Ian looked over his shoulder apprehensively as he held his burn phone to his ear in anticipation. He was standing in the backyard of the safehouse as he made his call.
Elsie was who he was currently trying to get in contact with. No last name, just Elsie. She specialized in making people disappear. He had met her nearly nine years ago on a mission, though she had no connections to MI6 at all. He had saved her life on that mission and she gave him a number to get in contact with her if he ever ran into trouble and needed her kind of help.
As he was about to hang up the phone he heard someone on the other end.
"Ian Rider, I was beginning to think you'd never call. A girl could get the wrong idea from that," Came smooth voice.
Ian was momentarily astonished by the woman.
"I've barely been back six months and I've had this phone barely a week. Elsie, how did you know it was me?" He asked.
"Ian, I'm hurt. I know it's been awhile but give me some credit," Elsie replied in a mockful tone.
Ian smiled lightly before becoming serious once more.
"Look, Elsie, I need to cash in my favor," Ian replied, glancing back to the house behind him.
"Oh? Just what can I do for you, Mr. Rider?" The woman asked. Her voice was pitched, this kind of thing excited her.
"My nephew and I need to disappear. The quicker the better."
"Just the two of you? What about that woman you mentioned to me that you lived with? Is she not with you anymore?" She asked. Elsie didn't question him about his request and that was something he was grateful for.
Ian sighed. Normally when he was on missions he never mentioned his family. He knew it could get Alex or Jack killed. But when he had met Elsie she was bleeding out from a knife wound and he needed to keep her conscious so he began to talk about anything he could think about in an attempt to keep her awake.
"I'm starting over with Alex, but I can't ask Jack to leave her life to stay with us." He said.
"I remember you telling me that she cared a lot for your nephew. How do you know she won't want to go with you?" Elsie suggested lightly.
"I don't know, El'. She's done so much for us, I...I can't asked her to do that," he stated quietly.
"That's not your decision to make, Ian. I tell you what; I'll make her a new identity along with yours. All you have to do is give her the option of going with you. She may surprise you." Elsie propositioned.
"You don't understand..."
"No, I may not know all of the facts here, but a woman who is willing to give up..what? Six or seven years of her life to stay with you must have some reason to want to stay."
"Ian, who are you talking to?" Alex asked, startling his uncle.
Ian spun around to see Alex leaning against the railing on the back porch.
"No one, Alex. What are you doing on your feet? Jack told you to stay on the couch," Ian scolded before telling Elsie to stay on the line.
"Yeah? Well, she also told you to do the same thing and look what happened." Alex replied with a smile.
"If you'll remember correctly, I hired Jack and you're my nephew." Ian pointed out.
But Alex only scoffed.
"Come on, Ian, we both know Jack's the boss here."
"That's right, I am." Jack said coming up behind the teen and slapping him lightly on the shoulder.
"What are you doing on your feet? Go lay back down." She admonished
"But, Ian-" Alex protested.
"Go. Your uncle's feet aren't sliced to ribbons. Yours are, and you just got out of the hospital. You have to get rest. I'll handle your uncle." Jack assured, turning to the man in the middle of the yard as Alex slowly made his way back into the house.
"What are you doing? You're supposed to be resting too, I know you're tired you were up all night." She said.
Ian turned around and talked back into the phone.
"Elsie, I gotta call you back." He replied.
"No, I'll call you. I'll go ahead and get things in motion for you. And, Ian? Good luck." She replied with a chuckle before hanging up.
"Well? Care to tell me who that was?" Jack asked coming up behind him.
Ian smiled and pocketed his phone.
"It's nothing to worry about, Jack." Ian assure slinging an arm around her shoulders.
But Jack wouldn't have it. She shrugged out of his grasp.
"No, if it wasn't anything to worry about, you would've had your conversation inside, around us. Now what's going on? You told Alex you were done lying to him, Ian. You're not in the position to go back on your word here. You know your relationship with Alex is still on the rocks here, don't ruin this by keeping things from him again."
Ian sighed.
"I'm not hiding anything, Jack. I'm just trying to find the best time to tell you and Alex about this. I just...Need you to trust me at the moment, okay?" He reasoned.
Jack looked into Ian eyes, she must have saw what she wanted because she sighed.
"Just promise me you're not going to leave again?" She asked.
Ian was surprised at Jack. She normally wasn't one to plead, in fact she was adamantly stubborn about that kind of thing.
He brought a hand up and cupped the side of her face and looked straight into her eyes.
"Jack, I'm not going anywhere ever again without you and Alex." He said sternly.
"Well, I'm not going anywhere without Alex. You on the other hand...," Ian thought sadly. He really liked Jack, he couldn't imagine a house being a home for him and his nephew without Jack in it. But he wasn't going to force Jack into giving up her family just to make him and Alex feel better.
Jack smiled and nodded.
"Good, jerk. Now, come on, I'm fixing lunch and if it burns I'm going to let the K- unit and Alex beat you up for it." She said, effectively ending the sentimental moment.
Ian nodded and began thinking of the best way to break this news to Jack.
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The best time came right after dinner time. Everyone was fed and tired from the meal they had just consumed. The K- unit was in the sitting room watching some football match on the TV. Jack and Ian were washing dishes while Alex was sitting at the table finishing the last of his cheesecake dessert.
"Okay, Ian, that's it, what are you planning? I've been fair and waited nearly the whole day, so spill," Jack said, finally fed up.
Ian sighed heavily as he washed the last of the dishes and walked back over to Alex, who was stuffing his mouth full of the last bite of cake but keeping a weather eye on his uncle.
"Alex, this isn't working." Ian began.
"What isn't?" The teen asked warily automatically thinking the worst.
"Depending on MI6 to keep us safe. I don't know if you noticed or not but they kind of suck at it. You've been kidnapped and nearly killed and then an assassin just walks in here for a chat."
"So, what are we going to do?" Alex asked, sparing a glance to Jack who had walked over to stand beside him as Ian talked.
"I know someone that can make us disappear from SCORPIA and MI6. Jack, I can arrange for you to go back to Washington with your parents." Ian said, laying it all out.
"Disappear? You mean like the Witness Protection program?" Jack questioned.
"Sort of, but without the...program part. I know an old friend who said she could help us get away without anyone finding us."
"She? Is she a old lover from a mission?" Jack asked sharply.
"No...Are you jealous?" Ian retorted.
"No, of course not, James Bond. What's her name? Anna Bendover?"(1) Jack asked rudely her anger flaring obviously.
"Jack..." Alex warned wanting to avoid a fight. Ian and Jack didn't usually argue with him in the room but he knew that when they did he didn't like hearing it. Sure, he got a laugh out of the light hearted teasing but he didn't like them actually fighting.
But thankfully Ian didn't take the bait. He only sighed heavily as he turned to Alex.
"Alex, I know I said that we may be able to move close to Chelsea again so that you could be close to Tom but now..." Ian trailed off with a regretful shake of his head.
This time Alex sighed.
"So, we're leaving London? And going...where exactly?" He asked.
"I don't know where yet. I'm waiting on a phone call." Ian replied.
Alex was quiet from a moment.
"This sucks," He finally mumbled quietly.
"I know. This isn't fair for you. You should be able to finish your school and stay with your friends. This is my fault. But I'm trying to salvage this the best that I can."
Alex took a long moment before finally nodding.
"When do we leave?" He asked.
"As soon as Elsie gets things in order. It'll take some time. A day or two at least." Ian replied before turning to Jack who still looked particularly mad at the situation.
"Jack, I can arrange for some people to get you back home and then they'll keep an eye on you until things die down. I"m gonna keep you safe too." Ian said turning back to the plan he had for the American
That hit Alex suddenly. Jack was going to leave. He could barely remember his life without American. She was family, all he had left. And if they went their separate ways that would mean no more contact with each other...never. They wouldn't be able to take the risk.
Alex craned his head to peer at the woman. He wasn't surprised to see tears in her her eyes as she looked right back at him.
"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but there's not much option here." Ian reasoned.
"Alex, I wanna talk to Ian." Jack said turning her gaze to the man. She clearly meant she wanted Alex to leave.
"Oh, come on, I'm fifteen. I've seen much worse arguing than you and Ian fighting. Why do I have to leave?" The teen protested.
But Jack's threatening glare turned his arguing around as he sighed and stood slowly up to move into the sitting room.
"Good luck," He mumbled to his uncle as he passed, which got a smirk out of the man.
"Keep quiet about this. I haven't decided if I'm going to include the K-unit in on this yet." In said just as Alex got to the doorway.
His nephew nodded and Ian turned to the angry red head.
"Well? What exactly are you so angry about, Jack? I expected this kind of anger from Alex, not you."
"There's quite a bit that I'm angry with the moment." Jack said slowly as she slid down into Alex's vacated seat.
"When were you going to tell me that you had my life completely laid out on the line for me? I can understand you not really giving Alex a choice in this, he's fifteen, you have to do what's best for him. But I happen to be twenty-nine years old who is perfectly capable in making a decision for herself."
"Jack, I can't ask you to leave your family for us. It's not fair to you or your family."
Jack scoffed.
"What family, Ian? A lot has changed since you were gone and not just with Alex. My father died five months ago." Jack spilled, a tear running down her cheek.
Ian was startled. Jack and her father had been really close. According to her, the man was the only reason she ever took vacations back home. Her mother had died before Jack had begun working with them.
"Jack...I'm sorry," Ian replied, at a loss for words.
Jack shook her head.
"That's not the point here. The point is that I don't have much of a family to go home too anymore. Apart from a few very distant aunts and uncles that it. You and Alex are my family." Jack said thickly, staring at the floor.
Ian was dismayed as he felt his own eyes getting more wet than needed.
The ex-spy was silent for awhile before he asked, "Now are you sure this is what you want? There won't be any going back after this, Jack."
Jack shook her head slowly.
"I don't want to leave Alex, Ian. And as surprising as it is, I don't want to leave you either." She replied with a small teasing smile.
Ian took her hand in his.
"Okay, then. You do realize we may have to be married. And you're going to have to get a few years older so you can pass for Alex's mother. Just on paper, of course."
Jack laughed.
"That sure is going to make getting a date a whole lot harder."
A/N- Well I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. I feel I should apologize for how long this took. But school started back and I had two new classes to get used to. But we had an unexpected week off because of snow...a whole week. It was awesome and I managed to get a bit of writing down.
I know not a lot happens in this chapter but I wanted to get something up.
And in the beginning I was going to make it so Jack went back to her parents but somehow I couldn't do it. I like Jack too much I suppose. She keeps the Riders in line.:)
….and I don't know if you've noticed but I put a bit of Ian/ Jack romance in there...kinda. I'm not good at writing romance stories but I don't mind putting in a bit more Ian/ Jack moments if you guys liked it...it definitely won't be the focus of the story though. I also changed Jack's family a bit from the books. So, yes, that was
(1)- haha, I couldn't resist. The names of people in the Bond films are funny. I threw my own out there, Obviously not as funny as the real names but I liked mine.
And on an unrelated note I've got a new idea for another Alex Rider crossover story. How many Supernatural fans do I have in the Alex Rider crowd? I've got a few ideas for an Alex Rider/ Supernatural crossover but I wanted to get an idea on how many readers would be interested first.
And anyone who reads A Helping Hand the next chapter is gonna be up soon. I hit a small case of writers block but I have NOT gave up on it...I'm actually going to continue this after I finish this Author's Note.
Anyways review and let me know how you liked it! You guys are amazing as always!...and sorry this AN was so long.