The guns aimed once more.
The glass above broke and the brick door smashed open revealing the dark sky.
At the same time, the guns fired.
Alex closed his eyes just as his chest was pushed and he fell backwards onto the ground, his head hitting the wall. For a moment he almost blacked out and then he realised there wasn't a bullet in him. He remembered what it felt like last time and it defiantly didn't feel like this. There was something, or someone, laying over him.
Peeking an eye open Alex saw that John had thrown himself across him and had shielded him from the bullet. Wolf and Snake, who had crashed through the glass, had disabled the guns and Otter was rushing towards them.
"Heh, you'd think after being shot so much the pain would get easier" Alex felt the body that had pinned him down move and he let out a deep breathe as his chest was free again. He looked up and saw John hunched over clasping a hand to his side which was bleeding quickly.
"Oh shit, Snake, get over here" Alex heard Wolf yell.
As Snake moved over to John, Otter went over to Alex and helped him up. The vine was still constricting against his ankle so Otter brought out a knife and cut it off making sure not to hurt Alex in the process.
"You alright?" asked Otter.
The shock of almost being shot again seemed to not want him to speak so he just nodded and looked over to where Snake was tending John whose face had turned considerably paler.
"We need to get to the hospital quickly" the medic was saying "I don't have any of the necessary equipment. All I can do is clean it and dress it with a gauze"
"Don't worry about me, I've been through worse. I can hang on for a bit" He turned around. "You ok son?"
Again, Alex just nodded until he felt a prickle in his ankle where the vines had trapped it. He looked down and saw some yellowish puss was seeping out of the small cuts made by it. Without even realising it he started to sway until suddenly he swayed forward and was oblivious to the world.
Alex awoke to the sounds of voices whispering above him. Curious as to the topic of discussion he kept his eyes closed and his breathing slow.
"How long till the doctor said he'd be awake?" Ah, that Australian accent definitely belonged to Otter.
"Not sure, Doctor Wells said it could be as early as today or as late as two weeks from now. Just depends on how long it takes for his body to flush out the poison." That deep voice was unmistakably Wolf's.
"What's going to happen to him when he does wake up?" There was Eagle.
"I assume he'll go to the safe house with John. He's proved himself after all"
The anger Alex felt at Snake's first sentence morphed into confusion. Proved himself? …Oh. Memories of his kidnap came rushing back. He was just about to be shot when John pushed him out of the way and took the bullet for him. The question was; why? Was there really the possibility that this man was truly his father and he did what any other loving father would do for his son and protected him from death?
Saving the internal battle for later Alex decided it would be a good time to 'wake up' so pretended to stir.
"Shh guy's; he's waking up!"
Alex blinked and was greeted by the familiar bright light only a hospital could give. Almost instantly four faces grinned over his face and blocked the light slightly.
"We've really got to stop meeting like this" Alex muttered causing the four faces to chuckle and Alex as well.
"Well you stop getting yourself and giving us heart attacks" Snake commented clutching his chest theatrically.
"Yes because I want to be constantly kidnapped" Alex remarked sarcastically with a slight smirk.
Snake just smiled at him then scanned him over concernedly.
"How're you feeling? Oh and make sure you tell the truth this time please"
Alex wondered what he was on about then realised the last time he was asked if he was ok he'd said he was, then collapsed mere seconds later. That wasn't his fault though! He honestly had felt fine, unless that was just the adrenaline confusing him at the time. Now though, he felt a bit numb around his ankle and it reached to just under his knee. Probably the painkillers.
"I feel fine, just numb really"
"Ah, that's to be expected. The poison from that demonic vine thing was travelling up your leg quickly when we got you here. Doctor Well's just managed to get rid of most of it before it got to your knee thankfully. However there's still some there and that'll take a few weeks to flush out completely. Until then your leg has to have some painkillers in it and other bits to help your white blood cells so you'll probably be on crutches for a while"
Alex nodded then looked around the room. For once, it seemed, he wasn't in a private room like normal. Instead, he had white curtains surrounding his bed and he could see a silhouette of another person in the one to the right of him. That was strange; they usually wanted to keep him and his injuries a secret from the other patients….unless…
"Hey Otter, move the curtains please, need a bit of outside light in here"
"Oh I think its fine…"
Alex dismissed the diversion and repeated himself and Otter relented. Doubtfully, Otter started opening the curtains until it was pulled all the way across and revealed John sleeping peacefully in the next bed. His face was slightly pale and he had a blood drip hooked onto his hand. He seemed better than he should have just overnight so Alex suspected he'd been asleep for longer than he'd assumed.
"How long have I been out?" He asked.
"Three days. We got you here Sunday morning. We've rung the school. You've had a sudden family emergency and we're not sure when you'll be able to return to school. It's quite serious"
Alex sighed about missing even more school but gave a small smile. "At least this one's close to the truth"
The others returned the smile and Alex looked around the room once more feeling like he was missing something. He scanned all the faces in the room and then realised what, or rather who, wasn't there. His chest constricted painfully but he kept a mask of indifference on his face. If he wasn't already sure, he defiantly was now. God, he had been a fool to think Ben cared for him now. He didn't have to anymore so why bother, he could do what he liked now; he didn't need to baby sit Alex.
The teenager decided it was best not to ask where Ben was, they would probably lie about the man to save from hurting Alex's feelings. No, it was fine. He'd figure out what to do without Ben, just like he used to do.
Alex glanced at the man who claimed to be his father. He really did have nothing to lose if he gave him a chance. If he didn't who knew where Blunt would put him. Would he get put into a care home or would he be kept in the bank where Blunt could have him at his beck and call.
No; anything was better than that. Perhaps this was fates way of thanking him for all he'd done. Slightly unrealistic but hell knows he deserved it. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to give John a chance; maybe he'd finally get part of the family he should've had growing up.
Well, it was worth a shot.
A day after Alex had woken up John soon regained consciousness as well. The teenager was alone for once and reading an old magazine so it was just the two of them. John coughed to get Alex's attention which worked as the spy dropped the magazine and turned to face him.
"Err, hi. How're you feeling?" John asked awkwardly noticing Alex was also wearing a far too breezy hospital gown like himself.
"Fine' Alex answered then added an afterthought 'You?"
John gave a little shrug "Been worse. So why are you in here? I thought you were ok?"
Was everyone going to hold him against a small miscalculation?
"Poison from the vine" he replied, albeit a bit irritably.
John thought about it for a moment then remembered what had held Alex in place. He bent his head down.
"I'm sorry"
Alex looked at John sharply that the older one missed. Was this a confession that he was part of all it along, that he was coercing with the people who took him?
"What for?"
"For making my enemies your enemies and getting you almost killed though from what I hear you've made your fair share of enemies without me. Even my old 'friends' SCORPIA. Enlighten me as to how that came about" John stared at Alex with an intrigued look in his eyes.
So Alex retold the story including Yassen's part in it all which made John shake his head with a small smile on his lips. When the story finished with Alex being shot the man pursed his lips.
"You know, just as I was fell unconscious I saw mum"
John's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Mhm, she helped me but thinking about it, it must have just been my imagination. After all, you were there too and you're not dead"
John suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. "You saw me?"
"Yeah, you were in your military uniform and the same age as your supposed death. But never mind, I guess it was all a dream"
"No" The dusty haired man gave Alex a genuine smile. "I'm sure it was your mother you saw. Hey, perhaps unknowingly my subconscious just tagged along for the ride"
Alex returned the smile and sunk slowly into his pillow. "What happens now?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean when you're better. Am I actually going to live with you?"
"Erm I guess that was the original plan. I won't force you but I really do want to get to know you. I see you already have a knack for getting into trouble"
"Hey it's not as if I go looking for it, it"
"Just happens to find you" John laughed then turned slightly more serious. "So what do you say?"
Alex sighed and shrugged. "What the hell"
Three days after the agreement John was able to go home. The bullet wound wasn't too deep but the dressing would have to be changed every day for five days. Alex had stayed in the hospital with John, he didn't need to really but Doctor Wells decided he might as well stay in for observation and have some bonding time with his father.
Much to John's annoyance Doctor Wells had insisted he be wheeled out of the hospital in a wheel chair. The injured man ended up complaining the whole way down while Alex limped with crutches behind him. Snake, who along with K-Unit to take them to the safe house, chuckled and nudged Alex.
"Remind you of anyone" Snake asked pointing to Wolf who held deep sympathy for the wheel chair bound man. Alex laughed and kept a grin on his face.
Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all? Who needed Ben; he had a real father now.
Much to the relief of everyone (ears had begun to hurt from the whinging) they reached the car and John was freed from his wheeled burden. Father and son sat in the back of the car where to extra seats had been propped up and K-Unit sat in the front seats.
The ride to the safe house was mostly quiet with the exception of Eagle who hummed 'this little light of mine' which he had become addicted to after watching come fly with me[1]. It soon got on everyone's nerves and he was finally silenced when Alex whacked the back of the chair with one of his crutches. John snickered and Eagle grumbled about how no one made Precious shut up.
The rest of the journey was uneventful and twenty minutes later Wolf pulled up the drive of a small cottage that Alex realised was only just a few blocks away from K-Units flat. Otter saw Alex make the connection and winked at him.
"It's so we can keep an eye on you. Because of this we get another two months off before we have to go back to training. Sergeant wasn't too pleased but I think he still has a grudge against you after that whole Brittney incident [2]. Well done by the way, very clever"
Alex smirked at the memory then walked inside the cottage. The entrance led straight to the living room which was circular with four doors leading off it. The carpet was a deep red and the walls were a complementing cream colour. The furniture was also red in colour and on a wall was an authentic fire place. Against the wall to the right of it was a medium sized TV along with the Wii. By the way Eagle was gazing at it Alex guessed the older man wanted to keep the console for himself.
The other four rooms consisted of a kitchen fully stocked, a bathroom, John's room and Alex's room which already had all of his belongings unpacked. The room was modelled much like his previous room except where his last room had a green theme, this one was blue. One the dark blue chest of draws Alex saw three photo frames. The first one was of Jack, the only picture he had of her, the one K-Unit had got for him before the fire. He smiled wistfully at it. He had more or less got over her death but there were still moments he still blamed himself for her death and wished she was still alive to take care of him again. She would be able to help him with all of this. Maybe she'd have been able to go visit America as she wouldn't have to take care of him.
Alex sighed. It was best not to dwell on what ifs. He looked at the second picture which showed him and K-Unit. They were all pulling faces at the camera, even Wolf. The picture was taken just a month after the adoption and it was Snake's birthday. They'd all gone out for a Chinese and because none of them mastered the art of using chopsticks they decided to use them to pull stupid faces. Thankfully they hadn't been kicked out.
The last photo was of just Alex and Ben. This one was just taken a few days after the one before. They had their arms around each other and both of them were grinning like idiots. There was no special occasion; Ben just decided the two of them should have a photo together. That moment was one of the happiest moments of his life. It was the time he felt lie he really had a father but now…
Alex threw the photo against the wall and the glass shattered on the carpet. Alex didn't bother cleaning it up, instead left it there. The picture lay forgotten as the teenager left the room.
As he returned to the living room Alex noticed K-Unit was getting ready to leave. It felt quite strange that he wasn't ever going to live with the men again. He wouldn't wake to Eagle's snoring or need to stay out of Wolf's way until he'd had his strong cup of coffee in the morning.
"We'll visit yeah?" said Wolf who glanced at John for confirmation. The man nodded in his direction and to Alex's surprised the usually unemotional man hugged him.
"If you ever have any problems feel free to come over" he whispered.
Alex nodded into the hug and Wolf released him. The others also hugged him saying similar things and the door shut behind them. Well that was it; he was officially living with his father.
Father and son stood there awkwardly until John declared; "I'll make some lunch" and walked into the kitchen leaving Alex alone. The blonde haired boy decided to watch some TV as he waited and a few moments later John called him in.
The pair sat eating in silence until John broke it by saying "So how many missions have you been on? Blunt was very tight lipped about what he had you do"
Alex thought about answering and decided seeing as the man was his father he had a right to know so he told the man everything about his missions, John's eyes getting darker and darker as he got through mission after mission.
When he was done John's sandwich lay forgotten and the man stood up and slammed a fist on the counter.
"What the hell is Blunt thinking! You're just a teenager for crying out loud. He shouldn't be able to get away with this, no, something must be done"
John stormed out of the door and Alex heard a door slam in the distance. For some reason he had the feeling he could have made a big mistake.
[1] I am also addicted to Come fly with me.
[2] For the full story read chapter 2 of Dares always come with consequences.
Sorry sorry sorry sorry. I didn't mean for this to be so late but I had writers block and I swamped with school work. I suppose this is a bit of a filler and you'll find out where Ben is in the next chapter. Even I feel sad about how Alex is treating him and I'm writing it!
Another reason for me being late is I was writing a short story for the red house competition. I don't think I'll win however.
I think I finally have a proper plot for this. I could go two ways but one way wouldn't really work. Thank you for all the lovely reviews as usual, I seem to be getting less and less…but oh well I still have more than 10 reviewing each chap and that's great! Next chapter hopefully won't be late but due to evil demonic homework giving teachers I can't promise anything :(
Until next time…
P.S Sorry for any grammatical errors and such, want to get this up as soon as possible!