From all of us to you.

Author : Aceccentric.
Fandom : Alex Rider.
Pairing : None.
Rate : T

Warning : Not actually Alex's birthday. Bad grammar. Pointless plot. No Beta. OOC. Names maybe misspelling 'cause I don't have English version book.

Summary : Alex Rider stared at the pile of presents in front of him in astonishment and confusion. Two of them were probably from Jack and Tom, but where in hell do the other eight come from?

Note : English is not my first language, so my writing sucks, still have a lot to work on. Please excuse my mistakes, and correct me if I'm wrong.

Disclaimer : Alex Rider belongs to Anthony Horowitz.

Alex Rider stared at the pile of presents in front of him in mix of astonishment and confusion. Two of them were probably from Jack and Tom, he received one from each every year, but where in hell did the other eight come from?

…Ian Rider?

When Alex was young, his uncle used to buy him a lot of birthday presents: hiking equipment, diving set, story books in various languages, etc. (Though now, Alex realized, most of it were for preparing him for his spying days. As if his uncle knew he will need those skills one day.)

So maybe his uncle might decide to rise from grave and buy Alex some presents this year, too?

Alex shook his head to get rid of his ridiculous thoughts.

Ian Rider was dead.

There was no way that those present were from him.

…Which bring Alex back to the previous question,

Who sent him these presents?

Could it be…

MI6?

….

Highly unlikely.

An image of Alan Blunt in his grey suit with his grey hair, grey lips and grey eyes walking in and out from store to store, trying to find a suitable birthday present for his most valuable spy popped into Alex's mind.

…Definitely not going to happen.

MI6 out of the list, Alex thought of other possible organization that could send him presents.

SCORPIA?

And he started to wonder if one would blow up when he open it.

Finally, after considering and contemplating on what could possibly happened for sometimes, Alex shrugged and reached out his arm to grab a box. He wouldn't know until he tried. He opened the two which he knew where they are from first. In case if the other were not safe, he would at least know what his best friends decided to get him this year.

The first was from Jack. She sent him a birthday cake-shape pillow and a card.

She was in America at the moment, taking care of her father. He was injured in a car accident and had to stay in hospital for 2 weeks.

Alex,
Happy Birthday!
Sorry for not be able to celebrated with you this year.
But I promise to you will get a real cake and a party when I get back.
Jack.
Ps. don't get into any trouble when I'm away, alright?

Alex smiled, a little bit sad that she wasn't here, but he understands.

The present from Tom, however, almost freaked him out.

Porn videos.

His best friend gave him porn videos as a birthday present!

Hey, mate!
I thought I would get a pair of soccer cleats, but James has better idea.
He said you really need to get a life. And I agree.
You probably are the only one in our age who never has a date!
Tom Harris and James Sprintz.
Ps. Almost forgot, Happy birthday Al.

Alex felt like he wants to bang his head against the wall. His hands automatically rubbed his temper.

…He REALLY shouldn't introduce those two to each other.

Sighing, Alex set the R-rate videos aside, turning his attention to the remaining presents. Inspect each of them with his eyes carefully, he pick the smallest one. It was a thin silver box, about A6 in size. There was a letter print on the front, above several signatures.

SoPB. It read.

And Alex has to bit back a laugh, remembered the first time he heard that name.

"SoPB?" Alex asked, blinking.

"Don't look at me like that." James Spritnz said. "It's those two's idea." He titled his head toward the two boys sitting at the same table. Both were the people Alex thought he would never see again.

One of the accused, who Alex had once met, chuckled. While the other, who Alex had never met before, looked amuse before elaborated.

"It stands for Survivor of Point Blanc."

Earlier that morning Alex got a big surprise when James Spritnz, Paul Roscoe and Dmitri Ivanov turned up in front of his house. Now, he was sitting with them in an expensive café, talking.

Apparently, Paul had a brilliant idea to contact everybody who had been involved as a victims to that insane plan and see how they were doing.

"Figure that since I have already been stuck with them for months, I should get to know them a little." Paul said. "So I called Dmitri, asking if he want to join the hunt."

Paul told Alex that they were quite close because Dmitri had been Paul's cellmate before James and they have been helping each other coping with their lost. Then the two tracked down the others, which wasn't hard since all of them were well-known. And after visiting, hanging out and mailing one another for sometimes, they formed a group.

"It's easy to be friend with people who share similar lives and been through the same experience. Besides, we can benefit from one another."

"Still, you could use a better name." James grumbled.

Alex quietly observed Paul. He had changed a lot. He was not an angry, rebellious boy Alex met in the cell, but a mature; determine man aiming to follow his father foot step. Alex heard that he was currently learning to function in Roscoe Electronics Company. His father's dead must had a large impact on him.

Dmitri, however, had a different goal. He declared that he has no intention to be like his father and intend to be a doctor.

To be honest, Alex found the Russia boy quite interesting. He was different from the other boys Alex met at Point Blanc. No rebellious, violent or mischief personality, but smart, calm and cool with an almost stoic expression. Not the type that he expected would end up at Point Blanc. Though when Alex voiced his opinion, Dmitri just smiled mysteriously, but didn't elucidate it.

They also told Alex about the other Point Blanc boys. Seem like each of them had different ways to handle the after-effect of the event.

Some, like Hugo, wanted to put the entire incident behind and started a new life. He refused to contact any of them, doesn't want any reminder. Some, like Paul, decided to change and improved themselves. And some remained the same.

In addition, not only the children but also their parents were affected. James and his dad were now on good term, even though it started awkwardly. Both had tried their best to maintain and restore their fragile relationship. James admitted that he was quite happy with it. However, some were not so lucky, like Joe. Dmitri said that his parents blamed him for the incident, saying that it was his own fault for making them sent him to Point Blanc. Last the SoPB heard he was in jail, something about drug.

At the end of the day, they parted, but James, Paul and Dmitri promised to visit again later and Alex found himself looking forward to it.

Unwrapping the present, Alex found a key card. Wonder what it was for, he picked it up and read the information on the back of the card.

To Alex Rider, the honorable member of SoPB.
Just in case.
This card is the key for the fallowing places:

The list ranged from a self house in Japan to a mansion in USA.

"What. The. Hell!" Alex exclaimed. Do rich people normally give other people estates for their birthday?

He quickly grubbed the phone and called James.

"Hello! This is James Sprintz. Obviously I am not here at the moment, so feel free to leave a message. Oh! And if this is Alex, just accept the damn key card. We can't pull you out of your fucking damn job; that is the least we could give you. You save our lives, we own you that much."

There was a 'beep' after the voice mail played.

Alex stared at the phone in shock.

A moment later, a rare tiny sincere smile slowly gazed his lips.

They barely knew him; yet, they concerned about him and even tried to help.

Alex chuckled softly while carefully pocketed the key card and choose another present, which was wrapped in PINK. (Means certainly not from SCORPIA.)

It was from Sabina. She gave him a hand-knitted scarf.

Alex,
Happy birthday.
I knitted it myself so don't you dare comment on it!.
…I miss you.
Sabina.

"I miss you too." Alex whispered, holding the scarf tighter.

When he looked back at the pile of presents, a familiar card caught his eyes. On the front was a teddy bear. There was no message inside, but sure enough when Alex opened the card, the bear began to sing a Birthday song before bursting into flames.

Smithers gave him some of his new inventions. Most of it was quite harmless but useful, like disguise materiel and intercept equipment.

The other four boxes had the same wrapping paper. Alex figured it must come from the same source.

There were from K-unit.

Alex,
Happy birthday!
I don't know what to give you, but I knew you have miss a lot of class this year, so…

Alex grimed, putting his head in his hand. Trust Ben to give him an entire set of textbooks for his birthday. Shaking his head, he moved to the next present.

Little Cubbikin,
Hiya! How are you doing? Wracking havocs lately? Kicking somebody down an airplane? Snowboarding on an ironing board? Bombing any terrorism organization? Anyway…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
The super awesome SAS man. AKA Eagle.

Evidently, Eagle was on sugar high again because he sent Alex a large box of candies.
Alex put it beside Ben's textbooks and opened Snake's presents. It was a special first-aid set for soldier.

Cub,
Happy birthday.
Fox said that you're injured again, hope it's nothing serious.
Take care of yourself and don't forget to rest. Be more careful next time.(If there is next time.)
Snake.

Typical Smothering Snake.

Set it aside, Alex read Wolf's message. Unlike his teammates, it was short and to the point.

Cub,
Happy birthday.
Wolf.

His present was a toy airplane with a controller.

The spy laughed. Wolf must have no idea what to buy for him and just brought whatever the shop keeper suggested for a normal teenager boy. But Alex didn't mind, opposite actually, he appreciated it very much. Because it doesn't matter what Wolf got him, the fact that he DID get Alex something is enough.

There was only one present left now. In was a simple black palm-size box.

He opened it slowly.

Inside was a silver-chain necklace with a dog tag and a tiny sword dangling on it. Only one word carved on the tag.

'Hunter.'

Confused, Alex read the attached note. There was no signature.

Alex,
Your father used to wear a tag like this, but he lost it on one of his mission.
This one is just a replica I get it made for your birthday.
Thought you might like it.

It was written in Russian.

A/N: I'm not sure about the exact date of Alex's birthday. Can someone tell me it's 13 Jan or Feb? Thank you.