13. JAMES ADAIR

AUTHOR: Nightshade2412

James caught sight of Alex leaving the room and quickly put John in charge of playing for him. He wasn't doing that well anyway, so if he ended up bankrupt it was only what he expected, and with any luck they might end up being extra nice because his son was so much cuter than he was. So he excused himself and wove through the crowd. He nodded at Mrs Jones, who smiled in return, but he kept his focus on the head of messy blond hair bobbing across the room.

He followed Alex down the hall into the kitchen and saw him splashing his face with water over the sink. He hesitated for a moment before knocking lightly on the doorframe.

"Got a moment?" he asked.

Alex turned and hid his weariness gracefully, grabbing a tea towel to dry his face and beckoning him in.

"Sure," he said with false cheer. "It's good to see you again, Mr Adair."

"Just James is fine," he said awkwardly. "Sorry for intruding when you're trying to get a minute to yourself."

Alex smiled in recognition of the truth of his words. "I'm getting a little overwhelmed, I must admit. I wasn't expecting so many people."

James heard the unspoken question - what was he doing here, with only the barest connection between them?

"I just wanted to check in with you," he said, "see how you've been since we last met."

Alex sighed and leaned back against the counter.

"It's been… a weird couple of months."

James remembered something his father had said when he asked about Alex.

"Did you really go into space?" he asked, barely above a whisper.

"I did."

"Really?" A massive grin split his face in childish excitement. "What was it like?"

"Well, aside from the madman trying to kill me…" his voice softened and his gaze was somewhere far away, "it was beautiful. Incredible." He shrugged. "Of course, the space sickness once I got back was a bitch."

"What else have you done?" His eagerness was reminiscent of Tom, which might have been what loosened Alex up enough to talk.

"Well, I ended up in Australia when I returned to Earth." He drummed his fingers against the counter behind him. "I met my godfather there."

James raised his eyebrows - he didn't sound particularly happy about it.

Alex took a deep breath. Then another. "It turned out he was the one who killed my parents." He kept his gaze fixed on the floor.

James sucked in a breath. "I… that's awful."

"Yeah, well." He heaved a sigh and changed the subject. "I hope you're having a little more luck with your family?"

"Well, my youngest has chickenpox, but overall I'd say we're thriving." James tried not to feel guilty for his own good fortune in the face of Alex's bad luck. "You must meet John. He came with me."

Alex gave a small smile. "I'd like that."

"It's a gift, it really is," James rushed to get the words out. "Being able to have what I have. I thank your father for what he did every day."

Alex looked at the tiled floor, not trusting himself to speak.

"I'm sorry," James stammered, "I don't mean to upset you. I just want you to know - if there's anything I can do, anything at all…" He trailed off.

Alex took a deep breath. "Yeah."

James smiled nervously. "Well, I'd better get back to the game. Do come say hello."

"I'll only be a moment," Alex promised.

James closed the door quietly behind him, leaving the teenager in peace.

He took his seat again and showered his son with effusive praise for winning them back a little ground. If it sounded a little distant, no one seemed to notice.

"Good evening, chaps!"

He looked up and his first impression was of an enormous floral shirt, before he saw the man behind it. He had a bag dangling limply from one hand, only a few things left in the bottom to keep up a small pendulum motion.

"I just had a few last party favours…" he said. "Mr Brooke?"

"Thank you, Smithers, but I'd rather not take anything of yours when I can't see what it is."

The man let out a hearty chuckle and moved on. He gave Mr Grey a pen and then held one out to Marc Damon.

"It won't explode, will it?" the Australian asked dubiously.

"Why would you ask that?" Smithers grinned, giving him a wink that wasn't at all reassuring. Mr Grey set his down gingerly on the table, looking between them as though he were watching a tennis match.

"As for this little gentleman…" Smithers said, peering down into the bag and pulling out a colourful dinosaur model. "Marvelous. Try this."

"It is safe, isn't it?" James asked quickly. He hadn't met this Smithers chap before, but judging by the amount of military and intelligence personnel in this room he wasn't about to go taking any chances.

"What? Of course not, my dear fellow. Although-"

He was interrupted by an earsplitting roar.

"Well, I was just about to warn you of that, but it appears our little friend has already found it - if you pull the tail-"

John demonstrated obligingly.

"I don't suppose there's an off switch?" James asked hopefully. That was going to get tiresome very quickly."

"Hmm, what? Oh, no, I didn't think of that. Sorry."

James grimaced. He'd have to hold it hostage for a while - a lot of heads had turned in their direction, and several had looked distinctly twitchy. John was reluctant to give it up, but he was distracted by Alex's arrival, and James managed to tug it away without too much fuss.

"Trying to deafen us, Smithers?" Alex asked cheerfully. He popped open a can of coke and crouched down. "You must be John. Hello. I'm Alex."

James smiled at the sight. Alex's eyes were shining, and though he seemed a bit nervous he easily became engrossed in playing with the boy until his friends called him over again. He would make a great dad someday, James thought, if he ever got the chance

He pushed the melancholy thought that came with that away. This was Alex's party. The room was full of people who all cared about him in their own odd ways.

He just had to hope that Alex would be ok.