Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider. Or NCIS.

AN: The last chapter for now! Thank you for all of your reviews/favs/follows! I always love to hear what you think!

If you are more like me - a slightly sappy, romantic dreamer - you'll enjoy 'Moments'. It is a spin-off of XYXX and HTRYLH.

I have something planned that includes Sasha (you'll know who I mean when you have read Moments) and Castle, but nothing concrete to go on yet.

Another important thing: I probably won't update in a while - I have German A-levels in two weeks which I kinda have to study intensely for. (It's Biology and we are not exactly on speaking terms...)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this!

Love, W

Chapter 18: Praying (~2,740 words)

When the doctors wheeled her unconscious body away, after they had finally landed, straight into surgery, Eagle felt the adrenaline wear off slowly.

But he kept himself together.

It wasn't over yet.

The others joined him thirty minutes later in the waiting room; sending his stock-still form strange looks. (Ziva had driven them here, apparently. Tony looked slightly green, despite the bleeding wound on his arm.)

On the outside, he was the hardened man they had seen glimpses of in those last days.

His eyes gave away some of his inner turmoil, yes, but other than that there was only a shield, holding him up, enabling him to go on.

Go beyond his limit.

Inwardly, he feared for her life. She had died twice (after the first time she stopped breathing) in the ambulance helicopter.

Twice.

Sitting in that damn flying thing, able to do nothing but hope and pray, he had felt so utterly useless.

Other than urging her to stay. With him.

It was only a small amount of relief to know neither Walker nor the Russian could hurt her again. He felt next to no remorse for killing them.

It was against his morals, shooting humans that is, but he knew she would never be able to sleep until they were accounted for. He would never be able to sleep soundly until he knew she was never in danger of encountering these two again.

Not with all the things they knew.

Abby and McGee had hacked their computer system and found that this was a splinter group, trying to emerge from this exploit with the power of the old Scorpia. Naturally they hadn't shared their extensive information about Alex which everyone was very thankful for.

McGee and Abby were still at it, but they had summarized their findings and updated Gibbs on the new turn of events.

Eagle stared unseeingly against a wall. He didn't want to think what would happen to Taipan - or him, for that matter - if Alex died and wasn't resurrected this time.

Don't go there.

She is stubborn.

She clings to life.

He continued to stare at the wall, white lips tightly pressed in two thin lines, knuckles whitening, fists tense at his side, ready to jump up - to attack if necessary - at a moment's notice.

Gibbs and Ben shared a worried look. It wasn't the first in the last few hours.

Nobody talked unless Abby or McGee updated them on their progress - which happened every hour or so.

Tony stood after a few hours and he and Ziva organized coffee for everyone.

Nobody had spoken to the team, no new information on Alex was coming forth.

It was going to be a long night by the looks of things.

Wordlessly, Tony handed Eagle a cup. The soldier automatically thanked him politely, but there was no real response to the action.

He continued to sit there tense, staring at the opposite wall, blank.

Ben was worried about him as much as Alex. For neither of the youngest two was this anything short of love.

No puppy love.

No lust.

Real, mature love.

The kind were you give yourself up for the other.

Ben had finally realized that when he saw the way Eagle had looked - rather glared - at no one in particular, Alex unconscious in his arms, with that murderous expression on his face and the blood - her blood - on his hands.

It scared him how much the normally immature, cheerful man could suddenly change in his demeanor.

He was serious and calmer on missions or assignments, yes, but never like that. Never as cold as Alex (or him, Ben).

Wolf had been right - Alex and Eagle were very similar if stripped from their protective shields.

Ben received a call from Mrs. Jones, requesting an update on Alex's condition.

"I can't tell you anything. It's pretty much touch-and-go at the moment."

Surprising as it was - the head of MI6 cared genuinely for Alex.

Gibbs made Tony find a nurse to finally check his wounds out.

Ziva accompanied him.

Ten or eleven hours later, nobody had really counted, found Eagle still staring at the white-washed, blank wall.

Wolf was awake as well, unable to sleep while one of his unit members was somewhere in between life and death.

Snake had dozed off two or three hours ago, exhausted from his own wounds and the excitement of the day.

Lemming was dozing as well, still sitting upright in his chair.

Tony had gotten an anti-biotic which made him drowsy and fell asleep an hour after taking it, unable to resist any longer.

Ziva had closed her eyes, but she wasn't sleeping, Eagle knew. Alex did similar things sometimes when she couldn't sleep but needed to rest.

Gibbs, Ben, Wolf, Ziva and he himself were the only ones still fully awake.

The nurses ignored him, aside from sending the occasional pitying glance in their direction, avoiding him if possible. His hardened, cold features scared them, obviously. But he wasn't paying attention to any of the nurses.

His thoughts were only with one person, silently willing her to stay strong and resist the luring temptation of giving in.

Chris was the only one who knew what she thought when she was almost successfully assassinated aged fourteen.

He knew that she wasn't afraid of death; death was easy - easier than life.

Much easier than her life.

Alex was afraid of life, of loving and losing the beloved, of opening up and being betrayed the next second, of gentleness more than pain.

Pain was simple. Pain was easy to understand for her.

Love, however, wasn't.

She didn't understand his true intentions until it was too late if at all.

He was not sure, but there had been ... something in her eyes before unconsciousness had reclaimed her.

Ziva spotted the intern first. She was shy, or just intimidated by their group, and her expression gave her away. (Thirteen hours had gone by. Tony had woken up twenty minutes ago, as well as Snake, complaining about the stiffness in his neck. Gibbs had cuffed his neck gently in response to the complaints.)

Ziva got to her feet, walking towards the young woman. "Don't worry. We don't fight."

"Bite, Ziva. Bite."

"Whatever, Tony."

"Er... Are you here for Aleksandra Daniels?" the intern checked.

"Yes. How is she?" Ben who IDed himself first asked.

"We gave her a few blood and plasma transfusions, stitched her up as good as we could - the wrist was a bit tricky - but she has a good chance at surviving today. She is in the ICU at the moment..."

Eagle didn't stay to listen for the rest. He excused himself quickly, feeling his shield crumble under the flood of relief, and he needed to be alone for a moment.

She is going to be alright. She is going to be alright. She is going to be alright.

He speedily opened some door leading to the roof before the first tears fell.

Letting all pretense of control go, he cried like a child, even hiccuping a few times. He leaned against the wall, his arms hugging his knees close to his torso, just getting the conflicting emotions out of his system.

Someone had followed him and put an arm around his shoulders, simply holding him as long as he needed.

He didn't care who it was; someone was there for him, helping him through this.

A while later, he came back to his senses. Eyes, now red-rimmed, took in everything around them.

"Better now?"

"Yes. Thanks."

"No problem. She is supposed to wake up soon. I don't think you want to miss that," a gruff voice said.

"What happened to the insensitive bastard we all love and adore, Wolf?"

"Do you think you are the only one to build a shield around your emotions?"

"No. I was just wondering when you gave up on keeping it."

"The same time you gave up on yours. Now, get your scrawny a** down to your girl. She will need you."

He swallowed the ready retort on the tip of his tongue - now was not the time - and they went back down together.

Alex was wrapped up like a mummy. Every visible part of her was either bandaged or bruised, sometimes both.

Eagle took in the heart monitor, the IV, the other machines.

In her sedated sleep, she had a relaxed but at the same time tense expression on her face, not like those few bliss-filled days or rather nights when she dragged him into her room and slept in his arms peacefully.

She looked even more fragile than ever before.

The room cleared. Snake talked medic with one of the doctors, both men aggravated and angry about something. Gibbs patted his back gently, reassuring him. Ben sent him a worried smile before leaving. Lemming avoided his gaze entirely.

Not one of them commented on his red-rimmed eyes or the tear streaks on his face.

Ziva touched the spot where his heart was and gave him a small, warm smile. "She will wake up in an hour or so. Don't go too hard on her. She will need you to forget. Just as much as you will need her."

He acknowledged her words with a nod. Then he was alone with his girlfriend, waiting.

Tony cleared his throat. Everyone was unsure of what to do now.

Wolf sat back down on one of the chairs and made himself comfortable.

"That will take a while," he prophesied.

There was a wet patch on his shoulder that hadn't been there before. Again, nobody commented. Not yet, anyway.

Everyone followed his example, though; eyes trained on the room.

"At least he could vent a little," Ben muttered.

"I was surprised it didn't happen earlier. Seriously, remind me when he is annoying again to appreciate the moment. I'm not sure what I prefer. He is too quiet like that and too loud otherwise," Lemming mumbled.

"Yes... Maybe. But I hope to never see him like this again. Alex flat-lined twice on the way here. And he had to watch," Snake replied, flipping through the medical chart.

"That is horrible," Tony voiced their mutual thoughts on the subject.

"It is. I'm also surprised it didn't happen earlier, considering what she went through. A few days might not seem like much but what you went through last year, Ben, is like a breezy walk in the park in comparison."

Snake still held her file in his hand, reading a part out loud for them. He knew that Ben and Wolf needed to keep this somewhat from Eagle or at least tone it down when he asked.

And Eagle would ask.

"They had to stitch over eighty whip lashes, thirteen serious, deep cuts from some sort of other object, mostly knives, counter a hallucinogenic poison, her wrist has been broken multiple times; work on the five broken ribs, two others are cracked... That's just a minor part of it. There are some very bad burns as well. Eagle has a right to know, just tone it down when you tell him. We have no idea what mental torture they put her through and some of their other methods don't leave physical scars."

They all shuddered at that.

"I will talk to him, later. Alex is stubborn and a survivor. She has improved so much mentally in the last eight months..." Ben's voice trailed off for a second. "I think she won't open up to a shrink. If he feels okay with it, they should probably move in together or something. Alex needs him around to feel safe, to talk and forget and he can make sure that she gets it out of her system eventually."

Snake considered Ben's suggestion. "I think you might be right. Just ask her if she agrees with it before you talk to him."

"I hate spies. I hate those people that used a minor to do their dirty work. If I could, I would help her. But I know she's in too deep, so it would be of no use. If you ever need a place to sleep or something in D.C. call. Any time," Gibbs muttered in his dark coffee.

Ben sent him a crooked grin. "Same goes for you. If you need info or a cheap place to stay in London, just call. Mrs. Jones will direct you to either Al or me."

The two men shook hands.

Alex came around slowly.

Her body felt like she was being eaten alive by ants but it was a feeling she pushed to the back of her mind as soon as she opened her eyes and saw her boyfriend sitting in the chair next to her bed, one of her hands in his.

She squeezed his hand gently, much weaker than she intended.

He looked up at her, searching for something in her face and obviously found it. She saw that his eyes were red-rimmed from crying and he was definitely exhausted.

Had he slept at all while she was out cold? Probably not.

Alex could just picture Chris, impassive in the waiting room, glaring at any- and everything.

The young spy squeezed his hand again, this time reassuring him.

"I love you. Seriously. Don't ever pull this disappearing act on me again," he croaked out, voice hoarse.

She saw the emotional turmoil in him. Trying to smile underneath the stupid oxygen mask was harder to accomplish though.

Instead of saying anything else, the blonde squeezed his hand as tightly as possible for her and held his gaze.

"I can't be angry at you. I know I would have done the same. So I won't yell. Not yet anyway. I'm proud of you for putting Sabina and me first - that was incredibly stupid, insane and also very selfless of you. I love you for the last part. I am furious about the state you're in, but don't believe for one second that I will help you to get out of here until the doctors think you can be moved. If I had a mirror handy, I would show you how fragile and hurt you are exactly. But I don't. Even I am not that cruel. Just for the record: Alex, if you ever - and I mean ever - decide to give up without so much of a damn goodbye, I will kick your ass to hell and back."

The teen noticed a tear rolling down his cheeks. Her arm was too heavy or she was too weak to wipe it away. She softly pulled at his hand, indicating him to come closer.

Chris obliged.

When he was in her range, Alex gently wiped the tears away. Still not pulling back, she made him sit on the bed.

Gently having Chris lie down next to her, she softly traced his lips, his eyes, even his jaw with her index finger.

The last time Alex was fully conscious she had thought she would never see Chris again.

Now she needed to prove he was real.

Her fingers met warm, tan flesh. His cheeks were stubbly from stopping to shave for a few days. He had dark bags underneath his eyes.

Exhaustion was written all over him.

She motioned for him to close his eyes and sleep.

Maybe in the morning they could talk.

Both of them.

When Ben checked up on them - there is only one thing worse than yelling and that's silence - he found the two of them holding hands, sleeping side-by-side.

The spy smiled, turned off the lights behind himself and closed the door cautiously, trying to avoid waking them up.

Both needed their rest.

Everyone looked at him, waiting for a status report.

"I think they talked it out," he managed.