A/N: I've realized I'm making Snake a Flanderized pain in the ass; must make him nicer . . .

And yes, I know I've probably missed 101 mistakes, even though I've checked it through, but by now I reckon you guys want this so much you won't care. Much. Sorry about the delay *looks sheepish* Getting closer to the climax!

BTW, this is the last time I'll answer reviews from people that have not signed in, okay? It's a pain and I'm grateful to you guys but I really just want the contents of my story up as chapters and answer you all on a more personal level instead of like this.

Anon: He's in denial' he'll figure it out soon enough.

LoneWolfe: Thanks very much!

Anon: Good to know J I have made a few references throughout the story, but just to clarify, this happens in between Crocodile Tears and Scorpia Rising, so yes, Alex has his bullet wound.

Wolf's lips burned against Alex's, his hands leaving a fiery trail as they slid over his skin. Alex let out a quiet moan, bringing his arms up to loop around the soldier's neck, his legs trembling a little. Wolf slowly pushed him backwards against his pillows, gradually resting more of his weight against the boy, until he was laying flush on top of him. He put his hands behind his head to tug Alex's arms apart, lacing their fingers together and pressing Alex's arms down on either side of his head. He broke off the passionate kiss gently, smiling slightly as he their eyes met, grey looking into brown. Alex wet his lips nervously and Wolf's smile grew, shifting slightly so he could feel –

Alex bolted upright in bed, panting as if he'd just run for his life (not quite awake enough yet to recall that he had in fact been doing just that a few hours ago) and stared into the darkness, his brown eyes wide in shock. 'What the hell was that?'

Not that he needed to ask, of course, as he tore the confining sheets off of his legs and stared down between them, mortified. Where on earth had that come from? The image of Wolf's face as he had been yesterday, hovering over Alex, the two of them lying on the comfy couch, filled his mind's eye. He could feel the flush creeping up his neck and over his cheeks as he kicked his feet free from of the rest of the covers and flung his legs over the side, squirming with embarrassment as he felt the slimy liquid slither down his legs. After changing into a clean pair of boxers and once again donning his pajama trousers, Alex opened his bedroom door a crack, peeping through to see if anyone was up. He slid into the open-spaced hallway silently; inching slowly passed the prone forms of Eagle and Fox slumbering in the living room. 'Wolf's in his room,' the teenager thought as he continued his journey towards the kitchen, his guardian's low rumbling snore following him, barely muffled by his door, 'so Snake must be on watch.'

Embarrassingly enough, after the fiasco at the bowling alley, K-Unit had insisted on spending the entire night at Wolf's flat, with one person on sentry duty for an hour at a time as the others slept. Alex had offered to share the burden with the rest of them but they had been adamant about him "staying out of sight" as they put it so they could "keep him safe". Wolf, in particular, had been very forceful about it.

Arriving in the kitchen, Alex hung his soiled boxers over the sink, wincing at the sight of what he'd done. He'd hoped to wash them clean before laundry day so that Wolf wouldn't notice the addition (oddly enough, he wouldn't let Alex anywhere near the washing machine or the dryer, despite giving him free range over the culinary aspects) but his quick inspection told him that they were a lost cause. He dropped them in the bin, and then threw some fortunately left over pizza boxes from dinner (seeing as the small fridge Wolf owned didn't hold nearly enough food to satisfy four grown men and a teenage boy buzzing with adrenaline) on top, crushing them right down for good measure. Maybe he'd even take the rubbish out when it had to be emptied, just to make sure.

With a small sigh, Alex poured himself a glass of water and rounded the corner to head back to his bedroom – and walked straight into Snake.

Tightening his fingers as he felt the glass begin to slip from his grasp, Alex started back to avoid colliding and possibly knocking them both over, staring up into the Scottish man's face as he waited for him to move out of the way. He didn't.

"I'm sorry," the medic said without preamble.

With a sense of déjà vu, Alex frowned minutely at him. "About what?"

"About pressuring you over your injuries. I get it now. I have to earn your trust before I have any right to demand that of you. It's your body and if you don't want me to see it, I should respect that. " A wry smile tugged at the corners of Snake's mouth. "Besides, Wolf gave me a real dressing-down after you wondered off yesterday. I've learned better than to provoke him when he's that annoyed."

"He did?" Alex questioned, looking amazed. It didn't occur to him that Wolf would stick up for him, all though it really should have. An awkwardly familiar sensation that he didn't want to think about spread in his stomach.

"Yeah. Real protective, he was." His smile stretched into a grin. "And I'm willing to bet he was only saying to me what you were too polite to."

Alex hesitated and the SAS man laughed softly. "Knew it. Anyway, I'd like to forget that I've been a bit of a prick lately, if you're okay with that. I'll give it rest from now on, promise."

"Sure, Snake. I get why you were doing it." Alex nodded in agreement. Snake sent him an odd look, much as he had the last time they'd been conversing in the kitchen. "What?"

"You're a real mature kid, you know that?"

Alex shrugged. "I guess. Kind of hard not to be, with all the car chases and battles in bowling alleys."

Snake chuckled as he turned and walked down the hallway, Alex in tow. "I wouldn't call it much of a battle. Did you see what Fox did with his bowling ball? I've never seen that kind of maneuver out of Loony Tunes."

Alex smiled, "Me neither."

They stopped outside of Wolf's bedroom door. "Got to wake him for guard duty. Pretty quiet out there, all told."

"You guys didn't have to do this." Alex said, eyes locked on Wolf's door.

"We know, Cub." He raised a fist to pound on the door and the thought of talking to Wolf with his dream still in mind sent an almost painful jolt through Alex.

He quickly strode the last few steps to his own bedroom, calling, "Night, Snake," over his shoulder.

The somewhat startled man called, "Good night, Cub," after him just before he shut the door. Setting his glass on his bedside table, he leapt into his bed, pulling the covers right up to his nose and snuggling as far into his pillow as he could go. His grip tightened as he heard Wolf's voice, gravelly with sleep, through his door.

XXXXX

Four hours later, Alex strolled out of his room to the kitchen, fully dressed. He was not surprised to see all four men crowding the modest kitchen as they tried to drink their coffee and scrounged for something to eat. Soldiers were trained to be early-risers, after all.

"Morning, sunshine." Fox said easily, grinning at Alex's scowl as he ruffled his blonde hair affectionately. Batting the tall man's arm away from his head, Alex slipped deftly between them all to make himself some tea, murmuring a vague "Morning," to the room in general.

"How'd you sleep?" Eagle asked, obviously noting the faint shadows under the boy's eyes. Trying not to blush, he was about to reply when the man asked more questions. "How come you're up so early, anyway? Don't teenagers sleep till about noon?"

Alex quirked an eyebrow at him, trying to be annoyed and failing. "This is actually kind of late for me."

Wolf frowned at him over his coffee mug. "It's Saturday. You haven't got school."

Alex shrugged as he spooned a little sugar on top of his tea bag, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the whine of the kettle as the water boiled, "Just got into the habit, that's all. Don't want to oversleep when I do have school, after all."

Wolf nodded, satisfied and the four men dissolved into a conversation about some kind of action movie Snake and Eagle had seen on their last bout of leave and how unrealistic it was, while Alex poured his tea, silently observing them with his peripheral vision. Despite his past difficulty with them, they were surprisingly easy to get along with, if a little bossy sometimes. Earn their respect, and they'd treat you like one of their own. Alex failed to suppress his lips quirking up as the ironic thought occurred to him, so hid it by taking a sip of his drink, tuning back into the conversation.

"And the sound effects! I suppose they were trying to be realistic, but you couldn't hear a word the main bloke, whatshisname, was saying!"

"So very realistic then." Fox said flatly, the faint glimmer in his dark eyes giving away his amusement at his friend's indignation.

"It's a movie! If you don't know what's going on, why would you c – what's that noise?" Eagle looked around, as did the others, trying to discern the faint vibrating. With a jolt, Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile, flipping open the screen to read the text.

Hey Alex, still cool if we can come over?

"Text message? Who is it?" Eagle asked, sounding eager. He grunted when Snake smacked him on the back of the head. "What's that for?"

"Don't be so nosy!"

Eagle briefly considered sticking his tongue out at his best friend, but decided against it in favour of asking Alex again. "So who is it, Cub?"

Snake rolled his eyes behind Eagle's back as Alex glanced up. "It's my mate Tom." Alex looked at Wolf uncertainly. "He wants to know if he can still come over today."

The atmosphere in the room changed subtly as the men slipped back into soldier mode. "Not a good idea, Alex." Fox said gently, trying not to upset him. "We still don't know if it's safe for you and Wolf here, let alone involving another kid in it."

Alex's teeth lightly grazed his lip as he suppressed the urge to bite it, his eyes darting over to Wolf's solemn grey ones. His face was completely impassive as he placed his cup down on the counter and turned to his ward. "You want him to come over anyway." It wasn't a question.

Alex hesitated for a moment, then said. "Well, nothing's happened so far –"

"Yeah, nothing except you nearly getting kidnapped in the bowling alley!" Eagle interrupted, now utterly serious, like the rest of them.

Committed now, Alex continued. "Nothing's happened since then. You're all in here, so you obviously don't feel the need to be on watch anymore."

Fox frowned, "Well, no, but –"

"And there isn't really that big a chance that they know where we are, is there? I mean, this address should be classified, right?" A chorus of reluctant nods. "If they already knew where I was, they wouldn't have waited till I was out with all of you before they attacked, they would've done it when I was walking back from school by myself. And we got out of there so quickly, they would've had to have been really well prepared to have chased us here, but we didn't see anything."

"Doesn't mean they didn't do it, Cub." Snake said reasonably. Alex nodded, feeling slightly frustrated but careful not to show it. "And you wouldn't want this mate of yours getting hurt, now would you?" Alex shook his head in response, a well of guilt opening up in his chest, feeling utterly selfish for even suggesting it.

"I think it's a good idea."

Four heads snapped around in perfect, astonished unison to stare a Wolf, propped against the counter with his arms folded over his broad chest. After a long moment of silence, it was Eagle, unsurprisingly, who found his voice, "Are you crazy? We just discussed why –"

"The kid's got a point," Wolf interrupted smoothly, keeping his voice as non-confrontational as possible. This was his flat, not the field, after all. "None of us saw anything on our watches, did we? But if they are watching us somehow, we don't want them to think we're still on edge, do we? We want them to think we've lowered our guard, so they'll lower theirs."

The others murmured a vague agreement, though there was still a mutinous air about them. Picking up his mug again, Wolf gestured at Alex with it, almost like a toast. "Besides all that, the kid gets so little time with his friends. Hardly seems fair."

Alex's eyes narrowed as his guardian casually took a sip of his coffee. He liked these men and he wanted Tom and James round, sure, but he didn't want them feeling sorry for him. When he caught the soldier's eye, he gave him a conspiratorial wink. Surreptitiously looking at the other three men, he realized they now seemed a little remorseful and he realized they were about to give way. Without looking at his guardian, Alex smirked into his tea, positioning the cup at an angle where K-Unit couldn't see but Wolf could, the silent message, 'Clever, aren't you?' shooting between them. Wolf mirrored his actions in a way that said, 'Yes, I am,' loud and clear.

The other unit members, oblivious to the wordless conversation happening in front of them, appeared to come to a decision. "All right, fine, tell your friend he can come." Fox said at last.

Smiling, Alex nodded his thanks and whipped his phone out of his pocket; picking up his mug unconsciously, he strode back to his bedroom, head down as he typed his reply. Suddenly he stopped, remembering the glint in Eagle's eye as he had walked past. He darted back into the kitchen, the hand clenching his phone propped up again the empty doorframe marking the entryway. "What's the catch?"

Eagle grinned evilly. "We're stopping by later to meet your mate!"

Alex managed to catch his mug before it hit the floor. Just.

XXXXX

It was more than a little bit bizarre, Alex reflected as he rooted around in the dresser, hunting that elusive and damn irritating tie he was forced to wear at school, to watch two teenage boys and four full grown, massively muscular men, trying to socialize. He was pretty sure there was some kind of unspoken law of society against that. And if there wasn't, after listening to Eagle and Tom's intense debate about whether Monty Python or Horrible Histories was the superior example of comedic television, Alex was about ready to petition for one.

With a crow of triumph, Alex wrench the strip of material free from beneath a pile of his T-shirts and looped it around his neck, running out of his bedroom as he did so. He only noticed Wolf blocking the stairs when he nearly crashed into him. Cursing whoever decided to put those bloody stairs inside the flat, he jumped back in time to avoid colliding with his muscular chest and gave his guardian an inquisitively quirked eyebrow. Wolf responded with a partly exasperated and partly amused half-smile at his ward, shaking his head slightly.

"So getting up early on weekends to not oversleep?" he said loftily.

"Didn't work out, I know." Alex replied, rolling his eyes as he distractedly looked around for his school bag. He'd put it in the hall on Sunday night, didn't he?

He looked around when Wolf cleared his throat, only to have the bag chucked at him. Inwardly saying a quick thank you for his sharp reflexes, Alex snatched the bag out of the air to stop it from smacking him in the face, slinging the strap over his shoulder, and then glaring at Wolf.

The only reaction he got was for Wolf's lips to twitch again at the look he was getting, indicating the door behind him with a small jerk of his head. "Come on, I'll drive you."

He descended the stairs, Alex in tow. "You don't have to do that."

Wolf paused in the act of unlocking the door to shoot a quick smirk over his shoulder at the teenager. "Yeah, I do. Don't want to tick off that geography teacher of yours, do you?"

"Anymore?" Alex remarked dryly. Wolf chuckled lowly, leading the way to his car, Alex closing it behind him.

The ride to the school gates was in almost completely silence, but not in an awkward way. It was rather pleasant, actually. Granted, Wolf did slap his leg when he propped it against the dashboard, giving himself more leverage as he leant back in the front seat to get a better look out the back window (was that Fox's car behind them?) and growled at him to "respect the car" but he didn't seem all that mad, to be honest. Alex just contented himself with a mutter about "car nutters" and looked out the passenger window, completely missing Wolf's smile at his response.

As they pulled up outside the school gates, Alex reached for the handle when Wolf's voice stopped him, "What's your rush? You've got a bit of time."

Alex frowned at his guardian, then did a double take when he noticed the clock, his eyebrows shooting up towards his hairline. Turning an incredulous face to the man, he asked seriously, "Okay, tell the truth, how badly do the Met want to bust you for traffic violations?"

Wolf swatted him upside the head and, turning off the car, leant back in his seat. The mirth evaporated from his face and he tilted his head towards the teenager. "The guys coming round when your friends were there didn't bother you too much, did it? I tried to tell them, but you've seen what they're like when they get ideas in their heads."

Alex shook his head idly, "It's fine. Nice to know they care. I'm just not sure if I should be surprised or not at how well Eagle and Tom got along."

Wolf rolled his eyes, clearly thinking about the two-hour debate as well. "I'm not; I admit I'm still trying to recover from their rousing renditon of the 'Evil Emperor' song, though."

Alex snorted quietly. "Oh please, you got off easy. Try listening to 'Dick Turpin' during history class."

Wolf made a noise that resembled a muffled laugh, his eyes still locked on Alex's. After a minute or two, he said, "What classes do you have today, again?"

As Alex launched into a tirade against the Department of Education, he became aware of an odd buzzing somewhere by his ear. After a moment, he realized a fly had flown in through Wolf's wound-down window and had decided to settle on his door. Not pausing in his speech, he swatted the irritating creature away before turning his gaze back to Wolf. A minute later to noise was back as the rather foolish creature returned. Stopping momentarily, he waved at it again, once more sending it scuttling away. By the sixth time he did this, Alex totally lost his patience and pitched a full-on battle against the infuriating little insect, halting his tirade entirely. He was so wrapped up in the confrontation that he failed to notice an extremely amused soldier slump back against his window to watch his mini-war with a vaguely bemused expression.

Four minutes later, Wolf decided to intervene, despite the bizarre hilarity of it all, watching carefully to ensure Alex's flailing arms did not give him a black eye. Quick as a flash, he seized the teenager's wrist in a firm grip and pulled it down to rest on the stretch of seat between them. At the boy's puzzled expression, he raised an eyebrow and said in a controlled voice, "It's just a fly, Cub. It has a right to life too, you know," trying very hard not to collapse in a laughing fit.

A flush crept into Alex's cheeks and he looked away, muttering in a slightly sulky voice, "It's annoying."

"If you could justify wiping something off the planet because it was annoying, Eagle would have been doomed a long time ago."

Alex grinned. "You got a point there. Especially after their encore of "Stupid Death", remember that?"

Wolf grimaced. "Remember it? It's carved into my memory forever."

Alex chuckled at the man's horrified expression and they lapsed into silence. It was then he realized that Wolf had not let go of his wrist yet. The area of skin he held felt unusually hot. Alex hesitated, wondering if he ought to pull away or just ignore it. Wolf's grip slackened fractionally – and slid his hand up the back of Alex's, their fingers twining together loosely. Alex's breath caught in his throat and his eyes shot up to stare at the man. Wolf was gazing out of the windshield at the school office, not really seeming to see it.

"You were saying something about a maths test?" Wolf prompted quietly, still not looking at his ward.

After a pause, Alex wet his lips somewhat nervously and started talking again. "Uh, yeah, we did it on Friday, last lesson, and he said he was going to hand back the results today. I just hope he didn't notice Tom's supposedly subtle attempts to cheat off me."

Wolf snorted, the corner of his mouth quirking up. Feeling a tad more confident now, Alex carried on with his ranting until the first warning bell went off. He glanced down at their joined hands uneasily but Wolf let go and gripped the steering wheel before he could attempt to slide his hand free. He stared at the man a few moments more in confusion, before sending him a faltering smile when their eyes met. Hopping out the door, he strolled towards the school as quickly as he could without making it look like he was running away. When he was out of sight, Wolf slammed his forehead none-too-gently against the steering wheel.

"Well done, Wolf," he muttered sarcastically before putting his truck into gear and driving away.

XXXXX

Sokolov stood with his hands folded behind his back, shoulder's back and spine rigid as he awaited his General's orders. The ill man had been silent for some minutes now as he pondered the information he was given. Eventually, he spoke again, he voice raspy with the effort, "And you are sure these soldiers are not aware that you know where they are?"

"We did not follow them in the car after the – incident, sir. We had our man in the flat opposite check on them every half-hour and he confirmed that they kept watch over their leader's flat all night."

"And Alex?"

"He did not come out once he entered, sir, but my man saw him through the kitchen window in the early hours of the morning."

Sarov nodded several times, his eyes somewhat distant as he stared out at the wall. "And the man has resumed escorting Alex to school?"

"He did so this morning. I presume that after the precautions they took over the weekend that he intends to continue doing so."

"Indeed," Sarov's face took on an intense, almost hungry look as he posed his next question, "We will be ready by this Sunday, did you say?"

"Yes sir. Evening at the latest."

"Have everything prepared by then. You are certain MI6 are not watching the location?"

"Absolutely sir. My informant has been paying particular attention to that."

"Good. Then leave your most senior man in charge and take a unit with you to bring Alex there. I want him by noon at the latest. I should like some time in his company before we can move on."

"Yes sir."

A/N: Just so we're clear, this happens from early morning Saturday through to Monday, okay?