A/N: You know, I'm starting to think I'm getting too good at keeping deadlines. Look, 8.30 on Tuesday morning and I have already updated! Of course, it probably helps that it was already done, unlike so much of my coursework! Anyway... Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Do you really think I'm Anthony Horowitz? Raise your hand on pain of death. I am NOT a middle aged man!

***

Alex frowned slightly and turned to Wolf. "I thought you knew that."

"Obviously not," snarled Wolf.

Alex shrugged.

"A fourteen-year-old is working as a s-"

"Wolf!" hissed Alex warningly.

Wolf shut up, glowering at Alex.

"We need to talk about this," he growled.

"No. We don't," corrected Alex. "There is nothing you can do about it, so what would be the point?"

Wolf scowled.

The tense, awkward silence lasted until they had finished breakfast. Alex offered to stay behind and clear up. Maria smiled and thanked him. Wolf, still glowering, and Maria ushered the children from the room, while Sebastian grabbed a tea towel to dry the plates as Alex washed them.

They worked in companionable silence, quickly washing, drying and putting away the plates. Alex was just cleaning the mixing bowl when there was a loud thump behind him.

He spun around, automatically dropping into a Karate fighting stance, hands raised, ready to strike. A woman stood by the kitchen door. She had just dropped a duffel bag on the floor – obviously the cause of the thump.

"Silvia!" called Sebastian, happily. "I thought you weren't arriving until tonight?"

"My conference finished early, so I caught the earlier flight," she explained, her eyes never leaving Alex's tense face. "Who is this?" she asked, quietly.

"Oh! Sorry, this is Alex. He is- well, I don't know what he is. James knows him and he somehow managed to turn up in the woods half frozen to death on Wednesday, so for the moment he is my patient."

"If he was ill enough to still be here, why isn't he in hospital? Why isn't he staying with his parents at least?"

Alex stiffened even more at the mention of his parents, not helped by her deliberately harsh tone.

"I- err..." Sebastian looked awkward. In all honesty he didn't know why Alex was here – just that James had said he was staying until he was better. "Ask James," he replied, lamely. "Actually, Alex, shouldn't you call your parents or something? Won't they be worried about you?"

"They're dead," said Alex, emotionlessly.

Sebastian blanched, but Silvia was just as cold and unmoved as before.

"What about the rest of your family? Or whoever looks after you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alex gritted his teeth. Was she really going to make him spell it out?

"My Uncle died about six months ago. As far as I am aware I have no other living relatives. Jack- my err... housekeeper I guess you could say- knew I was going away for a while. She won't be expecting a call."

He couldn't quite bring himself to say she wouldn't be worried; it was a downright lie – she would be frantic by now.

Alex looked away from Sebastian, unwilling to see the pity there. Instead he finished washing the bowl and placed it on the draining board, before walking calmly out of the kitchen.

***

He passed the day in a small library at the back of the house, reading a dusty copy of "A midsummer night's dream", the Shakespearean play he was supposed to be studying for his GCSE exam. He guessed it didn't matter anymore as he wasn't going back, but old habits die hard and Alex had spent the last six months studying whenever he could.

He was undisturbed, except for Maria popping in about lunch time with a sandwich. He smiled gratefully. It surprised him to find that he was actually hungry. Normally he didn't eat much, and often went several days without eating anything on missions, but today he was starving. It probably had something to do with "half freezing to death" as Sebastian put it.

After returning the plate to the kitchen, he immediately immersed himself back into the world of fairies and dreams. It made a nice change from reality.

It had gone dark when Sebastian popped his head around the door to tell Alex to come to dinner. As he led the way to the kitchen, Sebastian told him stories about their antics as children. It made Alex laugh to hear of Wolf getting into fights with boys twice his age, and then unable to understand why he couldn't beat them. He also discovered that the family had gathered here for a reunion of sorts, he immediately began apologising for intruding and offering to leave again (secretly hoping that Sebastian would say yes) but he was wave away.

"Maria loves looking after people; the more people the better according to her. It's no hassle having you here. Actually, I'm glad you're here, normally I'm the kid of the family – well, apart from Jaime and Emma – but now they have you as well and I'm not the only one in full time education."

Alex snorted. His education was hardly full-time; he spent more time out of school than in it.

They entered the kitchen to find it full. Emma and James were sitting on the counter, digging into bowls of spaghetti. Wolf, Maria and an older woman Alex didn't recognise were at the table, along with Silvia and another man, who – judging from the close resemblance between him and Emma – was Maria's husband.

Sebastian made the introductions. "You already know my siblings and their... offspring." He gave Emma and Jaime a hard look that had them giggling hysterically from their perch. "The man next to Silvia is Neil, Maria's husband. And the beautiful woman sitting between James and Maria is our gorgeous mother, Eleanor."

Eleanor swotted her youngest son with a napkin as he walked past. He simply grinned and pressed a kiss to her raised cheek. Alex quickly found a plate pressed into his hand and sat between Sebastian and Wolf.

"Where is Abuela?" asked Sebastian.

Alex cocked his head. Their grandmother was here as well?

"She's sleeping," replied Wolf, gruffly. "I called her earlier, but she said she wasn't hungry."

The conversation moved on and Alex basked in the alien feeling of family.

"So, Alex," broke in Silvia. "Why were you in the woods?"

The babble of conversation from the rest of the family died out. There was a moment's silence.

"Now, Silvia. We'll have none of that, thank you. You know the rule."

Silvia's lips tightened and she turned back to her pasta.

Alex leaned over to Sebastian. "What rule is she talking about?"

"James is a member of the SAS. We know this, but he can't tell us most of what he does, so we made a rule. He tells us what he can, and we don't press him for answers he can't give. The same rule applies to anyone who calls him Wolf. So although we are all fascinated with why a fourteen year old knows him as Wolf, we aren't going to ask."

Alex smiled gratefully, but Silvia's voice once again made him tense.

"So how did your parents die?"

Alex clenched his teeth. "Plane crash."

"And your uncle?"

"Car accident," he said, forcing his voice to remain calm.

"It must have been a bad accident, for him to die!" she exclaimed, her face overly innocent.

A muscle twitched in Alex's jaw. "He wasn't wearing his seat belt," he spat.

"That was-"

"Oh just shut up already!" exclaimed Wolf. "Haven't you interrogated him enough? I thought you had more tact." He pushed his chair back and stood in anger

Silvia tensed, looking just as angry. She rose to match Wolf. "This kid turns up out of nowhere, obviously hurt and we don't know how, or who did it. You barely know anything about him and we know even less, and yet you just expect us to trust him! What if he is dangerous? What if he hurts Emma or Jaime?!"

What if he's dangerous? What if he hurts Emma or Jaime?

The words circled around Alex's head. What was he doing here? Did he really want to hurt someone else? Stupid, stupid, stupid! He berated himself. He should have let Wolf call MI6 and just got out of here before they turned up. He should not have made a deal with him.

He stood up, causing Silvia and Wolf to stop yelling and look at him, along with everyone else.

Alex swallowed, nervous under the close scrutiny.

"Wolf," he began awkwardly. "She's right. It's fine. I'll... I'll just go."

"You're not going anywhere until you're better, Cub," said Wolf firmly, frowning at him.

"So you would pick him over your own family now?!" exclaimed Silvia.

"When you're acting irrationally, then yes!" yelled Wolf.

"Irrational?! How is this irrational? I just don't want to see my niece get hurt!"

Alex caught Eleanor's eye pleadingly and she nodded. Gratefully, he ducked out of the kitchen and returned to the room where he had woken up. He just made things worse for everyone. Even when he wasn't physically hurting people, he was causing arguments. His angry, depressing train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Brooding doesn't tend to suit teenagers," came Maria's reproachful voice, "and you're no exception."

Alex turned to look at the woman standing in the doorway and sighed moodily.

"I thought you might like to talk."

***

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