Chapter twenty-five

Personal Psychiatrist

Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Alex Rider, except the first book.

Alex woke up three hours later to music that was more static then actual song. Reaching over he slammed his hand down and the music cut off abruptly.

Groaning, he rolled to his feet.

He felt like death.

He forced himself to start moving, stumbling to the bathroom. It was 9pm; the dark sky was clear and starry outside his bathroom window.

He turned his shower on hot, forgoing the cold as he stripped and stepped under the spray. He had so much to think about.

He had taken charge of a six year old boy, escaped from a mad terrorist, been reunited with his old unit, and he had almost passed out on the way home.

He was used to the pain and the nausea, but he had never had an episode like that out in public. He remembered the disgusted expressions on the people who had witnessed his moment of weakness, shuddering.

He had to work on his control. He was slipping.

But for now, for now he was going to relax. The last few weeks had been traumatic and he would break down entirely if he didn't give himself time to recuperate.

He would call Tom, like he usually did, explain why he had been away and get everything off his chest.

Calling Tom had become a tradition. At first, he had resisted, telling someone about what he had been through. It had seemed like one of the worst ideas in the world to Alex. And he had expressed his distaste of the idea on several occasions. Blunt wouldn't suggest the idea again, Alex was sure.

But Tom hadn't give up. After Alex had accidentally let slip how much Jack had liked the suggestion, Tom had decided that she was right. This led to several weeks of Tom hounding Alex about giving one of his psychiatrists a chance. Each day that Alex was actually in the country he would refuse and glare at Tom with such force that Tom flinched and backed off. That glare had stopped working a long time ago.

Now, whenever Alex was sent on a mission he would come back and Tom would take on the role of his personal psychiatrist. He would listen to the entire story, whether it be about the time he had been sent to Russia, to the time he had been undercover as a drug dealer in Ireland. He would shut up, for once, and listen. And, after Alex had let everything out, like the one extremely embarrassing time he had ended up a sobbing mess on the floor of the football oval, Tom would comment or he wouldn't; he would make a joke if Alex needed it, or he would give his friend a hug and everything would go on like normal.

And after the first couple of times, Alex had realised that talking was actually helping. And now, instead of Tom calling him to ask about what had happened; Alex would call him. And slowly, he was finding that the scars were healing.

Alex rested his head against the cool glass of the shower stall wall and sighed. He could feel the knots and the aches unwinding and disappearing, feeling more relaxed then he had in ages.

It took him ten minutes to realise he was falling asleep… and his back was burning.

He turned off the water and got out. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he ignored the tinge of pain from his broken fingers and his rib. He wasn't going to be able to disregard his injuries for too much longer.

He wandered back to his room and got dressed slowly, paying no attention to his bruised reflection in the mirror on his wall.

His mind was set on calling Tom. Preparing automatically what he would say and trying to cover up and hide the things, he didn't think Tom could handle. But Tom had proved himself mature beyond his years. Alex wouldn't hide anything from his only friend.

Once he had finished dressing, Alex sat down in the middle of his bed and got comfortable. This was going to take a while.

Tom was happy to his voice and Alex could hear the relief and the concern in his best friends own voice as he asked him if he was alright.

After Alex had established he was fine he asked Tom about what schoolwork he had missed and laughed when Tom told him he had missed the principal yelling at Jackson Trage in front everyone in the school about the marijuana one of his teachers had found in his pencil case. (1)

Then Alex began telling Tom what had happened. And like always, Tom listened and Alex didn't stop talking. He kept going on about Jason, and Cameron, and K-Unit and the torture. He talked about the dark room and man that first picked him up. How Jason had hurt Cameron to get to him and how he had escaped. And, finally, he told Tom that he had shot Jason. And that Jason was dead.

It took two hours to tall Tom everything. But when he was done, Alex felt better, and when Tom asked to come over and meet Cameron Alex happily agreed, sighing in relief that he wouldn't have to talk about Jason anymore.

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Tom came over the next day. He had never been an early morning person, so when he had told Alex that he would over as soon as he got up Alex took that to mean he would be over around 2pm.

Therefore, he spent the day with Cameron. Alex searched his room and found the soccer ball he used to play with when he was still on his school team and they went out the back and kicked it around. Cameron was pretty good, and apart from one worried moment when the little boy had accidentally knocked one of his worse injuries, (Alex had sat him down and interrogated the boy for ten minutes about whether or not he was alright,) they had a fun morning.

When Tom did arrive; at 2.30, Alex and Cameron were lying, spreadeagle, on the living room floor, laughing happily.

Tom walked in, after having been let in by Jack, and stared at Alex in shock, before bounding over and sitting down on top of his best friend.

"Hiya Al!"

"Tom…!" Alex complained, trying to push his best friend off. Tom rolled off with a laugh and sat down in front of Cameron.

"Hi! I'm Tom!" Cameron just lay on the floor, looking up at him with a bemused expression.

Alex sat up too and knocked his friend in the shoulder. "Tom is my best friend Cam," he explained, then he leaned in close and stage whispered in Cameron's ear. "He's a little insane." Cameron grinned and Alex winked as Tom shoved him in indignation.

"I am not insane!"

Alex laughed. "Of course you're not Tom." He reassured his friend, with a look and a tiny pat on his hand that clearly stated he was being sarcastic.

"Boys! Lunch is ready!" Jacks voice floated in from the kitchen and a look of pure horror flashed across the older boys faces.

"You mean it was just delivered don't you Jack?" Alex called, anxiousness seeping into his voice.

There was an evil cackle from the kitchen and Alex and Tom shot to their feet, hauling Cameron up with them. "I take it back!" Alex called as they ran from the house. "Tom's not insane! Jack is!"

(1) I know that it would be very strange if you actually did know a teacher that would do this, normally they like to keep it all hush, hush, but, Jackson is one of those people who frequently call Alex a druggie and I liked the idea of getting everyone to see he is a total hypocrite.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this, I can't remember when I updated last but it can't have been more then two weeks right? Maybe I'll go check.

I would really like to know your thoughts on this chapter, especially what you thought about the Alex and Tom interactions, did you think it was a good take on their friendship?

Til next time, Lies.