A/N: Hello! Just wanted to drop in and say a few words before you started reading, xD. I wrote this one-shot after re-reading Point Blanc a little while ago and thought there was incredible potential for Wolf and Alex to have, dare I say it, bonded a little more before the end. So I wrote this. I hope I did them justice. I did enjoy writing it, so hopefully someone will enjoy reading it! ~ Bomber

Summary: In the hours after Point Blanc, Alex and Wolf are recovering from their injuries. Still feeling guilty over Wolf getting shot, Alex decides to pay him a visit, and realizes that the man isn't as obnoxious as he seems. Alex!Wolf reconciliation.

Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider. If I did, K-Unit would have gotten the screen time they deserved.

Lines in the Sand
One-Shot

Alex sat calmly as the doctor poked and prodded him, abiding the alien touch of latex gloves with the ease of long practise.

"There's definitely a bruised rib, maybe two," she said. "That wrist is certainly sprained, but I can't see or feel anything broken. I'm going to have you x-rayed, just to be sure."

The woman stepped away, but quickly returned with a torch. She shone it in his eyes, muttering about them being a bit 'too dilated' and that it was probably 'from the pain'. Scrawling down her observations on his medical chart, she then came at him with a stethoscope.

"Take a deep breath for me," she said, placing the stethoscope on his chest. Alex obliged, repeating the action as she checked his lung and heart rate. "Everything seems fine. Is there anywhere you're feeling unusual pain?"

"No," Alex answered, barely giving it any thought.

"No odd sensations?" She asked, being thorough. "Like strange tingling or numbness?"

Alex shook his head. There was nothing but the persistent ache of a sound beating resonating through his body. "I don't feel anything like that. Just sore, if you know what I mean."

"I'll get you something for that," she replied. Finishing up, she closed the clipboard and offered him a rather tight looking smile. "I'll also have the nurse take you down to get your x-rays soon. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

He was part way through shaking his head again when it suddenly occurred to him that there wassomething she could help him with. "I'm sorry," he said. "But the man that I came in with… Do you know if he is alright?"

For a moment, the woman stared at him blankly. Then realisation dawned, the scowl that started eclipsing her face telling Alex that she knew exactly who he was talking about. "He is fine. His wound is being stitched as we speak. He was lucky – the bullet went clean through. There won't be any lasting damage if he looks after himself."

"Can I see him?" Alex asked. He was feeling guilty – if he hadn't of run off, if he hadn't of lost his fight, then Wolf wouldn't have gotten shot in the first place. "He - I owe him. He saved my life."

At that, her expression softened. "Of course you may. But," she added as Alex moved to slide off the examination table. "You will have to wait until after your x-rays. Am I understood?"

Heaving a sigh, Alex nodded.

About an hour or so later, Alex stood in the open doorway of room 366, feeling incredibly uncomfortable as he watched Wolf dozing on the bed in front of him. The soldier's injured arm was resting across his chest in a sling and his breathing was deep and slow, meaning he was probably asleep or somewhere near it.

Not wanting to disturb him, Alex started backing out into the hallway, glancing behind himself to make sure he didn't run into anybody.

"Cub?"

Alex jumped. Snapping his gaze back to the bed, he realised that the man was looking at him. At first it was just a cracked eyelid, probably to check who was hovering in his doorway, but then Wolf seemed to animate, both eyes blinking open. Apparently Alex was somebody the man was prepared to talk to. "What's wrong?"

"I," Alex said, completely thrown by the sudden turn of events. He hadn't expected Wolf to wake up. "I – you're awake."

Wolf cocked an eyebrow, frowning. "That's what's wrong?"

"What?" Alex asked, taken aback. "No! I just – I didn't mean to wake you. I – I can go, if you'd like?"

Wolf regarded him calmly. There was something different in his expression, in his body language. For some reason the man seemed less… guarded. "You came in here to wake me up, and then leave?" There was a familiar undercurrent of irritation in his voice. "Are you trying to piss me off, Cub?"

"No," Alex answered, shaking his head. The movement unbalanced him a bit, and he placed a hand against the door frame to steady himself. "I came to, you know," he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling awkward. "Thank you, I guess."

"What for?"

Alex paused, taking a moment to think of the right words. "For, uh," he ran through a list of horribly clichéd answers in his head: saving me, rescuing me, stopping the crazy lady from squashing me flat. Eventually, he settled for a simple; "For coming when you did."

Wolf accepted that with a one-shouldered shrug. "Don't mention it."

There was an awkward silence, then, only spanning a couple of seconds but feeling much longer. Wolf sniffed, wiping his nose on the back of his hand. It didn't occur to Alex that he was trying to come up with something to say that didn't immediately make him seem like a jerk. Their relationship was still on tenterhooks, after all, and Wolf wasn't an overtly emotional guy. "Did you, ah – did you want to come in?"

Alex chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Are you sure?

"No," Wolf said, looking at him flatly. "I asked you to come in because I don't actually want you to come in. Seriously, Cub, would you relax? I don't bite."

Uncertain, Alex shifted in the threshold. Wolf scowled.

"Oh, for Christ sake," Wolf said, fed-up with Alex's fidgeting. He waved Alex toward a chair with his uninjured hand. "Would you get in here already? You're just going to get in someone's way, standing there."

Alex did so, hesitantly taking a seat by the man's bedside. "Sorry."

"You say that a lot," the soldier remarked, somewhat grumpily. Up close, his pain was much more noticeable – thin-lipped and pale, he grimaced as he wriggled around in his bedding, trying to get comfortable. "I would have thought you'd be a bit more articulate, what with being a spy and all."

For lack of anything better to say, and still wracked by guilt, Alex muttered another apology and averted his eyes while Wolf rolled his. They drifted into another lengthy silence, this one slightly more companionable that the last.

"Where was the blood coming from?" Wolf asked suddenly, having been inspecting his younger guest while his younger guest was inspecting his nails. Alex glanced up, confused.

"What?"

"Your mouth," Wolf clarified, gesturing toward his own. "It was bleeding."

"Oh…" Alex blinked, running through the catalogue of injuries he had sustained until he found one that fit. "I, uh… I bit my tongue when she hit me."

"Who?" Wolf asked, brow furrowing in thought. It didn't take him long to place the 'she' – there had been only one woman at Point Blanc. "You mean that crazy cow I shot?"

Alex also meant 'that crazy cow who almost handed your arse to you', but he wasn't about to poke the bear. He'd been beaten enough as it was.

"Mrs Stellenbosch." He supplied instead, thinking of the ham-sized fists that had pummelled into him as though he was a punching bag. It wasn't a particularly fond memory.

"Jesus," the soldier exclaimed, twisting out of his bed sheets. Using his good arm, he carefully propped himself up to get a better look at Alex. "She was built like an ox, Cub. No wonder you look like shit. Does it hurt?"

Alex stared, bewildered. That question phrased in Wolf's gruff baritone just didn't seem right. "I-it hurts a little, yeah."

"Have they given you anything for it?" Wolf grilled him, leaning across the mattress and entirely too close for comfort.

Alex put up a hand with the divided intention to stop him from getting nearer and to catch him before he plummeted off the cot. Blood loss could make anybody feel woozy, and Alex could tell from the sheen of sweat and grey pallor that Wolf was still feeling the effects.

"They gave me some painkillers… M something or other, uh… Let me check." He pulled out the box the nurse had given him, rotating it between his fingers until he could see the label. "It's called Motrin."

Wolf balanced himself well enough that he didn't need to use his arm for support and reached out, wrenching the pills from the kid's grasp. "These aren't even prescription meds, Cub. You can't expect me to believe they're doing anything for you." He tossed the packet away carelessly. It landed on the tiles with a sad, empty thud. "You're black and blue all over. I bet there's a rib or two cracked, or at the very least, bruised. And that wrist is definitely sprained."

Alex scowled, subconsciously tucking said wrist into his jacket and away from prying eyes. "I can take a bit of pain, Wolf. I'm not a kid."

Bedsprings creaked. Wolf swung his legs over the mattress and settled his feet on the ground. His almond shaped eyes narrowed into a steely glare that was focused on Alex. "Well that's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard."

Alex bristled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, for one, you're a kid, kid. You haven't even reached puberty yet, and I can't begin to tell you just how many different kinds of wrong it is, putting children into a situation like the one we were just in. And I- let me finish, Cub." The soldier frowned at the teenager until he swallowed whatever it was he was about to say – probably something about being able to handle it, not to worry. Wolf didn't appreciate that kind of mentality. "I'm not going to have that conversation with you. It's something I have to talk to the higher-ups about – mine, not yours, that is."

"You don't have to talk to anybody about it," Alex snapped. "It's none of your business, anyway."

"Of course it is, Cub." Wolf retorted, expression much like that of a parent scolding their wayward child. "You're part of my unit and that makes you family. Your wellbeing is my business."

"Funny," Alex bit out, feeling his ire rising. "That you've decided to care now. What about Brecon Beacons? What about four hours ago? What about my wellbeing then?" Alex stood, hands clenched into fists. "You people only ever 'care' about me when you want something. And while I don't know what it is that you want, I'm not about to stick around and find out."

With that, he pushed his chair back and made to leave the room.

"Cub!" Wolf hollered after him, grunting as he forced himself upright. The kid was storming out and Wolf knew that he wouldn't come back. "Shit!"

Blood was welling up under the bandage covering his arm and the soldier groaned, realising that he'd split his stitches. Getting them put in had hurt like nobody's business and he wasn't looking forward to having them done again.

"That was your fault." On the bright side, Cub had stopped in the doorway.

Wolf didn't deign to answer, partly because the kid was right and partly because he was too busy looking for something to staunch the wound. A couple of minutes went by and suddenly there was a smaller hand securing a piece of gauze where the blood seemed to be pouring from and applying pressure.

"Thanks," Wolf all but growled, trying to ignore the shooting pain in his arm.

Alex shrugged. "Don't mention it."

Wolf's lips twitched at the irony, watching as Alex reached a blood-smeared hand toward the 'call staff' button on the wall.

"I'm sorry, Cub."

It was genuine – a sort of naked honesty that he rarely let show, but it was important that the kid understood him. There were so many things he needed to say about that – to explain why he was such an arsehole back at camp. To try and justify why he had helped manipulate Alex into going back to Point Blanc. But there was really no excuse he could give. Nothing he could say to make his actions right.

"I didn't realise what we were sending you into," Wolf managed finally. "I didn't realise it would be that dangerous. Maybe I was kidding myself – maybe I thought I could keep you safe. But the reality…"

Alex had ducked his head and was fixated on keeping the bleeding under control as the soldier spoke, but he was listening.

"… the reality is that you're a kid, and you can get hurt, and you have gotten hurt, and that fucking scares me more than anything."

It was incredibly deep for such an emotionally reserved guy and Alex couldn't help but look at him. On some level, he was curious to see what those more intimate emotions looked like on Wolf's face, but more than that, he wanted to know. He wanted to know if this baring of the soul was an act – a ploy the man was playing in an attempt to manipulate him, to use him. But all he saw was a tortured honesty and suddenly it was hard to look away.

"… You can't stop them."

"I can try."

The nurse bustled in then. She took one look at the scene before her and decided to forgo the questioning – it was quite obvious what the problem was. Deftly manoeuvring Alex out of the way, she took his place.

"I did warn you," she chastised, paging a doctor as she inspected the damage. "You're going to need more sutures."

Wolf didn't grimace at the prospect of being sewn up again. "How many?"

"All of them," the nurse replied, rather brutally.

Alex was still standing by the man's bedside, out of the way as he wiped his hands on his jeans, when the doctor entered. It was the same lady who had treated him earlier, back in the examination room. She barely even looked at Wolf before collecting a needle and thread from the nearby drawer. She gave Wolf a general anaesthesia and fixed him up, berating him all the while, and then left with stern instructions for Alex to get some bed rest.

Wolf was sitting up again, slowly scrawling something on a tissue with an unstable hand. The pen cap was in his mouth, being rolled about on his tongue like a cigarette. "You probably should get some rest, Cub."

The words were slightly garbled, but Alex caught the meaning behind them regardless. "I'm fine."

"That wasn't a suggestion," Wolf said, spitting out the cap once he finished writing. He didn't try and put it back on his pen. "It was an order. Go get some sleep."

"You're ordering me now?"

Wolf didn't bother responding, understanding in some sense that the insubordination probably meant something positive in their newfound friendship, and instead folded the tissue into neat little square. He offered it to the kid. "Here," he said as Alex stepped forward, hesitantly, to take it. "Just in case you, you know… ever need something from someone like me…"

Alex looked down at the paper, brow creased, as he tried to comprehend what was now sitting in his hand. Nestled in the soft, delicate paper and written in a tidy, cursive script Alex had only seen reproduced on a computer, was Wolf's phone number. It represented a lot more to him than simply ten little digits on a piece of paper. "I…"

He glanced back at Wolf quickly, just to make sure the man had actually meant to give it to him. Wolf, for once, managed to decode the questioning look he was getting.

"Your fingers better be on fire when you do call, Cub." He said, putting to bed any insecurities the kid might be having in the best way he knew how. "Got it?"

It was the blunt, mildly irate tone that let Alex relax – the more temperamental side of Wolf being something familiar and reassuring. He nodded once, mouth twitching slightly in smile. "Yeah, Wolf. I got it."

The soldier eyed him for a moment before leaning back against his pillows, satisfied. "Good."