/I do not own Alex Rider. Never have never will yadayadayada/

Tumblr beckoned, flashing at him from his laptop in the corner of his desk. But Alex knew he had to finish this assignment first. Why he had ever thought that taking History was a good idea, he would never know but now he found himself furiously making up a load of crap about how Galen affected medicine in the middle ages.

It didn't help that he had literally no classmates who were willing to share their class notes other than Tom, but Alex knew that Tom's mind tended to...wander a bit during class. Most of his notes were small drawings of syringes and other gory bit and piece, both of which made Alex slightly queasy. He abandoned Tom's notes. E-mailing Miss Kullet was his only other option and perhaps she would take pity on the 'poor boy with the weak-as-shit immune system'. That reminded him...It was nearly 9:30 pm. Oops...He was meant to take his pills an hour ago.

Sighing, Alex dragged himself from his desk and into his bathroom. He reached up into the cupboard behind his bathroom mirror and withdrew four packs of medication. He hated taking these pills; it was like accepting that something was wrong with him, but they weren't for anything serious. Two of the pills were painkillers, one was to help him sleep (he would take that later otherwise he'd fall asleep on his essay) and the last one was for the annoying cold he'd picked up somewhere between London and Cairo. Even with the cold there was no way in hell Alex was going to let himself miss anymore school than he had already. It was going to be his first day back after what seemed like years and he wasn't going to skip again just because of some sniffles.

A glass of water and a grimace later, Alex was nicely drugged up and ready to continue with his 2000 word essay. As he sat down a quiet, low creak came from the stairs outside his room. Alex stiffened and waited for another sound to emanate from the corridor. But suddenly he remembered who was also in the house.

"Hey Alex! I'm going out for a bit, dunno when I'll be back so don't wait up for me- I know you're cramming so I left some pizza in the kitchen if you get hungry. Text if you need anything!" Some more creaking. Alex could hear some keys unlocking the front door.

"'Kay. Thanks Kyle!" Alex yelled back, probably too loudly, down the stairs. The door slammed. It had always needed a little extra force to close it. And then he was alone. There's always something a bit strange about knowing the house is completely empty except for you. You could walk around naked and no one would care. Alex smiled and unlocked his bedroom door.

Kyle was his new 'house mate' as he liked to call it. He had probably been sent by MI6 to make sure he didn't turn into a depressed vegetable (and also because he was a minor and technically wasn't allowed to live alone). Before deciding to stay in London, the plan had been to send Alex to San Francisco to start a new life with the Pleasures, but Alex was both paranoid and sentimental. He didn't want to intrude and interrupt their family life more than he already had or potentially put them in danger. At the same time, he couldn't bring himself to leave the only place he felt safe, with or without Jack. So he stayed in London.

It had only been about four weeks since Alex had come home from Cairo but everything felt almost normal again. Almost. Of course it would never be the same without Jack. Alex had promised himself that he wouldn't cry over her again. She wouldn't have wanted that, so now Alex lived his life as normally as he could, never forgetting her, but never purposefully thinking of her. Only a few pictures of her remained in the house. At first, Kyle had tried to make Alex 'talk about his feelings' but soon realized the futility. To be honest, Alex was still numb. He still hadn't come to terms with what had happened so Kyle had thankfully dropped the now tabooed subject.

Alex liked Kyle. He was pretty normal and easy going for an MI6 operative and Alex trusted him. Not in the same way he had trusted Jack or trusted Tom and Sabina, but there was a mutual respect between them and Alex felt he could be himself around him.

Alex didn't know much about Kyle. He was tall and well traveled. His slight accent indicated that he may have lived in Italy for some time although he looked Spanish. He was pretty well built-he often went to the gym- and he was a formidable Halo opponent.

Being in his mid twenties, Kyle left the house early in the morning to go to his job somewhere in central London. He hadn't told Alex what he did but Alex guessed that it was only a cover job for whilst he wasn't in the field.

Something was bugging Alex as he made hi way into the kitchen. Perhaps it was how easily he had slipped back into normal life. Maybe it was how quiet MI6 had been this past month (even though they had promised to leave him alone, Alex knew better now). Or maybe is was just the slight ache of his never quite healed bullet scar. Alex made a mental note to remember to take his medication on time as he grabbed a plate from the cupboard and loaded three pieces of pizza onto it to take back to his room.

Despite being back on familiar territory, Alex could never quite shake off this feeling of anxiety that was constantly gnawing away at his stomach. He could never stop the nervous tapping that he knew would drive everyone nuts at school. He could never- Ugh. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about these sorts of things. Alex angrily pulled at his jumper sleeve, not sure what he was trying to achieve with that action. He suddenly stood up, straight like he would have back a Brecon Beacons, and clapped his hands together dramatically. It was now 10:15 pm. If he wanted to get some decent sleep before school tomorrow, he had two hours to finish his god forsaken essay and a bunch of maths exercises. Sometimes he wondered if the school actually acknowledged the fact that he had missed over half the year. Probably not.