A month later Alex was going to open his car door, having left Snake's place after a microwaved 'meet-up'—Alex brought the meal and Snake had the microwave—when he saw something that stopped him in his steps.
His travel mug, that had so loyally stayed by his side for many years now, sat forgotten in the cup holder beside the driver's seat. I didn't have it with me. Was the instant revelation that bloomed in in the center of Alex's thoughts, disrupting traffic.
I…didn't have it with me? Alex's brain threatened to shudder to a halt, thoughts suddenly derailed and crashing together in a fatal cacophony.
I didn't have it with me! Trying to stay calm, Alex looked down at his hands, they should be shaking with need, but they were steady. I must have drunk something at Snake's, something with caffeine. He thought back with a wrong man's desperation: there was him arriving, plastic bag in one hand and the other free to knock. No mug, no caffeine.
In Snake's kitchen, the SAS man was brewing tea while they chatted as a precursor to the eating. No mug still, maybe I had tea without realizing it?
Snake sat down across from Alex, tea mug in hand and offered some to the spy. Alex declined, he didn't like tea. Snake didn't insist, shrugging and told him he was missing out. No caffeine. Not even when offered. I don't like tea.
After the meal they sat in the living room, Alex looked at Snake's books, he had a lot of cheesy romances. Snake insisted they were from his sister when she visited and forgot them when Alex teased him, Alex wasn't convinced. Nothing but the book I was looking at in hand, Snake still had his mug of tea, refilled it earlier.
Alex's heart stuttered, somewhere his rational mind screamed that he should be happy or at least light-hearted, but he was too far gone to listen to rationality. I left it in my car.
There it sat, nestled in the cars cup holder, not even blaming him for leaving it there. Just waiting patiently for him to pick it up and use it as it was made for: carrying his drug.
The drug he hadn't gone into a withdrawal over.
Alex nearly swooned against the car, settling for a graceless slump onto the door, shoulder impacting with the roof, feeling the sidewalk open under him to swallow him whole into depths of confusion and regret.
His breathing quickened and a passing woman walked faster by. Lifting his eyes weakly to the window he knew to look into Snake's apartment, Alex stared, wounded and dying, at the pane. What have you done to me?
He received no answer but the distant barking of dogs.
Lurching off the car, Alex limply fished his keys from his jacket pocket, unlocked his car after many failed attempts, and caught his ankle on the step in to fall onto the driver's seat with a 'oomph'.
Blearily sitting up and closing the door behind him, having enough sense to draw in his ankle before more damage was done, Alex zeroed in on the travel mug. With shaking hands he gingerly picked up his faithful mug and popped open the dispenser lid.
Lifting the travel mug to his lips, Alex tilted back his head and let precious lukewarm nectar slide teasingly across the length of his tongue and down his throat, each swallow more tension relieving and calming then before.
When the mug was empty and no last drop could be wrung Alex let down the travel mug, popping it closed and set it with reverence back in the cup holder by his side. A gusty breath released from his lungs and carried with it the taste of coffee back up and over his tongue.
Alex sank into the driver's seat sighed happily. Ah, coffee, how could I forget such a taste as you? How could I leave such a wondrous thing like you in the car? He thought fondly, still ashamed of his crime but feeling somewhat repented nonetheless.
He sat there for a good five or so minutes, allowing the coffee to work its magic as he rested against the seat back, then started the car and departed from the curb for home.
Driving the familiar streets, Alex thought about the incident, half of his attention on the road, and what it entailed. He came to one conclusion: That man is dangerous, will have to be more careful around him. Potential threat to a safe, relaxed off-duty life.
Back at Donnach's apartment the Scot looked out the window for the fifth time in a half hour and happened to see Alex's car pulling away from the curb. Tea in hand, the SAS man raised his eyebrows. Took him long enough.
Then the phone rang a cheery tune and Donnach went to go pick up.
"You've reached Donnach Innes, who-?"
"How does 8 PM tomorrow at Cornelli's for beer and food sound?" Ben wasted no time, sounding more like he was giving an order then asking if Donnach was free for dinner.
Donnach sipped his tea. "Sure, why not, I've got nothing planned." He said.
"If something comes up, do call in advance won't you?" was it just Donnach or did Ben sound a bit strained?
"Er, yeah, I usually do, Ben." He wouldn't ask right out if something was wrong, being tactless was more Jaime's thing. "See you then?"
"Yes, sleep well. Goodnight." Ben hung up his end of the line before Donnach had time to relay his own farewell and left the SAS man staring confused at his telephone.
Sighing and shaking his head, Donnach replaced the phone on its stand and sipped ruefully from his tea. Spies, they're all the same.
Moving into the kitchen he refilled his tea for the umpteenth time and stared absently into the mug as the fresh tea bag replacing the old bled into the steaming water. I don't know how any self-respecting Brit could forsake such a wonderful drink such as tea for coffee. He mused and snorted softly, thinking of Cub.
Although, I suppose in certain cases it could be considered endearing, always carrying a travel mug about like your life depends on it. Donnach paused in his thoughts. But…I don't think he had it with him tonight.
Thinking back to the dinner earlier, Donnach came to a reinforced conclusion that Cub had, indeed, not had the travel mug in his possession. I guess he can part with it for occasions. The Scot figured and put the observation to the back of his mind and noting the time.
"Best get to bed then." He drained his mug, dumped the tea bag in a waste bin and went off to change and ensconce himself in blankets and sleep.
His dreams that night were tinted silver and held a faint scent of coffee.
The next day Alex lounged about the house, bored and with no motivation to find something to do.
He'd turned on the television, but there were only the worst reruns and infomercials.
He'd tried to brave the internet and 'surf the web' but his lack of real computer skills ran rampant and made the effort more frustrating than enjoyable.
He'd even tried to waste time cleaning his home collection of knives and guns, that had lasted a good hour, hour and a half, then left him still unsatisfied and bored.
Alex drank more coffee, perhaps more caffeine would get his mind jump started and thinking up things to do? Nothing came to mind.
After a couple of hours of frustrated searching, Alex flopped onto the couch and stared grumpily up at the ceiling, arms crossed and eyes sullen. Fine then, I'll do nothing.
Times like these Alex hated Ben, making him go on leave for half a year. Hadn't he thought beforehand of how boring leave was? Didn't he know how lacking Alex was in the art of social bonding and so had no one to actually spend time with outside the house?
He'd done it to punish him, Alex decided, staring hatefully up at the undeserving ceiling. He'd done it to punish Alex for being alive and help God punish Alex for being alive as well. He was clearly trying to kill the blond.
Well, that wouldn't do at all. Alex had a 'never been killed' record to keep, and boredom was going to have to be beat.
"Argh!" Alex twisted off the couch in a spasm of anger and caught himself before he face planted into the ground, jumping to his feet and heading with purpose to the coat closet. He retrieved his coat and shrugged it on over his shirt and denims, tugged on a pair of sneakers and wrenched open the front door after grabbing his keys to stride determinedly to his car.
"Oh, Ben, you have another thing coming if you hope to trump Alex-fucking-Rider." He muttered under his breath, unlocking the car and climbing in. Moving to put the key in the ignition, Alex froze and resisted the urge to bash his head into the steering wheel.
Slowly, he climbed back out of the car and began retracing his steps, muttering "Right after I get my coffee."
It was raining as Donnach pulled into the Cornelli's parking lot. "Evan better not drink too much tonight." He turned off his car with an ominous look through the windshield at the heavy downpour. Flipping up his jacket collar, Donnach opened the door and hurried across the lot.
He wasn't nearly fast enough to escape the worst of the rain and entered the bar trying to ruffle his hair dry. Almost immediately, scanning his eyes over the regular crowd at the bar, Donnach caught sight of Ben and waved with his free hand, giving up the effort to dry his hair and squeezing through the crowd.
"Hey, Ben. Thanks." He took the stool Ben had saved him and looked around, "Eric's not here yet? Did the terrorists take over?" he laughed and turned back to the spy, his smile dropped at the serious look on Ben's face. "What happened?"
The look lightened and Ben gave him a faked smile. "Nothing, just thinking about a mission. Eric's not coming, I only invited you." Donnach's eyes widened then he leaned forward to scrutinize the MI6 agent.
"I won't ask, but I hope you don't think so badly of me that you think a smile like that will fool me." He snorted and sat back, nodding when the bartender caught his attention and putting up one finger, speaking aside to Ben. "I may be SAS, but I'm a medic in the SAS. I'm just as intelligent as you, Ben."
Ben didn't deflate or flinch back, but his shoulders tensed and his grip around his beer tightened. Donnach was going to have to force it out of him, he saw and sighed. "It's about Alex."
Or…maybe not. Donnach blinked. "What…about him?" he asked cautiously. Are you his mother? Ben straightened and released his beer to cross his arms and stare down the now wary Scot.
"Be careful. You don't want to get in over your head." Ben caught Donnach's eyes and held them, he wasn't joking or he was better at pretending than he seemed.
Donnach's drink arrived and he turned to grab it, given a reason to tear his eyes from Ben's. "Why would I get over my head in anything to do with Cub, Ben?"
"Because I know him, and I know you." The spy replied with a vagueness he must have been taught. Donnach turned back and narrowed his eyes at him.
"You're acting like our being friendly to one another, which by all means you shouldn't be against, is going to lead to the world ending." He drank from his beer and raised his eyebrows pointedly at Ben.
The spy shrugged and looked at the engraved mirror on the wall behind the bartender. "It might." He smiled introspectively and Donnach began to get the feeling that both Ben and Cub knew each other very well and the conversation was steadily heading nowhere.
Not knowing what to say to get anywhere with the spy without having to face more vague answers and reminiscent, inside joke smiles, Donnach sighed and stared at his beer. All for the sake of friendship. He refused to think of anything more at the risk of making all further encounters with Cub awkward and punctuated with ruminating silence.
"Hello Ben, Donnach. Fancy meeting you both here, mind if I take a seat?" Speak of the bloody devil. Donnach looked up from his drink at the blond man, who was smiling at Ben with the sweetness of a serial murderer.
Ben smiled back, more naturally but with the wariness of a man knowing when he was teetering on the edge of a pit fall. "Hello, Alex, don't mind at all." He said, rather late for Alex had already taken a seat to Donnach's left, sandwiching the SAS man between him and Ben.
"Hello, Alex." Donnach smiled greeting and Alex smiled back, genuinely the Scot noted, before drinking from his ever present travel mug then speaking.
"Good evening."
"We were talking about you, Alex." Ben raised his voice to be heard over the surging crowd and Alex raised his eyebrows speculatively.
"Is that so?"
Ben nodded and Donnach had the feeling he was watching two animals circle before the battle, and he was in the middle. It wasn't a very safe feeling, even being SAS as he was, when sandwiched between two spies, in some kind of contention, with high up connections and skills that sold bestsellers.
"I have to admit my surprise at how well you two have hit it off after the incident, considering your history and backgrounds." The older, yet newer, spy admitted to the younger veteran.
Alex laughed and patted Donnach on the shoulder, causing the SAS man to tense. "We have a lot in common, and he wasn't really the one causing me so much trouble back at the SAS camp, if it were Wolf that had to apologize profusely to I don't think there'd be many limbs intact on either of us by the end of it." He laughed and sobered to lean forward and fix Ben with a challenging look. "You should know that, Ben, of all people."
Ben smiled guilelessly. Donnach repressed a shiver. He was suddenly regretting having accepted the dinner invitation. I'm hungry.
A/N: As Theory of Knowledge IB states that I can state and you can't really refute: I'm not late and this chapter isn't short, it's merely society that puts such bindings as 'late' and 'short' on things such as 'chapters'. (Also, that pipe is not a pipe) *dons hipster glasses*
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Please don't kill me.
On another note, thanks so very much for all the reviews! (I'm shocked quite frankly that no flames have branded themselves cruelly onto my eyes, but let's not count our chickens, eh?) Also thanks for the watches and favs! I appreciate every one and my heart fills with irrational joy and love every time I see a new email pertaining to this story in my inbox.
If I haven't replied to your review, it's not because I don't love you, it's because I've been hit with a bad case of the 'what the hell do I say that I haven't already said, oh God I'm going to make myself seem a fool and they'll never read my story ever again's. I'm sorry for that too.
I don't think you all realize how much I love every one of you. I don't have a lover/spouse/other form of marital or non-marital attachment to another human being so all that love that would go to them? It's going to all of you and this story. (Which means that you don't want to be my lover because I would never visit you. Ehem.)
Thanks for sticking with me and reading and reviewing and being awesome!
Fridgeworks