a/n. Ok here's the next chapter (finally) I had a small dilemma with where it was going and some pretty serious block. But not to worry, here it is and the next instalment is on the way. Hope you all like it and don't forget to review precious readers
disclaimer: Don't own Alex Rider, never have, never will (wish I did though)..etc, etc.
Sienna slid her key into the front door and quietly slid the door open, careful to avoid the creak that would betray her late arrival. She placed her keys in the dark blue porcelain bowl on the hall table and pushed the gently until it closed with a resounding click. She smiled to herself, the door hadn't made a sound, Steve and Kate would be up in bed asleep, Addison would be sprawled out on Sienna's bed, the TV still going in her attempt to keep herself awake until Sienna arrived home, she was home and hosed.
She scooted past the living room and made her way to the stairs, placing one delicately heeled foot on the bottom step, Sienna froze,
She shimmied back down the hall and poked her head around the corner of the wall, there was Steve, sarcastically beaming up at her from a luscious green lounge chair in the corner, a small lamp casting a damp glow over his sternly comical features.
Sienna groaned
Oh Boy, here we go
"Hiya Enna" Steve chirped "Nice time I presume, seeing as you know.. it's now, I don't know...1:00am"!!
Sienna plastered the most innocent smile she could master over her delicate features
"I'm not that late really, I mean only half hour later than I said I'd be and I mean you didn't really have to wait up for me, I was going to come home I swear" Sienna reasoned, her eyebrows raised in hopeful anticipation.
"I know, I know" Steve said, his brow creased slightly "I was just thinking though, you're out to all hours of the night with this boy, one you've only just met, one that I haven't even met, I just don't want you to go getting yourself attached to this one to quickly, I don't want you to get hurt" He said sincerely, a small smile crept across his face and smoothed the creases in his brow
"Although that would mean I get to beat him senseless..yeah?"
Sienna relaxed instantly, her face now a glow in a bemused smile, she pulled off her heels and padded her way over to Steve and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"No Steve" she said sternly, "You definitely may not beat him senseless" pausing "besides he's pretty strongly built, not sure if you could, you should feel the muscles in his...."
"Woahh.." Steve interrupted, "No thank you, there's a girl upstairs passed out on your bed that I'm sure would love very much to hear the details of his umm..of whats-his-names umm..."
"Alex's muscles?" Sienna finished for him.
"Yes..umm that one..I"m going to bed now" Steve said uncomfortably
Sienna sighed contentedly to herself as she tip toed up the stairs, careful not to wake Kate. She eased her door open to find Addison curled up under the covers, her fiery hair splayed out across the pillow. The television in the corner murmured softly to itself and cast an aesthetic glow across the walls. Sienna made her way over to it and pushed the power button, the room went dark and she was left to fumble her way to the bed where she pulled off her clothes and scrambled into bed wearing her most favourite flannel pyjamas. She closed her eyes gently and allowed herself to be lulled to sleep by the steady sound of Addison's breathing.
Alex trudged down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning loudly. He called out to Jack but was met with silence. He stumbled from room to room searching for Jack, but gave up and went into the kitchen where he found a note scribbled on a piece of scrap paper sitting on the bench next to a glass of orange juice.
"Went to have brunch with the doctor....ahh nurse"
Oooh he's still around is he Alex though to himself, He laughed out loud then, A nurse!!!
His laughter echoed around the empty house, There was no way he was going to be able to spend the entire day here by himself, he thought seriously to himself as he downed his juice and munched thoughtfully on a nectarine.
The dinner date had gone successfully and had been followed by numerous other outings, walking, they had been back to the ice rink, watched a few movies and generally enjoyed each other's company. It had been four weeks since Alex had met Sienna at the party and things were moving along rather nicely, if he did say so himself. He was actually surprised how comfortably they had settled into each other's company. Usually, with him being away so often to do with things that he couldn't mention, he had trouble connecting with people, but Sienna was much different he always lit up when she was around.
Alex smiled to himself, he was actually seriously considering bringing her home to meet Jack, who had been constantly nagging about his time spent with his 'mystery girl'.
Now though, he needed something to entertain himself, he fidgeted with the note on the counter.
Tom was in trouble from another late night,
Enna had gone shopping with Kate for a dress for some wedding thing,
And Jack was off to find Mr. right..in the nurse
His secretive and constant disappearances meant that any friendships he had established when he was younger had simply fizzled and died over lost contact and prying questions that Alex had, on many occasions casually shrugged off with his mysterious illnesses.
Perhaps I'll go for a walk.
Ten minutes later Alex had pulled on a pair of light denim jeans and a black t-shirt. He shoved his phone in his pocket, pulled on a pair of red converse and pulled the door shut behind him.
Absentmindedly turning left, he walked down the path in his street amongst the towering trees, manicured lawns and pristine houses of his 'up market' neighbourhood. He smiled at Mrs. Maple across the street who was whispering soft nothings to her roses as she carefully snipped and plucked at the flowers. Charlie down the street was having stern words with his three year old sister on the exact and 'proper' way to ride a bicycle as their dad raised his hand in recognition from his position behind the paper on the front veranda. The occasional car sped past, the driver immersed in his or her own world.
A cool breeze gently ruffled Alex's hair and tugged at his shirt, the warm golden rays of morning snuck through the canopy of leaves and caressed his face, warming him and lifting his spirit. He made his way down to the river and past Terry's Cafe where he had been with Sienna weeks ago, it had become 'their place' much to the amusement of the owner, old Mrs. Cummins. His mind drifted out across the cool water, over to the other side where couples and families lounged on the banks, the happy squeal of children and soft coo of the birds mingled together to form a song of morning that danced on the wind.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw something move, he casually turned to see a harsh looking man in a dark suit sitting uncomfortably on a park bench behind a newspaper, the newspaper though seemed to have been forgotten and sat limply on the man's lap. His cool eyes were trained on Alex.
Alex casually made his way over to the bench and sat, nonchalantly on the opposite end. Automatically his muscles tensed, though outwardly he appeared a relaxed teenager simply stopping to enjoy the serenity.
The man lowered his eyes and carefully folded his newspaper, taking great care to crease the thin pages with childlike innocence. One hand, clad in expensive black leather placed the paper on the seat and reached up to adjust his sunglasses.
"Alex"
"Blunt"
The head of the secretive British intelligence agency patted the bench closer to him, signalling Alex to move within comfortable ear shot, Alex stayed exactly where he was and Mr blunt responded with an emphatic sigh and a harsh look. He slid down the cool concrete closer to Alex.
"Alex, dear boy, it's been quite some time since we spoke last. How have you been?"
"What do you want" Alex replied coolly, he knew very well that these people meant business, he on the other hand wanted nothing to do with it and it was unlikely that the head of MI6 was just stopping in to see how he had been.
Blunt frowned, "right down to be business as usual I see"
Alex grimaced "Whatever it is, why ever you are here, I want nothing to do with whatever scheme you've cooked up this time, whatever villain is taking over the world. It's not my problem" Alex said, his cool blue eyes were trained directly on the opposite bank, a young dad and his son, of no more than 8 years were passing a football between them, The father smiled with pride as the young boy gave an almighty heave and tossed the ball no more than a metre before it bounced and lay still in the grass. Because of these people, Alex had never had a childhood like that.
"Now Alex" Blunt replied "I assure you that I am here for nothing more than a little chat"
Alex cocked one eyebrow quizzically in response
"It has come to our attention, that you have been spending some time of late with a pretty young thing by the name of.." Blunt turned his attention to Alex, "Sienna Collin"
Blunt paused, Alex wasn't sure if it was for effect but now Blunt most definitely had his attention
"Would I be correct in assuming that you are becoming rather attached Alex?"
Alex turned to the head of MI6 "Leave her out of this"
Blunt looked offended "Alex, dear boy, she isn't in this" His tone turned deadly serious "However I am here to provide a reminder, which I am sure you absolutely don't need Alex" He paused then added "We do need to ensure that you remember, that information from MI6, any information about MI6, stays absolutely confidential" His eyes remained on Alex's face, searching his strong features for something, anything that might indicate what was going on in his head"
Alex said nothing, he face remained set.
"We wouldn't want your girl to get mixed up in this nonsense, now would we Alex" Blunt said, his false compassion cleverly masking the very subtle threat he had presented.
Alex nodded stiffly "There will be no need for her to know anything Blunt" he said through gritted teeth, "Leave her out of this"
Blunt smiled and rubbed his hands together "I'm so glad we agree Alex", now I'm very sorry to leave you, but I must be on my way...business needs to be attended to" Alex's brow creased at this. Blunt stood up, buttoned his jacket and made to leave.
"Do enjoy the paper Alex" he said smiling, "Mrs Jones is most interested to see how you are" With that he turned on his heel and strolled off along the river, to where a cleverly placed car was waiting no doubt.
Alex stood, allowing his muscles to relax and release the tension that always built up from any sort of meeting with those people. He grabbed the newspaper from the cool bench, a small square of pristine white paper fluttered to the ground. Curious, Alex bent down to pick it up. In neat, controlled print was a message, it read
Alex,
June 13th,
HQ,
Mrs Jones.
Oh great, I knew they wanted something. June 13th that's nearly a month and a half from today. Can't be too much of a pressing issue he thought coolly.
The paper, he binned.
The note, he pocketed.
Glancing at his watch, it was nearly 1:00pm and he made his way back along the river to last night's Chinese leftovers, seeing as it was unlikely Jack would be home just yet. Alex had been planning on telling Sienna about what he did when he was 'sick'. He had told her a bit about him one night, but just the basics
(one week ago)
Jack was out and Alex and Sienna had ordered in some Thai food and were happily curled up on the couch watching some movie, but neither had been paying that much attention.
Sienna had gathered up the take away containers that had been left on the coffee table and was making her way into the kitchen to the bin, when a photograph caught her eye. There weren't a lot of photos in Alex's house, mostly ones of Alex and the flaming red head that Alex referred to as Jack. But this one caught her eye. It was of two guys, one was obviously a young Alex and the other man was much older he had dark hair and tired eyes; he was very well built, athletic. Both guys were dressed in large thick jackets and were perched on top of a mountain, the magnificent view of valleys evident behind them. Both were grinning like Cheshire cats at the camera, cheeks rosy from the cold.
"That's me and my uncle" Sienna jumped, she had obviously been looking at the photo longer than she has intended and Alex had come up behind her.
"My parents died when I was young, I don't remember them very well" he continued "My uncle took me in, but he worked a lot, travelled a lot too so I didn't see him much. We went rock climbing that time he was home though" Alex smiled slightly to himself
Sienna rested the containers on the hall table and turned around to face Alex as he talked.
"He always did stuff like that, think he felt guilty that he wasn't around much, so he used to take me heaps of paces. Scuba diving, abseiling, rock climbing. Broke my arm on the way down from that one" Alex smiled and pointed at the photograph. Sienna rested her hands on his chest.
"That's how come Jack is here, My uncle hired her to look after me when he was away..and she just kind of...stayed" he laughed then "She likes to think she's very responsible, but sometimes I think she's the bigger kid than I am" he smiled down at Sienna who was listening intently, he gathered her up in his arms and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
She smiled and giggled, squirming out of his arms she picked up the containers and went into the kitchen, Alex returned to the couch to wait for her.
"She took that well" he thought "Next time I'll tell her" he assured himself.
"Kaaatteee" Sienna groaned "Are we done yet"
Kate grinned "Yep, I think we are"
Sienna perked up at this "thank goodness"
Kate laughed "I know, I'm exhausted"
Kate had taken Sienna shopping as her sister Fiona's wedding was coming up in a couple of weeks and Sienna had been putting off buying a dress. She had looked through magazine after magazine that Kate had bought home, but she hadn't been able to find anything right, so for the last four hours Kate had dragged Sienna through shop after shop of dresses. Sienna was feeling pretty optimistic at the start of the day, but had gradually become more and more hopeless as nothing seemed to look any good.
"Dress shopping is disheartening" she had groaned to Kate after walking out of their fifth dress shop with nothing to show for it.
Kate shot her a sympathetic look, she was a bridesmaid so she didn't really have that much choice in the matter. "I know hun, how about we go and get some lunch instead, I'm kind of sick of this shopping thing at the moment"
Sienna smiled and agreed as they made their way through the crowds to a comfy little cafe on the street, they chose a window seat, and settled down into the red armchairs that had replaced the traditional hard dining chairs. Sienna sighed and settled down to gaze out the window at the passing people, while Kate studied the menu positioned in between the salt and pepper shakers.
She was just observing an old couple navigate the tides of people when something caught her eye.
"Kate!!!" she squealed
"What, Sienna what is it?" Kate said, clearly surprised at her outburst
"Look, look over there"
Kate followed the vector of Sienna's finger and her eyes rested upon a small boutique across the street, in the front window was a mannequin.
" Ohh wow Enna" Kate replied breathlessly "Come on" she said grabbing her bag and Sienna's hand as she rushed out the door. "We'll be right back" she yelled after her to a bewildered waiter who had come to take their orders.
Kate and Sienna rushed across the road, pushing through the crowd until they reached the shop, the bell tinkled as they burst breathlessly through the door. Both girls flushed with excitement.
Sienna ran her hands over the material as she looked at herself in the mirror,
"Oh Enna, it's gorgeous" Kate said grinning
Sienna smiled excitedly, "Yes I love it"
The dress was black lace that was cut high covering her whole chest. It was sleeveless with a black under dress that stopped anything being seen. It went to about mid thigh and clung to Sienna's figure, hugging her nicely. It was flattering, but simple. Nothing fancy, but perfect"
She nodded at Kate, who smiled back excitedly "I think we might have found it" she said
Sienna dumped her bag on her bed and pulled her dress out of its bag, she ran her fingers admiringly over the fabric before hanging it in her wardrobe. She dug her shoes out of the box and tugged them lightly onto her feet, she had chosen tough heels to compliment a very feminine dress. They had a thick heel, thick black straps that ran up either side to join a big strap that ran straight up the centre of her foot, a Celtic style zipper ran up the length of the strap. She secured them to her feet and stood up, smiling down lovingly at her feet.
The sound of her phone ringing beside her interrupted her thought and she bounded across the room to flop on her bed and place her phone to her ear.
"Hello" she chirped
"Enna, Hi how you going its Rach"
"Rach, Hi I'm great, and you?"
The girls talked excitedly for a few minutes about Sienna's dress for the wedding and the guy that Rach had been asked out by that day, she was going out with him the next night and needed Sienna's consultation on what to wear"
Siennas laughed "Rach hun, you know most of my stuff is thrown together, you'd be better off to ask Addy"
"Yeah I know, I was just trying to avoid turning my wardrobe over" she smiled into the phone. "Speaking of Addy, are you two going to be coming together to my party this Saturday?"
"Umm actually Rach, I wanted to ask you a favour"
"Yessss" Rachel responded her curiosity now sky high, Sienna and Addison were practically joined at the hip at parties
"I was wondering if I might be able to bring someone else this Saturday" she paused "Alex, he's umm, well I'm actually pretty sure he's my boyfriend, but would you mind, I'd really love for you all to meet him"
Sienna was met was a high pitched girly scream and was forced to hold her phone out, away from her at arm's length.
"Ohh absolutely you can, Enna, why didn't you ask sooner, I can't wait to meet him" Rachel babbled excitedly to Enna to smiled.
"Well I haven't actually asked him yet" Sienna confessed
"Oh he just has to say yes, he will I just know it Enna, it will be fantastic" Rachel assured her
Alex groaned and hung up for the fourth time as the steady beep, beep, beep of the busy tone blasted into his ear. Jack hovered expectantly over his shoulder, her eyebrows tensed in anticipation. Alex shook his head and smiled at Jack reassuringly,
"Nope" he said and sank back into the couch, Jack sighed and slumped down next to him.
"I was a teenage girl once" Jack said thoughtfully "Surely I didn't spend that much time on the phone"
Alex laughed at her "Once more" he said and pushed the redial button on his phone which automatically punched in Sienna's and dialled. Alex sighed and placed the phone to his ear, this time instead of the continued beep, beep, beep of an engaged line he was met instead with ringing. He smiled at Jack, who perched herself on the edge of the chair and gazed at Alex expectantly
"is it ringing?" she mouthed excitedly, Alex nodded.
Sienna had barely hung up from talking to Rachel when her phone began to buzz like something possessed on her bedside table.
She grinned and sank down onto her bed when she recognised Alex's number on the screen
"Hey you" she said softly into the phone.
"Hey Enna" Alex responded "how you doing?"
"Yeah pretty good" she smiled "Just talked to Rachel actually she umm.."
Alex cut her off as Jack waved at him impatiently "Umm hey Enna" he said, his voice wavered and Sienna sat upright, she was curious at the tone in Alex's voice, she smiled, he sounded nervous.
"Yes Alex" she said gently. Smiling
"Well I was kind of wondering" Alex glanced over to Jack who was gesturing madly at Alex and then pointing to herself.. "What?" Alex whispered
Jack glared at him "I was wondering too, I want to meet her"
"Ok, ok I'm getting there" Alex said
Sienna giggled at the hushed conversation taking place on the end of the phone
"Jack" he emphasised "and I were wondering"
"Happy?" he mouthed and glared at a very smug looking Jack who was looking at him expectantly "Get on with it" she mouthed and smiled
"You were wondering?..." Sienna trailed off
"If you would like to have dinner with Jack and I tomorrow night?" Alex said confidently
Jack inched forward on her chair and motioned with her hands in relation to Sienna's response
Siennas smiled to herself "Sure Alex I'd love to"
Alex gave Jack the thumbs and she jumped up off the couch chattering excitedly to herself, completely forgetting that Siennas could hear everything.
"Oh how exciting" she chirped "Alex has a girlfriend, and I get to meet her, me!!" she paused and walked into the kitchen "now what to cook what to cook..."
Sienna giggled on the other end, and Alex smiled.
"Can you be here about seven?" Alex said, "Doesn't matter if you're a bit late, we usually are"
"Nope, seven is perfect" Sienna said as an excited, but slightly nervous smiled crept across her face, and her tummy did a little flip.
Sienna had just got out of the shower it was around 6:00 and she was standing in front of her wardrobe, staring blankly at the drab contents which glared back at her.
What the hell am I going to wear she thought anxiously tugging on her bottom lip.
What do you wear to meet someone's parents, well it's not even his parents. Nothing too revealing, nothing to tight, but nothing completely covered up, I might as well turn up as a nun..
"urrghh" she groaned to herself and closed the doors
"Enna!!?" a voice called as someone bounded up the stairs and burst through the door, there standing in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, her hair pulled up in a loose ponytail, was Addison beaming down at Sienna who was now slumped hopelessly on the floor.
"Get up, get up, I will not have you lying on that floor tonight" she said sternly, striding over to the wardrobe she flung the doors open and started riffling through every item that Sienna owned. Mumbling softly to herself occasionally paused to look at Sienna and consult an item of clothing that she grasped firmly in one hand.
Addison whipped around "it's pretty casual right?, you're going to his place for dinner with Jack?" she queried
Sienna nodded dumbly and managed to squeak out "I think so"
Addison nodded, more to herself than Sienna and turned around to continue her invasion.
Sienna looked at to the door when she was interrupted with a small "ahem", Addison remained unfazed and continued without any hint of hearing anything
Kate had poked her head around the edge of the door and was smiling at Sienna, who grinned back sheepishly.
"Thought you might have needed a bit of help" she said softly
Sienna nodded and beckoned her in, by this time Addison had laid several items out on the bed and had turned back to Sienna, her cheeks flushed, her fiery hair having managed to escape the holds of her hair tie.
"Try these on" she said grinning at Sienna.
Sienna glanced down at the bed, there was a pair of dark denim skinny jeans and an array of tops. She pulled the jeans on and turned to Addison who nodded her approval, handed her a bundle of clothing and pointed towards the bathroom.
Sienna grumbled something about slavery and trudged towards the bathroom.
When she emerged she had on a pink strappy top, with a few ruffles and some beads, she tugged at the beads.
"Nope" Addison declared and gave her another handful of clothes and marched her off to the bathroom, Sienna caught Kate's eye, and was reassured when she also shook her head at the pink ruffles.
The next time she opened the door she had on a white T-shirt with a faded vintage print, she had a grey cardigan, and rustic gold heart hung around her neck.
"bit casual" Addison frowned
Ten minutes later, Sienna emerged from the bathroom in something that both women approved of. Sienna surveyed her room, clothes were strewn across the floor where Addison had impatiently discarded them.
The decision had been made when she had came out wearing her dark denim jeans, she had a black short sleeved blouse, with a low scoop neck and some cleverly positioned ruffles. She had finished it off with some gold earrings and black pumps. She had let her hair hang in loose curls on her shoulders. She smiled back at her reflection, when she was standing on Alex's front step she would, no doubt, be a nervous wreck. But at this very moment she felt incredibly confident.
Addison had left a few minutes earlier, but not without making Sienna swear she would call with details. In the mean time she had gone home to snuggle up on the couch with James her boyfriend, whom she had momentarily abandoned. Kate had also exited the room after giving Sienna a kiss on the cheek and reassuring squeezed her shoulders. Sienna took one last look at herself in the mirror, ruffled her curls a little and ran down the stairs. Steve had offered to give her a lift and within fifteen minutes she was standing on Alex's front door step.
The sheer size of place never ceased to amaze Sienna, it was incredibly modern and had been decorated and landscaped with impeccable taste.
His uncle sure must of been something
She glanced at her watch; five past seven. Took a deep breath to settle her nerves and prevent her stomach from doing triple round off back flips that would've won gold at any gymnastics event.
And rang the doorbell.