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Chapter 21

It was comfortable.

Warm.

Desiree slowly opened her eyes to find herself face to face with the still sleeping Alex. A gentle smile graced her lips as she ran a hand through his hair. In sleep, he looked so soft. So...innocent.

Dessi had to suppress a snort as that last thought came into her head. Really, after what happened last night, the word innocent should no longer be used in conjunction with Alex Rider.

She lay there for a while longer, enjoying the feel of bare skin pressed against her own, supplying another source of heat, reminding her that she was no longer alone. Eventually though, she dragged herself out of bed, carefully tucking the blanket around Alex so that he could keep sleeping comfortably.

It took a while to locate her clothes, all of which had been tossed carelessly around the room. When she was finally decent, she unlocked the door and quietly slipped out, leaving Alex to some well-earned and much needed sleep.

There was only one person in the other room. Everyone else must still be at the hospital with Ziva. Dessi bit her lip, praying once more that the woman would be fine.

She approached 'Super' Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, who was currently on the phone to someone with a very excited voice.

"Hello," Dessi said, leaning over the couch.

"Holy sweet Jesus!" Tony exclaimed, startled. "Must you sneak up on me like that?"

Dessi blinked at him. "Sorry. I thought I was being rather loud."

Tony scowled at her, before putting his phone back to his ear, all the while muttering something about 'crazy ninja spies' under his breath. Dessi merely rolled her eyes.

"Who're you talking to?" She asked, bending over and trying to listen in on the conversation.

"Abby," Tony said, "And it's none of your concern."

"Tony, who's there?" Came Abby's voice.

"Eh, no-one," Tony shrugged, before catching sight of Dessi's raised eyebrow and hastily adding, "Desiree."

"Pleased to meet you," Dessi added, leaning in towards the mobile. Tony shook his head, and put the mobile on loudspeaker, getting a nod of thanks in return.

"You too," Abby replied, though there was a puzzled tone in her voice. "I don't know you, do I?"

"Probably not," Dessi said, "But I get the feeling that I know you. Miss Abigail Sciuto, NCIS forensic specialist, hopelessly addicted to Caf-Pow, and probably the happiest Goth in the world."

There was a pause on the line before Abby said in a weak voice, "I'm not addicted..."

"How did you know all that?" Tony asked, amazed.

"How d'you think?" Dessi smirked.

"Oh right, I forgot."

"I'm sorry, but I think I'm missing something here," Abby interrupted.

Dessi laughed. "Right, sorry about that. I'm Desiree Swan, nice to formally –"

"SHHHHH! Not so loud!" Abby suddenly shouted, causing both Dessi and Tony to jump in shock.

"Um...Abs, you okay?" Tony asked.

"The NCIS phone lines are bugged," Abby whispered, "They might hear her name."

Dessi and Tony exchanged amused glances. "Your director already knows I'm working with you guys," she said.

"Oh! Well, in that case," and her voice was back to a normal level.

"So, what were you two working on?" Dessi asked.

"The picture that was sent to...er...well, your mobile," Tony said, gesturing awkwardly to the offending item. "I asked Abby to see if she could trace the phone that took the photo."

"Normally this would be McGee's job," Abby carried on," But, you know, with the whole guarding thing..."

"Yeah," Dessi said quietly, "I know."

There was a slight pause before Abby said, "I hope you know that we don't blame you in the slightest."

Dessi blinked. "How..."

"Call it a woman's intuition." Even over the phone, you could hear the satisfied smirk in Abby's voice. "Anyway, back to the picture. So I managed to trace the signal, though in a rather roundabout manner. Oh my God, the line that was used is so amazing! It had the most advanced scrambler I've ever seen! Well, aside from that one that that guy had shown me a couple of days ago, but still! The signal is basically impossible to trace; I had to hack into three dozen different out-links to piece together the signal of the phone, and then from there –"

"Abby!" Tony interrupted loudly. "Can you get to the point? Please?"

"Right, right," Abby said hastily, "Well, the phone was moving around quite a bit, but for the last hour and three seconds, it's stayed in this one area. Four. Five."

"Okay, we get it," Tony laughed. "Send me the address?"

"Already doing it."

"Well Desiree, looks like it'll be you, me and the boys – Dessi?" Tony frowned, looking around. "Where did she go?"

For Desiree had turned tail the moment Abby had said she'd found a location. After all, she had a score to settle with Menten. First, she should really inform Matthew, and perhaps Alex too, if the boy was awake...

Dessi was interrupted from her train of thought when she pushed open the door to the adjourning bedroom in time to see Alex aim a hard punch at Matthew's nose with deadly precision.

.

It was bright.

Too bright.

Alex groaned, rolling onto his side and burying his head under his pillow in an attempt to block out the irritating sunlight that had decided to aim directly for his closed eyes. Though it had the desired effect, he was still up a second later.

Something was missing.

It took a while to realise it wasn't something, but someone. When that penetrated his sleep-clouded mind, Alex dropped back down with a groan. He'd never woken up alone after spending the night with someone else.

And though he knew that Dessi didn't exactly think things through with the same logic normal people used, it still made him feel slightly rejected.

Shaking off the feeling of self-pity, Alex started to get dressed. It was a rather difficult task, since most of his clothes were scattered around the entire room, but he got there eventually (after fishing out his pants from under the bed...how it got there, he had no clue).

Before he could leave the room though, the door opened of its own accord. Well maybe not, since Matthew Lake walked in before slamming the door shut. And boy, did he looked annoyed.

"Erm...what's up?" Alex said nervously. Matthew didn't answer.

In retrospect, Alex should've seen what was coming. But he didn't. And that's why, when Matthew's fist connected with his jaw a moment later, he staggered backwards and almost fell from his complete lack of preparation.

"What the hell, man?" Alex shouted.

"I know what you did," Matthew hissed, advancing once more.

"What on earth are you goin' on about?" Alex asked, bewildered, nursing his stinging jaw.

"Don't play stupid with me!" Matthew yelled. "She was upset! How dare you take advantage of her!"

This time, Alex was prepared for the punch that came his way. He pivoted to the side, before grabbing the offending arm and using Matthew's momentum to drag the two together.

"Listen closely, 'cause I'm only going to say this once," Alex snarled, "I would never do something as low as to take advantage of a woman. I don't know how you jumped to that conclusion, but don't let it happen again."

And before Matthew could respond, Alex swung his fist around. It connected with Matthew's nose, emitting a very pleasing cracking sound.

Matthew dropped to the ground, clutching his most-likely-broken nose. At the same moment, a voice interrupted them.

"What the hell, Matthew, what did you do?" Desiree was suddenly there, dropping down beside her field partner.

Both boys looked at her in surprise (well, surprise and pain in Matthew's case).

Dessi rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that look. I know perfectly well that Alex wouldn't have punched you unless you were a terrorist, or you started it. Since I personally ran you bloody background checks, I know it has to be the latter."

Alex tossed Matthew a smirk over the girl's shoulder, before asking Dessi, "So what did you come in for anyway?"

"We've got a fixed location for Menten's phone," Dessi said grimly, standing back up, "If you boys have finished, we're going to go check it out."

The location turned out to be right next to a small, trickling stream. Throughout the entire journey, Alex and Matthew ignored each other, Dessi ignored the both of them, and Tony sat in the rather uncomfortable silence, driving a little faster than he usually would.

For some reason, Dessi looked slightly bewildered at the location. Figuring it would be best to leave her be, Alex decided to take charge.

"Okay, this place is clearly deserted," he said, turning on the other two. "Which means that Menten left his phone around. Which means he wanted us to find it. Which probably means –"

"Another message," Tony muttered, glancing around.

"Yeah," Alex said grimly. "I'd say, split up and search for the phone, but make sure to stay within sight of the others."

"Agreed," Tony said. Matthew refused to comment, but nonetheless followed Alex's suggestion.

Alex padded silently along the bank of the stream, being careful not to actually fall in. His eyes scanned the ground, and the clear water, to try and locate the phone. A triumphant shout from Tony scratched that idea out.

It was as Alex turned to head back that he saw the note. Stuck in between the branches of the over-hanging tree, clearly an out-of-place object trying to blend in with its surroundings.

Frowning, Alex picked the note off the tree, before opening it. He froze, reread it, then crumpled it up and threw it into the trickling stream, while silently vowing not to let Dessi know of its contents, ever.

Nice try Swannie. Wood would've been proud...

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Okay, so that chapter may have been a little off. But this is because I'm really sick right now, and I really can't think straight.

Please review, and help me get better!

Love Chariots99