Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider. If I did…well, angst would be coating every chapter like chocolate covered cherries.

WARNING: As I have only read up to Snakehead (and I honestly don't think that's going to change) everything is fictional from that point on. I've heard rumors of Jack dying and Alex going to America with the Pleasures…don't expect my story to follow the plotline of the books after Snakehead.

WITH BEN:

With a deep sigh, the black-haired man carding his fingers through his hair. It had gotten longer since his last mission as he was off duty and had more to worry about than a haircut. Like his ward, for example. How long had it been since Alex had been placed in his care? After Snakehead, Ben had no contact with the teen spy for a little over a week. Then he was called in by Alan Blunt, the MI6 head. Upon arriving he was asked numerous questions he thought were quite odd. They ranged from his current living family to what kind of car he drove (though he was sure they already knew all the answers) and who he had over to his apartment often.

Shortly after the interview- questioning, interrogation, whatever -he had been told he was to watch after one of MI6's underage operatives. Of course, everyone knew there was only one underage operative; Agent Rider. He was a legend to most of the operatives, to some a shadow they had seen in action, and to even fewer a well-known colleague. Ben had been overjoyed that he was going to get to watch over Alex and though he was confused as to why his guardian, Jack, wasn't watching over him Ben couldn't bring himself to care at that moment.

He had gone home and cleaned up the spare bedroom. It was already squared away as one of the K-Unit could sometimes be found sleeping there after a particularly brutal night of drinking and catching up. So he dusted and made the bed. MI6 had told him Alex's stay would be indefinite so the SAS soldier decided he would need to get the spare desk from his office. After doing so he had collapsed on the couch, enjoying the silence for a little over an hour before the doorbell rang. When he had opened it Ben was sure his jaw had dropped open in surprise.

He had hardly recognized the teen standing there quietly with a backpack slung over one shoulder and a duffle held in the other. He was clothed in a baggie black hoodie and jeans, hair shading his eyes. The soldier had never seen the teen wear black for anything other than recon and certainly not on such a loose, ill-fitting hoodie. Ben had promptly ushered him in, showing him his room as he had already been to the apartment before and didn't need a tour. After Alex's quiet wish of just wanting some sleep, he had left the boy's room and settled onto the couch again.

Vaguely Ben wondered what had happened for MI6 to place their most valued operative into his care but thinking back on the way Alex looked, he decided it was probably due to an injury that needed healing. Yet his mind circled back to Jack. The red-head had been fiercely protective of Alex and from what the teen had said they loved each other dearly. A week passed in which Ben noticed Alex never went to school and when he questioned him about it, the blonde had shrugged it off and said MI6 had taken him out.

K-Unit showed up the weekend after Alex came to live with him and they managed to get him out of his room for about an hour. Then he'd left again. They wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for Snake's quite observation of the fatigued slump in Alex's shoulders as he left the room. From there it had just escalated. Or rather, began to fall rapidly. The easy coexistence Ben and Alex had built in the span of a week had quickly crumbled.

Most nights Ben called the K-Unit over and talked to them of his worries. He never saw Alex unless he sought him out, he certainly never saw him eat, and when he did manage to catch a glimpse of the elusive spy he looked worse for wear. Wolf thought he was exaggerating, Eagle seemed to feel slightly worried, and Snake asked Ben if Cub had any traumatic experiences as of late. Ben was upset with both himself and MI6 when he discovered he really couldn't say. Sure, there was the Snakehead mission but he had received time off and was still in counseling for another week. Surely Alex was in the same boat.

Somehow Wolf had talked him into a night out. After trying to get Alex to come along and spectacularly failing, they had headed out. Ben decided early on he didn't want to get shit-faced and set the limit at 2 drinks for himself. The others followed him example and they spent the evening eating extremely spicy wings (curse you Eagle!) and sipping beer. When they had gotten home they planned on dragging Alex out of his room for some TV time. Then…

Ben clenched his jaw. He would really rather not think about that night. Walking into the bathroom, seeing what he did…it was one of his worst memories. The soldier still got nervous when he heard Alex turn on the shower, especially after a day of hiding in his room. Alex seemed to take Ben walking into the bathroom minutes after starting a shower surprisingly well. He had taken to peeking his head around the curtain and giving a tentative smile that was more like a grimace in Ben's eyes.

The Incident, as K-Unit had begun to refer to it as, had happened only 7 days ago. After 3 days in the hospital Alex had been released with strict orders to keep an eye on him. Snake had been briefed by the doctor on Alex's condition using a lot of fancy words and medical terms. After Alex had gotten settled in his room, Snake sat them down and told them what the doctor said.

The first thing out of his mouth was that Alex was having some heart problems. Ben had felt his own heart skip a beat. Snake went on to say the doctor had noticed some curious inflammation and still healing wounds around a scar on his chest, about a centimeter above his heart. The fact that the teen was extremely underweight and fatigued was not helping. His BP was higher than it should be, even compared to his normal stats which were always a few notches above what they should be.

Snake also mentioned that he was working on getting Alex's medical file from MI6. The unit had been briefed by Blunt and Jones after the Incident and were all equally disgusted and saddened by Alex's position in the organization. The doctor had mentioned signs of torture, including weak lungs which he had admitted was probably from some form of water torture.

Ben rolled his neck, reaching with one hand to rub at it. He felt tired and achy all over, not quite ready to sleep comfortably enough to get a proper rest. K-Unit was helping out a lot, which he appreciated more than he could ever say. Speaking of which…

"Alex!"

There was a small span of silence which was long enough for Ben to momentarily panic- god, what if he was bleeding out on the bathroom floor? -but then there was a soft click of a doorknob turning and the soldier smothered a relieved sigh. At least Alex was trying now, even though Ben was sure it was more for his sake than the teen's own want to get better. Said teen trudged into the living room, hands hidden by the long sleeves of his dark green hoodie which the older man recognized as his own.

"I just wanted to give you a heads up. The K-Unit is coming over tonight and they might be staying a few days."

Which translated to: they've decided to just stay here instead of coming and going all day, every day. Alex began to nod before catching himself. Ben could practically see him mentally berating himself as he opened his mouth to reply.

"Alright."

The teen's voice was the same soft, low tone that it always was, though it was still a bit scratchy from the lack of use. Ben gave him a small, encouraging smile. Alex ducked his head and turned to leave the room, waving slightly to his guardian over his shoulder. The 23 year-old man would never point it out but he knew that Alex appreciated his support, though he didn't know how to show it. As the teen disappeared back into his room, Ben sighed.

The first few days Alex had been back from the hospital had been difficult. The teenager hadn't wanted to leave his bed, let alone eat or talk about his problems. He didn't sleep much either. Even if he did fall asleep, he had nightmares, and then proceeded to empty his mostly empty stomach into the toilet. K-Unit had begun to take shifts, keeping an eye on him.

They each had their own 'calming Cub' techniques. The first few times it had happened, they made the mistake of trying to wake him up by shaking his shoulder or lightly grasping his wrist or ankle. After Eagle ended up with a broken nose and Wolf shoved into a wall, resulting in a sprained wrist, did they start to realize waking a super-spy by grasping a body part was a horrible idea.

Ben was partial to telling Alex is was only him and then carding his fingers through the blonde locks until the teen calmed down. Wolf wrapped his arms around Alex's chest and held him as he thrashed until he either woke up or wore himself out. Eagle hadn't had to deal with the nightmares a second time and Snake was usually the one holding the teen up as he heaved.

The unit came to the mutual understanding that Alex only came out when Ben asked him to. Most of the things Alex did were because he knew Ben wanted him to do them. Sometimes if Snake nudged him enough he would struggle through a small portion of dinner. They were trying to ease him back into eating as they didn't want to overwhelm his fragile stomach.

Ben was knocked out of his thoughts by his door opening. He turned his head, catching sight of the fair-hair and blue-eyes that gave the medic in his unit away. That and his imposing height of 6'2. He was the tallest of the unit, despite Eagle's continuing arguments.

"Hey Snake."

He hm-ed in greeting and threw his bag next to the sofa. First come, first serve it seems. Ben smothered a chuckle. Snake sat next to him on the couch, rummaging through his bag.

"Cub let you change his bandages?"

He was of course referring to the bandages around his wrists. That and the ones the doctor had warned him were wrapped around his chest and left thigh. The doctor had said they were about a week old, which put the wounds after the Snakehead mission, something that confused Ben. MI6 hadn't sent Alex on a mission right after coming home, had they? Cloudy blue eyes snapped into focus as a Scottish voice called his name.

"You in there?"

"Sorry Snake."

The medic shook his head exasperatedly.

"Well?"

"No, he won't even let me see them. I know he's changing them though because there have been some dirty bandages in the trash."

Snake bite his lip with silent concentration. Finally he pulled out a thick file, kicking the bag away as he sat up. Ben leaned over to see the file just as the door opened for the second time in 5 minutes.

"Should we come back later?"

"Shut up Eagle."

The brunette came around the couch and sat on the armrest, sliding down until he was lying on his back. His legs dangled off the edge of the couch and his head was pressed into Snake's thigh. Green eyes sparkled, betraying the amusement he felt because of his joke. There was a light snort and Wolf moved to sit in the armchair, brown eyes seeming less hard and more tired than usual.

"What are you reading, Snake?"

"Cub's medical file."

Eagle twisted onto his side so he could read the file in his teammate's hands. He couldn't see it very well so he grunted and sat up. However, he found that while he could now read the text he could not understand it.

"I can't understand this."

"I'm not surprised."

Eagle pouted and Ben rolled his eyes.

"I didn't mean that as an insult to your intelligence."

"Though it should be taken that way."

Wolf muttered it under his breath but Snake heard and shot him an amused smile. Ben rolled his eyes at his teammates.

"Snake is probably the only one that understands it. It's full of medical terms that I can't even pronounce."

Snake snorted.

"Not that they tell me much."

"What do you mean?"

Snake gave Wolf an irritated glare.

"Most of this has been redacted."

Eagle blinked, mouthing 'redacted' in a confused manner to Wolf. The team leader refused to show his irritation and roll his eyes, though he did lift a brow.

"If it was redacted it means MI6 went through and removed any information they thought was above our clearance."

Wolf turned to Snake.

"Tell us what you can."

The medic nodded, skimming the file and flipping pages.

"From the size of the file it's obvious he's been injured often. Most of these were small wounds, some sprained wrists and twisted ankles. A couple of deep bruising cases…"

He trailed off, flipping some pages. His nose twitched, something his friends noticed he did when he was thinking.

"However, there is not report of appendicitis…"

Ben looked over his shoulder.

"They told us he was in the hospital for appendicitis less than a month ago."

"This is the right time, according to the dates but there is no report of appendicitis. In fact…this whole trip to the hospital is blacked out. Even the BP levels."

"Bloody hell! MI6 doesn't give us anything to work with!"

Ben sighed, running a hand through his hair. Wolf had stood up and was angrily pacing the length of the living room, muttering under his breath about MI6 and the dimwits that ran it. Snake was rapidly flipping through the remaining pages of the file and his frown was growing more serious with each page.

Eagle was sitting and seemingly staring into space, something Ben noticed he did when he was being serious and trying to think. The phone rang in the hall and Ben stood up to answer it. He heard Snake throw the file onto the table with a disgusted grunt. Rubbing his forehead in to try and relieve the up and coming headache, he reached for the phone and put it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Agent Daniels."

Ben clenched his jaw.

"I'm not an agent anymore, Mrs. Jones. It was a one-time deal."

"Of course."

The SAS soldier rolled his eyes, knowing she didn't care and hating her for calling.

"Mr. Daniels, I need you and your unit to come check on your bank account. Bring Alex as well."

"No way in hell."

"Excuse me?"

Ben growled and he vaguely heard things quieting in the living room. He knew his unit was trying to hear his conversation but he didn't care. Chances were he would tell them anyway.

"There is no way Alex is coming in."

"I wasn't aware you had a choice in the matter."

Sarcastic bitch.

"Alex isn't coming in. He needs time off."

"It isn't for a mi-"

"I don't give a flying fuck what it's for!"

"Mr. Daniels-"

Before he could hear the rest of her reply or give her a piece of his mind, he found the phone being pulled from his ear by cool fingers. He turned on his heel and watched silently, jaw clenching, as Alex put the phone to his ear.

"We'll be there."

He hung up, not giving Jones a chance to reply. After putting the phone away, he gently patted Ben's shoulder before turning and walking back to his room. For a long while, Ben couldn't move. When he finally made it back to the living room, he told K-Unit tersely that they were expected at the Royal & General Bank tomorrow. The rest of the evening was spent in tense silence.

END OF CHAPTER:

So how'd the second chapter go? I don't know how this will turn out in the end, but I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Oh and I wanted to know if you guys thought I should give K-Unit names. I know that in the books their names are never confirmed (save Ben's) so I don't know if it would confuse you guys. Let me know.

Review?

Eris-R-Reneee