Hey guys, here's the next one. I sort of split it into two parts, the first focuses on an overall picture of this chapter's topic: Care and the second part focuses on a specific aspect of Care. So hope you guys like this one. Enjoy!

Care

Contrary to popular belief, Ian Rider did cared. As a matter of fact he cared very much. He was very aware of what went on in the lives of himself and the ones around him and cared more than he let on. He cared about everything from the color shoes Alex wore to school to the gun that was very carefully placed behind the shoe rack in case of an emergency.

He cared about his parents. What with the way he worked his ass off trying to impress his father and scale up to John's image as the perfect son, he couldn't help but care. And the fact that the second John told him their parents had been in a car accident that killed them, Ian felt his stomach, heart and everything else drop was enough proof that no matter how many I hate you's had come out of his mouth, he'd still cared.

He cared very deeply for his older brother and his sister-in-law. Enough about how absolutely devastated he was at their deaths has been said.

And hell, he cared about Alex. He cared about that boy more than he cared about himself. He cared enough that one day, when their house was broken into and Alex(who was seven at the time) was almost kidnapped, Ian immediately went out in search for a housekeeper. A reliable one, unlike the last couple that had ended rather badly for both himself and Alex. And instead of finding a normal housekeeper that worked for a pay and cared about Alex only as much as she needed to, Ian found Jackie Starbright. Jack for short. An eccentric, fiery, red-headed American law student that needed a home as desperately as Ian needed a housekeeper. And it took about ten seconds for Ian to decide that he liked her. She was definitely fit for the job, what with he way she handled the thorough interrogation he ran her through, she was definitely ready. And it didn't take long for either of the Riders to get used to and even come to think of her as family. She was there for Alex when Ian couldn't be and treated him with the same care that Ian would.

And Ian loved that. God, did Ian love that. He loved that and more. In just a matter of weeks Ian found in Jack all the things he'd wanted in a person...in a woman. She was rebellious, wild, cunning and yet at the same time she was just as kind, loving and affectionate. The polar opposite of his own personality...and he loved it. He'd loved it from about the moment he saw it. And in his eyes, she was such a bright and beautiful future for him...And then he remembered MI6.

Ian had to hide a lot of things because of MI6 but hell, care was one thing he most definitely could not hide all the way. No matter how hard he tried, every once in a while, when Alex came home, bruised up from a football game or when Jack burned or cut herself cooking, he just couldn't help but walk over and ask if everything was alright. Little things. It was those little ways that he showed his care, ways that would be invisible to most people, but nevertheless they were still there.

Care

Part II

Ian had an extremely tight leash on his emotions, but as time went by and grew older and more mature, he found himself loosening that leash, sometimes a little too much for even his own liking. Especially when it came to Jack.

At first it started off incredibly small, holding the door a second longer when he knew she was behind him and then allowing it to swing shut into the face of the poor soul behind her, or holding a hand out for her when getting out of the car or getting up from a table. Common courtesy. And then it became offering to go grocery shopping alone with her, or offering to drive her around to wherever she needed to go. Next was joining her on the couch while she was watching a football match or anything else on t.v and offering to get some popcorn or a drink. Or staying up late with her while she was doing homework and drinking way too much coffee for her own good. And by the end it got to the point where the two of them would make indirect jokes about why they weren't already together. And as jokingly as Jack may have said them, Ian knew she was somewhat serious as well. Oh how much he wished he could tell her why. Why he could care only so much.

When he looked back, Ian got the feeling sometimes he cared too much. And about a woman too. His brother was (he wished he could say living, breathing but that was most definitely not the case) proof of what happened when an agent such as himself did that. But god, Ian could not stop himself. Who could? She was Jack for crying out loud.

And in the end Ian knew, no matter how hard he'd tried, he'd fallen for the same thing his brother had because the last thought that ran through his head before he was shot by Yassen Gregorovitch, next to the thought of Alex was "Damn...I never told Jack how much I love her."

Well, that was Care. Hope it came out alright =] I just love the Ian/Jack dynamic so much I couldn't help but make it a separate section. Next in the series is Danger for D.

Review! =D