Sonny'd had a bad feeling before they entered the damn cave network - add in a creepy tunnel that dead ends at some old statue? Asking for trouble. And Spenser just had to go and touch the damn thing.
Rated T. Age regression/de-aging. Kid fic.
Chapter One
Night vision sights are absolutely useless when a bright light surprises you. More so in a dank, dark cave that had no light sources. By the time Sonny blinked his eyes into use again, the room was dark.
"Spenser?" Sonny called out to his teammate, no response came. "Clay?" A jostling noise drew Sonny closer to the stature in the center of the cave's deadend. A whole foot of space existed between the thing and the wall. Sonny approached it with weapon at the ready.
Well damn. Sonny was going to rub this one in. Mock his bad feelings, Spenser, do it. Remember what happened in Tibet?
On the ground was a three-foot-something boy lying in Spenser's gear. Sonny stooped, checked for a pulse, and then clicked his radio, "Bravo 4, gonna need your help down here."
With a flip of his night vision goggles Sonny pulled out his flashlight to investigate the scrawny pile of limbs. He threw the tac vest, BDUs, and heavy boots over to the side. In nothing but a thick knit tshirt it was painfully obvious that the kid was definitely Baby Spenser.
Not that Sonny had thought differently. He'd seen enough of the X-Files, even the Discovery Channel warned against ancient curses!
Blond curls were topping his head, alabaster skin, and a quick flicker of his eyes confirmed the baby blues. Baby Spenser was breathing, had probably been knocked unconscious during whatever transformation had occured.
When Trent neither answered nor appeared, Sonny sighed. Of-fucking-course comms go out when something happens to Spenser.
Every. Time.
He should stary making bets, maybe rake in a little drinking money for all the shit he puts up with.
Sonny managed to stuff all of Clay's gear into an empty duffle Davis had rolled up at the bottom of his pack. The rifle wasn't much of an issue either.
The issue was Baby Spenser.
How the hell was he suppose to carry the kid and keep his gun up? Sonny settled for his hand gun and pulled the limp bag of potatoes currently mascareding as his teammate into his other arm. Clay's head lulled to the side and into the crook of Sonny's neck.
Oh. Sonny was never letting the kid forget about this. He stowed his hand gun for a second and carefully maneuvered his phone out to snap a few photos - selfies, friends to millenials and blackmailers everywhere.
About halfway down the tunnel Sonny felt the kid shift, but Clay remained limp in his arms. So either Baby Spenser was embarrassed (unlikely, Sonny'd already seen him mope) or had absolutely no idea what was going (slightly more likely, miniaturization was often accompanied by memory loss in movies).
Either way, blessed silence and calm remained until he walked into the main chamber. Trent was standing right where they'd left him at the mouth of the cave network with one of the straps.
"Howdy Specks," Sonny grinned as the strap stared at him wide-eyed, the aforementioned glasses sliding down his nose. Sonny couldn't remember the man's name, some sort of regional expert who supposedly brought up the IQ average of the whole group.
Specks the Strap started sputtering, "Where-you ha-a child?" Trent was raising an eyebrow, but his focus remained on the area outside.
"Baby Spenser here touched something he shouldn't have, seems to have got himself stuck as the protagonist of a Doctor Who episode."
The right eye behind Specks' glasses started to twitch, "Doctor Who is always the-"
"Scooby-Doo then." Sonny grinned as he dropped the duffle bag of Spenser's shit on the ground. He holstered his gun and tried comms again.
Baby Spenser continued his Sleeping Beauty routine for the whole length of the explanation to Blackburn.
"Bravo 3, hold position."
Blackburn sounded exhausted. Well, Sonny couldn't blame him - the paperwork on a regular op was enough to choke a horse, bet this little development graduated to full on mammoth levels.
"Boss man make contact?" Sonny turned to face Trent, standing well back from the entrance. Chances were they wouldn't get an visitors, but calamities always come in threes.
"The rock's messing with the comms," Trent chuckled, "Big surprise." Sonny smirked. Specks muttered and dabbed at his forehead with a handkerchief.
Sonny adjusted his hold on Baby Spenser as he crouched to the ground. He had no opportunity to put him down though. Before Sonny'd even lifted him, Clay's arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
"Whoa there, Spenser," Sonny settled back on his honches, "You're all good." The kid's head burrowed into his throat like it was a damn drill, "You know who I am?"
Baby Spenser's head popped back and Sonny was staring into watery blue eyes. Oh~ Mopey Spenser hadn't cried. This was not good.
"The man on the radio called you Bravo 3?"
Sonny nodded his head, "Alright. How about a name?" Head shake. "You know where you are?" Another head shake. "How you got here?" Yet another. "Okay. What about your name?"
"Clay." The kid's voice was quiet. It shook as his lip trembled, but he didn't cry.
"Well, my name's Sonny and the ugly guy over there is Trent," Sonny nodded his head towards the entrance. "I'mma set you down and-" The kid's grip tightened around his neck and his head collided with Sonny's windpipe.
Okay. Sonny coughed and stood up, shaking out his legs. No setting Baby Spenser down.
"He imprinted on you," Trent was grinning. He had a completely straight face, but Sonny heard the damn grin. "Like a baby duck on its mama."
Sonny paced a bit, waited till the arms around his neck loosened to fingers clutching his shirt. Then he tapped at his radio, "Havoc, any update?"
It was an annoyingly long 30 seconds before Davis' voice came over the wire, "Got a line. Waiting for command to clear exfil."
Ah. Well. Progress.
"Copy that."
Exfil did not magically appear, but the rest of Bravo did. With the HVT bound and bagged.
"Sonny, you adopt or something?" Jason's eyes scanned the room, "Where's Spenser?"
The kid's head turned to look at him, eyes wide.
"Shit," Brock groaned as Ray muttered something that sounded vaguely like a prayer. Jason blinked.
"Ain't no mistaken those baby blues, eh?" Sonny bucked Clay in his arms, grinning at him. He did not immediately cling to his neck, but looked up at him with those same wide eyes.
"Is daddy here?"
Sonny's jaw dropped open, "…uh."
"He asked for Spenser?" Clay's head moved left then right, and then he pulled himself higher to look over Sonny's shoulder.
"Ash is on a…different mission," Ray stepped closer, friendly smile plastered on his face as leaned down a little to be at eye level. "We're friends of his."
The strap, which Sonny had honestly forgotten was there, chose that moment to shout, "What the hell is wrong with you people?!"
Sonny's throat did not appreciate the return of the drill bit. Kid had a damn hard head.
"Shut it." Sonny snapped, eyes narrowing on Specks. Jason whirled around to face the strap, a hand gripped the man's shoulder. Words were said. Sonny couldn't hear them, so neither could Clay. The guy's face did get impressively white for an Indian man.
"Don't worry, kid, we'll figure this out," Sonny patted Clay's back with his free hand, let it rest there. The arm propping him up was going numb, but Clay was starting to loosen his grip so Sonny didn't move it.
Ray shoved the HVT into a corner. Brock and Cerberus took up guard duty while Trent gave them the rundown.
"ETA on exfil?" Jason asked before tapping his comms. Sonny shook his head.
"No command clearance yet."
Jason's brow furrowed and Sonny did not envy Davis when the Boss Man opened a line. He heard the words 'medical' and 'classified' a few times, but purposefully kept to his own corner.
By the time the helo picked them up, night had fallen outside and Clay had fallen asleep against Sonny's shoulder. Slept right through the chopper ride.
Ray looked downright murderous - the jealousy was strong in that one. Sonny grinned at him over Clay's head as they loaded the HVT.
"You got any kid clothes Davis?" Sonny teased as they walked up the ramp into the plane. Trent laughed at him when she produced not one, but four sets of clothes and a package of diapers.
Holy hell. Sonny did not question it.
"The fear is strong in this one," Ray parroted back Sonny's own words as he passed by. The whole plane laughed at him this time. Assholes.
"Well," Blackburn clapped his hands together, bringing the laughter to an end. "Command has decided the HVT will take priority, so Spenser will be examined by the doc mid-flight. Ellis is working some local contacts to see if there's some precedent we can go off of."
"So, what happens to Baby Spenser?"
Blackburn shrugged, "Pending medical eval."
Oh, that did not sound good. Sonny narrowed his eyes on Blackburn.
Jason beat up to the punchline, "Meaning what?"
"Meaning, he stays in your sight until we know what the hell is going on," Blackburn nodded to Sonny, "He's your responsibility."
Sonny glanced down at the sleeping kid in his arms, a literal shudder climbing up his back.
Oh lord, who had he fucked over to deserve this?
Thanks for reading! Reviews Appreciated!