"You've picked what we ate for lunch for the last week, Ziva!" Tony said.

Alex was sitting at Gibbs' desk, watching the teams bickering like a tennis match, his head turning from one person to another.

"Yes, because every time you pick what we eat I end up eating a sloppy Jim, which has more grease and fat in it than I can stand!" Ziva replied.

"Joe," Tony and Mcgee corrected automatically.

"What does the Janitor have to do with this?" Ziva asked oblivious to her mistake.

"It's a Sloppy Joe. Not Jim." Mcgee replied.

Considering Alex had lived with an American for most of his life, he was familiar with both American foods, and sayings. When Jack first moved in he spent the first month eating his far share of American food and getting confused by Jack's American slang.

"Okay you know what we'll compromise; Alex you pick where we eat," Tony decided.

"Me? I ate eggs and bacon at Gibbs' place. So I'm not that hungry," Alex explained.

"Hmm...Gibbs made breakfast, huh? When I stayed with him he only gave me toast on the way out of the house," Tony mumbled, half to himself.

"We'll if you were eating, where would you want to go?" Mcgee asked impatiently, he hadn't ate breakfast and was tired of his teammates bickering.

"Yes, you can't pick anything worse than, Tony," Ziva assured.

Alex thought for a moment then, " Well is there a good Thai restaurant around here?"

Ziva smiled, " I haven't had Thai in a long time."

Tony nodded in agreement, " Thai it is then! You wanna come, Alex? They don't deliver so we'll have to go get it. Plus you've been in the building all day. Come get some fresh air," Tony urged.

Alex nodded, and replied, " Sure."

"Good. Now all we gotta do is OK it with Gibbs," Tony said standing up as well as Alex.

"Clear what with me, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, strolling into the bullpen, with a coffee in his hand.

"Alex and I are gonna go get lunch, Boss. What can we get you?" Tony said.

"I don't know DiNozzo," Gibbs said eyeing Alex.

"Don't worry Gibbs, I'm sure Tony isn't your Senior Field Agent for nothing," Alex assured.

"Yeah, don't worry Gibbs I'm not gonna lose him," Tony joked, but as he put his coat on he slid his 9mm into his shoulder holster.

"Just in case," he thought.

Gibbs thought hard about this looking at Alex intently.

"Alright, but before you leave take this," Gibbs said as he went over to his desk and opened the drawer containing his gun. He took it out, loaded it, and handed it to Alex, " You know how to shoot this?"

"Uhh, yeah," Alex said taking it, and the shoulder holster Gibbs had just given him.

"Good. Now I'll trust that you have good enough judgment to know when and if to use it, since you've worked with a gun before. This is just as a precaution," Gibbs explained, "And once you get back I'll take you to see Jack."

"Thanks, Gibbs," Alex said gratefully.

Tony and Alex went to leave but Gibbs caught Tony on the shoulder, "Be careful, DiNozzo."

"Don't worry Boss, I got Alex's six," Tony replied and went to catch the elevator with Alex.

Gibbs smirked as the last thing he heard before the elevator doors closed was Tony ask, "So how big of a movie fan are you, Alex?"

NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS

"No way! James Bond is way better than Jason Bourne," Tony said as he drove to the Thai restaurant, with Alex riding shotgun.(1)

"Jason Bourne is a more believable character than, Bond," Alex argued.

"Yeah, but Bond gets all the girls," Tony said with a smile, while looking for a safe place to park as they reached the restaurant, "Why is there never any place to park around here?" Tony asked incredulously.

They ended up having to park half a block away from the Thai restaurant.

"Unbelievable,"Tony muttered as they got out and walked.

There was a pause as they made their way down the street. It was not very crowded.

"So what's Jack like?" Tony asked, suddenly.

"Jack's great. She's always happy. There has to be something seriously wrong if she gets mad. Her rarely leaves her face. You know now that I think about it I bet her and Abby would get along good," Alex said thoughtfully.

Tony seemed to absorb what Alex had said then asked, " So is she single? I mean no boyfriend back in England?"

Alex looked at Tony and laughed, "Are you seriously gonna hit on Jack while she's in a coma?"

"What? No! I was just, uh, curious," Tony replied backtracking.

"Hey, like I said Jack's great. And if she gets out of this, and you think you have a chance with her, go for it," Alex replied still smirking.

Tony noticed Alex say if instead of when, " Well when Jack gets out of this do you think you could put in a good word for me?"

"Sorry Tony, I'm not allowed to help Jack get or lose dates. The last time I tried to help Jack with a date, the man ended up with a worm in his spaghetti and and four frogs were let loose in his car," Alex said still smirking.

"You did that? Why?" Tony asked.

"Well first of all it was my friend Toms' idea. Secondly, we were both eleven. And thirdly, he was a cheating on her, he always had a cell and got phone calls from a girl named Victoria...Or something like that. And besides that he made it a habit of calling me and Tom brat behind Jack and my uncle's back," Alex replied.

"Whoa. And just how mad was Jack when she found out," Tony asked as they approached the restaurant, then entered and got in line.

"Well she was furious with Tom and me. I remember sitting on our couch watching her pace in front of us, ranting, until she finally stopped so we could explained why we did it. Then she apologized, hugged us, and called the man up and let him have it. Then when he quit answering her phone calls she started leaving nasty voice mails. Then Ian stepped in and said the man had suffered enough. I mean the man did bite a worm in half. Ian kept laughing the whole time, I think he got a kick out of it," Alex said.

Tony laughed and said, "I'm sure."

The line was pretty short, so they got their food pretty quickly, and headed back to the car.

They were halfway to the car when Tony felt Alex stiffen beside him, "We're being followed," Alex said not quickening or slowing his pace, noticing that this was the third time he had saw a man in a black leather jacket, holding a phone to his ear, casting short glances at Alex and Tony.

"We can't chance making it to the car. There's an alley coming up on your right when I say now, you take it and run like hell. I'm right behind you," Tony ordered, his voice becoming totally serious now.

As soon as they approached the big alley way Tony yelled, "Now!," And in one swift movement he dropped the bag of food, had his gun drawn, and was running right behind Alex.

Alex, also had his gun drawn, dropping his bag of food.

As he was running he heard shouting coming from behind him. He chanced a glance behind him and immediately regretted it, he saw three men running toward them with their own guns drawn, taking aim.

The end of the alley way was blocked by a high chain-linked fence. They were having to avoid all sorts of huge debris that in the alley.

As they approached a dumpster on the right, shots started to ring out, and Tony pulled Alex behind it, crouching, behind the over filled dumpster for cover.

Tony went to the edge of the dumpster and started shooting back.

Unfortunately there was a lot of good cover, not only for Alex and Tony but for the gunmen. One was behind a thick wooden box and the other two were also behind a dumpster.

Tony let off more shots before he came back around to reload, then he tossed Alex his cell phone, "Well as much fun as this is, I'm gonna have to ask you to call Gibbs. I only have four rounds . You still got Gibbs' gun?" Tony asked over the spray of bullets that pelted the dumpster.

Alex nodded taking the phone, and holding up the gun.

"Okay, you keep that and the round that's in it, in case you need it. You just worry about calling Gibbs I don't want you shooting that gun at someone unless you need to," Tony said turning back to the side of the dumpster and started shooting back at the gunmen.

Alex mentally cursed himself for not bringing his own mobile, which was conveniently left sitting on Gibbs desk.

Alex opened Tony's phone and dialed Gibbs' number. It rang twice then, "Gibbs."

"Gibbs, it's Alex, me and Tony are in an alleyway being shot at," Alex said giving what information he could. Which wasn't much since he didn't know Washington, or any of its street names.

"Alex do not hang up. Mcgee is tracing the call," Then he heard Mcgee's muffled voice, " scratch that we're on our way."

Then the line went dead, and Alex noticed something else. Silence. No one was shooting.

"What's going on?" Alex whispered as he moved closer to Tony.

Tony was about to reply , but he got cut off, "Alex Rider! Come out now! And we might let your little NCIS agent walk out of here alive. Our problem is with you not with a measly little Navy cop," said one of the gunmen, with a Russian accent, presumably Eric Yokov.

"Uhh, sorry, NCIS doesn't negotiate with criminals, terrorists, or creepy weird dudes that shoot at us in alleys," Tony called back.

"This isn't a negotiation, it's a demand. A demand we will get by force if we have to." He said, and as if to make a point he shot off another shot at Tony, who had his shoulder sticking out a bit too far , trying to get a better angle to shoot.

Unfortunately, Tony couldn't move fast enough and the bullet embedded itself into Tony's shoulder.

Tony dropped his gun, mumbling curses, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

Alex quickly pulled Tony farther behind the dumpster, shrugged off his jacket, balled it up, and put it to Tony's shoulder, applying pressure on the wound.

Tony groaned, but didn't say anything, knowing that the pressure was helping him.

"Man this suit costs' a fortune," Tony said through gritted teeth.

"Hang on, Tony. Gibbs is on his way," Alex said peeking out from behind the dumpster. There was no movement or sounds on the other side of the alley, which made Alex uneasy.

Alex gripped the gun harder and went back to Tony who was slumped against the dumpster, putting pressure on his shoulder. Alex grabbed the bloody jacket and took back over with applying pressure.

"Don't worry, Alex. I'm like the Terminator, I keep coming back.," Tony said as he noticed Alex's worried glance, " Get back over there and don't let those pansies get any closer until Gibbs gets here."

Tony brought his hand back up to his shoulder and took back over.

Alex reluctantly let go, listened to Tony, and moved back to the edge of the dumpster, gripping Gibbs' gun harder with his now blood-soaked hands.

Alex barely peeked around the corner of the dumpster, when a boot collided with the side of his head.

Alex fell back, onto the ground, sending the gun flying, landing near Tony.

Eric grabbed Alex by the front of the shirt, and hauled him to his feet. Alex, even though he was still seeing spots, started struggling.

Eric, still holding Alex shirt punched him hard in the stomach. Alex groaned painfully, and slowing lifted his head, glaring daggers into Eric's eyes.

"It's time for you to pay for what you did to SCORPIA, Alex Rider," He said as he brought out a syringe, full of clear liquid, presumably drugs so he could get away with Alex easier.

Tony was already shakily on his feet, swaying slightly from the blood loss but what gave Alex some hope was that he was holding the gun he dropped, pointing it at Eric, though his aim was kinda off.

"Let him go, Yokov. He's just a kid," Tony said panting, but his voice was firm.

Alex took advantage of the fact that Eric's attention was somewhat on Tony now, and brought his knee expertly into Eric's groin. Eric let go of both the syringe and Alex's shirt. Alex backed up to the chain-linked fence and took a fighting stance, ready for anything.

Suddenly he heard tires screeching to a halt, more gunshots, and then running foot steps coming down the alley. One of the SCORPIA agents came up and scaled the fence, "They called backup," He called out to Eric.

Eric swore in Russian, " This isn't over, Rider. These Navy cops can't keep you safe forever," he sneered.

Then he shoved Alex out of the way, and scaled the fence himself, disappearing.

Unfortunately, Alex didn't see this, when he was shoved he lost his balance, and his head collided with the side of the dumpster. Knocking him unconscious.

ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS

Alex heard muffled talking. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but one voice he thought he recognized as Gibbs.

His head hurt a lot, but after a few moments, his hearing cleared.

"Their both very lucky we got there when we did." He heard Ducky say.

"Too bad we let two of them escape," Gibbs replied.

"Yes, but Ziva did manage to shoot one of them. That's one less for everyone to worry about," Ducky reasoned.

Alex opened his eyes and looked around, "Great," he thought, " I'm in a hospital."

Ducky noticed that he was awake, "Ah, it's about time you woke up, dear boy. That was quite a knock to the cranium you had. Now tell me, do you feel nauseous?" Ducky asked.

Alex didn't feel up to talking just yet so he shook his head no.

Ducky grabbed a penlight from his pocket and shined it into Alex's eyes, watching his pupils contract.

Alex suddenly remembered Tony and his bloody shoulder, "Wait, how's Tony?"

"Anthony will be fine. Luckily the bullet didn't his anything vital. They got the bullet, and now they're bandaging him up. He's not even being detained for a night," Ducky explained.
"What, exactly happened?" Alex asked, his memory was still fuzzy.

"There was a gun fight, you and Tony were pinned down until we got there. We managed to take one of them down, but Eric and the other SCORPIA agent got away. When we got there we found a syringe full of drugs, laying on the ground," Gibbs explained.

"With enough drugs in it to knock you out for quite some time, I might add," Ducky chimed in.

Alex thought for awhile then said, " Tony had a gun on Eric when he was about to give me the drugs. I guess that's what stopped him. Or what made him falter. And then you guys showed up," Alex said remembering that part.

"Yeah, underneath all the jokes and movies DiNozzo's a fine agent," Gibbs praised proudly of his agent, " But I should've known better than too send you out with Tony by yourself, even with a gun. Tony draws trouble like a magnet and it seems that you do too."

" So do I have to stay here overnight?" Alex asked, looking at the clock hanging on the wall, it read 4:30 PM.

"No, you're free to go. They're prescribing you some painkillers to take if needed, but if you start feel nauseous, or dizzy you alert Gibbs. Other than that you should be fine, dear boy," Ducky answered.

"Thanks Ducky," Alex replied, getting up so he could retrieve his shoes.

"You're most welcome," Ducky said and went to go get the doctor so Alex and Gibbs' could leave.

When Ducky left, Gibbs' phone went off, "Gibbs," he answered.

Gibbs listened for awhile then, " Leon, do you really expect my team to juggle two assignments right now? DiNozzo's Already hurt, And we're supposed to be on protection detail for Alex."

"I understand that Gibbs but all you're really doing is babysitting a spy. And that's only second on your to-do list. Now this case has come up and it requires a special team. You're that team. And who knows Alex might like to see what you guys do at work all day," Vance was saying, then the line went dead.

Gibbs was steaming, but he looked at Alex and asked, " So, Alex have you ever been to a crime scene before?"