AN: Hey! This is a prequel to "If I Should Die Before I Wake" and "I Pray the Lord My Soul to Take" but (because it's a prequel) you should be able to get through it with no trouble if you haven't read either of them yet. This completely disregards Alex going to live with the Pleasures and takes place approximately three months (and four missions) after Jack's death. Enjoy!

"I'm not going, this is completely stupid."

The fourteen year old glared at Alan Blunt furiously from across the desk with a look that was half rebellious teenager and half stubborn spy, despite all of Alan's hard work, the boy was still that- a boy. Not yet old enough to be used in the way that he would some day be capable of, and certainly not responsible enough to be trusted to live on his own.

"Alex you've left me little to no choice, I tried to allow you to live on your own and you almost caused a national state of emergency."

Alex huffed in annoyance, "I apologized for that! And it wasn't my fault your idiot agent broke into my house! What was I supposed to think when I came downstairs in the middle of the night to a man in dark clothes with a gun in my kitchen? I just called a couple friends, again, not my fault that the neighbors saw them coming in and called the press!"

Alan exhaled slowly and brought his right hand up to his face and squeezed the bridge of his nose, "Perhaps you shouldn't have asked your friends to skid up in a Humvee and bring assault weapons?"

"Perhaps you shouldn't have put me in a position to have friends with access to Humvee's and assault weapons?" Alex mocked with a slight smirk, still obviously amused by all the chaos he had caused.

"Either way you have shown yourself incapable of living on your own, there is a home nearby that we'll be placing you in with children in a similar situation-"

"Oh, you mean the hundreds of other children blackmailed into becoming teenage super spies? Oh I can't wait, I bet there's even a special school for spy lessons! I can see it now- disarm terrorists with butter knives! Pick locks with twigs and zip ties! Easy check out for when the government needs you to sort out their messes!" Alex said sarcastically, still slightly unable to believe that Blunt was trying to dump him in an orphanage.

"Children whose legal guardians are unable to care for them-"

"Yeah, I'd have to say my legal guardians at the moment are a little incompetent, why just the other day they forgot to pick me up from school! I called to get a ride but no one came so I ended up having to snowboard down a mountain to get home."

"I'm sure you'll fit right in until we can find someone to look after you."

Alex was just about to jump in with another scathing response when there was a quick tap on the door and Blunt's secretary barged in, to the surprise of both Alex and Blunt. Alex was surprised because he'd never even seen this woman before and he wasn't aware that anyone other than him knew how to rudely interrupt the head of MI6. Alan was mainly surprised because Cynthia, his last secretary had stabbed by an overly paranoid operative recently back from a mission the last time she walked in unannounced, it hadn't occurred to him that anyone would be stupid enough to make her same mistake.

"I'm sorry Mr. Blunt but Agent Daniels is waiting sir, and he's very upset. He's demanding to see you."

Alex worked quickly to hide his grin, Ben had ended up working with him on three of his last four missions and he had grown to like the man- hearing that he was alright with barging into Blunt's office and demanding to see him brought Alex's respect for the man up several levels.

"Let him in Sylvia, Alex go wait in the hall."

"You're joking right?"

Before the point could be argued any more Ben walked in, looking significantly calmer than what Cynthia had indicated. He flashed a small grin at Alex before glaring fiercely at Blunt, "Please tell me you're not actually considering shipping him off to an orphanage."

"That is classified information, I'm not sure who your source is-"

"And I don't care what you say about it, Alex isn't going to an orphanage while I'm alive and have an extra room in my apartment."

Blunt stilled, "You would be willing to take him in?"

Ben rolled his eyes, "I took a bullet, jumped out of a plane without a parachute, and posed as a belly dancer for the kid, why in the hell wouldn't I let him stay?"

Blunt looked Alex in the eyes, "You will be on your best behavior, you will not cause any trouble for Agent Daniels or the people responsible for cleaning up your messes and you will keep your communication device on you at all times, we may need you soon."

Alex gave an exasperated sigh, "Yes Mother. Ben can we stop and get some stuff from my house?"

Ben shrugged and slung an arm around Alex's shoulder as he stood to exit the office, "Sure squirt, you got food in your kitchen?"

"I dunno, I had some leftovers in the refrigerator but it got torn half to pieces by a machine gun. If it came out intact you can have it though."

"Excellent, thanks Al."

"Al?"

"Well everyone calls you Alex, you needed a proper nickname and Al has a nice ring to it."

"If you say so, I don't know what's wrong with Alex..."

Their voices trailed off down the hall and Alan Blunt slowly lowered his head into his hands wondering what in the world he had done.