First off, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed because I can't believe I got so many reviews for the last chapter. Oh sure, I was hoping. But I didn't think it would happen. Thanks to everyone who story alerted or fav.'ed also.

Virtual cookies to everyone who guessed what happened to Alex correctly :)

The first part of this chapter should be in italics, but personally, I get irritated when I have to read huges sections in bold or italics (don't know about you). It hurts my head. So instead, I've indicated that it's a dream sequence in case anybody gets confused.

Disclaimer - AH owns the Alex Rider series; I do not.

:Dream sequence begins:

Looking around, Alex could tell he was in some sort of leafy meadow, the kind someone might find accidentally on a hiking trip.

The sky was calm and grey. It was breezy where he was standing, but not cold.

He saw a woman not too far from him sitting next to a violet-blue flower he couldn't identify. He walked over to the woman and sat down next to her, unsure of what to say. She turned to him. Soft brown eyes on a gentle-looking face gave him a knowing look. Eyes widening, Alex realized who she was –

"Mum?"

"Yes, Alex." She too glanced around at their surroundings. "It's quite lovely here, isn't it? Peaceful and relaxing to the mind."

Alex nodded.

After thinking for a bit, Alex said, "I'm not really here with you, am I?"

Helen shook her head a little sadly. "No, Alex."

"Then... where am I?" Alex didn't mean the location of the meadow, and hoped he wouldn't need to clarify.

Helen pursed her lips, contemplating. "There's a tricky question with many answers."

Alex waited for her to elaborate.

"On Earth, I suppose," she mused, "More specifically, in a small hospital at Ardabil, but that isn't what you are looking for." She gazed at him. "Mentally, you've retreated to the back of your mind, to heal."

"To heal?" Alex asked, somewhat surprised. And did she say a small hospital? Why was he in a hospital? He felt fine right now...

His mum picked the violet-blue flower from the ground. It was pretty, the petals growing delicately in a lobe-like shape, some resembling petite hats. It was stalk-like, with buds branching off.

"Aconitum napellus," she said, twirling the stem in her fingers, observing it. "It's a species of Aconitum, sometimes known as aconite or Devil's helmet, probably because of the shape the flower often comes in." She traced one of the petite hats.

Alex stared at the flower.

"Alex." His eyes flickered from the flower to his mother's sad face. "You were poisoned. That shuriken that hit your arm was laced with a liquid containing some of this flower."

Alex touched his arm. It felt oddly numb.

"Know that this was never meant to happen." Somehow, Alex knew she wasn't referring to the poisoning.

She continued. "Both your father and I are very proud of everything you've done so far, but ... we would've been so happy in France." She had tears welling up in her eyes, and he could see that she was taking all the blame for his current situation.

"It's okay, mum. I know it's not your fault."

She nodded wordlessly, her eyes still distant and sad.

"I'm fine, mum, really. Just seeing you now makes everything alright." He placed a hand on her shoulder.

She smiled, blinking away tears. "I'm too emotional."

He smiled back, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

It felt strange talking to his mum, comforting her, like an ordinary boy would, even though it was just a dream. He liked the way his insides felt warmer and perhaps brighter, too, when he managed to get his mother smiling again. Was this the kind of things he was missing all along because his parents died when he was so young? How he wished he had more time with his parents. He loved Ian and all, but it just wasn't the same.

"Now you look like the one who's down," Helen commented, looking at him questioningly.

"It's nothing." Alex tried to brush it off.

"Come here," Helen said, gesturing with her hands. She had put the aconitum napellus down.

Alex came closer.

Helen reached out and embraced Alex with her arms like he was a young child. His head rested gently against her as she fingered through his blond hair. Alex was surprised at the contact, but instantly relaxed.

"Happiness is where the heart is," she said.

"Isn't it supposed to be 'Home is where the heart is'?" He shifted his head and glanced up at her.

She laughed a tinkling laughter. "Well, yes," she admitted, "but both seem to work, no? Listen to your heart and you'll find what you're looking for."

"What I'm looking for?" Alex frowned. "I'm not looking for anything."

She shifted Alex so he was no longer in her embrace. Her hands held onto either side of his arms and she gave him a stern look. "Tell me, Alex. What do you really want?"

"Normalcy, I guess. But that's gone down the drain." He shrugged the best he could with her hands on his arms.

"No. That's not what you're looking for. Try again."

Alex thought hard. "Love?" Alex was pretty sure that wasn't the case, but he figured it was a reasonable response.

"Nope. As much as I think you may be lacking that, I know you realize the few important people in your life do care for you."

"Then what am I looking for?"

"Think Alex, think. You know." She said it faintly, and as Alex looked around, it seemed everything was fading away, including his mother. Everything was being swallowed up by a bright shining light that came from nowhere.

Wait, Alex thought desperately. He wasn't finished talking with his mum. He hadn't figured out what he was looking for.

:Dream sequence ends:

Slowly, Alex opened his eyes to more blinding light. It took some time for his eyes to adjust. Glancing around, he was indeed in a hospital. His arm was wrapped in a white bandage. Ben was sitting on a chair; his whole body was slouched forward, folding in half so that his face and arms could rest on the side of Alex's bed.

Shifting a bit in search for a pitcher of water or something, Alex tried to keep his movements minimal to not disturb Ben. Ben woke up anyways.

Ben's hair appeared dishevelled from sleep, but he made no attempt to fix it. Perhaps he liked it that way, Alex thought randomly, or, more likely, he didn't notice.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" Ben asked, stretching.

"Like a microwaved biscuit."

"Ah," Ben said, nodding understandingly. "It'll pass."

"You have no idea how that feels, do you?" Alex said, quirking an eyebrow up, skeptic.

Ben laughed. "Well, now we both know you're well enough to detect my lies."

"Could you get me some water?"

"Sure. I'll be right back."

Once Ben returned with a paper cup filled with water, Alex sipped some of it carefully, drenching his dry throat. He placed the paper cup, now half empty, onto the little table next to the bed. He sat there, not having much energy to do anything else.

"It's a good thing I got you here in time. Any longer and there might've been permanent after affects." Alex didn't need to ask what the permanent after affects were. It usually meant death, and if not so, then maybe a coma he'd never wake up from.

"You were poisoned with ac... aconiti... something."

"Aconitum napellus," Alex supplied.

"Yeah, that. How did you know?"

"Someone told me."

"The doctor saw you already?"

"No."

Ben stared at him, confused. "Then –"

He was interrupted by a dark-skinned male doctor entering the room. "I see you're up. How are you doing?" He spoke with a distinct accent.

"Fine," Alex replied, "I feel weak all over though."

"That's perfectly normal." He was intently looking at his clipboard, asking him various questions, and noting down the responses. Pleased with all of Alex's answers, he said, "It appears to be that you are healing accordingly. A little more rest, and you can leave the hospital tomorrow morning. Push the button if you need anything." He gestured to a red button built to the side of the bed.

After a few more comments about not straining himself until he was fully rested and well, the doctor left the room to visit other patients.

Alex shifted his pillow and scooted down from his sitting position to a laying position. He muscles were bone-tired in a way he wasn't use to. He felt quite helpless and vulnerable like this. He despised this.

"I sent the intel ahead," Ben said, referring to the USB.

Alex just nodded weakly.

"You look tired. Do you want me to leave so you can have some rest?"

"No, no, I'm not tired."

Ben's face took on a skeptic look. "Oh really?"

"Well, not in the sense you're talking about. I feel physically tired, but I'm not sleepy."

"Still, you should probably get some rest. I'm going to go get some lunch, alright?

"Okay."

"I'll save you some flat bread and rice if you want me to."

"Sure." Alex stifled a yawn. It turned out he was more tired than he was willing to admit.

"You are tired. I saw that yawn," Ben said.

"Am not. Now shoo. I need some peace."

"Going now. See you later." Ben waved and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Not too long after Ben left, Alex dozed off. He slept dreamlessly.

The next time he woke up, it was midnight, judging by how dark it was. Checking the watch that was always on his wrist, he found that he was correct. That meant he slept for the whole afternoon. He figured maybe he had too much sleep. His mind felt groggy, but he was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep again all the way to morning.

On the little table beside the bed sat a takeout box with fried rice. Stacked on top of the takeout box were some flat bread neatly wrapped in napkins. He felt touched Ben left food for him so if he were hungry when he woke up, he'd have something delicious to eat. He didn't feel hungry though.

He got up and walked over to the window. Opening the window was difficult. He was still weak and the window was probably not opened regularly. The stars and the moon were out and he tried to name the constellations he knew. He stood there for a while, just staring into the night sky.

He started getting cold so he closed the window (with some effort). He was walking back to his bed when he heard the doorknob turn slowly, as if not wanting to wake the person inside the room.

Alex froze.

It could've been a nurse, or a doctor checking on him. It could've been Ben. But something in the way the doorknob turned seemed sinister. And Alex trusted his instincts more than ever.

He quickly scanned around.

His mind went on overdrive, thinking through all his options in milliseconds.

The window? He doubted he could fit through it. Besides, even if he could, how could he even open it in his condition fast enough?

There were no weapons around, and no objects he could use, unless he wanted to chuck some flat beard at the guy.

Fighting was definitely out.

Hide under the bed? That was a fair idea, but suddenly he spotted the red button. If he could just hide under the bed and reach around to press the button, he could alert the doctors and nurses...

Right at this moment, the man entered. The man seemed to have realized Alex wasn't asleep and stopped in his advance, surprised.

The red button was unfortunately on the side of the bed closer to the door.

Alex leaped to the bed. The man snapped out of his reverie and came over, imposingly. Alex shot out his hand to press the button only to be stopped by a beefy arm with a strangling grip. Alex struggled, knocking over the fried rice and flat beard. He was about to shout when the man's other hand came over his mouth and nose with a thick cloth.

He held his breath and tried to punch the guy in the gut, but it came out weak and sloppy. If he were in his normal state, he was sure he could've winded the man at least.

Unable to hold his breath any longer, he breathed in the cloying, too-sweet perfume of the chloroform. It made his head spin and his eyes drift close, despite his strong will fighting it.

Information on the posionous flower was from Wikipedia.

More action next chapter if you felt this one was moving too slowly (but you already knew that, didn't you?) Please review. -s.j