The next morning went pretty smoothly, Eagle thought. Alex got up, ate breakfast, and was ready for his appointment on time. He hadn't cried yet today.
Sure, he hadn't talked to either of them much, but he seemed to have livened up marginally – even if that margin was miniscule.
By the time they were walking into Frank's office, Eagle was almost hopeful that Alex would open up a bit. Maybe he'd even tell them what had happened to Jack, his housekeeper-guardian. Or talk about her. Or do whatever was best for him at this point.
They took seats on the couch, with Alex sandwiched between Snake and Eagle on either side. Once again, Frank introduced himself, saying it was just in case they had forgotten what his name was. Snake and Eagle reintroduced themselves and Alex, who didn't seem to want much to do with their conversation.
"So, Alex," Frank said, "is there anything you want to talk about?"
Alex didn't answer, and neither Snake nor Eagle pushed him to talk. Privately, Eagle wondered if that was why Frank had asked them to stay – maybe he thought that Alex would feel more comfortable in their presence.
Frank didn't seem discouraged, though. "Would you like to play a game? I've got a deck of cards here."
Alex looked up at Frank, confusion written into his features. Eagle also looked at the deck of cards in confusion. He kind of wished that his therapist would play games too, in a more literal sense. Then again, Eagle had had a shrink before he needed one, unlike Alex. He supposed that having some sort of rapport with the patient was really helpful when getting them to confide in a shrink. To Alex, Frank must seem like a stranger, even if he was friendly enough.
"No, thank you," Alex answered politely, if quietly.
Frank, to Eagle's amazement, continued anyway. "Why not, then? Would you like to play another game?"
"I don't feel like playing games," Alex said, looking away at the ground.
"Why not?"
Alex shrugged.
"Come on, now," Frank chided. "At least could you give me a proper answer?"
"I want to go home," Alex replied.
Eagle placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. He hoped the kid understood that even if Eagle was a near-total stranger to him, Eagle was wishing him the best and didn't want him to feel so bad.
Alex turned and looked at the hand Eagle had placed on his shoulder, but he didn't shrug it off.
Frank appeared to pretend not to notice. He got up from behind his desk and took a seat in a chair, pulling it over the couch where Eagle and the other two sat. He was maybe a meter from Alex.
"What does 'home' mean to you, Alex?" Frank asked gently.
Alex didn't answer in the way Frank clearly wanted him to. "I don't know what you mean."
Frank nodded, as if Alex had answered the question. Then Frank answered his own question from his own perspective. "My home is where I go to sleep at night, and where I invite my friends. My wife lives there with my two kids."
Alex didn't say anything, so Frank went ahead with another question. And again, Alex somehow redirected the question at Frank. This continued for longer than Eagle would have liked. Each question was more personal than the last, and Eagle felt that Alex was becoming more and more tense with each answer Frank gave to his own questions.
Eventually, Alex started crying, just staring into his own lap. They looked like a mix of bitter tears and grieving tears to Eagle. Bitterness at Frank's persistent questions with their lovey-dovey answers, and grieving tears because Alex had none of what Frank had. Or at least, Eagle figured that he probably didn't. Not anymore.
"Hey, Alex," Frank said, "why are you crying?"
This wasn't a question Alex could turn onto Frank, because Frank wasn't crying. Instead, he wiped off his tears, ignoring how red his own eyes were. He muttered, "I'm not."
Frank smiled shallowly. "There's nothing wrong with crying. In fact, it's healthier than holding it in. But it's really important to acknowledge how you're feeling, or else it'll get trapped like air in balloon. No one wants to see you pop, Alex."
Alex glanced up at Frank. Eagle squeezed his shoulder gently, reminding Alex that he wasn't completely alone.
Alex looked like he didn't know what to say, and Frank looked like he was about to continue, when all of a sudden a knocking came at the door. Frank paused, his mouth still open, and he smiled instead. "You have a special guest today."
At this, Eagle, Alex, and Snake turned to look at the door, and Eagle's hand slid off Alex's shoulder as Alex raised his arms to wipe away his tears. Frank rose and let the guest in.
"Fox!" Snake straightened in surprise.
"Ben!" Alex looked dumbfounded. "What-?"
Fox – or rather, Ben, if Alex was correct – smiled and trotted into the room. He looked friendly enough, and he seemed happy to see Alex. Or at least, that was the reason he was here.
"Hello, Alex," Ben said amicably. "I see you've had a rough couple of days. I just got off a mission, or else I would have been here sooner." As he said this, he walked around the couch to kneel in front of Alex.
Alex nodded. "Thanks."
Ben took both of Alex's hands in his. "Mrs. Jones didn't tell me the details, but she told me what happened in brief."
Alex couldn't seem to meet Ben's eyes anymore.
"Hey," Ben squeezed Alex's hands, trying to get him to look back up at him. Eagle was sure that just two days ago, Alex wouldn't have looked up. But today he did. His eyes were still a little red from earlier, but now they were blank.
"Mrs. Jones told me that the analysis teams in Egypt recovered a video of what happened. It seemed Razim, the enemy, was documenting how pain affects people."
At this, Alex stiffened, and Eagle's eyes widened in shock. "He was tortured?" Eagle blurted out, before really thinking about it.
Ben nodded gravely. "He's not told you?"
"No!"
Alex muttered, "They didn't touch me."
Ben's thumbs rubbed over Alex's knuckles. "Physical torture isn't the only kind of torture, Alex. You were tortured."
Alex shifted uncomfortably.
Eagle was stunned at this turn of events. He'd known Alex had lost his guardian and/or housekeeper recently, and that that had been excruciating for him. He knew that there was a chance that Alex's evil twin, per se, from his mission with Wolf had killed her, and that Alex had killed that evil twin. But the circumstances of her death were still unclear.
But torture? That seemed a little farfetched, and Eagle wasn't sure he would have believed Alex had been tortured unless someone like Ben had told him. Alex certainly fit the profile: deeply hurt, depressed, signs of PTSD, but that didn't necessitate something of the magnitude that came with the word 'torture'. Sure, Eagle didn't know the kid, but he certainly didn't think he deserved torture.
Anyhow, it seemed as if Ben had had a mission with Alex too. Otherwise, they wouldn't be so familiar, and Ben would still be "Fox" to Alex. He could only wonder what kind of a mission it was.
Ben continued, letting go of Alex's hands to reach into his pocket. He pulled out a flash drive. "Mrs. Jones worried that you might be in denial, so she sent a copy of the video with me. Some of the psychologists at MI6 thought it might be a good idea for you to recap what happened so that –"
Ben didn't get to finished what he wanted to say. Alex had jumped up partway through his speech, pulling both legs onto the couch. Then he'd twisted and propelled himself over the back of the couch in a single, cat-like leap, so fast that Eagle, Snake, and Ben hadn't any time to react to his movement. Ben did reach out into the space Alex previously occupied.
"Alex!" Snake exclaimed. But it didn't matter. The kid already was out the door, running.
"Shit," Eagle muttered, getting up to follow Ben, who was the first to break out of his shock and take off after him. Snake followed Eagle in close pursuit.
Alex wasn't in the best of health, considering he'd just gotten back from a tough mission and that he hadn't been eating much for the past few days due to his lack of appetite, but he had a head start and apparently a lot of motivation to get away from them.
The three pursuing Alex ran into the stairwell after him. But somehow Alex was already out of sight, and Eagle realized from the resounding thumps that Alex was leaping over the handrails between the stairs rather than simply going down them. That was a move that was fairly dangerous, and really something left for the desperate to try. The three of them jumped down the last few, but they weren't going to risk the crazy jumps Alex was making.
"Christ, he's fast," Snake muttered under his breath, as they ran out on the first floor. Alex was way ahead of them, already making his way out of the building. He was gathering some stares from the other patients and their helpers, but no one tried to stop him.
"Where's he going?" Ben asked as they ran after him.
Eagle looked around. The campus had four main buildings: the psyche building that they had just left, some kind of recreational center, the housing were they were staying, and a physical health ward that both housed people and had appointments for PT and whatnot. In the middle was a fountain, and paths led from each building to it and the adjacent building. The surroundings had hiking trails and trees, hence the name "New Forest".
Alex was running towards the opposite building from the psyche building, which was the housing. He could also have been heading for the trees. Still, it seemed as if Alex was headed back to where their rooms were. "I think he's going back to our room," he replied.
Snake nodded. It didn't make a lot of difference. Alex had a head start and had gained in the stairwell on them, even if he lost a little ground between the buildings. They watched him run into the building. The front was glass, so they saw him run into the near stairwell.
They followed him into the building and lost sight. But there really wasn't anywhere for Alex to go from the stairwell, except for his room or Wolf's – not that Eagle thought Alex would actually go there.
"I've got the rear stairs," Snake said suddenly, running down the hall after a brief pause to tell Eagle and Ben that. Ben nodded, and he and Eagle ran up the nearest stairwell.
As they entered the hallway, they saw that most of the doors were closed, including the one where Eagle, Snake, and Alex were staying. Eagle charged ahead of Ben, knowing where their room was. Snake reached the top of the stairs just as they reached their room.
Eagle opened the door and stepped in. "Alex?" he called out hesitantly. Ben followed him, and Snake stayed in the hall in case Alex was hiding in another room.
"Alex?" Ben said. "You didn't hear everything I had to say."
There was no response. There was a quick flurry of activity as they searched the room to no avail.
"Shit," Eagle said out loud. "We lost him."
Ben sighed. "What do we do?"
Eagle shook his head, "Let's go talk to the nurse at the end of the hall."
Together, the three of them walked down to the nurses' station, which they had passed in their rushed pursuit.
Maria was there, as was another nurse they hadn't met. "Is everything all right?" Maria asked.
Eagle shook his head. "Alex – the kid with us – just took off during his therapy session."
Maria looked at the other nurse. "Alex is missing?"
Eagle nodded. "Have you seen him?"
"We haven't seen anyone up here since you three got here. We'll have to call security to look for him, since he's missing."
The nurses hadn't seen – ?
Oh. The stairwell. Eagle closed his eyes. They'd fallen for the oldest trick in the book: appear to have a destination, but go the opposite way in the stairwell and leave.
Eagle sighed. It looked like this was going to be a rough day.
Alex panted, racing through the trees.
He hadn't really expected it to be that easy. He'd just run into the stairwell and ducked down just a floor down. When he'd only heard two pairs of footsteps, he got worried. Maybe one of them had stayed outside. Quickly, he shrugged off the sweater he was wearing and tied it around his waist. It was a minor appearance change, but there wasn't anything else he could do.
But when Alex reemerged from the stairwell, he was pleasantly surprised to find that no one but the receptionist was there. He gave Alex a funny look. "Are you all right?"
Alex nodded, plastering a friendly smile on. "I'm playing reverse tag with my uncle and his friends."
The receptionist looked skeptical, so Alex tacked on a little bit more. "They're really happy that they all can run again. It's been a bit."
At this, the receptionist looked appeased. It wasn't like he knew everyone in the building yet, so Alex was lucky.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
Alex smiled, but inside he was desperate for the interrogation to end. "Probably behind the building across from here."
The receptionist smiled back. "Well, off you go then."
Alex grinned and pushed open the doors, taking off at a run. He'd run diagonally toward the rec center, hoping that the receptionist would just think of it as a detour in case the three chasing him got out sooner than later.
And once Alex had gotten behind the rec center, he'd quickly rerouted into the woods, which is why he was racing through the trees.
This was the worst. Alex did not under any circumstances want to relive what Razim had done to him and Jack. He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to see it.
Ian's death was one thing. He had been pretty distant throughout Alex's life, and upon further reflection with the additional information Alex had after his death, most of the time they spent together was training hidden in disguise. Ian had hardly been there at all.
But Jack – Jack was a different matter. She raised him since he was 8. She comforted him when he was sick, put him to bed when he was tired, and did things for him for his sake, not for any other reasons. Jack meant a lot more to Alex, and she had known all about his missions – at least, what he'd told her – and she was the one who woke him up from nightmares. It hurt so much that she was missing.
Gone.
Dead.
Alex coughed back a sob. Yes, it hurt that Jack was gone. But what was even worse was how she was gone. Maybe if it had been cancer or something it wouldn't be as bad, but Alex had ripped her from himself violently. He'd let her come on that mission, and he'd dragged her into that mess. He'd told her to try to escape from her cell, not even thinking about whether it was a trap. And before that he'd never said no, like she wanted him to. He'd –
A glint in the branches above him caught his eye. Not a camera!
Alex paused in his tracks to look more closely. Yes, a camera, and it swiveled around to look at him. Alex swallowed a groan and took off further into the woods. They couldn't have the forest rigged up forever.
Ben was frustrated and felt bad for Alex. He hadn't had a chance to finish what he was going to say, and now that was the reason Alex was off and running.
Mrs. Jones had told him what the psychologists had said. Some thought Alex should see the recording of himself with the people taking care of him as he lost Jack so that he could let all his feelings out and refocus. Some thought that only the people taking care of him should see it so that they could get a better idea of what happened to Alex and sympathize better.
They all agreed that Alex should be the one to decide between the two options, and that regardless of his decision, Alex should talk about what had happened. They said it would help him reflect and move on.
Ben sighed. This was not how he expected his reunion with Alex to go: chasing Alex.
"Is everything all right?" Wolf had emerged from his room, joining the rest of them at the desk. "Fox!" he said, once he walked up.
"Wolf," Ben replied, too preoccupied with the situation at hand to wonder at his presence.
Snake sighed. "Alex just pulled a runner."
"Come on, he might still be around here," Eagle said, hopeful. "At least, we can ask the front desk."
"Mind if I join you?" Wolf asked.
"Not at all," Eagle answered. "Come on, let's go."
Ben wasn't hopeful. They'd wasted time in the room looking for Alex, and their conversation just now had cost them time. They weren't going to catch up with him anymore.
Sure enough, by the time they got down to the reception area, Alex was nowhere to be seen.
"Excuse me," Snake asked the receptionist, "but did you see where that blonde teenager went just a minute ago?"
The receptionist smiled. "I did."
"Where'd he go? This is important." Snake seemed peeved by the levity with which the receptionist was taking the whole situation too. Ben had to agree – this was frustrating.
But Snake's tone only served to confuse the receptionist. He frowned, asking why.
Snake pushed on. "He just ran out of a therapy session. We need to find him."
The receptionist looked dumbfounded, like he couldn't believe what they just told him. He took a moment to recover, and then he said, "He said you were playing reverse tag to celebrate your recoveries – and that he was going behind the psyche building, but he might have been lying about that too…"
Snake nodded. "Did you see which way he left?"
The receptionist looked up at the ceiling as if it held some answers. "I think it was toward the rec center, but I'm not sure where he went after that."
"Thanks," Snake replied, and he turned with the rest of them to run off in that direction after Alex.
"Wait," the receptionist called out. "Security is in the basement of the rec center. They've got everything wired up with cameras, even the woods. You should go there. I'll phone ahead to let them know you're coming."
Snake raised his eyebrows. "Thanks," he said, this time with more feeling. Ben nodded, as if trying to give him more gratitude.
Alex groaned, frustrated at the stream he'd found. He'd figured out that the cameras didn't have to be rigged up everywhere – there was a rushing stream that seemed to wall off the property, and Alex could practically feel the cameras watching him. He knew that they were there for Alex's own good – to make sure that he came to no harm – but that didn't keep him from feeling closed in.
Still running, Alex followed the stream uphill. At some point it had to get shallow enough for him to cross. But it seemed like a far way off. And since he was no longer heading directly away from the rehab center, he would be pursued much more easily. SAS soldiers could run, and had insane stamina – Alex was fit, but he was pretty run down from the past few days, and he wasn't running directly away.
Alex cursed under his breath as he nearly tripped over a rock. The terrain was treacherous here, and Alex had to look down repeatedly while running to make sure he kept his footing secure.
Another glint from up in the treetops warned him of another camera, but it was too late. This one too had seen him, as had several of the others. He knew he would be found – but – he – the video was too much. He couldn't watch that video. Not now and not ever. He couldn't watch himself torture himself.
"Alex!" A sudden call made Alex twist around to look to where it'd come from, but in that same moment, he missed his footing and tripped.
Twang! Alex felt something pull in his left ankle as he bent his foot inwards during the fall. His hand shot out and scraped a few rocks, but it broke his fall well enough.
"Alex," the same voice repeated, now closer. "You all right?"
Alex looked around at the speaker. It was Wolf. Alex could hear more voices approaching – Ben, maybe, or Eagle.
Alex rolled over and sat up. He wouldn't be running anywhere anytime soon, judging by the fair amount of pain that shot up his ankle. Not that it compared to losing Jack.
Wolf crouched down next to him, a little out of breath. He put a firm hand on his shoulder but didn't do anything else. Ben came up behind him, and Alex felt a sense of dread brew in his stomach – hot and intense.
"Alex," Ben greeted. He too was a little out of breath, but not too much. Not like Alex was, panting like a dog in a summer heat. "I'm sorry, you didn't let me finish."
Alex frowned at him. Somehow, he felt determined not to cry in front of Wolf and Ben. Not that a meant a lot. He was sick of their funeral voices, and it felt like tears fed funeral voices. They talked to him like he was going to break – he had, all right, but he couldn't help that. But he was feeling a little stronger than he had yesterday.
Ben elaborated. "Some shrinks thought you should see it, others didn't. They all agreed that the people around you should see it, and that you should think or talk through it so you can reflect more thoroughly on what happened and maybe start moving on."
Eagle and Snake arrived from opposite directions. It seemed they had spread out to catch Alex more efficiently.
"Hey," Eagle said as they came up.
Alex nodded minutely, unsure of what to do. He didn't want to do anything that the shrinks had suggested – talk about it, watch it, or have others watch it. But once again, as always, it seemed Alex wasn't going to get much of a choice.
Ben was looking at him, and Alex felt trapped by the pressure of his gaze. It was like he was waiting for something.
Snake crouched down next to Wolf, moving in front of Ben. "You all right?"
Alex shifted, putting his hands in his lap. The intense focus and attention on him was making him feel embarrassed for his shenanigans and uncomfortable. It was almost like they cared about him. It was a stark contrast to his memories in training, when they had ignored or bullied him.
Maybe they did care a little now. But definitely not like Jack did.
Snake looked mildly alarmed. "Your hand – what happened? Can I see?"
Alex didn't resist as Snake reached out and took his left wrist in his own hands. Alex glanced at it. The scrapes he'd picked up during his fall were bleeding sluggishly, and the entire wound was covered in dirt. His whole hand stung as a result.
"We've got to get you back," Snake concluded. "It's not serious, but I haven't got any means of treating this here."
Ben nodded, and Alex wasn't sure if it was in agreement or if it was acknowledgement. "You don't have to watch the video Mrs. Jones sent with me. There's no reason to run. Will you come back with us?" He stepped around Snake and Wolf, who were still crouching, and stuck out his hand to help Alex up. Eagle hovered a little further away, looking as if he wasn't quite sure what to do.
Alex looked up at Ben. He looked carefully into his boyish face, and even though Ben was an MI6 agent, Alex got the impression that he really cared. That he wanted Alex to be healthy. That he wouldn't make Alex watch that.
Alex took his hand and let himself be pulled to his feet, ignoring the way his left ankle stung in protest. Ben's grip was firm and strong, and Alex felt like he'd accepted some kind of favor from him. He wavered for a moment before letting go of Ben's hand. His hands dropped to his sides.
He heard Snake and Wolf standing behind him, and then he felt a hand on his back. Ben stood on one side of him, and Snake now stood on the other, sort of supporting him. Ben had placed an arm around Alex, sort of leading him.
"I'm really sorry that this has happened to you," Ben said quietly. "Mrs. Jones promised that it'd get better from here, and she asked me to remind you that you aren't alone. Okay?"
Alex nodded, looking down. He glanced up for a moment, noticing Eagle, who was standing in front of him.
Eagle looked like he really wanted to say something. He was biting his lip ever so slightly, and he was studying Alex with a mix of pity and concern. Eagle shifted as Alex's gaze settled onto him.
Suddenly, Alex wondered what Eagle was thinking. They had been together since Mrs. Jones asked them to, and before he'd been reluctant to accept this mission at all. Eagle was understanding and nice to him, but it could just be an act. Probably not, but still – Eagle seemed to have changed over the past few days. Snake, too.
"You're favoring your left leg," Eagle said, vaguely pointing at Alex's foot.
Snake turned to Alex and studied him. Alex tried shifting his weight to make it less obvious, but this movement sent a jolt of pain up his leg and he ended up stumbling into Ben. Ben caught him and held him there.
"Let one of us have a look, all right? No one's going to hurt you," Ben said. It was like they were treating Alex like a skittish hurt puppy. In some ways, Alex was, but he didn't really like the image.
Snake stepped up and crouched down. He pulled up the left side of Alex's pants and started poking at Alex's ankle through his sock, and Alex tried to pull his foot out of Snake's grip when the man poked something that hurt pretty badly. Instead of escaping, however, he only lost his balance. Luckily, Ben was already holding onto him.
"He shouldn't be walking," Snake concluded. "One of us'll have to carry him."
Alex flushed. This was the worst. He didn't want to be here – he wanted Jack to be at home, so he could be there. These were four SAS soldier who he barely knew anything about. At most, he knew the actual name of one of them. And now that he wasn't supposed to be walking, he'd have to rely on one of them.
Sometimes life sucked, Alex thought. And it sucked a whole lot more when it was Alex's life.
He really wanted to cry, but felt that he couldn't. Not in front of them all. Especially Ben and Wolf. Alex couldn't quite explain it, but he wanted to maintain some kind of image in front of the two. Not that that was going well at all at the moment.
"You want to piggy-back ride?" Ben asked. "I can carry you down there."
Alex nodded. He supposed that dignity wasn't something he had much left of.
Eagle watched as Ben deposited Alex on the kind of table doctors used to give check-ups, with the roll of paper at one end and padding everywhere. He was surprised at the familiarity Ben displayed toward Alex. Maybe he, too, had been told of Alex's family-and-friends situation.
Snake had split off with Wolf when they reached the main campus. Wolf went back to his room, and Snake went off to find Frank to fill him in. Eagle and Ben headed for the physical-health building, where they'd most likely be able to help Alex.
Once inside, they'd been ushered to one of the examination rooms, where they were now. Eagle looked around as they waited for someone to come in and see them. Alex sat quietly, looking at the floor. Ben had taken a seat next to Eagle in a chair lined up against the wall.
"Hello, Alex," a man in doctor's smock said warmly as he walked in. "I'm Dr. Platt, but you can call me Steve if you like. As I hear it, you've got some injuries to show me."
Alex nodded a little. Eagle wondered how Alex was feeling about the video. He wasn't sure that he wanted to see it at all – not if it was going to show him what had made Alex like this. But Eagle supposed that it was important that someone understand what happened to Alex.
What had happened…? Eagle couldn't stop himself from imagining a few horrific ideas. Torturing Jack to get to him, making him kill her….
With a jolt, Eagle realized that Ben had said something to him. He'd been thinking so hard about Alex's experiences that he had checked out of reality.
"Sorry, what?"
"I haven't seen you in a while. How've you been?"
Ah, yes. Ben had a slight accent. "Not bad. Missions here and there. You know how it is."
Ben nodded. Eagle chanced a glance at Alex. The doctor was still tending to his hand, carefully cleaning and bandaging it. "How have you been?" Eagle asked in return.
Ben smiled grimly. "Just got out of rehab."
Eagle turned to look at Ben, taken aback. "For what?"
"Got shot in the shoulder. The wound got infected and led to complications. I've got to go back to training for a bit, now that my PT's through."
Eagle nodded, swallowing. He supposed that he shouldn't be surprised, given their choice of occupation. "Sorry to hear, mate." After a short hesitation, he asked, "Mind if I ask how you got shot?"
Ben shrugged, and Eagle knew he didn't blame him for asking. "Not at all. But if I told you I might have to kill you."
"Ha ha," Eagle said. "Very funny."
To Eagle's surprise, Alex spoke up. "He took a bullet protecting me." His voice was soft but sure. Ben nodded.
The doctor interrupted briefly, asking Alex to lie down so he could examine his ankle.
"I'm not going to get shot, am I?" Eagle asked half-jokingly to Alex. "Seems like everyone's taking bullets for you."
Alex smiled lightly at that for a brief moment, and Eagle allowed himself to feel pleased that he'd managed to get a real smile, however small. He wasn't sure if it was the first real one he'd seen on Alex. That was a little unsettling.
"I hope not."
"That's not too reassuring, kid," Eagle said in good humor.
Wolf sipped some of his water and took a bite of his pre-cut steak. Food here was fantastic. The one downside was that he had to eat it left-handed. He was naturally right-handed and getting used to being a lefty in every way was frustrating at times – especially when he had to sign things.
Snake had come by again, asking if Wolf wanted to join him, Eagle, Alex, and Ben for dinner. Wolf politely declined, commenting on the number of people. Then Maria – the gorgeous brunette who seemed to take particular notice of Wolf – came by, asking to eat with him. He declined her offer, too, because he wanted some time to think.
Alex.
Wolf thought back to training. Alex had been quiet then, too, but not like he was now. Back then, Alex was quiet, but he held himself with some kind of pride. He wouldn't look Wolf in the eye because he was in pain then – in training, Wolf had been downright awful to him, which Wolf supposed was why Alex had avoided him when possible.
Heck, Wolf had even pushed the kid in the Killing House and been saved by him. He made a mental note to thank Alex for that, if he got the chance to be alone with him. There was no more reason to be a dick to him. Alex wasn't just some rich kid. He was a hero – or at least he had been on the mission he'd been on with Wolf.
When he'd met up with the kid at Point Blanc, Wolf had had different reservations about the boy. Before, Alex had been a rich snob (even if that wasn't quite true). At Point Blanc, he was a child agent. "Child" and "agent" just didn't go together, Wolf thought. He didn't think Alex should be going back in with them, even if he knew the layout better than some blueprint.
But no, Alex – Alex – had been the one to declare himself fit for going back. Wolf knew it had to be pride, but Wolf honestly meant what he'd said – that children didn't belong there, and he couldn't spare one of his men to protect Alex, who would be unarmed.
And somehow he'd ended up 'sparing' himself for Alex, in the end. Funny how that worked out.
But that was what was bugging Wolf the most. Alex had been prideful, dignified, honorable, self-respecting – whatever you called it, that was missing now. It was like he died.
Getting thrown off a train hadn't hurt him very much, it seemed, in comparison to whatever had happened to Alex recently.
Wolf looked down at his hand – or rather, where his hand would have been, if that damned IED hadn't taken it off. It'd left most of the wrist, thank god, or else the prosthetic would have to be even larger and unwieldy. He'd lost it just a month ago – now he was kind of grateful in a twisted way that it had been just his hand.
At least whatever happened to Alex hadn't happened to him. And to be grateful for that was saying a lot about what must have happened to Alex.
AN: Hey, you all. Does anyone have any loose ends they'd like tied up? Tell me the details of it, since I haven't got any of the books around me. Here's a poem as payment. Be sure to read it out loud, because it sounds funny.
Hitherto, I've made do.
Ideas? I do still have a few,
but if you do too
please help me to
not fall through or stew or feel blue
but to accrue and construe
plots anew to ensue and to woo you
in a review!
(Ooo! A kangaroo playing kazoo in a canoe in Timbuktu or Kalamazoo! Cheese fondue!)
I love you!
3
On a similar note, can someone give me descriptions of the ASIS and Australian SAS characters?Please tell me their names, any physical descriptions of them, and/or important personality traits and plot points. Also tell me who did/didn't survive/make it. I'll credit you – I promise (unless your name is offensive)!
Thanks for reading.