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Worth The Risk

Harry sat at the young man's bedside and watched every rise and fall of the boy's chest. He'd reached the point where he didn't feel the overwhelming need to check Eggsy's pulse, but Harry didn't consider that much of a win at the moment. Instead he concentrated his sole attention on Eggsy's breathing and did his best to match his own to it. Doing his best to keep his heartrate steady, his nerves in check, and his mind centered on something other than the millions of other things it wanted to think about currently. There would be time, God willing, for that later.

The doctor had said Eggsy could wake up at any moment.

Just a faint brought on by exhaustion and the after effects of his minor injuries. The doctor hadn't been concerned while Harry...Harry had felt a level of fear and panic in those brief seconds that he never wanted to feel again. Particularly for someone he didn't know and had only just met.

Someone who had looked at him with more love and devotion in their eyes than Harry had ever had directed at his person before.

Sliding his hands under his glasses Harry rubbed at his eyes like he could rub what he'd seen right out of them.

The returned presence of his boss made him come to attention, Harry's hands dropping to his side as he twisted slightly in his chair to better meet Arthur's gaze. "Sir."

"I've come to say goodnight. My son insists." A rueful smirk. "He says it's only fair, given how often I made him go to bed before he was good and ready."

"Good night, Sir. I'll continue to keep an eye on...the boy. And report to you in the morning."

"No doubt." The wink his boss gave him was entirely inappropriate, as was the grin on the cagey old man's face.

Various responses to the obvious teasing came to mind, but Harry also saw the exhaustion on the older man's face and held it in. Being overly tired and frail was unfortunately the norm for their boss now, but their current circumstances had riled him up earlier, and that had been nice to see. At least in retrospect. To some degree, anyway.

"Well, I'll leave you to your guarding, then, Galahad. Though something to think about? We all thought time travel impossible before tonight, at least for another century, bare minimum. If this boy's story is true, and it's hard to believe otherwise at this point, then that's not the case obviously-but one has to assume that the technology is in its infancy state at the very least. Well, unless aliens arrived and gave us the tech, but I'm going to hope not."

Lips twitching, Harry gave the man a moment to regain his train of thought.

"Right. As I was saying-the tech must be new. Very experimental, and far from safe as yet. The boy was found in a pile of wreckage after all, presumably of whatever device got him here. In other words, Galahad, the boy didn't just risk messing with the space time continuum to come here to protect you, but his very existence as well. He was willing to go through space and time...for you."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck

A pat on his shoulder. "Something to think about. I'll see you in the morning."

Harry didn't reply, too busy swearing a blue streak in his head while his boss walked away, steps echoing on the tiles floor.

Swiping a hand through his hair Harry told himself to calm down. To calm down and-it was a mission. Coming back to this time was a mission assigned to Eggsy as a member of Kingsman. Something was going to happen that needed to be prevented and...and...he was the boy's mentor. It was only logical. Who else in Kingsman would have nominated Lee's son, after all. Eggsy was his protege in the future and they were close, perhaps the boy had some hero worship where he was concerned and Harry had just misinterpreted the way Eggsy had looked at him earlier. Perhaps he'd stepped in and become the boy's father figure of sorts and-

The nausea Harry felt at that thought was not reassuring in the slightest.

As was the thought, however belated, that if that had been some sort of time traveling device Eggsy had arrived in...it was broken. Destroyed beyond recognition. Which meant, did it not, that this version of Eggsy was now stuck here. That he had lost his family, friends, and Kingsman to come here. Had sacrificed his relationship with them, the life he'd built, to come to this time solely to protect Harry.

He didn't want that. Didn't want that on his conscience. His soul. Didn't want to think that just as Lee had lost his life, his future for Harry, now his son was doing the same. Had made the choice to sacrifice all, if necessary, to keep Harry alive and well.

"Easy now." Merlin murmured, the tech expert having somehow managed to sneak up on Harry while he was lost in his dark thoughts. "We don't know what's what yet. Not all of it. Hopefully soon the memories will come back and the lad will be able to tell us more. For now we go with what we know, and don't invite worse by coming up with half arsed theories."

"He can't go home."

The silence that greeted that statement was only appropriate. A moment of silence was called for.

"The letter said that he came here after Kay's son. That means there's another machine. There's still hope yet."

He'd forgotten all-how had he forgotten? Though given everything else, perhaps he should cut himself some slack.

"If there's another machine out there we need to secure it, regardless of everything else. And we need to locate Kay's grown son."

"We're looking." Merlin promised him. "And we WILL find em."

"We can't trust Ector in this."

The look Merlin aimed in Harry's direction made his opinion on that clear. Which was fair. Neither of them liked that particular Kingsman, though the man did his job and did it well.

"Did you open the letter for Kay?" Harry asked.

"Not yet. Arthur's still debating how to handle that. Right now Kay has been alerted to keep an eye out for the target and to capture and bring him to Kingsman if sighted. He's to keep his father in the dark about things for now."

"If the target is really his son..."

"It's Kay. He'll do what's right. Whatever the cost."

True. Poor bastard.

"We'll need to get a sample of his-"

The sound of groaning cut through Harry's words, both Harry and Merlin immediately turning all their attention back to the bed where the boy had started to move, his lashes lifting to half mast as they watched him closely.

And taking in the boy's color, on top of the gagging sounds and the way Eggsy's hand had come up to cover his mouth, Harry quickly retrieved the rubbish bin beside the boy's bed and held it up while Eggsy leaned forward and threw up the contents of his stomach.

Lovely.

)

Having been helped over to a nearby sink once he was up to it Eggsy scooped up water from the tap and transferred it to his mouth, swished the water around, and then spit out until the taste of his regurgitated stomach contents no longer haunted his mouth. Only then did Eggsy use the glass one of the medical people had brought over for him, filling up and drinking two glasses worth before setting it aside and splashing some water on his face while he tried to regain his equilibrium. Without a lot of fucking success, big fucking surprise. Fuck his life, seriously.

"Better?" Harry asked, the other man a comforting presence just behind him, on hand if he needed him.

At least in theory.

"Could be worse." Was the most honest answer. "Need some paper and somethin ta write with."

"All right. Let's get you back to your bed first."

"Okay."

Harry's fingers wrapped around Eggsy's arm as he led Eggsy in the right direction, the feel of his fingers pressing into his skin sent shivers down Eggsy's spine, even with the shirt he was wearing acting as a barrier between them.

It didn't take a genius for Eggsy to figure out why, especially since he was clinging hard to the memories that had surfaced in his brain earlier, when he'd been singing the song as requested. He didn't know if they were memories he would be allowed to retain, or if they'd slip through his fingers like all the other ones he must have of the life he'd lived before now. So he needed to write out what he knew so he wouldn't forget. It was too important.

He'd think about what certain memories meant later. Preferably when Harry wasn't in the room with him.

Pathetically grateful when they reached his bed Eggsy climbed in, sitting up with his back against the headboard while Harry watched over him, having asked the nurse or whatever to get that paper and pen for him. Naturally Harry wasn't about to leave him alone, so suspicious. But fair enough. Eggsy hadn't seen much, but he'd seen enough to know that when he wasn't sick as a fuckin dog he was a force ta be reckoned with.

Looking at Harry, really looking at him, Eggsy wanted to shake his head at himself...but didn't trust his stomach enough to make any sudden movements.

"And what's that look for?" Harry wanted to know, looking only the slightest bit rumpled despite the fact that it had to be pretty late or very early in the morning at this point.

"Tell you later."

Of course Harry inclined his head like a total lord of the manor. Of course he did. Ugh.

Thanking the bloke who brought him the stuff-he'd even put the paper on a clipboard for him-Eggsy took the writing tools and grateful turned his attention to writing everything out while ignoring Harry. A distraction he didn't need at the moment.

To save time Eggsy used some shorthand that would probably confuse the fuck out of Harry and the others when they tried to read it later, but Eggsy didn't care about that. He would translate if it really mattered to them. What he cared about was making sure that HE didn't forget any of this stuff and what it meant to him.

Though he did take a few minutes to write out a few points legibly enough that they would be understandable to the others, since those points were sorta important and needed to be addressed. And explained to him, if possible.

Harry was quiet and watchful through it all, Eggsy having to actively work to block the other man's presence from his conscious as he wrote with such focus and grip on the pen that his hand actually ached by the time he was done.

He even had to flex his fingers a little to loosen them up.

"May I see?"

"You won't understand a lot of it. It's what I saw when I was singing ta ya. Remembered, I mean. Guess saw ain't the right word." Rubbing his hands over his face, suddenly exhausted beyond words, it occurred to Eggsy to ask what time it was.

Harry consulted the watch on his wrist. "A little after three in the morning."

His first thought was that fuck, he was getting old if he was this worn out at three, but then Eggsy remembered the whole getting sort of blown-up thing and decided he should cut himself some slack.

And seeing that Harry's attention was very much split between watching him and glancing at the clipboard Eggsy smirked as he waved a hand in the direction of the latter, which he'd set down beside his hip. "Go ahead."

"Thank you." Picking up the clipboard Harry turned the page around since Eggsy had used both sides of the paper, beginning from the top. "The police station steps?"

"Yeah. Seen em enough to recognize em." Which did not bode well for him, Eggsy silently admitted. Especially since he couldn't remember what he'd done to be so familiar with a cop shop and its surroundings.

"What does BGM and OH mean?"

"Brunett Green Me. Old Harry." He'd been able to see his reflection in the shades Old Harry had been wearing at the time.

"Old Harry." Harry repeated, the faintest trace of pissiness in his words.

"You looked older than ya do now. Old Harry."

Making a dismissive sound that suggested he was not appeased in the slightest, Harry's gaze went back to the paper to continue reading. Which was actually impressive on its own, as Eggsy had not been impressed by his own handwriting neither. Though he had been in a hurry, on top of not feelin the best.

"I'm not familiar with a pub called 'Black Prince'."

"Yeah, no surprise there." Eggsy had a feeling it was from his neck of the woods. He could hear himself talk, after all. Didn't take a genius to know he'd come from the opposite end of the food chain from Harry. It hadn't looked like a complete dive, but definitely a working man's pub at the very least. Though oddly Older Harry hadn't looked out of place as he'd talked to Eggsy about how he was wastin his life, which hadn't exactly enamored the man to im. Though watching him take on a bunch of blokes and bet the piss out of em had been hot as fuck.

Next would be the brief flashes he'd had of coming to this place, into the shop, the dressing room, the special tube and such.

Then the image of Old Harry hooked up to machines. In this very hospital room. In a coma.

"Any idea how I was injured?"

"Nope."

"I see. And next you have the two of us fighting in a residence. Casual clothes. You have a note to ask me about my place."

"Want ta see ow the decors line up."

"Makes sense." A pause. "And then you have a memory if meeting me in a men's club arguing with a blond man named Christopher."

"Yup. Don't like im, whoever he is. And it's the memories that come after that that make me think I'm in a multiverse type thing."

"Pardon?"

"Well in Sci-Fi they got those theories about alternate universes, right? I think I might be stuck in one. I think maybe this ain't my first time goin back in time ta save your fine arse. That we've-I can remember at least one, maybe two other timelines sides this one."

Harry frowned as he asked what he meant.

"I mean I got memories of goin back in time before. Where I know who I am and why I'm protectin you and stuff. Or at least that's how-gut instinct. I also remember dyin-fadin away in your arms cause of the time stuff. I can also remember ya bein shot in the head and killed-and another where you was way older than you was in the other memory, so obviously ya didn't die in that time."

It had to be said, even if it did turn Eggsy's stomach.

"I think your mates were right. I think I am a fucking time traveler. Only this time around I don't know what I came here ta change sides keeping you not dead."

Harry said nothing in response to that, though he didn't go back to reading what Eggsy had written. Instead he just held Eggsy's gaze, Eggsy helpless to do anything else but stare back. He could only hope his eyes were as impossible to read as Harry's currently were, however charged the atmosphere suddenly was.

It was Harry who broke the silence, at least.

"As previously stated I'm very good at staying alive. One of the best at it, actually. Merlin will quite happily tell you I should have been in my grave a thousands time over before now." The faintest of smiles over that, then Harry's face went serious again. "You saw who killed me? Was it the King boy?"

"No. It was a bloke who looked a lot like Samuel L Jackson...if he was a geeky black man tryin ta look like a white guy tryin ta look like a gangster black guy in the nineties."

Harry's eyebrows rose ever so slightly.

"And ya got taken out by him. So much for you bein such a badarse."

"Appearances can be deceiving."

"He shot ya without even lookin at ya. Outside a church."

Harry looked less than amused as he stated that he'd be sure to keep an eye out for him.

"It was older you. Not present you. And when I was dyin or whatever in your arms I heard a female voice. British. Fancy talkin like you. She was the one that killed me. And it was this time period, I think, so King Jr ain't workin alone, maybe."

"Would you recognize her voice if you heard it again."

"Right now, yeah. Scrambled as my brains are, who's ta say later. That's why I wanted ta write it all down while it was fresh in my head."

"Fair enough."

Harry went back to reading, Eggsy waiting ever so slightly impatiently for the comment he knew was coming. Or both dreaded and eagerly hoped would come. Mostly because he wanted to know what Harry's reaction would be, since he wasn't sure-

"There are three references to us having intimate relations here."

"There's more on the back."

Harry looked up, his expression unreadable as he pinned Eggsy in place with a piercing look he didn't know how to read.

"Wot? I just wrote what I remembered."

"I'm old enough to be your father."

Oh. Yeah. Right. He'd forgotten about that. Huh.

"Well if it makes ya feel any better, I don't remember callin ya Daddy in any of em."