This is the final installment of my story. I hope you all have enjoyed it!

Window

Alex looked out the car window at the new residence hall building. His eighteen year old son Jackson was following in Sabina's footsteps. He was going to college at the University of San Francisco and today Alex and Sabina were helping him move into his dorm. Sabina had been sad and sentimental for most of the summer. Today, walking into the residence hall carrying a box labeled "clothes" it was finally starting to become real for Alex. He knew he wasn't going to cry, but the situation was making him reflect on the past eighteen years of his life.

Jackson had certainly lived up to his namesake. He'd graduated as Salutatorian of his class and had been the football team's quarterback. Alex was glad that his son had had the opportunity to just be a normal teenager, something that he hadn't been able to experience himself. Like Jack Starbright, Jackson always knew the right thing to say. His younger sister Gianna, now fourteen, could not have grown up with a better older brother. Jackson also had Jack's opinion about cooking, he could not be bothered to spend time making food for himself, always opting for microwavable meals, much to the dismay of Sabina who loved being in the kitchen.

To put it simply, Alex Rider could not be more proud of his son.

Once they had everything sorted, it was time for Alex and Sabina to leave.

"I'm going to miss you, Jackson. You can call home anytime; don't let the other students tell you different. And you are invited to come home any weekend you want!" Sabina said as she hugged him goodbye. "Remember to stay true to who you are. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm talking about you, Jackson!" She continued before kissing him on the cheek and pulling away.

Alex stepped up to his son, "I can't tell you how proud I am of you. This is a new chapter of your life, so I want you to enjoy it. Take advantage of new opportunities, befriend new people, and make sure to visit us once in a while so your mom doesn't worry!" Alex put out his hand for the clichéd father-son goodbye handshake.

He was surprised when his son took the initiative to hug him. "I'm gonna miss you guys. Thank you for everything you've done for me so far. I can't express my gratitude for the childhood that you were able to provide to me, even though you didn't get to have a great childhood yourself." When Jackson pulled away, Alex saw a tear in his son's eye.

Alex couldn't take it anymore, between Jackson's kind words and Sabina's free flowing tears, he lost control of his usually steely demeanor. His voice broke as he said, "Goodbye, son, see you soon."

Sabina and Alex walked back to their car hand in hand.

Risk

Alex was awoken by his cell phone ringing on his nightstand. He read the screen; it was 3:26 AM and his son-in-law Steve was calling.

"Hello?" He yawned as he answered.

"Sorry to wake you Alex."

"Is everything alright, Steve? Is it about Gianna?"

He was half asleep, but the fear in Steve's voice was unmistakable. "I had to drive her to the hospital. I'm in a waiting room right now so I don't know what's going on. There was a lot of blood on the sheets. We think she might have miscarried."

An hour later Alex, Sabina, and Steve were joined in the waiting room by Jackson. He explained that Paige was at home with the kids as it was a school night.

A woman dressed in scrubs came into the room, "Mr. Carlson?"

Steve stood up and walked over to the nurse. "I'm Steve Carlson."

"Your wife is going to be okay, but the babies didn't survive."

The words sunk in and Steve looked like he may get sick.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Carlson."

"What happened?" he asked. He couldn't believe that the twins were gone.

"Usually it's too hard to tell. Your wife had a high risk pregnancy. Between your difficulty conceiving in the first place, the fact that she was carrying multiples, and with her gestational diabetes, there are just too many factors that could have contributed."

The Riders had overheard the entire discussion. Alex was crestfallen. When they had first learned that Gianna had finally been gotten pregnant they were overjoyed. When they heard that she was carrying twins it had been even better news. Now all of that excitement had vanished in one horrible night.

Convincing

Sabina pushed the wheelchair carrying her husband up the makeshift plywood ramp leading up to their house's porch. Upon opening the door, Alex was greeted by seven eager voices shouting "Welcome home!"

Jackson, his wife Paige, their two kids, Gianna, her husband Steve, and their newly adopted daughter all smiled down at Alex. Today was his first day home in three weeks. He'd been involved in a high speed chase and he had flipped his police cruiser. At sixty years old, two broken vertebrae and a cracked pelvis were going to require a lot of physical therapy.

Taking in the "Get Well Soon" balloons, confetti, and cake made Alex smile and laugh harder than he had since before the accident.

"Thank you guys! This is such a great surprise after being in that hospital bed for so long!"

Jackson's seven year old daughter Ella came up next to the wheelchair, "I'm so glad you're home grandpa!" She kissed him on the cheek, "You get the first piece of cake, okay?"

"Thanks, Ella. Though before we eat that cake, I have an announcement for everyone. Sabina and I were talking on the way here. I'm going to retire from the police force. I planned to retire in a few years anyway, but a broken back changes things."

"He didn't need much convincing!" added Sabina, and the family laughed.

Door

Alex opened the door to the hospice room. His beautiful wife of forty-five years was asleep in the bed.

He couldn't believe that this was happening, Sabina was going to die. It was inevitable. The cancer was incurable and at this point she probably had less than a month to live.

He thought back to his teen years. He'd faced death on every mission that MI6 had sent him on. He'd even survived a gunshot wound to the chest. Sabina had always been there for him.

When Jack had died he'd gone to America to live with Sabina. They'd gotten married and had two children. He'd been a police officer for thirty-five years.

Alex Rider had always thought that he would die before his wife. He'd faced two dangerous careers in his lifetime. He couldn't count the number of times he'd been shot at, the number of lives he had taken. He'd had the luck of the devil to have survived it all. He'd always figured that one day he wouldn't come home. The assassination attempt when he was fourteen and flipping the police car at sixty had come the closest to taking him away from Sabina. And women lived longer on average than men. But now cancer was going to take her away from him.

He sat in the chair beside Sabina's bed. He tenderly placed her hand in his and sat there savoring the feeling.

Childhood

At age eighty-four Alex decided that he wanted to die where he'd spent his childhood. Moving to California hadn't been his choice, but he stayed for Sabina and Mr. and Mrs. Pleasure. But now they were all long dead. His children were now grandparents themselves. He'd written in his will that he wanted to be buried next to Sabina and set money aside in an account so that his family could transport his body back to the United States when the time finally came.

Alex's children weren't so sure about their father's plan, but they knew that his mind was made up. He'd taken it upon himself to find a senior living facility in Chelsea.

A month back home had brought Alex's accent back full-fledged. Today Alex was going to do something that he'd been dreaming of doing for several decades. When he'd brought his children to London as elementary schoolers the idea struck him.

Today he got into a cab and traveled to Liverpool Street's branch of Royal and General bank. He paid his fare and entered the building. The first time that he had entered the lobby had been seventy years before. It had been the day that Alex had climbed out on the window ledge and hung from the Union Jack in order to get into his uncle Ian's office.

The lobby had modernized somewhat, but it looked quite like he remembered it. He approached the main desk.

"May I speak with the head of MI6's special operations?"

The man behind the desk gave Alex a look of disbelief. "I'm sorry sir, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't give me any of that rigmarole. I know more about it than you ever will. I'm not a senile old man, though I am the latter. But I'm definitely not senile."

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"No, I want you to call up to the sixteenth floor. Tell them that Alex Rider is here."

A change came over the man's face.

"Oh, so you've heard of me! Don't deny it! Please, just call up to the special operation's head."

The man behind the desk did what he asked.

Up on the sixteenth floor a woman was asked to run a facial recognition program on the elderly man on lobby camera number one. It matched exactly with an old photo of a teenager.

The man behind the lobby desk hung up the phone. He couldn't believe that this old man in front of him was going to be allowed up. "Mr. Rider, please enter elevator number four."

And that's a wrap! I want to thank all of you wonderful readers and reviewers for coming along for the ride.