Disclaimer - all recognised work belongs to Anthony Horrowitz!

I know that I haven't updated in forever, but lets see how this goes from here on out. I've re-read the story so far and noticed that my own weird thoughts on sexual interactions and what I considered to be 'sluttish' behaviour is pretty far behind the times so I am going to go back and sort that as I've matured a lot since then. Pretty sure a lot of my insecurities over that came from reading books where the women always considered themselves 'easy' if they even kissed a guy - I mean, come on, it's just a kiss...

So if you're wondering why Rose is suddenly so grounded in her attraction to Alex, that's why!

Ciao xx

Chapter Fourteen

Wow, oh god, of all the times for Alex to see her half naked was when she was feeling the least attractive, sopping wet and looking like a drowned rat. Although, from the look on his face, he thought she was ticket... She turned to face the mirror that hung on the wall and studied herself. It was strange to see her hair auburn again, but she took the time to take in her high cheekbones and delicate heart shaped face. Her naked torso was feminine yet toned from the years of training, in clothes she might be considered stocky, but out of them everyone knew that there was hardly an inch of fat on her anywhere.

Overall, she decided, maybe it wasn't so bad a time for Alex to see her like this, it certainly couldn't hurt her chances to keep him on her toes.

Staring at her hair again, she wondered how Alex was going to make her look so incredibly unlike herself. Tom, Sophia, Alice, Sam and Phil had already met her and spent the evening with her. There was almost no way for her to change so much that they wouldn't recognise her, this went doubly so for himself, but she also knew that whatever happened they were all going to Brecon.

With a sigh and a last glance in the mirror to check that her scar hadn't been visible when Alex had surprised her, she turned away and started dressing, unaware of the fact that she'd already snuck into the heart of the young spy.

Alex had decided that he really wasn't hungry anymore, the churning in his stomach and he waited for Rose to walk in was making him feel nauseous. He wasn't used to his body reacting uncontrollably. He was always in control, even in those moments where he lost control, it was in a controlled manner. He kept repeating that thought to himself, trying to pull himself together - it wasn't like he wasn't used to naked women, he'd seen more than a few, but none quite so as beautiful and vivacious as Rose was. There was something about her, she made him feel alive. Not for the first time he wished Jack was here.

God, Jack. How his heart hurt from missing her. The idea of never seeing her again was still a hole in his heart and yet he felt guilty that he grieved, when he himself had caused others to grief similar loses.

She'd smile at him and tell him to grab life by the throat cause he wouldn't get another chance. But despite all that, Rose was not someone he could become involved with. She would face sentencing after she'd done all she could to help him bring Scorpia down, he'd forgotten his end goal in the wake of Jack's death and the subsequent weeks living with Rose, K-Unit and Ben. He almost wanted to forget the whole thing and try to live a normal life until his past caught up with him.

When Rose re-appeared, Alex had found his composure and reasoning again. Scorpia was once more at the forefront of his mind.

'Ben, don't bother with the hair cut, Rose and I are going to join the ranks of Brookland'ers, I'll phone Crawley and get the paperwork sorted for her. I'm going to go wash this gunk out of my hair.' With that he left the room, his phone already half-way to his ear. His back to the others, he gave Rose a cheeky wink, might as well not burn all his bridges.

'Crawley, it's Rider, I need paperwork for a Rose Petrov to be completed before I get to Brookland. I need her on that bus with me to Brecon.' Alex spoke to Crawley, making up a last name for Rose as he conversed. Crawley's reply was that he would send the necessary documents straight to Brookland for care of K-Unit who were escorting the Year 12s to Wales.

Once he'd finished washing the hair dye out his hair that he'd only just put in, Alex had come to terms that he hadn't been acting right. He wasn't sure whether it was down to grief, his unexpected and inexplicable attractive to Yassen Gregorovich's daughter or just knowing that his whole life was going to implode over the next few weeks that had caused his lack of attention to the matter at hand. He should never have taken Rose to the cinema, never kissed her, never allowed K-Unit to seep into his head. At the end of the day they were distractions from his very real task. The one he was going to see finished.

Rose could see the change in Alex immediately. He was no longer the boy she'd known the last few weeks, the one she'd opened up to despite the residue hurt from her past. This Alex carried himself with a purpose, this Alex didn't look like one who would take any shit, this Alex was dangerous. She still wanted him, but she watched him the way you watch a snake, knowing it could strike at anytime.

'Have you added to the notebook at all?' He asked her, all business.

'No, I haven't remembered anything else since this morning. Do you want me to keep the notebook in case I do?'

'No,' Alex replied. 'If anything comes to mind, you come to me immediately.' Grabbing a piece of toast and swigging back the last bit of his cuppa, he addressed the room. 'Rose and I are going to leave to head to Brookland in a moment, you are all picking up the year group there and conveying them to Wales. You've never met us before, if anyone questions you about Rose, she is a foreign exchange student from Russia who has permission to go on the trip. Her full name for the trip is Rosemarie Petrov, her family live in Moscow, no other details need to be given, all the paperwork will be with the office at the school, Crawley has arranged the delivery of it. Any questions?'

With K-Unit silent before him, Alex nodded before motioning to Rose to follow him out of the property where they took off for the school on his motorbike, leaving a stunned K-Unit behind them.

'Whu - whu - what just happened?' Kyle asked the room, his cup still frozen half way between the table and his mouth.

Ben smiled grimly. 'That's what happens when Alex gets his head in gear. It's all guns blazing, bam, bam, bam. It was good to see, he hasn't been the same since 'The Incident', he has too much weight on his shoulders for someone so young. He also lost his life-time friend recently, I can't imagine that that has helped his state of mind.'

'I'll say,' said Kyle. 'How old is he exactly? He was cagey when I asked him, although he admitted that he hadn't been held back a school year, that means he has to be secondary school aged, please tell me he is eighteen.'

'Come on,' Ben ignored Kyle's question and exchanged a quick look with Wolf, 'we've got to get this place ship-shape and head to Brecon to escort the kiddies.'

Kyle narrowed his eyes at Ben, but at a nod from James, he got up and started clearing the kitchen. Drew headed to the bedrooms to chuck all of the bags into the hallway, Aex's and Rose's had started the pile that he added to. Within 15minutes the group was ready to leave, everything put back into place and ready for the next group that needed it.

'Right, then,' James laughed. 'I guess this is the last peace and quiet we'll get until the kiddies go home, let's make the most of this drive.' For some reason Kyle insisted that this meant playing the radio at top volume and singing along for the entire journey.

Let me know what you think - have I gone too over the top for Alex and Rose...

Alex has gone through a complete 180 this chapter, but he'd forgotten about the fact that Scorpia are still out there, let see what happens when the groups arrive at Brecon.