8. JACK

AUTHOR: flowersforzoe

Jack Starbright wasn't sure why she had allowed Tom to throw Alex a party. She knew he would hate it. The poor kid had just gotten out of the hospital and still had the cast on his ankle from his time in Kenya, and he still had bandages over the aviation-fuel burns on his shoulders. She knew he wanted to just relax heal. However, Tom is impossible to say no to, and the promise of not having to cook for a night was incredibly appealing.

Jack had been doing the dishes when Tom called her. "Yeah, what's up?" She asked, assuming it was Alex.

"Jack!" Tom greeted enthusiastically. "How do you feel about hosting a holiday surprise party for Alex?" Ugh. She really didn't. That would require cooking and cleaning, neither of which Jack wanted to do. Besides, Alex probably wouldn't be up for it.

"Um," Jack said, not wanting to disappoint Tom, "I don't know if Alex would like that. He just got out of the hospital..." She felt bad about letting him down, but she knew that Alex would hate this party.

"Which is exactly why we should hold a celebration!" Tom exclaimed, desperate to get Jack's blessing, "James and I think that we should do something special for Alex, to let him know that he still has friends that care for him."

"Well," Jack sighed. Goddamn, that charming Tom Harris. Alex was going to kill her for agreeing to this. Jack cleared her throat, "I guess it would be alright as long as you have a plan." Jack really felt for her surrogate brother. The poor kid had just been kidnapped and flown to Kenya, which Jack still blamed herself for. When she had seen him again, weeks later, he was in the worst condition she'd ever seen. If anyone deserved a break, it was him, and that's why she agreed.

"Yes!" Tom yelled. Jack could almost hear the awkward fist pump, "Okay, so I'm going to invite all of Alex's friends. He does have friends besides James and me, right? Well, no matter, I'll have to do a bit of lurking—"

"Tom!" Jack interrupted, laughing, "I don't care who you invite. Just take care of the food. You know I can't cook." Jack held back a snort. There was no way that Tom was actually going to find any of Alex's friends. Not even Jack knew much about them. This would be hilarious.

"I'll be sure to tell everyone to bring a dish," Tom said quickly. Jack laughed again. Yeah, her cooking was pretty atrocious. Well, that's what happened when you only spend 10 minutes on a meal, but really, who could be bothered to spend more time than that.

"Good idea," Jack hung up, relieved. Alex was going to kill her…

In the end, Jack had decided to ruin the surprise party by warning Alex ahead of time. She knew how much the poor kid hated surprises. The last time he had been surprised, he was kidnapped and smuggled out of the country.

Even with the forewarning, Alex had still protested: "Really, Jack! I can't believe you actually agreed to this Tomfoolery," he had paused to laugh at his own pun, "Can't you just call it off? I'm a poor, sick child!" Alex's eyes twinkled with innocence.

Jack laughed. "Come on, Alex, it'll be fun! Or, maybe not," she admitted, "But at least it won't be too long. Four hours, tops." She was really pleading with him at this point.

"Jack," Alex sighed, admitting his defeat, "I still can't believe that you couldn't say no to Tom Bloody Harris."

"I know, I know," Jack laughed, "I'm just weak for Tom Harris, I guess." Both she and Alex knew she was just messing around. Jack honestly did just have a difficult time saying no to people. Except MI6, that is.

"Right you are," Alex smiled, pulling her in for a hug. Jack was glad that he had taken it well, though neither one of them was looking forward to this party.

On the day of the party, Tom had burst into their home, his hands full of food that he had cooked. Alex was somewhere...Jack had instructed him to disappear. She trusted him to stay out of trouble for an hour. Okay, that wasn't true. She trusted he could get out of any trouble he had managed to find in the span of an hour.

People even Jack didn't recognize were slowly filing into their house. Sigh. Jack had threatened to beat Tom over the head with a frying pan if everyone wasn't out by 10:00. She and Alex needed their beauty sleep, after all.

By the time Alex had arrived, and everyone had yelled "surprise," the party was actually pretty tame. Jack hadn't recognized very many people: only Mrs. Jones, that bitch from MI6; Sabina; Tom; James Hale; and of course, Alex, himself.

Jack was tasked with opening the door for guests, which only proved to be confusing. She knew next to none of them, which was unsurprising, though slightly irritating. One person she did know, however, was Charlie Grey, who had handed her a box of chocolates without saying a word. Jack thought it was very sweet of him to bring such a nice hostess gift.

She sighed. She wasn't much in the mood for socializing, but she plastered a smile on her face, and politely played hostess, just like her mother had always taught her. She politely said hello to a tight group of four soldiers shoveling food down their throats, a snobby looking girl in a long dress, a hilarious teenage boy wearing a shirt from some cartoon that Sabina used to force Alex to watch with her, and an older black man who couldn't keep his eyes off of the bitch in charge-I mean Mrs. Jones, Jack caught herself. Jones was the only one who Jack refused to speak with. Bitch. Even Jack, who tried her best to keep an open mind, was finding it very hard not to question the sanity of the man who was checking out Mrs. Jackass-er, Mrs. Jones.

Finally, she stumbled upon Tom and Sabina. Jack was happy to see them again. She had missed Alex having Sabina over since she'd moved to America. She was always able to cheer him up, as they had the same snarky sense of humor. And Tom Harris. He and Alex had been friends forever, and he was pretty much a part of their small, dysfunctional family. Jack laughed smiled internally at the thought: London had given her a lot, best of all her two younger surrogate brothers. The trio talked about everything: from school, to London, to America, to of course Alex.

Eventually, the group had broken up when Tom and Sabina had gone to find Alex, who was nowhere to be found. Jack assumed he was hiding out somewhere and observing the party from afar. Her eyes scanned the room to confirm the prediction. Yep. There he was, on the staircase, peeking through the railing. The two made eye contact, and Jack walked up the stairs casually, trying not to be noticed.

"And you say you aren't a spy," she teased him. Alex was spying on the guests, to be fair.

Alex flipped her off playfully. "Shhh, Jack," he laughed quietly, trying not to draw the attention of any other guests, "I'm playing a game. See those soldiers over there?" Jack nodded. Alex was pointing to the group of four who had moved on from the food table to the drinks table. "Yeah? That's K-Unit, the bastards from the SAS. Anyways, they're doing shots-they're on their 4th round-I'm trying to see who throws up first. It's quite fun, actually."

Jack chuckled. Of course that's what Alex would be doing during his party. "Ten pounds says it's the tall one," she challenged him.

"You're on! That's Wolf. I'll bet you ten pounds it's Snake. He's the one to Wolf's left," Alex clarified. The two of them shook hands as the doorbell rang again.

"Okay, Alex, I have to get the door. Try and talk to people!" she pleaded. The poor kid. Jack just wanted him to have a social life.

Alex gave Jack a very dramatic two-fingered salute. "Yes, ma'am," he said in a deep voice. Jack laughed the whole way down the stairs.

Jack had thought that she had seen the most eclectic of the party guests. She was dead wrong. Behind the door were four men, each stranger than the next. The first three were clad in perfect golden-brown tans, t-shirts, shorts, and sandals. In the middle of the fucking winter. The next was a very thin man wearing a three-piece suit, and the last was a man in designer sunglasses walking a dog.

The three men in sandals had rushed straight past her after they had eyed K-Unit. One of them had given her a quick "G'Day, ma'am," which had only confirmed their country of origin. Australia. Suddenly the perfect tans and summer clothes made perfect sense. The other two Jack recognized from her and Alex's brief time together in Australia. ASIS bastards. The two of them joined Charlie Grey and another man Jack didn't recognize before she could ask any further questions. Wait. One man, the one she didn't recognize, had a small child clinging to his leg. God, this party was weird, and it was only 8:00. Jack knew if she didn't get alcohol into her system immediately, she wouldn't get through the next two hours.

She walked over to the drinks table, but before she poured herself one, she made eye contact with the most beautiful blonde.

"Well hello there," the blonde said to Jack. Her voice was impossibly smooth, which matched her perfect-fitting suit, "I'm Tamara."

"Jack Starbright," she replied, "How are you?" Goddamnit, Jack! Is that the best you can do!? Unfortunately, it was. To say the least, she was a little intimidated by Tamara's perfect suit. And her perfect blonde curls. And her smooth, perfect voice...

"Just perfect," Tamara said casually, unknowingly echoing Jack's thoughts. Weird. A smile forming on her deep red lips, she said: "So, what's your Alex story? Everyone around here seems to have one."

Jack laughed ironically. "More like stories. I've been watching him since he was seven, and became his legal guardian last year." Tamara nodded. Most of Jack's stories were about little Alex destroying shit, which really wasn't where she wanted this conversation to go. Taking the focus off of herself, Jack said: "What about you, Tamara, how do you know Alex?"

"Well, we met while I was working undercover for a man named Nikolai Drevin. Wait. That's where I've seen you before, right? The Waterfront Hotel, remember?" Tamara flashed her best smile at Jack. Holy shit, that's right!

"Oh my god, that's right! I'd forgotten all about that," Jack laughed, showing all of her perfect teeth. She felt incredibly stupid for not remembering the woman, but that embarrassment quickly faded away when Tamara started speaking again in her slow, sexy voice.

"I hadn't realized I was that forgettable," Tamara projected, winking at Jack.

"No, no" Jack exclaimed quickly, "Trust me. You are far from forgettable."

Tamara pulled her close with her free hand, and then they were kissing. When they had finally come up for air, Jack licked her lips and smiled again: "Far from forgettable, indeed." Tamara pulled her back in.

When she and Jack finally pulled apart, they noticed Alex staring at them, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"Oh shit," Jack laughed, looking at her shocked 'brother.' This was going to be one hell of a conversation...

"Don't worry about it, Jack," Tamara soothed, "He'll be fine. He's Alex, after all."

Jack smiled and regained eye contact with Tamara who was holding her hand;, "Indeed he is. Can I see you again?" She wanted to stay with Tamara, but she knew she had to go find Alex first.

"Of course you can, just call me," Tamara flicked up her eyebrows and sauntered away. Jack was just about to ask how, but then she noticed that Tamara had sketched her number onto Jack's left hand.

Armed with a hot girl's phone number and a dorky smile permanently plastered to her face, Jack set off to talk to Alex.

Alex was leaning against one of the walls, her arms crossed in front of him. "Soooo" he started, dragging out the word, "You and Tamara?" Jack was glad to see that, despite his hardened demeanor, his words were playful.

"Great deduction skills," Jack teased him back, "No wonder MI6 can't get enough of you."

"Just like you can't get enough of Tamara!" Alex snarked back.

"So, you don't care?" Jack clarified, cutting to the chase.

"Of course not, Jack," he said hugging her. Whispering into her ear, he said, "We just need a system. Y'know, like a sock-on-the-door-handle, or-"

"Alex!" Jack exclaimed, playfully smacking him upside the head.

"Ouch, Jack. You'd better save that energy for Tamara, I mean-"

"Goodbye, Alex!" Jack interrupted and walked away. She was glad that Alex was cool with the whole Jack-and-Tamara-situation. She smiled to herself as she went to finally get her drink. Wow, what a night it's been.