Chapter 6 – Building A Friendship

Alex woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of the doorbell; yawning he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and his gaze fell on the files on his desk that he'd been reading the night before. He groaned and got out of bed, putting on a pair of jeans, his Chelsea football shirt, and a pair of trainers before heading downstairs to the kitchen to see Jack. Alex paused on the stairs when he heard voices from the kitchen, he heard Jack laughing as she said something to the other person; frowning slightly he walked into the kitchen to see Kita sitting at the table laughing as Jack told her story.

'Hey Alex,' Jack said, 'Kita just came round to see if you were up, and I managed to convince her to stay for a while.'

'Hey Alex,' Kita said, smiling slightly, 'I hope you don't mind me dropping in like this.'

Alex shook his head smiling, 'Hey Kita. You okay?'

Kita nodded, 'You?'

Alex nodded and helped himself to some cereal as Jack finished her story.

'So I was standing there talking to this guy, who just so happened to be really good looking and then his wife comes over and starts yelling at him for flirting with another woman; so I crept away before she turned on me,' Jack said, Kita laughed.

'Why are all the good looking ones either married or gay in this country?' Jack wondered aloud.

'Not all of them,' Kita said, 'Some of them are pricks as well.'

Jack laughed, 'Very true.'

'The way you talk about guys you'd think you hate the lot of us,' Alex said as he sat down.

'Hey we didn't say anything about the non-good looking ones,' Kita said, grinning as Alex flicked some cereal at her from his spoon.

'Why couldn't they have given me a guy to work with?' Alex asked teasingly.

'Then you would get into twice as much trouble, you need a girl to make sure you stay in line,' Kita retorted.

'Girls get into a lot more trouble than guys do; at least we can get out of it,' Alex replied.

'It's usually the guy's fault we get into trouble in the first place,' Kita said teasingly. Alex sighed.

'What did I do to deserve this?' he asked.

'I could think of a few things,' Jack teased.

'Your supposed to be on my side!' Alex said, mock-glaring at Jack.

'What and let the girly side down? I don't think so' Jack replied, grinning at Alex. He rolled his eyes in response.

'I knew I should have had a brother,' he muttered. There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes; Alex realised this was what he'd been missing for a long time, this three way bantering and joking. Ever since he'd started at MI6 he'd lost many friends, Jack was great but he needed someone his own age; MI6 may have made him hate them but he had to like them for giving him a new friend that he could talk to more than he could any others he may still have. He couldn't tell Tom about his missions, no matter how much he wanted to, but he'd be able to tell Kita if they were partners. He put his bowl in the sink and then sat back down at the table.

'You come around for any particular reason or was it just to annoy me?' Alex asked Kita, grinning as she stuck her tongue out at him.

'I was on the way back from checking on Tony and Sarah and thought I'd say 'Hi' while I was passing by,' Kita replied.

'Whose Tony and Sarah?' Alex asked.

'Tony was the one who could hardly stand from yesterday, Sarah was the one who helped me get him up, she's his girlfriend,' Kita replied.

'Have you looked through the files yet?' she asked after a few minutes. Alex nodded.

'He was exaggerating when he said we had a history to make up wasn't he?' Kita asked, Alex snorted.

'The only thing we can make up is the stuff we did when no one was looking,' he replied. 'Do you want to go upstairs and look through them again?' he asked. Kita shrugged.

'Why not? We might as well, we can't exactly take them with us can we?' she replied. Alex stood up and led Kita upstairs to his room where the files were still resting on his desk. Kita put her bag down by the desk and took out her file, at Alex's questioning look she said:

'I was planning on going to the park and learning a bit more.'

Alex pulled out his desk chair and sat on it as Kita sat on the bed, kicking off her trainers and tucking her legs underneath her.

& & & & & & &

An hour later and Jack knocked on Alex's door before opening it and finding the two 14 year olds playing on the games console; the files lying forgotten on the floor a few feet from them. She grinned as Kita tried to knock the hand set from Alex's hand and he expertly avoided her.

'Does anyone want lunch or shall I just leave you go hungry?' she asked; shaking her head as Alex jumped up as Kita lunged again and he won the race they were playing.

'You cheated!' Kita said, grabbing Alex's ankle and making him go flying onto the bed, 'You pushed me off the track!'

'You knocked the controller out of my hand!' Alex retorted, rolling off the bed and managing to tackle Kita onto it.

'Alright, break it up! Do you guys want lunch or not?' Jack asked.

'Yes please' they said in unison as they disentangled themselves from the bed sheets.

'It'll be ready in five,' Jack said, closing the door behind her. Kita turned to Alex when the door was shut.

'Still say you cheated,' she said grinning and squealing as Alex leapt towards her. She jumped over the bed and tried to run around the side at the same time Alex did. He managed to hook an arm around her waist and threw her onto the bed, pinning her down and grinning.

'Still say I cheated?' he asked. Kita stuck her tongue out and nodded, a grin firmly plastered on her face. Alex shrugged, 'Fine we'll do things the hard way.' His hands went to her sides and he started to tickle her. Kita laughed and tried to push his hands away, whilst trying to wriggle out of the way; unfortunately Alex had her pinned to well.

'No… alright, alright… you didn't cheat' Kita gasped, and tried to get her breath back when Alex finally stopped tickling her.

'Glad we got that cleared up,' he said, grinning; Kita stuck her tongue out at him and squealed as he tickled her again.

'No! Alex… stop!' she managed to gasp. Alex stopped.

'Happy?'

'Very' she replied; they stayed still for a few moments in a companionable silence, then Alex rolled over so they were lying side by side on the bed.

'Where did you live before you moved in with your Mum?' he asked her; Kita looked over at him.

'How did you-?'

'My Uncle taught me to teach French, German and Spanish when I could speak English well enough,' Alex explained, 'I understood everything you said in Spanish the other day.'

Kita nodded in understanding, 'I lived with my grandparents about ten minutes drive away a few years after my Dad died.'

'When did he die?' Alex asked. Kita looked over at the opposite wall.

'When I was three… he drowned,' she answered shortly. She opened her mouth as if to speak but closed it again.

'You want to know about Yassen don't you?' Alex asked her; Kita looked over at him, he was staring at the ceiling.

'You said you knew him,' Kita replied. Alex nodded.

'I met him a few times,' he answered. Kita sat up on her elbows and looked at him.

'He was a spy, wasn't he?' she asked. Alex shook his head.

'No,' he answered; Kita frowned.

'Did he help with MI6?'

Alex shook his head again.

'Then what-?'

'He was an assassin,' Alex replied, 'He worked for Scorpia.'

Kita froze, Alex didn't dare look at her; he remembered what she'd said about him being the only father she'd ever known and didn't want to see her reaction to what Yassen had actually been. The revelation that his Uncle had been a spy was bad enough for Alex, but if Ian Rider had been an assassin Alex wondered how he would have coped. Eventually the silence was too long and Alex looked at her; she seemed to be looking at something on the opposite wall only she could see.

'Kita?'

She turned to face him suddenly and he saw tears on her face; he pulled her into a hug and held her as she cried against him. After a few minutes she pulled away and angrily brushed the tears away and took a deep breath.

'What is Scorpia?' she asked him.

'It's a criminal organisation based in Venice,' he answered, 'It stands for Surveillance, Corruption, Interrogation, and Assassination.'

Kita was silent for a few minutes, 'It can't be true,' she said quietly, Alex looked away.

'Alex, please, tell me it's not the same Yassen that I knew.'

Alex sighed and closed his eyes, 'His name was Yassen Gregorovich,' he said; he didn't want to open his eyes and see how she'd taken it.

'He trained me to be like him,' she said, angrily after a few minutes; Alex frowned slightly as he watched her. 'He taught me self defence and he taught me different languages; he even paid for me to go to gymnastics and he left me some money in an account when he died. But it was all for me to follow him and become and assassin.'

Alex shook his head, 'I don't think he did, Kita' he said quietly, 'My Uncle taught me how to speak languages, paid for me to take karate classes, and took me on loads of adventure holidays but it didn't mean he was training me to become a spy. That's the way he lived and he wanted me to stand a chance if anything ever happened to him; I think that's what Yassen was doing for you.'

Kita turned to face him, 'How do you know that?' she asked. Alex shrugged.

'It's what I believe. I don't care what Alan Blunt says, I don't think he would have wanted me to become a spy this early. Maybe he would have given me the choice later but not now,' he answered. Kita looked away.

'I don't know if I can believe that,' she said; Alex sighed.

'I'm sorry' he said, Kita turned to face him.

'Why? Because you told me the truth? Never be sorry for telling someone the truth no matter how much it hurts,' she told him, after a few moments pause she asked him 'Do you know how he died?'

Alex looked back at the wall.

'You do, don't you?' Kita asked in a quiet voice. There was a few moments of silence to answer her question before she spoke again, it was obvious she was trying to keep her voice steady.

'Please, Alex, I need to know,' she asked, Alex remained silent. 'Alex, after Dad drowned he became a father figure to me; he was the only one who could keep Mum out of her own little world. She just sits there staring into space all day and I'm the one how had to take care of her, even when she lashes out in one of her temper fits.'

Alex turned to face her; Kita had always described a Yassen Gregorovich he never thought existed. Tears were silently falling down her face, Alex sighed.

'Scorpia sent him to help Damian Cray. I was working without the help of MI6 at the time to track Cray down; he'd put my friend's Dad, Sabina's Dad, in hospital. Me and Sabina were on Air Force One with Cray and Yassen. Cray ordered Yassen to kill us but he refused to do it, so Cray shot him. In the end Cray, Sabina, and I fought and Cray fell out of the door and into an engine. I managed to speak to Yassen before he died and he said he used to work with me Dad at Scorpia; he told me to find Scorpia in Venice.

In the end it turned out my Dad was a double agent working for MI6; Scorpia found out and killed both of my parents because of it. I lived with my Uncle before he was killed by Yassen on his last mission; that was the one they made me take over as my first mission.

'Yassen saved me twice; first when he killed Herod Sayle, who was about to shoot me, and then when I faced Cray. He gave me a fair chance, which is more than most people do.'

Kita remained silent as she continued to cry; she looked down at the bed cover and started to speak again

'He taught me all the languages I know. When he visited us we used to speak in a mixture of languages all the time, it was a game for us. When he wrote to me we'd alternate between the languages I knew and those I was learning. Him and Mum would pick me up from my grandparents' house and take me out for the day; sometimes it was just me and him. He even paid for my gymnastics classes and kit.

'they said no body was ever found but that he was missing, presumed dead. After a few weeks of not having heard from him they held a memorial service for him in Russia; we couldn't afford to go out there and that's when my grandparents died and Mum hit rock bottom. Sometimes I hear her calling out to him in her sleep, and she keeps asking me where he is; he was her 2nd cousin and they were really close, almost like brother and sister. He was a father, brother and friend all in one to us. I kept asking him to take me to live with him, but all he'd say was "We'll see" or "Maybe one day when you've learnt Russian". He told me he worked for a shipping form and he had to travel a lot to secure deals.'

Kita trailed off, her voice cracking with the effort to keep it steady. Alex sat up and pulled her into a hug, letting her cry into his shoulder. After a few moments Jack's voice carried up the stairs telling them lunch was ready; Kita pulled away from Alex.

'Be down in a minute!' Alex called to her, he turned back to Kita, 'You ok?'

Kita shook her head, 'No, but I will be soon enough. Thanks for telling me, Alex.'

'Come on then, you and Jack can take the piss out of me for the next half an hour while we have lunch,' he said; Kita smiled at him.

'Thanks, Alex,' she said. The two of them turned and walked downstairs to join Jack for lunch.

'You said you do gymnastics, how long have you been doing it for?' Alex asked as they reached the kitchen.

'Since I was five,' Kita answered, 'I was supposed to be doing a competition this weekend, but Blunt put pay to that.'

Alex nodded sympathetically, 'He does choose the worst times, trust me.'

& & & & & & & & &

Two days later the two teenagers were sat side by side on a private plane that would carry them to the school; Alex felt his stomach clench unpleasantly as the French Alps appeared, he looked out and had a horrible shock when he saw the building that had once been known as the Point Blanc Academy. He breathed a sigh of relief when the plane veered to the side and continued through the Alps. Kita was listening to the I-pod Smithers had given her, they'd each loaded music onto them as Smithers had instructed them and had enough music to listen to constantly for four days. As they were now playing the parts of Alex Moth and Nikita Long, Kita was ignoring him; they were supposed to hate each other, it would mean there would be a lot of opportunities to slip up seeing as they were quite good friends but it was the safest means of putting them in. The money to pay for their stay at the school was coming from a 'generous associate' according to Alan Blunt and neither teenager had pressed him for more details. Alex was dressed in a pair of baggy jeans that had many rips and tears in the legs and, much to his delight, he had been allowed to wear his Chelsea football shirt; Kita was wearing a short black, leather skirt that came midway down her thighs and a pair of heeled boots that came up to the top of her calves, with a low-cut black top, to complete her black look she was wearing dark makeup; Alex had a suspicion that the Headmaster would have a shock when he saw her, especially since they had all of their 'gadget' body rings in. He smirked to himself as he thought of all the damage they could do between them if they set off all of the rings at once and felt a bit more secure. The plane landed on an air strip not far from a large, old fashioned building not unlike the building that had housed the Point Blanc Academy; the only difference was that this building didn't look like it had been designed by a madman, though he had a feeling that the Headmaster would just as crazy as his brother had been.

The plane landed and Kita put her I-pod away in her bag and they stood up to leave; there were two other teenagers on the plane, another girl and a boy who looked a little older than them and were obviously there for the reason that the school said it was there for. The four teenagers stepped out of the warm plane and into the slowly drifting snowflakes of the French Alps.

A/N: I'm so sorry that it's taken so long for me to update but I've had so much work and revision to do. It's levelling out now, though, so hopefully I can update more. I'm taking my laptop into school so I'm writing chapters in my free periods after I've done most of my work or I just get so bored with doing work I start writing… I blame my muses. Thank you so much to my readers and reviewers! I know I've said this story is on hold but there will be the odd update until the 'ON HOLD' comes down.

Please review, I'm writing chapters according to the stories with the most reviews it's just I hadn't updated this one in ages and I thought I'd better seeing as it's now on hold.

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