Disclaimer: I do not own the Alex Rider series.
Claimer: I do own the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan and Jacob Wood).
IMPORTANT NOTE!!! I've also had an interesting proposition, and I was wondering what you all think of this. Who wants Desiree/Alex? Please let me know, because I think it's very interesting. If you are absolutely against Dessi/Alex, let me know too!
Chapter 3
It was Thursday evening. The day after Scorpia's third attempt. Alex and Tom had been hurried home straight after a boring day at school, and had all but been ordered to finish their homework. Dinner was a rushed affair, Jack's famous ten-minute meals plated up, set on the table, and finished in under twenty minutes. Then Ben had thrown their coats at them, and had ordered the two boys out the house.
A dull silver car, the property of MI6, came to meet them. Getting out of the car was Agent John Crawley. He would be relieving Agent Andrew Banks while the latter's nose was still being fixed. Ben almost had to force the two boys into the car; they weren't too happy about being manhandled, and were making their opinion well known. Ben had then gotten behind the wheel, and driven away, leaving Crawley to introduce himself to Jack.
Now they were at the airport. Waiting. Due to the snow, the flight had been delayed slightly while the airport controllers were trying to make it safe to land. Alex and Tom had further protested, saying that Ben should have known about the delay, and they didn't really need to hurry. After a while, the two boys had calmed down. Now, all three of them were in the seats of the waiting lounge, bored out of their minds.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish I brought some homework," Tom groaned, "At least then I would be able to blame something for my boredom! Who are we waiting for, anyway?"
Alex hadn't told him much about the AIS, and nothing at all about the girl he'd met in Australia. Granted, he didn't know exactly what to tell the boy.
"You'll see when the plane arrives," Alex said, leaning back against the hard chair and closing his eyes.
"Why are you keeping this a secret? Why, Alex? Oh, please put me out of my misery-OW!" Tom exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and massaging the arm Alex had just hit, "Alex! I told you not to hit me!"
"Tom, please sit down and lower your voice; people are staring," Ben said, though he didn't take his head out of his hands, so his voice came out slightly muffled. Tom huffed, sent Alex an annoyed glare, and took his seat. Then he immediately jumped up again.
"Hey look! People are starting to come through!" He exclaimed, pointing across at the barrier. Alex and Ben raised their heads as a herd of people came through, having already landed and cleared customs while Tom had been yelling and massaging his arm.
The last people to come through were a slightly mismatched pair; a girl of fifteen and a man of twenty-one. The girl was quite pretty, with blonde hair that fell just a little past her shoulders. She had crystal blue eyes that seemed to absorb every detail in the room. The man had light brown hair and alert hazel eyes. Though his stance said otherwise, he was extremely tense in the new territory, glancing at everyone who passed with suspicion. Both wore slightly dirty sneakers, long jeans and jumpers that were way too thin for them to withstand the current weather. They both had in their hands sports bags, and it seemed that they'd managed to fit all they needed into them. The girl shivered slightly from the cold while her eyes scanned the room. Then they landed on Alex's brown ones. Suddenly the girl's face lit into a smile.
"Alex!" She exclaimed and bounded over to them, her bag swinging wildly by her side, while the man stared after her, slightly amused by her enthusiasm. It seemed that both her knee and voice had fully healed. Alex stood, walking towards her before realising what she was about to do and firmly braced his feet into the floor. The girl threw her arms around him, her momentum enough to send him staggering back a couple of steps before he regained his balance. The large bag in her hand thumped him in the back, mercifully missing his head.
"Alex! How are you?" She said when she let go. The man reached them and sent the girl a reproachful look for abandoning him, a look she completely ignored.
"Well, I think I just broke a couple of ribs," Alex wheezed. She laughed, and playfully smacked his arm before turning to Ben.
"Agent Daniels. It is good to see you again," she said, holding out her hand. The sudden change from child to adult threw Ben for a second, before he nodded in reply and shook her hand. Then she turned to survey the final member of her welcoming party.
"You must be…Tom Harris," she said, glancing at Alex for confirmation. Then she held out her hand again, "Desiree Swan, though it's easier being shortened to just Dessi. And this is Jacob Wood, or just Jake," she added, gesturing to her field partner who was currently talking and shaking hands with Ben.
"Uh…yea, hi," Tom stuttered, reaching out to shake the girl's hand, "You know, you have a really strong accent. Is it, Australian?"
"Yes. Your accent is strong too," she replied, gently extracting her hand when Tom showed no signs that he would have let it go, just as Jake turned to them.
He was looking Tom up and down, a slight frown on his face. Tom stared back, slightly nervous, and glanced at Alex who nodded reassuringly. Abruptly, Jake broke into a smile, and extended his hand like Dessi had done.
"Jake," he said.
"Tom," the boy replied, shaking the man's hand.
Ben glanced between the three teens and sighed. Bending slightly, he wrestled Dessi's bag out of her hand and lead the way to their car. Jake fell in step with Ben, his own bag still in his hand, and the two started a conversation about what appeared to be the weather. Tom ran slightly to catch up to Dessi, Alex walking slightly behind them.
"So… Australia huh?" Tom asked, falling in step with Desiree.
"Yep," she replied.
"Is it true that people ride around on kangaroos in Australia?"
Desiree stopped suddenly, and turned to stare at Tom, confused. Alex sighed.
"Sorry, Des, could you excuse us for a sec?" Alex didn't wait for a reply before dragging his friend away from the bemused girl.
"What are you doing?" Alex hissed.
"Chatting her up," Tom said without a trace of embarrassment.
"By asking her if people ride around on kangaroos? What are you, crazy?"
"Well, ya gotta start somewhere, right?"
Alex sighed. "The next stupid thing that comes out of your mouth will be the last," he threatened before dragging the boy back to the waiting girl.
"I don't think I'm even going to ask," she said, her crystal blue eyes twinkling in amusement.
"Thanks," Alex muttered, shooting his friend a glare before they walked out into the cold. Dessi shivered slightly, hugging herself and stamping her feet as Ben hurried them towards their parked car.
Tom glanced across worriedly at the girl, before removing his scarf and draping it around her neck, startling her and making her jump.
"Sorry, you just looked kinda cold," he murmured. The girl gave him a small, hesitant smile before wrapping the scarf tighter around herself, trying to keep out as much of the cold as possible.
"It's summer in Australia," she said, "I wasn't ready for it to be so cold up here. Or for there to be so much snow," she added, glancing around her at the blanketing whiteness.
"So…which part of Australia are you from?" Tom asked as they climbed into the back seat of the car while Jake took the front and Ben sat at the wheel. Dessi was squished in between Alex and Tom, her bag on her knees.
"Perth," Dessi said, glancing at the boy with sparkling eyes.
They lapsed into silence for a while. Dessi decided to break it before it got too uncomfortable.
"You know," she said conversationally, "It never snows in Perth."
Tom turned to stare at her.
"Never? So, like in winter, no snow?" He asked incredulously. Dessi shook her head, smiling slightly at his shock, "So, you've never seen snow before?"
"No, I've seen it a couple of times, but it's never been this heavy," she said, gesturing out of the car windows.
"Where've you seen snow?"
"China, Denmark, Ireland, Paris, America…" The girl listed off, counting on her fingers, "Er, I think that's it. I've just never been there when the real heavy snow falls."
Tom gaped at her. "Why have you been to so many places?"
"Classified."
Alex cringed as the spiky haired boy frowned. "Funny, that's what Alex always used to say whenever……OH MY GOD!!!" He suddenly exclaimed, making all the occupants of the car jump in shock. The car swerved slightly as Ben's hand jerked on the steering wheel.
"TOM!" He shouted, "Keep your voice to a decent level!"
Tom completely ignored the MI6 agent in favour of swinging his head from Alex to Dessi and back again, all the while gaping at them wordlessly.
"Do you work for MI6?" He asked.
Dessi looked slightly taken aback. "No."
"Do you work for any intelligence service?"
"Classified."
"Dessi…" Jake said warningly.
"It's okay Dessi, Jake. Tom knows about my…work," Alex said tiredly. Dessi raised her eyebrows at Tom, who nodded in confirmation, looking slightly pleased.
"So, know are you going to answer me?" Tom's tone said that he fully expected an answer.
"Classified," Dessi said just to annoy him, and her lips curved up into a smirk when the boy let out a moan of frustration and turned to her with large pleading eyes.
"Okay, fine," she said, giving in, "AIS."
"AIS! But then…" Tom leaned around Dessi so he could see his friend. Extending an arm, he punched the boy. "Why didn't you tell me about her? I ask if anything interesting happened. She's interesting!"
"She's also within listening distance of your conversation," Dessi said, her voice amused, though Tom didn't hear her comment. He spent the rest of the trip home muttering about friends who "keep the most interesting things from you and think they're doing you a favour".
When the car pulled up outside of a house, Dessi was so happy for the journey to be over that she jumped out of the car...only to slip on the snowy ground and fall over backwards, tucking in her head so it wouldn't hit the car.
"Dessi! Are you okay?" Tom asked, having hurried across around the back of the car to kneel next to the girl. Dessi started laughing, and when she did, she couldn't stop. Jake started laughing too once he found his field partner on the ground. Tom and Alex joined her laughter, though they didn't know what was so funny. Even Ben had a smile pulling on the corners of his lip. The girl's laughter was quite contagious.
At length, the blonde girl recovered enough to be dragged off the snow and hurried inside away from the cold.
"Wow," were the first words out of her mouth as she entered the house. The Christmas decorations were still up, making the living room look like an explosion of colour. The girl's eyes drank in every detail, from the lights to the tinsel, and finally resting at the fire that was merrily burning in the fireplace. She then turned to observe the picture that hung on the wall; it showed Alex, Ian and Jack standing outside what could be the house, except that it wasn't covered in snow.
"Yea," Alex said, pushing past her, "We sort of went overboard with the Christmas decorations. Dessi, do you mind moving away from the door so we can close it? You're kind of letting in the cold."
"Oh, right, sorry." The girl stepped closer inside, and finding that it was quite warm with the fire and no doubt a hidden central heater, she removed the scarf and handed it back to Tom with a thankful smile.
"I'll go get Jack," Alex said, taking the stairs two at a time.
Ben and Tom ushered the wide-eyed girl into the living room, while Jake trailed behind them. She and her field partner sat carefully on the sofa. The girl was staring into the fire. Her eyes were unfocused, her memories showing her a time when she too lived in a home with two people who cared about her more than anything in the world. Jake glanced at her, worried about her silence. Before he could do anything, Alex and Jack came downstairs.
"There they are," Alex's voice broke through, and Dessi blinked several times before returning to reality. Lifting her head, she saw a slim woman with tangled red hair staring at her curiously.
Hastily, Dessi got to her feet. Jake had already stood, recognising the woman from a photo he'd once seen in Alex's file, and assumed that this was the housekeeper, Jack.
"Hello," Jake said with a warm smile, and extended his hand, "I'm Jacob Wood. Jake though, for short. This is my field partner, Dessi."
"Jake, Dessi," Jack smiled, shaking their hands, "I'm Jack. You must be freezing wearing just that jumper. Where's your coat?" She directed the last question to Dessi.
"I don't have one," Dessi admitted, "I outgrew my last one a few years ago, and after that I didn't really need one." In other words, she hadn't been in the snow for the last couple of years.
"Oh, well, we can't let you freeze to death! Come, I'm sure I have something that'll fit you." And so saying, the American dragged the Australian out of the living room and up the stairs. Alex, Tom and Ben looked at each other. They could barely live with one female in the house. How would they cope with two? Jake merely raised an eyebrow, though he kept his mouth shut.
"We'll live," Ben said, though he didn't look too convinced and walked out to find Agent Crawley, beckoning for Jake to join him. Alex threw himself into the sofa, Tom joining him. The two boys sat in a contemplative silence for a while.
"So, she's my guard, and Jake's Jack's guard?" Tom asked, breaking the silence.
"Yep."
"Do you think she'll be alright?"
Alex glanced at his friend. "You sound worried," he said.
"She's just so…thin! It looks like if you hit her, you'll break something. How can she be anything like you?" Tom looked at his friend.
"She's stronger than she looks," Alex grinned, remembering when the two of them had been placed as sparring partners, and the number of bruises he'd had afterwards, "When we sparred together three times; all three ended in a draw. Plus, she was good enough to hold off a Scorpia assassin while her knee was sprained."
Tom nodded. If Alex trusted her, then he would too. Then the black haired boy thought of something else.
"Alex, is she the one you told me who'd never gone to school? Do you reckon we should take her through the, I don't know, the basics of stuff? And stop her holding her hand out to every person she sees?" The boy asked.
Alex looked at his friend, slightly surprised that he himself hadn't thought of that. He didn't really want the girl to make a fool of herself; that would start the teasing, the very reason she'd left school in the first place.
"Yea. Let's go see if we can rescue her from Jack." Alex stood, stretching slightly, before turning for the stairs, Tom right behind.
They found Dessi in Jack's room being forced to try on everything from coats, hats to boots made to walk in the snow. The girl saw the two boys at the door, and shot them a pleading look right before Jack dumped another load of clothes on her.
Biting back a smile, Alex stepped in.
"Sorry Jack, but can you sort this out tomorrow? Only, Dessi doesn't know anything about school, so we should probably introduce her to some…facts," he said, motioning for Dessi to leave. The girl only paused once, to thank Jack for her time. Tom led her away to Alex's room.
"Alex, make sure you show her to the other guest room. I've put her bag there, and there's also a pile of books MI6 dropped off. You might want to go through those too. Oh, and give this bag to her," Jack added, throwing one of her old sling bags across at Alex, "So she has somewhere to put her books. Honestly, you'd think an intelligence service would think of these things…"
Alex left Jack to her ramblings, visited the spare guest room to pick up the pile of books laying on the bed, and carried it back to his room, where he found Tom and Dessi sitting on the bed. Tom was explaining to the girl why she didn't need to shake hands with everyone; Alex came in time to hear him say, "…No I meant people our age who go to school! You still have to shake hands with the Prime Minister, and any other important people. But not students, or teachers unless you have an interview! And that's only with the teachers!"
"Alright, Dessi," Alex said, "I hope you've been doing more work than you did when I was visiting. These are your books, you put them in this bag, you carry this bag across your body-"
"Alex," Desiree sighed, cutting the boy off, "I'm not an idiot."
"Nonetheless, these are things you need to know. We're not in primary school anymore, and as kids get to our age, teasing becomes more…harsh. Please don't throw someone else's bike at the principal," Alex added.
"I didn't throw it at the principal; I threw it at his office window. Besides I have much better control over myself now."
"Okay, fine," Alex sighed.
Tom glanced at the girl.
"Can I just ask you a question?" He said.
"Sure, as long as it's not classified," she replied.
"I don't think it is. Well, I get why you're here, but why did Jake come with you?" Tom asked.
"Yea, and where's the rest of your unit?" Alex added, ignoring the curious look Tom sent him.
"Uh, Dean's spending time with his family, and Terry's on holiday," Dessi said, "And Jake came with me because he's my field partner so he's meant to follow me around. Also, he doesn't want, and here I quote, "rival intelligence agencies getting their hands on you," or that is, me."
Tom and Alex looked at each other, then back at the girl. She stared back. Tom sighed slightly, deciding to change the topic, before going to Alex's bookshelf and removing a thick, hardcover book.
"Right, Dessi," he said, sitting back down while Alex shoved the books into the bag, "This is a yearbook. It has the photos of everyone at the school. These," he said, rapidly flipping the pages until he came to a particular section, "Are the people who are in our year. We're going to tell you as much as we can about each person, so you know who to avoid tomorrow."
"Wait, she's going to school tomorrow?" Alex asked.
"That's what that Jake said; I just asked him," Tom replied.
"But what if she's jetlagged?"
"She's perfectly fine; it's only when she's travelling forwards in time that she gets jetlagged, and England is a fair few hours behind Perth. She'd also like you guys to know that she has perfectly good hearing, and she'd also really appreciate it if you remember that she's here when you start talking," Dessi said with a sweet, innocent smile.
"Well, she's right," Tom said. Dessi punched him in the arm, and the boy leapt to his feet, wincing in pain. The girl dived to save the yearbook.
"ALRIGHT! I'm making a rule!" He shouted, massaging his arm, "As the only non-spy out of us, I cannot be hit. I don't mind if you two punch each other; you're probably used to the pain. But not me! You're both stronger than you look, especially you," Tom glared at Dessi, "And I really don't want any more bruises!"
"Okay! Calm down!" Alex said, failing to hide his smile.
Tom huffed and sat back on the bed. Alex came over to join them, sitting on the other side of Dessi so that both he and Tom would be able to reach the yearbook that now lay on Dessi's lap.
"Okay, whose first…Ahh, Michel Alvin," Tom said, glaring at the face in dislike, "You want to avoid him. He enjoys hitting on pretty blonde girls, and you fit perfectly under that category…"
And so the lesson continues…
Next chapter, Desiree goes to school! How will the other kids react? How will Alex's female fan-club react? Find out next time!!!
IMPORTANT NOTE!!! I've also had an interesting proposition, and I was wondering what you all think of this. Who wants Desiree/Alex? Please let me know, because I think it's very interesting. If you are absolutely against Dessi/Alex, let me know too!
In the mean time, how did you like this chapter? Was it good? Bad? Tell me in a review!!!
Until next time! Love Chariots99