A Childhood in Need

by Kiamii

Scene One "Surprise!"

Alex's Birthday as a five year old boy. A Thoughtful request by my school friend who read the story.

"Alex," Ben whispered into his charge's ear. Alex murmured something incoherent and rolled over on his stomach, burrowing his face into the pillow. Ben chuckled and shook Alex's shoulders gently. The boy simply groaned in protest until Ben stood up, since he was sitting next to the sleeping child, and he wrapped an arm around Alex's waist and lifted Alex up into his arms. Alex simply latched his small fists onto Ben's green tee. Ben smiled and looked over at Eric who had been behind him. Snake nodded and picked out a pair of dark denim jeans and a blue T-shirt as well as a light jacket, underpants, socks, and his trainers. Ben set Alex on the sink counter as Snake ran a bath for the kid.

"Alex, you might want to wake up." Ben told the boy softly. Alex stirred and blinked owlishly at him before yawning and rubbing his eyes. Ben sighed at how tired his adopted son was. Eagle had made sure to tire the boy out so that he'd be like this. He had taken Alex to an indoor playground and had played around with the shrunken teenager and made sure to keep Alex up until Alex was literally passing out mid-step and was carried home sometime after midnight. The aftermath? Alex was dead tired on his feet but, at least he was waking up now.

Ben unbuttoned the boy's pajama jacket and slid him out of his pants and boxers before he lowered Alex in the slightly cold water. Alex began to awake even more as the cold water splashed against his bare body. He blinked and sat up on his own this time as Ben had been in the process of shampooing his blond hair.

"I can bathe myself you know," Alex sighed. More out of habit than anything. He was getting too used to K-Unit treating him like a small child rather than a teenager. Ben finished and drained the tub as Snake entered the room with the clothes. He placed them down before handing Ben a towel who began to dry a protesting Alex. Once that task was done, he lifted Alex out of the tub and allowed the boy to get dressed himself. Snake handed Alex his toothbrush who obediently brushed his teeth as Ben ran a brush through the blond locks.

"Why are you getting me ready? It's only Saturday." Alex said as he spat out the toothpaste from his mouth.

"Just a couple of errands we need to do today." Ben hummed. Alex simply shook his head slightly as Ben brushed his hair. With that done and Alex ready, Ben watched Alex head downstairs, the man keeping a grin from rising to his mouth. Snake stood beside him and they followed behind the boy. Alex reached the bottom step...

"CUB IS UP!!!!"

...And was immediately swept up and held at arms length by Eagle like when Alex had first re-met him. Alex glared at the man who had dared tire him out so much last night but, Eagle simply ignored it. The man trained with Wolf after all. Alex wriggled slightly in the man's grasp and Eagle simply threw him up in the air and caught him, swiftly moving him to his hip. Alex grumbled about idiots and soldiers before Eagle set him down in the living room where Wolf was relaxing, sipping a coffee and reading the newspaper. He spared Cub a quick look before going back to his reading. Alex sighed and went over to his regular spot as Abby came trotting in. She wagged her tail and put her head on Alex's leg. Alex scratched her ear and watched as Eagle banished from view and he noticed that the kitchen was blocked by some odd sort of curtain.

"Eagle is trying to cook," Fox said. Alex shrugged and nodded. His phone (which had been left in the living room) went off and Alex read the text message.

"Can Tom take me to the park?" Alex asked after he read it. Fox nodded, almost a little too quickly. It was as if he expected it. Alex texted back and waited. He eyed Snake, Fox, and Wolf. They were acting rather... rushed at the moment.

"Don't come home until dark, I've got a date and I told her I was a single man. Seeing a kid here might ruin my chance!" Eagle's voice called from the kitchen.

"That's why he's cooking?" Alex asked after a minute. K-Unit and Ben nodded, looking... relieved? Alex shrugged and the doorbell rang. It was Tom and the teen grinned down at Alex before they said a quick goodbye and Tom practically dragged Alex from the house.

"What's the rush?" Alex asked after Tom got rather impatient of his slow pace and had flopped Alex onto his back. Alex was surprised and wary of what was going on. He didn't comment though and just kept a hold on Tom's shirt so that he didn't slip off even though Tom was supporting him on his back. They made it to the park almost immediately and Tom slid Alex off. The boy eyed Tom who grave a sheepish grin.

"You are going to help me get a girl like you promised."

"When did I promise that?"

"Don't remember. You just did." Tom shrugged and then looked at the monkey bars, "I want you to pretend to get stuck up there."

"You. Are. Crazy. I may be a small size but, that's just stupid to get stuck up there!" Alex whispered back at Tom who had been saying this in a low voice so they weren't overheard.

"It's easy! Just climb on top and act all scared to move. I'll come rescue you after a girl notices you. If you have to, bawl or something. I'll owe you one, mate." Tom said with a sly smirk. Alex sighed as Tom gave him a short push towards the bars and he climbed up to the first bar and began to swing back and forth until his legs caught the next bar. He used that as a crutch and soon found himself sitting on one of the bars. He paused for a minute before he began to concentrate and he soon was sniffling and his eyes were wide, his mouth frowning. He had pulled this stunt off for Eagle only, he had gotten stuck in a tree which was a pretty stupid idea but, Eagle actually had gotten a date from that. Not this date obviously.

"Oh my," A girl's voice came from below and Alex made sure to bring a hand to his eyes and screwed up his eyes as if he was about to began crying.

"What's the problem?" Tom's voice came.

"It seems that poor boy is stuck." That girl's voice answered. Alex began to shake himself slightly and look as if he was frightened and didn't know how to get down. By now there was three other girls all looking worriedly at him and Tom volunteered to go and rescue "the poor boy".

"Hey kid," Tom said loudly as he was under Alex, "Are you alright?"

"No! I don't like it up here! I'm gonna fall! I want to get down! I want my daddy!!" Alex cried out, having used this same line for Eagle. The man had used Alex one too many times as a pick up and had also 'taught' Alex the little tips on acting. Alex supposed they could also help him later on in missions and they more often than not worked on Ben when Alex didn't want to do something. The man was a softy for Alex when he looked like he was about to cry.

"It's okay! Look. I'm right under you. I want you to slide down through the bars and I'll catch you, I promise." Tom said 'soothingly'. Alex had to admit he had either got those lines from Tom, or the teen was good at acting. Alex looked down at Tom and his bottom lip trembled before he 'shakingly' bobbed his head up and down and slowly grabbed the bar in front of him and could not keep the small 'eep!' escape as he was suddenly slipping and fell into Tom's waiting arms. Nice catch, Alex pondered dryly as he made sure to keep up the act and had thanked him and Tom put him down on the ground.

"That was so brave of you!" A girl gushed at Tom before cooing at Alex total nonsense. Alex hid behind Tom's leg.

"That's so cute! He sees you as his hero now," another girl said in an adored tone. Alex felt his cheeks reddening and burrowed his face into Tom's jeans. Tom simply smiled and pretty soon, managed to get five different numbers from five different girls, and two of them he got a date with.

"Now THAT is how you get a girl," Tom whispered to Alex happily. Alex rolled his eyes as they watched the girls leave. The teen and boy ended up on the swings until the streetlights began to light up. Tom looked at his watch in alarm and quickly grabbed Alex's hand and rushed towards the boy's home.

"Why are you so eager to get me home?"

"Didn't Ben... err your dad? .... say for you to be home before dark."

"Yeah but, Eagle has a date." Alex said, unsure. Tom ignored him and they soon made it to Alex's house. The time was around 8:00PM and Tom opened the door with Alex's house key. Oddly enough... the house was dark.

"I thought they'd be home." Alex said in surprise. He walked ahead of Tom, who was sneaking towards the living room, and looked around before he turned on the living room lights...

"SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!" The one word was shouted so loudly that Alex literally landed on his arse in shock. In front of him was the entire living room decorated from head to toe in party favors. The entire ceiling had balloons, the walls in party ribbons, silly string had been squirted everywhere, confetti was surrounding Alex as they had thrown it at him, and a pile of presents was sitting next to a cake. Alex looked up at them with wide eyes, his mouth parted open.

"Woah..." Was all Alex managed. Snake, who was one of the many grinning, picked him up and plopped him down on the couch as he was getting over his shock.

"Happy Birthday Alex!" Snake chimed, which was followed by everyone else in the room. Alex looked from Wolf to Fox to Snake to Eagle and saw the others in the room; Tom, Panther, Ashley, The Sergeant (the man was at least still stony looking), Mrs. Jones, Smithers, and a few others from Ashley's daycare that Alex had met. Oddly enough, the daycare teacher Shelli Holder was there too. Smithers was pretending to be a family friend as well as Mrs. Jones no doubt.

"I... I don't know what to say." Alex said. He was filled with... astonishment? Happiness? Warmth? Possibly all three. He gave them all a very appreciated smile and Ben grinned widely, glad that this was turning out well. He had been concerned about pulling a surprise birthday party off, knowing that Alex might react like a spy did. He was glad the childish mind had won out on that part at least.

"Come on Cub, open your presents!" Eagle shouted in excitement. The kids all gathered around Alex as Wolf placed a short package in front of him. The now six-year-old sized teenager began to unwrap it in wariness before he found himself holding a few select books that varied from Harry Potter to humor books. There was a card and Alex read it out loud, seeing that it was from Panther.

You told me you liked humorous things and I thought you'd might like these. Happy sixth birthday Alex.

From Panther and Ashley.

Alex was impressed to find a very delicate and very beautiful picture of a football player on the front, with Panther's signature on it. That meant that he had drawn it. Alex thanked the man and soon found himself with a bunch of spy kid books from Mrs. Jones (with a joke card and a letter that Alex read in private), a slinky and candy from Tom, a Pez holder and five packs of the candy for it and more exploding gum with British coins from Smithers (though it wasn't said out loud what it was. The Pez candy contained sleeping gas inside), more water guns from Eagle, a football and sweatbands from Wolf, a medical kit from Snake, and a pendant from Fox. The pendant was on a silver chain and was in the shape of a tear drop. It was dark blue and on it was his the name Daniels engraved on it.

"I thought you might like it. My father gave it to me who was given it by his father. It's supposed to be down to my son and so I chose now to do so." Ben said to the stunned boy. Alex thanked him with a flushed smile and hugged Ben as best he could. He recieved more candy from his daycare friends and a copy of the Who Needs a Bear? from Shelli Holder who had read it to the class on his first day visiting.

"Since you didn't listen to all of it, I figured you might want to read it when you get the chance," Shelli had said with a wink that brought of a blush from the boy. Pretty soon the white and blue cake was in front of him.

"I thought you had made a chocolate one like the one that exploded all over Alex." Fox noted.

"I did make one... that exploded all over Alex before his birthday. So I had Shelli help me make this one." Eagle whispered to him. Fox laughed and nodded back as they lit six candles and began to sing.

"Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday dear Alex,

Happy Birthday to You!"

"In Many More, on channel four..." Eagle sang but was cut off by Wolf whacking him on the back of the head. Alex gave them a shy smile and he closed his eyes and thought of a wish. What did he wish for?

Images of Fox and him out in the backyard while K-Unit was away floated to his mind. Images of Ian flashed about as did others.

I wish Ben and I could stay father and son for as long as possible. Alex blew out the candles and the cake was cut. He nibbled on his piece.

"This is actually very good!" Snake said in surprise. Eagle huffed.

"You doubt my cooking abilities?" He said in mock hurt.

"Considering Ben and you blew pancake batter up in the kitchen... yes." Wolf said slowly. Eagle pouted.

"So I had Shelli help me..." He admitted. Alex grinned at Eagle's antics and finished up his cake. He stood up and they ended up playing a bunch of random games until it was time for them all to go. Tom bid him goodnight and soon Alex found himself heading up to bed. Ben put his gifts down on the dresser and grinned as Alex finished getting into his nightclothes and crawled into bed. Ben covered him up and ruffled his hair.

"Thanks for all this." Alex murmured.

"I'm just glad you liked it." Ben said to him.

"Gnight Ben..." Alex yawned.

"Good night Alex." Ben hummed before he placed a kiss to Alex's forehead, seeing as Alex was already asleep. Had it been months ago, Ben would have never done that. He would have never done that to a teen-sized Alex either. This was different though. A smile graced Ben and he quietly left the room after watching Abby make herself comfortable on the bed and doze off. Ben creaked the door half open and padded downstairs and joined the others in cleaning up.

"That was fun!" Eagle chirped happily. Wolf was looking slightly dazed and a light pink was heated on his cheek.

"Oh and Wolfie boy over there is going on a date next Saturday," Snake said with a smirk.

"With who? Mrs. Jones?" Fox said in surprised. The three men turned disgusted looks at him.

"Ew no! That's your boss. I'm going out with Shelli Holder." Wolf said before he paused to picked up wrapping paper. Fox looked at him slyly. For now, they all continued cleaning up and joked around. They were content with how things were and were filled with achievment at giving Alex a good birthday though they didn't know this was Alex's first real birthday party since he was a baby. They didn't know that Alex dreamed peacefully because of them that night.

Author's Note: That's the first scene done! I was having fun with this. I hope this was a good scene to write. Any more requests? Next scene is being written and I'm working on the requests as we speak. Silent Spy Chapter four is being stubborn to me right now so I wrote this to ease myself. I hope you liked this Chapter!