AN. Reviews: Yassen obsessive, Iamawesome Thanks for reviewing. HollyBlue2 Wow, that's a lot of pleases. I guess I better update. Thanks for reviewing. Albany I decided I wanted to make Alex's loneliness a big deal. Snake has a big family, something Alex has never experienced. I wanted to make the transition from being alone almost all the time to having people around you as real as possible. Thanks for the review. xDarkLightx Thanks for reviewing. Pulchra Fabula Glad you think so. Thanks for the review. Moon-over-mountain I'm still undecided about bringing K-Unit in completely, though they are mentioned in later chapters. Thanks for reviewing. DammitimmaD Thanks for reviewing. Will update as quickly as possible. Bubzchoc Thanks for the review. Valak Thanks. I like this relationship too. May is very different to Jack, the only female figure Alex has really ever encountered in a close relationship. Thanks for the review.

The usual disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Alex Rider.

Chapter 3

"That wasn't very satisfying." Snake commented, when they got back in the car.

"I dunno." Alex countered, "You won the argument - I'm staying with you until Jack gets back." That idea didn't sound so bad to Alex now. What Snake had done for him in there had created a new respect for the SAS operative in Alex's mind. Snake had almost made up for Brecon Beacons. Almost: he wasn't quite there.

"That doesn't mean anything, Alex. They treated you wrong and they won't do anything to change it. I'm not happy." Snake started the car with venom. Mrs Jones really had made him angry.

"Look, don't worry about it. I don't." Alex told him.

Snake didn't say anything to that. He kept his eyes on the road.

They'd decided they wouldn't go back to Alex's tonight. Alex was going to make a list of the stuff he needed - after they'd tried to get in touch with Jack. Alex needed to know when she planned to get back. And he figured he should probably tell her he wasn't at home anymore; in case she rang his home in Chelsea, got no answer and started to worry. They needed to pick up Emily anyway. It was nearing three 'o' clock already.

The pulled into a MacDonald's Drive Thru to pick up some lunch. Neither of them had been hungry on the way to Liverpool Street, but both of their stomachs were grumbling now. Alex hadn't had MacDonald's in a while. He hadn't bothered with it since he started working for MI6. It was the sort of place you went with friends and since MI6 had taken over his life Alex hadn't had many of them. There had been Tom, but they never really did anything: they never went out anywhere. Alex wondered if he could change that now his life was going to get some stability in it.

Snake ordered and they sat in the lay-by for ten minutes.

"Alex," Snake said after a while, "You know if you ever want to talk about any of this, I'll listen right?" Alex just looked at him, "I know what it's like: getting shot at; getting threatened; even getting blackmailed by the people you should be able to trust. I understand if you don't want to, but I know you've been through a lot and the offers always there."

Alex muttered a quick 'thanks', feeling awkward. He didn't really do talking.

They ate while driving. Snake was a bit worried about the traffic. He didn't want to be late for Emily. Alex wondered how he must feel when he was sent away and had to leave his family behind, especially his children. He wondered how it must feel to know that he might never see them again… Alex put those thought out of his mind. MI6 weren't going to use him again; he didn't need to worry about them anymore. All he had to worry about was settling back into a normal life.

They got to Amy's house at dead on four. It wouldn't have mattered if they were late anyway, because Emily wasn't ready when they got there. It took her ages to get her shoes on and tie the laces, but Snake wouldn't help her. She had to learn for herself apparently. And Amy showed off saying she could tie her shoelaces already - that only slowed things down more.

Eventually, they did manage to leave. Snake got Emily into the car and they started on the drive back to Snake's house - Alex couldn't quite bring himself to call it home.

May and the boys were already back when they got back. Alex could smell something cooking as he and Snake took his bags up to his bedroom. "Try and put some of this away." Snake said, "We'll try and get hold of Jack after dinner and then we can put together a list of things you need. Have a think about school too. We can discuss that later too."

Snake left Alex to it and he started transferring some of the clothes he'd brought from home into the chest of draws. He ignored the thoughts going through his head as he did it: it made this move seem permanent… he didn't want that… He wanted to think he'd be going to back to Chelsea soon enough. But he couldn't think that: not yet.

Once he'd packed his stuff away, Alex sat on his bed for a while. Just thinking. Mainly about Jack. What was her motivation to just go away and leave him? Did she care about him at all? He thought she had, but he wasn't so sure anymore. He tried to tell himself he had Snake now, but he still wasn't sure he if he truly had Snake yet. He knew he'd never trust him like he had trusted Jack.

Dinner was uneventful. It was strange for Alex to be eating so early - or to be eating at all really. He was used to only one or two meals a day. When he had been living alone, and even when he'd been living with Jack, he'd chosen when he wanted to eat and when he wanted to eat it. He'd got used to no breakfast, usually no lunch and a small dinner at about nine or ten 'o' clock. He'd grown used to that. The change didn't really bother him, but it was strange to have eaten so much in twenty-four hours.

Once they'd finished, the older children were allowed to watch a film in the lounge (bedtime was later at weekends), but Jacob went to his bedroom with May, who was going to read him a bedtime story. They'd been out all day, and Jacob was tired.

Alex followed Snake into the lounge. He semi-watched the film while Snake read the paper and started the crossword. May came down about forty-five minutes later and said: "He's asleep. Be quiet when you go up the stairs please."

Alex had hoped that when May came down, they'd go and start trying to get in touch with Jack, but Snake stayed put. He and May were having a quiet discussion. Every few minutes Alex saw May glance up at him. He tried to ignore it.

Finally, Snake left the room and beckoned for Alex to follow.

They went up to Snake's office. When Snake had given Alex a quick tour, he hadn't showed him the office, just showed him the door.

Snake unlocked the door with his key - Alex guessed there'd be only one key to this door: Snake clearly didn't want people coming in here without him knowing. "Don't tell the kids I let you in here." Was the first thing Snake said after sitting down at his desk. The next was: "Close the door and stop hanging around in the doorway." Snake seemed much more at home in here than anywhere else in the house. Everywhere else, Snake looked edgy, though he tried to hide it, but here - here he apparently felt safe. Alex wondered what made this room different.

"What was her name?" Snake asked, logging into his laptop, his hands flying so quickly across the keys that Alex wouldn't have been able to read his password, even if he'd tried.

"Jacqueline Starbright." Alex answered, figuring that Snake would need her proper name, not just Jack.

Snake opened up some programme that Alex was pretty certain would be illegal if he wasn't involved with MI6. He typed something more in then began asking Alex a string of questions.

"She's American, right?"

"Yep."

"Do you know her parent's names?"

"Harry and Jane, I think."

"You think?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Yes."

Alex said nothing.

"Are you sure?"

"No."

"Alright then, we won't put that down."

That went on for a couple of minutes. Alex was surprised at how little he knew about Jack's family. He could answer questions about her, like when her birthday was, but he knew pretty much nothing about her family. She'd never talked about them.

"Ok." Snake said after a while, "Now we just wait for that to run."

Alex just nodded. What else could he do? He watched Snake tap a few more things into the computer, then glanced around the walls. There were some newspaper clippings – old ones. Really old. Assuming the teenager in the picture was Snake, at least ten years old. "Is that you?" Alex asked, pointing to one of them.

Snake glanced up briefly. "That one, yeah. Some of the others are my brother."

Alex studied the other pictures. He couldn't see any difference between the boys in the photos. They had the same floppy hair, the same haunting eyes that stared directly into the camera. "You look exactly the same." Alex said.

"We're twins." Snake explained. "Here." He handed Alex a folder. "All of the pictures from the wall and more."

Alex opened it. The first clipping was of Snake and his brother together. They were identical, completely and utterly. There wasn't even any height difference. Alex read the caption, "David and Ewan McMillian, both fourteen, after winning the 100m sprint and the 400m sprint, respectively, at the Glasgow Youth Games."

"What was your time?" Alex asked.

"For which event?" Snake answered, absent minded-ly. Most of his attention was on the computer screen.

"You did more than one?" Alex asked, still really surprised. He knew David must have been fit to go into the SAS, but this good? He'd never imagined that.

"The 100m was my best. My PB never went below ten point six though. I wasn't bad at the 400, but Ewan was always better. We both did the relay. And we both did some of the shorter long distance too, but only to help us with our training really." Snake answered, still not looking up.

"Wow." Alex murmured. He flicked through the album, pausing occasionally to study a picture or read some of the text that accompanied them. He found out that Ewan had been offered a chance to compete at a national level, but had rejected it because they would offer David the same privilege. They must have been so close, Alex mused. Yet there were no pictures of this Ewan anywhere around the house.

"Why didn't you take this further?" Alex asked.

This time, Snake turned round to look at him while he spoke. "I wasn't good enough for that – even when I put all my effort into training and competing. Ewan could have been, but he didn't try hard enough. He pretended to refuse representing the country because of me, but really he couldn't be arsed with the training. I can't say I blame him. Getting up at five in the morning is never fun, especially when you do it every day a week, except Sunday." Snake pressed the enter button on the keyboard and swivelled the chair round so he was facing Alex properly.

"What does he do now? Coach or something?" Alex asked, flicking through the last of the articles.

"He got in with the wrong people as we got older. They got him into drugs and alcohol. He died of liver failure when he was twenty one." Snake answered no emotion in his voice.

"I'm sorry." Alex said, knowing that's what he was expected to say.

"Don't be. He wasn't very nice in the last few years. He came home and beat up our Grandma on several occasions when he'd been out all night. All she'd do was ask him where he'd been. My Grandparents were on the verge of chucking him out anyway."

Wow, Alex thought again, he wasn't the only one with a messed up life. "What about your parents?" Alex had to ask. Surely Snake would be expecting it.

"They died in a car crash when I was twelve. We lived with our Grandparents from then onwards. They were very supportive of the athletics, just as our parents had been, and they were very disappointed when I said I was going to give it up. After Ewan had gone off the rails, I was their only hope. They don't really mind. Well, I don't think they do. My Granddad is dead and my Grandma is in a care home with Dementia, so I don't really know." Snake said all of this without dropping his eyes from Alex's. In the end, it was Alex who had to look away. "Sorry, all that usually makes people feel uncomfortable. I thought you might take it a little differently. Having seen what you've seen, done what you've done, you know?"

Alex looked Snake back in the eye again, "I always thought it was just me."

"What? With a crappy life?" Snake laughed. "Are you serious? Everyone who works for Blunt was messed up at some point. Your life was just messed up earlier than others."

Alex couldn't say anything to that. What was there to say? It was true. He couldn't deny it. His life had been well and truly fucked up.

"Have you thought about school?" Snake asked, thankfully changing the subject.

"Only a bit." Alex admitted, knowing he should have thought about it in depth. "I'd like to see my friends again, but they all go to school in Chelsea. You'd want me to go to a new school nearer to here, right?"

"It would be easier if you did." Snake said, spinning back the computer screen, "But if you did want to go back to Chelsea, you're welcome to make your own arrangements for travel and stuff. Tell me though, how many friends did you actually have back at Chelsea? As I understand, you were hardly there."

Alex sighed. Once again Snake was right. This was so annoying. "Not many." Alex admitted again. "There were a couple who were loyal to me. Who didn't make up rumours about me being a drug dealer and getting involved in gangs, but everyone else did."

"Perhaps, if you do want to go to school, a new start would be better? I don't know, maybe you don't want to go back. If you don't, I think it would be good for you to get a job somewhere or something. Because sitting around all day won't do you any good." Snake said. Alex already knew that. He also knew himself: he physically couldn't sit around all day.

"I want to go back to school." Alex said, firmly. "I want to go to a new one."

Snake nodded curtly, "I'll sort something out then. It might be a couple of weeks though. And you're not going anywhere until your hands are better. We want good first impressions, alright?"

Alex nodded, grinning to himself. When had he ever given bad first impressions?