I don't own Alex Rider. My cat is irritated with me because I hugged him like a teddy bear and sobbed while writing this chapter.

Thanks to Athena1919.

Enough said.

TTFN,

~Ramona

Alex woke with his head and shoulders in Lexi's lap, his head pounding. "Hey," she said quietly, removing a hand from her temple to run it through his hair. "You okay?"

For the most part, Lexi appeared unharmed, save for a few small bruises and red rimmed-eyes.

Alex groaned and sat up, running his tongue over his slightly chapped lips before replying. "Yeah."

"Do you have any idea who these people are or what they want with you?" Lexi asked. "Or where we are?"

Alex sat up and leaned against the wall beside Lexi, surveying the room as he did so. It was about five meters by five meters of cool concrete walls, ceiling, and floors. Even the large metal door was gray, and the air vent was welded shut. There were no windows. They were alone. He began to speak.

~~~~~~~

"...and -then -he pressed the button, and it exploded. She-she was killed instantly, if she hadn't come to Egypt... If I had just said no... She'd still be alive; and now... I've dragged you into this too, and-" Josh-no, Alex said, seemingly barely able to get the words out, tears streaming down his face.

Lexi pulled him into a hug. She was crying too. "Why couldn't I have just died on my first mission?" Alex whispered.

"Alex, I want to tell you something... about what happened to my mother, and younger sister." Lexi started then, just as Alex had poured out his whole story.

"My mom had gone to pick up Sarah, my younger sister from soccer practice. Dad was doing laundry, and my older brother Luke was busy volunteering with a search team to find a lost hiker about an hour away. Sarah's soccer practice had run late, probably because of a scrimmage game. They were about fifteen minutes late, and I was getting antsy. So... I decided to call mom and see where she was. She never answered the phone." Lexi's voice was shaky, and kept breaking, but she continued.

"They had been in a crash. Mom and Sarah... were both killed. Their car had gone off the road, into a tree. In the investigation, they found that the car had swerved to avoid several workers in a construction zone, but mom should have seen them long before she had to swerve to avoid them. Something drew her gaze away from the road for a few critical seconds. A phone call... my phone call, had distracted her."

Lexi took a deep breath, and continued. "When Luke found out, he blamed me. Said that if I hadn't called her, she would still be alive right now. Luke's away at college now, but... Eventually I started to blame myself too. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with clinical depression, and anxiety. It got really bad. Sometimes I would have an anxiety attack every day for a week. About seven months ago, I decided that I would give myself six months to straighten everything out, then I would kill myself."

Lexi looked at Alex's hands trying to judge his reaction, but afraid to see his expression. "But something changed. I met you. And I started to think that I truly loved you. Being with you made me happy, and even more then that, without even knowing it, you convinced me that those things the therapists said were true. It wasn't my fault, it was an accident. My life did have meaning, and I deserved to be happy."

Now Lexi looked straight into Alex's eyes. "So don't feel guilty for something that isn't your fault, you didn't kill Jack, and you haven't condemned me. You've saved my life."

There was a moment of silence, then Alex said the only thing he could think of. "Thank you." He whispered.