Decided to do a disclaimer this time!

Disclaimer – this is a fanfic of the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horrowitz and is not an original piece of work. I take no credit for it.

Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve

Alex spotted Tom and the rest of them just by the bus station that was situated outside of the nearest cinema. He walked up to the group with Rose clinging to his arm. He still hadn't seen her with her hair up, although he had suggested it for this evening.

Over the past week, Alex had come to terms with a beautiful assassin. It made sense in a weird way.

Last night it had only been Alex and Rose drinking tea at three a.m. She'd only come into the kitchen when she was sure it was just Alex. But even though that made it twice that she'd slipped Ben's guard, Alex had begun to trust her.

This evening they were off to watch the Bourne Legacy. Tom had a funny sense of humour – the guy was basically a spy, an agent or soldier of some kind. Sophia greeted Rose as if she was a long lost sister. Leaping forward and hugging her tightly – what the rest of the group didn't know was that Sophia was asking why she'd seen her and Alex in the shoe shop yesterday. Rose just smiled and muttered something about some boots she'd seen and that Alex was gracious enough to get them for her.

Ha! Rose thought. That'll definitely seem like a couple thing. She felt a grin tug at the corners of her mouth and suppressed it. She would not enjoy spending the evening hanging off Alex's arm like some slut he picked up off the street!

Alex managed to avoid serious conversation, dodged questions about why he hadn't been in today and led the way into the cinema pushing Rose along in front of him.

Sitting in a darkened room, surrounded by Alex's friends, with a warning hand on her thigh, Rose had a right to be nervous.

Especially when she was more aware of Alex's hand than she should be. In fact she didn't have a clue what movie they were supposed to be watching. One of the girls, Alice, was glaring at her, while the two boys she hadn't met before tonight, Phil and Sam, kept glancing at her and then at Alex.

A quarter of an hour before the end of the film she could no longer stand the tension. Alex had cleverly avoided questions on the way into the cinema, but the way out would be loaded with questions.

She made to stand up. Alex squeezed her thigh in warning. She leant over to him; "I need some air." She said. Alex studied her for a second, his gaze unreadable.

"I'll come with you, hang on." Alex leant over to Tom, spoke to him for a second and then stood tugging Rose up by the hand. She almost tripped over Alice's feet and was bewildered by the antagonistic glare that she gave her.

Outside the cinema Alex dropped her hand as soon as possible and put distance between them.

"Sorry for pulling you out of there." Rose said.

Alex just shook his head, telling her it was fine.

James watched as Alex tugged Rose out of the cinema. He saw Alex let go of her hand and then lean against a wall, studying Rose. She spoke and he shook his head in response.

"Look cosy, huh?" Eagle spoke into his coms unit. K-unit were spread out around the cinema, covering all main routes away from there and into town.

Wolf was right outside the cinema and Eagle of to his right. Eagle was the only other person in the unit who could see Alex and Rose, and he was going to comment on it.

Wolf could already hear the curiosity and disapproval in Fox's voice; "What!? What are they doing?"

Eagle snorted, "steady on, old man, I promise it's PG."

"She's still a Scorpia agent and I don't trust her. She's hiding something."

Snake's Scottish accent came through the coms; "She's running scared. It's obvious when I think about it. She came to us, but she doesn't trust us. She's exhausted, not sleeping."

Fox was still suspicious though. "Doesn't mean she's trustworthy."

"Whatever you want to think, buddy." Eagle said. They were silent for a few minutes. Cheetah broke the silence; "what are they doing anyway? It's freezing out here."

Wolf grunted. "No idea." He glanced at his watch. "Film finishes in just under ten minutes."

As Wolf spoke, Alex reached over to Rose and spoke. Rose quickly turned and made her way back inside just missing Alex's hand. Alex frowned and followed her in.

Alex was not having a good evening. First off he had been cornered into going to the cinema with Tom and co. and then Alice had spent the entire time glaring at him and Rose, which had made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck as they always did when someone looked at him for a long time.

His only escape had been when Rose couldn't stand it any longer and now, they had to go back in. Alice, Sam and Phil would no doubt be wondering why they had run off and Alex was prepared to give them a reason, or excuse. He just hoped Rose didn't either. He was too frustrated to do anything else.

He sped up to catch up with Rose and then crowded her back against the wall watching her eyes widen. He paused watching her face and the evident fear and arousal. The second part he could understand, he was feeling the same, but the first? Not a clue.

He dismissed it. "They'll be wondering why we ran off, you know." He said casually as he bent his head to her neck.

"Mmmm…" She replied, half pushing him away with her hands, but holding onto his shirt at the same time, not letting go.

He nuzzled her neck and smiled to himself when her grip tightened on his shirt. He still had it. "We might as well give them something to talk about."

Rose froze for a second and Alex felt her heart beat quicken and then she curled her fingers into his shirt as tightly as she was able to. "Something… to talk about?" She asked huskily.

Alex groaned and captured her mouth in a hard, fast, bruising kiss, pushing one hand up and tangling it in her hair while the other wrapped around her waist. Rose's hands stayed on Alex's shirt, but on tippy-toe she held on even harder.

The kiss lasted less than thirty seconds but left the pair of them panting. Alex pulled back and looked at Rose's swollen and bruised lips. He released his death grip on her hair and took her hand pulling her back to the film, with a slightly glazed look in her eyes. Oh, hell yes, Alex still had it.

The rest of the group stared in disbelief when they took their seats for the final minutes of the film. Alex smirked and looked at Rose again, taking in what the others would see. Mussed hair, swollen lips and that mask of complete composure had slipped leaving a look of adoration that Alex knew was for show.

He saw that Rose's eyes had darkened and taken her far away from the cinema, thinking deep, dark thoughts. She had already pulled away from him and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

The group made its way slowly out of the cinema, Alex and Rose lagging behind, Phil and Sam trying to hurry them up.

It was Alice who finally gave in. "How did you guys meet?" She asked, gritting her teeth as she waited for an answer.

Alex took Rose's hand and smiled at her. "She helped me out of a tricky situation."

Rose grinned at Alice; "He's kept me prisoner ever since." Alex gripped her hand in warning as he heard K-unit laughing in his ear piece, which he'd switched on after the movie. Rose didn't have one.

Even Alex didn't fully trust her yet.

"Our Alex had the most mysterious secrets don't you think, Rose?" Phil said as he walked close to Rose's left, Alex holding her hand in a tight grip to remind her to watch her words.

Rose was pissed at Alex. Pissed at herself as well for acting like such a hussy. Hadn't she said that she wasn't going to be the slut hanging off of Alex's arm all evening? He was definitely paying for this… and for the hand squeezing thing – did he not know his own strength? "Mysterious as in goes for a run in the dead of night in his pyjamas, or mysterious as in…" She cocked her head to one side in a show of curiosity, while the rest of the group stared at Alex.

Alex almost glared at Rose, but caught himself just in time and forced a laugh instead, but pulled her even closed into his side. "Why don't we head over to the café? Grab a hot chocolate or something?" He said avoiding answering and pulling Rose across the road immediately.

"Did I not tell you to mind what you said?" He whispered harshly.

She raised her eyebrows at him; "What, telling them that you went for a run in the dead of night qualifies? I think you'll find I just insinuated that I'd been sleeping with you, not that that was my intention." She sounded cranky and frustrated. "And would you mind not holding my hand so tightly. I can't feel it." She tried to pull away from him. Alex didn't let her.

"What is the matter with you? You were perfectly fine five minutes ago!"

"That was five minutes ago," She hissed. "And now I'm not." Rose glared at him, wishing she could put all the blame on him, but… she'd kissed him back.

"Why do girls always do this? I kiss you and now you're pissed off at me."

"Girls!" Rose shouted forgetting to whisper, she glanced back at the rest of the group who were hanging back, and lowered her voice again. "Don't you dare generalise! You have no idea what's up with me, none. You hardly even know me."

"Well then help me to get to know you! You don't talk to any of us! How am I supposed to know you?" Alex could hear K-unit in the background giving him advice or laughing. He ripped the ear piece out and stuck it into his pocket.

"You're not here to get to know me, Alex. You're here to do your job-" He cut her off and swung her around to face him, hands on her upper arms.

"Let go of me!" She hissed. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Alex kept his voice low, aware that Tom was trying to attract his attention and ignored him. "I'm the person who's going to keep you from Scorpia's clutches, understand? You have to trust me." He looked into her eyes making sure that she understood. Then let her go.

"Trust isn't given, Alex." She said coldly. "It's earn't." She folded her arms and faced Sophia and Alice. Alice was smirking and Rose wanted to wipe the stupid thing off her face. She gritted her teeth and spoke to Sophia. "I was thinking I want the hot chocolate with all the cream and marshmallows. You?" She smiled at the girl, glad that she had one other person who was ignoring Alex.

Sophia smiled back at her. "You know what? I think I will. Would you like one as well, Alice, Tom?" She glanced back questioningly at Sam and Phil as well.

Tom took in the nodding heads and took Sophia's hand. "I think that's a resounding yes all round. How 'bout you, Rose and Alice head on over and get the drinks. I need to talk to Alex a minute." Alex raised his eyebrows at Tom.

"Okay." Sophia said and gave Tom a peck on the cheek. "We'll be back in a moment, coming Rose, Alice?"

"I'll stay here." Alice said. Sophia frowned at her friend but didn't say anything, as she and Rose walked away to the counter.

"What the hell was that, Alex?" Tom demanded the second the girls were out of earshot.

"What was what, Tom?" Alex asked sitting at the edge of the booth, next to Alice. Tom sat opposite him next to Phil and Sam. All three were watching the exchange between the best friends with avid curiosity.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Alex. That! With Rose!"

Alex leant back into his seat. "It was nothing, Tom. Just a little disagreement about our…" Alex glanced at the other listening in around the table and sighed. "Our arrangement, Tom."

Alice pounced on the word 'arrangement'. "Arrangement?" She said. "What arrangement exactly are we talking about?"

Tom glared at Alice. "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

Alex sighed and ran a hand through his hair, tired. "I don't know, Tom. I just don't know." He looked over at Sophia and Rose, tangled emotions rising inside of him. She stood for everything he hated and yet, she was a fragile, volatile, beautiful girl. He just didn't know what he was going to do, but one thing was certain. Rose was his.

Rose tore her eyes away from Alex and focused on Sophia, trying to put the hurt and anger back into it's box, but it wasn't going away. Which was strange. It always went away. Maybe it had finally happened; maybe she had found something to make her feel again. Not something, she reminded herself. Someone. Alex.

But no, she was alone; she was always going to be alone no matter what she pretended. She might play the slutty girlfriend for tonight – god! What was wrong with her! She's insinuated that she'd slept with him for crying out loud! – and she didn't do that. She didn't sleep around. Not with anyone. Never. Even thinking about it she was reminded of Ray.

She shot a glance around the café. As if he'd follow her she thought to herself, he'd only delivered the punishment, he didn't care about her one bit.

"Ohh," Sophia was saying. "They've got flakes as well! Please, please, please say you'll have one, then I can have one without feeling like a complete pig!"

Rose smiled in spite of her mood. "Of course, there's nothing quite as good as chocolate!"

Sophia glanced quickly at the table where the boys and Alice were sat and then back at Rose. She bit her lip and looked at the queue. Then back at Rose.

A smile flirted with Rose's lips; "Go on, say whatever it is that you're bursting to say."

Sophia jumped and smiled guiltily. "Sorry," she said and frowned. "I know you're mad at Alex, and I know you're not actually together, but I think you guys have chemistry." She confided. Rose blinked. "Alex is a good guy, not always there perhaps and rather complicated." She sighed. "I'm not trying to make excuses for him, but he likes you. I mean really likes you." She studied Rose's expression. "I can tell you don't believe me, so I'll say no more, let's see if we can get extra marshmallows and pelt Tom with them." Sophia looked over at Tom and winked, he sat up, alarmed with a 'what-are-you-up-to' look on his face.

Rose laughed. "You're on. If you can hit him in the face, 50 points." She paused for a second. "But if it lands in his hot chocolate minus 10."

Sophia giggled and spoke to the lady behind the counter; "seven hot chocolates with everything, please, and could we get some extra marshmallows please?"