The Name's Alex

Chapter Three

Jerking with a start, Alex gazes around the dimly lit room with wide eyes. Blood pounding in his ears, skin prickling with sweat, and muscles tense. Struggling to breath, he takes a moment to scan the room for any immediate signs of danger. Once reassured to see only the faint sun shining through the windows and Tom's sleeping form does he slowly relax.

'It... It was a dream...Nothing happened...You're fine, Tom's fine...You're safe now...'

With a shaky, deep breath, Alex sighs in defeat when he sees the clock reading 4:47 a.m.

'So much for sleeping in.'

Getting out of bed, Alex peeks around the window curtains to see the sun covered with clouds, barely visible. Backing away, he carefully opens the closet door, careful to not disturb his brother. After grabbing a blue, long sleeved flannel and a pair of black jeans he quietly walks into the hallway bathroom for a quick shower.

The hot shower loosens the tension in his back, traces of his nightmare melting away. Once done Alex tosses his sweat soaked night clothes into the laundry basket in the closet before quietly going downstairs to the kitchen.

Today would be the teenager's first day of school in Forks, first day of living their new lives. The three of them had gone into town Saturday for school supplies and bedroom essentials. Afterwards Eagle took the two of them to a local diner with a couple of jocks outside. Tom immediately made fun of how Americans would walk around with their pants down. He said, and quote, "It looks like they took a dump in their pants and now their bloomers are just hanging out for everyone to see". To which Eagle found that hilarious and started laughing his ass off in the diner.

Sunday was a bit more exciting. Eagle had taken the teens to the shooting range so Tom could learn the basics and Alex could brush up. There had been a couple slipups with calling Eagle "Charlie", but luckily there weren't many people there. Tom got the basics down pretty quickly, but Eagle said he wanted them to go there again every weekend if possible since they're becoming his pupils. So weird.

In the kitchen, Alex makes a bowl of oatmeal as he waits for the coffee to brew. He's just about finished when Eagle comes down in his police uniform, giving the blonde a smile. "Hey, Al. You sure get up early."

Shrugging, he gestures upstairs. "What can I say, when I live in a room with that lazy bum you tend to not get enough sleep with his snoring." Alex lies, not wanting to worry him or Tom about his nightmare, especially since this probably won't be the last of them.

Eagle glances at the clock on the wall while pouring himself a mug of coffee. "Alright, well you might want to wake Tom up if you two want me to drop you two off on time."

Looking at the clock, Alex puts his bowl and mug in the dishwasher. "Alright, thanks!" Dashing upstairs, he opens their bedroom door and immediately jump on Tom's bed while shaking him. "Tommy boy! Wakey, wakey!"

Sleepily, Tom tries to kick him off, unsuccessfully since Alex continues to bug him. "Alex! Give me five more minutes!" He groans, pulling the blanket over his head.

Unable to stop himself from rolling his eyes, Alex gets off and pulls the blanket off of him. "Come on, Tom." Tossing the blanket to the other side of the room, he walks over to the window and pulls the curtains open. "We're going to be late for school if you don't get up." He shakes his head at the groan Tom gives him. "Eagle made pancakes down-"

"PANCAKES!" Tom yells, jumping out of bed quickly.

He rushes to pull on his blue jeans and the green sweatshirt he had laid out on his chair as he rushes downstairs. Chuckling, Alex grabs their backpacks off the ground and Tom's phone before going downstairs.