin' loud! Holy shit… c'mon, we're getting out of here."

While still a bit enchanted by the lightning show, I start towards the street when I suddenly realize… there is no street. The street is gone. I push us a little further, wondering if maybe the lights had gone out again, but it doesn't really seem to matter. Where the street use to be, there's nothing but trees and lots of forest. My heart is in my throat as I clutch to Alex and look all around us, wondering if we took a wrong turn or something. But a wrong turn to where?

I look behind us to see if Dallas's house party is still fully lit, but that's the thing. The house is gone too, and is replaced by tall trees, their branches whipping in the wind.

Not again. This can't be happening again…

And then I see the glowing sign in the distance, the light that led Alex to where he was originally headed.

HOME.