Hey yes, so this is the second part of the chapter complications. It didn't actually take me as long as I thought seeing as I haven't been doing as much studying as I should be. Once again, I apologise for spelling mistakes and errors, I'm still getting used to wordpad. Thanks for all the lovely reviews and by the way, I'm actually Irish so if I confuse American terminology for being British, I'm really sorry. I'll try to do better next time. Anyway, here's the chapter.

Complications : Part 2

"It looks like the problem is the pipe underneath the sink. At least, that's where the water's coming from anyway." Alex's muffled voice came out from under the kitchen sink as only his legs remained visible, the rest of his body curled up inside the counter underneath clutching a flashlight as he tried to decipher where the leak was coming from.

"That's great Alex" Ash replied encouragingly as he distractedly watched as his godson's tiny little feet poking out from underneath as most of his body was small enough to fit inside the kitchen cupboard. "Another couple of days of this and you'll soon be showing your Uncle who's the boss around here." Ash decided to amuse himself by really trying to make the kid feel special. After all, these were the last moments of peace and enjoyment in his life he was ever going to receive.

While Alex had been busying himself trying his best to mend the leaky pipe before his uncle got home, Ash had been routing around in Ian's old tool shed out the back of the house, determined to make this experience as interesting as possible in the limited amount of time he had to complete his purpose there.

He'd told Alex that he gone to look for spare screws from the shed that might help with the whole 'tap fixing' process, but Ash now stood in the centre of the kitchen facing down towards the sink with an Iron bar clutched firmly in his grip as he watched the two little legs squirming beneath the sink.

"Is there anything in the tool box I could use to fix this?" Alex's small voice echoed inside the cupboard as he swiveled around inside to try to get a better look at what he was doing.

"As a matter of fact there is. I have just the thing right here" Ash replied, a hint of sarcasm entered his tone and Alex was suddenly suspicious of the man now standing in front of the kitchen sink. For some reason he could not quite explain, he felt a raw shiver of fear ran down his spine as he slowly made his way out from under the sink.

You could almost say that it was a sixth sense he had developed from a childhood spent living with Ian, some instinct that was almost animal - like which immediately alerted the hairs on the back of his neck that he was in some sort of danger.

As he cautiously crawled out on his hands and knees, squinting his eyes against the sunlight to which he had been deprived of for the last twenty minutes, he immediately noticed that the crow bar which should have been seen poking out from the top of the tool box was now missing from its place where it had been only minutes ago.

Alex, who was now standing in the centre of the kitchen where Ash had been only moments ago was suddenly aware of someone creeping up behind him and his eyes widened in a state of alarm as he quickly realised what was about to happen.

He spun around to face his attacker, positioning himself for a fight as he had been taught to do so many times before in these kind of situations. But before he had time to react, he was suddenly aware of the daylight rushing abruptly towards him as his whole world blacked out and he remembered nothing more.

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"Thank You" Ian muttered quickly as he handed the extremely confused taxi driver a ridiculously large wad of cash, slamming the door behind him as he ran swiftly up the garden path with an urgent sense of purpose.

Reaching the front door in a matter of seconds and blinded by an overwhelming sense of rage, he burst through the front, no longer caring whether he was heard or not. He stood routed to the spot in the downstairs hallway of what appeared to be an empty house, his eyes quickly scanning the room for any signs of a struggle.

"Alex?" Ian called out to his nephew as he slowly made his way through the house, entering the kitchen with a shredded hope embedded into the back of his mind that maybe he had misjudged the whole situation. Then he saw the blood.

There lying on the white tiles of the kitchen floor were tiny pinpricks of red, curving their way around the kitchen table and leading all the way towards the back of the house. Ian's eyes followed the trail with a newly found sense of panic and hysteria rising inside him and he felt his entire body seize up in a state of silent shock as his eyes slowly registered the truly horrific sight that lay before him, waiting just inside the living room floor.

There, lying motionless faced down on the carpeted floor was a boy aged seven, whose eyes were closed and breathing faint as a trickle of blood ran down the side of his face from just underneath his golden locks of blond hair. But just as Ian's mind had begun to register the unthinkable sight in front of him an even more heart stopping one stood just above him.

Ash had positioned himself just in front of the unconscious boy, his eyes glaring with a silent hatred that was directed at Ian, as his hand hovered directly over Alex holding a knife that sharp enough to shred through anything if the right amount of force was applied.

For a moment the two of them stood motionless facing each other in the centre of the room, silent as they both sub consciously weighed up their options based on the predicted outcome of what was about to happen next.

Ian was the first to speak as he it suddenly occurred to him that the next few words that the two of them exchanged would determine the outcome of his nephew's fate. "You don't have to do this" he said quietly deciding that controlled and reasonable were his best options. "There are people you can talk to, you can get help but this isn't a viable solution to your problems" Ian reasoned as he watched Ash's grip on the knife become more pronounced.

"Oh, I think it is" Ash replied, his tone dripping with menace as he tried and failed to control his anger. Ian could clearly see right then and there just how badly he had been hurt that night in Malta seven years ago.

"I gave everything I had to my job" he continued, fueled by his sense of rage. "I served my country with gladness, leaving the military to join the secret service with a sense of pride believing that I was a hero. I gave up my family, my life even my health for the dream job that everyone had me so convinced was worth dying for and do you know what I got for it?" He asked, his voice raised slightly as he relived the horrors of his past. "A stab in the back from a man who I believed to be my friend and a lousy reference shipping me off to the other side of the world all for the sake of saving Alan Blunts job".

He finished on a bitter note, is eyes narrowing in undisguised loathing as he took in once again the elegant furnishings of the Rider house. Ian stood listening to all this barely able to contain his growing sense of impatience as his eyes remained trained on the knife that was still hovering in the air only inches from Alex's head.

"What makes you think that you're going to get away with this?" Ian asked quietly, his gaze flickering back to Ash as he watched a slow but deceiving smile creep into the mans' face.

"It's very simple" his replied, his tone enriched with unbearable sarcasm. "You're not going to tell anyone" he stated simply, his unwavering gaze never leaving Ian's face.

For the first time that day, a pronounced smirk could be seen lingering around the edges of Ian's face as he amused himself with the idea. "Really? Whatever gave you that impression?" he responded deciding it was best to play along.

Ash's piercing gaze sliced into Ian, his left handy steady and unwavering held firmly onto the knife while his right hand slowly and precisely began to unbutton his shirt. Ian held his gaze with a mixture of fear, curiosity and suspicion as he noticed a vaguely familiar shape beginning to surface. on the lower part of his chest.

Ian felt the blood slowly drain from his face, a sudden ringing in his ears beginning to emerge as a distant memory slowly resurfaced in his mind bringing him to a slow realisation of what exactly he had gotten himself into. A figure carved with such precision and intensity, so recognisable in the world of criminal activity that its very presence sent a shiver of fear down the back of the onlooker. The symbol that could only mean one thing. Scorpia.

In that very moment on that very day, Ian had never felt a deeper sense of anger and betrayal as he recalled the day when his brother and his wife had been murdered by the very organisation for which this man represented. As if through an unspoken channel of communication their eyes connected in response to something that had been lingering on the edge of their minds for several minutes now. Ian had never before understood so much as he did in that moment.

"It was you" he whispered, his voice barely audible. He could hear the loathing reflected in his own voice as he had never felt such hatred for another human being as long as he had lived. The man standing in his living room was the reason his seven-year old nephew had grown up without a mother or father.

Ian knew in that moment that he was capable of doing just about anything and for the first time that day he thoroughly regretted what he knew was about to happen.

As if right on cue, having waited for the right moment to intervene, a conjugated group of armed police officers came barreling in through the door, weapons raised, bringing Ash to the floor before the evidently startled Scorpion had time to react. Ian stood his ground, remaining passive as he watched his former friend and colleague being dragged unwillingly through his house and out the front door, his shouts of protest drowned out by the sound of wailing police sirens growing nearer in the distance.

As the faint sight of flashing blue and red lights grew more profound in the darkening streets of London, Ian made his way slowly and cautiously over to where the sleeping boy lay in a state of unconsciousness, utterly oblivious to the nights events. With gentle hands and a newly found sense of loss buried deep into his soul, he held his nephew close promising him that whatever happened, he would not allow the soulless organisation which had taken his godfather to lay siege on him aswell.

As carefully as his arms would allow him, he carried the sleeping boy through the open doors and towards the new arrival of an awaiting ambulance, a promise in his heart that so long as he lived that his brothers' death would not go unavenged...

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Alex woke to the sound of a beeping monitor making itself known somewhere overhead as blinding florescent lights shone down on him from overhead. He was vaguely aware that a needle had been placed underneath the top layer of skin on his left arm but he struggled to see exactly where it was as an oxygen mask was now blocking his view covering most of his face.

As he reached out his free arm in his attempt to yank it off, another arm much stronger than his, though surprisingly gentle, held it down as he slowly looked up to see his uncle's collected smile peering down at him, his eyes softer than Alex had ever seen them.

Ian rider had been out getting coffee having a spent a long sleepless night in a chair beside his nephews hospital bed, when he returned to see the seven-year old boy stirring gently beneath a see of blankets and monitors attaching themselves to his body. Ian found himself struggling with his emotions not for the first time that day at the sight of a child having to endure the pain caused by mistakes that were made long before he was even born.

"I think that's a bad idea" he reassured him softly has he took his nephews hand which had been ready to rip off the oxygen mask which appeared to be almost smothering his face. Ian then caught the sight Alex's chestnut-brown eyes peering up at him in a silent plea and with a sigh of defeat he gently removed the oxygen mask from his tiny face.

The features of Alex's face slowly came into view as Ian immediately tried without success to read his expression. For a moment neither of them spoke as Alex made himself comfortable in the bed which was lined with woollen blankets and scratchy sheets, both of which made it difficult to relax while being pinned to a bed with artificial drips and needles that seem to keep on extending forever. Ian spoke first.

"How are you feeling?" he asked calmly looking directly into Alex's eyes which much to his growing sense of anxiety were not being reciprocated.

"Fine" Alex replied curtly, staring at the floor, obviously not keen to bring up whatever topic which was clearly dominating his thoughts.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ian asked softly, feeling it was better to give him the choice to bring it up before he did. At least that way he could feel he had some sense of control over what happened to him.

"Why did you leave?" Alex asked suddenly, his eyes staring intently up at Ian, filled with confusion and a hint of frustration that Ian couldn't place. Ian blinked.

" I went to the bank, to sort out some things like I told you I would" Ian replied reasonably looking down at his nephew with evident curiosity as he watched him screw up his eyebrows in state of intense concentration as he tried to recall this conversation which he obviously had no recollection of.

"You don't remember anything that happened?" Ian asked curiously, a sweet sense of relief flooding through him as he realised that he no longer needed to receit a decade of bitter family history to a seven-year old who before the previous day, had never been exposed to the world of spys and assassins. And as far as he was concerned, it was going to stay that way.

Alex shook his head in response although he still looked troubled as he tried to recall a distant memory that was no longer there. "Where did Jack go? I thought she was going on a picnic?" he asked, a hint a worry suddenly registering in his eyes when he realised that she wasn't there with them.

"Oh, she's fine. She's at home. Her car broke down a bridge yesterday that had no phone reception so I sent a police officer around a couple of hours later to pick her up. She certainly wasn't happy" Ian smiled, a sense of guilt threatening to overcome his amusement to her notorious reaction at having left her on a deserted flyaway bridge for five hours.

"She was worried about you but I told her to go home and get some rest. There's no point in the two of us fighting for a hospital chair to sleep on when you were going to be unconscious the whole time" Ian reasoned as Alex's face grew even more confused.

"But, what happened? Why am I here?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbows, determined to get a straight answer out of his uncle, even if it required a lot of pulling and tugging.

Ian thought for a few moments of what best to tell his nephew that wouldn't frighten him, or leave him feeling vulnerable in a house that was unsafe to live in. In the end he had decided to tell him what he had originally told Jack when she had arrived confused and dazed at the hospital only a day earlier.

"You hit your head while you were underneath the kitchen sink trying to fix the pipe and you must have blacked out shortly afterwards because that's where I found you when I came back from the office" Ian replied completely unfazed by the ease at which he had just it was not a problem as Alex nodded, seemingly accepting this as a reasonable outcome to a messy situation.

"Was there anyone else there?" Alex asked politely, apparently wanting to clear the air, as the opportunity to ask Ian multiple questions on any topic rarely came along in his world.

The moment of truth Ian thought bitterly to himself as he cursed the job he had so faithfully resigned himself to which prevented him from having any kind of honest relationship with his only nephew.

"No. There was no one. I asked Mrs Norris from next door to keep an eye on you when I was gone"

And there it was. A fool-proof, flawless, inconsolable lie into which his own conscience had been so greatly consumed. However this was not to take from the peace of mind it gave him to know that Alex would feel safe and happy in the knowledge that his life was much less complicated than it actually was.

As if to confirm this new-found sense of relief, a helpful nurse entered the room holding a tray which held all the delights of a tasty midnight snack and as they sat there talking into the night, they relished in the fact that this time gave them, if nothing else, the freedom to think without complications.

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"You're absolutely certain that there is nothing else going on that I should know about?" The voice insisted, an edge of both defiance and confidence to be clearly heard in her voice.

"No ma'am" he replied "Nothing at all" Ian sat confident and collected in the chair facing his boss as she continued to assess him, looking for tell-tale signs of weakness or uncertainty. Mrs Jones was not a fool and she had not advanced her career to this level of intelligence work without the knowledge that she knew every single one of her agents from the inside out. However it just happened to be this particular day that she found herself at a loss for words.

She could tell by the way in which Ian Rider had arranged both his body language and his facial expressions to appear casual and disinterested that something had happened involving the break in to his house that he was not telling her. In spite of this she knew it wasn't concern for Ian Rider's possessions that was causing her to react this way to the incident on his house so much as the fact that it was Ash who had been involved.

She had confronted him after the incident in Malta to review his recovery, both physical and mental, and was evidently concerned by what she saw. In the place of the man whom her company had once recruited as a great and fearsome soldier, was a shallow broken soul lost in the midst of a world which refused to reclaim him as their own.

It was for this reason that she confronted Ian Rider now. Although she could not deny that it was proving to be much more difficult than she would ever believed to be possible.

Ian rider sat in the chair which had become so familiar to him in recent years, composed and seemingly unconcerned about his bosses obvious suspicion regarding his recent entail involving Ash. However this new-found sense of scrutiny did not affect in any way the ability which he had been taught to perform so well. Lie.

After many long days of conflicting emotions and sleepless nights, he had finally decided to do what was best for everyone and take on Ash on his own terms. He knew whole heartedly that Mrs Jones would do everything in her power to bring down the man who had been responsible for John Riders' death if given the opportunity, but Ian recognised that this was something he had to do alone.

It was he who had missed the birth of his nephew in the race to aid John in bringing down Scorpia, It was he who had turned down the opportunity to be best man at his brothers' wedding because he believed that Ash was the preferential choice over him, And it was he who had allowed these people access into him home, leaving Alex virtually unprotected. This was no longer a matter of Queen and Country. This was personal.

They both remained sitting, glaring intently at each other in complete silence for what seemed like several minutes. Ian noticed that his bosses voice had acquired a new edge following his refusal to give her any information about the incident with Ash other than what he had given in the police report, and he slowly became anxious as the silence stretched on, giving way to an uncomfortable method of silent communication. Ian could not bring himself to place the sudden intensity whith which she had now taken to assess him.

He was about to ask her for a dismissal to leave providing there was no more questions that she intended to grill him with, when he was saved by her abrupt change of heart. She stood up offering a hand and an over polite smile in what appeared to be a gesture of truce, her eyes suddenly glinting with a hint of triumph as Ian turned away from her, making his way swiftly towards the door. Just as he was about to step out into the corridor, he heard his bosses voice calling out to him from behind.

"You care for Alex, don't you"? Mrs Jones enquired casually, her eyes suddenly becoming occupied with a stack of neatly folded papers on her desk.

Ian felt his whole body stiffen, a knot growing ever more pronounced inside him as he turned to face her once again. "Yes" he replied through gritted teeth, his voice even and controlled.

"Good" she replied curtly "Make sure your loyalty to this company remains in tact and we'll make sure it stays that way" she concluded, turning her back to him, no longer feeling the need to interrogate him as she knew that whatever game Ian had been intending on playing, that she had just won.

Ian remained standing by the doorway in silence, staring after her for several minutes before stepping out onto the deserted corridor, closing the door behind him. Standing in the abandoned corridor in a long narrow passage on the sixteenth floor of MI6 headquarters, Ian found himself fighting back an overwhelming sense of fury. He knew in his heart and soul that MI6 had the capability of using ruthless tactics to acquire their aims, but never did he believe even for a moment would they stoop so slow as to threaten the life of a child to achieve their goals.

He suddenly found himself torn between a mixture of emotions ranging from anger to betrayal, and he reflected back on the source of pandemonium for which his life had become over the last number of years, for the first time in so long he found himself experiencing the reality of being truly alone.

Okay, so that's kind of it for the first story. I apologise for the change of storyline at the end - I wasn't happy with the first version. I'm sorry about the lack of action. I'm still getting used to this style of writing. Next time I plan to do something a little more low-key, to lower the tension a little bit, maybe a one-shot on Alex and Ian's 'normal life'. School, work, etc. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and please feel free to view and let me know what you think.