AN: And another new chapter! Enjoy!

Alastair lasted through the night. Or at least he thought it was the night. His head was really rattled and it had become difficult keeping track of time but he knew hours had passed. Suddenly his bonds were being cut and he was being pulled away. If he hadn't had the shit beat out of him, he probably could have gotten out then and there but as it was, his balance was way off and as he was ushered up a flight of stairs, he slowly got it back.

Becoming more aware of his surroundings, his eyes had just been able to focus when he was blinded by sunlight and pulled onto a roof top. The seeming leader appeared, Alastair hadn't seen him since he left, and grabbed Alastair, forcing him down onto the hard ground and over the edge.

"If you don't tell me who you work for, I'll throw you over the fucking edge."

Alastair looked down, calculating the likely hood of surviving the drop.

"I said tell me who you work for!"

"One, two, three, five…"

"Not this shit again," growled out the man as he pulled Alastair back to his feet. "I mean why do you even do that? It's not helping you, it's not helping us."

Alastair just gave the man a blank, steely face, which was honestly pretty impressive as half of it was caked in blood and swollen.

"Alright, you know what? That's it," the man replied as he pulled out a gun and pushed the butt of it into Alastair's forehead. "One last warning, or I blow your brains out."

Alastair remained completely passive as he glanced at a flash of light from the corner of his eye. It took a moment for his brain to flash forward and realize what it was but when he did, he focused back on the man and said, "You're not going shoot me because if it's even possible, my partner has been even more unresponsive." God it really hurt to talk. "And even if you wanted to deny that now, I can tell by the way you're holding your gun that it's unloaded and even if that wasn't true, I do believe it is your brains that are about to be splattered in three, two, one…"

"What the fuck—"

Using the shock from his words, the whizzing of the bullet, and the sudden splatter of brains, Alastair knocked the closest man off the roof and got the next one's neck around his tied hands, breaking it swiftly as the sniper took out the rest.

Kingsman had found them. How, Alastair could really give to shits for the moment as he slowly worked his hands free. By the time he was done, his wrists were even worse, and honestly, he could have just waited for someone to find him, but he really wasn't going to just sit it out on the room like some damn damsel.

Alastair grabbed a machine gun from one man, ignored how his muscles groaned, and made his way until he came into contact with some from Kingsman. The woman quickly lead him out and once he was out of the area and safe, he was pleased to see Yvain mostly alive.

"They kept mumbling something about prime numbers. Was that you?" asked Yvain with a huge lisp thanks to a swollen tongue.

"I had to have some way to pass the time," Alastair replied as easily as he could as a medic came to him.

Yvain laughed at that, for some weird reason, which Alastair ignored and concentrated on answering whatever questions were asked of him. Eventually, they were lifted off, and headed back to HQ.

Knowing full well that he'd probably be forced into a medical bed to reevaluate all wounds and properly clean and bandage everything, Alastair paced back and forth once they were level in the air, even though several voices told him he need to sit down.

He went through what the men and women could tell him about the layout of the hide out, whether they had found the weapon, and everything else. Alastair only sat down when it was time for landing and even afterwards he didn't take any assistance when moving to the med bay where Merlin would have him looked over and debriefed.

Alastair wasn't trying to be rude, in fact, that was the farthest thing from his mind. He just thought of what would possibly get him through all of this the fastest and then home.

Merlin chided him, especially about the torn and chaffed wrists. Ironically the man was very much like a worried and pissed off parent when it came to seeing a Kingsman agent patched, even though he definitely wasn't the oldest in the group. Alastair mostly let the words barely brush over him except when he heard the name and perked up.

"What about Lancelot?"

"He's…he's dangerously balanced between understanding that this is part of the job and also killing you simply from getting kidnapped."

"I didn't get kidnapped," sighed Alastair with a roll of his eyes. "It torture to get information, even they weren't very good and the torturing part. To brutish. And if he decides to kill me…well, that just defeats the purpose of dragging me all the way back here."

Merlin let out a small snort at that and then began to go over the other groups in the area they'd been monitoring that had gone underground due to the rescue of the Kingsman agents. Alastair listened, added what he knew to the pile of information and kept his opinions to himself, and finally Merlin muttered, "We won't force you to stay here but you are being taken off active duty for now until everything heals."

"Understood. Should I expect to be mauled by Lancelot once I step out this door or…"

"No, he's away for the moment though I expect he'll be back soon. Perhaps even by tonight."

"I'll keep my doors locked."

"A joke. Lancelot really is a good influence on you."

Alastair looked over curiously. "How could you tell it was a joke?"

"You smiled," Merlin responded with his own small smile. "Now get home Alastair. You deserve it."

Nodding, Alastair was finally able to leave Kingsman and head home. As he did, he thought of everything that would need to heal and how long it would take. Besides his bloody wrists, he'd gained a fracture in his jaw and several loose teeth that would have to be looked at later. There were also the broken ribs, two on the left, one on the right, that would take time. Other than that it was all bruising except for a small cut on his cheek where a fist had been able to tear apart the skin.

Only once home did Alastair allow himself to slow down and the first thing he did was collapse on the couch, controlling his breathing pattern. That slow, rhythmic pattern eventually sent him to sleep where sometime later, he awoke with a blanket around him and the sound of boiling tea.

Slowly, he removed the blanket and made his way to the kitchen where he saw James making tea. It was light outside which either meant he'd slept to little or not long enough.

"I don't think I remember giving you a key," Alastair remarked to break up the silence.

"You didn't. But I suggest you do so I won't have to worry about being charged with breaking and entering."

"You could have buzzed, called me," Alastair responded with a sigh.

"Didn't want to wake you in case you were asleep."

"Speaking of which, how long have I been asleep?"

"Well, seeing as you went to sleep before I got here in the morning, probably close to twelve hours if not longer."

Looking at a clock to see that it was nearing five, Alastair said, "In the morning? What did you do?"

"Nothing much. Just looked after you and made sure you didn't wake up from pain or anything like that. You did fall asleep in a rather odd position."

Alastair hadn't really taken much notice as his hold body still had that dull ache. Sighing, mumbled, "Well thank then. You didn't have to."

"I know," replied James, looking down at the ground. "But uh…leaving isn't an option!"

"What?"

"You got that? It's an order. You're not allowed to leave me like that again," James responded, a pleading and desperate look on his face.

"James, you know I can't."

"Yes you can, even if it's a lie. I just can't lose you. So promise me you'll be okay, always."

Alastair let out a soft sigh as he walked over and gave a James' a kiss. "I promise."

"Good to know we're on the same page," James replied with a look of accomplishment before finally revealing the first grin on the day. "You look like shit by the way."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"You're still beautiful to me."

"Stop being such a sap and just finish making me a pot of tea."

"Whoever said this was for you?" teased James.

"Well seeing as the tea is mine and is being brewed by my things in my kitchen and, need I remind you, in my house, it automatically belongs to me," Alastair responded. He gave James another small kiss before sitting down and adding, "And that includes you."

"Oh does it now?"

"Yes, which also means no leaving. You're stuck with me for life no matter what."

James laughed at that, nodding in agreement before finally poring the tea and handing Alastair a cup.