Sons of the Desert 2?
Warnings: mild violence and mild language

He was right. Jack's ma and pa were absolutely irate when he admitted what had happened. He got an hour of yelling, lecturing and was grounded for three weeks. The worst of it though, was when his ma had suddenly sat down at the kitchen table and just started crying quietly. Didn't say or do anything, just sat there with tears falling; it frightened him.

And that was what scared Jack into obeying his punishment. Usually, after two or three days of being grounded, he got so bored with it, he snuck out of his bedroom window to hang out with his friends.

This time he stayed home. For the whole three weeks. Not even sulking in his room, as was his usual MO. Jack stayed with his ma, helping her around the house and just hanging out and being with her. He never wanted to make her cry like that again.

Meanwhile, he also started school with the other military brats on base. There were only two others around the same age as he was, Lisa and Paul, who seemed to spend most of their free time making out. He struck up a tentative friendship with them but Jack couldn't really see it going much further than the classroom. Oh well.

By the time three weeks had passed, he was starting to feel bored and was eager to go out exploring. His ma's earlier tears had lost their impact due to time passing and so two days after his grounding had lifted, he ventured out into the streets of Cairo by himself once again.

Having no particular destination in mind, Jack meandered the city, taking his time and just observing whoever and whatever he passed by.

Turning a corner along a winding back street, Jack came to a halt. He'd stumbled across a fight.

A small boy was being set upon by three others around four or five years older. He had to give the kid credit; he was defending himself with enthusiasm and giving back as good as he got, but he really wasn't much of a match against all of his opponents at the one time. They were bigger and stronger, punching, kicking and yelling what Jack presumed were insults. The kid would lose.

Jack's sense of fair play kicked in and he found himself wading into the fray, fists a-flying, going to the aid of the boy. He was bigger and older than all of them and had been taking boxing lessons since he was ten, so they didn't stand much of a chance against him, especially once the boy, realizing he now had help, rallied flagging energy and renewed his efforts in repelling his attackers. After a few minutes, the skirmish abated as the three boys realized they no longer had such easy targets and fled the scene.

Standing there, staring after the retreating young thugs, Jack watched as the kid slumped against a wall, his head bowed, and slid downwards to settle on the ground.

Concerned, but not knowing any Arabic with which to ask the boy if he was alright, Jack crouched next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

Startled by the contact, the lad abruptly shot to his feet and skittishly backed away a few paces, warily keeping an eye on the older youth.

The first thing Jack noticed was that the boy was holding a sharp looking knife.

The second thing he noticed was that the boy was bleeding from cuts on his arms, a cut on his face and there was blood staining the front of the grubby rags that served as clothes. The knife had blood on it also, obviously garnered from his opponents. Shit! He'd barged into a knife fight without even noticing! He was exceedingly lucky he wasn't dead or seriously injured himself.

The third thing Jack noticed was that this boy was the same little fiend who had flogged everything from Jack's pockets at the bazaar three weeks ago!

Eyed widening, ire growing, he took a step forward.

"You!"

The boy stepped backwards in time with Jack's movements.

"You're the little shit that picked my pockets the other week."

The boy muttered something in Arabic that he couldn't understand.

"I want my stuff back, you little bastard!"

The kid stared intently at Jack before rapidly glancing behind himself, then hastily bringing his gaze back to Jack.

Jack took another angry step towards the little thief before ceasing suddenly with curiosity, noticing a fourth thing about the boy.

Taking advantage of Jack's brief distraction, the kid bolted, quickly out of sight, leaving Jack vaguely perplexed.

How did an Egyptian street-rat end up with blue eyes?

a/n ta to lyn again for beta-ing

feed back welcomed!