One Month After Chapter Seventeen

'If it wasn't totally unethical, I would definitely blackmail you with this' Alex called from the sidelines, as Ben lay in the centre of a sparring mat with Snake standing over him.

'Because you're a shining beacon of ethics, right?' quipped back Ben, Snake was already helping the man back onto his feet.

Along the road to recovery came a small dose of retraining, and unfortunately for Ben, it was advised that Alex sit in on Ben's retraining lessons- to learn. At least until Alex could start his own lessons, which luckily for Ben, they were starting today. And just in time, in walked Wolf accompanied by Eagle. Eagle would be taking over training with Ben, and Alex would start his training with Snake. Wolf was hoping to get some 'relaxing sparring' as he called it, in before he was needed for a leadership week back at Brecon Beacons.

Most of Alex's injuries had healed, in fact there had only been concern for two of his injuries, understandably his brand was one, however, the second he hadn't really thought about. The purple and green bruises on his shoulders, one shoulder much darker than the other. They were ugly and Alex hated looking at them, and they were healing painfully slowly. Each with the icepacks and acetaminophen.

'Okay Alex, hand to hand only, I'm not going to touch your shoulders either so no grabs' Snake and he agreed before they moved to start an easy spar, light touches and it was mostly defensive for Alex as Snake was on attack. It wasn't until they heard a thump that Alex and Snake stopped their fight and looked over to Ben and Eagle. Ben was already getting up from the ground, but Snake was at his side in seconds and checking him.

'Is there blood?' Questioned Ben as Snake carefully moved Ben's loose-fitting shirt to easier check on the bullet wound on the man's shoulder.

'No?'

'That's not a question you're supposed to answer with another question!' barked Ben, wincing in pain just as quickly when Snake adjusted the bandages around Ben's shoulder. Snake turned and nodded to Wolf, the leader was out the door in seconds, good thing the training room they were in was apart of St. Dominic's hospital.

Wolf and Alex silently back in Alex and Ben's shared room at St. Dominic's, Alex swinging his legs as he sat on Ben's bed while Wolf lounged in the plastic closest to Ben's bed. Snake, Eagle and Ben had gone to check Ben's wound when the nurse had arrived (thanks to Wolf), Snake only sparing only a second to tell Wolf to take Cub back to the room.

Alex gave out another sigh, his third so far- they'd been waiting at least twenty minutes and he was growing increasingly bored.

'You're not my favourite person today' Wolf suddenly announced, yet his expression was oddly soft and open to Alex. Still he played along, if for nothing else then to have something to do- verbal combat with Wolf might just be interesting.

'I'm not your favourite person on any day' He answered, he didn't mean anything truly behind it and he knew since their meeting during his Point Blanc Academy mission that he could move past their little fights. Wolf clearly though had been thinking and Alex's response apparently didn't sit well with the SAS soldier.

'Cub you, I know we- especially me, I was unfairly tough on you when we first met' Started Wolf, and Alex was shaken at the words, was Wolf attempting an apology? What had happened to this man that had seriously caused this sort of completely out-of-character act.

'Sure, you were kinda a dick, but I can't imagine how I would've reacted if I had been in your place' Of course he knew how he would act if he had been in Wolf's place, he wouldn't've been a dick. But still he found if he was thinking about this logically, if he was twenty-thirty years old and assuming MI6 had continued to force him to work for them, and he'd suddenly met a kid who was new and young and clearly out of place. Well he didn't know how he would've acted.

'It's not just that Cub, things haven't been… good for you, and because of it you were weakened when we-I met you, you were an easy target and I was under pressured to train this kid to be at least competent in the field. Honestly after you left, it kept me up some nights- just considering how I should've handled it all better.' Wolf finally looked up to Ben's bed where Alex's legs had stopped swinging. Alex still had a faint 'X' on his cheek, his shoulders were tense because of the bruising, a long scar ran from Alex's inner-elbow to his wrist and the way Alex held himself, always sitting up straight- it was a clear sign that the boy, the fourteen year old was still in pain from the brand and old bullet scar on his chest.

Alex was the embodiment of exactly what Wolf hadn't wanted to happen to the kid.

'I messed up a lot, I didn't know a lot about why you were placed with us for only ten days, all I knew was that MI6 had sent us a kid that they wanted trained and god if that wasn't the most messed up thing I'd heard. None of us know about all of your missions, but I know that they weren't good, especially if Point Blanc was any indication.' Wolf took a breath and Alex watched him closely, they were both swimming in uncharted seas right now, Wolf and he had never had a heart to heart, Alex hadn't really ever had one.

But Wolf was trying and that made Alex feel so ridiculously good that he didn't stop the man.

'I know I'm not solely responsible for what and where the last few months have thrown you, but Alex, I'm an adult who should have stopped it from getting this far. Don't honestly think I'll ever forgive myself for not trying to help you out of MI6's control' The last sentence was muttered under Wolf's breath but Alex was still able to hear it. Alex quickly realised that the guilt was something that was overtaking Wolf, something that had similarly happened to Jack at one point and he wasn't willing to see it in action again.

'Then stick around for a bit Wolf, you'll see that you're not responsible for what happened to me. If anything, that was MI6 and maybe just a little bit of my uncle's fault. I know it'll take a while for the guilt to go away, but maybe if you can see how much nothing I got taught at Brecon Beacons or how I was treated there influenced how and what happened to me.' Wolf chuckled before he looked deeply at Alex.

'For a fourteen-year-old, you're not so bad Alex'

'For a thirty-something year old, you're not so bad either Ashley'

When Ben, Eagle and Snake returned not five minutes later they would find Wolf glaring (with no malice) at Alex, while the teen happily played a game on his phone. While it did cause them to pause in the doorway, nothing was said and life for them continued.

It was another week before the news that Ben wanted to take in Alex came to light and Wolf suddenly found that sticking around Alex wouldn't be so hard. And if Wolf sometimes drove Tom and Alex to the movies, or picked up Alex from training, or seemed to always get him the best birthday presents- it wasn't mentioned, and Wolf would avidly deny keeping an extra eye out for the boy.

Hey guys, so this is the concluding chapter for this book and I just wanted to say thank you so much for reading it and making it this far. Congrats!

As such I thought you'd like to know I've been slowly working on a sequel that goes into another mission-like situation, but also addresses the struggles Alex is going to experience while living with Ben.

Now, I have a question and I'd really appreciate it if as many people as possible could give their opinion on.

Should Wolf's real name be Ashley as I've had it in this book, or would you guys prefer if I switched it to James? That is fanon (fandom canon) for Wolf's name. If James is preferred, I can't promise I'll change it in this book, but I'll address it in the new book in an author's note.