November 2001

Dr Lionel Herman was surprised by the couple wanting to take on the disabled and psychologically damaged teenager, but they seemed to be realists and were in a stable and very loving relationship. He was now conducting the individual interviews for his assessment. The placement was being pushed for by both MI6 and the CIA, who both wanted their small mistake out of their hair.

"Hi, Tony. I get from my talk with Jon that it was his idea about becoming parents. Yet, its you who have a close relationship with your own family. I take it you see your two nieces regularly?"

"Yes, more so before they started at boarding schooling Cheltenham. They were regular visitors as I was resting more than working as an actor. I still meet with Margo, my ex-sister-in-law, occasionally even after the divorce. As teenagers, they want to follow their own path and time is now very precious with their own parents and friends."

"So, the lowdown about Alex. Medically, he has damaged lungs, this bout of pneumonia won't be his last. Management of his health is a must, so immunisation for every strain of flu every fall. His amputations have put a strain on his circulatory system, which heightens his risk of blot clots, maybe even a stroke or a cardiac arrest. So, you are taking on a fourteen year old who has a moderate statistical chance of not making it to adulthood."

"The medical team went through all that. I guess you are assessing me for cold feet. This is all completely beyond my wildest dreams. I have always been openly gay, not one of those that pretended to be hetero get a better chance of work. I am a member of Outrage and have been arrested and cautioned a couple of times for nonviolent protest. Fatherhood was not on any gay mans agenda, now its becoming acceptable to foster and adopt. I thought it would be occasional fostering of teenagers and disabled children, but this is the chance of a real family for both Jon and I and for Alex. So, I'm behind this 110%. Now for your expert assessment, Doctor; tell me the worst case scenario about our soon to be son's psychological damage from his six months working for MI6."

…

Banff, December 2011

"Don't look at me like I have two heads, Paul. Yassen is the one person on the planet that gets the entirety of my previous situation. Papa knows the facts, but can't comprehend the stain it leaves from the hurt, abuse and hopelessness. Jon was more in tune with all of that but still, maybe you get it. You've seen into the abyss. Look, I'm quite at home with my quirks and foibles. I've always been fucked in the head, Ian did that; not Yassen. Circumstances beyond both our controls shaped us. He also completely destroyed by his own tragedies."

"Al, baby. I'm trying to get my head around your being cool about this psychopath playing you."

"Playing is better than the alternative, which is dead." Alex sat back and pondered this situation. "He was just checking up on me in his own way. I'm a million times more together than I was in 2004, when he pushed for me to go back to Papa. There was no hidden agenda with Yassen. Not like when I did my internship at Albert Embankment. He was just giving those shits just enough rope to hang themselves. He blames them for my breakdown, which should have been avoided, only MI5 failed to adhere to their own procedures. I'm kind of glad I did not go down that road and become a full time spook."

Paul weighed his options before proceeding with his game plan. Alex had successfully thrown a spanner into his planned breakfast meeting. "My dad was a brilliant businessman, knew his mind and trusted his instincts. I'm like him in that sense. I want to be a good friend, but you sir are good for my businesses. Your input over the past four years has saved me a bundle in expected costs, provided me with excellent coding and as a result has led me to take over Roscoe Communications in March. Join me as my XO. We'll make a team that will bring that outdated leviathan kick and screaming into the second decade of the twenty-first century. The chips we manufacture and our network are fine, but we may be better dumping our range of mobiles and going with a new partnership. What was the must have item seven years ago is now no ones idea of fashion or even practicable."

Alex sat back and pondered this very strange job offer. "You do know I'm unlikely to pass a company medical. I failed the one for GCHQ. Too many work place hazards, though I can still be hired as a freelance consultant doing exactly the same thing. So, salary… more than 25K pa I take it."

Paul laughed at the ridiculously low starting bid "That's the governments starting offer to code for them as a consultant? You got paid more than that recoding two games for me, which took you two weeks."

"Well, debugging and streamlining code is not the same as what they do. They have already upgraded to incorporate the algorithms proposed in my doctoral thesis. Hell I had most of it written, coded and ready for use eighteen months ago. Ask Smither's, he told me the NSA are after my most excellent bit of cryptography. Four patents filed in my name are all top secret."

"That is why you are coming to work for me getting Roscoe Communications back to the Number One spot. Its tanking at the moment, I think only our satellite section paid its way last year. Three years to get back to our position in 2001. I'll get a superb bundle worked out for you. Best nanny in the world for my goddaughter, flexible working, I'll even throw in my house. Pasadena is only 35 minute commute from your dad's place. Not that I am suggesting you move home." Paul sat back and exhaled as he was talking to Alex at his inscrutable best.

"I can't agree to anything until after my graduation in June. I'm also down to volunteer at both the Olympics and Paralympics. Gerard and Tony are spending the whole August and September looking after their number one grandchild. Dieter Sprintz has lent us his Grosvenor Square pad. I've got a buyer lined up for my place in Cambridge already." Alex then knew he would most likely be moving to sunny California. How would CC take this news?

…

Alex was breakfasting with his papa as Gerard was out wheeling and dealing already, his daughter in the pool with her Great Aunt Marie. The woman taking advantage of the sunshine and warm weather.

"So, I'm moving to Pasadena in September. I'd be a fool to turn down Paul's offer of a job at Roscoe Communications."

"I do hope CC will be coming with you? You both need to be there for Tia. I feel I have done something unforgivable as she is not answering my messages or commenting on my posts."

"Its over, Papa. She walked out and took her stuff. I'm filing for divorce on the grounds of her adultery and child abandonment. By May, I'll be single again as she's agreed not to contest this. She's in love with Franco and he's her chosen future. I'll try an get her to agree to visitation, but that's a long shot." Alex smiled in an attempt to reassure his papa that he was OK with all this. Once you had made the decision to move on it was a weight off your shoulders, no longer compensating for your unpredictable and often absent partner. "I'm not chasing after her. She can't come back this time and act like nothing has changed. It has, bailing on Tia's christening was the last straw." Alex sighed, he could not compare to her new love. The man was perfect, beautiful and healthy. "I love her…. I'll probably always love CC, so like me, so broken. I love her because off her difficulties, they mirror mine. not enough therapy in the world to get me to understand how she can just walk out in Tia. Me I understand, but her .. our daughter is perfection."

Antony Howell had been kept in the loop regarding Alex's visitor in Banff and the murderer still stalking his son. "Moving here might cause problems with CC, especially if she gets the backing of her family."

"She will never side with them. I talked with her yesterday. She's fine with wavering her parental rights. She does not want alimony or a monitory settlement. A quick dirty divorce, making her out to be the bad guy is quickest way out in her eyes. No court appointed mediation is she's in Italy and I'm in California."

The actor could see the danger signs as Alex skirted his own self hatred as a reason for CC leaving. "So, are you taking Tia to GCHQ?"

"Yeah, local daycare is a Montessori nursery. I'll show you their prospectus. Fully catered in house. Tia will get to eat normal food there. I've been asked too give a talk at Headquarters in London as well. Dylan has promised to take is number one girl to London Zoo to see the penguins. I just can't imagine him changing a nappy."

Alex pondered the slow decline in his relationship with his wife. They had been happiest before his health took its latest downturn. It would have ended much sooner, except for the double failure of both a split condom and the small chance of conception as CC had been on the pill. Miracle baby, one CC had clung on to as a ticket to utopia only Tia had arrived and both CC and Alex were exactly the same flawed individuals. The doctoral student could stomp down on the hurt, betrayal and rejection and carry on, only he was a realist. He was going back into therapy to remain positive and be the best parent he could possibly be.