Alex's voice trailed off halfway through the reply. This was a lot to take in. He knew he would be giving up a lot. He would lose his home, his school, and especially his best friend. But then again Gibbs was offering him a second chance to start over. To leave the whole spying ordeal behind. The kids in his school thought he was a bad kid, the only thing he would regret was leaving the home he had lived in his whole life and, of course, leaving Tom.

Gibbs noticed the boy's internal battle and shrugged, "why don't you give it some thought for the rest of the day? We'll talk later."

"Thanks," Alex replied gratefully.

Gibbs patted the boy's leg and stood up, "you hungry? Tony ordered pizza, though you really should get some sleep."

"I've been sleeping since I woke up in the hospital," Alex argued as he threw back the bed covers and swung his legs slowly over the side of the bed.

Gibbs smirked slightly at the boy's stubbornness as he helped him up.

"Well when Ducky sees your up he's gonna have my head."

"I thought you were a Marine?" Alex teased.

"Not even I would go against Ducky's bedside manner," the older man replied as he watched Alex carefully as the boy started to descend the stairs, wanting to make sure the boy didn't falter and fall down them.

The doorbell rang just as they reached the last few steps and Tony's voice echoed from the kitchen, "Food's here! Probie, go get it!"

"You want it, you go get it!"Came Mcgee's quick reply.

"The both of you quit yelling! Jack and Alex are trying to rest!" Ziva ordered.

Alex smiled as he saw Gibbs roll his eyes.

They walked into the kitchen and Gibbs barked, "DiNozzo, get the food."

"On it, Boss," was Tony's immediate reply as he stood up and left.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Ziva asked, looking at the boy.

Alex hid a wince as he sat down at the table with her, "I couldn't sleep. And I'm hungry." He answered.

"Well then you're in luck. You're about to enjoy the best pizza on the planet," Tony said as he entered the room carrying three pizza boxes.

Gibbs got the plates and everyone fixed their plates and sat down at the table.

"Well, isn't this nice? We're all sitting at the table for lunch," Tony gushed.

"Tony, eat. What happened to Ducky and Abby?" Gibbs asked, finally making their absence known.

"Ducky was called back to NCIS and Abby had a bowling match," Mcgee explained.

"Abby bowls?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, in a nun league," Tony said through a mouthful of food.

"Well Abby is just full of surprises, isn't she?" Alex observed.

"You don't know the half of it. Did she tell you she sleeps in a coffin?" Tony asked with a smile.

"No," Alex said in confusion, "a real one?"

"Yep, all the way down to the handles for the pall bearers. Of course, Mcgee would know more about it since he's apparently done more than sleep in the-"

Tony got cut off by a sharp jab in the stomach by Mcgee and a headslap from Gibbs.

"OW!" He cried.

"Tony!" Mcgee growled.

"DiNozzo, what have I told you about spreading rumors? Mcgee, rule twelve," Gibbs reprimanded the both of them firmly.

"What's rule twelve?" Alex asked, remembering the rules Gibbs had talked about earlier.

"Rule twelve; Never date a co-worker," Tony recited automatically.

"Ah, I see. I can also see how that could be a good rule," Alex said, smirking slightly at Tony who gave him a cocky smile.

"Alex, please don't yolk him on," Ziva pleaded.

"Egg him on, Zee-vah," Tony corrected, playing with her name.

"Alex, why don't you take this time to tell us a little bit more about yourself?" Gibbs asked. He knew the boy was going to feel uncomfortable talking about it, but the curiosity was really starting to overwhelming him. The teens past was just too much of a question. Jack had let it slip that Alex's father also had something to do with this and ever since then it was nagging him. He had to know.

Alex shifted as he felt everyone's eyes on him, "I don't know where to start."

Gibbs grabbed another piece of pizza and suggested, "Well, why don't you try talking about your uncle? Or your Godfather? Or your dad?"

Alex's eyes snapped up to Gibbs, "you know about my dad?"

"Jack accidentally let it slip that your father was somehow involved in this. She didn't explain why or how," Gibbs answered.

"Oh. Well I suppose Ian is a more appropriate place to start and I'll work my way up to the rest," Alex said wearily.

The team felt vaguely bad about making the boy bring up his past, knowing how much they hated bringing up their own past.

"He needs to vent a bit about his family," Gibbs justified.

"Ian didn't tell me anything about his real job. He told me he was an overseas banker. And I also didn't realize that he was secretly training me to be a spy ever since I could talk. He was killed by an assassin on a mission. Then, Blunt realized my 'training' and forced me into completing Ian's mission. I've done seven missions after that," Alex summarized.

"You've done eight missions just this year?" Ziva asked.

Alex nodded.

"That's...a lot in just a years span of time, even for a top rate spy," Ziva informed.

"Yeah, on my first mission I came across my uncles killer...then again-" Alex started only to be interrupted once more.

"Again?" Mcgee interrupted.

"Yeah, the on my first mission he saved me from getting killed. Then I saw him again while I was on a vacation with a friend of mine. Her dad nearly died when the assassin blew up the house we were staying in."

"Her?" Tony questioned, eyebrows raised.

"Assassin?" Gibbs asked.

"Huh?" Alex asked Gibbs, carefully avoiding Tony's question.

"You keep saying assassin. You don't know the man's name?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh, sorry I didn't realize I was doing it," Alex replied. When he talked to Jack or Tom about these sorts of things he tried to leave out as many names as possible. He didn't feel safe using names.

"The assassin's name was Yassen Gregorovich," Alex replied.

Ziva's head popped up sharply at the name, "Gregorovich? Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah," Alex replied confidently.

"Ex- boyfriend?" Tony questioned with a smirk.

Alex winced at the thought.

"No! I don't know him...personally. He's just a well known name in Mossad. He's very...good at his job. I remember a few years ago I was working a OP in Russia and he was there. He's a very ruthless man. I'm surprised you managed to escape him, Alex. You must be better at your job than I expected," Ziva commented, her gaze far away.

"Not exactly. Every time I had a run in with him he had every opportunity to kill me, but he refused each time," Alex said.

"And why is that?" Tony asked.

"He said he didn't kill children, but apparently it was deeper than that," Alex replied setting his pizza aside, "He knew my father. My father made Yassen Gregorovich that man he was. With help from SCORPIA that is."

"What? You're saying your father was a assassin?" Gibbs asked. This was not what he was expecting at all.

But Alex shook his head, "No, my father was a double agent for MI6. He trained Yassen while he was there. Yassen thought that my dad was really an assassin and he told me that my dad worked for SCORPIA right before he died, and I believed him. I went and found SCORPIA and I joined them."

The whole team looked at Alex with wide eyes.

"You're telling us that you found a Criminal Organization that could've killed you because an assassin, that killed you uncle, said he knew your father and that he was a killer?" Gibbs asked loudly. He couldn't help it, this kid was just too harebrained. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, Alex reminded him a lot of himself when he got caught up in some revenge scheme. And that was more than a little bad.

Alex's defenses immediately went up, "Hey, I know I didn't know the man but I needed answers. And MI6 didn't seem to reliable at the time. An assassin spent his last breaths to tell me that my father was a killer and for me to 'Find SCORPIA and I would find my destiny'. I'm sorry if I took that to heart."
"Yassen's dead?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah, the man he was working for at the time shot him after he refused to kill me and Sabina," Alex said offhandedly.

"Sabina?" Tony asked immediately.

"The girl I was talking about earlier," Alex replied, rolling his eyes. "Mention a girl and Tony goes nuts," he thought as saw that Tony looked more than a little upset that this girl was not his age.

"Keep going Alex, what happened next?" Gibbs urged, effectively shutting Tony up.

"Julia Rothman was the head of SCORPIA and she showed me a video of my dad getting shot by MI6, but it was a hoax, not that I knew it at the time. And then she asked me to join SCORPIA. I was trained by SCORPIA for about two weeks. Long story short they told me their plans to kill millions of people I stopped it, and Blunt told me the truth about my father. Then I went to leave MI6 headquarters and there was a SCORPIA sniper outside and they shot me," Alex finished.

"You were sniped?" Gibbs asked, hiding a wince.

"Yeah, I was stepping off the curb at the moment I was shot so the aiming was off. I got lucky," Alex answered, feeling the slight twinge in his chest.

"Yes, you are," Ziva replied softly.

"What about you godfather?" Tony asked.

Alex sighed, he was really hoping they were going to forget about that little part.

"Apparently being a double agent was popular back in the day. Because my godfather was one too. He was my dad's best friend. He was even the best man at their wedding. But he was a double agent for SCORPIA. And when my mum(1) got pregnant with me, my dad said he wanted to retire. And when my dad got out of the double agent business, SCORPIA found out about it that he was a spy. They ordered Ash to kill my parents. So, when they were on a plane, heading to our new cozy life, Ash planted a bomb on the plane," Alex said, his face becoming more readable with each sentence.

"Why weren't you on the plane with them?" Ziva asked.

"I apparently had a ear infection and had to stay behind with a nanny until I was fit for travel," the boy replied.

Everyone at the table could sense that Alex was still highly pissed about the whole ordeal.

"Alex, that's...horrible," Mcgee finally voiced for the team.

"Yeah. Look, I'm more tired than I thought, can we continue this later?" Alex asked quietly. Right now all he could think about was getting out of that room with all of those pitying eyes.

As he stood up he noticed Gibbs doing the same, "Gibbs, I can handle it."

"I'm just making sure you make up to the bed okay. If you fall, Ducky will give us both a tongue lashing," Gibbs reasoned.

As they made their way to Alex's room the boy looked sideways at Gibbs.

"Having second thoughts?" He asked.

Gibbs looked over at him with raised eyebrows, "about what?"

"Helping me," The teen answered as he eased himself back down into the soft bed.

"Why would I have second thoughts?" The former marine asked.

"You seemed pretty upset at how...reckless I was about finding the truth about my dad," Alex asked, resting his tired eyes as Gibbs eased himself down into the chair beside the boys bed.

"I don't like it when my team takes unnecessary chances that could hurt themselves."

"But I'm not on your team, and I didn't even know you when I went to find out about my dad," Alex defended himself.

"No, but you did when you went off and left when Yokov gave you that letter," Gibbs said. He was planning tearing Alex a new one for that stunt. Gibbs was meant to be protecting Alex, something that he couldn't do if Alex was going to run off and hand himself over.

"I didn't have a choice-"

"No, you had a choice. You always have a choice here. And if you ever pull a something like that again, that headslap you got in the hospital is going to be nothing compared to what it can be. Ask DiNozzo."

"I couldn't just stand by and watch as you got hurt for something that's obviously my fault! Jack already got hurt because of me, I couldn't handle ruining yours and the teams life also. I did what I had to do," Alex said stubbornly.

"Alex, if you think that this is the first time I've been threatened by someone, then you are sadly mistaken. You're not the only one that's pissed off people. I can handle myself just fine, and on top of that, I have my team watching my six. I don't need you to protect me. You're a kid, it's time for someone to protect you. The team and I have your six now. If something like this happens again I want you to tell us. No matter how how much you think you shouldn't." Gibbs replied calmly. Which was a mask, inside himself Gibbs was boiling with rage.

"This kid thinks that he has to protect me." He thought. This was not how things were supposed to be. Kids are meant to be kids, not trained spy's. If someone had even thought about putting Kelly Gibbs through this he would be shooting first and asking questions never.

Alex could sense the sincerity of Gibbs' tone. He wanted to be of help to Alex, no matter what.

"You're right. I know I should have told you, but I still wasn't all that sure about you and the team. But when I woke up in that hospital and you all were there...just waiting for me to wake up, I realized that you really did care. And now, that you're actually willing to take me in to keep me safe...I...I trust you, Gibbs. The team too. It just took me awhile to really get that, I guess," Alex said, turning his head away in embarrassment.

He sounded cheesy and he knew it, but that was really the only way he could think of the explain it. When he woke up in the hospital and every single one of the team was standing in his room, he felt like he was really being worried about. Sure, Jack worried enough about him but with Gibbs and the team he felt he could tell them things and they would be able to handle it. With Jack he was always afraid of scaring her.

"That's good to hear, Alex. I have a feeling that what you told us today is only half of what you've been through. We'll talk more later though, you need sleep," Gibbs said standing up to leave. He had noticed the boy's tired expression at the table.

Alex could only manage a exhausted nod as he sunk down lower into the covers.

"Let me know if you start hurting too bad," Gibbs said as he went out the door.

He was only met with Alex's slow even breathing as the boy drifted off into a comfortable sleep.

(2)*****************************************************************************

"When are we going to grab the boy, sir?"

"Not for awhile. I want Alex and agent Gibbs to let their guard down. Then we'll grab them both," Eric Yokov informed his agents.

"Both? We're taking the Navy cop too?" One of them asked.

Yokov nodded, "If Gibbs is so adamant about helping Rider, we'll show him and his team just what they got themselves into."

A/N- Well Gibbs and Alex had their first little dispute and Yokov's lurking in the shadow for awhile. Not too good.

(1)-Yeah, I know I'm not British...But Alex is and I felt weird writing 'mom' when he would say it 'mum'.

(2)- Sorry, I had to re-update this because the page break thing didn't work AGAIN and it looked reallly confusing!

Let me know what you think! And if there's anything you really want to see Alex tell Gibbs or the team about let me know. Like a particular part from a mission or something. I'm only asking because I don't want to miss anything good.

Annnnd as always thanks to my awesome Beta ChakramVampire for once again helping me keep my information straight!