It was very warm. A soft cloud was surrounding Alex, insulating him from the outside world. He must be at home, in Chelsea. He'd dreamt the whole occasion: Ian's death, the bank, SAS training, RTI ...

"Cub, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"

Or not.

Blearily, Alex peeled open his sticky eyelids. The room's lights were dimmed, probably to keep his eyes from hurting. Even so, he blinked a few times before focusing and analyzing the world around him.

A thick duvet was laying on top of him, covering him up to his neck. He was in a bed - a real one, not the slabs of concrete called 'bunks'. The dark blue curtains were parted, letting the starry night trickle its light in. The room had a faintly sterile scent; it wasn't unpleasant, but it told Alex where he was. Some kind of hospital.

Alex himself was wearing a mask. It was clear, and a tube was feeding to it from some kind of humming metal box. Thankfully, the air it provided was clear and unscented; Alex didn't want to imagine what it'd be like to inhale and exhale visible acrid smoke. Additionally, an IV line fed into the crook of his left elbow.

"Hey." Alex's eyes found the source of the noise. Wolf was sitting in a chair beside his bed, hands clasped in his lap and reclined as much as possible. He looked worn out but clean. "You've been out all day. It's 2056." Nearly nine o'clock PM, in other words.

"How long have I been asleep?" Alex tried to ask, but the words seemed to echo off the mask and around his head instead of being emitted into the surrounding atmosphere where Wolf could hear.

Somehow, Wolf got the gist of what Alex was trying to ask. "'Bout seventeen hours. A little less."

Alex nodded and was pleased to find he could tell which way was up again. It seemed the long rest had allowed his equilibrium to restore itself. Still, he didn't try to sit up or move otherwise. He felt groggy.

"Why are you here?" Alex tried.

"What?"

"Why - are - you - here?" Alex tried again, breaking up the sentence. It didn't help. Wolf shook his head.

Frustrated, Alex reached up with his right arm to remove the obstructing mask when a larger hand covered his, holding it on his face. "I already pressed the 'call' button. Just wait for the doctor."

As though he'd been waiting for his name to be called, the doctor walked in at that moment. The man's auburn hair was tousled, and he looked frazzled. "Damn RTI. Always testing the infirmary," he muttered before standing next to Wolf's chair, clipboard in hand. "Hey, kiddo, how're you doing?"

Alex answered, "Just peachy," but the doctor, like Wolf, couldn't understand.

"I'm going to take your mask off, all right? If you have any trouble breathing - any at all - I'm going to get a pad of paper for you." Alex nodded, and the man put one hand on the mask and undid the back, lifting it off.

Alex didn't know what the machine had been giving him, but the air was suddenly drier and colder. A small cough escaped him, and the doctor paused with the mask half-off. When the small fit subsided, the doctor gave a pleased smile and turned the machine off.

"Can you sit up for me?" Alex nodded. With the air of a princess, he slowly and delicately sat up. A tremor ran through him as the warm duvet fell away. Alex slowly turned to face the two men in the room, mindful of his stomach injuries.

"Why's Wolf here?"

The doctor nodded approvingly, even though Alex's voice was raspy and weak without the special air. He seemed to like Alex - at least, his demeanor was friendly. "It's a good idea to have a familiar or friendly face to wake up to." As he spoke, a small beep emitted from from his waistband. The professional checked it and swore unprofessionally. "Room 27 needs me. Look, Wolf, we're short on nurses. Do me a favor and fill this out, would you? Thanks." He didn't give Wolf a chance to respond before thrusting his clipboard into the soldier's hands and darting out of the room.

Alex and Wolf shared a long silence as they watched the doorway where the doctor had left. As it grew longer and longer, Alex finally broke it. "What's it say?"

"Pupils, heart rate, blood pressure, temperature with a hell of a lot of options and blanks. A few questions for you, too." He lifted the page to peer at the one behind it. "The second one's for the doctor to fill out." He looked at Alex and bit his lip. Then he looked back down at the chart. "Looks like I'll need a penlight."

"Check that drawer over there," Alex suggested. "It's labeled 'nurses'."

Sure enough, Wolf found everything they needed: a penlight, a stopwatch, a blood pressure cuff, a stethoscope, and a thermometer.

"Best lie down, Double-O-Nothing." Alex didn't move, choosing to glare at Wolf instead. "I said-"

"I heard what you said."

Wolf glared. "Then lie down."

Alex was ticked off. "No. I've got a name."

"Kid..." Wolf trailed off threateningly. But Alex was fed up with Wolf's bullying. He shook his head. Wolf sighed. "Cub, would you please lie down?"

Alex hesitated, then lowered himself carefully onto the fluffy pillow. He reached with both hands to pull the duvet back up, but Wolf grabbed his wrist.

"What-?"

"You've got an IV in your arm. If you bend it, you might shift the needle." With that, Wolf pulled the duvet up to Alex's neck, over his arms once more, and took a seat in the chair.

Alex flushed, but managed to express his gratitude quietly. "Thanks."

Wolf snorted derisively. "So, pupils." He fumbled for the penlight, then shone it into Alex's eyes. It was blinding, but Alex determinedly held his eyes open. He didn't like it when others held them open. "Normal." The pen on the clipboard scratched noisily on the paper.

Wolf paused, reading. Then he asked Alex to hold out his right arm. With a firm but surprisingly gentle grip, he measured Alex's heart rate. "Sixty-seven," he muttered. "Sixty-seven." The pen scritched and scratched, apparently circling a few other criteria.

"Is that normal?" Alex asked.

"How old are you?"

Alex stared at him. Wolf rolled his eyes. "Okay, you can't answer that. Are you under fifteen?"

Hesitantly, Alex answered, "Yes."

Wolf gave him a look Alex couldn't read. "Damn." Alex blinked slowly, waiting for an explanation. Wolf opened his mouth, closed it, and finally opened it to elaborate. "You're still under; you're shy three beats."

"Okay." Alex waited as Wolf scribbled out something and wrote something else. "What's next?"

Wolf glanced down at the chart. "Blood pressure." Wolf didn't look Alex in the eyes as he wrapped the cuff around his arm, pumped it up, pressed the stethoscope into his elbow, and watched the dial as the air escaped.

For his part, Alex fidgeted uncomfortably. Blood pressure cuffs were always uncomfortably tight. The pressure on his arm lessened slowly, and Alex eventually was released. He slid his arm back under the covers; the limb felt cold to him.

"One-hundred over sixty-two," Wolf repeated as he recorded the information in the blanks on the sheet. "Then," Wolf read, "I need to check your temperature."

Alex nodded. "Orally?"

"I think so." Wolf held up the metal probe and sheathed it with a plastic cover. Wordlessly, he held it out over Alex's mouth. However, the door opened faster than Alex's mouth, and Fox followed Snake inside.

"Wolf?" they asked in unison. Alex could read their confusion easily as if it had been stamped across their faces. Still, Wolf's actions should have made sense, with the clipboard, thermometer, and all.

"The infirmary's short on hands, so they asked me to check his vitals - like a nurse," Wolf instantly explained, as if he didn't want the others to think he cared about Alex.

Not that they would, considering how Wolf had been treating Alex.

"You're not putting that in his mouth, are you?" Snake asked. "That's an anal cover - it's got lubricant on it."

Alex couldn't help it. Blood rushed to his cheeks, and his eyes widened. The very thought of putting it in his mouth - the thought that he was going to - revolted and embarrassed him. Fox wheeled around to face Snake, and Snake, for his part, remained neutral. Wolf swallowed and pulled the probe away from Alex to check if Snake was right. Even Alex could see, once Wolf prodded it, how the gel moved a little bit.

As glad as he was to not have the foreign liquid in his mouth...

Snake cocked an eyebrow. "I'll do it, if you're not comfortable with it."

Alex didn't like the idea of any of them 'doing it', but he was saved by Wolf. The stand-in nurse had started rummaging around the nursing drawer, and he located a second box of covers. They were plastic - meant for the mouth.

"While you do that," Snake said to Wolf, as the latter pressed the temperature probe into Alex's mouth, "I can ask some of these questions, so Cub can prepare his answers."

Wolf nodded his assent. Snake began to read. "'How do you feel?' Then, 'Are you in any pain?' The last one for the nurse to ask is, 'what's the last thing you remember?'"

Alex nodded minutely to show he understood. The questions were easy - far easier than some of the questions he'd faced on his most recent English test. "Name a piece by Shakespeare," for one.

The thermometer beeped, and Wolf withdrew the probe. "Thirty-five. He'll be fine."

Snake passed the clipboard to Fox, who diligently wrote down the information. Meanwhile, Snake repeated, "How do you feel?"

"Tired," Alex replied. "And a little hungry, too."

"You in pain?"

"None. I just feel achy all over."

"That's to be expected," Snake explained. "You've been motionless for quite some time. Once you start moving, you'll feel better." As Alex made to get out of bed, Snake quickly pushed him down. "But not until you've been seen to by the doctor, all right?"

Alex nodded and looked away. The attention bothered him.

"And lastly," Fox took over, "what's your last memory before you lost consciousness?"

"The short man had just shocked me with his stun gun, and I blacked out."

Fox wrote it down quickly, while Wolf and Snake exchanged glances. "Anything else?" Wolf asked uncertainly.

"No. Nothing."

Snake raised an eyebrow. "They did more than that. And you woke up while we were doing first aid. You don't remember any of that?"

"No."

Wolf looked like he wanted to say something - like words were crawling up his throat, clambering to escape - but the doctor walked in at that moment and stole the spotlight. "Hey there. Glad to see you two came, but now I'll ask you all to leave. I need to have a look at Cub in private."

Like the soldiers they were, the three filed out.

Alex woke up much more willingly than before, feeling very much refreshed. The infirmary bed was infinitely more comfortable than his bunk in the hut he lived in with K-Unit. The doctor had ordered he stay overnight. Alex didn't mind at all.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon, peeping into Alex's room. It was early in the morning. A few birds chirped outside, as if nothing had happened at all. Alex supposed nothing had, for them. Then a nurse - a real one - came in and looked him over, then left.

A half-hour later, a rap at the door caught his attention. Alex sat up. Someone had dressed him in too-large pajama-like hospital clothes when he first arrived. His hands were buried and the collar was too wide and off-centered. He adjusted one shoulder before saying, "Come in."

First, the very fit black sergeant walked it. Then K-Unit filed in behind them. Alex could tell by their faces they didn't know what was going on either.

"Attention!" the sergeant hollered. Alex flinched, then saluted like the rest of his unit. "At ease," the man followed up with. Alex watched the other men exchange nervous glances.

"Sir?" Wolf asked after a brief pause.

"I just wanted to let you all know that the Green Jackets who interrogated Cub may be removed from service. They are currently undergoing psyche evals."

"There's no need to-" Alex started without thinking. He was only temporary, after all, and he'd practically insulted the interrogators just by being his age.

"Cub," Wolf interrupted.

"No, Wolf. Let him finish." The sergeant turned to Alex. Alex noticed the man was smirking, strangely. "You were saying?"

Alex swallowed. His speech mimicked the motion of stop-and-go traffic. "I don't expect people to treat me more nicely here, just because I'm younger."

Wolf looked exasperated. "Yes, but the Green Jackets went over the top."

Alex didn't reply for a moment. He and Wolf's eyes were directed at each other, as if connected by a magnet. The others in the room vanished for a moment - Alex wondered if Wolf knew how hypocritical he was being at that very moment in time. He'd clearly had something against him. But why? Then it hit Alex and he looked down at his feet.

"They went over the top because I'm younger. Because they wanted to be in my position - training with you lot - and yet here I was, doing it years before I should be able to. They were jealous, weren't they?" Alex glanced up at sergeant. For a brief second, Alex thought he saw pride in the man's eyes. Pride for him?

"Yes, Cub, they were envious - and furious. They took your age as a personal insult." Alex furrowed his eyebrows. He was getting the distinct impression that he was being used and manipulated. "And why don't you tell us how that makes you feel?"

Alex flushed madly. The sergeant was trying to get him to tell K-Unit how he felt. He was trying to make their unit more connected. Suddenly, Alex felt extremely small. "I don't like it," Alex murmured quietly, "but I don't blame them."

"You don't blame them?" This time, the authority figure seemed merely curious.

Ugh, I should've stopped while I was ahead, Alex thought. "I mean - they're - it makes sense." Alex mentally slapped himself. His words certainly did not make sense.

"What makes sense?"

Alex swallowed and thought. He was saying the truth - he harbored no hatred towards the four men in the room - only irritation at times -, and he didn't blame the Green Jackets for their actions. He was just ticked at the whole situation in general. It wasn't like they meant to hurt him. They'd just gotten carried away. Alex wasn't about to condemn them for an accident: at least, Alex thought it was an accident. His whole memory of the incident was rather shabby.

"I would've been just as angry, I think," Alex concluded. "I don't blame them for that."

The sergeant cocked an eyebrow. Snake was watching Alex with a new hawk-like interest, as was Eagle. Fox had his eyebrows raised. Wolf merely stared at the wall next to Alex's head, as if waiting for the whole conversation to be over. "Pray tell, Cub - what do you actually remember?"

"Shorty - er, the short guy," Alex corrected quickly, "wanted Wolf to kiss me. He was going to shock me. I threw him. He got mad and shocked me until I passed out."

"And how would you reflect on Cub's actions?"

Alex glanced up. The sergeant was glaring at K-Unit expectantly. Fox was looking at Wolf, as if having a silent conversation. When no one answered for a moment, Alex asked, "What happened after I passed out?"

Fox looked nervous, but he answered. "You're in the infirmary because they all but drowned you, Cub. Not because they shocked you."

Alex blinked. A vague memory was reminding him of ice water. "It was... cold..." he trailed off, confused.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" the sergeant asked coldly, oblivious to the irony in his statement. "This exercise was RTI - resistance to interrogation." Alex swallowed, nerves fraying. The stress on that word implied things.

Wolf's eyes widened comically. "You mean we were supposed to resist the interrogation?" Alex had to bite his lips to keep from smirking. It sounded comical, phrased like that.

"Exactly," the man hissed. "If the SAS camp were actually taken over, do you really think we have people on hand to save your sorry arses? That you should wait to be rescued, never-mind any injuries you might sustain while captured? I ordered you to use your heads!" the sergeant roared. Alex flinched, even though the fury wasn't directed at him. "I know what they taught you all in the regular army - go with the flow - but this is the elite! What were you thinking? Cub seems to be the only one who even grasps the notion of resistance!"

Alex shifted uncomfortably. Singling him out here would only direct hatred to him. "Sir -"

"Don't you dare interrupt me, Cub!" he hollered in Alex's face. Alex flinched again and leaned back. "Your unit failed - failed! - to uphold the SAS standard. You even allowed one of your own to be put into the infirmary. For all intents and purposes, Cub would have died if Fox hadn't given in! Wolf, you need to judge the situation better - you all do! There were multiple occasions where you lot easily could have escaped. And you took advantage of none. None!"

Alex tuned the man out as he continued. He would have had to try very hard to understand the sergeant. He'd raised his voice so much that the individual words were nearly indistinguishable. Besides, the scolding wasn't directed at Alex. Alex even took some pleasure in seeing his bullies reprimanded so harshly.

At last, the speech stopped. K-Unit looked appropriately chagrined. The sergeant let the understandable parts of his spiel sink in. Then he added one more thing. "And Fox -" the poor man cowered "- I need to see you in my office after this."

"Yes, sir."

The sergeant glared at the rest of K-Unit. "And you lot can go back to your barracks. Cub will be along as soon as the doctor clears him." With that, the sergeant stormed out of the infirmary, Fox trailing dejectedly behind. The remaining three looked at one another for a moment. Then Wolf sighed and left. Eagle followed. But Snake paused for a moment.

"I -" he started, looking at Alex uncertainly, then glancing down the hallway to where the others had gone. Then he shook his head and muttered, "See you later."

With that, Alex was left alone.

AN: Hey, y'all. That's your end. I dunno if people like reading about people taking care of Alex... but I do. And I felt like I gave K-Unit what they deserved! Totally!

Like it?

(But I lied. There's a quick epilogue about some people. So it's three-plus-one chapters.)