This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!

Disclaimer: See Chapters 1-4

Now introducing…*drumroll*

Three Months to Forever Chapter 13: Spies and Secrets

Countdown: Still 46 days

Oh, shit!

It was the only ting that Alex's meddled mind was able to comprehend. The slight sober part of him was cursing K-Unit's existence, as well as trying to appear "un-high."

"H-Hello!" he stammered. Or tried to. It came out sounding like, "'eello?" Damn it!

"Cub!" Wolf sounded suspicious. Alex wasn't really paying attention to him, though, his eyes were half-fixed on Rat's smirking face. He knew the man would be able to tell exactly how drunk with drugs he was.

He couldn't remember exactly how much he had taken, but he didn't think it had been that much, seeing as he hadn't passed out yet.

"Alex?"

Something was waving in front of his face. What was it? It looked tanned…

"Alex!"

Wolf's angry/suspicious face appeared in his line of vision.

"Whaaa…t?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the last two minutes! What's wrong with you today?"

"H…headdd hurrts?" the teen croaked, and tried to glare at the smirk he saw Rat shoot at him.

Alex realized he hadn't paid a cent of his [unfocused] attention to Snake or Eagle. "Heeey…"

Rat spoke up, knowing that if Alex was found out, he would be too. No one said he was stupid. "Alex…you should go sit down, maybe sleep a bit."

For once, Wolf didn't argue with his reasoning. "Y-Yeah. You do that."

Alex turned shakily and closed the door.

But not before they saw the scars on his arms.

-XD-

Alex could almost feel the effects of the angel dust wearing off, luckily.

Oddly enough, he realized there were raised voices coming from the kitchen. Being the spy he was, he had to go check what was going on.

The teen tiptoed down the stairs, however cheesy that sounded.

Wolf's deep voice was the first sound that assaulted.

"-HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?"

"It's not MY PROBLEM, as you so astutely put it, Wolf!" Ben said, frustrated. "It's not MY FAULT if Alex decided to go all EMO on me!"

"BEN CARSILE DANIELS! Alex is YOUR responsibility and the blame will be on YOU if it gets any worse!" That time it was Snake talking- well, yelling really.

"But-"

"No buts!" Alex was surprised to hear the usually hyper Eagle sounding so serious. "Do you KNOW how messed up Alex looked today? He didn't look like he had a normal headache! He ACTED like he was on bloody DRUGS, for God's sake!"

Alex could have sworn his heart stopped.

"Why am I supposed to care if he doesn't even hardly ACKNOWLEDGE my presence?"

"Because, that what- what- oh, what the hell, lovers are supposed to do! You need to be there for him! Remember all the things he said that he's done? How is ANY teenager supposed to do ALL THAT and lead a NORMAL TEENAGE LIFE?"

Alex could have kissed Wolf.

"I don't give a SHIT about that! Alex is seriously messed up and I REFUSE to deal with that!"

Alex sat in stunned silence on the stairwell, feeling as if someone had broken off a piece of his heart, his soul.

He realized, however, that if he didn't move, everyone would find him there. He scrambled up the stairs to his room.

It was only until he had collapsed on his pillows that he realized he was crying. Half bawling his eyes out was more like it. Silently, off course.

Alex started weakly when he heard the door open, but didn't bother to see who it might be.

"Oh Alex," a voice that identified the person as Wolf sighed. "What are we going to do with you?"

He didn't respond. What could he say?

Alex just laid there, half-crying, while Wolf tried to console him.

-XD-

Alex came down to the sitting room half an hour later, Wolf trailing behind him. His eyes were puffy, although the red color that had been there earlier had disappeared. Snake took one look at him [he looked like shit] and sent an angry/disappointed glare at the kitchen, where he was still sitting with Eagle and Rat.

"You okay?" Snake asked roughly. While better that Wolf, he really was rubbish at being a least a little 'consoling.'

The teen nodded, and both men noticed that he seemed to have shrank into himself a little bit. While not that big in the first place, he seemed miniscule now. Not to mention the fact that he looked like hell personified.

Dark circles surrounded his eyes, and Wolf couldn't tear the image of the scars on his arms out of his mind. The kid looked like he hadn't slept for days. It was surprising he hadn't dropped dead on them yet. His legs seemed to be shaking slightly, as if he had been putting great strain on them the last few days. It was when Wolf looked into Alex's eyes, though, that he had to suppress his gasp of horror.

The once-orbs of melted chocolate had darkened considerably to a dark brown oak. They were hard and cold- Wolf knew, he had the same look sometimes. But the intensity was different. Even though his gaze was dreary and unfocused right now, the pupils pierced you like a sharp knife. They seemed to cut through you, peer into the depths of your soul. And yet, in their depths, you could see a knowledge, a knowledge too advanced for someone of his age to be able to understand. And yet, there it was, for all the world to see within his haunted stare.

Wolf and Snake really wanted to go kill a Fox right now for making their youngest team member go through this. No kid should have had to.

Alex, on the other hand, while appearing catatonic, was thinking fiercely. He remembered one of his close calls.

Flashback

Countdown: 52 days

The phone was ringing.

Ben hastened to grab it, but Alex took one look at the caller ID and snatched it away. He hurried up to his room, scared that Ben would hear him. "Hello?"

"Is this Alex Rider?" Said teen realized the voice immediately. "This is him, hi Dr. Johnson."

"Hello, Alex!" the man said with a cheery voice that reminded Alex of Mr. Smithers'. At the same time, however, he wondered how the man could be so cheerful.

"What are you calling for?"

"Well, I realized that I didn't really get a chance to explain your cancer to you, and I been so busy in the last few days…Russell Brand came in a week ago…but anyway, have you had any symptoms yet?"

"Um…" Now that he thought about it. He realized he had been coughing a lot…

"Well, there are different stages of your type of cancer. Are you coughing a lot?"

"…Yeah, but not much, I guess."

"Good. That means you're only on stage one. The cancer is still confined to your lungs. In stages 2 and 3, it will spread to your chest, and the soughing will get worse. Let's hope you only have limited-stage SCLC. Then the cancer will stay confined to your chest. You'll have to come into the hospital when you have about 14 or so days left, so we can monitor you."

"Okay. Thank you sir."

"No problem. Let's hope you're lucky. Only one in ten people survive. Let's hope you're that one."

And on that cheery note, he hung up.

Alex was glad Ben hadn't caught him that day, although he had to lie to him later. "It was just one of my old friends." It technically was true. Dr. Johnson was kind of old, and if he wasn't a friend, no one was.

He had done some research on the topic, however subtly, and had come up with different answers.

One website said this: Lung cancer is one of the most fatal cancers worldwide, causing up to three million deaths annually. Only one in ten patients diagnosed with this disease will survive the next five fatal disease like all other cancers, results from abnormality in the body's basic unit of life, the cell. Normally, the body maintains a system checks and balances on cell growth so that cells divide to produce new cells only when needed. Interruption in the balance of this system causes an uncontrolled division of cells that eventually forms a mass known as a tumor. Any of the tissues in the lung can become cancer, but most commonly, the cancer comes from the lining of the bronchi. Since this disease tends to spread very early in its course, it is very life-threatening and one of the most difficult cancers to treat. Although it can spread to any organ in the body, the adrenal glands, liver, brain, and bone, are the most common greatest impact on risk of lung cancer is long-term exposure to inhaled carcinogens. Most common of which is exposure to tobacco smoke. The occurrence of lung cancer is strongly linked with cigarette smoking, with about 90% of the disease arising as a result of tobacco used. The numbers of cigarettes smoke over time increases the risk. Among those who smoke two or more packs of cigarettes per day, one in seven will die of lung cancer. Passive smoking or inhalation of tobacco smoke from other smokers sharing or working quarters, is also an established risk factor for the development of the disease. Non-smokers who reside with a smoker have 24% increase risk for developing lung cancer compared with non-smokers.

Alex didn't smoke, but he guessed his lung were torn up from different missions- it hadn't been pretty when the drum filled with fuel had exploded. He hardly couldn't talk for a week, it was so bad. And the heavy running probably wasn't the best on his lungs, either. The time where he almost drowned [thanks to Scorpia in Venice] didn't help.

Of course, it wasn't like the kids at his school didn't smoke. Even though the Skoda problem had been taken care of, it didn't stop the kids who were already addicted.

Well, you shouldn't be talking, he chided himself. He really wasn't much better than any of them.

"Alex?"

Said teen perked up at the use of his name. "Wha…?" It was Ben. Behind him was Eagle, looking not quite happy, but satisfied.

"Eagle told me that Wolf told him that you had heard what I said," Fox explained somewhat guiltily.

"…Ummhmm…" Alex murmured, waiting for Ben to go on.

"…And, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean those things I said. It's just hard, you know, when you aren't really talking to me or anything. I really kind of need you to talk to me. We've been on rough ground the past few weeks, and…I'm sorry."

Ben looked uncomfortable admitting all this in front of K-Unit, but Alex could tell the remorse was genuine.

"…I don't exactly forgive you for making me feel like shit the last few weeks, but your apology is accepted."

Ben looked somewhat happy- until the phone rang.

"Oh, what the hell now?"

Alex, alongside Ben, raced into the kitchen- and he could have sworn that his heart stopped beating when he saw the caller ID.

St. Dominic's Hospital.

Not now! Not now! Why now! Please ignore it! Alex mentally pleaded to Ben.

Of course, fate wasn't that nice to him. With a sinking heart, he could only watch as Ben picked up the phone, pushed the "talk" button, and headed toward the living room- where all of K-Unit was sitting. And as if to taunt him, the volume was turned up to high- meaning that Alex and K-Unit could hear every word of the conversation.

"Hello, who is this?" Ben asked.

"Hi, this is Dr. Johnson. Is this Alex?"

"No, this is his guardian, Ben Daniels. What do you want?" Ben tried not to sound demanding, all while shooting a questioning stare at Alex.

"Well, I was calling to check up on Alex and see how his lungs are doing."

As if to prove the doctor's statement. Alex coughed, a rasping, painful sound.

"Why would you need to check that out? Alex is fine," Ben emphasized.

"Oh." Alex could feel it coming: the moment of truth. "So you don't know about the cancer?"

The whole room froze.

"What cancer?" Ben voice was low.

"The lung cancer, of course," explained Dr. Johnson, seemingly oblivious to how tense Ben was.

"Oh, okay, I'll have him call you up later."

And with that, Ben hung up. But then he rounded on Alex.

"And when," he half-snarled, his voice low, "Where you planning on telling me this?"

Alex could feel tears threatening to well up in his eyes. "I didn't want you to know….didn't want you to worry."

Instead of walking out on him like Alex had expected, Ben drew him into a comforting hug as the tears started spilling.

Wolf, always the smart one, said quietly, "C'mon guys. Let's give them some privacy."

Alex felt the men leave the room, but he could care less. Finally, someone knew his secret- well one of them, anyway.

But he could care less. For once, he focused on the comforting embrace, wanting to never let go, wanting to stay there forever.

-XD-

EDITED: June 25, 2011

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