A/N: So this is a one-shot that came about because… well… a few things didn't add up. I mean, how come Alex was so happy to see Ben in Thailand when he was apparently mercilessly bullied by him in training? How come Alex never really showed much grief over Ian or anything else? And yeah, this is what came out of it. I hope you like it!

DISCLAIMER: Alex Rider and all associated characters belong to Anthony Horrowitz. Santa wasn't very generous in that regard. Maybe I should start behaving a bit better!

-o-O-o-

Alex wasn't sure why he was crying. He certainly had reason enough, but he wasn't sure which one had caused this outburst.

He could have been crying because his uncle had died, because his uncle had never really existed, as Alex knew him, or for himself. His entire life was falling apart around him, and that incident in the killing house had been the last straw. He didn't ask to be sent here. He wished he could still be at home in London with Jack and Ian.

Hell, if he was wishing for the impossible, he might as well wish his parents were still alive and that Ian had been a normal guy with a normal 9-5 job and that Jack was really his big sister and that she would protect him and stop anything from happening to him, not be used to blackmail him into compliance.

When he was younger he had thought that Jack could do anything and Ian was infallible. Now Ian was dead and Jack was just as helpless as he was.

Footsteps broke him out of his bleak thoughts.

-o-O-o-

Ben Daniels had always had good hearing, which, along with his curiosity, had gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion. And so when he heard a noise coming from behind the shower block, it seemed perfectly natural for him to investigate.

Halfway around, the noises focused into wretched, half-choked sobs. He hesitated briefly, then continued on. If whoever it was didn't want company, he could always leave again.

He wasn't surprised to see Cub sitting hunched against the wall. On some level, he must have registered that it wasn't a man's voice.

The kid looked up as he approached and Ben winced at the resigned expression on his face, tinged with fear, hatred and despair. What had they done to this kid?

The kid quickly looked away, apparently aware of his puffy eyes and the tear tracks on his cheeks.

"Perfect," muttered the kid, lifting an arm to dash the tears from his eyes. "Just fucking perfect."

It was a sign of how badly they'd fucked up that the kid didn't even ask why Ben was there.

"So who died?" joked Fox, sitting down next to the teen.

Alex shot him a glare through watery eyes, before turning away.

"My Uncle," he confessed to his knees.

Alex would have been lying if he said he didn't feel any satisfaction from the look of shock and guilt that passed over the soldier's face, but he couldn't claw his way out of the swirling pool of grief and self-pity that had engulfed him long enough to garner any pleasure from it.

"When?" asked the soldier, quietly.

"About two weeks ago."

Ben blanched slightly. "And your parents still sent you here?"

The teen gave a sound half way between a cynical laugh and a sob and didn't answer.

"I- I just wish…" he broke off into a sob again.

This time, though, Cub didn't regain control of himself. The cries were torn from him and each one cut Ben to the core.

"hey… hey," he murmured, softly, reassuringly, wrapping an arm around the teens shoulders and pulling him against his chest. "It's ok. Shh, you'll be fine."

Cub wrenched away. "How?" he spat. "How, exactly is it ok? He's gone. He left me. He was m-m-murdered and he didn't even tell me anything. And now I'm here and I don't… I don't… I don't know what to do."

With the last word the fight seemed to drain out of the kid and he hunched in on himself, not looking at Ben.

Inside, Ben was seething. It was patently obvious that the boy was struggling with grief and instead of helping him, his parents had just shipped him off here. He was just a kid. But… if the kid's uncle was murdered, then there was probably something more going on that they hadn't been told about. Maybe he was here for protection? Although why he wasn't just sent to a safe house, Ben had no idea.

"You're not just here because of a rich dad, are you?" he asked, quietly.

"No," admitted Alex in a whisper.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you."

"And your parents?"

"Dead. Since I was a baby. My uncle raised me."

"I'm sorry," said Ben.

"Don't be. It's not like I remember them."

"That's not what I'm apologising for."

The look Cub gave him was so confused that Ben was sure in any other situation he would have been laughing.

"The way we treated you," he elaborated. "As a burden. A humiliation. None of us ever really stopped to think that you might already have problems – most likely do if you've been sent to an SAS camp. We were wrong."

"Thanks," said Cub and, for the first time since he'd been there, Ben saw him smile.

-o-O-o-

Ben returned back to the barracks late that night, after being made to re-run the assault course. There had been a reason, but he'd lost it somewhere amidst the mud and the exhaustion.

All he wanted to do now was to go back and sink onto his bunk. A proper bed would be better, but even the hard rocks that's passed as mattresses in Brecon Beacons would be heaven right now.

He walked into the barracks, and stopped dead at the sight which greeted him.

Wolf was towering over a miserable looking Cub, a sneer twisting his face until it looked malicious and cruel.

"What's going on?" he asked, his eyes drifting over Wolf to look at Eagle and Snake. Eagle looked completely unconcerned and simply shrugged before returning to his book, while Snake flushed slightly but didn't answer.

"Wolf?" he asked. He really, really hoped that it wasn't what it looked like. He wanted a leader he could be proud of.

"This little brat got me called to the office. Apparently the Sergeant thinks what happens in the killing house was my fault. He almost got me binned!"

"Why does the Sergeant think it was your fault?" asked Fox, frowning.

"Because Double-oh-nothing obviously went and told him it was!"

Fox winced when he saw fear flash across Cub's face at the –incredibly cruel, now he thought about it- nickname. There was a story there, but why would the prospect of being a bad spy terrify the kid so much?

"I didn't!" protested Cub, before flinching slightly as Wolf glared at him.

"When exactly would he have had time?" asked Fox. "It's not as if this is a holiday resort."

"He disappeared for half an hour after the trek. He probably went and snitched then."

"He didn't."

"How do you know?" spat Wolf. "The little brat probably felt embarrassed that he'd fucked up and wanted to blame-!"

"He was with me," Fox interrupted.

Wolf stopped and stared at him.

"Why would you want to hang around with him?" he asked, sounding genuinely nonplussed.

Ben shrugged. "He is part of our team," he said, flashing the teen a quick grin. Cub, the poor sod, looked even more confused than Wolf. Apparently, despite his veritable breakdown earlier and Ben attempting to comfort him, he hadn't expected anything to actually change.

"Part of our team?" repeated Wolf incredulously. "He's a whiney brat. He's no idea what it means to be a soldier, or part of a team of them."

"Bit harsh whewhatevern you don't actually know anything about him, isn't it?" commented Ben.

"He's a teenager. They're all the same. He's only here because he's got a rich daddy who can't see what a pathetic little bastard his son really is. Or perhaps he can, and that's why he sent you here." He turned back to Cub. How does it feel to know that you're father thinks you're just an embarrassment? A waste of space? Do you cry yourself to sleep at night, just wanting Daddy to love you?"

"Enough!" snarled Ben, physically yanking Wolf away from the child. "Where the hell do you get off, talking to anyone like that? Let alone a child who has for some reason that you don't know been forced into an adult situation, when he should be at home playing on his xbox or whatever-the-fuck it is that kids do. He's kept up, despite you sabotaging him every step of the way. I'd like to see you do half as well as he has when you were his age! You're nothing but a bully, Wolf. It's pathetic. I wouldn't blame the kid for hating your guts."

Wolf stared at him for a moment, then turned to look at Eagle and Snake for support. Eagle ignored him, still engrossed in the book, and Snake was watching Cub, perhaps really seeing him for the first time. He looked as if he was feeling incredibly guilty.

He should, thought Ben, glancing at where Cub was sitting. The kid was pale, and hadn't moved. Normally he just shrugged off whatever Wolf said, but today Wolf had crossed the line.

"Just get out," said Fox, wearily, turning away from the soldier.

For a moment, everything was quiet, then with a curt "Fine," Wolf left.

Cautiously, Be approached the hunched figure on the bunk.

"Cub?" he said. At least the kid looked at him this time. That was better than earlier. "Ignore him. He's just a bastard."

"Yeah. Sure."

Despite the words, Cub sounded lifeless.

Ben sighed. "Cub? I'm serious. You're doing really well for your age. Hell, you're doing better than some of the soldiers! I know your dad would have been proud."

Cub threw him a smile that was obviously forced, but there was a little bit of hope in his eyes as he looked at Ben.

"And I think your Uncle would have been too," added Ben, quietly.

And the smile became real.

"You think so?" he said, and even the other two managed looked up at the hopeful note in his voice.

"You've impressed the Sergeant," said Ben, "though I think he'd die rather than admit it. Your Uncle would be too."

"Thanks."

-o-O-o-

Wolf was forced to eat his own words, three days later, when the 'pathetic little bastard' got his revenge both physically and mentally by kicking the man out of a plane, and saving his career in the process.

Ben hoped that, as the kid left, he was heading home again. To a brother or sister or someone who would look after him. He hoped he would never see him again, because if he did, that meant the kid was in a lot more trouble than he could deal with.

If he did, then Ben would do his best to help him. The kid needed someone to look out for him.

-o-O-o-

A/N: So what did you think? I just thought I'd throw the double-oh-nothing thing out there because, let's face it, when you've been forcibly recruited by MI6 and are about to go on your first mission, being called double-oh-nothing, essentially a crap spy, is going to terrify you. It'd be like them saying they thought he was going to get killed. It's a pretty cruel nickname given the circumstances. But, guess they don't really know why Alex is there, huh?

Anyways, review and tell me what you thought. It's the nice thing to do, after all, and while Christmas might now be a long way away, I'm sure Santa has just as long a memory :P !