There was a large crash as something pushed through the door into the bedroom. Deryn immediately was awoken and sat straight up in her bed. Someone had stumbled into her room and had fallen onto the floor beside her.

"WHa….GOD DAMMIT, WHO IS THAT?" She belted, pulling the covers up to her chin. The room was completely dark, so all she could see was a shadowy figure curled up on the ground.

"Entschuldigung…" Came a mumble from the ground followed by a large amount of giggling.

"Alek? Is that you? Blisters are you alright?" She hastily grabbed for the window blinds above the bed and pulled them open. To her surprise the sun was down and stars were already out. How long had she been asleep?

The mumbling continued. "Mein kopf schmerzt. Ich glaube, ich bin betrunken. Giggle giggle, snort." Deryn quickly lit the lamp beside the bed since the window was not helping light the room at all. Alek was lying on the floor, one hand over his forehead and the other holding a half empty bottle of champagne.

"Bloody Hell Alek, what did you do?" She began to get out of bed, but quickly realized the scant amount of clothing she had on and that her bag of clothes was back in the bathroom. Alek sat up and began fiddling with the buckles on his boots.

"Mir helfen… stiefel."

"Okay, you're gonna have to stop with the Clanker talk, cause I can't understand a word you just said."

"Hilfe!" He began to pull off his boots.

"Yeah Alek, but…."

"Ich bin betrunken! Mir helfen!" He raised his voice and glared at her.

"STOP SPEAKING IN BLOODY GERMAN!" She yelped. He stared at her for a moment, looking like he was trying to remember how to speak English. Then hit himself in the forehead with his free hand.

"I need help withen my bootsen." He finally sputtered. Deryn would normally have helped him, but being in the undressed state that she was, she couldn't.

"Why do you need to take off your boots?"

"Ummm… I don't actually, I just, I don't know…" He attempted to pull one off, got it about halfway, then tipped over while spilling the champagne and exploding into another fit of laughter. Blisters, he was pissed drunk. She was so shocked she almost laughed herself.

"You really are a ninny. A drunk ninny. What on earth made you drink so much?"

Another fit of giggles. "It'sth meine geburtsday."

"What? Seriously?"

"Ya." He looked a little sad now and took long pull from the bottle. "I turnen 16 today."

"Wow." She paused, "Alek, I didn't know. I wish you would have told me before." He sat back up and looked at his feet.

"I would halved, but… it justeth….I didn'ts swant to make a big deal." Deryn looked at him sadly. Of course he didn't want to celebrate his birthday, his parents had just died. "Usually I havet a partttty." Alek continued. "There's is music and danethicing. We even have a thfeater group come and durchführen manchmal. You would loooove it, Dylan, I bet you've never worden to ein ball." He looked up at her with a grin.

She snorted. "Sounds like a barking huge mess for just a birthday." But she couldn't help feeling touched that Alek would want to invite her.

"It is." He said, laughing a little. "I never likeden the fancyethen stuff all that much. My favorite part was when Muttether would make streuselkuchen in the morning. She wouldnotn't let the servants helpfe her and made it alle auf ihr own." He wiped his face with his sleeve then gazed into the distance for a moment. When he started to speak again it was strangely clear and unslurred for him being so drunk. "Father said he was going to get me a stormwalker of my own this year. I was so excited. I wanted him to give it to me earlier and didn't want to wait until my actual birthday. And to think I actually got that wish, little did I know the price I would pay for an early birthday present. It's actually kind of funny now that I mention it. " He started laughing again.

"Umm, I guess." Deryn answered. She could tell that the laughter would be turning into tears soon. Poor boy. He took another swig, but this time it didn't settle so well. The swallow turned into a gagging cough and with a nasty expression on his face, Alek turned and vomited all over the rug. He then crumpled into a ball and fell into the wall behind him.

"ALEK! You dummpkof!" Without another thought Deryn jumped out of bed and ran over to him. He was still laughing but there was a sobbing hic up sound as well. "Oh Alek. Come on, let's get you cleaned up." She gave his arm a tug, but he wouldn't budge. Instead he said something nasty in German and pulled away from her. "Well, fine then, lay in your own sick!" She said grumpily and then realized that she couldn't let him stay on the floor like that. Grudgingly, she pulled at him again, but when he refused to move she decided she could at least move the newly stained rug. With a few more tugs and some bizarre German curses, Deryn was able to get the soiled rug up from underneath him. It looked like an expensive antique carpet, so she thought it best that she should clean it. With a groan she dragged it the bathroom, refilled the tub and dumped it into the water to soak. She could make Alek scrub it in the morning. The daft prince could make himself useful again once his hangover wore off.

Looking at herself in the mirror to check for possible puke exposure, she realized yet again at the amount of skin she was showing. All she had on was her makeshift bra and some old boxers. Her legs, stomach and shoulders were all clearly exposed and way too revealing. She swore loudly then quickly grabbed some pants and threw her arms into the leather jacket she had been wearing earlier. Luckily both were on the bathroom floor and lucky again that Alek was so drunk that he probably hadn't even noticed that she was undressed. However her luck soon changed when she came back into the bedroom and realized that Alek had removed his boots, trousers and shirt and was now passed out on her bed!

"Alek! What are you doing?" There was no reply. He lay face down in her pillow, and had completely stretched out across the entire double bed. At least he is wearing his briefs. She thought. The sudden image of naked Alek in her bed made her flush and turn away for a minute.

"I'm sssssorrryy Dyllaned." He finally said, raising his head a bit to look at her. "I don'think I canth maked it tooth my owned rooooms."

"Well, where am I supposed to sleep, you ninny?" Alek crawled under the covers and rolled over to one side of the bed, then patted the spot next to him.

"Share?" He asked, looking at her with a similar expression that Bovril used when trying to look cute. She grumbled under her breath, but crawled in next to him anyways. Honestly, it wouldn't be too bad if she had to share a bed with Alek. Her heart did a skip. Godswounds she was a terrible solider.

"You smell gut." Alek suddenly uttered.

"WHAT?"

"I said you smell good. No that you smelled bad bevor, but you smell wie blumen…er …flowers."

"Umm…yes… I took a bath. You should go to sleep. You're very drunk."

"Dankeschön, thank sie Dyaln."

"Are you thanking me?"

"Yes." He suddenly leaned over and gave her a big sloppy kiss on the cheek. "Sie have been very kind." She didn't know what to say to that. Instead she sat there in silence, listening to her heart double in speed.

Alek turned back over and blew out the lamp. He then stretched out again with a sigh, pushing his feet up against her legs. Soon his legs were next to, if not, almost on top of her own. She would have pushed him away but she was too nervous. Plus, she kind of enjoyed the feeling of his warm skin through her thin cloth pants. It made her shiver, but Alek didn't seem to notice. He had fallen asleep almost instantly and was softly snoring from the pillow beside her. Somehow, Deryn was able to close her eyes and relax. The comfort of Alek's body beside hers and his breathing helped her drift into sleep.

question: Does anyone know what Volger's first name is?