Kids were a hand full. Alex was still aspiring to be a princess ninja with glitter bombs, and Harry was constantly wearing Yassen's wards thin with his teleporting.

There were not normal kids, Yassen thought with a yawn. They never let him sleep and he was almost always running on zero energy of five glasses of coffee. The coffee was barely keeping up with his two sons as they enjoyed themselves.

Alex had even started developing powers of his own. He was not able to teleport-much to Yassen's relief- but he could change his appearance. Thinking back, John had also had the ability. Like his father, Alex was a Metamorph.

Taking a deep breath Yassen started working on fixing this broken wards keeping Harry in the house. Of course, Alex was not enjoying having to wait for the wards to be fixed.

"Pa! I want to go outside!" He yelled running up to Yassen.

"Then bug Uncle Nile. I'm busy at the moment Alex." Yassen sighed shaking his head.

"But I don't want to go with him! I want to go with you!"

"Alex, I'm trying to keep your brother safe."

"He isn't even really my brother." Alex hissed and Yassen froze. Slowly he turned to the young boy anger clear in his eyes.

"Want to run that by me again?" Yassen hissed, glaring daggers into the young boy. "Because that sounded quite disrespectful of your brother."

"He's not my blood brother. I don't get why he's so stupid. I get it he's a baby, but he just keeps doing it."

"Room. Now." Yassen shook his head with a glare. "You do not disrespect your brother like that."

"I don't get why you pay so much attention to him but not me!"

"I do pay attention to you. It's a safety thing. Now go Alex." Yassen took a breath trying to stabilize his breathing. As much as a child's joy was infectious so was its anger.

"You don't! All you care about is Harry. I doubt you even care about me!" Alex snapped, anger boiling. "You just care about your pathetic wards and your innocent teleporting child! You always tell me to go to Nile! Harry gets everything from you! What do I get? Nothing! I want..."

"Get to your room you selfish little brat." Yassen's voice was dripping with venom and anger. But if Alex was just a bit calmer, and Yassen was thinking a bit more rationally they would have both heard the tense pain of fear and hurt. Yassen hadn't been paying as much attention to Alex, but he was doing his best.

"I hate you! I. Hate. You!" Alex snapped glaring darkly, yelping as Yassen tossed him over his shoulder. Quickly Yassen dropped Alex on his bed, turning to leave.

"So do I." His words were cold and struck like ice. However, Alex couldn't help but note the hollowness to his voice.

"P-pa?" Alex whimpered as he watched Yassen leave. His voice was trembling as the door slammed shut.

The Nile was not prepared for Yassen to collapse on his bed sobbing. Nothing could have prepared him for the assassins release or the shouting between him and Alex.

" Yassen. What happened?"Nile soothed, gasping as he narrowly dodged a shoe. "Someone is pissy. I'll finish the wards, but I'm locking the alcohol you stereotypical Russian."

"You bitch. It was cheap as fuck. I also drink tequila." Yassen groaned waving a hand.

"I was teasing Yassen. Please don't make this harder on yourself." Nile sighed as he walked out.

Sometimes Yassen was a pain. Not only did he truly hate himself at times, but Nile always thought the man was suffering his own guilt. His entire town had been wiped off the map, and his entire life was ruined from that moment on.

Heading into the hall he got to work. There weren't too many wards left to fix, and he knew exactly where all the alcohol was. When that was done he went to check on Alex.

The young boy was crying, Nile could hear it thru the door. Heavy heartbroken sobs that told a tale of his hurt. Something really had gone down, Nile just wasn't entirely sure what.

He had heard the shouting, of course, however, he had not been able to make out any of what Yassen had said. The man was quiet, probably trying to keep his temper in check.

"Alex, its Uncle Nile." He called knocking heavy as to be heard.

"Leave me alone! I don't want your pity!" Alex yelled back the sobs.

"He didn't mean you Alex. He was agreeing with you." Nile sighed pushing the door open. "He hates himself, not you. He would never hate you."

Alex looked up, tears rolling down his cheeks. His eyes were puffy and his breath hitched but Nile could see that he had gotten thru to the young boy.

"Why?"

The question caught Nile off guard, and it took him a while to think of a response. Alex was extremely intelligent, but he was still a three-year-old learning the meaning of life. He probably wouldn't understand how truly hurt Yassen was, as he didn't know what Nile's own Vitiligo -pigment loss of the skin- was.

"He was hurt as a child. He lost a lot of people he cared for and he had to do some things he still regrets doing. He was taken by some bad people who abused him and he ended up killing them, which is how he became part of Scorpia." Nile reported with a small frown. "As much as he tries to pretend it doesn't, I think he knows it still hurts him. That he lets himself suffer until something as small as you angerly saying something causes him to break."

"So Pa is depressed? I had a friend whose sister suffered from depression. She hurt herself a lot, so she had scars." Alex dropped his head. "Dose Pa have scars like that?"

"Yeah, he does Alex. But he also has a lot of support, and he tries not to do that anymore. He only dose when..."Nile cut himself off. When he absolutely can't properly express himself or he feels like he failed.

" Why don't we go and check up on him Alex?" The Nile suggested weekly. Alex nodded and stood, whipping his eyes on a sleeve.

When the two reached Nile's room, he let out a relieved sigh. Yassen was still collapsed on his bed-a bit more comfortably now- half asleep. Alex quickly ran up to him and wrapped his arms around his Pa. Nile quietly watched as the two cryed-pent-up emotion breaking true- until they comparably fell asleep.