A/N: Updated 18/05/15

Of Pizza and Pussy Cats

The big 30.

Eagle was almost halfway through the average lifespan of a male. He was almost middle-aged. His friends wouldn't stop taking the piss about that. Out of the four of them he wasn't even the oldest. That title was claimed by Wolf. But, then again, Wolf was just taking revenge for the senile jokes on his part a couple of years before. However didn't stop the others giving joke cards that opened the wrong way (Memory failing so much he can't remember how to open one), ones with jokes about old age, and they even spoke loudly and clearly as if he was going deaf.

Bastards. The lot of them. Who cares if he would have (and had) done the same?

Besides, thirty wasn't that old. Not really. He hadn't even had his first grey hair yet, unlike some people. Roll on October and revenge would be his. Snake was the worst culprit and he would live to rue the day he called him old.

And ordering pizza and having several six-packs of beer for his birthday meal was definitely not his way of proving he was young and carefree. Nope. Nada. Not at all. It was Wolf he did the whole grownup thing of getting married, settling down, having kids, and hosting dinner parties with other couples. Yes, Wolf was definitely the old one. And if Snake ever looked at him and felt jealous he could have had all that (almost had that) with Stephanie before the accident then he pushed it to the back of his mind. It did nobody any use dwelling on the past.

"Pizza's here," he announced to his friends, shoving the money into the delivery boy's hands and closing the door. He opened the top box and let the smell of pizza-goodness fill his nose. As soon as he entered the lounge of his ground floor apartment, the football blaring loudly on the TV, he was assaulted from all directions by hands reaching for pizza.

"So what has everyone been up to lately?" Snake asked, as he let the cheese drizzle off the pizza and into his mouth.

"I've got some time off work," Wolf volunteered. "To take some time with the family."

They all nodded. It had only been a few months before where Wolf had had a scare with his daughter being kidnapped. She had been recovered safe and sound by some agent who'd been doing a mission and stumbled across her by chance.

"I'm getting married," offered Fox suddenly.

"What? When?" Snake asked.

At the same time Wolf was said, "Well at least you're doing the decent thing considering you knocked her up." Wolf never minced words. However he also didn't point out the "knocking up" had happened three years before and Fox had been dating the girl ever since. He had only met Fox's now-fiancée a few times but she seemed nice enough.

Eagle made sure to smile but inside all he could think about was brown hair, green eyes, and the brightest smile he had ever seen and hands on a swollen belly. The image was quickly replaced by a mashed car, clammy skin, and more blood than he had ever seen before in his life.

"Probably next summer. Since all her relatives are abroad it'll probably take that long to organise it all."

"I'm happy for you," Eagle said honestly. "Who's going to be best man?"

Fox could feel the penetrating stares and laughed nervously. "Haven't decided."

"Oh," Snake said, lifting his can of beer, "Cheers. To the old fogie and the traitor to the bachelor life."

"Cheers," they all said, lifting their own beers. Snake, Fox, and Wolf would all be staying the night or getting a taxi back after all the celebrating they were about to do.

Eagle had barely token his first sip of the evening when there was a sudden smashing of something fragile and a loud thump in Eagle's hallway that had them all jumping to their feet a second before a blond in his late teens, possibly early twenties came barging into the room, slamming the door shut behind him. He'd obviously been doing a bit of running as he was breathing heavily and covered in a thin film of sweat.

He looked at Eagle. "Sorry about the vase. I'll replace it."

"Alex!" Fox exclaimed. "I thought you were on a job."

"Still am," the blond said, crossing the room and into the kitchen, where he began rummaging in Eagle's fridge.

"Hey!" he cried out indignantly.

"Leave Cub be," Wolf said, "I'm sure he has a reason."

That drew Eagle up short and suddenly he could see the familiarity between the young man and the teenager at the Brecon Beacons five years earlier. After a few seconds of poking around the fridge Cub pulled out a large steak that Eagle had been saving the weekend. He then proceeded over to Fox and began searching through the man's pockets.

"Alex what are you -"

Cub cut Fox's question off. "Can't talk. Working. Ahaa!" Cub had found a white bottle in Fox's pockets and sat himself on the floor where he emptied the pills and began poking them into the steak. From the look on Fox's face Eagle could tell that it was definitely an above average dose that the kid was using.

About forty seconds after Cub had come bursting in the door he was standing back by it, the door handle tightly in one hand and steak in the other. "Here kitty, kitty," he sang, opening the door a crease and slamming it shut again as a loud roar filled the air and a paw the size of a small football burst through the gap before he forced it back.

The four older men all flinched at the sound but Cub appeared to be perfectly fine. Snake was the first to recover. "What the hell was that?"

"A liger." At the blank looks on half the faces in the room he elaborated. "A crossbreed between a male lion and a female tiger. They're biggest type of cat." Then, ignoring the incredulous and concerned looks on the faces turned his attentions back to the door. "Hey little kitty, I've got some food for you. A nice big juicy steak." He pulled the door open and managed to chuck the steak in as the liger tried to get its paw through the door again.

The door slammed shut and Cub leaned his back against it in relief. "Well that was fun," he commented. "That should take about five minutes for the big guy to go to sleep. Or maybe it's a girl. I didn't actually check."

Fox, being the only one there used to the situations that Alex constantly found himself in, began to laugh. However there was a slight edge of panic to it. "Jack is never going to believe this. How the whole did you get chased by a liger, Alex?"

"It's not my fault. There was a millionaire out for revenge in the long term coma word, going on about the train companies would pay for what happened to his daughter, then there was the mess with the taser, and eventually he set his pet on me. What the hell is it with these guys and their pets? It's always jellyfish and tigers and sharks. What about a cute little bunny rabbit for a change?"

Fox laughed again while Wolf and Snake watched the easy interaction awkwardly from the side, acutely aware of the dangerous animal sitting just the other side of the door. However all Eagle could think of from the moment Cub mentioned the long term coma ward was pale skin, lank hair, and closed eyes. He was brought out of his thoughts by the beeping of Cub's watch and the swears that came out of the nineteen-year-old's mouth.

"I've got to go. Imminent train crash to stop and all," he explained. Well, sort of. All he was doing was creating even more questions. Alex pulled open the window to exit instead of risking the big cat in a hallway. "Give MI6 a call," he said climbing out, "I'm sure they can do something about the cat. Oh and tell Sophie thanks for the picture."

Cub was gone all of five seconds before he popped his head back in the window. "By the way Eagle, happy birthday. Your girlfriend woke up. She's a bit confused. You should speak to her. Tell her I'm sorry about the taser." Then he was gone again.

Eagle stared blankly at the window not sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry. Nine months before a drunk driver ploughed through a brick wall and into his long-term girlfriend Stephanie. Their baby was lost and she never regained consciousness. It had been so long they said that she'd never wake up.

He was released from his stupor when a pair of car keys was dropped into his hand. He looked up to see all of his friends smiling at him expectantly. "Well go on then," Snake said.

"Yeh," Fox agreed. "We'll take care of the mess here."

"And the pizza," added Snake.

"And use the window on the way out," Wolf finished.

Eagle grinned. This wasn't a happily ever after. He'd lost his unborn child and to Stephanie it was going to feel like just yesterday she was pregnant and things were most likely going to be rocky between them as they each grieved their own way. But, when he woke up that morning, he never thought he'd ever have his Steph back.

It wasn't happily ever after but now one day it could be.