Chapter 1

Alex just sat there, his face straight and showing no emotion, similar to the two people in front of him.

I'm becoming just like them, Alex thought rather cynically.

"Alex, you know as well as we do that you need better protection - it's the least we can do."

Mrs. Jones sighed. They've been at this for almost an hour, and Tulip was not expecting this to stretch out this long.

"Whether we have your consent or not, it does not matter", Blunt stood up stiffly and shuffled the papers on his desk into a neat pile. " I must be going. I have a meeting to attend to." He turned to Mrs. Jones, "I trust you'll be handling this from here."

He walked out of Mrs. Jones' office - it was Alex's first time in here - without even a glance from the remaining occupants.

It seemed as if they were having a stare-down, until finally Mrs. Jones closed her eyes. She opened them, her whole demeanor looking softer than when they were with the head of Special Operations.

"Whatever defiance you show will not be tolerated by them, and your appointments will run as scheduled, unless stated otherwise."

Alex looked like the rebellious teenager he was supposed to be. No one was really sure whether it was just an act or not.

"I probably won't care who they are - whether I know them or not. As long as they don't interfere with my life, I'm sure we'll get along just peachy."

It was the best statement of cooperation that Mrs. Jones would get, but she knew Alex was not yet finished.

"But aside from those sessions I'm having, none of them will even attempt to initiate a conversation with me unless I do so."

Mrs. Jones sighed, but wanted the total rundown of the meeting. "The men will start active duty as of this week, including the agent I told you about. I am sure you will know who is who when you meet them in due time. They will be there for your protection, Alex, hopefully more than just in the physical nature," Mrs. Jones gave Alex a knowing look which he returned with an apathetic stare. "I cannot guarantee other unnecessary contact, as your education is still important and they will be taken seriously. You will need all the tutoring they can give as you are aware that you are falling behind in some classes."

Mrs. Jones leaned her forearms on her desk. "I want you to know Alex, that you are lucky we are not sending you to them, and merely sending them to you. Hopefully you will all learn something from this experience. Think of it as your easiest mission, Alex, and it will end as soon as we see fit."

And, really, when were the missions of MI6 ever actually as simple as they said it would be?

When Alex got home, Jack yelled at him, about what, Alex couldn't understand. Her high pitched screams were starting to irritate his ears. He somehow deduced, under all the noise, that his coach informed her that if he - Alex - missed another session of practice, he'll be put on the reserve team.

"'But he left more than half an hour ago for practice,' I said, but nooo," - Jack stretched out the last word as long as she could, her eyes getting bigger by the second, - "YOU WEREN'T THERE."

Alex tried to insert what he could every time Jack took a breath, and after a quarter of an hour of yelling about skipping training, then another quarter about the 'mother-f*in MI6 - Alex, I better not here you repeating that!' Alex managed to pacify his sort-of guardian by mentioning that he still gets to stay in school.

By the time Jack calmed down it was six in the afternoon and Alex explained the whole 'mission' in five minutes.

A moment of silence, where Jack's face looked almost stunned.

"Well, um, that's good." Jack looked unsure of what to say, after cursing a certain government sector into high heaven, who suddenly felt like 'Alex may need extra security'. "At least someone knocked some sense into their heads."

She almost seemed dumbfounded, so she turned on her heel and left the kitchen, throwing a "Go and do your homework," over her shoulder.

That went well. She'll probably be grilling me about it some more tomorrow.

Alex went upstairs to do what Jack told him to do, and to text his coach whatever lame excuse he could think of.

The night went on like usual. He was called for dinner, he went down to eat, he washed his plate, went up again, finished the rest of his homework so he could have the Sunday off, he prepared for bed, and he lied down.

Now, during this time at night, Alex couldn't predict what would happen. If he was lucky, he'd give in to a dreamless sleep. On some not-so-good nights he'd wake up from a bad dream, or not sleep enough.

Tonight was not a good night. He had too much in his head. As impassive as he acted in the Royal & General Bank, he can't avoid it now. Not when he was in the safety of his house in Chelsea, alone in his room, with nothing to accompany him but the moonlight and shadows. His mind was in overdrive.

He can't wait until Monday. It's everybody's favorite day of the week. Great. Just great.

This is my first story guys, so bear with me. English isn't my native language, and criticism is welcome :) I'm also open to suggestion, if you want to request some things, though I can't guarantee they'll come out. So this is a bit edited though I just added a few lines.

Revised on Aug. 15, 2010