ALEX

Alex slipped his suit jacket on. Stepping out into the hall, Alex nervously ran a hand through his hair. This would either go well, or very very poorly.

Cheri leaned against the wall in the alcove in the hallway. She grinned at Alex when she saw him and squealed. “Aww, you’re ADORABLE!”

Alex rolled his eyes and narrowly dodged her flailing arms. “Okay, okay, calm down. Let’s go downstairs before this gets any more embarrassing.”

The two walk down the hallway in a tense silence. Both of them were nervous beyond belief. Cheri less so, but only because she didn’t have a history with Levi. Alexander, on the other hand…

The two headed downstairs and made their way to the living room, where Sami waited. He stood by the doorway, waiting patiently, but Alex noted a certain air of nervousness around him. He knew the stakes for this mission as well as Alex.

“You two ready to go?” Sami said, pushing away from the wall to stand in front of them.

“Depends on your definition of ready,” Alex mumbled.

“You’ll be fine!” Sami said, smiling.

“Hm. What did Saren say?” Cheri asked.

“See for yourself.”

Alex turned to see Saren stepping out of the dining room, and had to do a double-take.

He hadn’t ever seen Saren in anything other than a casual outfit, but the suit he wore now made it difficult to believe this was the same man who joked around and cooked for them everyday.

Alexander had to work to keep his thoughts from wandering. He needed to focus on this mission, not on the fact that Saren was unacceptably hot.

He was already failing. 

Instead, he walked up to Saren. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Saren’s gaze remained passive as he looked down at Alex. “Do you not trust me?”

“No! It’s not that, it’s just… you don’t have to do this.” Alex said softly. “You didn’t exactly ask for this kind of life.”

“You’re right. I didn’t.” Saren replied. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t. I don’t know exactly what happened with Xero, but I know I’ve heard the name before from Forrester.” Alex flinched slightly at the name. “And I want to help. Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.”

Alex smiled up at Saren. “Okay. I trust you.”

Alex grabbed Saren’s hand and led him back towards Sami and Cheri. “Ready to go, boss!” He said cheerfully. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cheri grinning at him.

He quickly let go of Saren’s hand.

Sami nodded towards the doorway. “Unfortunately for you, Maya took the car. Fortunately for you, the party’s only a couple blocks away.”

“While I’m glad it’s close, isn’t it a little too close?” Saren asked.

Sami rolled his eyes. “Yeah. He probably did it intentionally, the bastard.”

“And… you’re not worried?”

“Nah. We’ve moved since the last time he was in town.” Sami glanced at Alex, who lowered his eyes. Sami’s gaze hardened. “He doesn’t know where we are, and it’s gonna stay that way.”

Saren nodded, noting the change in the room.

Cheri slapped on a cheerful smile. “Well, let's get going! No time to waste!”