Chapter 14:

In the back of his mind, Ben faintly realized that Alex had taken the dye out of his hair and had gotten rid of the colored contacts and now looked like his normal self. Ben might have made some comment about that, but he was too busy laughing at the reactions of the CIA men. Even their head, Joe Byrne, had his mouth dropped open like a fish.

Alex just sat there smirking at the sight. Ben could tell that Alex was trying not to laugh, and he wondered how long Alex could keep it up.

"Wow," Alex piped up. "I never knew government agents to show any emotion at all, let alone sit there gaping like a fish. You know, if you stay that way for too long, a bee's going to come and fly into your mouth."

This seemed to break the spell, and all three mouths snapped shut and Ben regained his composure and adopted a blank face once again.

"But…how?" Shulsky questioned. "I mean, the last time I see you is when you're about to be launched into outer space, and then I hear all of these rumors about a teenage super-spy, and then suddenly, I hear that you die from being shot and blown up by Scorpia who wanted revenge. And now, here you are."

"I can't believe MI6 kept this covered up for so long!" Byrne exclaimed. "I mean, we did hear reports about some young spy prodigy who made his way up to the top spot, but there was never anything about him being under aged!"

"Well, when I got my new identity, MI6 realized that they couldn't have one under-aged spy die, and then a week later another spy with the same age pop up and be just as great, so according to my new identity, I am 24 years old right now. Not 17. And as to how, well, I was shot with a blank by Scorpia, not that they would ever admit it, because they wanted me to join their side. So then they drugged me and took me to their other location, which I later blew up with making my escape. I mean, I didn't exactly mean to blow it up, but the fire was bigger than I expected, and there was more explosives there, so….KABOOM happened," Alex replied with a shrug.

While the three CIA agents were taking this in, Ben turned to Alex.

"I'm surprised in you! I'd have expected you to sit here for hours not telling them anything until they would finally start asking yes-or-no questions to which you wouldn't respond to either!"

"And I would've guessed that this moment would not turn you into some weirdo. Seriously, Ben. I don't know who you were at that moment. You are acting so out of your normal character," Alex flashed back.

"I think it's the jet lag," Ben replied stifling a yawn.

While they were carrying on this conversation, Mr. Byrne had picked up his phone and had issued some sort of instructions.

"Ok, Agent Daniels and Alex, can you come this way for a moment? I have some things I need to attend to. I'll prepare two of our crash rooms for you guys so that you can sleep and get rid of your jet lag. We can talk more in the morning once you're not falling asleep on your feet," Mr. Byrne instructed them.

Alex knew this last part was directed at him, but made no note that he noticed that. Instead he commented, "Aww….Is little Ben tired? Does little Ben need a nap? Do you want me to tuck you in with your teddy bear?"

Ben glowered at him half-heartedly, "Oh shut up. You'll regret saying that when halfway to our destination you fall over dead asleep and I'm forced to carry you the rest of the way. You know, I'm not exactly that coordinated of a person, and I tend to trip over my feet a lot, and so if I just happened to be carrying you, and I tripped, well, that wouldn't feel so good, now would it?"

"Oh shut up," was the only thing that Alex could think of in reply.

This was when Ben realized just how tired Alex really was. Ben had not ever heard Alex at a loss for words nor had he ever lost a word battle.

"Come on, let's go get some sleep," Ben said with a fatherly smile, motioning for Alex to stand.

Mr. Byrne led the way out of his office, with Ben and Alex following. Before they had completely left the room, Lewinsky called out in an uncertain voice, "Alex?"

Alex and Ben turned toward him and prompted him to continue.

"I was just wondering where we stood because, well, you know. Because of the incident in Egypt with the-"

Alex interrupted him, "I know what you mean. But it's seriously ok. I probably would've done the same thing, or something similar if I was in your shoes. Let's just forget the incident ever happened, ok?"

A relieved look came over Lewinsky's face, "Yea, ok. Sounds good."

"Now, if you'll excuse us, Lewinsky, I think I need to get Alex to sleep. The jet lag has most certainly caught up with him," Ben interrupted, barely holding back his own yawn.

Alex mumbled something incoherent before walking out of the room with Ben following.

The pair followed Mr. Byrne until he stopped outside a doorway.

"Sorry, I need to go take care of a few things and get one of the rooms unlocked, is it ok if you guys just hang out in here for a minute?"

"Sure," Ben replied and steered Alex into the room.

Inside it looked like a lounge. Ben led Alex to one of the couches and they both sat down. Without a second thought, Alex put his feet out to the side and curled up with his head on Ben's lap.

"Nice to know I'm your personal pillow," Ben joked, before realizing that Alex was already asleep.

Ben just snorted and leaned his head back on the back of the couch, closing his eyes.

'Just for one minute…' he thought.