Author's Note: You've probably forgotten all about this story and, I know, it really was horrible to leave you waiting this long and I'm really sorry. Honest. But I read Scorpia Rising the other day and...wow. So, yeah, I got inspired to write and I can only hope this was worth the wait. I love all reviews and any sort of feedback is also welcome. Thank you so much to all of you who have stayed with me. :)

I awoke with sunlight shining in my eyes and for a moment, I wondered where I was. I half expected myself to be back at home in my room but as I turned over and felt the sharp pain from my wound, I remembered. I remembered MI6 and their missions and me running away and the drunks and Robin...Robin. I groaned inwardly and shut my eyes for a minute, thinking. She was one of them, one of the Mafia and yet...I trusted her. After she'd gotten over the initial shock of who I was she'd been rather helpful and I didn't think she was going to turn me in. I hoped she wasn't. Slowly, very slowly, I sat up and quickly, very quickly lay flat on my back again as the burning pain shot through my body. I drew in a sharp involuntary breath and gritted my teeth. I'd been shot before, this should be nothing, a scratch, I could take this...right? There was a knock at the door but I couldn't answer as my head was still swimming. The door inched open anyway and Robin came in. "Are you alright?" She said.

"Fine." I just about managed.

"Do you...do you want to get up?" I hesitated, thinking about how much it would hurt. "Don't worry, you don't have to go anywhere." Robin came over to me "I just thought you might want to get up and eat something, have a shower, you know." I nodded. "Right, just roll onto your side and..." After a few minutes I was up and sat at the table in the kitchen, a little dizzy but other than that, in no pain. "So, what do you want? I can get pretty much anything." Said Robin peering into the fridge. "It's fine," I started "I don't-"

"You are going to eat, like it or not. Do you know how much blood you lost yesterday?" I grudgingly agreed to eat. Some cereal and a mug of tea that Robin insisted I have, some strange herbs that would supposedly make me feel better. "Can I make a phone call?" I said, thinking about Jack and how worried she'd be. I didn't want to be tracked, I didn't want to go back but...I didn't want Jack to feel as if I'd left her. I had to explain. "Yes, I suppose so." Robin grinned "untraceable phone?"

"If you have one." I guess that's one advantage of hanging around with the Mafia. Robin handed me a phone and I dialled my home number. I held my breath as the phone rang. And rang. And rang some more. I couldn't put it down. I wouldn't. She'd pick up, she had to. "Please leave a message-" I reluctantly put the phone down as the automated answer machine came on. Robin obviously saw the distress on my face and said "look, it's Jack you want to call right?" I nodded, clutching the phone tightly in my hand, feeling the plastic become warm and damp in my grip. What had they done...? "I'll do a bit of research for you." I frowned. Research? Seriously, did she think-? "I'll just look around in a few places I'm not meant to, find out where she is. Simple." My face must have still looked puzzled so she said "in plain terms Alex, I'm going to hack MI6's database."

I snorted "what? Super girl is a computer geek too?" It hadn't meant to come out quite as sneering as it did and I immediately regretted saying it. Robin was only trying to help. "I'm sorry, I-"

Robin brushed it off with a wave of her hand "I can't but a friend of mine gave me a programme that lets me." She said, pulling out her laptop. I sipped my tea as Robin tapped away at her laptop, I'd told her pretty much everything about my life. Not in great detail but the main things were there. What...why did I do it? How could I have been so careless? Well, I was in pretty deep now and there was no pulling out. I'd put everything on Robin. Everything I had. Her and the mafia. I shivered as a realisation hit me. She knew everything about me yet...what did I know about her? One thing was certain, I was going to find out as soon as possible. I found it hard to believe she was helping me because she felt sorry for me. In fact, I found it impossible to believe. Maybe it was something to do with the fact I owed her...I winced. I owed her something...but what? "Got something." Said Robin. My ears pricked up immediately. "A file here." She paused as her eyes scanned the screen "Jack's still here...she's still at your house but she's going to America soon." Another moment's pause "idiots. They changed the number of the phone. How do they expect to find you if you can't even call?" She plugged the phone in into the side of the laptop and handed it to me, the wire trailing over the table. "Ringing" she said.

I was nervous as I listened to the phone ring, worried what I would find at the other end. Instead of the automated message the phone was picked up and I held my breath for the second time that morning. "Hello?" Said Jack, she sounded tired but otherwise unharmed. I breathed a sigh of relief "hello? Is anyone there?" Said Jack again, I realised I hadn't yet said anything.

"Hi, Jack. It's...me." I said plainly.

"Wha...Alex?"

"Jack, is anybody else there with you? Anyone at all?" I said hurriedly, if MI6 realised she was talking to me...if they knew. "No, no. It's just me. Alex, are you alright? Where are you? What-?"

"Jack, I'm fine. I'm..." I paused "...with a friend. But listen, you can't tell MI6 anything. They tried to use me again, I'm sorry I left but I needed to get away from it all. Looks like I'm in a spot of bother again but what's happening to you? They haven't done anything to you because of me have they? Because if they have-"

"No, Alex. They're sending me back to America, though. Probably to get at you. Look, Alex, you've got to tell me what's going on. What trouble? Where-?"

"No, Jack. I can't. I've had enough of MI6 and I can't tell you or they'll use you because of it." My voice caught in my throat as I said this next bit, but I had to "Jack, you'll be alright in America. Away from them. Right now, I'm ok, don't worry about me and, when all this is cleared up, I'll come and see you. I swear. You'll see, it'll all be alright."

"No, Alex! I'm not leaving-"

"Jack, please. Listen to me." I wouldn't cry. I wouldn't. "I've got it all planned out, I..." Robin motioned to me to give her the phone, a sort of understanding on her face. "Jack, I'm just going to let you speak to my friend. Ok?"

I passed over the phone and Robin said "Miss Starbright? Hello...yes, I understand but...please...no, listen to me now. Alex is safe. I promise. I'm doing everything I can and will carry on doing it. I'm going to try and fix it...I don't break my promises...Who am I? Well, I can't tell you that. I'm not even too sure myself, but I'll tell you this. Alex will be ok with me. I can't promise he won't get bruised a little, a little scratched, damaged. But by the end of this, I promise, he'll be alive and well and you'll see him again...It is more than my life's worth to break my promise...Goodbye." Robin handed the phone back to me and I looked at her, a bemused expression on my face. "Hi, Jack." I said again.

"Alex, I'm not exactly happy about this. But you make sure you tell your friend that if anything happens to you, anything at all..."

"Jack, I'll be fine. I'll try to call you again...soon."

"Well, look after yourself. I know what you're like."

"You too. Bye Jack."

"Bye." I put the phone down and handed it back to Robin.

"Alright?" She said.

"Yes...why did you go and say that you can't promise that I won't get hurt? It would have made Jack rest easy."

Robin looked at me, her face an expressionless mask, her eyes gleaming. "Because, Rider, I'm not in the habit of breaking my promises and, you see, that's one thing I'm not prepared to guarantee. I can, on the other hand, guarantee your over all safety but that safety comes at a price."

Over the next few days I discovered that Robin wasn't really all that bad. In fact, she was quite normal. Nice. If I had met her under normal circumstances I think I could have called her a friend. I was still unable to actually go out and walk anywhere but I didn't really mind too much because Robin was good company. I almost forgot about MI6 and the Mafia. Almost.

I woke up on the fourth day of my arrival and Robin she said she was going out, which left me on my own for the first time. In any other instance I would have used this as an opportunity to look around but I somehow felt...guilty. Still, I found myself opening a drawer and then uncomfortably looking over my shoulder, half expecting Robin to be there even if I'd seen her walk out the door with my own eyes. I didn't really find anything of interest. There were some legal documents, forged or real I had no idea but I kept my mind open to the fact that they could be either. Then there were just the usual things you found in a house. Well, she did have some guns, knives and other strange looking weapons that I didn't fancy being on the receiving end of. But that was only to be expected and anyway, if she wanted to hurt me she could have slit my throat long ago or left me in the street to die...couldn't she?