Chapter 6

One week later...

"You want me to drive you there?" Zach asked as Alex stuffed a piece of toast in his mouth.

"No. I got it."

Zach shrugged. "Your loss. Be careful. Call me!"

Alex chuckled as Zach realized just how wrong that sounded.

Alex hopped on his bike and cycled his way to the park his friend had picked out. He saw Tom dribbling a football on a large field.

"Hey, mate," his friend said as they shared a brief, one-armed hug. "I'm gonna kick your butt."

Alex smirked. "Hey! Go easy. Injured person here." He took advantage of Tom's distraction and stole the ball from under his foot.

Tom collapsed to the ground when his support was stolen.

"Oh! You're on," he spluttered and stole the ball back from his friend.

Soon, the innocent game of football was reduced to a wrestling match.

Alex grinned as he palmed a clump of grass and threw it at Tom. In return, the boy spluttered and threw his own piece of grass at the blonde.

It was just like old times.

Sooner rather than later, Alex's leg made itself known.

The dark haired teen noticed his friends discomfort and offered to drive to the nearest fast-food joint.

Alex reluctantly agreed. He ordered a light lunch of salad while the smaller of them ordered a burrito, burger, fries, a chocolate shake, and a side of pie. Alex rolled his eyes at his friends expense and collapsed into a booth.

After the rather large meal, Tom drove Alex back home.

"See you later." He said and drove away.

Alex sighed and limped back into the house. When he got in, Zach was nowhere to be seen. He spotted a note stuck to the fridge by a magnet.

Fearing the worst, plucking the note off of its spot with his fingernails, he read it deliberately and slowly.

Went out to go shopping.

It's just groceries. I'll be back later, around five-ish.

Alex looked at the clock. 3:30. He had two hours to kill.

He sighed again, and decided to just lie on the couch and watch television or something. Alex really couldn't wait for when MI6 deemed him healthy enough to go back to school. He was bored mindless.

Barely five minutes later, his restless nights caught up with him. Against his will, Alex blissfully fell into a peaceful sleep.

Zach turned the key into the lock of his house. He spotted Alex's bike on the porch and instantly knew Alex had made it home without being kidnapped, shot at, or blowing anything up.

Zach smiled. Life was way more interesting with a teenage super-spy in it, he thought. "I'm home!" He yelled as he dumped the bags of grocery on the counter.

No response.

"Alex?" He called out, tentatively walking towards the living room.

No answer.

He was this close to calling MI6 to get a search party out, when he spotted the boy sprawled and passed out on the sofa.

Zach smiled at the cute sight and made a silent vow to never bring it up when the spy was in the room.

After a few quick photos, he made his way back to the kitchen. It came to mind that a spy shouldn't be able to sleep through this much noise, but he brushed it away. He was a teenager after all. Besides, he looked like he needed sleep.

He quickly busied himself with fixing dinner, his mind straying to the topic of how boring his time home really was without the boy in the picture.

Distracted as he was, he didn't notice when his knife slipped and grazed his finger. Zach cursed and went to fetch a bandage.

Alex woke up after an hour, refreshed. "Hey," he said, as he poured himself a glass of orange juice.

Zach turned around from where he was stirring something in a pot. "Good, you're up. Just in time for dinner; I made stir-fry."

Alex nodded and sat atop the counter and drained his glass. He dumped the glass into the sink and reached up into the cabinet above the microwave. He got the plates down and set the table.

After eating dinner, the two of them called it a day and made their way upstairs to bed.

Alex, of course, didn't sleep until two that morning.

Friday, the following week.

Zach looked up as the uniform-clad teenager climbed down the stairs. Alex had continued going to school, and even gained most of his friends back. The teachers were more kind towards him, thanks to MI6's agreement to get him a tutor. He was still a little behind in science, but that was nothing that couldn't be worked on.

"I'm gonna be home kinda late today. After-school project." He said, as he poured himself a travel mug full of coffee. His guardian grunted in acknowledgment.

He pushed the newspaper towards Alex. "Look. Terrorists bombing attacks in America. The governments shutting down the Pentagon and keeping the White House under lock down."

Alex raised an eyebrow as he scanned the page. "I'm not surprised. The Americans are paranoid."

Alex ignored the muttered 'for good reasons' from Zach as he grabbed a helmet from the table near the entrance.

He had discovered that his guardian owned a red Ducati Monster 696 motorcycle. Seeing no harm in it, Zach had taught the sixteen-year old how to ride. Ian had already taught him, but Zach just brushed up his skills.

"See ya'!" He yelled out the door before jumping on the bike and riding to school.

It was a few days later when Tiger found out about Alex's nightmares. The man woke up to retching sounds and the door to the bathroom open, with shafts of light pouring out. He found his ward bent over the porcelain bowl, dry heaving, knuckles white from where he clutched the sides.

"Are you okay?" He asked, kneeling next to Alex.

The boy turned, startled. "My leg is killing me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." He replied, not wanting to lie, but not telling the truth either.

"Are you sick?"

Alex turned away, embarrassed. "No. I couldn't sleep."

His guardian raised an eyebrow, "And that caused you to throw up how, exactly?"

"Look. Can we talk in the morning? I'll explain everything then."

Zach reluctantly agreed, sending the boy back to bed.

The next morning, before school, he sat Alex down and reminded him of his promise he made the night before.

Slowly opening up, Alex started gradually recounting the events occurring in his nightmares.

Zach was silent throughout the whole ordeal, occasionally adding a grunt or nod.

"-And it just leaps on me... Tears me apart. There's blood everywhere. I call someone's name, but I can't remember whose. I call them, beg them even, to save me from that horrible beast. But they never come. I wake up after that."

Both spies lapsed into uncomfortable silence.

Alex said something, but Zach didn't hear him, what with him zoned out and all.

"Zach?"

"Hmm?"

The younger looked at him weirdly and repeated his earlier statement. "Can I go now?"

Zach turned to glance at his ward, nodded, and went back to thinking about whatever it was that he was thinking about.

As Alex laid his hand on the brass handle of the front door, Zach called out his name. He turned around warily. "Yes?"

His guardian looked troubled. "Have you considered telling someone about your missions? It can help."

Alex looked uncertain.

"Look. Alex, you need to try and trust me. It could be dangerous for you to keep everything bottled up. Have MI6 assigned you a therapist?"

Alex shook his head.

"Next time I see Jones I'll mention it to her. But I really want you to talk to someone. 'Kay?"

The boy simply muttered that he'd try it next time and fled out the door.

School was very boring, as per usual, and Alex found himself constantly daydreaming. One or two of the girls in his class had even asked him if he was okay.

He just smiled that dazzling smile of his and told them that he was fine. They instantly dropped the topic, instead drooling over him like he was a celebrity.

The minutes ticked by and the time for lunch break rolled around. Alex got his lunch tray and sat at his usual spot with Tom, James, and a few of his other friends from the football team.

Tom looked over at his tray as Alex sat down. "What's for lunch?" He asked. Tom, for some reason, always asked him the same question every day. Alex thought it as because he always brought lunch from home. That, or just a very stupid habit.

Alex pulled a face and replied, "Soup and French bread. Though it's a little bitter."

Tom shrugged and turned back to the heated argument of something or another. Alex occasionally threw in a smart mouthed comment or his own input but mostly stayed silent.

His stomach was doing weird flops. The conversation from that morning was making him nervous, he supposed, though he didn't know why he was getting so worked up over it.

After P.E, Alex made his way towards the last class of that day; math. He could fell a headache blossoming from behind his eyes as he tried to understand the symbols on the board.

Constantly glancing at the clock, Alex wondered why he was so restless. He just had a bad feeling about this whole thing in general.

The sharp tone of the bell ringing pulled him from his thoughts. He quickly took note of the homework, and joined the mill of students as they fought their way outside the place they called hell.

The moment Alex stepped into Zach's house, he could instantly tell something was wrong. Tension clogged the air so much that someone cut literally cut it with a butter knife.

He found the owner of the house sitting in the living room, talking on the phone. Alex sat across from him and waited for him to finish. "What's wrong?" He asked when Zach put down the phone.

"MI6 called. They want us there in thirty minutes. They promised it wasn't for a mission." He added hurriedly when he saw the horrified expression on his wards face.

"What'd they want?"

"Something about living arrangements. Shouldn't take us too long. An hour, tops."

Alex nodded thoughtfully. "I'm gonna go get changed." He said and bolted upstairs. It was hot and all Alex wanted to do was take a nice,cool shower. He could always count on MI6 to ruin everything.

He quickly changed into dark jeans and a plain orange tee shirt with a button down shirt over.

Not finding Zach in the hallway, he wandered downstairs.

Not there either.

Alex finally found him in the garage, already seated in his red McLaren. As soon as the door shut, he sped off.

That was one thing Alex like about him. He drove fast, and he drove dangerous. As Zach sped through yet another red light, Alex couldn't help but think that it gave him a bit of an adrenaline rush.

When they arrived Alex felt a teensy bit queasy, but he quickly brushed it off. He briefly wondered why he didn't have an identification code when his guardian recited his own to the receptionist.

She directed them to the elevator, even though he could've found it in his sleep from the experience he had. They got to the fifteenth floor and Alex was reminded of the time he jumped out the window to get to Ian's office.

He looked through the reinforced glass and saw the Union Jack fluttering in the wind innocently. He scowled and wondered why he was constantly getting off track.

He was knocked out of his thoughts by Zach rapping on the door sharply. A muffled 'come in' resounded from the room and Alex twisted the handle.

They both didn't hesitate to find a chair.

As usual, Mrs. Jones was perched on a chair to the left of Blunts desk sucking a peppermint. Blunt himself looked as grey and drab as ever.

Alex resisted the urge to just strangle the heads of MI6 and demand why they had to ruin his life. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Jones spoke up, addressing Zach.

"Agent Del Rio. As I'm sure you know, we gathered you here to discuss Alex's," at this she paused to glance at said boy, who was looking out the window. "Living arrangements. We just need to get some stuff to get sorted out from child services."

Just like that, they spent almost two hours signing papers and calling people Alex didn't bother meeting.

While Blunt was talking with his assistant, and Jones was signing some papers, Alex leaned over and whispered into Zach's ear. "Can we go now?"

Zach frowned at him and eyed him warily. "Why don't you wait downstairs? We'll be done in a few."

Alex didn't bother asking if he meant a few seconds or a few minutes. He stood up and silently slipped out the room.

True to his word, Zach came down clutching some files and a frown on his face. "Let's go," he said curtly.

The drive home was silent. Alex asked his guardian if he should make dinner but Zach just said that he wasn't hungry. In truth, Alex wasn't hungry either. If anything, that queasy feeling was back full force.

He excused himself claiming that he was 'exhausted' and that he should 'really get to sleep'.

With difficulty, Alex trudged up the stairs. He felt fatigued and breathing felt harder. He slammed his hand on the light switch to the bathroom and leaned over the sink. He skin felt clammy and sweaty. Fever?

Suddenly, Alex felt dizzy. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the countertop and leaned his forehead on the cool glass.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Zach frowned at his ward as he climbed up the stairs. As soon as he was out if his vision, and out of earshot, he whipped out his phone and dialed the first person on his speed dial. Ben Daniels.

Unsurprisingly, he picked up on the second ring. "Hey, mate. What's up?"

Zach smiled a little. "Hey. It's been a while. How's everything?"

"I know you too well to think that you called me just to catch up." Came the teasing reply.

"You're right." He sighed and cut to the chase. "You know how Alex is staying with me, right? Well, MI6 called me...us to H.Q. They told me that some organization is looking for him. Revenge, and all that. I just needed someone to talk to."

"Yeah? Well you came to the right-"

His reply was cut off by a loud crash from upstairs. Both men heard it and they both had the same thought running through their minds.

Alex.