A/N: in case you're wondering why I've updated so soon-good question. I'm not quite sure myself. I think it might have something to do with my inability to revise form a text book for more than 10 minutes.
Disclaimer: A.H owns A.R-unfortunately.
Jaws dropped at Fox's little statement. Alex regaining his ability to speak first, asked, 'You're my tutor, Ben? Shouldn't you be off on a mission somewhere? Besides, can you even teach?' A little smile formed on Alex's lips. Truly he didn't care if Ben was a good teacher or not-he was just glad he was here. Ben at least, didn't hate him.
'Aww, didn't you miss me Alex? Of course I can teach-some stuff. I did go Uni. after all- and the heads of SO assured me you're bright, so how hard can it be?' The last statement was meant rhetorically, but Alex wasn't sure. He had a lot to catch up in. We'll see, he thought smiling.
'How do the two of you know each other's names?' Wolf asked confused. Eagle and Snake looked between the two interestedly. Ben opened his mouth to reply, but Alex beat him to it.
'He works for MI6'S SO and all those linked to SO know each other by name.' It was a bad lie but if he had just said 'classified' it would have raised K Units suspicions even more. Fox shot him a questioning look, which he quickly smoothed out. He'd discuss this with Alex later.
'Right,' Wolf said, tone clearly indicating that he wasn't satisfied with the answer.
'I think you'll all be happy to know that I'm rejoining K Unit-at least temporarily.' It was an obvious attempt to change the subject, but it worked.
'Hey that's great!' 'Good to have you back Ben!' Eagle and Snake cheered. If anyone would have asked, Alex would have flat out denied the relief he'd felt at finding out that Ben would be more than just a tutor. He wasn't afraid of K Unit but he had already worked with Ben before-and they worked well together. Alex was torn out of his thoughts as the conversation proceeded.
'It's good to be back. I would have gone crazy if I had to spend one more day in that stupid hospital.'
'So how'd you end up here?' Snake asked trying to fight the smile off of his lips-he shouldn't be encouraging Ben's anti-hospital mentality after all.
'Ah, I really have to thank you Alex for that. They needed someone to tutor you and seeing as I already know you and am off duty, they thought-why not send Agent Daniels? Besides, this way I can get some training to keep my fitness levels up too.'
'Don't overdo it though Ben,' Wolf warned. Fox just rolled his eyes. 'So, is my student ready to work?'
'Not quiet yet, he's not,' Wolf growled. 'He's still got the other half of the mess hall to scrub.'
''kay, I'll help you Alex to hurry it up.' Fox made to go get another bucket of soapy water and a mop but Wolf stopped him in his tracks. 'Fox no. Its punishment duty and he has to do his job on his own. Sergeant also said you would have to give him some form of punishment for being late for his lessons too.' He'd twisted the drill Sergeant's words-'if he gives you a punishment for being late, no excuses, you have to do it.'
Wolf's face was twisted in to a cruel, determined expression. Fox frowned his eyes searching Wolf's face. He must have found what he looked for as his own expression changed first in to an understanding, then pained and finally a sympathetic look. Alex observed their silent interactions discretely, pretending to be scrubbing away. Something was up with Wolf. Something that Eagle, Snake and even Fox knew about. Now he just had to work out what…
A further 15 minutes later Alex had finally finished scrubbing the floor. It practically sparkled now. His hands were raw-what he would give for cold clean water to sooth the incessant itch. But Alex being Alex, wouldn't give K Unit-particularly Wolf- the satisfaction of knowing just how irritating his skin felt. Alex sighed. He still wasn't any the wiser about Wolf. I suppose I could try to get some info of Ben.
'Finally!' Eagle groaned. 'That's it right? Nothing else to do today?' Eagle's voice sounded hopeful even though he knew it was futile. Snake shook his head.
'I wish. Come on we've got to hurry up-the 'Hostage Situation Lecture' is about to start.' A flurry of activity accompanied his words as they hurried to put away their cleaning equipment and then run off to the lecture room-they were in no mood to get a second punishment duty for being late.
Alex moved to wash his hands-ah, that was good. The itching sensation gradually disappeared but unfortunately it did nothing for the smell of cleaning liquids that saturated his clothes.
'How've you been, Alex?' Said boy looked up to face the man leaning on the edge of the sink in front of him.
'I've been…well, I've been better but I've also been worse.' Alex remained purposefully vague; he respected Ben and to a certain degree even liked and trusted him-which was exactly why he didn't want to give a concrete answer. Any concrete answer out of his mouth to that question would be a lie and he felt Ben deserved more than that. Still, he wasn't going to tell the truth only to break down in a hysterical mess any time soon.
Ben grinned wryly, realizing what he was doing. 'Fair enough,' he conceded. 'Wanna head over to our Barracks-I assume you've got your books and stuff, yeah?' Alex nodded. They walked in companionable silence for a few moments, before Alex decided to brooch the subject at hand, slowly.
'How's your shoulder?' Fox shrugged his shoulders. 'It's fine-I don't see what the big problem is. It isn't as if I got hit anywhere vital. Still, extra training always helps and I'd rather be in this hellhole training amongst friends, than stuck in a hospital on my own, bored out of my mind.'
They had reached the barracks by now and Alex headed straight for his bag to retrieve various text and draft books. He smiled slightly, thinking how best to approach the subject. 'I know what you mean. I can't stand hospitals either…You know working with you on that last mission made me realize that working with someone has a lot of benefits-I guess being SAS is good that way right?' Alex moved on to the SAS quickly, not wanting to dwell too much about his mission-it was a means to an end.
'I mean, you have a unit-people you get close to and know really well. So if something's up, you'd know and would try to help them, right?' Ben who had at first looked a bit touched and happy that Alex liked working with him, started chuckling by the end of it.
'Nice try Alex. Man you're a spy through and through aren't you?' Even on his tongue the statement had a bittersweet quality and Alex felt it too.
'Seriously though Alex, Wolf is a good guy. A really good guy. I'm sure he's been a bit of a prick to you recently but-would you believe me if I said it had very little to do with you personally? Well, not quite. It does have to do with you but not because he hates you.' Alex just stared at him with a 'What???' expression on his face.
'Explain?' he asked.
'Let's just say Wolf-as well as the rest of the unit- haven't had a too good time recently. They've had to deal with a lot-'
'With Amur right?' Ben looked at him shocked.
'How…?'
'Never mind. He was the guy that replaced you in K Unit right?' Ben just nodded, still shocked.
'So what about him?'
Ben snapped out of it and shook his head regretfully. 'I wasn't in the unit at the time, so I wouldn't feel right talking about it. But let's just say Wolf is mainly pissed because of that.' Alex nodded his head-he knew he wouldn't get any more information on Amur than that.
'And as far as I'm concerned?'
'Well…let's just say Wolf is a strong believer in 'you have to be cruel to be kind-and that's all you're getting from me.' Alex mauled it over in his head. What, so Wolf actually secretly likes me? Somehow I really don't think so.
'You ready to learn?' Ben asked Alex grinning. Alex grinned back. 'I guess-let's see how useless of a teacher you are,' he laughed only to have Ben swipe his arm playfully.
Surprisingly enough, Ben had been a rather good teacher. They had in 2 hours managed to work through an entire chapter from the AQA GCSE maths syllabus and had read through half of 'Romeo and Juliet' for Alex's Shakespeare coursework for English. Maths wasn't too hard. Ben had explained the formulas and calculations clearly, so that Alex was able to apply them with ease.
Though he was actually quite fond of and good at English, he did struggle a bit with the Shakespearian language. Ben was very patient and was able to explain any words Alex didn't understand with ease. He'd even let them get up and act scenes out, which made it far more enjoyable than anything his old English teacher did. They'd ended up collapsed on the floor laughing after a particularly bad imitation of Mercutio from Fox.
'You know, the next scene we've got to work on tomorrow Alex, is Juliet's love declaration for Romeo on the Balcony. Get ready to pour out all your passion for Romeo,' Ben teased.
'I'm sorry to disappoint you Ben…I just really don't feel that way about you. I'm so young-I feel violated,' Alex let his bottom lip tremble putting on huge puppy eyes.
Ben glared at him 'Why you little…' and proceeded to tickle Alex mercilessly.
'Do you take it back?' Ben grinned.
'Never!' Alex gasped between laughs. Ben continued to tickle him, Alex letting out sounds that sounded suspiciously like giggles.
'What's going on here?' A furious voice demanded. The giggling immediately subsided. Ben and Alex turned round to look at Wolf who was looming over them, sheepishly.
'I was just giving Alex his punishment for being late to classes.' Ben winked at Alex but sobered up at Wolf's murderous expression.
'Man I'm tired and we've got an early start tomorrow, so let's get to bed.' Eagle got dressed quickly and slipped in to his bunk, followed by Snake. Cowards, thought Alex. God the atmosphere was tense; You could use a blunt knife to cut through it. Wolf shot Ben a demanding look which Ben retaliated. Wolf conceded-slightly.
'Lights out in 5,' he growled. Alex didn't need to be told twice. He put his books away and got changed-making sure to face away from the men. The lights were switched off just as he slipped under his cover. A few minutes of silence passed but Alex felt borderline restless. Minus the gruelling physical excursion and the whole thing with Wolf, it had been a fairly good day. He contemplated briefly on how Romeo wasn't your stereo typical main character-he's too soft.
He was drawn out of his sleep fuelled musings by the rush of a whispered discussion. He strained his ears harder, barely daring to breath.
'…acting the way you are towards Cub,' he heard Ben whisper. 'I understand, more than you know-'
'That's the thing Fox-you don't. So leave me to it,' Wolf whispered back harshly.
'I can't,' Ben answered gently. 'For more reasons than you know.' It was quiet after that, the only sound being Eagle's snoring.
This is ridiculous, Alex thought. I'm either followed my danger or some sort of drama. God, I just want a break. Unfortunately for Alex, this was just the beginning.
A/N: so what do you think? Sorry for any grammatical mistakes-I read it through but I'm dead tired so I might have missed something.
I can't WAIT to write the next few chaps-all I'm gonna say is that you lot are going to HATE blunt. As always, thanks for taking the time to read this chappie hope you enjoyed it and pleaaaaaase review?
Ta! x