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Five pairs of eyes turned their gaze on the seemingly innocent ringing phone on the coffee table. Ben's phone. Ben's work phone. Alex levered himself up from his resting place with a small grimace. Snake turned the volume down as Ben leant forward and picked up the phone. He stared at it for several moments, willing the caller to just hang up. But alas, the ringing continued. With a defeated sigh, Ben slid his finger across the screen and lifted the offending device to his ear.

"Daniels," he spoke, his tone and manner completely business. His teammates watched as his relaxed posture grew rigid. His voice grew serious, any previous joking tone that may have been present slipped away. His eyes became serious and almost unforgiving.

"Yes, we did." He answered, tone clipped.

"He is." His clipped tone had gained a slight suspicious tinge. "With all due respect Mrs. Jones, can you just spit it out?"...

"Absolutely not!"...

"I don't care."...

"Fine!" Ben hung up, and tossed the phone onto the coffee table, not caring that it bounced and hit the floor screen first. It was at this time that Cheetah emerged from the kitchen.

"Everything all right?"

"No," Ben wracked a hand through his hair. "Jones wants Alex to go down to the 'bank' tomorrow. 'Problem with his account'." Ben snarked.

"You're joking? Right?" Cheetah looked homicidal.

"Afraid not." Ben sank back into the sofa and carefully pulled Alex to his side. "Sorry kiddo. I-"

"Its okay, Ben. We knew that this was gonna happen." Alex spoke, his voice muffled by the material of Ben's shirt.

"No, it's not okay." Ben countered. "You were-"

"Kidnapped, held captive for two weeks and tortured. Yes, I know. And you know as well as I do that I need to be debriefed. As stupid as it seems, its protocol."

"When did you get so mature?"

"When it became obvious you weren't going to be the responsible one."

Just as Ben was about to respond the timer on the over dinged, cutting through the now partially relaxed atmosphere.

"We'll finish talking about this later, for now, let's eat." Cheetah declared, diminishing any possibility of the continuation of their previous conversation. Setting each of them a task:

"Wolf; get the garlic bread. Snake; get the drinks. Eagle; get the cutlery. Ben; get the plates. Alex; sit at the table." Turning on his heel, he made his way into the kitchen.

Before he could protest, Alex was left sitting on the sofa… alone, as each of the men set about their tasks.

Five minutes later, they were seated at the table, a steaming dish of lasagne and pile of garlic bread for a centrepiece. Dishing their portions, they tucked in, regaling in memories of the funniest moments during training, much like that night in the hospital. Alex listened to stories about the time Eagle yelled snake during a survival exercise, making his unit think there was an actual snake. To say they were less than pleased would be a major understatement. Then there was the time during Alex's first stint that he had 'accidentally' locked the green jackets in their trailer during RTI. Then there was Cheetah's initiation into the unit. An incident deemed taboo by… well everyone. If it was ever to be mentioned around Lynch, well let's just say kitchen duty would seem like heaven.

With the dishes in the dishwasher, tea and coffee all round and everyone settled in the sitting room, the uncomfortable topic of earlier's tense conversion reared its ugly head.

After some arguing with Wolf pulling rank, Ben pulling clearance level and Alex pulling injury it was decided that they'd be watching Nightmare Before Christmas - regardless of the fact it was February. And so, Snake went to make popcorn, while Ben hunted for the disc, finding it at the bottom of the DVD Everest in the corner. By the time the disc was pulled from the pile and slid into the DVD player, Snake we back, three bowls of buttery, salty goodness in hand.

An hour and a half later, Alex was falling asleep stretched out; feet in Snake's lap, head on Ben's shoulder, wrapped in a blanket tossed over by Wolf.

"Alright kiddo, let's get you to bed." Ben gently pushed Alex up, while Snake simultaneously slid the teen's feet from his lap. The blanket slid from his shoulders and pooled around his waist. Cheetah was there, pulling him to his feet.

"'M not tired."

"Sure you're not. That's why you're falling asleep where you're standing." Ben retorted, taking Alex by the elbow and leading him from the room. They traipsed up the stairs, one step at a time, each one creaking, as if to protest about the weight. Having conquered the stairs, Alex stumbling on the last step, causing Ben to tighten his grip, before moving his arm to the blonde's shoulders, they finished the trek to Alex's room. Once there, Ben deposited Alex on the bed, the latter drooping like a German Shepherd puppy's ears. Snorting softly, Ben shook his head fondly, and turned to the set of drawers by the far wall. Pulling out a pair of flannel bottoms and a baggy t-shirt, he turned around and spotted Cheetah lounging against the door frame. Ben simply raised an eyebrow.

"Thought you might need a hand." Cheetah explained, sending a glance in Alex's direction. Ben followed his gaze. Alex had finally succumbed to sleep's grip and was currently snoring lightly.

"Thanks," Ben tossed the pyjamas onto the bed, a few inches from Alex's head. Cheetah pushed away from the door frame, and the pair wrestled Alex out of his tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt and into his pyjamas. Next came the task of actually getting him into the bed. After quick deliberation, Ben found himself supporting Alex's dead weight while Cheetah pulled the covers back. As Ben lowered him into the bed, Cheetah moved to lift his legs. Finally, Alex was tucked in, sound asleep.

"I can't believe he slept through that." Cheetah muttered; his tone coloured with disbelief.

"You'd be surprised what he'll sleep through." Ben answered, as they made their way back downstairs.

It was eleven o'clock that night. The house was quiet, save for the hum of the central heating and Wolf's muffled snores. Ben turned off the t.v, laughing, internally, at the position of his friends; Wolf was sprawled out in the arm chair, while Eagle and Cheetah were essentially cuddling, the former's head on the latter's shoulder, the latter's arm having dropped from the back of the sofa to rest over Eagle's shoulder. Snake had commandeered one the guest beds not long ago. Deciding to take a few pictures, for future purposes, Ben pulled his phone from the mantle. With that done, he checked the locks and alarm, before making his own way to bed.

Passing Alex's door, Ben paused and carefully opened it. He watched the soft rise and fall of his ward's chest. The soft, accompanying snores echoing through the room. Ben couldn't help the rush of happiness that encompassed him. He finally had Alex home. After weeks of sleepless nights, filled with worry, Ben could sleep, knowing his ward was only down the hall, rather than hundreds of miles away. And one thing was for sure, Ben was going to do everything in his power to make sure nothing ever happened to Alex again. He swore to himself, that if he ever got his hands on the people responsible, they would pay. Remembering what lay in store tomorrow, Ben sighed and closed the door. Quickly changing, he climbed into bed.

Morning came all too soon.