Disclaimer: I own nothing anyone recognises.

A/N: Sorry. I couldn't help it.

Retroactive Housekeeping: 2

There was, unexpectedly and somewhat inexplicably, someone else sitting in the kitchen when Alex Rider returned home from school. He'd never seen the stranger before, a teen a couple of years older than him, but he knew that he had heard of him. Alex also knew that he wasn't supposed to have heard of him, which had predictably only made Alex more determined to meet him. Apparently the other, slouching in a chair and eating from a pack of chips appropriated from the kitchen, had had the same urge.

But then, if the government was keeping something from a person, specifically Alex, then it was probably in Alex's best interests to find out what the hell it was, as quickly as possible. The same probably went for the other teen, who finished his current salt-and-vinegar-flavoured mouthful and then spoke up.

'Alex Rider,' he said calmly, simply stating a fact, and then continued 'Currently associated with MI6.'

Alex paused, and then said slowly 'Jack O'Neill. Currently associated with just about the entire American government but mostly, I think, with the US Air Force.'

O'Neill didn't say anything, but an appreciative smile curved the edges of his mouth. Alex took advantage of the pause to sit down before another shock could turn up and make him wish that he was.

'I think we should talk.'

'Yeah,' Alex said.

-end-