As it would turn out, it would be a little over two months before Alastair and James saw each other again, at least face to face. When the news came that James had finally accomplished his mission, just afterwards James called Alastair as he talked about a play date that Christina was asking about. They'd decided it was alright and Alastair ended up getting Roxy for the weekend.

James came over immediately after getting debriefed, picking up Vincent along the way. Despite the five year difference, the two had become thick as thieves.

When James finally arrived at Alastair's flat, the two immediately were hugging tightly to each and kissing. Roxy rolled her eyes at that while Vincent muttered a little eww from behind them. When it looked like James and Alastair weren't going to stop their embrace any time soon, Roxy motioned for Vincent to follow her to another room.

Alastair was the first to pull back but only slightly as he muttered, "Remind me to make Harry take all the undercover missions from now on."

James chuckled at that. "Are you kidding me? Merlin would go insane with how quiet HQ would suddenly become."

Shaking his head with a smile, Alastair offered to take James' coat. After James gave it to him and he hung it on the coat rack, Alastair turned around and was shocked by what he saw. "James you're bleeding!"

"Huh?" His back turned, James craned his neck around to try to look at the blossoming spot of blood on his back. "Oh that? It's nothing."

"Nothing? There is blood on your shirt James," Alastair replied as he hurried off to fetch a first aid kit.

Letting out a sigh, James quickly said, "You don't have to do that. I probably just broke the scab or pulled a stitch or two."

"Pulled your stitches? What the hell happened?" asked Alastair as he came back with the kit. When James didn't say or do anything, Alastair frowned and added, "Please just take off your shirt James."

"But the kids are home honey."

"I'm not in the mood for your joking. Take off your shirt and let me look at it," Alastair responded, face set in stone making it clear he would probably force the shirt off James if needed. "I'm serious. Sit down on the couch and take it off."

"Fine," grumbled James. He kept acting like it wasn't a big deal and Alastair was making a problem where there wasn't one but the moment he took his shirt off and twisted his body, it was clear he was greatly undermining the situation.

"Holy shit, why aren't you back at HQ in the med bay or something!?"

"It's not as bad as it looks. At least not that deep. Besides, I wanted to see you."

"That's no reason to allow the risk of infection," chided Alastair as he slowly began to lift up the bandages from James back.

From the left shoulder down to his right hip was a long deep gash while a slightly shallower and shorter one ran almost parallel to the right of his spine. The larger one had the stitches in it and James wasn't wrong when he'd said one or two had been pulled, a lot more than that had broken.

As Alastair inspected it, James suddenly flinched causing a glare from Alastair which James could feel without turning around. "Fine my ass. What the hell did this to you?"

"A whip."

"Jesus Christ, what was that target of yours into," muttered Alastair as he began to take out the necessary tools for sterilizing the wounds again.

"It's not what you think. The psycho liked to carry around a whip to keep her employees in order. On my last day there I had finally found a way into the secure areas of her facility and was buying time for the tech team from Kingsman that came out when she figured out that I was undercover from some organization. I was walking in front of her at the time and she got out the whip without any warning. I almost missed the second one but was just a bit to slow. The others I dodged and I took her out when I got confirmation that the tech department had gotten what they needed."

"What kind of people would work for a woman that disciplines with a whip?"

"Desperate people. You really can't blame them. Most were either starving on the streets with their families or they were being blackmailed to stay," replied James before cutting off to take a sharp intake of breath. "You could have warned me about stitching me back up."

"I didn't want to interrupt you," Alastair responded as he continued to work. "You know this is going to scar."

"And what would a Kingsman agent be without scars?"

"A miracle."

James laughed at that as he felt Alastair's fingers continue to ghost over his skin as he carefully patched him up again, only causing James to wince a few more times.

"So did anything fun happen on your mission or were you mainly just getting hickies and being whipped?"

Giving off a snort, James replied, "Well besides that I improved my Chinese a lot and learned the impossible task of trying to get past a biometric system."

"So enjoyable," Alastair responded sarcastically as he began to put away the medical equipment. He had just finished packing it back into the kit and had set it on his coffee table when James turned around and basically collapsed on top of him. "James!"

"What?" asked James as he lay himself out and wrapped himself around Alastair. "You're the one that yelled at me to stay in the med bay."

"So you've decided to fall asleep on me and my couch?"

"Not fall asleep. Just rest," responded James as he nuzzled his face against Alastair's chest.

"Shouldn't we check on the kids first?"

"I hear shouting in the backroom which from any other group of kids, would be mildly worrying, but Roxy is probably just showing off a new form so I wouldn't worry about them."

Rolling his eyes, Alastair asked, "In that case, do you need anything?"

"Water."

"Well in that case you're going to have to let me get up."

"Hmm, never mind then."

Shaking his head at that, Alastair just chuckled and then softly began to run his fingers through James' hair. He knew the action was something that James did for him when he was tired or uncomfortable or just not his usual self and the action seemed to please James as he returned the favor. He made a noise that was much to close to a cat sound as Alastair's dog Josie walked into the room. She sniffed at them a bit before heading towards the noise of the kids.

"So," murmured James, "has Kenton been cooperative?"

"Pretty much a hundred percent. I think it was really the initial shock of it all that caused most of the arguments but he hasn't brought it up in a while," Alastair replied. "Though I'm sure that he's dying to know more."

"People are naturally curious," mumbled James. "So, anything else from him? What about the wedding plans?"

"They finally decided on next Spring. They don't have an exact date yet but they're thinking April."

"What about the place?"

"Somewhere in Nigeria, to be close to Nenna's family."

"Hmm, expensive too I imagine," James said with a yawn. "Bringing out the old family money on this one?"

"Well besides the trip it will be relatively small. The honeymoon is another matter entirely," Alastair continued, the words almost seeming disgusted.

"What? Did they already decide on some place to go?"

Alastair gave a small nod though he added yes since James wasn't looking. "They're going to see Disney World for a week and then they're going to go hiking in Canada for another week. I was hoping Nenna would be a bit more adult like than my brother."

"But they both agreed on that for a honeymoon?"

"Yes," grumbled Alastair.

"Well at least we can say they're alike in some respects. I hope we don't get posted out on a mission during the wedding."

"Have you ever been to Nigeria?" asked Alastair.

"Hmm…no…"

"James. James are you really falling asleep on me? James!" Even the rather vocal shout didn't rouse the man who had completely passed out. He only jerked slightly and began snoring as well.

At that moment, Roxy decided to enter the room. Her eyes landed on the bandages first. "Is everything alright?" she asked hurriedly.

"Yes, just an accident at work. Could you get him a blanket sis?"

"Yeah, hold on," replied Roxy. She quickly came back and threw it over both of them. "I was just going to ask if I could get some snacks from the kitchen."

"Of course. I trust you to be careful though don't let Vincent go running around wherever he wants."

"Of course brother. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"Thank you but not. I feel like we're not going to be moving for a rather long time."