Looking back at the original chapter, I feel like it would be more impressive to spot the similarities rather than the differences.

Alex woke up feeling pain free but also like he'd run a marathon the way his body felt so weak. He already knew that this was different to the previous times he'd woken up. His head felt less groggy and he as more aware of his surroundings. He also didn't feel like he was about to fall asleep again. The sound of shuffling made his ears perk and his eyes widened when he realised who was sitting next to him.

"Fox?" His voice was slurred and rough, but he managed to make himself heard.

From beside him, Fox jerked. It had been three hours since K-Unit had left and he'd finally found something to do in the form of a newspaper. He honestly hadn't expected Cub to wake up yet but he found himself smiling at him happily.

"Hey Cub, how're you feeling?"

Alex eyed Fox wearily. "Tired…and very confused" He had absolutely no idea what one of his former team mate was doing in his hospital room. He hadn't seen the man since Brecon Beacons so what was he doing here? Maybe he was hallucinating, that seemed the most likely explanation. Though why he would hallucinate Fox of all people was beyond him.

"Understandable. I'll explain things best I can but first I need to get your doctor in here" Fox said.

Alex watched as Fox pressed a small button. "Water?" He asked. His voice was dry from lack of use. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been able to have a drink. His captors weren't the most hospitable. Alex flinched at the thought of his captivity and tried to ignore the memories as he accepted a cup from Fox who was pretty much definitely not a hallucination.

"Drink slowly," Fox recommended as Alex started gulping it down. It wasn't doing his stomach any favours and he ended up doing as Fox suggested. The doctor came in just as he was finishing off and looked at Fox approvingly. He introduced himself and asked Alex the mandatory questions all doctor's asked, 'how are you feeling', 'are you in any pain', 'can you tell me the date' and by the end of it the doctor looked very pleased.

"Well Alex, I think you're going to recover very well. There's nothing that concerns us and I think you should be able to go home fairly soon," At the mention of home Alex's stomach churned. He didn't have a home anymore. There was no way he'd be allowed to live alone. What was going to happen to him? Were MI6 now his guardians? His breath started to come out in short; ragged bursts and his hands clenched his bed sheets tightly as the anxiety set in.

Fox noticed that Alex was becoming panicked and internally cursed the doctor for inadvertently bringing it on. The doctor himself became aware of what he'd done and was ready to anaesthetise Alex if he didn't calm down soon. It wasn't doing him any good.

"Cub…Alex look at me," At the mention of both his names, Alex turned to look at Fox, his eyes wide and glazed over.

"I know your guardian…Jack…is dead but don't worry. You are not going to be sent back to MI6. There have been other arrangements made and I will explain them to you if you calm down, okay? Can you do that? Breath with me, that's right. In, 1,2,3 and out, 1,2,3." Fox did that a few times before Alex finally calmed. He wasn't sure if what he'd said was the right thing, but by the way Alex was feeling better, he assumed he wasn't far off.

Doctor Wells looked at Fox gratefully and told Alex he'd be back to check on him later. Alex only nodded and stared at the ceiling, thoroughly worn out but not willing to fall asleep again. He didn't want to return to the nightmares just yet, especially not when he had about a million and one questions to ask. He started off with the one he'd wanted to ask since he woke up.

"So, why are you here?" Alex asked.

Fortunately, Fox had had quite a lot of time to think about how he'd answer Alex's questions.

"I along with the others in K-Unit was the ones who rescued you. We weren't told it was you at the time, safe to say that we were shocked when we realised."

Alex gave a soft snort. They probably thought he'd gone back to his rich daddy. Well, except for Wolf of course, but then they didn't really have time to chat before.

"Oh, that's right. I'm just going to text them to say you've woken up," Fox brought out his phone and Alex said "Should you have that in here?"

Fox shrugged. "Probably not but well, it's not killing you so I'm going to use it. Screw health rules."

Alex snorted in amusement and Fox hid a smile. So far so good.

His texts were quickly responded with ones from the others telling him they were on their way and Fox anticipated they'd be there in about twenty minutes which was convenient. He wanted a little bit of time to explain the situation to Alex before he was overwhelmed by the others. It was strange, thinking of Cub as Alex now, but he'd decided that it was probably best as Alex may not want to be thought of as Cub at all.

"You said that there were other arrangements…what are they?" Alex asked; his tone was cautious, as he was expecting the news to be bad. At least he knew that he wasn't going to be locked up by MI6, he trusted Fox not to lie about that.

"After much debating and consideration," Lie. "We decided that it would be best if you came to live with me and the rest of the Unit." Fox waited with anticipation for Alex's response.

Alex just stared at him blankly. He was waiting for the moment Fox told him he was kidding but it never came. He couldn't believe it.

"But you hate me," He stated it as if it were a well-known fact and Fox winced. He couldn't blame Alex for thinking that, not really.

"None of us hate you. I know you might think that but we would not do this for someone we hated. I'll admit we were a bit quick with our judgements on you but we've had time to reflect on that and realise how wrong we were. Wolf also told us how you earned his respect on that mission you two had together. When we saw you in that cell…damn Alex, no kid should be in that position. Seeing that sort of thing shakes up your perspectives. We were dicks to you at Brecon Beacons, I'm not going to lie, but I promise that when you come to live with us things won't be like that. We're not normally like that and we want you to recover, not go mad."

Alex still looked doubtful. No one had a change of heart so quickly and offered that sort of thing to a practical stranger. He narrowed his eyes at Fox. "Nice speech. You keep saying when. What if I decide not to come with you?" He was tired of adults forcing their decisions onto him, it never ended well. For him or them.

Fox shrugged, expecting this. "It's totally up to you whether you decide to come or not. Honestly, I wouldn't blame you if you said no. But if you do say no then you will be under custody of MI6 and I'm not sure what would happen to you."

Alex found Fox was beginning to earn Alex's respect slightly. He was a lot different to how he had acted at Brecon Beacons, but in a good way. He was more honest than most of the other adults Alex had been in contact with in a while, and he didn't sugar coat anything. However, how honest he was being about Alex actually living with him and the others in K-Unit, he was still suspicious about.

"Also, if you do say no I think Eagle will be really disappointed. He spent a lot of time preparing your room and he can't wait to see your reaction." Fox gave a grin and Alex looked at him dubiously, finding it hard to relate that statement to the man he'd met whilst training.

"So, if I stay with you then I won't have any contact with MI6 at all?" Alex asked, after a few moments of silent debating. He'd come to the decision that he wanted to be out of under MI6's thumb more than anything and if staying with K-Unit would do that, then it was definitely worth considering.

Fox rubbed the back of his neck. "I can't say for certain you won't have any contact with them but you aren't going on another mission if we can help it. I doubt Blunt would force you whilst you're recovering anyway."

Alex accepted that answer as he hadn't expected much different. Frankly, he was surprised that he was even being given the option to stay with them. How they managed to get Blunt to agree was a mystery to him.

"I still don't get why you're doing it," Alex admitted. "Is it out of pity?" If it was, Alex felt like he would refuse out of principle, even if the alternative was worse. He wouldn't be able to stand living with them if it was the case.

Before Fox could answer, the rest of K-Unit barged into the room, ignoring the two people in the room at a time rule.

"You're awake!" Eagle cried happily as he grinned at the teen. Alex stared back at him sceptically. This man really did in no way resemble the person he'd met at Brecon Beacons.

Wolf saw the look Alex was giving Eagle and slapped him on the side of the head. "Chill out Eagle. Don't want to frighten the kid before we'd had a chance to talk." That earned him a glare.

"I'm not frightened and I'm not a kid." The last part was said with such cold seriousness that Wolf let it lie. That thought was an issue they could deal with another day.

"So Alex, has Fox explained the situation to you yet?" Snake asked, diffusing the tension that had sprung up in the room.

"Sort of," Alex replied. "I just don't understand why you guys want me to live with you. I barely know you and you made your feelings about me pretty clear at Brecon Beacons. I know you talked about misunderstanding,' he hurriedly added when Ben looked like he was about to interrupt, 'but I still don't get it. What do you get out of it?"

"Alex" Snake started slowly. "We don't expect anything out of it. Think of it as our way of saying sorry for how we treated you before.' He cut Alex off by lifting his hand. "That's not it though, we think the way you have been treated by Blunt is not right and we do not want to let that man have any more power over you than he already has. I'll admit, it may not be the ideal situation for anyone but we're more than willing to give it a go if you are."

"So basically this is a 'screw you' to Blunt." Alex knew he was making this difficult for them, but he felt it was justified. He wanted to see how serious they were about their proposition.

Snake sighed exasperatedly. Convincing Alex was harder than he thought it would be.

"It's not just that," Fox carried on from Snake. "We want to help you Alex. No one should be put through the things you have, especially by force. I doubt you were given much choice in the matter". He looked at Alex quizzically and when the teen just shrugged, carried on. "We'll be able to protect you while you're recovering. I doubt you could be safer than living with 3 SAS soldiers and an MI6 agent."

Alex startled. "Wait, what? Who's an MI6 agent?" He looked at Wolf, thinking he was the most logical person, but the man shook his head.

"I am," Fox replied and Alex looked at him as if he'd grown two heads.

"Why?"

"I found my talents were better suited to MI6. Though I'll admit the job isn't all it's cracked up to be. Boss is kind of a jerk."

Alex gave a small smile at that, his first since waking, which Fox counted as an achievement.

"Yeah, especially after want happened we'll make sure it can't happen again." Eagle said before his eyes widened. "Oh shit, wasn't supposed to say that."

Wolf groaned whilst Fox muttered "Language."

Alex regarded them all suspiciously. "What incident?"

"It's nothing really" Fox assured Alex whilst Eagle was being scowled at by Wolf and Snake. "There was a man in your room who wasn't authorised to be in there but it's all been dealt with."

"Sure it has," Alex muttered, too quietly for anyone to hear. Of course they didn't deem him good enough to be told. Why would they? No one else did. Not until it was his life in danger and him running for his life. Noting that they were all looking at him uncomfortably, he changed the topic.

"What will happen after I'm better?"

That was the question they'd all avoided trying to think about because the truth was, they didn't know. They all had jobs they had to get back to. They couldn't raise a teenager full time and who even knew if they'd be good at it part time?

"I don't know," Fox answered honestly.

Alex considered that. MI6 was unpredictable just like the lifestyle its workers had. Even if Fox could give him an answer, chances are it wouldn't go as planned so it probably was best to not expect anything.

"Soo…what do you say?" Eagle asked and gave a winning smile.

Alex thought about it for a moment. It wasn't ideal, then again ideal would require Jack being alive and that was never going to happen, but it was his best option available. The Unit really didn't seem to be the same as they were at Brecon Beacons, and he knew Wolf thought of him differently anyway since Point Blanc so maybe they could make it work. He wasn't sure he liked them yet, and he had no idea what life with them would actually be like, but anything was better than living life under order from Blunt. Truthfully, it was his only viable option, and it was with that thought that he sealed his future by answering.

"Ok"

As always, thank you for the reviews, favourites and follows! Let me know if you prefer this more serious take on One Big Happy Family.