A/N: Thanks to the lovely Jayden95 for the beta. Will probably not update again until Wednesday; I leave for NY Tuesday night. (See bottom for more details on that). Challenge is at bottom too. Thanks to all who have taken the time to review this far – you're my heroes. I had a special request to put this up early, so I decided to leave you all with a present. Hopefully no-one complains! XD

"Yes," Alex said, finally. He was unnerved. Someone wanted to be his parent or guardian? He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Both his mother – the infamous Mrs. Jones-Blunt (she could never bring herself to accept Blunt's last name), and his father, the famous Alan Blunt never wanted him.

So why should he expect anyone else to want him? Obviously no one else had in the past. Alex sighed as he thought about what one teacher had said: don't judge someone until you've waked a mile in their shoes. Then, you're a mile away, and you have their shoes. His point was more that you should give someone a chance before you judge them.

Why the sergeant wanted Alex didn't make sense to him, but he'd take it. Because, in as much as he knew that his father could come back for him and probably would, and even this was all a dream, he wanted a shot at love.

At a family.

And hell, anyone would make a better father than Alan Blunt right now. Really, that was what it boiled down too. If his father had loved him once in the past, it had been gone; now it had been replaced by someone on the conquest for money and… whatever else he did in his spare time that Alex really didn't want to know about. Although if it had anything to do with those internet sites in his bedroom… Alex shook his head to clear his thoughts.

He'd listened to his mate, Tom Harris, once talk about friends and family. He had a father who loved him. His mother loved him, too. His parents "just didn't love each other", apparently. Personally, Alex didn't get the whole scenario and Tom told him not to worry about it. He'd later learned that Harris' parents were in the middle of a divorce.

But to have a family who loved him? A fairy tale dream that he'd once had, deep down, when he was younger. He'd read a book, once, where the main dude loved his father. He'd seen good fathers on television shows. He knew they existed. Despite his gruff cover, Alex suspected – and hoped – that the sergeant would be a good father.

"So," Fox said, strolling up to the two and extending his arm, "Welcome to the family."

"Family?" Alex asked, staring at Fox blankly.

"Yes," Fox responded, "I'm your uncle. Jack Starbright – formerly Jack Daniels – is your mother."

"Isn't Jack a boy's name?" Alex asked as he scratched his head. Then he turned to the sergeant. "Wait, you're married?"

Fox snickered at the look that crossed the sergeant's face. "Yup, been married ten years. Always wanted two kids, now we got two kids."

"Oh, how is Mikey doing by the way?" Fox said with a grin. "I can't wait to see him again."

"Mikey?" Alex asked, confused.

"Your little brother," Fox responded. At Alex's annoyed look, he said, "Don't worry, he's easier to get along with than Eagle."

"Hey, I heard that!" Eagle said as he called from his position by the helicopter. Fox moved closer, protectively standing almost in front of Alex as Blunt walked by. "I'm really not all that bad when I haven't had caffeine."

"I'll get you!" Alan Blunt responded. He broke away from Wolf's arm. Wolf remained passive, his hand on his gun, ready to leap and tackle Alan Blunt if necessary to save Alex. It really was a shame that the SAS had to handle Blunt with kid gloves – Wolf would have loved to have beaten him up. But he couldn't risk the case not going to trial because of an "accidental" beating or because he was restrained the wrong way.

Help had come in the form of a helicopter, ready to take Blunt's co-worker and Blunt to the nearest medical facility and Blunt to his new prison cell. "I never wanted you, Alex! Just wanted to let you know that!"

The sergeant glanced at Alex, taking in the full look on his face. Although he doubted that Alex really cared for his father, he knew how words could hurt. He stalked over to the man, his anger growing. "Let me tell you something, Alan Blunt," he said, his voice an eerie calm. "Your son is a fine, capable young man, and much better at working out life skills than you. You may have been the head of MI6, but he'll go further than you will in life, because you'll be sitting in a nice, cold, prison cell."

"I haven't been convicted yet," Blunt responded. He glanced at Alex, and then at Eagle, who stood protectively behind the teenager, a gentle hand placed on the boy's shoulder. Eagle knew exactly what Alex was going through. "And I'll get your custody again, somehow, Alex. You can count on that. We'll have our fun, just like I promised."

When Alan Blunt finished his sentence, Alex took off, running for the deep forest bushes. Whether the sergeant wanted him or not, he had to get out of there. He was going to be physically sick.

"Rot in hell, Alan Blunt," Eagle responded as he flashed his middle finger at the man before he chased after Alex.

## break ##

Alex ran blindly through the woods, not really looking where he was going. Branches cut him and made scraping marks on his arms, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He felt miserable. His last link to his family had just died. Even though the sergeant had claimed him as his own, would the process really go through? After all, custody was usually given to a family member, and technically, John Rider, Ian Rider, and Helen Rider were all family members.

Of course, his aunt and uncle – John and Helen Rider – were killed in a car crash years ago, and last he'd heard, Ian had been resting in the America state prison. Alex still wasn't sure how that happened, and when the news of Ian's arrest came about, had figured out that he really didn't want to know anyway.

The thought of losing the only life he'd ever known spurred him on through the forest until he toppled down, tripping over a large branch that had previously been invisible. Alex moaned loudly in pain as he fell, his knee twisting. If he didn't know better, he could have sworn he'd heard it pop.

Great. Here he was, stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a broken leg to boot. How long would it take him to cover the distance he'd flown through with a broken leg? Hours, probably. He moaned softly, and then blinked twice when he saw Eagle lying over him.

"Hey, mate," Eagle responded. He opened his canteen, and held it towards Alex. "I think your body'll want some of this water."

"Thanks," Alex said, taking a needed drink of the water. He swallowed and then hesitated, knowing he'd need more but not wanting to drink to fast. He sighed as he took another sip. "Let me guess, the sergeant wants me to go back with Blunt, right?"

Eagle sighed. He had to get through to Alex some way, but how? There could be only one way: personal experience. Maybe he could use his overly abusive childhood for a reason. "Listen to me, Cub," he said. "You remember how I told you I was abused?"

"I don't think I'd forget something like that in such a small time frame," Alex grumbled. He tried to shift his leg and decided it would be better if he didn't move it. It still hurt.

"Anyway," Eagle responded, ignoring Cub's attempt to make him angry, "I didn't tell anyone in the SAS when I first signed up that I was abused. I mean, who wants to tell someone that? It's not like you can just walk up to your comrade and say, 'Hey, Wolf, you know that scar I got on my back that you saw when I was changing in the bathroom? Yeah, my father did that.' You can't just say that; socially, anyway."

Alex nodded. He understood completely. Sure, he'd been told abuse was wrong before; but the teachers who had told him abuse was wrong had just as often abused him.

"When we had the RTI training exercise right before you came here, I'll admit that I was freaked out. For whatever reason, our group didn't do RTI training the first time through. I knew how to survive torture – hell, my childhood was torture – but I had nightmares for a solid week straight afterward. Eventually, Snake cornered me and made me tell what was really bothering me."

At Eagle's pause, Alex sighed. "He's good at that," was all he could say.

"Yeah, Snake always seems to know when you're lying to hide your true feelings. Anyhoo, he said that I should talk to the rest of the unit and the sergeant. The sergeant was really understanding. I don't think you'll have a problem with him giving you up. Before he took on his job at the SAS, he and Jack fostered kids. That's why he can take you in so readily now."

"Really?" this perked Alex's interest. The sergeant had taken care of foster kids before?

"Yup." Eagle sighed, pausing as if this topic was difficult for him. Alex completely understood – it was difficult for him, too, and Eagle was rehashing some great blackmail material, not that Alex would ever use the information in that way. "Listen, Cub, if you truly want help, then talk to the sergeant. He'll make sure you get it. Besides," Eagle added, "Your father – Blunt – couldn't take custody of now even if he wanted to."

"Why not?" Alex challenged, feeling defensive and feeling a driving need to know the answer.

"Because," Eagle responded, "He signed away his parental rights. Want to see what he wrote in the office? I made a copy." Eagle showed Alex the note.

I, Alan Blunt, give custody of Alex Blunt over to the sergeant. I refuse to be responsible for Alex's actions any longer.

"Besides, in prison you can't raise a kid."

"Wait," Alex said. Somehow he'd missed the fact that his father was about to be tried for his crimes. "Did you say prison?"

"Yup," Eagle said with a happy grin. "Now, let's go talk to the sergeant. We'll need to know if you're bunking with us, or with him."

Alex nodded, feeling at peace for the first time since his mother died. There was just one more thing that he wanted to do… "Eagle," he said, pausing finally, "Do you think that the sergeant would let me go see my mother's grave?"

A/N: So we know who gets custody of Alex! And now for the challenge:

Will the sergeant let Alex see his mother's grave? If so, who will take him?

Will Alan Blunt resign himself to a prison sentence, or will he try to get back at Alex?

When will Jack Starbright come into the picture? And what about Ian Rider, Helen Rider, and John Rider? They will be in this story… but where?

Pick a challenge, or respond to all three if you'd like. I will probably not update again until Wednesday morning as I'm leaving for New York tomorrow. Don't worry, ch 14 and ch 15 are written. Thanks to all who have read and responded so far: we are over 1.5k views and we are at 12 reviews per chapter! I love you all.