Fox gets surprise visitors on his birthday. Happy birthday, Rainstripe!
It was six o'clock in the morning when Benjamin Daniel's doorbell rang. His first thought was who he knew that would ring his doorbell at six o'clock in the morning; his answer was nobody good. It could be Crawley, coming to collect him for another mission… except that he'd just gone on one, and he'd advocated enough for himself that he'd been able to get three weeks' leave between missions.
So who could it be? He mentally ran through the options in his head. It probably wasn't a bad guy or a perpetrator; they wouldn't be ringing the doorbell. They'd just barge in and shoot him. So, at the very least, it wasn't an assassin. But who was it, then? With a heavy sigh in his heart, Benjamin Daniels, known as Fox to his former comrades, slipped on a shirt and opened the door.
"What the hell?" he demanded, seeing the friendly faces of the K-Unit standing there.
"Well, dude, you going to let us in, or not?" Eagle said, not even giving him a chance to answer. He pushed past Fox, and looked around. "Nice flat, mate. They never did tell us what happened after you got 'kicked out' of the SAS."
"Why are you here at six o'clock in the morning?" Fox asked, yawning as he looked at his team. Wolf broke out in a grin; glad to see his comrade alive. Snake blushed sheepishly. The fourth intruder looked like he was about half asleep.
…it couldn't be Cub, could it? Cub had sworn that the one mission he'd worked alone with Fox was the only mission that he had had. Now it looked like that was a lie. But how could Fox know?
"To celebrate your birthday, mate! Duh," Eagle said, as if Fox was the most clueless man in the world. He glanced around the room. "Where can I put this cake?" he added, gesturing at what he was carrying.
"On the table." Fox dropped down to the couch. "How did you find my house? And… how did you get here so early? And what is Cub doing here?"
"Nice to know I'm so welcome," the now sixteen-year-old said, blushing. "They sent me for my annual refresher week in hell. How come I have one, even though I'm MI6, and you don't have one, even though you're MI6?"
"How do you know my address?" Fox asked, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he was, indeed, seeing his unit again. He had been told to cut all ties with his former life, with the exception of Cub, when he had asked to keep in contact that way.
"A mysterious Cub gave it to us," Eagle said, shooting a grin at Alex in case Fox had any misinformation about who it could possibly be. "Where's the bathroom?" at that, he followed Eagle's point.
"I told you to use it before you left, Eagle," Wolf said as he sat down on the couch.
"Welcome, mate, glad to see you again," Snake said. It was clear he felt the most awkward, although he wasn't sure why.
"Come on, Snake, take a seat," Fox encouraged. "So, Wolf, I'm glad you haven't killed Eagle yet."
"Yeah, well, the sergeant said he wouldn't bail me out if I killed him, so…" Wolf just shrugged and looked passive.
"Ah," Fox said. "So how did you get a day off? Why are you here so early? Why…"
"Do give the good man a chance to explain," Snake quipped. He nodded towards Wolf. "His idea, he's the mastermind. Well, him and Eagle," he said.
"Eagle's idea, really," Wolf said. "He said that he wanted to visit you for awhile. He said you'd made the – and I quote – mistake of telling you when his birthday was. He went to the sergeant, and I swear I don't know what he did, but the man gave us a day off today."
"I didn't torture the man, Wolf, I promise," Eagle said with a pouty face as he came back from the bathroom. "I tried to get information about your SAS kick-out, and he wouldn't give us that, so I ended up asking if we could have a day off to visit you on your birthday. By the way, Wolf, he said we could have two days off."
"Two days off?" Wolf said. "Why didn't you tell me that, and why do I not want to believe you?"
"He said he was going to make up some story about an appointment if anyone asked or something. He also said we were supposed to leave early in the morning because then nobody would see us leave camp."
Wolf shrugged. "Well, technically, we're still on duty-ish, and I know none of us want Eagle having any alcohol, so…"
"So I think it's time for us to celebrate," Fox said, getting up with a stretch. "Thanks for this, guys," he said. "I thought I'd have to celebrate my birthday alone, for sure."
"Well, you should really thank Eagle, and whatever he did to torture the sergeant," Wolf quipped.
"I told you, I didn't torture the sergeant!" Eagle responded. He mock-glared at Wolf, and Wolf stared right back. Finally, Eagle confessed. "I may have told them that I had a secret stash of red bull that would come out if I didn't get my way."
"See?" Wolf said with a gesture. "Torture."
Fox broke out in a grin. He was too excited to have someone to celebrate his birthday with too care.
"Well, come on," Snake said, getting up. "Who wants to cut the cake?" he asked, looking around the room. As Eagle made to raise his hand, he hastily added, "Not you, Eagle. Not after left time."
"Aw, come on," Eagle said. At Fox's confused work, he elaborated. "It went something like this…"
FINIS
Happy birthday, Rainstripe!