When Alex woke up with a pounding headache, he found himself to be in a place that he had come to hate. The hospital. It was no surprise that this hospital was all white too.
Every hospital architect probably had a handbook for this. They were all obviously told to make sure everything was as white as possible and make it smell like antiseptic. Otherwise, of course, it couldn't POSSIBLY be a hospital.
Alex was shaken out of his thoughts when a nurse came in and started checking him over. Once she was done, she looked at him in surprise.
"Oh, your awake," she said. Alex fought the urge to roll his eyes. Obviously I'm awake. Do you have to say the bleeding obvious? Instead he said,
"Yeah I am." The nurse realized that she had said something incredibly stupid and blushed.
"Well are you feeling alright? No nausea or dizziness?"
"Well besides the pounding in my head, and the fact that I feel like I've been run over by a truck, yes I'm fine." Alex said in a quite obviously sarcastic voice. The nurse flushed again.
"Yes, yes of course," she mumbled, trying and failing to smile. "It seems like some cops are coming in to interrogate you too," she said as an afterthought.
"What? Why?" Alex asked. Then he remembered what he was doing right before he passed out. Dammit. He had probably still been holding the smoking gun when they found them. Oh he was so dead.
"I don't know they didn't tell me," she said irritably and practically ran from the room. Good riddance. About two hours later, Alex woke from his nap in time to hear a feminine voice say, NYPD we need to interrogate a suspect. The doctor said something Alex couldn't quite hear and let into the room a tall, attractive woman, and a handsome middle-aged man.
"NYPD we need to ask you a few questions about the murder of Hans Perona," the woman said. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett and this is Richard Castle.
"What, he's not a detective too?" Alex asked.
"I'm a writer, my books are best sellers," Castle said smugly. "Ever heard of anything like Derek Storm? Nikki Heat?" Alex shook his head.
"Nope never heard of them." Castle looked crestfallen and Alex added "But are they adult books? Because I'm a teenager and I don't really read those books. Also I'm British if you hadn't noticed."
"Oh, I guess your right," Castle said, slightly more cheerful. He glanced over at Beckett who looked exasperated. Then she frowned and seemed to think something over. Finally she said,
"Anyways back to topic, what is your relationship with Hans Perona?" Alex smirked to himself. Oh this was going to be some fun questioning. Alex didn't know exactly the details, but he had the general idea that he was an extremely high-ranking agent in MI6. If this was true, he had more authority than these cops.
"Classified," Alex said.
"And what do you mean by 'classified'?" Beckett asked.
"I mean," Alex said in a serious manner, "that if I told you, I'd have to kill you."
"Why don't you quit acting spy and answer the question." Beckett said, letting none of her irritation seep out.
"Wait a minute I know!" Castle said suddenly.
"What?" Beckett asked.
"He's a teenage spy from the CIA," Castle said happily. Beckett sighed.
"Castle, Alex is not a teenage spy who works for the CIA!" not bothering to hide her annoyance.
"You know what Beckett? I think you're right," Castle mused. Beckett looked at him incredulously. "He's British so he must work for MI6!" Beckett face palmed and Alex snorted in amusement. If only they knew how right they were.
"What?" Beckett asked.
"Nothing, nothing," Alex said. He thought of what to do now. It was not a good situation right now. He was the prime suspect in a murder he actually did. Alex felt sick at the thought. He'd killed before but that still didn't mean he actually liked it. His best course of action, he decided, would be to call the CIA and let them sort it out. "Can I make a call please?" Alex said.
"Sure," Beckett said. Alex picked up the phone beside his hospital bed and dialed a very long number he had long since committed to memory. The phone rang three times before a male voice said on the other end,
"Joe Byrne."
"Umm…hi Joe, it's Alex," he said, unsure of what to say.
"Alex, is something wrong? Where are you?" Joe asked, his voice on edge.
"I'm fine Joe," Alex reassured Joe, "I completed my mission and have a lot of evidence to put Capricorn down. But, Hans came after me and I was forced to kill him. And now the police are here. Can you deal with them please?" Alex said.
"OK Alex, don't worry we'll deal with the police. I'll come by car and you can report to me, seeing as you're in the hospital and all." Joe hung up, there was no need to say bye. Alex looked at the detective and writer beside them. Castle had an excited look on his face while Beckett looked highly suspicious.
"Joe Byrne! He's head of the CIA," Castle exclaimed.
"You just admitted you killed Hans Perona," Beckett said, completely serious unlike Castle. Alex ignored Beckett and said to Castle,
" How do you know that?" Alex asked, slightly suspicious.
"I know a few guys in the CIA," Castle said.
"Really? Who?" Alex asked.
"Erm…Andrew Johnson, Miranda Jenkins, and Ben Daniels, though he's actually part of MI6," Castle said, counting them off his fingers. Alex twitched slightly at the mention of his old partner. Something Beckett was very quick to notice.
"Do you know them?" Beckett asked, though it was more like a demand.
"Classified," Alex said in that annoying voice with that annoying smirk.
" Isn't there anything you can tell us on the murder of Hans Perona?" Beckett asked, exasperated.
"Nothing that isn't classified," Alex said. Oh he was enjoying this way too much. If only Joe would get here already… As if on cue, Joe Byrne and two rather obvious tough looking men in black walked into the room. Great, can it get anymore cliché?
"It's nice to see you again Mr. Byrne," Castle said.
"A pleasure, Mr. Castle," Joe said. "Now I believe you can let Alex off, and you might as well give up on this case because there isn't a case at all."
"What do you mean sir?" Beckett asked in that same no–funny business manner. Although secretly, she was in awe that she was meeting the head of the CIA.
"I mean that Alex was allowed to kill Hans, although I know you hate killing people Alex," Joe said. Alex just shrugged and nodded silently. "I suppose you want to know why he's allowed to kill. I think I can tell you but you'll have to sign the Official Secrets Act. Do you agree?" Castle didn't hesitate and stated his approval in quite a loud way, while Beckett silently thought over but nodded her approval too. "Well then I think it would be better for Alex to tell you as he knows the details much better than I," Joe said.
Alex felt very uncomfortable about the fact that he would have to tell his greatest secret to two people he barely knew. This was not how he wanted the situation to end up. He thought once Joe got here, the cops would leave and he would give Joe his report. Nevertheless, Alex opened his mouth and told his story.
"Well, my parents died in a plane crash and so my Uncle Ian took me in. He raised me and trained me to be a spy from a very young age. Then after I turned 14, Ian died in a 'car crash.' I was suspicious so I looked into it and found out that he was shot and that he was actually a spy who worked for MI6. MI6 recruited me to finish the mission that Ian died doing. So far I've been on 7 missions for various intelligence agencies." With that, Alex laid back and closed his eyes, but didn't fall asleep. Beckett and Castle sat in stunned silence with their jaws dropped and eyes bulging. If Alex had bothered to open his eyes, he would have laughed at the comical expressions on their faces. An awkward silence fell as Castle and Beckett tried to process what they had just heard.
"A gay baby has just been born," Alex said effectively breaking the silence. Castle looked at Alex bewildered before roared with laughter.
"Nice! This kids got a good sense of humor," Castle said. He paused as he thought of something. Then his face lit up and he said "Hey I said he was a teenage spy, didn't I Beckett? And you didn't believe me!" Beckett only acknowledged this with silence on her part. Joe Byrne handed some papers to Beckett and Castle for them to sign.
"Here's the Official Secrets Act for you to sign," Joe said. "You just have to sign here and here." Something was strange, Alex thought. When he'd signed, he only had to sign one paper. But Joe was having them sign more. Then it occurred to him that Joe could be tricking them into signing other things too. But by the time this occurred to Alex, Beckett and Castle had already signed. Joe took the papers and nodded. "It appears everything is in order," Joe said. "Oh yeah and I would assume you read them because some of them were papers saying that you agreed to keep Alex in protection at the precinct." Joe added that is if it was something he forgot say until now.
"You did what?" Beckett asked, disbelieving.
Joe looked mildly amused and said, "You heard me. Alex will be staying a while at the precinct for protection for the two weeks he is in New York City."
"You tricked us," Castle said in an awe filled voice.
"Yes I did," Joe stated. "This means that he'll be spending all his time with you as protection, and he'll have to stay with one of you when you go home so he'll be protected at all times. I'll put security detail on your house's so that he can be properly protected at all times." At this point Alex intervened.
"Don't I have any say in this? I can protect myself perfectly fine." Alex said heatedly, "Why do I have to stay with these people? Can't you just put security detail on my house?"
"Well Alex," Joe said. "In answer to you questions, yes you do have a say in this, but if you say no it's probable you'll either be kidnapped, tortured or dead. Maybe all three. Yes I know you can protect your self against at most four men. But what happens when men surround you with guns trained on you? Right now the precinct is the safest place for you, as I don't think you'll want to be kept in custody by the FBI. And we would rather not risk sending you home on a plane seeing as they could hijack it and blow it up." At that point Alex went rather pale remembering the way his parents died. He sighed in resignation and said,
"Fine, I get it. Two weeks right? That's not too long…"
"Glad we've come to an understanding Alex. Once we're sure that you won't be in any danger we'll get you on a plane home," Joe said, getting up and shaking Alex's hand. With that, he left the room with his two bodyguards leaving Alex alone in the hospital room with Castle and Beckett.
"Did you know that he would trick us into signing those papers?" Castle asked curiously.
"Well," Alex said thoughtfully, "I suspected he was tricking you into signing something but I didn't know what the papers said."
"But why did the MI6 recruit you anyways?" Beckett asked.
"Well nobody would suspect a kid right? Plus I was the perfect cover for other agents. Stick me in and we'd just be a family on vacation. Problem is those agents usually get themselves killed and I'm stuck with having to finish the mission. Also I guess I'm just…good at my err job." Alex explained.
"Did you want to become a spy?" Beckett interrogated. It looked as if she was in full interrogation mode.
"Well, no actually. But MI6 have ways to make me cooperate," Alex said.
"Like what?" Castle said, joining in on the interrogation.
"Blackmail," Alex said simply.
"It's against the law to blackmail," Beckett said disbelievingly. "What would they blackmail with? Did they threaten to show your guardian your secret porn collection?" Beckett scorned. Alex's eye twitched ominously and a dangerous look came onto his face. At that moment, Beckett realized exactly why he became MI6's best spy at such a young age. This boy was downright dangerous.
"Actually MI6 threatened to deport my guardian, Jack Starbright, to America and sent me to an orphanage," Alex said coldly. Castle gulped, but Beckett still had her blank mask on.
"Oh come one! Let's stop all this depressing talk about blackmail and orphanages. How does lunch sound?" Castle said, trying to lift the mood. It worked because at that moment, Alex's stomach decided to make itself known. Alex felt the heat rising to his face, and realized that he hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday evening.
"That…sounds good," Alex said, still blushing. Beckett, despite herself, felt a smile creep onto her face at the childish display. It looked like Alex was still a child deep down. The tension disappeared and the atmosphere lightened considerably.
"Right then," Castle said. "We'll get you discharged and then we'll all go grab a burger. Hey, nurse!" A nurse came running in, her eyes went wide when she saw Castle. Castle could immediately tell it was one of his fan girls.
"Y–Yes Mr. Castle?" the nurse stuttered nervously.
"Ah yes can we please get the discharge papers for Alex Rider?" Castle asked charmingly.
"Yes! Right away sir!" The nurse almost tripped trying in her eagerness to do as he bid. A few minutes later the nurse came back with the discharge papers. "Here you go Mr. Castle!" she said. As he was signing papers she just stood there. He looked up and noticed her standing there.
"Is there something I can do for you?" Castle questioned.
"Umm yes. Will you sign my ah…" She pointed at her breast. Castle smiled and said,
"Of course darling. Whom shall I make it out to?"
"Amy Bennet," she said. Once he finished, the nurse ran out of the room giggling. There was an awkward silence as Beckett glared at Castle and Alex shifted uneasily.
"Can I get dressed?" Alex finally asked.
"Yes of course," Beckett said. "We'll be in the lobby when you're done." She and Castle got up and walked out the door leaving Alex alone to his thoughts. Well, Alex thought as he was pulling on his clothes. This is an interesting development. Maybe it won't be so bad, hell it might even be fun. Now that he had a chance to wind down, Alex realized again what a adrenaline junkie he was. All the excitement in his life made it another reason why he couldn't just quit spying. He had already become addicted to the adrenaline. It became a regular part of his life. Alex doubted he could go back to being the British schoolboy he so wanted to be.
When Alex finished dressing, he left the folded up hospital gown on the bed and walked to the lobby. He found Castle and Beckett conversing quietly, probably about him. When they saw him, they stopped talking and smiled at him.
"Ready to go?" Castle said getting up.
"Sure, where are we going?" Alex asked.
"Serenity," Becket said, getting up too. "It's a new place that opened up. Its a little burger joint that me and Castle like to go to after a case."
"It's Castle and I," Castle corrected.
"Whatever" Becket said. While they were talking, they had been walking in the parking lot to the car. When they arrived, Alex's eyes widened and he grinned goofily.
"We're going in a police car? That's so cool!" Alex said excitingly. Beckett laughed a little at this rare display of childishness, and said,
"Yes, I take it you've never been in one before?"
"Nope," Alex said, popping the p. "Never." His grin widened even more. "I call shotgun!"
"Oh no you don't!" Castle yelled. They both raced to the car. They ended up getting there at the same time and started arguing about who got there first. This lasted a minute until Beckett got fed up and said,
"Alex, you get shotgun. Castle, you sit in the back." Alex smirked while Castle pouted childishly. They all got into their respective seats, pulled out of the parking space, and drove out onto the crowded New York City streets. Beckett looked at Alex and said, "This is a situation where we put our rather loud sirens to good use." She pressed a button and the sirens started blaring loudly. Almost at once, cars started pulling aside and Beckett got to Serenity in a quarter of the time it would've taken originally.
They parked the police car and walked into the restaurant and a blonde waitress escorted them to a booth by the window. They looked at the menu and ordered their food, a hamburger for Castle, salad and curly fries for Beckett, and a cheeseburger for Alex. While they were waiting for their food, Alex's phone started ringing.
"Hello?" Alex asked.
"Alex! Oh my god are you okay?" a frantic Jack Starbright yelled into the phone. "MI6 just called me saying that you were in the hospital and that Capricorns targeting you! Trust me Alex, I would've been on the earliest flight here, but MI6 aren't letting me out of the house for my 'protection' oh and–"
"Jack! Jack! I'm ok, ok? I'm perfectly fine," Alex said, trying to calm her down.
"Ok Alex, but if MI6 tries to stop me from going on my date, I swear they'll regret that they ever got in my way," Jack growled. Alex gulped, he knew her well enough to know that she always follows through with her threats. "Anyways how is it in America? Here it's all cloudy and rainy. This is one of the things I miss about the ol' US. It's weather!" She said this so cheerfully; Alex wondered how she could switch emotions so easily.
"Well it's cold, really, really cold, and there's snow," Alex said looking outside. "Lots and lots of snow."
"Hmm…well I guess it is winter so it can't be sunny all the time," Jack said thoughtfully. "Anyways, I expect you to call me once, oh say, every other day," Jack said. "If you don't, well you remember last time." Alex blanched. He remembered last time all right. Whenever it was mentioned, it still brought tears of laughter to his best friend, Tom Harris's eyes.
"Ok Jack, I get it. Bye" Alex said hurriedly.
"Bye, Alex, don't piss off too many terrorists," Jack said warningly, which followed a second later with a click, indicating that she hung up. He put his phone back in his pocket and looked at the other two.
"Was that the Jack guy you said was your guardian?" Castle questioned.
"Girl," Alex corrected. "And yes she's my guardian but she's more like an older sister to me." Alex said this all with a fond smile on his face reminiscing. Castle looked like he wanted to ask more but at that moment the food arrived and Alex dug in. American food was a lot different from the food he was used to in England but that didn't stop him from savoring its deliciousness. It was only five minutes later that he was finished and looking mournfully at his empty plate. The burger had been delicious and the chips heavenly. They paid the bill and left the restaurant to go back to the police car. This time the trip was made in silence without the sirens and they arrived back at the precinct half an hour later.
Four hours later, when evening arrived and Beckett had progressed through most of her paperwork, the big question was asked. It wasn't much of a surprise that Caste was the one pop the question.
"So Alex, who do you want to stay with?" Alex could honestly say that he had completely forgotten this issue and so was completely unprepared.
"Well…umm…I guess I'll stay with the one who won't be bothered with me being there," Alex said, looking at each of them.
"Well I guess–"
"I'll take him." Alex looked at Beckett inquisitively while Castle stared openly, momentarily shocked. He recovered quickly however, and said,
"Why Beckett, if you were so lonely you should've asked me to come over." Beckett rolled her eyes.
"Shut up you. So Alex, you fine with staying with me?" The second part she directed at Alex.
"As long as it's not a problem it's fine," Alex said.
"Well then lets go," She said, getting up. "Night Castle," she called over her shoulder.
"Until tomorrow Beckett," Castle called back. Alex followed her out to the parking lot where they got into her blue convertible. The trip was again made in silence as they made their way to Becketts home. They walked up the stairs to a plain white door that had the numbers 207 on it. Beckett opened the door to allow Alex in and said,
"Home sweet home." Alex's first impression of the place was that she lived alone. The only personal touch to the place was a picture frame with what looked like Becketts family. There was a leather couch and regular TV in the main room. In the dining room was a small round table with two chairs. There was only a counter separating the dining room and the kitchen, which had a gas stove and various cooking utensils strewn about that hadn't been put away. It also had a few boxes in it, which gave him the impression that she had moved in recently. He completely avoided the bedroom, as he didn't want to invade her privacy. He noticed one thing missing and it wasn't until he had looked at her bedroom that he realized there was no place to sleep. Beckett seemed to realize this and said, "Sorry I don't have an extra bed, you'll have to sleep on the couch. Oh and ignore the boxes. I had to find a new place since my old one blew up." Alex looked at her weirdly but said nothing.
Beckett got him a few blankets and a pillow, and laid them on the couch. She motioned for him to sit down on the couch with her, and he did so curiously. "All right I'm just going to set a few rules now. Don't go anywhere without me, you're supposed to be here for protection after all. I trust you won't do anything crazy like blow up the apartment." At this, she chuckled. "Also I have guns hidden in my bedside table, under the left couch cushion, and in the fridge on the side door. You know how to work a gun right?" Alex nodded. "Well then in case there's trouble you know where to find them. Night." She got up, ending their discussion, and headed towards her bedroom, turning out the lights on the way out. Alex lay down on the couch pulling the covers up to his chin. He drifted off pondering the last few days. Maybe these two weeks won't be so bad after all.
A/N Thank You for the reviews! You guys are my heros. As of right now, I'll probably update weekly around the weekend. If something comes up I'll let you guys know. I've decided not to focus too much on pairings but there will be some. Castle/Beckett, Laney/Esposito and Ryan/Jenny. No Alex/Alexis as I think it would be better if they were just friends. Now I JUST realized that I forgot to put Ryan and Esposito in so I'll put them in later chapters and make an excuse for their absence. Please keep up the reviews, they make my day :) And if you see any mistakes/inconsistencies please point them out to me and I'll try to fix them.