A/N: Hey guys! I got such a good reaction over updating twice in a day and it gave me such a warm fuzzy glow inside that I've decided that I will definitely update more often. I've only got three weeks or so of my summer holidays left, so I am determinied to get up at least another three chapters. But don't quote me on that *sheepish grin* On with the fic!

Something I just want clear up with you guys first: this fic is set about a fortnight or so after Crocodile Tears, okay? I may be able to fix the timeline so it finishes well before the beginning of Scorpia Rising (which I will not be finishing until I finish this fic because I don't want my plotline to change so no one spoil it for me!) but it's going to be difficult, especially as I've got the sequel Born of Coincidence, to consider as well.

Okay, now we can continue with the fic.

Alex bit his lip to stop from grunting in pain as he hobbled out of P.E. class. Though it was three days after the attack, his ankle was still swollen and extremely painful; in was all he could do not to lean on Tom for support. As some careless person kicked it accidentally as they sprinted past, full of the eager joy that only a Friday afternoon could bring to a school kid, he cursed silently and reminded himself to thank Wolf again for writing him a not to get out of P.E., even if it had gotten him some rather dirty looks from the teacher, who walked away muttering something about upcoming football games.

"Are you heading back my way?" James suddenly asked, his gym bag slung over one shoulder as he fell in step with Alex. "Or is your new guardian coming to pick you up again?"

Alex tried not to blush as he said, "He's coming to get me again."

For the last three mornings and afternoons Wolf had escorted him to and from the school gates, acting more like a bodyguard than a guardian. Alex was more than a bit confused and touched by this sudden behaviour, though he also somewhat resented being treated like a helpless child.

James, not noticing his inner dialogue, nodded absently and said, "Can't blame him, I guess. I mean, he's bound to be worried after you got mugged."

Alex exchanged a meaningful glance with Tom, who of course knew the full truth, at the reminded of the latest story he had to make up to maintain his cover.

"So, Alex, when can we come over?" Tom suddenly asked.

Alex jerked his head to face his friend, surprised. He opened his mouth with an angry scowl (that he absolutely had not picked up from Wolf) and prepared to deliver another speech, when James but in. "Yeah, can we Alex? I'd quite like to see this new place of yours."

Alex closed his mouth with a snap, aghast. Unsure, he said, "Well . . . I'd like to have you guys over, but I don't think that's a good idea, my new guardian –"

"He seems like a good guy," James cut in, "After all, he's taking the time out of work to look make sure you get to school and back home in once piece; he can't be that bad."

After a beat of silence, he added, "After all, we don't see you that often anymore."

Alex almost stopped in his tracks, guilt squirming in his chest. It was only now he registered the slight hurt in James' voice. He hated lying to his friend, even though he knew it was necessary and he did it convincingly enough. But James wasn't stupid, he knew something was going with Alex that he wasn't telling; and he probably knew that Tom was aware of what was happening, of course he felt left out and hurt.

'Well, having them over occasionally couldn't hurt . . .' Alex thought, though he was reluctant to let his friends over; what happened if K-Unit came by? Besides, he doubted Wolf would be too happy to have even more teenagers in his flat.

"Okay, I'll ask him when it's okay to have you guys round." Alex said far more confidently than he felt. His instincts were very rarely wrong and right now they were screaming, 'Danger! Danger!' at him.

"Good, thanks Al." James said, brightening up considerably. "Hey, there he is now!" he added, gesturing in the general direction of Wolf's car.

"How do you know that?" Tom asked, puzzled.

"I saw him earlier, dumbass."

"Go home, James!"

"That the best retort you can think of?" James shook his head in mock disappointment and, ignoring the blue-eyed boys glare, cycled away.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Alex turned on Tom, furious. "What did you do that for?"

"Do what?" Tom false look of innocent confusion didn't fool Alex for one second. Folding his arms, glare firmly in place, he waited. Five seconds later, Tom cracked.

"Oh come on! How else was I gonna get an invite?"

Alex sighed, exasperated, "Tom, you know why I can't do that."

"You're just paranoid."

"In my line of work, it pays to be paranoid."

Tom grinned, Alex's glare having no effect on him whatsoever after so many years of being subjected to it. "Well, you haven't got choice now; you have to invite us over, nothing you can do about it."

"I can hurt you."

"That won't help you."

"It'll help me feel better."

Tom dodged out of the way of Alex's fist just in time, wide smile still on his face. "You haven't got time to assault me now; you don't want to keep Military Dude waiting."

"As much as I want to strangle you right now, that's very true," Alex conceded, turning on his heel to head in the direction of the waiting soldiers car. "And it's Wolf, not Military Dude!"

In his wake he heard Tom laughing.

Wolf drove an old red and silver pickup truck, still in excellent condition from his constant care, despite its years. The well-oiled door barely creaked as he opened it and hopped into the vehicle. Wolf, who had been resting his upper body of the steering wheel, jumped slightly at Alex's sudden arrival. He covered it extremely well, casually asking, "How was your day?"

"It was all right, pretty boring really," Alex answered as he fastened his seat belt before turning to face the man, "Yours?"

Wolf shrugged as he turned on the ignition and reversed out of his parking spot to head for the main gates. "'Bout the same as yours from the sound of it."

Alex hesitated before asking, "I was wondering . . . what do you actually do?"

The man glanced sharply at the boy out of the corner of his eyes before returning them to the road once more, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know you're in the SAS, but what are you doing right now?"

"Office work," Wolf grunted. When Alex stayed silent, he added, as if reluctantly, "I sort out things like deployment notices, requests for leave, that kind of thing."

"I see."

The two males sat in silence for most of the journey until Wolf broke it, "Who were those two boys you were talking to?"

Alex's eyes flickered towards the man in surprised. Slowly, he said, "My friends, Tom and James."

Wolf nodded. "So, if they're your friends, why did you try to hit the one with black hair?"

"Because he was being an idiot."

Wolf burst out in laughter over this statement, startling Alex once more. "Okay, I get the picture," he said when he calmed down. "Made any plans with them?"

Alex frowned, "Uh, no, why?"

Wolf shrugged. "I read your file, you don't spend a lot of time at school. It might do you some good to spend more time with people your own age for once."

Alex hesitated as he saw the opening, then remembering the ddejected look on James face the last time he had to cancel their plans, he said, "Well, they did ask if they could over your place some time." Alex paused before adding, "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Just tell me when. But not tomorrow," Wolf said idly.

"Why not tomorrow?"

Wolf frowned at him, "Did you forget? Ben's coming."

Alex smiled.

XXXXX

Bang, bang, bang!

Alex winced as, yet again, Wolf slammed down the wooden roller on the dough as if it caused him personal injury. When he felt his temples beginning to throb, he put down the knife he was using to chop peppers and said, "For God's sake Wolf, it's uncooked bread, not a knife-wielding maniac! Go easy on it, would you?"

The soldier looked round in surprise at his ward. "What? You told me to make sure it was all even and that I had to be firm with it."

"Yeah, firm, not deadly."

Alex was saved by the slightly irritable Wolf's retort by the doorbell. Quickly wiping his hands with a wet cloth, he hurried out of the kitchen and down the stairs. As the door opened, he found himself dragged onto a warm, muscular body, the chest muffling his shouted protests.

"Alex! How are you? Wolf treating you okay? Injuries all healed? How's school?"

"Git oof mm."

"Hmm?" Looking down at the mop of blonde hair, Fox realised he was suffocating the boy and immediately released him. "Oh, sorry Alex! I got carried away, I was just really happy to see you! What did you say?"

"I said "get off me" but that's a little redundant now. Do you always ramble like that?" Alex asked as he tried to inconspicuously suck large gulps of air back into his lungs.

"I don't ramble." Fox said, frowning at his young friend.

"Yes, you do!" Wolf's voice called from the kitchen. "Let him in, Cub! If we don't he'll only scratch at the door for hours on end until we feed him."

"Hahaha!" Fox said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he stepped over the threshold and began to trek up the stairs. "Lucky you, Alex; you get to listen to the rapier wit that kept up the morale of the Unit back on our missions twenty-four/seven. You must be thrilled."

"Shut up!"

Fox grinned surreptitiously at Alex.

XXXXX

The lunch went without a hitch, apart from when Wolf and Fox began a rather immature fight with a pair of forks while Alex simply watched from his seat with a bizarre range of emotions on his face: amusement, shock and vague horror.

Now it was almost eleven-thirty and the two men sat on the living room couch nursing cans of bear. As soon as Alex had begun to yawn at eleven o'clock, Fox had ordered him to go to bed, much to Wolf's amusement and Alex's irritation, but he'd been too tired to protest.

Now, with the boy out of the way and the movie playing in the background, Fox turned to his friend, "Right, now be honest Chris, 'cause I'll know if you're lying – "

"Bloody spying know-it-all," Wolf muttered. Fox ignored him.

"– how are you coping?"

Wolf frowned, slightly uncomfortably. "What are you talking about?"

Fox gave an indicative jerk of his head.

"The kid? He's fine, no problems with him, apart from that little," here his voice turned gruffer, darker, "incident a few days ago. He basically takes care of himself, really, just sits in his room and does his homework, helps me cook . . ."

Fox raised an eyebrow, the humour returning to his face briefly. "Okay, fine, I help him cook."

"That sounds more accurate."

"Shut up. I barely even see him if truth be told, besides when I take him to school and when we watch Oops TV together."

A look of slight astonishment crossed Fox's face, "You mean, you two actually do things together when you don't have too?"

Wolf fidgeted uncomfortably, feeling oddly annoyed and strangely guilty because of the incredulous statement. "Well, not really . . . just that."

Fox nodded, looking preoccupied. Silence descended on the room for several moments as the soldier-turned-spy seemed to wallow in his thoughts. Wolf left him to it. A few moments later, Fox broke out of his stupor and said, "Do you like him?"

Wolf choked on his beer at the sudden question. "What?"

"Do you like him?"

Wolf pondered on that for a moment. He's spent less than a week with the kid in his house, he barely saw him, barely knew him. Wolf was about to answer that that was impossibly to answer right now, how could he say whether he did or did not in so short a time and with so secretive a person, but then he remembered the feelings swirling inside of him when the kid didn't come home for hours on end, how he'd felt when he saw all those wounds . . .

Wolf looked Fox in the face. "Yeah. Yeah, I do like him. But I don't know him very well."

Fox hesitated then said in a rush, "Would you try to get to know him? Even a little bit? His old guardian was with him for years and he really trusts her, but with her in America and the situation with Sarov hanging over his head and trying to catch up with all his school work, the kids got to be feeling pretty pressurized at the moment. He needs to have some fun, you know? It's not good for him to have to put up with all this at his age."

"Okay, okay, mother hen, calm down. I'll figure something out; I've already told him to invite his friends over." 'Well actually he asked, but I gave permission, which is just as good!'

"Good," Fox smiled, sipping on his beer happily. "You sure you're okay with that?"

"Bonding with my ward, what could be better? I can hardly contain my excitement."

"Haha, you're hilarious."

"I know."

Looking at his watch, Wolf counted silently. He got up to five when Fox suddenly yelled, "Hey, I'm not a mother hen!"

"Took you long enough."

A/N: I get the terrible feeling that this isn't as good as my other chapters. If so, I apologise profusely.