Sorry about the wait, power out therefore Internet too. I swear if it stops raining I won't complain about the weather for weeks. I am sick of being flooded.
Anyway, ENJOY!
Zara was sitting at her desk in shock, Alex's test results had just come through, over the three days before they had gone on basic training he had been tested in everything cherub supplied, Russian, Greek, Italian, fighting, maths, English, all for his age range, out of curiosity as the paper progressed the questions had become gradually harder, to see how he would fare. He had breezed through a 17 year olds questions like they had been designed for seven year olds. And something told Zara he wasn't even trying.
She also had the report from Kazakov on Alex, by now she was almost beyond being surprised, but the praise the Ukrainian had handed out was almost unheard of. There was a knock at the door,
"Enter." She called, in traipsed five teens and an adult, Rat was looking worse for wear having tripped over a root and sprained his ankle, it was still being decided if he would proceed with the mission.
"Hey Zara." Ben smiled at her as they sat,
"Alex, your test results are in and... they are startling to say the least, Alex grimaced,
"Sorry, I missed a lot of school." Alex apologised, Zara blinked shocked,
"You think you did badly." She breathed, James took the file off her desk and whistled impressed.
"You passed with flying colours." James told him, the file got passed around,
"Lowest mark was in English." Lauren teased, "Obviously your Russian got in the way." Zara relaxed seeing the light banter between the two, she didn't miss the disgruntled faces of the boys though, they weren't impressed by being shown up by someone nearly three years their junior.
"You need additional training and to do that you are being sent to the SAS camp in Brecon Beacons-" Zara's words were cut off by two shocked gasps, and three strangled ones,
"Yes!" Ben grinned, Alex raised an eyebrow at him,
"You are worse than Wolf, happy to go back to hell on earth." Alex teased,
"What?! One, I get to see you dragged, admittedly probably unconscious, to the infirmary, I get to see those four try and survive and thirdly Falcon owes me from that last poker game." Ben shrugged, "And there's a new batch of recruits." Ben waggled his eyebrows mischievously.
"I hate recruits." Alex muttered,
"They hate you, it's mutual, that and the dislike of Sarge and selection, speaking of which, how on earth did you get this past Sarge?" Ben aimed the last part at Zara,
"Mrs Jones organised it." Zara explained, James, Rat and Kerry looked a little sick at the thought of an SAS camp, Lauren was apprehensive but looked determined, Alex's respect for the teen rocketed.
"You leave in three hours, you'd best be going, I will be accompanying-" Zara was cut off by a impatient knock at the door,
"Ma'am, something has happened." A harassed red shirt carer announced, Zara slipped out the room and returned a few minutes later looking disgruntled,
"I will not be accompanying you, due to issues I need to be here to sort, Ben will look after you fine during your stay I am sure," Zara apologised, she sounded annoyed. They left the room, Lauren grabbed Alex's arm, Rat eyed him distrustfully.
"Come with me." Lauren steered him away, curious glances following them, she led him to her room and sat him on the bed, she paced up and down in front of him.
"Lauren?" Alex queried honestly confused,
"I- You-" Alex was growing wary at her incoherence. "I came from a background the same as you-"
"I'm pretty sure you didn't." Alex was closed off, his voice emotionless.
"I meant that as in; I have a past, you have a past, I don't pretend to understand what you have been through. I get that you don't trust people and I understand that and won't push it, but know that if you ever do feel like talking, I am here. I know that you have nightmares and trouble sleeping but I won't push that either." Lauren paused and Alex felt slightly bad for jumping to conclusions but she had obviously expected it.
"I didn't mean for any of that to come out, the reason I brought you up here was much, much more childish, and stupid, and I can't actually believe I did it." Lauren sighed, Alex smirked,
"What was it?" He asked amused at her being so flustered. She bit her lip before blurting it out.
"What should I pack?" Three minutes later when Alex had stopped laughing, and Lauren had stopped hitting him from laughing, and Alex had stopped laughing from her hopeless hits ending up with them both on the bed in hysterics they sat up and Alex caught the bag Lauren had thrown to him and listed the things she should bring with her,
"I'm sorry, you need to pack as well." Lauren bit her lip guilty, there were only ten minutes left before they were needed.
"Nope, all my stuff is already there, a little dusty, but there." Alex shrugged and winced, Lauren's eyes narrowed,
"What's wrong?" She demanded,
"Just stiff that's all." He brushed it off.
"Either you tell Ben, or I will. And he will tell Snake and all hell will break loose." Lauren threatened,
"Damn, you can give threats." Alex grimaced as they left the room,
"Lauren!" A voice exclaimed,
"Hey Bethany." Lauren turned,
"You going now?" The newcomer asked, Alex recognised her from the day he had spent in Lauren's lessons, he had then been bumped up to Rat's class then James'. After that they had given up and just set him work to do in lessons with Lauren that wasn't the work the other Cherub's were doing. He was too advanced. Especially in languages, so much so that Lauren had insisted Alex give her proper Russian lessons, that had resulted in the two of them being locked in his room on the top floor only Russian being spoken. The teacher had been shocked by Lauren's improvement.
The next day he had done the same with her French, this time helping her with the maths homework. The day before they had gone on basic training most teachers and Zara had asked if he would consider teaching here at some point in the future, Alex had declined claiming he wouldn't be a good teacher. The two areas he had been able to avoid were the fighting and the shooting. He had spent those times alone with Ben, this had led to the inevitable teasing by James and Rat over how bad he must be at fighting and the fact he probably didn't know one end of a gun from the other.
What annoyed them the most was the complete lack of response from the blonde teen.
When they were all in the people carrier, Lauren and Alex in the boot due to being the smallest and most disliked respectively, Lauren had turned to Alex a wicked grin on her face,
"What?" Alex asked cautiously,
"Spanish." Lauren stated, a slow smile filtered onto his face, the first true smile he had shown them since they had met, he had smiled with Ben in private, but the rest had been forced, he saw Ben's knowing smile in the mirror with happiness and pride mixed and stuck out his tongue at the older spy, Lauren watched this exchange amused, the two MI6 spies had a unique relationship, that was obvious Her train of thought was derailed when Alex turned back to her and started talking in fluent, colloquial Spanish.
"You've improved." Ben commented as they gathered around a table in a roadside little chef.
"Yep, spent a week alone with Wolf, even picked up his accent at one point." Alex grinned.
"Am I about to loose the one thing I am better than you at?" Ben teased,
"Benjamin." Alex groaned,
"Fine, the one language I can speak better than you?" Ben amended knowing he hated being told he was good,
"Don't know, you'd have to ask Wolf." Alex shrugged, wincing again, Ben's eyes narrowed, Lauren grinned triumphantly, Alex elbowed her in the ribs, she punched him lightly in the arm, not expecting the painful gasp and the paling of his face,
"Alex." Ben sighed,
"I'll have Snake look at it when we reach BB." Alex promised, that did nothing to help calm Ben's worries, the teen never volunteered for medical treatment unless he was on his deathbed.
"One to ten Cub." Ben demanded,
"When I don't move it one, when I do... three maybe?" Alex gave a one armed shrug,
"That's the arm that was-" Ben sighed realisation dawning,
"Yep." Alex nodded once leaving the others in confusion Slowly the conversation picked back up and they were choosing a language they could all speak in the car, unfortunately that was French, Lauren noticed Alex frown,
"What is it?" She murmured as they clambered back in the car, "Bad language, or memories?"
"Thoughts, thoughts of what might have been." Alex eventually murmured. She was about to continue her questions but Ben caught her eye and shook his head slightly, she nodded back once and left it.
"'Who dares wins.'" James read as they gathered their luggage, as they swung their rucksacks onto their backs, Alex taking a spare one, he grunted as a fresh wave of pain hit, the weight was gone before any of the teens could notice, Ben swung it onto his back and looked into his wards face,
"We need to go see Sarge." Ben murmured, Alex nodded once and Ben led the way, they reached the hut and entered they knocked on his door and waited,
"Enter." The entered and Fox and Cub stood to attention, Lauren copied, followed by Kerry, Rat then James. The Sargent growled,
"Sir," Alex stated, the glare turned on him,
"Cub, good to have you back in one piece again." He stated,
"Thank you sir. May I ask permission to go and tell K unit we are here Sir? While you... brief the others?" Alex asked, the Sargent glanced at the slight pain lines in the teens face and Ben's desperate look, he interpreted the statement as 'I need to find a medic.'
"Go Cub, don't come back until you have found them all." Sarge barked,
"Thank you sir." He left the room with a reassuring smile at the others, mainly Lauren. Alex vanished and faintly heard the Sargent yelling at him almost exactly what he had heard on his first visit.
"CUB!" Lynx exclaimed, "You're back!" He was F unit's leader, and old friends with Wolf, they had been here the first time Alex had come and had been back up a few times as well.
"Yeah Lynx, you seen Snake?" Alex asked the pain in his shoulder becoming more than an annoyance after the rucksack and manly embrace the SAS man had given him. Standing at attention hadn't helped either. Lynx frowned,
"I think I just saw him head to the hut?" Lynx replied,
"If you see the others can you tell them to go to Sarge?" Cub asked,
"Sure thing." Lynx walked away clapping the teen on the back as he went, Alex gritted his teeth and hurried towards the hut,
"WOLF!" He heard lynx call, Alex smiled, at least they would get to the Sargent, a few minutes later he reached the hut at the same time as Cub,
"I thought I asked Lynx to tell you to go to the Sargent?" Alex sighed, "Snake in there?"
"Yeah, we got the message but when you voluntarily go to Snake after three years of avoiding his medicals, we get a little worried." Wolf explained opening the door,
"Cub!" Snake exclaimed standing up,
"Hey, I have a... problem." Alex stated,
"What kind?" Snake asked confused,
"Cub is voluntarily having a physical." Eagle butted in, Snake's eyes narrowed and saw the way he was holding his left arm carefully,
"Shirt off." The medic stood and helped him wriggled out of the top without causing too much pain and cursed. The blondes shoulder was red and inflamed with nasty bruising all over it.
"That's the one that was shattered wasn't it?" Wolf checked, Alex nodded once. Snake gently probed the area and Alex recoiled, crashing into Wolf who had moved to avoid Eagle who was hyper, Alex landed on the floor with a cry followed by Wolf and Eagle on top of him,
"EAGLE!" Snake and Wolf bellowed, the man in question scrambled up and stood in the corner wringing his hands, Wolf also stood and all three looked at Alex who was grey with pain,
"Cub, can you move?" Snake asked, the blonde tried and winced, slowly Snake and Wolf got him up onto his old cot,
"Go to Sarge, explain what happened and why we are not there." Snake ordered, the two left and the medic finally turned to the pale shaking boy in his care.
"Where are Cub and Snake?" Fox asked as soon as they were let out of the Sargent's office,
"Long story," Wolf stated glaring at Eagle,
"It was an accident." Eagle muttered,
"Come on, your hut is this way." Wolf stalked off grateful it was late so no one saw them, they reached their cut and dumped their bags,
"Ah, a bed!" Rat exclaimed and launched himself at the cot,
"NO!" The three SAS exclaimed but it was too late, Rat howled in pain as his ribs and ankle collided with the metal bar, Ben scooped the boy up into his arms and headed to the infirmary.
Thirty minutes later Rat was removed from the mission and was being flown back to Cherub on account of having three broken ribs and a fractured ankle.
"We're dropping like flies." Ben muttered, "Go to sleep, we'll give you the full tour in the morning." Ben ordered the teens, they all fell into their beds, albeit a lot more gently than when Rat had done so, and succumbed to the exhaustion that had been plaguing them.
Ben and k unit returned to their cabin to find Snake helping Alex into an oversized top,
"Isn't that mine?" Ben queried,
"Yep. But I don't want Cub to move his arm too much and a larger top is easier." Snake replied, "Now, go to sleep Cub." The medic ordered,
"What happened to Rat?" Alex asked, "What I could hear the howl of pain from here and the helicopter." Alex shrugged then groaned, Snake hit him up the head,
"Moron. If you don't play ball I'll sling it." Snake threatened,
"Rat, the genius, launched himself at his bed and landed on the metal bar, the ankle he sprained in training worsened and he broke three ribs." Wolf grumbled falling into bed, "Night guys."
"Wait, are we going to train them as a four, or as two twos?" Eagle asked, "OW!" A boot had landed on him, "That was unnecessary Cub!" Eagle complained,
"Are you implying I need training?" Cub demanded,
"No, now Cub, stop aggravating that shoulder." Snake snapped, "Goodnight." It was not a statement, it was an order.
"Ow, fuck that hurt!" James moaned,
"Language." Snake sighed helping James up from the ground, he had fallen off the assault course and landed in the pit of slime,
"Did someone deliberately fill that pit with freezing slime?" He muttered, Ben snorted glancing at Alex,
"Shut up!" Alex hit him in the stomach,
"Shoulder Cub!" Snake scolded, "I still have that sling in my pocket." Alex froze and didn't move, Ben burst out laughing, he stopped suddenly when he was hit on the head, he spun around to see a grinning Lauren,
"You shouldn't laugh at the wounded." She scolded, Alex grinned at her. Ben glared and ruffled Lauren's hair who dodged crashing into Kerry who slipped in the mud and knocked James who fell over his own feet and landed on top of Alex, Eagle seeing what had happened tried to grab his team mate but ended up hitting his shoulder instead.
"Shit Cub!" Ben pulled Lauren and Kerry up as James rolled off the blonde teen who face was back again being white,
"I just can't win can I?" Alex gasped out, "At least three teens are lighter than two SAS men." Alex cocked an eyebrow at Wolf and Eagle,
"Come on." Snake and Ben helped Alex up and brushed him down, "One to ten?"
"Three." Alex said through gritted teeth as the medic probed the shoulder blade, Snake then sighed and pulled out a bundle of cloth which he quickly fashioned into a sling and revealed a bottle of medicine, he slipped the sling on the pale teen and put the drugs back in his pocket ignoring the glare from his patient,
"Don't do anything stupid, you hear me." Snake told him ruffling his hair.
"You trained here." Lauren asked Alex as they walked to the showers for James,
"Yep, three years ago now." Alex confirmed,
"Wow, how did you do?" She asked curious,
"Badly." Alex grinned, there were reaching the mess having left James to shower.
"Cub, if you did badly we all failed." Lynx said amused from behind them,
"Come on, I was abysmal." Alex laughed,
"No you weren't." Falcon contradicted clapping Alex on the should,
"FALCON!" Owl and Snake exclaimed, the SAS had just seen the sling and was standing eyes wide,
"Sorry." He knew how bad an injury Cub would have to have to be put in a sling and to still have it there minutes later. Normally he threw slings away within minutes of having them administered.
"It's cool." Alex shrugged one shouldered,
"Hey, isn't that the shoulder blade that was shattered?" Owl asked sitting next to Snake, as F unit's medic he had helped Snake with the units injuries whenever they were stationed together, which was a lot.
"Yep, and the moron hurt it, then didn't tell anyone." Snake glared at Cub who grinned back,
"But he voluntarily went to a medical." Lynx put in, every unit who was in the mess who had worked with K unit fell silent,
"He did what?!" Someone gasped,
"Who?" A recruit asked,
"Cub, voluntarily went to a physical." Owl seemed to be in shock,
"So what, medics can be persuasive." Another recruit called out,
"Yeah, but this is Cub. You avoided Snake, Owl, Cougar, Anaconda and Dr. Manning during your training." Wolf commented naming all the units that had been on base when Cub was being trained, there was a low whistle from the recruits, they were now looking at Cub with awe crossed with hatred, they still hadn't gotten over teens being in the SAS, albeit three of them were bordering on useless. It was Cub they didn't like. Sarge bullied them saying 'If Cub could do it you can!' That hadn't instilled a great like of the man. Boy.
"That's some going kid."
Please Review!
Sorry for pulling Rat out, he always annoyed me. Don't think any of the others will drop, but if the do Lauren will be the one staying, does anyone want James and Kerry to go? I am undecided...