A/N: The name Hera means "diamond".

A Pear Shaped Diamond

There was no place Alex liked more than being in Sabina's embrace. Locked in her arms he could've stayed there forever. They were stood on the steps that led up to the door of Alex's uncle's house. It was his, of course, now that his uncle had passed on but he could never quite get himself to admit it. It was the beginning of summer and sunshine shone through the leaves of the trees that surrounded Ian's house, a soft breeze played in the air teasingly as though trying not to alleviate the intense heat. Sabina drew away from Alex but still held tightly onto his right hand. She looked at him with those eyes that showed she cared so much for him, before she pulled her sunglasses over her eyes and walked away.

He watched her go through the gates and all the way down the street. He walked back into the house and shut the door. In the hallway he cursed himself for telling Sabina about Hera. He just couldn't hide it from her anymore because she was right; he carried the pain of abandoning Hera with him every day. She was in everything he did, everything he said; wherever he went he was looking over his shoulder it was to protect her from any unforeseen enemies. Whenever he poured himself a drink at the end of the day, he had to stop himself from automatically making two and he would have to smile at Sabina with false confirmation as she thanked him for making her one too.

He opened the door to the basement and began to take the stairs down to his study. He felt like he was on auto-pilot; it didn't feel like his body and mind were connected. He was simply putting one foot in front of the other, to go in search of something he knew he should have thrown away years ago.

The basement was an odd collection of items that he had collected over the years; souvenirs of his days with MI6, books of his unfinished schoolwork and objects from unwanted hobbies that he had tried to fill his time with when he retired from government work. Alex loved being down in the basement, it was a place that was truly his as he felt like the rest of the house, belong to his uncle still. This place was his sanctuary, cut off from the rest of the world, a place he could be himself.

He had a gaming system set up here, and a large, comfortable sofa, where he and his friend Tom had spent hours, relaxing and using up the hours in the evening as good friends do. Slumping into the cosy blue sofa, Alex stared at the square, oak coffee table in front of him before he took a deep breath, as though to reassure him self, and said: "Morning, Alpha."

The TV in front of Alex lit up, but more impressively, the top of the coffee table split down the middle, and both halves seamlessly slid away from each other to reveal a hidden compartment in the middle of the table. The compartment, equally seamlessly, raised itself to display its contents to Alex.

These items were hidden for a reason; sometimes Alex couldn't get himself to look at them, the ex-spy could not display them or throw them away. For some reason he needed them here, out of sight but within reach. Somewhere safe and secret. In other cabinets, in other hidden compartments, he had all manner of gadgets and weapons given to him by his previous employer. In fact, by comparison, the items in the coffee table, looked mundane, and even uninteresting. But to Alex, they were precious. There was his old key card to get into the building by the river, there was an old cigarette case, a plane ticket to Venice and, a small, navy blue jewellery box.

Picking up the box, Alex's finger traced the outline of the gold embossed writing that glittered in the summer sunlight. The box was empty, its contents no longer in his keeping. It used to house a necklace, with a pear-shaped diamond. Letting out a slow breath he smiled a little, remembering the moment he had bought the necklace. He was usually so confident and so careful, but when he put the box in his trouser pocket that evening, he had a strange feeling of trepidation, like he was about to embark on his most dangerous mission yet. He was a child back then. So why now, years later, did he still feel the same way, wondering where that diamond was now?

-Flashback

Two years ago-

You know how when it's a staggeringly hot day, perspiration builds up on your forehead and seeps from your body and you're wearing as little clothing as you can get away with but it's still too hot to even think? And then you are presented with a tropical drink with ice floating on the surface of the pink, cold liquid and when you bring the glass to your lips you sense how cold it is and then the satisfaction as the liquid pours into you, cooling every part of your body. That's what she was like. Hera.

Alex watched as she stood on the deck of the boat, waving to him and growing impatient as he pretended to ignore her. Eventually she gave up and slung her arms lazily over the railing of the boat and he stood at the pier, also leaning lazily against a wooden pillar there. She looked down at him and blushed; for the past two weeks she'd only ever seen him covered in dirt with torn clothes as they had run through the backstreets of Mumbai together. Now he stood in a black suit they had bought him and she laughed; she had forgotten in the space of three weeks how handsome he was. The annoying thing was that when he was with her, he knew it; he acted so arrogant just to get on her nerves. And she did the same in return.

Alex had wondered why she hadn't called out to him for at least a minute and decided to steal a look up at her. Even covered in dirt she was beautiful so seeing her against a backdrop of stars and the night sky, in her pretty black dress with her dark hair falling against the railing, took his breath away. Of course, he wasn't going to let her know that. There was an unspoken contract between the two that although it was obvious to everyone, even them, that they were infatuated with each other, they would never admit it. And to cover up the pain that came along with looking at someone every day and not telling them how you feel, they settled for teasing and annoying each other; the only thing that had stayed with them from their childhood. Alex lazily walked towards the stairs that led up to the deck of the magnificent ship and Hera turned to the stairs with equal indolence. She inspected her nails as he approached her, hands in his pockets, staring around them as though nothing interested him.

"Evening," he said and looked her up and down quickly. She smiled and looked round as though just noticing him.

"Evening," she replied, "what brings you here stranger?" She locked her eyes with his and everyone, even they, marvelled at the fact that there eyes were that same, intense blue that had the same hard and determined look. She looked him up and down slowly, "forget something?" She asked and pointed to his feet, he looked down and saw he had forgotten to put his other shoes on and so stood in his trainers. He smiled as he looked down and put on a straight face to look at her.

"That's the look I was going for." He said and she nodded even though she knew it was a lie. He pointed to her neck which was bare and walked to her side.

"Did you forget something?" He asked and out of his jacket pocket pulled out a small, navy blue box.

"Wha…" She stopped speaking and laughed, looking up at him with a big smile.

"Happy birthday," They looked at each other with sincere happiness, neither remembering the last time they felt this way. It felt so good to have a friend. Hera took the box from him and opened it, the blue delicate ribbon falling open in a slender fingers. Opening the box. He revealed the necklace with a single pear-shaped diamond hanging from it. As Alex took out of the box, he moved Hera's hair onto one shoulder, his fingertips brushing her shoulder gently. He leaned in to fasten it around her neck, and Hera found her eyes record on his lips, both trying desperately to ignore, as they usually did, the pain of unsatisfied desire that rose up in the heat between them.

"Ready to go kill some bad guys?" Hera whispered seductively as he finished rescuing her necklace. Of course she was joking but her excessive use of force has become a point of contention for them.

"No killing." He laughed in response . He ran a hand wearily through his blonde locks.

"Just heavily maiming," she corrected herself.

"No."

In less than a moment both teen spies were flung off the deck and into the water beneath as an explosion erupted in the cabins below.

-End flashback-

Alex shook his head as though that could rid him of thoughts of her. He didn't want to remember what had happened that night, he didn't want to remember why, just hours after that moment, she walked out of his life.

-Royal and Genera Bank, London-

A pear shaped diamond caught the light in Alan Blunt's office that morning as it hung from a gold chain around her neck. Blunt looked across to the girl in front of him. Sat in a pretty blue Summer dress; Hera looked entirely innocent until she made eye contact. When her caramel skin would glow gold and her light brown eyes narrowed on you, it was hard to see her as so angelic.

Twenty-one and deadly. That's what they called her and she lived up to that reputation as though trying to prove it. She liked to pretend that she never cared much about anything and she always liked Blunt to know that. For instance, this meeting was scheduled for 8 AM and she had turned up at 9.20 AM. He waited eighty minutes, reading through her latest mission reports, but more importantly, her psychiatric profile. It stated her attachment to the forgotten Alex Rider. It was clear she did not forget him, or else she wouldn't have come back so quickly.

"How are you?" Blunt asked sharply as he handed the file to Mrs Jones who sat next to him.

"You care?" Hera replied and Blunt nodded, that meant she was fine. Blunt finally looked to her with bored eyes, he had shouted at her enough before to get her attitude to stop but it was no use. She flashed him a small smile.

"Rider," she said quickly before he could ask her anything, "what do you want with him?" Blunt sighed.

"We have news that an organisation wants him," Hera gave nothing away; she simply stared at Blunt, waiting for him to carry on. "We can't have that; he knows too much about us." Mrs Jones, sucking on a sweet as she usually did, coughed as though about to make a point but said nothing when Hera glanced to her. "He needs protection." Blunt said plainly. Hera sat forwards, the diamond around her neck swaying in front of her for a moment. She caught it in a fist and held on to it tightly.

"Why me?"

"You know why."

"Because I'm the best?"

"Because you don't want him to get hurt." She rolled her eyes.

"I don't care for him." She said stubbornly.

"You do-"

"That organisation you're talking about," she interjected, "they approached me." Blunt and Jones looked to each other quickly and sat forwards, immediately Mrs Jones began writing.

"Well, girl," Blunt pressed her, "what did they say?" Hera took a deep breath and looked him in the eye and for a split second Blunt saw something sinister, something evil, pass over her face.

"They said I could kill him."

Reviews appreciated!