"Alex sit down." Snake growled, for once,

"No I wanna stand-up"

"Sit down"

"Gimme my drink!" the 5 year old whined.

"No, Alex just sit down"

"Why?" suspicious now.

"You might drop it. Now do as you're told and sit down."

"I wanna stand, can I have my drink?"

"Not until you sit down, or will I have to force you?"

Eagle was watching them argue. As they continued he couldn't help but chuckle quietly. It was bringing out the 5 year old in the most mature member of the team, so what did that mean for the rest of them?

He had only come in for a cereal bar, but decided that this was way better. Wolf came in and stood next to him, his face hard until he caught what was going on, and had also chuckled.

"…Just sit down kid or I will force you to sit down!" Snake threatened, nearly shouting.

Alex sat himself down on the chair, well he actually had to climb up, but he had decided he wanted to do that on his own. Snake handed him the glass and walked upstairs. As Snake went and Alex started drinking, Wolf returned to the lounge to watch TV with Fox, whilst Eagle grabbed 2 cereal bars and sat next to the now contented child.

"You want a Frosty bar Al?" Eagle asked casually, showing the boy the packet.

A smile cracked Eagle's lips as Alex's eyes widened and he exclaimed "Yeah!" before diving to try and grab it. The man laughed and caught him in mid dive.

"Hey!" Alex screeched as he was carried one handed by Eagle to the lounge.

"Where are we going?" he screeched, once again.

"To watch TV. The kitchens not nearly as fun as they lounge" Eagle replied nonchalantly.

"Can I still have the frosty bar?" Alex whined uncertainly, staring at the bar in Eagle's other hand.

He laughed, "Yeah course!" as he sat down on the one seat sofa with Alex on his lap, who didn't particularly seem to mind, especially when he was handed a cereal bar.

"What you wanna watch then?" Eagle asked, once again casual, looking down at Alex, who was chewing a small part of the frosty bar.

Chocolate brown eyes met his blue eyes, widened.

"Phineas and Ferb?" he excitedly exclaimed.

"Yeah of course, we can steal the TV from Wolf and Fox, not that they would mind seeming as one is on his phone and the other is doing old peoples puzzles" he looked quizzically at Wolf, who hadn't even heard him apparently.

Alex continued eating his bar, Eagle his, when all of a sudden Alex turned to face him and said "You are like my Uncle Ian" they boy yawned.

Before Eagle could question him about how he was like his uncle, and comment on the slightly concerning matter at hand, Alex had lent his head against the buff chest of the soldier, yawning, eyes half closed.

Eagle was gobsmacked, not sure what to do. So he sat there as stiff as a post, waiting for Alex to do something.

Then the boy's eyes closed fully, and he almost fell to the floor, but luckily Eagle caught him. Frozen, he looked to Wolf, his eyes pleading. Wolf saw this, rolled his eyes, and went over to him.

"What do I do?" Eagle exclaimed.

Once again the Hispanic man rolled his eyes and took command.

"Sit him on your lap" Eagle did as instructed.

"Yeah now put one of your arms under his head and one under his legs"…."Now just hold him close and he should move into a more comfy position, on his own, or something, give it a bit"

"Thanks Wolf. I am not even gonna ask you how you knew that." Eagle muttered, embarrassed that Wolf of all people knew how to hold a sleeping 5 year old and he himself did not. He was also embarrassed for nearly panicking in such a situation like this; he had fought in Iraq for Christ's sake! But he couldn't hold a sleeping child without panicking!

Wolf turned round to return to his seat to find Snake and Fox both looking at him curiously.

"What?" he growled.

"How did you know all that?" Fox exclaimed.

Wolf sighed, "When Maria was pregnant she made me go with her to one of the parenting classes that Tom couldn't attend, it was the one about how to hold them. Incredibly boring." He explained.

They raised their eye brows but didn't push it. They knew that Wolf's sister Maria, Tom and the baby Laura had died in a car accident a couple of years ago, and of course it was a difficult subject for him.

Snake sat down next to Wolf, staring absentmindedly at the TV. Wolf started doing the puzzles once more and Fox's attention returned to his phone. Eagle was watching Alex curiously as the child snuggled into him, the thumb going to the mouth. And as usual Alex had hold of the nearest thing, which happened to be the nearly melted Frosty bar. He pried the bar away from the little fingers, which grabbed the nearest thing: Eagle's wrist. He smiled at this and absentmindedly stroked Alex's hair as a comforting gesture. Where the hell did all of this come from? Was this is paternal instincts? Eagle knew not.

He had never even considered children; the tended not to like him most of the time. When his sister in Australia had had a daughter, the kid never laughed at him or anything. It just cried and screamed.

"Hey guys, can we save him from Blunt?" he asked curiously, bringing every ones attention to him. They too had been thinking about that.

"I…I don't see how we can. If we fight them then they will just send him to someone else, and we can't let that happen. It can't even be seen as child abuse, and this is MI6 were talking about. They would get their way either way" Snake stated sadly.

"They are such dicks!" Wolf angrily exclaimed, but not too loud as he didn't want to wake up Alex. Wow, one child for like 3 days had really changed him, and Snake, and Eagle. When was Fox gonna change then?

"I know" Snake hissed.

"We just have to do the best we can for the time being…but I think he still needs more time before all this starts" he continued, fishing the paper and leaflet out of his pocket.

"Hmmm well he shouldn't have to do any of this at all, but I agree that we should get some time with him first" Fox said, which surprised Snake as he had thought that Fox wasn't as bothered for him as the others. Rising his eyes brows, Eagle turned to look at Fox.

"SO you do care!" he exclaimed loudly, earning several `shut up you idiot you'll wake the kid` from the others before he was answered.

"Yeah of course, it's just I'm still getting used to this" Fox replied. Wolf almost rolled his eyes at Eagle's remark, it was obvious that Fox was still adjusting, all be it slower than the rest of them, but trust Eagle to ask the obvious.

"I'll call the bank and demand 2 weeks before Alex starts with this training thing, and another week before school" Snake said, moving towards the door, his phone already dialling 'the bank'. As he got through, his face was grim.

"Hello, I would like to speak to Mrs Jones" he said, as politely as possible considering whom he was dealing with.

"I'm sorry no one by that name works at the Royal and General, please try another number" the voice on the other end said. He had a feeling they were about to hang up on him.

"NO! I mean, I would like to talk to someone concerning my account." Ha! He remembered what he was supposed to say.

"May I ask who this is? This is a secure line." the voice on the other end replied.

"It's David McCathy." He said, waiting for it to register in their stupid minds, from his view.

"I will put you on McCathy" it said. Stupid music started playing and he could've rolled his eyes.

"Snake! Is Cub alright?" Mrs Jones screeched down the other end of the phone. He was surprised that they had given him a codename, but he knew immediately who she was talking about.

"Yes he is. I am actually calling to compromise when he starts this new timetable and the school" he said. He could literally hear it when her eye brows raised.

"We would suggest that he starts as so-" she started but he cut her off.

"He needs more time to settle in first Mrs Jones. We as a unit feel it would be better if he started the training in 2 weeks and then leave the school for another week after that. Its too much for him" he said, attempting to sound forceful, but he actually sounded a bit scared.

There was a pause, and he was panicking. Were they going to take him away from them? he waited. It was a long painful wait and he felt as though it went on forever, when it was only about a minute.

"Very well Mr McCathy. He may start when you requested, but no later" she declared.

He could've yelled and jumped, but he remembered who he was and who he was talking to, therefore he dropped that idea.

"Thank you Mrs Jones" he said. Cutting the line, he returned to the lounge.

Swinging the door open and entering, he was met with 3 pairs of curious eyes. As he started for the couch he told them what happened.

"So they are gonna give him time?" Eagle exclaimed happily. He got the normal shut up you idiot from that, like last time.

"I'll put Alex to bed" Snake said, standing up and moving over to Eagle, who still had an asleep Alex on his lap. His eyes looked up, and he muttered "I'll come with you."

Snake was surprised by this, but didn't say anything, just merely watched as the youngest member of his unit softly pulled Alex into his arms and stood up gracefully and slowly. It was done with such smoothness that Eagle was frowning in concentration, but Alex had not stirred once.

Fox was snoring quietly on the sofa, but Wolf was watching Eagle, Snake and Alex the whole time. It was funny that Eagle was taking all of this so seriously, as the man had only ever been serious when on assignment like Iraq and life threatening situations. All the other times he had been a joker, messing around and easily hyper. Sergeant had said he was a team moral, that it was good for them. Even Wolf had to admit that he needed Eagle to boost his spirits sometimes, when he didn't want to kill the man.

Hugging Alex close to him, Eagle started towards the stairs, with Snake walking in front of him, mainly so he could move all the crap from out of their path and turn on the lights.

Once in Alex's room, Eagle paused whilst Snake grabbed Alex's pyjamas from under his pillow. He motioned for Eagle to hold Alex up and between the two of them they got Alex undressed and then dressed again into pj's with him only stirring slightly twice. He had never become fully awake and for that Snake was grateful; the last thing he wanted at 11pm was a screaming 5 year old because he got woken up.

Snake affectionately stroked his young wards blonde hair. Looking down at the innocent face, sunken into the blue pillow, tucked up, he looked adorable but somehow incomplete. He turned round to find Eagle sat at the end of his bed, rummaging through his rucksack.

"Eagle what the hell are you doing?" he asked cautiously, unable to keep an inkling of sarcasm out of his voice.

"Looking for something…AHA!" he exclaimed, lifting out a brown dog teddy. It looked to be some kind of golden retriever/Labrador type with big empty eyes. But it looked snuggly.

"I didn't know he had a teddy!" Snake said, actually surprised.

"Mmm well I thought he might and somehow all tucked in he looks slightly…incomplete. I figured what seemed missing and found it" Eagle exclaimed as he went over to Alex. Lifting up the small arm as Snake pulled away the cover enough for the dog, he slid the teddy under his arm and then placed it back. Snake once again tucked in the corner and they stood back, waiting for him to do what he normally did and how having the dog there would affect him. They absentmindedly thought like that now, as they were fully trained soldiers.

Alex didn't disappoint. As he shifted slightly, the thumb returned to the mouth and he curled up against the dog. They couldn't help but smile and chuckle, it was just so cute! Snake faltered. Would he ever had said that merely under a week ago? No, he wouldn't.

Leaving the room, Snake felt a pang of guilt. To know that one day that boy was going to face Scorpia, and knowing MI6 it would be when he was 14 or something, and however much he could try without losing his job, one sliver if rebellion would have Alex played in some horrible place…he could image. He shut his eyes and made his way down to once again join his best friends.