"Alex!" someone shouted and he immediately stopped and looked around, almost getting run over by escaping students as a reward. He had just exited the school and had reached the gates. All he saw were parents and cars which was why he overlooked her at first. Mrs. Harris was leaning out of her car window gesturing to him frantically.

"Mrs. Harris?" he asked stepping closer so he could talk to her more privately. She looked the same as she had the last time he had seen her. She had dark, crazy hair and the same blue eyes as her two sons. Tom had gotten his height and round face from her as well. Although, Tom didn't have the same pasty complexion or the dark circles under her eyes.

"You can call me Mara, sweety."

"Alright," he said. "Um, it's been a long time." This was extremely awkward. He had been under the impression that Tom and Mrs. Harris weren't speaking to one another at the moment. Mrs. Harris had skipped out on one too many dinner dates and Tom had eventually just stopped reaching out, uninterested in being played for a fool.

"Too long," she agreed with a shaky smile. "Look, honey, have you seen Tom? Did he already leave?"

"He didn't come to school today," Alex told her, a little suspicious. If this had been a planned pick up she would have already known that the kid was currently puking his guts out. "He has the flu."

"Oh," she said, sounding disappointed but by no means concerned. "Well, do you have his number? It's changed and I never got the new one." This had also been a deliberate act. Tom had more or less decided to cut all ties with his parents. Wolf had been a little concerned about this but had supported Tom with it nonetheless. However, Tom still talked to his brother on holidays and birthdays.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Ha-um-Mara," Alex stammered out, feeling so incredibly awkward he was surprised he could still speak at all. "But Tom asked me not to give his number out."

"I'm his mother," she snapped, offended, and Alex shifted from foot to foot, desperately looking around. His eyes fell on a Maths teacher who was already looking at them with some suspicion. Alex sent him a desperate look and the man immediately began walking over.

"I know but I promised," he said, standing firm. If Tom wanted to talk to her, he would find her. "I can let him know you want to talk to him, but that's all I can do. I'm sorry."

Mrs. Harris's thin arm snaked out and latched onto the front of Alex's school uniform with surprising strength, yanking him forward. It was a hold he could have easily broken but he didn't want to hurt her and with the Maths teacher so close by then that violence seemed a little pointless.

"Hey!" the teacher shouted, finally drawing up next to Alex and grasping the boy's shoulder. "Who are you?"

"I'm Tom Harris's mother."

"Well, this isn't Tom Harris so I suggest you release him right now before I have to call the police," the teacher snapped. Mrs. Harris let go of Alex as if he was on fire, cursed the teacher, and peeled away from the curb before any more threats could be made. "Are you alright?" the man asked.

"Oh, yes, sir," Alex said politely, easily masking his concern. "It was just a misunderstanding, was all."

"Are you sure?" he asked, clearly disbelieving that this was a simple misunderstanding. Alex nodded brightly.

"Yes, sir," he said. "If you'll excuse me I have to get home now." The teacher let him go and Alex walked away as fast as he could. When he was out of sight of the school he called Tom's mobile. Unfortunately, it wasn't Tom who answered.

"Hey, Alex," Wolf answered. "Kid's asleep."

"Oh, um," Alex hesitated, wondering if he should tell Wolf what had happened. He wasn't sure if Mrs. Harris knew where the new flat was and if she suddenly decided to show up Wolf should at least have some warning. On the other hand, he didn't know if Tom would be okay with Wolf knowing before he had the time to process it for himself.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, immediately picking up on something strange in Alex's voice. Alex made a split second decision.

"Yeah, it's cool," he lied, forcing himself to sound a little more normal. "Have him call me back when he's awake, yeah?"

"I suppose."

Wolf waited a few seconds to see if Alex was going to say anything else and then he hung up. Alex pocketed his mobile and continued on his way home. When he got there he was a little surprised to find Mrs. Harris parked in front and sitting on the sidewalk waiting for him. Her vantage point meant she wasn't visible from any of the house windows. She leapt up the second she saw him.

"Please, Alex, I need to talk to Tom," she begged and stepped forward but Alex held up a hand, warning her to stay away. She was beginning to freak him out.

"Why?" he asked but she shook her head. "I'm not going to help you out unless you're straight with me Mara. Why do you need to get into contact with him?"

Why now? was the question he really wanted to ask.

"I'm in some trouble," she admitted, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

"What kind of trouble?" he asked.

"I just need a little money," she said.

"So you go to Tom?" he asked. "Tom has all of three pounds to his name."

"No, he has some money," she argued. "His father gave him a very rare comic book a few years ago to try and convince him to leave me. It's worth a couple thousand."

Alex stared at her, trying to voice his complete and utter shock. He knew what comic she was talking about and he couldn't believe she had the nerve to show up out of the blue to ask her son to sell one of his most prized possessions to bail her out of trouble. Hell, Tom had the thing in a safety deposit box he was so concerned about its well being. Alex was suddenly incredibly angry. She knew Tom would do it in a heartbeat but Alex didn't want her to have the opportunity to ask.

"What exactly do you need the money for?" he asked coldly and even though she looked reluctant, she still answered him.

"Just to pay a guy off," she mumbled and Alex scoffed, shaking his head. There were all kinds of trouble Mrs. Harris could have gotten herself into and he had no interest in hearing about what kind. "Please, Alex. I'm in a lot of trouble."

"Oh, I understand," he snapped, glaring at her. "Look, just wait here for a little bit. Give me some time to see what I can do for you." She practically sagged with relief and hugged him. He shook her off after a moment and went into the house. He found Eagle in the living room.

"Where's Jack?" he asked.

"She went to a friend's baby shower," he responded, eyes on the television. When Alex didn't respond he looked up and could tell immediately that something was off. "What's wrong?"

Alex sighed, wiped at his forehead nervously, and dropped his bookbag. "I need your help," he said and then told Eagle everything.

"She's out front?" he asked and Alex nodded. The man leapt off the couch and went outside with Alex following close behind, slightly worried about what he was planning on doing. Tom may not have been Eagle's primary responsibility but he still cared about him. They all did. Eagle calmly knocked on the car's window and Mrs. Harris got out, looking a little wary.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Andy," he said. "I live here. How much money do you need?"

"What?"

"How much money do you need?" he asked again and Alex could tell he was seething.

"A little over a thousand."

"Wait here," he said and then disappeared back in the house, shaking his head at Alex to prevent him from following. Alex stood with Mrs. Harris answering her questions about Tom with vague answers.

"How is he?"

"Alright."

"Is he still playing football?"

"Yes."

"How are his grades?"

"Good."

"Does he still like living with what's-his-face? The soldier?"

"Yes."

Alex spent a good couple minutes processing the fact that she didn't seem to remember Wolf's name. She didn't know who her kid was living with. The thought made Alex cold to the bone and he was intensely relieved when Eagle reappeared with a giant stack of cash. He stopped in front of Mrs. Harris and counted out two thousand pounds worth, shoving it into her hand. She grabbed at it and leaned back into the car to stash it into her purse.

Eagle gently took her arm before could she get in and leave.

"This is the last time you come looking for Tom," he said. "Never try to ask him for money ever again. If he wants to contact you in the future, he'll find you. Otherwise you stay away."

"He's my son," she snapped, clearly offended. "You can't tell me to stay away."

"Not legally," Eagle agreed. "But that guardianship agreement was pretty rock solid. So stay away." Alex was honestly surprised about this. He had never seen those papers and he was fairly certain Tom hadn't either. Why had Eagle been allowed to see them?

"Fine," Mrs. Harris snapped, throwing off Eagle's grasp, and getting back into her car. When she was gone Alex turned to him.

"What did you mean about the papers?" he asked. "Why did you get to see them?"

"My family's lawyer was the one who wrote them," Eagle responded and all Alex could do was stare in shock. "Rey checked out Tom's situation when he first invited the kid to stay with him and once we found out what was really going on with the mother Wolf asked for my help in getting a permanent change in guardianship."

"What was really going on?"

"I'm not going to tell you," Eagle said and held up a hand to stop Alex's immediate protest. "And it's because not even Tom knows the full extent of the kind of trouble his mother got into. Hell, not even Jack knows. Just me, Rey, and the lawyer.

"Anyway, the guardianship agreement states that she can't contact him unless Rey approves it first. She seemed willing to play along for awhile but once she'd set something up she'd get pissed about it and then not show up at all."

"And Tom doesn't know any of this?"

"No," Eagle replied. "And her situation is worse than ever, apparently. You understand?" Alex glared at him, not sure how to handle what he was hearing. His first instinct was to protest the entire situation. These two men had no right to interfere in the way they had. Tom's family was something he had the right to know about, in full.

But on the other hand, if Tom thought for a second his mother was in some sort of trouble he would leave to try to help her. Especially, if he got it into his head that he could truly help. Depending on what was happening, that could be dangerous. Tom had already been beaten up once before because his mother couldn't stay out of trouble.

Alex followed him back into the house. "Do you guys keep an eye on her?"

"Rey does," Eagle said. "She comes sniffing around for favors and money every now and then."

"Seriously?"

"Mmm, hmm," the man hummed, settling back onto the couch. "Rey's given her a couple hundred in bail money before but she's never asked for this much."

"And since when do you have thousands of pounds stashed in the house?" Alex asked, thoroughly curious. Alex went through Eagle's stuff all the time, something Eagle knew about. So either the money was extremely well hidden or it had just gotten there.

"A client paid me under the table a few days ago to change all the locks in her house."

"That's a lot of money for some locks."

"It's a big house."

Alex smiled and thought about what he'd found out that day. He would be telling Tom about everything he'd learned. He had to; Alex had instituted a no secrets policy ever since he'd first heard about Tom's hidden problems and Tom had always upheld his end of that bargain. Alex wasn't willing to break that policy for the same woman who had caused its creation to begin with.

"You know I'm going to tell Tom about all of this?" Alex asked. Eagle looked him in the eye and nodded, but didn't seem to think he needed to say anything else about it. A few minutes later, however, Alex spoke again. "Hey, Andy. Thanks, for looking out for my friend."

"Sure thing kid," he said. "It was my pleasure."

00000

Tom had been mortified to hear that his mother had caused a ruckus at the school but when Alex had told him about what Wolf and Eagle had done, he had gone so quiet that Alex became a little unsettled.

"Tom?" he asked, concerned when the kid just kept picking at the threads of his comforter. Tom licked his lips.

"I don't even know what to do with that," Tom told him. Alex wanted to reach over and hug him the other kid looked so sad and confused. He got up from the desk chair and sat next to Tom on the bed, leaning against the headboard.

"Me either," Alex told him. "But they were trying to help you."

"I know that," Tom said. "And I understand why they wouldn't tell me about any of it either. I'm not sure I want to know what she's gotten herself into. Part of me thinks I have a right to know and the other part just wants to leave her to clean up her own mess. Clearly she only wants to come around when she thinks she can get some money from me."

There was nothing Alex could say. It was true and there wasn't much you could say to comfort someone from that truth, so Alex didn't say anything. He simply took Tom's hand and leaned his head on his friend's shoulder. They sat like that for an hour or so just like they always did when one of them needed their world to stop spinning so fast.

Eventually Tom broke the silence.

"I need a favor," he said.

"What is it?"

"I want you to check it out," he said. "I want you to decide whether or not I need to know. Whatever it is, I only want to know if she's in real trouble. Not just some sort of screw up. I trust you to know the difference."

Alex nodded.

"Mission accepted?"

"Aye, aye, Accomplice," Alex laughed and got up to get started on what his best friend had asked of him.

He would do anything to help his friend with his mother. Even if it meant keeping secrets. They were those kind of friends.