Everlasting Changes

by Kiamii

Chapter Eight "Brecon Beacons"

As he opened his mouth to say the hit was no big deal, Fox and Wolf had made it to shore and had stopped short upon seeing Bear holding Alex still by the shoulder and Alex's recently turning bruise.

"What is going on." Wolf deadpanned. Bear gulped.

There was silence. Dead silence. Not the awkward kind of silence that makes someone scream out "Gay baby is born!" or the kind where you were in absolute boredom. Nor was it the kind of silence that meant someone died. It wasn't even the comfortable friendly silence you get when you're with a friend and ran out of things to talk about. It was the kind of silence that spelt out your death. Anger was in the air and everyone knew who it was coming from.

Wolf. He was seething in his spot as he stared at the quickly turning purple bruise on his charge's cheek. It wouldn't have looked so bad had Alex been fourteen again. But after finding a five year old version of Cub already battered and scratched when he rescued him... This made Wolf absolutely murderous. Hell, it would make anyone like this. Alex was standing there, looking at him with his wide brown eyes. The bruise just ruined the look. His outfit and the small army hat that he wore gave him the added appeals of a small innocent little boy. Therefore it hadn't come as a surprise that Wolf had taken a threatening step towards Bear who quickly snatched his hand back and taken a step away from the kid. Fox had gone pale and immediately went over to Alex, picking the boy up.

"I'm okay Fox!" Alex said in surprise as Fox looked the bruise over. Fox ignored Alex's words and traced the bruise wearily.

"Will someone tell me what happened?" Wolf asked, growling. Bear had paled and really did not want to say anything to the man who's codename fit him like a glove. He had all of a sudden managed to grab the front of Bear's uniform and pulled the man up, growling at him. Hawk decided to save his friend before Wolf tried to bash his head in.

"Wolf, calm down." Hawk had began but Wolf had cut him off.

"How can I calm down when this guy had just hit a 5-year-old boy." Wolf growled.

"It was an accident!" Bear stammered.

"How can hitting a little kid be an accident?" Wolf asked, glaring.

"Bear had grabbed the kid on the shoulder and whirled him around to the point that the kid's cheek got hit by his oncoming hand." Hawk explained hastily. Wolf blinked and looked at Cub for confirmtion.

"He's telling the truth," Cub said quietly, locking eyes with Wolf for a second before the man nodded and released Bear who breathed in relief. Fox let Cub down and the boy looked up at Wolf in confusion as to why the man had reacted like that. Wolf simply gave Cub an awkward smile before Fox gave Alex a little push.

"Why don't you go find Snake?" Fox suggested. Alex nodded before taking off towards the medical tent. He missed the interactions of Fox, Wolf, Hawk, and Bear. Alex pulled the tent flap back slightly and peaked in. He spotted Snake concentrating on wrapping the dummy. He cocked his head to the side in wonder as Snake expertly wrapped the elbow. Alex decided to let himself be known, or fake caught because kids this age weren't as stealthy as him, and Snake looked up at the sound of rustling. He saw Alex and smiled.

"Whose this?" Snake's partner, Jackal, asked.

"Fox's nephew here because we had to report about the mission we were on and we couldn't get him a sitter in time." Snake lied, hoping Wolf's and the other's excuses were close to that.

"And," Alex piped up in a small, yet high voice, "I wanna see how you do things." Snake caught the reason why he said that and gave the boy another quick smile before he frowned as Alex turned his head and the bruise made itself known.

"Alex," Snake said slowly, careful not to say Cub because Jakal had been here when Cub has started his training, "why is there a bruise on your cheek?"

"I tripped." Alex lied.

"You... tripped?" Snake said incredulously. Alex nodded, faking a sheepish smile. Snake tousled the boy's hair and sighed. He lifted Alex up and sat him firmly on one of the tables before going over to a bag and pulling out some kind container. He grabbed a cotton ball and dipped it in before turning around and dabbing the boy's cheek. Alex winced at the touch but, settled as the man finished applying the liquid.

"That should make the bruise fade faster." Snake explained.

"Too bad we don't get supplied with Child aspirin for him." Jakal joked and Snake looked thoughtful.

"I'll remind his uncle about that." Snake said before he went back practice first aid. Alex watched in fascination as the man finished up and grinned at Jackal.

"Hey kid, you want to try it?" Jackal asked, handing the boy a wrap and picking Alex up with an ease, his hands under Alex's arms as he stood Alex on the Matt where the dummies were. Alex looked at the dummies and he did the wraps, finding it challenging as he did so. Snake was laughing at the boy's attempts and it was an hour later that found Alex running out of the tent with a quick bye to Snake and Jackal. He found himself at the paintball course and Sergeant was there. Sergeant spotted him instantly and beckoned him over. 3 other units were with him.

"B-Unit, Q-Unit, and C-Unit; This is K-Unit's ward. You will be doing a little paintball with the kid. If you get hit by him, let's just say the punishment will not be pretty men." Sergeant said as Panther appeared from the racks with paintball guns. He saw Alex and raised an eyebrow.

"What're you doing in Brecon Beacons, is K-Unit here?" Panther questioned the five-year-old. Alex simply nodded and Panther knelt down to help the boy with his equipment. He looked at him curiously when Alex managed to load the gun with the black paint easily.

"My uncle taught me," Alex said simply. It wasn't a lie. His uncle Ian had taught Alex how to shoot a paintball gun when he was around 7. Alex turned to Panther and saw the man pale as he saw the other side of the boy's face.

"What on earth happened?" Panther asked.

"I tripped." Alex lied once more. Panther looked at him before sighing and standing up, running over to Sergeant. Alex trotted over there as the rest of the units went in. Sergeant sent Panther to get something before turning to Cub once they were alone.

"Cub, I want you to try and hit the leaders of every unit if you can." Sergeant ordered, unsure if Cub could because of his size. Alex nodded and he entered the paintball course. He maneuvered himself between two obstacles and spotted B-Unit's leader. The leaders had a special mark on their uniforms. Cub was still in his own clothes because he was too small to fit in one of the suits. He didn't even hesitate or aim really, he just brought the gun up and shot. After so much time spent on him learning to do instinctive shooting, he hit the man right in the stomach.

"What the!?" The man swore violently before looking around for the gun that shot the paint. Alex grinned and hid himself. His size made it two easy. He crawled his way through a path with ease. One man down, two more to go. Alex found the next target; C-Unit leader. It turned out to be Hawk and Alex looked at him in surprise. He let instinct take over and he concentrated on keeping his cover as he slipped behind a tree. He slid the paint gun on his back with the strap and climb up, using the energy of a five-year-old but, the discipline of a teenage spy. Alex sat on a branch, marvelling at how light he had to be to be able to sit on such a thin branch. He pulled his gun back out and immediately shot Hawk three times, one hitting the back of his head, the next his back, and the final hit him in the leg. Hawk cursed much like the B-Unit leader had down. He turned and looked around before he thought to look up. He spotted Alex in the tree.

"Hey kid, you're going to get hurt if you stay up there." Hawk called out, unwilling to hit the kid because he could fall if he did that. Thankfully the boy slid down from the tree but before Hawk could aim a shoot, the kid took off and disappeared. Hawk raised his eyebrows and looked around for another unit. Alex ran and did not hear anyone near him until a yellow paint hit him right in the leg. Alex stopped running and ducked under a bush. He looked around silently until he spotted the shine of a gun. He crawled his way behind the bush, thankful he was so small, and made it to a tree. He stood up and pointed the gun in that direction before shooting. He paused as he heard someone howling. He wondered about that for a second before taking off and starting to search for Q-Unit. He didn't find the leader and the horn sounded for them to return to the entrance. Cub did so and the Sergeant beckoned him over. Snake was there and immediately knelt down to examine him. He found the yellow paint on his leg and Alex shrugged. He didn't want to wear these overalls anyways. Alex turned his attention to the others as they finally came out. He was taken by surprise to see that he had indeed hit Q-Unit's leader... right where it hurts. Alex winced at the black paint splattered on the man's pants. The guy was panting heavily.

"Now for those who didn't know, that black paint was the kid's paint. I'm disappointed that my leaders all got hit by him." Sergeant pointed out. The three men grimaced and Q-Unit's leader glared at the boy who looked at him curiously. Snake chose this moment to pick Alex up and the boy in question could not help the yawn that escaped from him. He was tired all of a sudden, probably because they had spent about eight hours here already and so much had happened. He laid his head on Snake's shoulder and the man cradled him, sensing that Alex was about to fall asleep. Sergeant continued to talk, only barely noticing the tired boy in Snake's arms. When the soldiers left, Sergeant turned to Snake.

"Did one of my soldiers give him that bruise?" Sergeant asked as Alex closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep. It didn't help that Snake had purposefully rocked him only slightly. Snake blamed the times he had babysat a 3-year-old when he was younger. That had been the only kid he had babysit because the boy was his cousin.

"He claimed he tripped..." Snake said.

"Right... he tripped." Sergeant said disbelievingly. It was at this time that Wolf, Fox, and Eagle came over to them, each wearing their own sastisfaction.

"He fell asleep again?" Fox questioned. Snake nodded and placed Alex in Fox's open arms. Fox held the boy with ease and laughed as Alex unconsciously nuzzled into Fox's chest and was most likely seconds away from sucking his thumb again.

"You don't seem surprised that he has a bruise on his cheek," Snake stated.

"Bear accidentally hit him when Wolf and I were at the lake with them." Fox explained. There was a sort of quietness before...

"He said that he tripped." Snake said, eyebrows quirked upward.

"I wonder why he said that. Bear had grabbed him on the shoulder and whirled him around to the point that his cheek got hit by Bear's hand." Fox informed them. Sergeant's face was impassive and he spoke indifferently, noticing Panther there and remembering that Panther did not know who Cub was.

"You best head home and put him to bed. Report back here next week to test your endurance." Sergeant dismissed them and left. They walked back to the car and said goodbye to Panther. Fox latched Alex firmly back in the car seat and noticed the bear on the floor. He shook his head in amusement before placing the bear in Alex's sleeping arms. Alex seemed to be familiar with it for he wrapped an arm around the bear and his thumb went to his mouth. Wolf got in the driver's seat and started the engine before starting the journey home. Snake was reading a book, Eagle was texting some girl he met at the amusement park, and Fox chose to listen to his iPod he had bought recently. Alex's head rested against the upper part of the car seat and Fox grinned as Alex shifted slightly, still holding the bear and sucking his thumb. He hated to admit it but Cub made one hell of an adorable sight.

It was about 4 hours later that they made it home. Cub somewhat stirred but, was thankfully still asleep. Fox undid the straps and lifted Alex up into his arms with the bear. Alex dropped his thumb and wrapped an arm around Fox's neck, his head against Fox's shoulder as Fox settled him on his hip. The bear was being held loosely by Cub's hand. Fox carried him inside and handed him off to Snake who took him upstairs to get him to bed and a bath. They heard the water running and faintly heard Alex's sleepy replies as he was awoken by the warm water. A few minutes later Snake was coming back downstairs with a satisfied grin.

"He was too tired to really care that I just gave him a bath and put him to bed." Snake chuckled. Fox grinned before the four men settled around in the living room. Wolf bashed Eagle with a pillow when the man attempted to push him out of his seat.

"You're bad at stealth Matt." Wolf pointed out. Eagle glared and sat on the couch.

"So... today went rather well," Eagle stated.

"Except for the whole Cub got hit and Wolf went on a rampage." Fox said.

"I'm surprised the Sergeant wanted Cub to hang around." Snake admitted.

"Probably because most soldiers underestimate a child, let alone a very small 5-year-old boy." Wolf pointed out.

"You know, he is shorter than even Panther's little sister and she's five." Fox said thoughtfully.

"Could be in his genes." Eagle said.

"Or he doesn't eat the proper amount of food." Snake answered.

The men looked thoughtful before Alex's cell phone vibrated from the coffee table. Fox answered it.

"Hello?"

"Is Alex here?" Tom's hesitant voice rang.

"He's asleep." Fox said simply.

"Oh, I was wondering if I could take Alex with me to the movies tomorrow to see a movie or something." Tom requested.

"That is alright with us. Meet up with him at the movies around 4PM." Fox answered before he said a quick goodbye.

"What was that about?" Wolf asked.

"Tom requested to take Alex off our hands for a bit tomorrow," Fox drawled. They changed the topic and pretty soon one by one, they went to sleep.

Author's Note: I felt the need to do that paintball scene this time. I had some trouble with writing the reactions of Wolf. I wanted another sleeping Alex episode so... tadah! I am NOT educated in the land of medics and fighting. I'd need a beta who was good with that for this to work and I'm currently still solo working on this story. Meaning there are grammer errors, typos, and everything that comes with me. Sorry everyone! I hope you liked this story. Alex WILL return to Brecon Beacons every now and then to make the soldiers exhausted. Sorry if this seemed short, I wanted to update the story again and all. MinibooExtreme pointed out to me how long it does take to make it from London to Brecon Beacons. Thanks!