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Looooong

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That evening, Wolf came home to an empty flat.

He wasn't sure how he knew. Alex could have just been in his room doing homework. Sure, he was normally already zapping their microwaved dinners by now - knowing and expecting that Wolf would be home at the designated time - or possibly cooking something instead. But that didn't mean he had to be. Alex was a teenager, after all. Teenagers didn't tend to do well with scheduals.

But Alex wasn't a normal teenager.

For him... not being here, at this time, was unusual. It struck a chord of disharmony.

He enetered the flat carefully, not needing to see signs of trouble in order to be prepared for them.

Then he spotted the note on the table. It had been kept safe from drafts by the keys left on top of it.

Still moving silently, he picked it up and read it.

I'll be out for a while.

There's enough dinners left for the rest of the week. 

And, underneath the two lines, a small pen-drawn image.

A paw-print.

If he hadn't been so worried, he'd have chuckled.

'Out for a while' coupled with a reference to how many dinners were left..? From what he'd learnt of Alex, that was a subtle indication that he'd likely be gone for a few days. At least.

He frowned, put the note down and took another look around the strangely empty flat.

It was odd.. he'd never cared about coming home before. Just like he'd never cared about the cleaning or getting more food than his late-night trips to the Deli produced... His flat had just been the place he slept at the end of the day. The place he'd often leave for weeks at a time.

But he'd.. grown used to Alex being there. He'd gotten used to coming home to find lights on, dinner almost ready and a quietly humerous boy who kept on surprising him with his wit and wisdom.

He sighed and dumped the rest of his gear, before picking up the frozen dinner that had been left out for him and popping it into the microwave.

This, more than anything, drove home the simple fact that Alex wasn't some kid he'd taken in.

He was an Agent with MI6. He was a 15 year old government employee who was off risking his life for crown and country instead of doing his homework or trying not to do his homework.

And he, James, wasn't in any kind of position to do anything about it.

**************

Four days later, there was a knock at the door.

James turned down the volume, thew the remote at Dave and then left to open the door.

It was Cub.

He was dirty and dishevilled, his hair matted and his clothes scuffed and torn.

"Hey." The kid said quietly. He stood slouched, partly due to his youth and partly due to the exaustion painfully visible on his face. His hands were stuffed into his jacket pockets and one scuffed trainer slid over the ground as he shifted his weight.

"Uh. Can I come in?" The kid asked at length and Wolf realised with a start that he had in fact been blocking the doorway as he stared.

"Of course." He said, stepping aside. His sharp eyes picked up a definate limp in Alex's stride. He was also definately trying to hide it.

The kid was quiet, even moreso than usual. He walked down the hall with his head down and gaze focused only on the ground in front of him. As he passed the doorway to the loungeroom, there was a chorus of noise as the rest of the team spotted him.

"Cub!"
"Alex!"
"Hey! The Prodigal Son!"

Alex looked up, startled. The guys in the living room were hauling themselves up to greet him and Alex looked frankly ready to bolt.

"What happened?"
"Where'd you go?"
"You don't write, you don't call... I felt some serious lack of love, Cub."

James just stood back and watched as the rest of his team came and hung over Cub, being their usual boisterous and noisy selves. He noticed - as he was sure they did too - that Cub seemed to be shrinking in on himself rather than reciprocating.

"Hey, he just got in. Back off." He ordered gruffly. His team just grinned at him, the insubordinate yobs.

"Good to see you all in one piece, though." Fox told Alex, one hand moving to ruffle his hair. He snatched the hand back at the same moment that Alex flinched away from it.

"Ergh yuck." The man comented, looking at his hand then at Alex's hair. "Time for a shower, kiddo."
He got an elbow in the gut from Snake, along with a muttered rebuke that seemed to go along the lines of 'And I thought Neal was insensitive'.

Alex didn't even nod or - for that matter - raise his head to make eye contact.

"Yeah." The teen muttered. He turned slightly, looking towards him. Wolf jerked his head in reply, instinctively understanding that Alex was seeking permission to use the shower.

"Go ahead." He said. "Ignore these twats. As soon as they realise they're missing Manchester's crushing defeat in the last two minutes, they'll bugger off."

His words were met with a storm of denial and derision, although they did foot it back into the living room rather fast. Alex just stood there for a few moments, looking tired and begraggled. Then, he too turned to leave - albeit at a much slower pace.

"Alex." Wolf spoke, uncertain once again as to just how he was supposed to interact with the kid, but too stubborn to just let the issue lie.
"Are you alright?" His tone wasn't so much of the politely-querying nature, but more of the 'You'd better tell me or else' nature.

Alex just nodded.

"Fine. Tired. I'mna take a shower then go to bed. K?" He muttered, his back still to him. He also didn't wait for a reply, before continuing on.

Behind him, Wolf frowned even more darkly, before moving to the doorway of the loungeroom, where he stood until he heared Alex's door open - presumably the kid was collecting some clothes to change into - and then the bathroom door click shut and the shower start.

As he fully entered the living room, he was utterly unsurprised to see his team's equally serious eyes on him.

After a moment of silence, Snake spoke. "Sunday tomorrow. Mind if we camp here?"

Fox followed his lead, stretching out on the floor against the couch. "Yeah, I'm stuffed. And we were going to do something tomorrow anyway, right?"

Eagle grinned as Wolf rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He said. He paused on his way out as he remembered something.
"You know..." He said slowly. "The sports coach from Alex's school called this morning. Apparently Alex is first string for some match that's on tomrorrow.. he was calling to see if - what with the last few days of school that he's missed - he'd be coming or not."

The men traded amused and - in Eagle's case - devious looks.

"And, what'd you say?" Fox asked innocently. Wolf felt an answering grin tug at his lips.
"I told him he should be fine, but that I'd call him first thing in the morning if anything changed." He replied, shrugging slightly.

"So... I guess he'll be going, then?" Snake asked.

"If he's well enough." Wolf answered evenly. "And I suppose you lot want to go too, do you?"

The grins on their faces were answer enough.

"For moral support." Snake insisted. Eagle nodded. "We'd be remiss as teammates if we didn't." He claimed - remarkably with a straight face.

**************

(Next morning, after they're all up and waiting for an uncharacteristically-late-riser Alex)

"I'll get him!" Eagle volunteered, bounding over the Alex's closed door. He banged on it, loudly.

"Yoo-hooo! Alllleeeeex! Are you awake?" He called in a mockingly sing-song tone, knowing full well that if Alex hadn't been awake before he would be now.
Sure enough there was a muffled thud on the other side of the door, accompanied by a bout of swearing.

"You 'right?" He asked automatically, hand hovering over the door handle. There was a muttered reply - something he couldn't quite catch - then the door swung open and Alex stood before him.

The teen was rumpled with sleep, his over-large shirt slipping off one shoulder and his glaring eyes somewhat softened by the bleariness that follows being abruptly awakened from a deep sleep.

The hand that snapped up to shield his eyes from the bright morning light, however, was what really caught his attention.

"Shit." Eagle breathed, catching it in both of his own hands and holding it gingerly for a look. The skin of Alex's palm was stripped raw and blistered.

"It's just rope burn." The teenage said dismissively, trying to tug it away. Eagle look up sharply and scanned his face.

The kid wasn't trying to be tough or fishing for concern. He just looked... well, tired. And utterly unconcerned - at least, in regards to his hand. From the way he was eyeing his bed, it looked like he'd be willing to get violent if that's what it took to get back to it.

"Nasty rope burn." Eagle corrected, just shy of reprimanding. "Nasty metal rope burn, if I'm any judge. Why isn't this bandaged up?"

Alex shifted his gaze back to him. It was flat and chillingly dislocated.

"I ran out." The kid said mechanically, gesturing with his un-held hand to his wardrobe. "I'll get some later. You know. When I'm awake?"

Eagle grinned as a little of the Alex he knew stirred in the kid's eyes.

"So you're not awake now, huh?" He asked teasingly as he released his grip. Alex shook his head, one corner of his lips twitching.
"No." He deadpanned. "I'm asleep in bed right now. This conversation with you isn't happening. Goodnight."

He made to close the door again but Eagle was faster. A second later Alex had been lifted up and over his shoulder, the teen so startled that he didn't even begin to struggle until they were half way down the hall.

"Sorry Cub!" Eagle said cheerfully over the sound of Alex demanding to be put down. "Wolf's orders. We're all headed out, see, and my job was to drag you out of bed. You know what Wolf's like, I didn't want to get on his bad side."

"Oh yeah?" Alex growled from over his shoulder. "Well you're getting on my bad side now. Put me down before we hit the living room and I won't make your life miserable as only an MI6 agent can, got me?"

Eagle stopped and grinned broadly to himself before he pretended to consider it.

"Tell you what." He bargained. "I'll let you keep some dignity, if you let me patch that hand up for you. And whatever else you haven't taken care of. Deal?"

There was a mutinous silence.

"Oooorrr.." Eagle began warningly, moving again. "I could just carry you out in front of all the guys, in your PJs and unable to get off my shoulder...?"

Alex swore. At least, he assumed it was swearing. it wasn't in a language he recognised.

"Fine. Deal." Alex said grudgingly.

Beaming with victory, Eagle slid him to he ground. Alex scowled at him.

"The first aid kit's in the kitchen." He said shortly. "If Wolf says we can use it, bring it to my room. I'll be finished changing by then." that said, the teen turned and stalked back to his darkened bedroom.

Eagle stared after him thoughtfully.

'If Wolf says we can use it...?' He murmered to himself softly, questioningly. Even after two months now, there was still that weird distance between Wolf and Cub. To his credit, James was actively trying to reach out to the kid - much to the amusement of the rest of his unit - but despite Alex's quiet, polite, kind and laid-back personality.. it was nevertheless him that was still holding back. It was driving James up the wall, he knew..

But what was it? Lack of trust? Alex had apprently told Wolf to his face that he trusted him. And Alex rarely lied to them. Possibly because his status as a spy meant he had to lie to everyone else. Then what? Where was this instinctive distance coming from? Maybe Alex himself didn't even know...

Abruptly, the man shook himself. This was something to discuss with James later. For now, he had a teenager - who completely lacked the melodramatic 'pity me' sense of self-focus that most kids his age had - to look after.

Because he had no doubt that the kid sported more than a ripped-up hand.

********************

"Are you going to be 'right, playing with those hands?"

Eagle felt his lips twitch upwards at the gruff concern in Wolf's voice. It never failed to amuse him how his tougher-than-nails CO turned into such a softie around Cub.

Well. 'Soft' being relevant. He didn't swear at him, at least. Well, mostly. And hardly ever strongly, that he'd heared.

And he was so.. so awkward. It was painfully amusing to watch him feel his way out in the tentative, undefined relationship he and Cub had going. Cub himself didn't help of course.. the kid was a walking contradiction. Calm, poised and self-assured, he gave off the air of total self-sufficiency.. but he'd slip, sometimes. Little things which would suddenly alter your whole perception.

Not being able to reach the top cupboards. Homework. His seemingly entrenched belief that they didn't really want him around.

If it was confusing for him, on the outside, to see Cub go from MI6 Special Agent to soft-spoken teenager.. It must've been twice as bad for Wolf. Especially as he was pretty sure the act of being nice was almost physically painful for the other man.

And yet.. he was trying.

"It's fine, really. Football. You know."

And that was Cub. Just as awkward as Wolf, just as tentative in his interactions. Of course, he was allways a little more formal and distant when he was injured...
... And it bothered him that Cub had been injured enough - in the short time that he'd known him - for him to see and recognise that behavioural habit.

"So, who're you playing?" Snake threw in. The four of them were walking to the school grounds, it being both a good way to warm up for Cub and a discrete way to check his operational status prior to throwing him in the game. If he looked at all poorly by the time they got to school, Wolf'd pull him out of the day's match before it even began.

"St Michael's." Cub had certainly got the hang of succient answers. Briefly, he wondered if that had developed from promixity to the military or proximity to Wolf.

"They any good?" Snake continued the conversation genially. Alex shrugged, the movement looking a little stiff, though he showed no sign of pain.
"I don't know." He answerd quietly. "I play football because sport is required and it's... relaxing. I don't really pay attention to gossip or league standings. They.. they just don't... matter. You know?"

"You can't go in with that kind of attitude." A darkly rempramanding voice cut in. Eagle rolled his eyes. Sometimes Wolf was like the poster image for SAS values and behaviour.

Sickening.

Alex turned around, so that he was walking backwards, and quirked a smile at his guardian/commanding officer. "I'm only going because not going would cause even more speculation about me. It's bad enough being a drug runner or a gang member or whatever I am this week, without also getting a reputation as someone who lets the team down at important matches."

"So it is important then?" Fox queried. Alex just shrugged. "They think so." He answered diffidently

Further conversation was thwarted, when an excited young voice yelled out Alex's name. Alex turned around, noticing his teammates pull together almost unconciously.

The boy who called him was one Alex barely knew. A name sprang to mind - Josh - but little more than that. The other teen was dressed in his uniform and has his football shoes hung over his shoulder - tied by their laces.

"Hey, Alex!" The teen panted, as he came to walk alongside the other boy. "I didn't think you'd show up!" He glanced warily at the four-strong following.
"er.. who're they?" He whispered. Alex didn't know whether to wince or smile at how audible the boy's 'whisper' was.

"That's my new guardian, and his friends." He explained at a normal volume, his own tone suggesting it was completely normal that four older males - who barely knew him - werer coming to his school football match.

By the look Josh was giving him, however, he didn't concurr.

"They want to watch a match against St Michael's?" He asked dubiously. Alex shrugged, feeling a smile play over his lips.
"What can I say? They're very excitable." He explained with mock resignation. The affronted noise from behind him made him grin.

"We are not excitable!" Eagle voiced loudly, causing Josh to glance back. The other teen semeed a little wary of the men, possibly because two of them looked irritable, one looked outraged and the other faintly amused.

"No, that's very true, I suppose." Alex conceeded without turning around. "If they were excitable, they'd have found some thing to do on a Sunday morning, other than playing cheerleaders for a public-school football match." He finished with a mocking sigh. "I guess they just have no lives." He said, shaking his head sadly.

"Alright. That's it." Alex heard Eagle cry from behind him. He was prepared for the attack from behind and stepped smoothly out of the way.

What he was not prepared for, unfortunately, was the double-teaming of Snake and Fox right after. The two men grabbed him and shoved him against the wall - gently, but firmly - and twisted his arms up behind his back.

They weren't being rough, merely exerting the minimum force required, but Alex's arms had already been twisted pretty savagely over the last few days and he was unable to keep a grimace of pain from his face. And that aside.. it was unsettingly unwelcome to be held powerless again, but this time from his almost-friends.

"Get off me." He ground out, voice low with unintentional threat. He felt the grip on his arms loosen - probably in surprise at his overreaction to a little harmless horseplay - and twisted out of their hold. For one frightening moment he could feel his mind viewing them as enemies. He felt his fingers twitch, as his instincts tried to lash out and his concious mind slapped the notion firmly down.

Belatedly, he noticed his hands were tembling slightly. It was baffling.. he'd certainly not felt any true adrenline rush, so what was wrong with him?
He folded his arms across his chest, both to hide his hands from view and in embarresment at his reaction.

They probably think I'm a total wuss. He thought miserably. He almost opened his mouth to apologise, but even the idea of it made him edgy.
Instead, he just stepped quietly past his motionless teammates and back to Josh's side, walking forwards again as if nothing had happened.

Josh kept pace, shooting him strange looks. His team followed silently.

The walk to the oval was awkward, despite Josh's attempts at starting casual conversations, and Alex's impeccably polite, yet stilted answers.

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"I'm surprised they dropped him back, the way he is." Fox remarked, as the four men walked along the bleachers. "Bad enough they ignored standard proceedure and didn't pass him through medical before returning him, but to drop his required psychological consult too? What the hell are they playing at?"

Fox, a man normally as easy-going as one could find, was pale with anger.

"Why do you think he wasn't..?"
"How did you know they didn't put him through..?"

Snake and Eagle asked at the same time.

Fox shrugged and sat down. "I don't know really. A combination of things. First of all, I saw you grab the first aid kit, Neal. Therefore, logically, he required patching up this morning - something that shouldn't have happened if he'd been through medical."

Wolf sat down on Fox's other side and frowned at Eagle. "What was wrong with him?" He demanded. "Damned kid said he was fine last night."

Eagle sighed. "Yeah, well, I'm starting to think that kid would insist he was fine up to and unless his guts were spilling onto the floor. Even then, he'd be more concerned about the tripping hazard posed to others." He shrugged tiredly. "When I woke him up, I found his hands raw and blistered. When I coerced him into letting me fix them up, he told me he'd fallen down and a metal cable had been the only thing he'd been able to grab on to. It pulled free of one of it's supports and he basically abseiled down the rest of the building - apparently he was escaping at the time - letting the cord run through his bare hands and catching it when he needed to stop." He saw the shocked wince on his friend's faces. "Yeah." he agreed bitterly. "Cub did mention how it was 'annoyingly difficult' to keep his grip, what with all the blood making it slick.

Wolf's face was set, not with anger, but more dark irritation.

"I've got to work on that kid's ability to follow orders." He growled. "When I ask if he's alright, I don't want to be lied to. 'Fine' indeed. Next time he says that I'm going to damn well strip him down to make sure."

The other three burst out laughing.

"That may just creep him out irreperably, Jamie!" Matt laughed. "No amount of counselling would cure that!"

Wolf snorted, but his mood lifted a little. That didn't make him look any less terryfying, however, when he glowered at a small girl who'd been about to sit next to him. The girl - surely no older than 7 or 8 - screamed and fled back to her parents.

Ignoring both her and his friends' scolding grins, he turned his attention back to Eagle. "Anything else?" He asked. Eagle nodded, his grin slipping away.

"Yeah. Cub mentioned that he'd 'run out', when I asked him why he hadn't bandaged his hands already. I managed to get him to show me a little more, by threatening to go get you, but I'm not certain if that was everything or just what he was willing to admit to. His arms and chest were pretty cut up. He said that he'd gotten close and personal with several glass walls, one after the other, but refused to elaborate. Most of them had been disinfected and bandaged - the worst of them anyway. The rest, it looked like he just washed them, disinfected them, then dried them off and left 'em. Just from looking at them, though, you can tell the first aid was self-given. Here and there it was downright sloppy, although I can understand that it must've been hard to reach some areas around his back and shoulders. I had to pick out three slivers of glass that he'd missed."

Wolf nodded. "He was exausted last night." He said quietly. "If that was when he did it, then I'm amazed he stayed awake long enough to even try."

Snake, sitting the bleacher behind Fox, leaned forwards with a frown. "And we're letting him play football.. why?"

Wolf scowled. "Because I'm a bloody useless guardian." He grumbled. "As well as CO, apparently." He cast a speculative look down at the field, where the kids were aimlessly wandering around - some of them stretching but most of them just chatting. Cub was visible by the long-sleeved shirt he'd chosen to wear - most kids wore short sleeves, even in this reasonably chilly weather - due to all the running around they'd soon be doing. He was on one knee, checking one of his shin pads.

"Maybe we should just grab him and go home. Or to the hospital, or something." He said slowly, clearly uncertain which idea was best. It was unusual to see Wolf in any way uncertain of what to do, but then the guy did seem to second-guess himself a lot when it came to Cub.

A shrill whistle broke through the air and kids from both teams started streaming towards their starting positions.

"Or not." He finished.

The four men turned their attention to the match. If Cub faltered, they'd drag him to a hospital. If not, they'd do everyhing in their power to embarress the life out of him.


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