Chapter 85: Revelations and Relations

Alex was unsure of how to feel about his new psychological and mentoring session with Doctor Three. He was deeply suspicious of the proffered lessons. That said, he seemed to have gotten away with lying. Alex did have practical experience with medicine but he was fairly sure that 'dissecting people with you for a few months in the past life' would get him kicked for being crackers…

Did SCORPIA boot people for being crackers? Gordon Ross, Yermalov, and a number of other unbalanced individuals were there. Alex drew in a breath. "How crazy is too crazy for SCORPIA?"

Nile got up from his desk and patted Alex on the head. Alex glared at him. "It's a valid question!"

Nile just looked even more amused. The older man leaned over. "Look, you just need to be able to do your job or jobs. They don't boot people for being insane."

Alex kept giving Nile very suspicious looks as the man gave him head scratches. Fenrir headbutted Nile. The man seemed to be slowly warming up to the fluff ball. "You're occasionally not very helpful."

Nile snorted with laughter. Fenrir poked him with his paw. "What the- Oh, very funny. Look, I'm still in sedative refresher courses because of you two. And Sekhmet is making me study! And do the optional quizzes!"

Alex grinned. Served him right. It was kind of hilarious now that he wasn't on the verge of dying. "It's good for you."

Nile pouted theatrically and sank into the nearby couch. You would think that he'd just received news of a transfer to Siberia. Alex had found out that Nile hated the cold. It was great. He was from cold, wet England and he was going to enjoy watching the man suffer if Yassen ever got his "bonding" trip to Siberia approved. Alex suspected that Yassen was going to try to murder Nile and dump the corpse so it would never be found in the vast wastes of Siberia but that was a separate issue.

"You're mean. I told Yassen we should have stolen you sooner."

Alex rolled his eyes. Nile was a touch dramatic at times. "That's what war, politics, and treaties with the executive board will do."

Nile let out a groan at the reminder. Alex enjoyed reminding people of the fact that he didn't exactly have a decent foundation of 'normal' to work off of. "Besides, I heard that you scammed them."

Alex rolled his eyes. The board was a bunch of over-dramatic whack jobs. "First of all, if it was that bad, they would have just murdered me by now. They're just mad that they didn't see that my taxation scheme would have more benefits than they originally calculated."

Nile made a mock snoring noise. Rhea chose that minute to walk in and smack Nile upside the head. "This is why they made this a joint adoption. Yassen is detail-oriented."

Alex had no idea why Rhea and Yassen had decided to dislike Nile but the petty asshole moves were both entertaining and exhausting. The bickering began in earnest as Alex saved his homework and got up to go to his private lessons with Yermalov. He was still an evil little shit. And Alex was going to enjoy attempting to punch him while underwater. Fenrir gave him the puppy-eyes. Alex suspected that the dog had a soft spot for blonde men who looked like Sarov.

Alex was enjoying his time at Malagosto when he was cornered by Jet. Well, herded into a greenhouse somewhat aggressively was probably more accurate. Alex was all but dragged into a greenhouse. Great, he knew he should have brought Fenrir with him, crushed plants be damned.

"You are the most frustrating and infuriating man I have ever corresponded with."

Alex was confused as hell. Jet was glaring at him with near-violent intent. "Um, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jet brandished a small holly plant at him. It narrowly missed scratching his face. Well, that wasn't alarming at all. "You're Emerys. Don't even try to deny it."

Her lowered but insistent voice was somehow scarier than if she had been shouting. Alex felt his stomach drop. "So you didn't like the gifts? I can get you other ones?"

Jet's eye twitched. Alex had no earthly idea what he'd done wrong. "That's not the point."

Alex blinked and looked at her. Jet continued looking at him. "I just thought you might want a friend. And, well, being a child prodigy is a little less believable than being an old man with no friends. The friendship was real, even if the persona was not."

Jet seemed to fizzle out at that. Alex watched her droop ever so slightly as she sat on the nearby bench. "You are right. I would have dismissed a child. And I should know better than to dismiss ideas, no matter where they come from, given what I went through myself."

Alex sat next to her on the bench. Jet looked much less homicidal now. There was an awkward sort of silence as they sat next to each other for a long time. "Do you still want to do research together?"

Jet let out a long sigh. Alex wondered if she was about to say no. It would suck but he had deceived her. "Yes. I do enjoy the company of both of your personas. Ah, I might need a bit of time before we start to get used to the idea."

It was better than Alex had thought it would be. Jet looked at him hopefully. "Can you keep up the Emerys persona?"

Alex grinned and rolled his eyes. Jet flushed. "Enjoying a personal supply of your favorite coffee, eh?"

Jet smacked him upside the head. Alex laughed at her. "Shush. You know that Gordon steals all of the good coffee out of the staff room on the first of the month."

Alex rolled his eyes at Gordon's antics. The man sometimes needed a good whack upside the head. "Have you considered, I don't know, filing a complaint?"

Jet shook her head. Alex grinned at the idea. "Oh, the drama would not be worth it."

Darn it. The drama would have been fun. Jet brought out a pair of clippers. Alex was handed them. "Some of the plants need pruning and harvesting."

Alex slid off of the bench. Jet smirked ever so slightly at him. "I should have known you were in it for the free skilled labor."

Jet gave him a mirthful look as she went to the other side of the greenhouse. She began clipping some of the plants. "Oh, no. You're paying for the privilege, remember?"

Alex let out a noise of despair and turned his attention back to the other half of the greenhouses. Maybe if he had scored high enough on the exam she'd start his training in antidotes backup? They still hadn't been graded and it was the worst.

Brendan Chase felt like a complete idiot as he came to the revelation that Alex Rider and Alec Pierre might, in fact, be the same exact person. It was even the same fucking name.

Nile had been covering for him. That treacherous stabby shit. He was going to give Nile a raise. Brendan sighed and stared at the letters. Had Three figured it out? Should he tell the man?

SLAM!

Nile barged into his office again. "Mr. Chase! Yassen's trying to get his Siberia trip approved again."

Brendan was oddly reminded of his children tattling on each other at that moment. Absolutely nobody was fooled about the Siberia trip. Everyone knew that Siberia was a great place for people to be accidentally lost. Nile was far too valuable for that sort of incident. "Nile, Nile, Nile. He's going to be summarily denied. You know that. I know that. The board knows that. You're far too valuable to ditch for Yassen's petty grudge."

Admittedly, if someone had almost accidentally killed the kid he wanted to adopt, Brendan would have had a similar reaction. That was Yassen and Nile's affair to work out. Nile let out a huff. "Also, Alex wants his test results back. He's getting all anxious and asking weird questions again."

Brendan was very close to rolling his eyes. For someone who pulled off the espionage masterstroke of the century, he sure as shit was impatient. Then again, the kid was like fourteen. Teenagers were like that. "Weird questions?"

Nile grinned and sat down. Brendan pulled out one of his lemon drops. Nile put on a falsetto. "Nile, how crazy is too crazy for SCORPIA?"

Nile was far too entertaining to reprimand for mocking his coworkers. That said, he could see why Nile got into so many fights with his coworkers. Chase sighed and unstuck another lemon drop. Typically, he wouldn't eat them in front of an elite operative but he doubted Nile had even noticed. "Alex is fourteen, Nile. Being slightly twitchy and questioning your place in a given structure is part of the-"

SLAM!

Brendan was now rethinking his entire "nice board member" persona. Three never got his office barged in, thank you very much. He was pretty sure that none of the rest of his colleagues got barged in on. "Can we help you, Rhea?"

The woman saw Nile and looked vaguely like an angry cat before she refocused on Brendan. Oh, dear. Nile did not seem to be getting along with either Rhea or Yassen. Then again, given the man's history of dueling rivals to the death, it was patently unsurprising. "Don't you think the amount of time Professor Yermalov spends with Alex is suspicious?"

Brendan inhaled. Great. Now he got to investigate whether Yermalov was a bleeding pedophile. He sincerely doubted that. Then again, it was always the ones that you suspected the least. "Not really, no. How often would you say it was?"

Rhea crossed her arms and glared at him. Brendan stuck the lemon drop in his mouth and put the tin away before she had time to poison it. She was the type to poison you just because she was having a bit of a hissy fit. "Sometimes it's upwards of twenty hours a week."

Okay, maybe that was a little weird. Yermalov was asocial in general. "Are you going to leave my office if I promise to look into it?"

Rhea glared at him. Chase resisted a shudder. He was not intimidated by his employees. "Yes."

Brendan rubbed his eyes. It was probably just jealousy, right? He wouldn't have to replace the man. Yermalov wouldn't. He wasn't stupid. Not to mention, Alex had three overprotective guardians. "Fine. Both of you, out."

Nile and Rhea sulked out of his office. It was at times like these that he was reminded of the children he had lost the most. This was the same as having kids.

Levi Kroll sighed at the letter he got from Patrick. It was inevitable that the man would want to see his grandson. This was not the best of times. Alex had just barely arrived. They were also trying to keep the whole 'whoops, Nile almost killed him' issue on the quiet side. Levi had no doubts that Alex would likely bring it up the first chance he got. From what he'd heard, Patrick's line had bred true.

Kroll knew that this would attract the attention of his colleagues. It was rare that he took any interest in people with less than five years in SCORPIA. Kroll had enjoyed playing up his paranoia to avoid having his double life exposed. It had drawbacks. "Maya, please inform the island that I wish to have lunch with Mr. Rider the younger. It's time he was introduced to a certain business associate of mine."

The woman gave a brief nod and left without a word. Most of the operatives who worked for him did not know the truth behind his position on the board. Maya was one of his many secretaries and operatives. There was a single knock at his door. "Come in."

The woman looked slightly pale. Ah, perhaps there was more drama to get through, then. "Problems, Maya?"

The woman let out a slightly breathless exhale. Sometimes he regretted his reputation for being unstable. "They said he's only available after two weeks or later!"

Maya looked like she was about to pass out. Honestly, he wasn't Zeljan Kurst. "That will be fine. Set it for Friday in three weeks."

Maya inhaled with visible relief. Perhaps the rumor mill had outdone itself this time around. Levi occasionally had his operatives spread rumors in the office and to each other. "Yes, Mr. Kroll."

The woman shut the door behind her. Levi had all of them trained to not use pleasantries in his presence and to know when to enter and exit. Okay, so maybe some of that reputation was warranted. The phone rang only about ten minutes later. "Kroll."

He waited patiently for the man on the other end to answer. It was undoubtedly one of his colleagues. "What the fuck?!"

Ah, Brendan. Not exactly the subtlest of his colleagues. "I admit, curiosity got the better of me. There's no need to be rude, Brendan."

Chase made some very unhappy-sounding noises on the other end of the phone. Levi would cheerfully say that sounded like Brendan Chase's problem. "Are we allowed to send a chaperone?"

Levi smirked. Such suspicion. Too bad. "Of course not! I'm offended at the implication."

Chase swore and hung up on him. That had been far too much fun. He could see why Alex had decided to wind the man up with the Pierre identity. This was going to be an interesting meeting. He doubted that anyone was aware of Alex's matrilineal heritage besides himself. Not that it would scare his colleagues off. On the contrary, it might even swing a few more votes in Alex's favor.

Alex was unsure of what to expect when he was informed that he would be having lunch with Levi Kroll on the mainland. All three of his babysitters, ahem, mentors also seemed a touch nervous. Nile had taken to smoothing everything in sight and pacing. Yassen was his usually grouchy self around the other students. Rhea was her usual weird little self. "Are you guys okay?"

The three of them leveled glares at him. Alex raised both of his hands in surrender. "Do you want me to cook?"

The eyes narrowed further. Adults were the worst. "No."

Yassen headed for the kitchen. Alex could feel the grumpiness radiating off of the man. Ever since they had found out about the whole survival cooking lessons and his cooking for himself from a young age, nobody let him near the kitchen.

Nile was banned because he'd somehow set the toaster on fire. The toaster. Alex leaned back in his desk chair and opened the book he had been attempting to read. He felt two weights by his side.

"You two are worse than Tom."

Rhea and Nile gave him innocent looks. That Alex didn't believe for a single second. Someone's hands went to his shoulders and began wide circles on his back. That felt nice. "Mhm. What do you want?"

Rhea's eyes were staring into his eyes as he tilted up his head. She let out a slight huff. Alex continued looking at her. This was kind of fun. "I would like you to watch your mouth."

Alex put on a faux-innocent expression. Rhea scowled at him. "Now when have I ever been on anything but my best behavior?"

Rhea's hands brushed against his collarbone before wrapping around his neck. Alex continued her innocent expression. "I would like to strangle you right now."

Alex felt a grin break out across his face. The lineup was just too perfect to let go. And Rhea was fun to verbally spar with. "At least take me to dinner before you break out the kink."

Nile barked a laugh behind them. Alex's neck was promptly released and he was whacked upside the head. "Bad Alex!"

The woman walked off in a huff. Alex grinned as the door to her room slammed shut. Nile was still sniggering on the couch. "Better luck next time, Alex."

Alex flipped Nile off. Nile rolled his eyes. "Like you're great with the ladies."

Nile flushed hard at that. Alex felt his lips twitch. Nile was somewhat infamous in SCORPIA for asking out women who violently turned him down for one reason or another. "You're mean."

Alex grinned at the man and folded his arms. Nile was giving him a pained look. "Yes, Nile. We've been over this."

Nile let out a squawk of indignation before gearing up to bicker with him. At least one of them seemed to have forgotten about the upcoming meeting with Kroll.

Patrick resisted a small smile as Alex walked in with Levi. "Hello, Gramps."

A few of their guards choked. Patrick ignored them in favor of watching his grandson. Alex looked quite well, if slightly tired. Well, that put him mostly in a good mood. "How is my favorite grandchild doing?"

Alex sat down at the table before answering. Patrick knew that resisting dramatic entrances was hard for certain family members. "As good as it gets, Gramps. And I'm sure Lily and Jason would be devastated to hear that."

Alex was going to pay for using that nickname in public at the next family reunion. Kroll was looking very visibly uncomfortable during the entire meeting. Patrick didn't blame him. This was not exactly standard procedure for anything. "They'll live. Now, I have sorted out your paperwork and citizenship status."

There was a pause. Patrick was curious to see whether Alex had heard about that or not. "Uh, thanks?"

Patrick patted him on the head and opened the briefcase. It appears he might not have to purge his network of spies after all. At least for another few years. "You're welcome. You now have a passport and are officially listed as next of kin after my remaining children."

Patrick handed him the passport. Alex gave it a very skeptical look. Quite wise, considering he had flagged it in every system for his review. Patrick watched as he stuck it in his suit jacket. Levi looked even more uncomfortable. It seemed he had reached his breaking point as he let out a slight cough. "Something to add, Levi?"

The man flinched at Patrick's tone. It was nice to know that he could still terrify the younger generations. "No. Did you want to order now?"

There was a slight waver in Levi's voice. Patrick beamed at him. He would never let a chance to mess with a former student pass untaken. "Certainly."

Levi let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. Patrick continued ignoring the man's obvious anxiety. This was what he got for letting his colleagues steal his grandson. "Are you going to let me pay at least?"

Patrick continued merrily flipping through the menu as though he hadn't heard Kroll. The man was far too much fun to meet with. "Absolutely not."

Kroll let out a groan. That was his favorite noise coming from Levi, to be frank. "Patrick, I am over forty years old and wealthier."

Patrick made sure his menu came down across Levi's knuckles as he set it down. Levi was rubbing his hands. "As I said before, that's what you think."

The man opened his mouth and shut it again. Patrick turned towards Alex. "Now, how are your classes going, Alex?"

This lunch was going to be fun. Well, fun for Patrick. Not so much the other two or the guards.

Levi was very much not reassured by the end of that meeting. And people thought he was the batshit murdering lunatic. Patrick was the worst. Alex seemed to have enjoyed the lunch at least. His colleagues also wanted a report. Joy. This was going to be his responsibility because nobody trusted a teenager to accurately report on his grandfather. He leaned back in his office chair and sighed. His phone rang almost immediately. This was the highest number of calls that he'd gotten in a decade from his colleagues.

"Levi. I hope your evening went well."

Doctor Three. Because of course it was. Why couldn't it have been one of the stupider ones? Levi would have taken Kurst over him at the moment. Patrick gave him enough headaches without adding Three into the mix. "As well as it can go with Patrick. I assume you have questions outside the ones agreed upon in our conference."

Being on the Scorpia executive board came with meetings. Lots and lots of meetings. In the old days, Kroll would have been able to decide what he wanted to put in those stupid things without a stupid fucking meeting. He knew how to write a fucking report, thank you. "I do. Did Patrick express any…untoward sentiments towards my person?"

Levi rolled his eyes. You know, sometimes your dream students just don't like you. Three had never been good at just accepting rejection, though. "Not specifically."

Levi had never been a man of many words. He decided to poke the spider. It would be fun. "Any particular reason why?"

Three cleared his throat. Levi put him on speakerphone and reached for his snacks. This had to be good. "Well, Alex Rider sent me such a delightful Christmas present and now he's been avoiding me."

Levi could almost hear the pout in the man's voice. Could he say get a life? Probably not. It was very tempting, though. Very, very, tempting. "Have you considered that Alex might simply be busy? He's in private lessons with nearly every-"

Levi was rudely interrupted. Three must be upset, then. "Don't get me started on his private lessons. It's like he's doing them with every teacher except me."

Levi unstuck a lemon bite from the tin. They were just the right combination of sweet and tart. It sounded like he was having a rough time. Levi was fresh out of sympathy for the old torture expert. "And Oliver?"

Three sounded huffy when he replied. Levi was very careful to not snort loudly. "D'Arc is French. He doesn't count. Nobody likes him."

Levi decided not to point out that D'Arc served at Three's pleasure. Especially since Rothman was no longer around. D'Arc may be a snake, but he was a predictable snake. Jet was well known to swing heavily in certain board members' favor. Kroll was unsure if promoting her would further destabilize the board or not. "The answer is no, Doctor. Patrick was very careful to mention nobody by name. Unless he and Alex have some sort of highly developed code."

Three let out a sigh. Levi figured that Patrick was probably one of the easier people to blame. Sucked to be Three. "I shall have to keep searching."

Kroll heard the line click. Ah, his colleagues. Always so charming.

Yassen had been very nervous about the entire Kroll affair. The rumors surrounding the man were not pleasant. Paranoid. Unstable. Alternating between pleasant and reasonable and temperamental.

Alex had arrived back safely, thankfully. He was now petting the overgrown wolf. Alex seemed fairly intact for having the chance to mouth off to two of the most notoriously unstable people in the Black Operations world. Perhaps he had managed to keep his trap shu-

"I think you were exaggerating the entire thing."

Yassen inhaled loudly. There it was. The comment that would make you want to murder him. "We. Were. Not."

Nile made a noise that sounded like a stepped-on squirrel. Rhea looked up from her report to glare at him. "Ah. c'mon. Mr. Kroll wasn't that bad and Gramps was almost not sadistic for two hours straight. That's almost a new record for him."

Yassen glared at him. Nile let out another noise. Rhea resumed typing her report. Alex assumed that meant he was being left to Yassen and Nile's mercy. "A new record?"

Alex looked skeptical at Yassen. Yassen continued his death glare at the boy. This was a serious matter. Both of them could order his death with impunity. "Uh, have you been to my family reunions? Gramps is evil."

Nile raised his hand. Yassen was tempted to swat it out of the air. Typically, it was better for all parties if Nile remained si-

"HE KIDNAPPED ME!"

Alex rolled his eyes at Nile. Yassen sincerely doubted that. Besides, Patrick probably would have killed Nile if he had-

"Sounds like Gramps."

Alex walked over and patted Nile's arm sympathetically. Yassen felt his eye twitch. Where were his pats of sympathy?! Nile stretched out on the couch. "See! He is dangerous!"

Yassen blinked. Did Nile expect that to actually fucking work? That was the most abrupt train of reasoning that Yassen had ever heard. "Sure, but he's not dangerous to me personally. You guys, on the other hand, are fair game in Patrick's book."

Yassen blinked slowly. Well, that was one of them down. Perhaps they would at least impress the importance of watching himself around Kroll on Alex. "Kroll is a member of the executive board and needs careful-"

Alex rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Yassen. He hasn't even filed a complaint about my behavior. And I behaved!"

Yassen glared at Alex. He could practically feel his molars cracking under the strain. Why had he wanted this job again? Teenagers were awful. "You better have. If Kroll has a single complaint about your behavior, you will regret being alive."

With that, Yassen stalked out of the room. He felt his heart beginning to pound in his chest. Stupid fucking teenagers and their stupid fucking relatives. Why couldn't he have just adopted a normal street rat?

Yassen felt like slamming the door was justified in this case. His vision blurred slightly. It took him longer than he would ever admit to realize that he was about to cry. Yassen took a deep breath. He heard a whine behind him. The yellow eyes of Alex's furry rat stared back at him. A wet nose nudged his hand. "Oh, come here, you overgrown furry rat."

The wolf let out a cheery yip and bounded onto Yassen's bed. Yassen hugged the wolf. Just one night probably wouldn't hurt anything.

Ian Rider felt like he got fucking stiffed after the latest email from Patrick. Why did Patrick get to see Alex and not him? Ian had even had custody of Alex before he had run off on a murderous rampage to South America and become a king of a foreign country. It sounded ridiculous even to him. Then there had been Russia. And now it was SCORPIA.

Crawley recovered from his concussion but Ian had noticed that his partner seemed incredibly depressed over the whole ordeal. John Crawley was sitting at his desk. It was Monday. John always visited him on Mondays. It was one of the few reasons that Ian showed up to work. Strictly speaking, he was salaried, not hourly. Tulip did gripe at him - something about setting an example for younger agents. "John."

Crawley gave him a half-smile. Ian loved him all the same. Even if he was a bit down since losing Alex. Crawley did know that Ian didn't blame him, right? "Email from Patrick? You know that's paperwork, right?"

Ian let out a huff. He folded his arms. Sometimes he was pretty sure that changes in breathing caused you paperwork at MI6. Still, there was a script he had to follow. "Crawleeeeeeyyyyy. It's one tiny little email."

Crawley looked a little too happy smacking him with a fifteen-page form. Maybe Ian should offer a more kinky-

SNICK!

The papers hit him in the face again. "You have a one-track mind, Ian. And do your forms! The fines are expensive!"

Ian grumbled under his breath. Why must Crawley be so meeeaan to him? All he wanted was snuggles, sex, and Alex not being kidnapped for a third year in a row. What was so bad about that?! "But Crawleeeeeyyyy."

Crawley was giving him a very amused look. Ian felt like this was patently unfair. Besides, he might get lucky and Crawley might do the paperwork for him.

SNICK!

"And fill out this one while you're at it."

Ian pouted at Crawley. Crawley gave him a very suspicious look. That was hurtful. "Ian, I swear to God-"

"If I offer you sexual favors-"

"IAN RIDER!"

They both jumped as Tulip Jones entered the office. Ian put on his most charming grin. Tulip did not seem impressed. "Crawley, kindly excuse us."

Crawley exited the room with a slight smirk. The treachery. "Ian, you know very well that you should not be conning your poor hard-working partner into doing your paperwork."

Ian wilted slightly in his chair. Yeah, he had probably been abusing that privilege. He should probably start doing that less often. It would be bad if Crawley got carpal tunnel. "So, uh, what did you want to talk about before you rudely interrupted us?"

Tulip rolled her eyes at him. Ian got the feeling that she was far too used to his antics. Ian decided against pranking her, though. She was under a lot of stress. Not to mention, Internal Affairs was still giving them the side-eye. "Exactly when did you plan to tell me that you were still in contact with Helen's family?"

Ian let out a sigh. This was going to be a long talk. Especially because Patrick was technically blackmailing him. Time to get this over with.

Tom eagerly opened the package that was addressed to him. There was only one person who would send him mail. Except maybe Jerry. He hadn't heard from either of his parents in years. It was a postcard. There was also a small wrapped gift. The postcard had a small, cute little sun on it. Thinking of you.

Tom wondered where Alex was. Probably somewhere tropical if he had picked that card. The tiny wrapped gift was probably something nice. Tom knew that Alex was the only one besides Jerry who could reliably pick gifts that he liked. The paper crinkled slightly as Tom peeled it open. He stared at the shiny packaging.

It was a Game Boy Advance…in advance. The release date wasn't until next month. Tom grinned as he pulled out a few game cartridges. And here he had accused Alex of not knowing how to have fun. Tom's eyes lit up as he flicked the screen on.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Tom let out a sigh as he switched the new shiny console off. Alex's present would have to wait. "TOOOOM! IT'S DINNER TIME!"

Tom grinned as Jack's familiar voice called out through the door. Jack was great. Tom wondered if he could get her to date Jerry. She wasn't that much older than him. Five years wasn't a horrible age gap for adults, right? "TOOOOM!"

Tom gently put the console on his bed and went towards the door. He was sure that they'd make a great couple. "COMING!"

Tom threw open the door to a moderately frazzled-looking Jack. Huh, weird. "It's a bit early for dinner, isn't it?"

Jack looked exasperated. Tom was pretty sure it was Ian's fault. Alex was right about one thing. Blaming Ian for everything was a great excuse. "Ian and Crawley said not to wait up. They're going to be home way past dinner, if at all. We're ordering in since I don't feel like cooking."

Tom put on his most innocent face. Jack looked at him suspiciously. "Jack, are you ever in the mood to cook?"

Jack swooped towards him with a takeout menu. Tom took off down the hallway. "GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE RUFFIAN!"

Tom started giggling as he took the stairs two at a time. Jack was gaining on him, despite his running start. Tom cursed the fact that he was still short as he made it to the bottom of the stairs. Jack grabbed him and swatted him with the takeout menu. Tom started laughing at the same time as Jack. He caught his breath and replied, still grinning. "I'll take that as a no."

Jack bopped his shoulder with the takeout menu. She rolled her eyes, a soft smile still warming her face. "Just pick a few dishes you want, Tom."

Tom opened the menu to see a bunch of very familiar dishes. It was nice to have some variety in his life after his parents had served nothing but lasagna and pasta for ages. And it was always the same sauce. "Why did nobody tell me that there's green curry?"

Jack was folding a living room blanket. Tom watched her favor him with a fond look. "Possibly because they didn't want to encourage your fascination with green food."

Tom pouted at Jack. Sure, having her dye his icing emerald green had been over-the-top, but it was his birthday. "It's NOT an obsession."

Jack finished folding the blanket. Tom caught the faintest hint of a smirk on her face. "Are you sure about that?"

Tom let out a huff. Adults were mean. Plus, he ate all of his vegetables. Jack had no right to complain. "I'll have the green curry, the peas, and the green coconut cookies."

Jack snorted loudly as she took the menu from him. Tom folded his arms. Jack's expression turned into a full-on smirk. "That's what I thought."

Tom was not going to change his mind. Jack could live with his new policy of green foods as much as possible. Green was a nice color, anyway.

"YASSEN, YOU FUCKING HYPOCRITE!"

Yassen awoke to the sensation of a massive furry fluff ball on top of him. And a very furious teen glaring at him. The overgrown rat was heavy. "Pardon. Isn't this your perfectly safe husky mix?"

Yassen was doing his best not to smirk. This was far too much fun. Besides, Alex deserved a bit of payback for his gray hair.

HISSSSSS!

Alex hissed at him. Fenrir jumped off him. The paws had probably bruised him. Yassen rubbed his chest where Fenrir's paws had sat while he jumped. "Did you just hiss at me?"

Alex glared at him. Yassen was trying very hard not to laugh. He was enjoying his morning. "I found out humans could hiss from a nature documentary and haven't looked back."

Yassen let out a sigh. Wait a minute. This was the perfect opportunity. He clutched his chest in a mock dramatic fashion. "But Alex! It's the trauma! I needed a nice giant fluff ball to cheer me up after yesterday!"

Alex glared at him. Yassen waited for the full force of his words to hit Alex. "YASSEN! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Yassen smirked as he pulled on his body armor. Alex's eye twitched. "You'll have to get up earlier than that to pull it off."

"YASSEEEEEEENNNNN!"

Yassen brushed past the fuming teen and headed towards the kitchen. Apprentices were far too much fun to wind up. Besides, if Alex was going to murder him, he would have done it by now. Rhea and Nile were waiting for him in the kitchen. Nile pouted as he walked in. "I was hoping he was going to at least get in a scratch."

Yassen flipped Nile off as he made a beeline for the coffee machine. Nile smirked as he dumped the last bit of coffee into his cup. "Fuck you."

Nile raised an eyebrow. He put the empty pot back in the machine. "Sorry, you'll have to make another cup."

With that, Nile all but booked it out of there. Yassen threw a knife at his back. Nile ducked it before flinging himself out the door and slamming it behind him. Yassen smirked as the lock engaged. Rhea was eyeing the entire scene with mild amusement. "Something to say, Rhea?"

Rhea finished her coffee. Yassen continued looking at her. "Oh, I know better than to fall for that trap. By the way, there's a teacher's conference we're supposed to be attending. That's why Nile's up before ten, you know."

Yassen had honestly forgotten about that with all the excitement surrounding the Kroll/Beckett/Rider meeting. Slacking, that. Then again, that was what Rhea was here for. "Thank you for the reminder."

They stood in the kitchen in companionable silence. Yassen's coffee finished brewing and they both ate. This was what Yassen had liked about their relationship. It was quiet. It was easy. It didn't have-

WOOF!

Fenrir jumped over the couch. The dog was giving him sad eyes as he ate his eggs. The dog let out a whine. Yassen glanced around. He fed the dog a tiny bit of egg. Rhea smirked slightly as she met his eyes. "Sucker."

Yassen whipped around. "What was that?"

Rhea raised an eyebrow. "A light cough."

Yassen gave her an incredulous look. He watched as she swished out of the room. Brats. All of them. Awful, awful brats. He should have retired to Siberia like he had planned. He was going to go prematurely gray at this rate. So much for being known for looking young for his age. Why had he agreed to train apprentices again? Yassen didn't even like people. And there were now even more meetings.

Alex walked into a cafeteria full of dead silence. He checked for the usual culprits, but neither Dr. Three nor Yassen were in the room. As far as he could tell, it was a normal morning at Malagosto. He let out a sigh and sat down. Gordon immediately joined him. "Sooo. Have you heard the rumors?"

Alex let out a sigh. He just wanted his nice civilized breakfast with his nice civilized tea. Why must SCORPIA be full of dramatic hacks? "No, actually. I was, erm, training with Yassen this morning."

Alex thought that sounded like a plausible excuse. Plus, Yassen was notoriously stingy about gossip, among other things. He was pretty sure that Gordon was about to take pity on him either way. "Grendel's planning on retiring. We're all waiting to see what happens with that. He's the oldest board member by far. Says he wants to spend time with his grandchildren or some shit."

Alex shrugged. As far as he knew, Grendel had been murdered for retiring the last time around. Then again, Three from the past life had mentioned that it set an unfortunate precedent for not letting board members retire. Maybe he should pay attention. "What's the big deal?"

Gordon let out a sigh. Alex got the impression that Gordon was enjoying every second of having juicy gossip for once. The slight twitch of his lips gave it away every time. He put an arm around Alex and gestured dramatically out the window. "Wellllll, if they let ol' Grendel retire, he might actually want to retire orrr he might be a traitor. Then again, if they murder him, it's bye-bye to the board retirement package."

Alex squinted at Gordon. Gordon was grinning like a loon. "There's a retirement package?"

Gordon patted his head. Alex gave him a light glare. "We're about to find out, now aren't we?"

Alex was tempted to roll his eyes at the drama. He had forgotten just how much Gordon and the rest of SCORPIA enjoyed being theatrical. Then again, Alex had received top grades in theater class.

"ALRIGHT, YOU GOSSIPY FUCKS!"

Alex gaped at Gordon's blatant hypocrisy. Hadn't the man just fucking dropped a metric ton of gossip?! "IT'S TIME FOR YOUR MORNING WORKOUT! UP, TWO, THREE, FOUR!"

Alex finished his breakfast in one bite and downed the rest of his tea. This was going to be a long morning. Plus, he hadn't even gotten to eat his second round of breakfast.

WOOF!

Fenrir came bounding out of the corridor. Gordon let out a yelp. "GET THE FURRY FU-OOF! Jet, that was my kidney!"

Alex bit back a cackle as his baby ran towards him. He gave Gordon his best puppy eyes. "Can Fenrir please join the morning run? I promise he'll keep up."

Gordon made some grumbling noises at Jet's glare. Alex was going to take that as a yes.

SNICK!

Alex felt a leash hit him in the face. Gordon gave him a look. "We technically have a leash law here."

Alex was ninety percent sure Gordon had made that the fuck up. He sighed as he put a leash on Fenrir. Fenrir, at least, didn't seem to mind, as long as he got his daily run.

I do apologize for the long break in updates. I caught COVID and burned through my extra chapters while clawing my way out of excess fatigue for several months. Then my mom broke her wrist and needed surgery for what the docs call a complex fracture. Then my brother's insane roommate required a restraining order. And then it was Christmas and my mom's lung collapsed. All the fun, since I have primary caretaking duties in my family. Anyway, we're (hopefully) back now.