Author's Note: Just a quick note, asking that people please review! Your opinions and feedback make all the difference. Thank you!

Once when Alex was younger, he came across one of Jack's psychology books on the parlour table. She had been pursuing the idea of being a child psychologist when Ian no longer needed her as a babysitter, though, she could not know when she would no longer be needed. Curiously, he paged through the heavy text and read a passage claiming that the last few things you think of before going to bed, were normally what you would then begin to dream about. Something about the intense focus made the thoughts incorporate with your dreams.

He'd read that the night of Christmas Eve when, once again, Ian was late.

Jack had tried to take his mind off the absence of his Uncle, but the lack of his kind voice and calming presence were hard not to notice. And so, Alex had sulked, though he knew it was not very adult of him.

That night, Alex, angry with his Uncle constant disappearances, had turned his thoughts to his parents that he knew so little about. His forehead wrinkled with tension as he closed his eyes tightly and thought hard and long about his Mum and Dad. He tried to picture their faces, and imagined them helping him open presents around a Christmas tree that he and his Dad had cut down together...like a real family.

It was only when Jack woke him up the next morning, the smell of french toast in the air and promises of presents soon to come, that he realized he hadn't dreamt once. Not of his Mum or Dad, not even of his constantly disappearing uncle.

Jack couldn't understand why he had started crying. Alex didn't try to explain, and she had assumed it was because Ian still wasn't home.

"He called, honey," she had tried to reassure him, "said he'd be home in a matter of hours. We can still open presents together!"

Even at a young age, Alex was a good pretender, and so he had smiled weakly at her and mumbled that he was getting out of bed.

Then, alone in his room, Alex had torn the pages out of that book. Hoping no one else would read those lying words and hope so ignorantly like he had.

Now, years later, Alex sat up drenched in sweat. There was no denying that this most recent nightmare had been brought forth due to his thoughts about Regina's father before he fell asleep.

In the nightmare, Regina's father had laid upon that very same bed dying, and beside him sat Regina holding his hand and murmuring comforting words. Suddenly, the room had shifted, and once again, there was the same old man, in the same old bed, dying. But, upon closer examination...Alex noticed some familiarities. The eyes, they were brown...but deep in color with a tinge of green around the iris. The hair, now gray with age had the same cut. The hands clenching the bed sheets in fear or maybe in pain, were the same...the left hand even had a scar that curved half way around the thumb.

The old man was Alex.

Unlike Regina's father though, he had no one there to comfort him when he died.

The room became thick with cobwebs, mildew appeared at the bottom of the curtains and then ran up the walls. The dim light from the windows gave the room a dim and depressing feel. Surrounded by death, the dying Alex took one last stuttering breath-

-and then, awoke.

Alex rubbed two hands over his face, crinkling his nose when they came away moist from sweat. He hadn't had a nightmare like that in a while, normally he'd awake from one quietly, as if even in his unconscious state he was trying not to draw attention to himself.

The sun had risen while he was in the middle of the nightmare, and Alex threw off the covers and got out of the bed silently. His arm was throbbing with pain, and the muscles were cramped and stiff. A change of clothes had been laid out for him atop the dresser, and Alex changed out of his gritty clothes, and put on the jeans and dress shirt. They were slightly too big, but better than his others that were still dotted on bloody and discolored from dirt.

Around him, the house was silent. Stepping into his shoes, Alex walked to the door listening, and then opened to peer out into the hall. There was a light on in the kitchen, and now he could smell fresh coffee and the warm smell of some kind of pastry.

From the kitchen, Regina also looked down the hall, a small frown on her face as she stirred something into a steaming cup. When she saw Alex, it split into a slight smile.

"I was hoping you'd be up, breakfast is done-I'm not sure if you eat it, but I'm a firm believer in it and will persuade you into my ways," she said jokingly.

Alex walked into the kitchen, trying to ignore how Regina's eyes were sizing him up.

"You sleep well?"

He nodded, hoping he hadn't thrashed about during the nightmare or given her any other sign in the night that would prove he was lying.

Regina took a sip of her coffee, strumming her fingers on the blue ceramic of the cup as her eyes trailed away from him over to the oven.

"Normally me and Anne drink coffee in the morning, but I can make you some tea..."

"I'm fine, thanks," Alex said, and then sat at the table as he had the night before. "Um, do you have some pain pills though?"

Blinking, Regina's face fell, "Good gracious, I'm so sorry, I wasn't even thinking. Of course you're going to need some medication," she turned away to the cabinet, her voice trailing off.

When she came to stand beside him a moment later, she had two tiny blue pills in one hand, and a large glass of water in the other.

While he took care of the medication, Regina pulled fresh bran muffins out the oven, and placed them on a hot pad in the center of the table. After a quiet breakfast, Regina placed their dished in the sink and checked the clock.

"If we leave now, we can catch the doctor's office before they leave for lunch at 11:30. Doctor Lee is a good friend of mine, she won't ask too many questions-I actually need to grab a book I borrowed from her and return it," with that last sentence, she took off down the hall.

Ten minutes later, Alex was again sitting in the passenger's seat of that yellow Volkswagen beetle. Regina was quiet for most of the ride, and Alex didn't interrupt her thoughts, he would rather not draw anymore attention to himself than the bloody bullet wound already had.

There was so little to be seen in these parts, besides the occasional house far away from the street but still visible, Alex saw exactly one post office (which was about the size of his parlor back at home) and a small store where a lady sat outside on a rocking chair, a gray cat curled up at her feet.

When they reached the doctor's office, which was in a surprisingly busy, though also small town, Alex was starting to feel drowsy. He had considered sleeping, Regina was unlikely to care, but some part of him warned him to stay aware. He was in a strange place, and still needed to be cautious about his surroundings.

Any men that survived the warehouse explosion could be out looking for him, or Yassen.

They parked in front of the doctor's office, an eggshell white building with a welcoming doormat, and well tended potted plants.

"Regina," the receptionist said in surprise, "did Anne-"

Regina cast a smile at Alex, "No Marge, Anne has been staying far away from sharp objects. She's at a friend's house now, I brought someone else to be seen this time."

She tipped her head at Alex, and the receptionist remained surprised, "Oh, well, I don't think I've ever seen you around these parts before. What's your name, dear?"

"Alex," Alex replied, casting a pleading look at Regina.

"What did you do to yourself?"

"I'm afraid we need to see Dr. Lee as soon as she is able, if you don't mind," Regina interrupted.

The receptionist nodded, a frown in her eyes and though she still looked extremely curious, she left her seat to go see if the doctor was available.

"Sorry," Regina muttered as she gestured for Alex to take a seat. "I don't think she realizes how intrusive she can be sometimes. If you had answered her we'd be here for hours explaining how a teenager got shot, and then she'd have called the local news-"

Alex must have looked amused at her quiet rant, because after looking at him, she bit her lip and made herself busy on her phone.

The receptionist came out a moment later, and beckoned them to the back room where Doctor Lee sat at a computer, typing something onto a medical form. She stood up as they entered, and immediately hugged Regina.

"Hey, surprised to see you again so soon," she said warmly. She had honey blond hair, and light brown eyes that stayed on the person she was talking to, making you feel like you had her whole hearted attention.

"Yeah, I brought you patient," Regina said, pulling Alex gently next to her.

Doctor Lee's eyes warmed. "Hi," she held out a hand and Alex shook it. "Well, let's get down to it, you can fill out the forms afterwards. Do you want Regina in here for this?"

Alex shrugged, "Doesn't matter."

She shut the door, and Alex cold almost hear the receptionist sigh from where she was hanging about the water cooler that was just outside the door.

Regina sat at the chair where the Doctor had been when they entered, and Alex gingerly sat on the examination table.

"Now, what seems to be the problem," Dr. Lee asked as she put on latex gloves.

"My arm," Alex said hesitatingly, hoping that would be enough. Regina gave him a gentle smile, and Alex sighed and rolled up his sleeve to expose the bandage.

Dr. Lee didn't ask question, just unrolled the bandage with careful fingers. When the wound was exposed, Alex couldn't help but stiffen up as he waited for the questions. None were forthcoming, and he glanced at the doctor.

She had a troubled look on her face, but her eyes were on the wound. Alex thought that maybe she did not know what had caused it, until-

"Someone did a very good job retrieving the bullet, and the stitches don't appear too tight. I'm just going to apply something that will fight any infection, and then apply a fresh bandage. How is your arm feeling?"

Alex moved it carefully, and winced. "It's stiff, the skin feels tight."

The doctor nodded, "Yeah, it will feel rather taut for a while. But, luckily, someone took good care of you and treated the wound quickly and efficiently. If you remember to do some daily exercises, and continue to apply fresh bandages, you'll be back to your old self in no time."

She treated the wound, and prescribed some heavy pain relievers for him before going to fetch the paperwork he would need to fill out. The fresh bandage was thicker than the one Yassen had made for him, it would almost certainly be noticeable even under his sleeve and Alex frowned thinking about having to explain this to Jack, not to mention those in MI6 though they would almost certainly ask what had happened anyway.

After all that, the Doctor left some paperwork to fill out, half of it Alex had no idea how to answer. In the end, he left a large part of the paperwork blank and hoped they would not demand he fill out the rest. Alex had used Jack's credit card number as use of payment, and hoped he could get home in time to explain why he had been to the doctor's before she saw the bill and started worrying.

Regina thanked her doctor friend, and promised to call her later. They went out to the car, and Alex got in feeling trepidation. Where would Regina want him to go next? Would she allow him now to go his own way, and head toward the airport so he could head back home?

Regina climbed into the driver's seat, and was humming a happy tune as she moved to buckle her seat belt-and stopped.

"Oh, I forgot to give this to Leah!" She grabbed the book from the dashboard where it had stayed the entire trip. "I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached," she laughed. "I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail!"

Alex grinned, saying to himself as the door closed, "Doctor Leah Lee?"

Out his window, Alex could see a little girl holding her mother's hand as they crossed the street and went into a beauty salon. It was a nice little town, one you wouldn't think about anything bad happening in.

The driver's door opened again, and Alex was a bit surprised, when Jack said she'd be back in a minute, it was usually five to ten minutes. Apparently that could not be said for Regina, and he turned to tell her so-and started so bad that his arm flew back into the door.

"You look like you're feeling better."

Considering how Alex was now gasping for breath, he didn't see how that could be true. "God damn it-shite. Yassen, don't do that," he gasped out.

Raising a sardonic brow, Yassen reached out and pulled Alex's arm away from his body and pushed up the sleeve to view the new bandage. Watching him nervously, Alex glanced out the window to see if Regina was on her way back yet. He really did not want her hurt in anyway.

Yassen released his arm, and Alex immediately pulled it back and fixed the sleeve. "You approve?" he asked sarcastically.

Yassen didn't reply, and Alex's mouth tightened. "Where the hell did you go last night? It's a damn good thing I knew her, she was really kind about me breaking into her home-even insisted upon taking me to the doctor," Alex said that last part a bit irritably.

"And you would rather have done what?"

Alex blinked quickly, not expecting that question. But when had he ever expected anything that Yassen Gregorivich did?

"I don't know," he replied, a bit lost. "I have no idea what happened in that warehouse, before it blew it that is. Like, why were you there? They didn't even warn me you might be there."

"You want to know."

Alex gaped at him. "Of course I bloody well want to know!"

Yassen nodded, head turned away, looking out the window as he replied. "You'd better come with me then."

Barely retaining a snort, Alex replied. "Come with you-of course, and get myself put in more danger. Why didn't I think of that sooner!"

"I can't promise to keep you out of harms way," Yassen turned to him now, a sadness in his eyes that Alex did not know how to respond to. "I don't make assumptions like that. However, I can make you a promise...though, you won't like it. I promise, that should you decide to stay in this town, you will be dead before the week is at its end."

Alex's breath caught in his throat.

Yassen was watching him, perhaps expecting him to run, for that is exactly what Alex wanted to do, though it would get him no where.

His question was quiet and blunt, but Alex felt the answer would be momentous and so he leaned forward as he asked, "Why?"

Yassen stared him in the eyes, "For that answer, you'll have to come with me."

Well, that was just cheating, Alex decided. Though Yassen seemed to want him to come along, he wans't demanding it, and for that reason alone, Alex was willing to go along with the assassin...especially if it would answer his many questions.

Alex certainly didn't want Regina to wander back out, he wasn't sure if she still carried that gun with her or not and her certainly didn't want to be the one time find out.

"Let's go then," Alex sighed, and exited the vehicle.

Author's Note: Alex is running off with a dangerous assassin, hmm, can any good come from this? What do you think will happen? I'm now 20 years old! Had my birthday on Saturday, and I don't feel older at all. I demand a re-count. ;) My friend from the Netherlands has come down for a visit, so-shout out to his home near Amsterdam. Please take a moment to review, the feedback was rather sparse for this chapter, something that left me feeling a bit bereft. I've been a bit spoiled by the Faint Hearted followers! Thanks for those that did read and review, it really does make a difference! Stay tuned for more chapter updates!