A/N: So look what's finally finished! I am so sorry about the wait, RL has been hell. I'm close to finishing a year-long internship, and with five or six weeks left, I am waking up every morning feeling sick with dread at the thought of going to work and knowing that I'm going to let people down simply because I have too much work to do. You're only getting this now because I got major writer's block on a presentation I'm meant to be working on for someone. (Yes. It's half nine at night and I'm still working. And tomorrow I'm heading in for eight o'clock because I stupidly decided that food [which I haven't actually managed to have yet] was more important than finishing the work I had left to do. I have one hour tomorrow morning to complete what should be at least three hours of work.)

Sorry about the rant. It's just really starting to get me down. But! I finish on the 3rd July. At that point I will be on holiday, not working any more than a part time job… I hope. Of course, I'll also have coursework still to do. (Did I mention I have coursework on top of 13 hour days? Why did I think this was a good idea?) and then I'm back at uni… where I will be working my ass off for the money and grades I need to do a masters.

Hopefully, it will be worth it. Hopefully, I won't die or have a mental breakdown in the process.

Two GINORMOUS hopefully's there, but we shall see. Now, onto the chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing that you recognise.

-o-O-o-

Cougar sat at the kitchen table, tapping his foot. Across from him, Otter was reading a newspaper, pausing only occasionally to glare at him. He dealt with staying in one place a lot better than Cougar did, which was, admittedly, a little like saying he could out-walk a snake.

But still, they would not leave. It was perfectly obvious that Jaguar needed someone to keep an eye on him, to stop him running off and doing something ridiculous.

The doorbell rang.

Cougar eyed the door to the hall with distaste, remembering the decidedly slimy man who had come by earlier. Spies always made his skin itch.

"You reckon it's for Jag?" he asked.

"Only one way to find out," said Otter, looking at Cougar pointedly.

"Fine, fine," said Cougar. "If it's another spook I reserve the right to be as rude as I like."

"And that would be different from normal how exactly?" asked Otter, dryly.

Cougar flipped him off and went to answer the door,

It was most definitely not a spook. In the doorway stood the fattest man that Cougar had ever seen. As in, Cougar wasn't quite sure how his legs managed to support him, and even less sure that they man would fit through the doorway.

He blinked. "Can I help you?"

"Let me in, let me in," muttered the man, shooing Cougar back. "We don't have much time before someone notices I'm not in the café."

"What?" asked Cougar, scooting back more out of bewilderment than anything else. "Who are you?"

"I can't tell you that, old chap, sorry," said the man, stepping through the doorway and, Cougar noticed, brushing the sides slightly. "Now, where is Alex?"

Cougar decided that that, at least, could not go unchallenged and drew his gun. "Who are you and why are you looking for Alex?"

The man eyed him testily. "Didn't you just hear me say that I can't tell you that? Honestly, why does nobody listen these days? Now, put that away. I'm here to help him, so go and tell him that I'm here."

"And how am I supposed to do that without a name?" asked Cougar.

The man sighed. "Oh very well, if you must, tell him it's Smithers."

Cougar eyed him again, then called over his shoulder.

"Otter! Tell Jag that someone called 'Smithers' is here to see him. If he doesn't know him, I'm putting a bullet in his leg."

There was a curse from the snug.

"Do NOT shoot him!" exclaimed Jaguar, bursting out of the small room and running into the hall.

"I thought we told you to go back to sleep?" growled Otter, chasing after the teen.

Jaguar rolled his eyes. "Yes, and I'm so good at doing what I'm told."

"Alex, my boy, good to see you. Boarding school obviously agrees with you."

"Come through to the kitchen, Smithers," grinned Jaguar. "I'm sure you'll want to lay out whatever is in that bag."

Cougar's eyes immediately zeroed in on the bad half-obscured by the man's bulk. Why had he missed that? He was a trained soldier, for Christ's sake.

"Sorry about the trigger happy soldiers," said Alex as he led the group into the kitchen. "I'm sure they'll make you a cup of tea as an apology," he added, with a glare at the soldier in question.

Cougar shivered as the hard gaze landed on him, and began to move towards the kettle.

"How do you take it?" he asked. He was just being polite. He was definitely not intimidated by Jaguar.

"White, two sugars," said Smithers. "And Alex, stop glaring at them. Honestly, I'm glad you've got someone so protective to look after you."

"Not you as well!" moaned Alex. "I should take up chicken farming with the number of mother hens that I seem to collect."

"You're a child in an adults world," said Otter, gruffly. "We allow that you are talented enough and determined enough to be there, and we acknowledge that you're not a little kid, but you are still a child. It's normal for us to protect you. Any other child in your situation would expect it."

"Any other child in my situation?" queried Alex with a raised eyebrow. "How many children do you know who managed to join the SAS?"

"Okay, fine. Any child whose family is missing and who has been through hell. Is that general enough for you?" asked Otter, with a scowl.

"I'm getting them back," said Alex, stiffly. "I won't be alone for long. And then you can stop worrying about me."

"Stop…? Oh for fuck's sake," growled Otter. "I'm heading upstairs. You're impossible!"

Alex stared after him, confused. "I have no idea what I did there," he admitted.

"That's because you're decidedly strange," said Cougar, placing the tea down on the table. He'd also made one for Alex. "Do you want me here or do you want me to leave?"

"Not to sound ungrateful, but I think it would be easier if you left," admitted Alex.

"You try anything, mate, and you'll be dead before you can make the door."

Cougar gave the man one last glare then left the room.

"Sorry about them," muttered Alex.

Smithers smiled "Not at all, Alex my boy. We've been over this already, haven't we? I cannot fault them for wanting to protect you."

Alex sipped his tea. It was too sweet, but he'd deal. It would have worried him if Cougar had known how he took his tea, if he was honest.

"Not that I'm not always glad to see you, Smithers, but I assume there was a reason you're here?"

"There is. First of all, I want to give you this," said Smithers, withdrawing a file from the briefcase at his side.

"What is it?" asked Alex, pulling over the manila folder and opening it.

"This is what Jones had pulled from the SAS database – they wouldn't hand over any information to her, so she had some of my team hack into them and take it. She was very worried that she hadn't known about the mission. The SAS have been giving a semblance of co-operating with us, but in reality they have been giving us minimal information and not telling us anything they don't think we need to know."

"So treating you exactly how you treat them?" asked Alex snidely, and Smithers grimaced.

"Pretty much," he admitted. "Even your friend Daniels is on their side, at the moment. The man is an employee of MI6 but he feeds everything back to the SAS. We're at a severe disadvantage. But enough about inter-departmental politics. Jones doesn't want you to have this file, Alex. And she cannot know that you have it, do you understand? She pulled it after they made the deal with you, but changed her mind when she saw what it contained."

"She won't find out," promised Alex, with a grin.

"I'm serious, Alex. This could ruin MI6 – and Jones personally. If she finds out you have it, she will do anything to get it back. And I will probably find myself without a job, but that's beside the point. She will kill you if she must."

Alex blinked. "But, she's one of the good guys, right?" he asked. "She's on our side, over all?"

Smithers shook his head. "She will do what is best for her, and her department above all else," said the large man. "After the scandal with you, MI6 is hanging on by a thread. The government might close it down entirely and absorb what is really necessary into the SAS and MI5. Or they might yank it from her and put someone else in charge, which she will not allow to happen."

"What about Blunt?" asked Alex. "Where is he in all of this?"

"He retired shortly after the SAS spirited you away. He thought it was better than being forced out, I believe. He took enough responsibility to let Jones take over his role although it's only by the skin of her teeth that she succeeded."

"Thank you for this," said Alex, closing the file and moving it to the side.

"Don't thank me yet," said Smithers. "There is a lot in here, for you, and I don't have time to explain it all to you. But there is an instruction manual. You can thank me when it brings you home alive."

-o-O-o-

A/N: So yeah, no update on the two in the car, I'm afraid, or on K- and D- Unit, but Smithers showed up! That has to be at least a small 'yay' right?

Oh! I started a new story, by the way. Yes, I know I should have been concentrating on this, but writers block struck due to too much stress and I needed to write something I had immediate inspiration for. It's a Supernatural story, and I'm finding it hard to tell if it's any good because I've not really had many reviews. If there are any SPN fans around, feel like letting me know? (If you say I cannot for the life of me write Sam and Dean, I promise I'll take it down.)

Sorry, shameless plug over.

Review and tell me what you thought of this? Also, how should Alex get to… wherever he will be looking for D- and K-Unit? Sea Turtles?

I love you all, and thanks for sticking with me.

Oddx