Wolf didn't see much of Cub that next day. Maria still wasn't there yet and even though she was an hour late Wolf didn't really expect her anytime soon. Maria was almost chronically late, something he'd always teased her about. Cub had more or less barricaded himself in his room. Wolf had seen him briefly that morning as the kid dumped his empty cereal bowl in sink but that was it. He wondered if he should try to talk to him.
It couldn't be easy after all. MI6 had given no details but the boy's guardian was gone and with the less than loving attitude he'd had towards the boy before he had a feeling Cub just didn't like it here. It wasn't unreasonable but it was a bit annoying. Cub had a tendency to sneak around even thought it was probably not a conscious thing. He wondered how Cub got so good at stealth as he was probably better than most SAS at this point.
He was still debating with himself on whether or not to talk to the kid when his mobile rang. He gave a sigh of relief to the distraction of the weird techno song Eagle had insisted he have as a ring tone that broke into his thoughts.
"Hello?" he answered not even bothering to glance at caller id. He really didn't care who it was at this point.
"James!" was the almost giddy shout. "Where you been?" Great, speaking of Eagle.
"Home," he said simply. "What do you want?"
"What are you doing right now?" he asked. Wolf wondered where this could possibly go. Whenever Eagle asked this question they usually found themselves in some awkward situation that he thought was some sort of adventure.
"Nothing," he said. "And I plan on keeping it that way."
"Well, fine," came the clipped reply. "Can I at least join you on your plan for nothingness? I'm bored."
"Call the others," he said and heard the other man sigh.
"I did," he replied.
"And?"
"And they're bored too," he said. "Why? There a reason you don't want us to come over?" Wolf considered his next words. They were going to find about the Cub thing anyway but he wasn't sure if now was the best time to ambush the kid with them. Wolf wasn't the most sensitive guy in the world but even he could tell that something was going on with the kid.
The Unit would defiantly want to see him again if just to annoy him halfway to hell. In the end he just blurted it out. Blunt honestly usually worked best with Eagle.
"Cub's here," he said and was met with almost complete silence on the other end of the line.
"Uh, what?"
"You heard me," he replied. "MI6 asked me to look after him for a while."
"Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously," Wolf replied with a roll of his eyes.
"You can't even keep your plants alive!" Eagle squawked rather indignantly. "How do you plan on keeping Cub alive?" Wolf heard a distant shout of, "What?" from what was most likely Snake. Wolf let out an annoyed huff.
"I'm not that bad," he said. "Besides he can take care of himself. They just need something on paper you know?"
"No, I don't know," Eagle said. "Why ask you?"
"I don't know," he growled. Again, there was silence as the other soldier apparently ran out of things to say. He'd think of more in a little while.
"So, can we come over? We're bored." Swear to god, the man had a one track mind. Although, Wolf knew he was itching to see Cub again. The boy had disappeared on them twice now with no explanation as to where he came from and what he's supposed to be doing. They were all curious and they all wanted answers.
"Not today," he said. He in no way wanted his Unit and his big sister in the same room. That would be disastrous. "My sister's coming over."
"Tomorrow?" he pressed.
"Yeah, fine," he said and after setting a time he hung up. He heard it in the brief silence that occurred when he changed the channel on the television and the sound hadn't yet kicked into the other broadcast's signal. The soft click of the extra bedroom's door. Wolf knew the boy could sneak around better than anyone he had ever seen but this was just creepy.
Cub had most likely just heard that entire conversation. It didn't matter if that was the intention, Wolf knew it happened. He'd probably heard his name and stopped to listen in; Cub was just that type of person. Wolf had seen that type many times before. Hell, he was that way to an extent. He wondered what Cub had made of it.
Probably nothing rational. Superspy aside, Cub was a teenager.
Finally Maria managed to get there at around two in the afternoon. Wolf was starving having waited for her food rather than attempting to make something himself. It was far less dangerous that way. He answered the door and was immediately assaulted with grocery bags full of plastic containers. He took it all to the kitchen, but certainly not quietly.
"Jesus, Maria," he whined. "You're not here to feed an army."
"James, you can eat more than two armies combined," she threw back. "If you didn't work out so much, you'd be fatter than Uncle Mike." James gave a small smile at the thought of their rotund Godfather. He certainly could stand to lose a few pounds.
"I'm not sure that's possible," he said. She rolled her eyes at him.
"Just put the food away," she ordered, taking a seat at the table. "So, where is he?"
"Who?" he asked, playing dumb to rile her up.
"You know exactly who, Jamie," she replied.
"He's in his room," he said, shutting the fridge door and opening the lid to a container he'd purposefully left out. He plopped the chorizo breakfast burrito on a plate and put it in the microwave. It wasn't the most Spanish dish out there, but Maria always made it insanely spicy. He remembered when he'd forgotten to let his Unit know how spicy it was and they'd all bit into it only to have burning tongues for an hour. He'd never seen them drink that much water, that fast. They'd looked at him like he was crazy when he'd added hot sauce to his.
"Why is in he in is room?" she asked conversationally.
"He's a pretty private kid," Wolf replied with a shrug. Cub was nothing if not private. He knew that just from being around the boy for more than two seconds.
"I still want to meet him," she said. He paused uncomfortably for a moment and she looked at him with a look that let him know she was listening
"He's a little banged up," he warned her, his voice a little low in case Cub was listening in.
"What do you mean?" she asked, her motherly instincts already kicking in. Wolf squirmed a little. He hated lying to his big sister, but there wasn't much of a choice.
"He, uh," Wolf stuttered.
"Was he abused?" she asked quickly, not wanting to shift through his stammered answer.
"You could say that," he replied.
"I'm asking that," she said quickly, not about to be thrown off. "Are you saying that?"
"I don't really know how he got messed up," he said truthfully. "It could all just be from some fight. They didn't give me much about his past and, like I said, he's pretty private."
"Oh," was all she said. He let draw whatever conclusion she could from that vague conversation. Maria didn't know about Cub's occupation and he had no intention of cluing her in.
"Alex!" he called out suddenly after a few moments of silence. Maria, being used to sudden and loud noise, didn't even jump. "Come out here!"
Cub finally made an appearance. He looked very tired, Wolf noted. He hadn't even bothered to get dressed and was still in black sweatpants, a baggy t-shirt, and barefooted. Although, he had combed his hair, the kid looked a mess.
"Yeah?" he said, his eyes darted to Maria once then rested on Wolf, his demeanor was completely relaxed.
"This is my sister, Maria," Wolf said, nodding in her direction. "Maria this is Alex." The boy stepped forward so he could shake her hand and she and the boy exchanged pleasantries.
"Are you hungry, Alex?" she asked.
"Um, yeah, I guess I could eat," he said. She stood up and walked towards the fridge.
"I brought James some food," she told him. "He's a terrible cook and we wouldn't you to starve." Cub gave a small, amused smile while Wolf gave an annoyed grunt but continued to eat. "Would you like a breakfast burrito?"
"Sure, sounds good. Thanks," he said.
"Oh, no problem sweetie," she gave him a sweet smile. While Maria put the food on the plate and into the microwave Cub took the seat beside Wolf, so that Maria could have her seat across from him back. Wolf gave Maria silent thanks for not staring at the kid's bruises which had started to turn a bit yellow as they healed. He looked terrible and Wolf was sure he was in some sort of pain. He made a mental note to ask if the kid was taking anything for the pain.
Maria plopped the plate and a fork in front of Cub and sat down. She watched with an amused look as he picked the fork up. Wolf eyed him as well. It was a long standing family joke to never tell a person how spicy the food they were about to eat was. His family had always eaten extremely spicy foods and always found it hilarious when someone couldn't handle it. The faces they made were priceless.
But Cub was full of surprises. He ate it without batting an eye, much like they did. Maria just smiled even wider but Wolf was a little put off. He'd been looking forward to the boy's reaction.
"So, Alex," Maria said starting up the conversation again. "What school do you go to?"
"Um, I go to Brookland," he replied.
"Oh, I've heard of that school. It's supposed to be one of the best," she said. He nodded.
"Uh, yeah, it's pretty good," he said. Maria's smile never faltered at the obvious discomfort for small talk. Cub clearly didn't know how to do it very well. At least, in a normal situation. After a few more questions and answers, Maria pretty much left him alone turning the conversation back to Wolf.
He ignored the nagging with ease but he did catch more than a few repressed laughs from Cub. The two siblings had slipped back into their normal family banter with ease and had actually switched to Spanish without realizing it. Maria had been quite shocked when Cub had cut in with his flawless Spanish. Wolf had to suppress a laugh as she continued to gush about the English boy's language skills asking how he had learned it so well.
"My uncle took me to Spain when I was little," he told her in their first language. "We even lived there for a while and he made me do most of the talking until I learned it."
"How old were you?" she asked.
"I think I was about four," he said. This boy was just full of surprises. Cub disappeared to his room a little bit after that, leaving the two siblings alone again.
"He is a very interesting boy," Maria commented. Wolf nodded.
"Yeah, he's got a few surprises about him," he replied.
"What do you know about him?" she asked, suddenly very serious. "And I mean really know about him."
The question made him pause. What did he know about Cub? Not much, that was for sure. Pretty much that he'd trained at Brecon Beacons and that he was one hell of an agent. That wasn't very much and it wasn't something he could tell to Maria.
"Not much," he said truthfully. "He did just get here after all." Maria gave a small huff of annoyance. Apparently that hadn't been the answer she was hoping for.
"What?" he asked snappishly.
"Nothing," she said but at his raised eyebrows saw fit to elaborate. "There's just something about him."
"What do you mean?" Wolf asked slowly wondering what she could possibly say.
"He just seems, I don't know, off," she said not making full eye contact anymore. "There's just something about him that doesn't seem normal."
"Well, he has been bouncing around," he said. "And who knows where those bruises came from."
"You should talk to him," she said.
"About what?" She glared at him which actually made him shrink down a little. He may be SAS but she was a woman and they had long perfected that 'look' that would make you feel two inches tall.
"Seriously James?" she snapped. "You honestly have to ask about what you should talk to him about? You need to talk to him about the bruises. If he was abused he'll need help. He'll need to talk."
Wolf already knew that the bruises came from a mission. He hadn't asked Cub about it and MI6 hadn't told him that specifically but it wasn't that hard to guess. He'd seen the boy banged up before and if Cub was going to be staying there for a while he'd probably see him in the some condition again. He hadn't really thought about talking to the kid about it, mostly because he was pretty sure the only honest answer he'd get would be, "Classified".
"Okay, I'll ask him about it," he said to pacify her. He wasn't sure if he really would. He'd ask if the kid was taking anything for pain but beyond that he'd be blocked not only by Cub himself but MI6. He may be SAS but he was only the kid's 'guardian'. He had no idea if the arrangement was anything close to real or just MI6 needing a convenient place to store the kid till they needed him next. It was a rather harsh truth but Wolf didn't trust anything that came out of Blunt's mouth. It was impossible to tell if it was a lie and even if it wasn't the man had no reason to keep his word. If MI6 needed Alex Rider, they would get Alex Rider, no matter what he did.
"You'd better," she said fiercely. "He seems like a really good kid and those bruises look nasty." Wolf could only nod. He didn't have the heart to tell her that she couldn't possibly be able to judge the boy accurately after knowing him all of five minutes and that he could easily just be putting up a front. Wolf didn't distrust Cub but didn't fully trust him either. At least not when it concerned anything outside active duty. He'd gladly work with Cub again, would even go so far as to trust him watching his back, but the boy had a vested interest in lying to him.
Wolf wasn't stupid; he knew the kid had secrets. What he really wanted know, was not the secrets themselves really, but how dangerous they were. Unfortunately he had no clue on how to approach that topic. He'd never really talked to Cub before. Hell, being in the same room was still a little awkward after Brecon Beacons and the fragile truce they'd had at Point Blanc.
It was obvious, even to him, that both of them didn't really know how to act around the other or even know what they should say to each other. It was rather disconcerting to think that they were two strangers with every reason to hate each other living in the same house.
Ugh, what had he gotten himself into?