Alex was up and out of bed by six thirty. It was a sad fact that his biological clock did not operate as one of a teenager, where sleeping in was mandatory and weekends were sleep days, not filled with shooting people and getting shot at.

Nonetheless, Alex got up and inspected his room. It took him a moment to remember where he was and what his mission was. He had read his mission briefing at least two times. Alex had to team up with James to defeat an evil guy called Gabriel. It was really ironic, Alex thought, considering the guy was named after an angel.

Alex had to buddy up with Gabriel's fourteen year old son named Oscar. Again, Alex found that ironic. He had always wanted a dog who he would call Oscar. Sadly, Ian hadn't seen the benefits of having a dog and also didn't want one. He had joked that Alex was enough trouble as it was, without a fur ball trying to knock them over all the time. He had brushed off Alex's remarks that those were the traits of a cat. Dogs just jumped at you begging to play.

Pushing those nostalgic thoughts aside, Alex went back to focusing on his task. He had to learn about Oscar and what he knew about his dad's operations. He had to see if there was a connection between the family members and if that could be used against them. Alex knew he was two years older than Oscar but that didn't matter. Considering fourteen was his last year as a proper human, as he liked to think, he knew vaguely what that age group liked.

While getting buddy buddy with Oscar, Alex needed to learn about the lay of the land. He would leave the offices up to James, let him deal with the pressure of getting things while people talked outside the office and door handles jiggled. He always hated those times, they were painfully nerve wrecking.

Alex went through scenarios and tactics in his head, trying to establish his personality and how Oscar might take to that person. He didn't realise that he had sat there for over two hours until a soft knock came from his door.

"Come in." Alex called out.

The door opened to show James dressed in smart clothes, minus the blazer to make it a suit. The man leaned on the door frame and inspected Alex, like he was assessing the boy, not that he needed to, they had had enough time to do that to each other.

"Morning, Alex." James said. "Sleep well?"

It wasn't a rude remark and seemed to be a genuine question. Alex frowned. James caught his look and made a small gesture pointing out of the room. There was a stuck up man in a penguin suit outside standing by the entrance to their quarters.

"Great, thanks." Alex responded. He cranked his neck slightly, letting out a satisfied sigh when it clicked.

"We've been invited to have breakfast with our host. Do you want to join me?" James asked. His voice was kind and seemed like he actually wanted his opinion. That was only because his voice carried into the main room.

It may have been asked as a question but Alex could see James's face. He wasn't giving Alex an option. He had to join them.

"Sure," Alex said in a similar tone. He then let out a dramatic yawn. "Just give me five minutes to get ready."

James nodded and walked out of his room, shutting the door behind him.

Alex listened and heard the soft murmur of voices outside of the room. The walls were thick so it was hard to pick up what was being said but he picked up the gist of it. James was telling the posh man by the door that Alex would be out soon. They didn't need a guide to the dining room if the man just gave them directions. That gave them snooping room and excuse privileges. It was easy to say 'sorry, I got lost' and end up in an office, when you were on your own.

Alex got up and went into his on-suite bathroom, washing his face and adding some deodorant from his pre-packed wash bag. Within five minutes he was dressed in black trousers and a light blue shirt. It was nice and simple.

Alex left his room to see James looking out of the window.

"Did you get rid of our guide?" Alex asked gesturing to the door even though James wasn't looking.

"Apparently, I'm pretty good with words." James smirked. Alex rolled his eyes. "I persuaded him that we would do fine and we would learn our way back easier if we paid attention to where we were going."

Alex nodded and moved to the door.

"Shall we?" Alex asked, pulling the heavy door open. James nodded and allowed Alex to go through first before shutting the door behind him.

The 'getting lost' plan would have worked just fine. It was easy to do and believable. Unfortunately, fate decided that things should never come easy for the spies. This was proven when Alex almost charged into a person of a similar height as himself. Alex had been about to accidentally take a wrong right turn but was stopped when he almost walked into someone.

Alex gave a small jump, yes he did have training to stop himself from being surprised but a normal teen wouldn't. That was shown when the person opposite, a teenage boy with dark brown hair and in baggy clothes (they looked like pyjamas), leapt backwards, yelping in shock.

"Bloody hell!" The teen grumbled with wide eyes. "Sorry, sorry, I'm not awake. I need food then I'll be awake and won-"

The teen stopped and looked at the people opposite him, inspecting them.

"Sorry, I thought you were guards, I'm always bumping into them in the morning when I'm half asleep." The boy said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't worry about it," Alex said, brushing it off. "I didn't mean to scare you. We're looking for the dinning room."

Alex looked innocent and sounded it too. James was almost proud of the boy's acting skills.

"Oh, I'll show you where it is." The teen assured them. He then gestured for them to follow him. "I'm Oscar, by the way."

"Oh, I'm Alex Thompson," Alex said, acting as if he completely forgot pleasantries. "and this is my dad," he gestured to James, letting the word dad properly role over his tongue, "James."

James grunted in greeting. He wasn't very good with kids and was annoyed that they couldn't snoop around. He wanted to blame Alex for picking that corridor to try and go down. He knew that it was a stupid accusation and very childish, but it made him feel slightly better so he didn't care.

"Sorry about my dad," Alex said, sending a quick glare to James. "He needs a cup of tea to start functioning."

Oscar just shrugged.

"I need food before I properly function." Oscar said, not bothering to turn around. "Tea does nothing for me, I need a coke for caffeine, or coffee if I'm desperate."

With that, they walked in silence. James and Alex looked around in awe. Well, partly in awe. The house was huge! There were paintings everywhere and interesting trinkets placed all around. It was only partly in awe since the other part was looking around and seeing every small detail like cameras and other security measures such as overly thick looking doors that might hide important information.

It only took them five more minutes to move through the winding corridors of the large mansion to get to a fancy looking dining room. There was a table that looked like it could comfortably fit ten people. The table was only covered by mats for plates. The ceiling had an expensive looking chandelier and the room was surrounded by wooden cabinets. Some had glass doors showing expensive china plates and tea sets while others hid their content. The only difference between this room and what the spies had seen of the rest of the house was that there were personal pictures here.

James could see family photos of Oscar next to a man and a woman. The man must be his father and the woman, his mother. There were pictures of just the older couple and some of just their son. This room actually felt like a family lived in the house.

At the end of the table was a man, the same man as the one in the pictures. This must be Gabriel, both spies deduced at the same time. The content of the table made the room look slightly less posh. There were Weetos on the table and some more healthy, expensive looking cereals as well as milk.

Gabriel looked up and saw his son looking bleary eyed by the doorway with two guest in tow.

"Good morning." Gabriel said in a very British voice. Gabriel stood up and walked towards them.

Gabriel regarded his son who just shrugged and wandered into the room. Gabriel rolled his eyes with an annoyed look which he dropped seconds later as he regarded his two guests.

"Good morning," He repeated. "I'm Gabriel. I see you've met my son Oscar, I'm sorry if he's been rude –" this remark was joined by a pointed mark towards the teen. The boy only grunted. "- he's not much of a morning person."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." James said, raising a hand in greeting. Gabriel gripped his hand firmly and they shook hands.

James then put a free arm around Alex's shoulder, a foreign but comforting feeling Alex hadn't felt since before Jack died. The comforting feeling died quickly when he realised James was just acting.

"This is my son, Alex." Alex's hand shot out quickly and nervously. He thought the best way to get through to Oscar was through a shy exterior. It made sense in his head anyway.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Alex parroted quickly.

"The pleasure is all mine." Gabriel claimed, taking Alex's hand.

Gabriel regarded them with a smile, Alex and James could tell it was slightly forced.

"Come," Gabriel insisted leading the way to the table. "Join me for breakfast. What would you like?"

James sat next to Gabriel and Alex sat opposite Oscar.

"I'm happy with just cereal." James said, pulling a box towards him. It was some of that healthier looking stuff.

Alex made a nod in agreement and pulled the Weetos over to him, grabbing a bowl while he was at it and a spoon.

James did the same and they ate in silence. Oscar looked like he was going back to sleep at the table, his arm and jaw seemed to work automatically, moving the cereal from his bowl to his mouth, chew a couple of times, swallow and repeat.

"I have to say," James said, "This is an amazing place you've set up."

Gabriel looked up from his food and grinned. He obviously loved talking about his property.

"Thank you." He said graciously. "It's taken a lot of time to set up. Time and effort but nothing comes free in this world, ay?"

He gave James a knowing smirk, completely believing at that moment that James was who he claimed to be, a rich man wanting to invest in killing a lot of people.

"What in life ever is?" James grinned.

"From what I've learnt, you need to start small, work up, learn the ropes so you know what to tug on when you're at the top-"

"Can you not talk about business this early?" Oscar complained. "It's boring enough when I'm wide awake."

Gabriel rolled his eyes in frustration and turned to James.

"Kids just don't appreciate advice!" Gabriel grunted.

There was another silence which Alex decided to break.

"So, if you don't like business, what are you interested in?" Alex asked Oscar. The boy looked up.

"Football, sleeping and TV." Oscar listed.

Now football was something he could connect with.

"What team do you support?" Alex asked.

"Manchester City, I know they've did crap last season but have you seen who they've added to the team? This time they'll be unbeatable*." Oscar said eagerly.

"Oh no." Alex groaned sarcastically. "Not another one. You could never beat Chelsea! We beat you last time, we'll beat you this time."

Oscar counted Alex's remark and soon they were having a heated discussion about it. It would have looked like a fight might break out if both boys hadn't been grinning with pride as they boasted about facts they knew on football, trying to one-up the other.

"It's a waste of time." Gabriel grumbled to James. "It's just idiots getting paid a lot of money to kick a football around. It's pointless. I think more time should be spent on studies then watching this rubbish!"

"Agreed, I think if Alex spent as much time studying rather than watching sports, he might get somewhere in life." James said sadly. Alex saw the jab though. He was trying to annoy Alex for fun.

"Oh shut up, Dad." Oscar cried out. "At least football is interesting. It's more fun than being stuck on this shitty island with nothing to do."

"What? Sitting and watching others do something is more interesting?" Gabriel retorted.

"I agree that it would be more fun to participate." Alex cut in, speaking honestly now. "But football is great fun because of the atmosphere. It's just fun to be there."

"Yeah," Oscar grinned. "especially when Manchester scores a goal against Chelsea!"

"Ouch, low blow." Alex replied, acting hurt.

James just rolled his eyes and kept eating. Once they had all finished eating Gabriel insisted that Alex and Oscar got to know each other and hang out while James and Gabriel went off to talk business.

In the end, business had just been introducing themselves and James trying (and succeeding) to convince Gabriel on why he wanted to be part of the man's plan. He also had to give details on what he knew about the plan. He kept his explanation brief and believable.

Alex, on the other hand, was carted away to a games room. There was table football, air hockey and a large TV. Bigger than the one in Alex and James's shared room. The two of them spent the day there competing at everything. Although Alex would die before admitting it to James, it was actually pretty fun. He only had Tom for a friend now and they didn't have this sort of entertainment lying around. All of the things in here would make Tom weep with jealousy. Alex was tempted to take a picture just to send to Tom to tease him, but then he thought better of it.

The two of them spent the entire day there, playing until it got dark. At lunch, Oscar had just called into a comm. System on the wall asking for food to be bought up. Food turned out to be spaghetti Bolognese and warm, homemade garlic bread. Dinner had been similar except some sort of rice dish. It was Spanish Paella.

Alex could get used to this life!

Apparently, Gabriel had a meeting in the afternoon so James was given a guided tour of the house by that stuck up servant who had come to their room this morning. Apparently his name was Joseph.

For some reason, James wasn't allowed out. Gabriel feared that someone was watching him at the moment. The only reason he indulged James in that fact was probably because he thought James could definitely not be a spy, not with a child. It made James want to smirk. Instead, he kept a straight face and laced his voice with fear, asking whether he and Alex were safe. Playing the concerned Dad would definitely help push away any lingering thoughts Gabriel might have.

Alex left, using the instructions Oscar had given him to get back to his section of the building where he and James were staying. He found James eating paella at the table in their sitting room, by himself.

"Evening." Alex greeted, shutting the door behind him.

James looked up and grunted a 'hello' at Alex before focusing on his food.

Alex walked over to the sink and got himself some water.

"Find anything interesting?" he called out, breaking the silence.

"I wasn't allowed to wander much." James sighed. He realised he wouldn't be allowed to eat in silence so he sat back and watched Alex drink before the teen joined him at the table.

"Aren't you meant to try and sneak off then?" Alex rolled his eyes.

"Sadly I was under high surveillance." James grunted. "What about you?"

"Well, father/son relationship in this family is pretty strained." Alex shrugged. "Oscar's not interested in his father's business, not as long as he keeps getting cool stuff."

Alex grinned in memory at the third time he defeated Oscar at the table football.

James looked analytically at Alex.

"Who took you to football?" James asked out of the blue.

"Sorry, what?" Alex said, surprised by the question.

"At breakfast, you were firing off Chelsea facts like you had a degree in the subject." James said. "You don't learn those sorts of facts for a mission. Who took you to watch football?"

"Why does it matter?" Alex asked, getting defensive. Just because they hadn't found any bugs in or around their rooms didn't mean Alex wanted to share.

James just shrugged innocently.

"I was just curious." He said. Alex's eye bored into James like they were searching for an ulterior motive.

In the end, it seemed he couldn't find one.

"My uncle." Alex said slightly uncertainly, he wasn't used to sharing facts about himself but this fact didn't matter.

"Did you go often?" James asked. He continued eating.

"Only when he wasn't away." Alex said with a bit too much spite in his voice then he intended.

Something then clicked in James's head. Rider!

"You're not related to Ian Rider by any chance?" James asked.

In all his thoughts about James and disliking the man, he never actually thought about where the man worked, how he probably knew Ian.

"I was," Alex said, purposely in past tense. "He was my uncle."

"I'm sorry, I liked him." James said honestly.

Alex and James then fell into a silence that wouldn't be called comfortable but it wasn't hostile either.

Alex had too many questions though so he spoke up.

"Can you tell me about him?" Alex asked. He hated how childish he sounded. James was taken aback by how innocent Alex sounded.

He knew that if Ian was Alex's uncle then Alex didn't have any parents. It was well known that Ian's brother and sister-in-law died. Ian liked to talk about his nephew sometimes. For some reason it just never clicked that Alex and Ian Rider's nephew were one and the same. It could be the fact that he never heard the first name and surname together or he just wasn't paying enough attention but whatever the reason, here he was.

"I thought you lived with the man?" James said, wondering how the boy didn't know his own uncle.

"I did, I just thought I lived with a banker, not a spy." Alex pointed out.

James gave a nod, it was an acceptable answer.

"How do I know that what I saw was just a facade? A lie like his job?" Alex asked.

"How do you know that his personality at home wasn't the real him?" James countered.

"I don't." Alex said feeling lost. He really didn't know anything about Ian, not really.

"Ian was great." James started, sensing the boy's confusion. "Sort of like the office clown in a more serious way. He could boost your morale and cheer you up after a disaster of a mission."

Alex smiled, that did sound like Ian.

"He was one hell of a superior though. If you pissed him off, you would know." James said wistfully.

"He didn't raise his voice, just stared at you like you yourself were wrong and spoke calmly." Alex cut in with a sad smile.

The tip of James's lip curved up.

"I'm guessing I'm not the only one who's been on the other side of that stare then." James said.

Alex just shook his head.

James talked for another half hour about Ian and a mission they had done together. Alex just sat eagerly listening.

It turns out, Ian didn't lie to Alex too much. Alex went to bed that night happy and content. James went to bed feeling comforted that he knew a little more about his partner. Neither would admit that they connected a bit tonight

* I know nothing about football. I just know that Alex supports Chelsea and there is a team called Manchester. Now you have my full extent of football facts and knowledge...

I am now completely focusing on this story. I've got lists in my note book. To anyone wanting a sequel thing to Great Grandpa Cap, that comes after this story is done. I've left you guys waiting too long. For that I'm sorry.

What do you think of this chapter?