Disclaimer: I do not own the AR series. Chapter title is a song by AC/DC.

It was going on for seven o' clock when Wolf took Jack out of the bath. The kid was wrinkled and shrivelled like a little prune from all the time he'd spent soaking in the water and it occurred to Wolf that Jack had been stewing in his own dirt water for more than an hour. At least the kid hadn't made a mess in the bathroom.

Wolf managed to scrounge up a towel from his room that wasn't damp or smelly. He'd set it aside for after the training exercise in the morning but Jack's need was probably greater than his would be. Besides, he didn't mind using a used towel. He held it out to Jack awkwardly but the boy didn't take it so he was forced to wrap the boy in it himself.

He felt guilty rummaging through the kid's suitcase but he figured it was an emergency and tried to squash the hesitation. There were two changes of clothes, three sets of underwear, socks and vests and a pair of pyjamas. Briefly, he wondered whether to grab the pyjamas or a change of clothes. In the end, he settled on clean underwear and the pyjamas. They weren't going to be heading out again. He wasn't sure whether Jack would need help dressing, so he just left the clothes out on the sofa. Jack stood in the door of the bathroom and Wolf herded him out into the living room.

'Jack, d'you wanna get dressed now?' He asked. Jack didn't reply. It was really starting to scare Wolf; the boy's face was desolate, as unwelcoming and forbidding as a desert landscape.

'C'mon, you'll get a cold. I can start you off if you want,' Wolf offered. Jack didn't resist being shepherded back into the bathroom. Wolf felt like he was dressing a mannequin, slipping the boy's underwear on first.

The pyjamas were light blue with motorcycles on them and looked to be the kind you'd find in an upmarket department store. Huh. Wolf had never wondered about that before. All Jack's clothes were practical and a little too colourful for Wolf's taste, but they also looked casually quite expensive. Then again, Mel had always had a thing about looking presentable.

Once he'd tugged on Jack's bottoms, he was pretty much ready to collapse into his chair and spend the night congratulating himself on his skill. But first he dumped the dirty clothes into the washing machine and spent a few minutes trying to figure out how it worked. He'd never used the thing before and figured, with a shrug, that he ought to wait for a full load to really try. Then he remembered that it was getting on and Jack should probably eat something. He should too.

So he left Jack sitting on his chair in the living room and went to the kitchen. He'd bought a half dozen microwavable dinners and he took two out of the freezer, piercing the foil. Lasagne for Jack, curry for him. Perfect.

He pierced the foil with clumsy enthusiasm, wryly amused by the popping noise the air made. Then he stuck the lasagne in to the microwave, one of the very few culinary machines Wolf had mastered. Once it pinged, he tipped it onto a chipped plate and mushed it around with the cleanest of the three forks he owned. Satisfied, he left it in with Jack and went back out to wait on his curry.

He didn't have long to wait and he took his dinner inside, sitting on the sofa so that Jack could have the chair. There was nothing really great on the telly so he just left it on the news, keeping most of his attention on his dinner and another little bit on Jack. The kid hadn't touched his food.

There were still the dried tracks of tears on his face and every few seconds he'd blink but he didn't speak or move at all.

'Jack, you must be hungry by now,' Wolf said.

The kid didn't say or do anything.

Wolf finished his curry and retreated to the kitchen, dumping his plate in the sink. He clutched his mobile like it was a grenade, like he wanted to bung it out the window at the first opportunity.

What he really wanted was to call Snake, and he wanted it more than he'd ever wanted anything before. Just to hear the Scottish bastard tell him that pissing yourself at the sight of a clown was normal behaviour. Deep down, Wolf knew that it wasn't.

He almost had a heart attack when his phone went off in his hand. He jumped literally a foot in the air and swore loudly, running a hand over his short hair temperamentally. Then, he wondered if maybe he and Snake had developed some kind of telepathic bond. Maybe he just had to think at him to get him to call. He answered with more excitement than was strictly respectable, his troubles momentarily forgotten with the infantile idea that maybe he had a super power.

'Hello?'

'Hi, is that Luke?'

The caller was distinctly female, distinctly uncertain and distinctly not Snake.

'Yeah, who's this?' Wolf asked.

'It's me, Jess. Jess Young. We met in the supermarket. Ross' mum.'

'Oh. Hey. What can I do for you?'

'Well, I know it's a bit weird of me but I just wanted to call and ask if Jack was alright. He took a bit… a bit of a turn earlier,' said Jess worriedly. Wolf could hear a television in the background. She was watching the news too. Huh. That'd never happened to him before.

'Eh. Yeah. He's fine,' Wolf answered instinctively.

'Oh. Right then. That's great. It's what they're like at that age, isn't it? They bounce,' Jess said with false cheer.

'Yeah, yeah, I guess so. How's Ross?' Wolf changed the subject with all his usual subtlety.

'He's great. Actually, I meant to ask if maybe you and Jack would like to go for coffee with me and Ross. Sometime,' Jess said.

'Oh, Jack doesn't drink coffee,' Wolf said, hoping he sounded smooth and charming, trying not to growl. Apparently, he did a good job because Jess laughed.

'Very funny. And you, the mysterious Luke. Do you drink coffee?' She asked. Wolf blinked and grinned at her tone. They were flirting and she didn't care that he came with a kid attached.

'For you, maybe,' he said.

'Oh, I'm bowled over by your enthusiasm. How about the day after tomorrow, Tuesday evening? I'll call you to pick a time that suits,' Jess offered.

'Sure. I better go. Jack wants to, eh, play a game with me. Talk to you soon?'

'Definitely. Bye.'

'Bye.'

When he hung up he was struck by the stark silence that permeated his flat. The news was the only sound he could hear.

It took him a minute to dial Snake's number.

'Hey Luke. What is it?'

'Alright mate? I've got a problem here,' Wolf said.

'What's wrong?'

'It's Jack. He had a freak out in the shops and I dunno what to do with him. He won't eat, he won't talk to me. All he's doing is crying. And he pissed himself.'

'Shite. Well, maybe he's just upset. What set him off?' Snake asked.

'A clown. It's a pretty bad story. What am I s'posed to do with him, Matt?'

'Fuck if I know. Maybe talk to him about it. About how he feels.'

'Oh wonderful. Feelings. My fucking specialist subject.'

'Shut the fuck up. He's your son. You care about him, don't you?'

'Uh… Look, just… Tell me what to fucking do!'

'If I knew, I would. Just calm him down. He's probably missing his mum. Tell him it'll be alright. I meant to ask you, what are you doing with him while were on the exercise tomorrow?' Snake asked.

'Eh… I figured I'd just leave him in the flat and pick him up.'

If Wolf had known how badly that would go down with Snake, he'd never have mentioned it.

'What? You fucking twat. He's five years old. Hire a babysitter or something you tight arsed bastard,' Snake swore.

'Alright, calm down, keep your sanitary towel on. I'm not forking out good money for someone to come over and sit in my chair, eat my food and watch my telly. It goes against every single Santos instinct there is,' said Wolf.

'You cock fucking mother sucking Spanish looking bastard!'

'Jesus, relax. I'll just bring him along with me. They let people do that all the time, don't they?'

'You might be on to something, neglectful prick. Eagle brought his nephew one time, didn't he? I think they have a waiting room, don't they?'

'Yeah, yeah. They do. You're right. So I have a heart to heart with the kid, ruffle his hair then bring him on the training with me. Sounds like a plan,' said Wolf.

'God, that poor kid. You need to grow up.'

Snake hung up sharply, the dial tone like a slap in Wolf's face. He'd never heard Snake so mad at anyone. Ever. Even that time that Eagle urinated in Snake's boots and Snake had put them on.

It hurt. Not the urine in the boots thing, Wolf assumed. That was just good natured joking around. But the way Snake had spoken to him had been unnecessarily aggressive.

He went back to the living room and found Jack with his knees to his chest in the corner, staring out the window. For a minute he wanted to hug the kid, pat him on the back or something, but he found himself completely unable to make the contact.

'Jack, I've got to go working really early in the morning. But I can't leave you here so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to spend the day at work with me,' Wolf said tentatively.

There was no reply.

'I don't know if your mum told you or not but I work for the military. I'm a soldier. So tomorrow I have to get up really early to go practice and I'm gonna bring you with me. Would you like that?'

'Mum told Nana that you're not nice. I don't want to stay with someone who's not nice,' Jack said, his voice quiet and cracking with every few words. Wolf sat down in his chair and pretended nothing had happened, that it was no big deal. If he made a fuss, Jack might not talk again.

'I want my mum.'

The kid sounded so upset that Wolf wanted to tell him that he could go see his mum. He wanted to say that she was just on holiday or something but even he, the knucklehead, knew that he'd only make things worse if he didn't confront it.

'I want my mum.'

'I know, Jack. It's just that-'

'Please can I have my mum back?'

Wolf glanced at his phone to check the time. Almost eight. That was near enough bed time for a five year old, wasn't it? Wolf had a lot of experience with early morning rising and he figured it'd be better to head off to sleep earlier rather than later. Besides, he was feeling a bit knackered.

'You tired Jack?'

The little boy shrugged.

'I'll make up the sofa for you to sleep on. Go brush your teeth,' Wolf said. Jack struggled to his feet, snivelling, and then trudged off to the bathroom.

Wolf's flat was sparsely furnished, a regular bachelor pad. He'd never lived it in for more than six months at a time; the SAS rotation assignments always had his unit out on duty for half of the year. That was something he'd have to change now that he had Jack with him. What furniture he had was in fair enough condition; there was his beloved chair, the telly and stand and a two seat heavily cushioned sofa in the living room. In the kitchen he had most of the usual appliances, along with a poker table that he usually ate off and two foldable chairs. There were, officially, two bedrooms, but one was barely big enough for the boxes and junk he'd stashed in it when he'd moved in. There was his bed (a double one with no sheets and a too-heavy duvet) and a bedside locker in his room. His clothes were usually left on the ground, like shed snake skin when he went to bed every night. And that was all he had.

He was planning to make a go of cleaning out the spare room and taking a trip to Ikea to get a bed for Jack but he wasn't really sure when he'd get the time. Until then, it was the sofa for the kid. He would have given Jack the bedroom but the light fixing was broken and he wasn't sure if the five year old was scared of the dark or not. In fact, seeing Jack's reaction to that clown, he was in no hurry to find out either.

It wasn't difficult to fix the sofa up like a bed. He'd managed to forage a spare quilt from the kitchen cupboard and he just borrowed the cushion from his chair to use as a pillow. It looked fairly comfortable to Wolf. Jack emerged from the bathroom with the blue fish hanging despondently from one hand and climbed onto the sofa slowly, dragging his feet. He nestled down without a word.

Fighting back the urge to yawn, Wolf switched off the main light but left a lamp by the window on. His electricity bill was going to be in bits but it was much simpler than testing the waters with Jack when he was absolutely exhausted.

''Night Jack,' he mumbled. 'Sleep… well?' He wasn't sure if that was the right sentiment but it sounded okay.

''Night,' the little lump under the quilt mumbled back.

Wolf shucked out of his clothes and collapsed onto his bed, lying there. Alone in his bare room, it was hard to deny that all he wanted to do was cry. Instead, he growled, mentally berated himself and rolled over to sleep.

When Wolf's alarm clock bleeped obnoxiously in the morning, he could have sworn that less than a minute had passed. He hadn't dreamt at all and he felt twice as shattered getting up as he had going to bed the night before.

He shuffled into the kitchen first, yawned one of those arm flailing yawns, then flipped the kettle on to boil. It was only when he rummaged through the cupboards that he realized he hadn't picked up any instant coffee at the shop. The kettle whistled noisily and he felt guilty; he'd read somewhere that boiling kettles contributed to the demise of the polar bear. How he wasn't quite sure, seeing as polar bears seemed pretty bad ass to him but it was enough to make him want to personally apologize to one of them.

Rather than entertain the idea, he padded into the living room as quietly as he could. It was a grey day outside and when he switched off the lamp the room was a strange half dark tinged with the bright orange glow of the streetlights that his flat fronted out towards.

There was a small scuffling noise and he nearly had a heart attack, his hand reaching to the side of his abdomen, instinctively going for a gun. Jack pottered out of the bathroom and glanced at Wolf briefly with baleful eyes.

The kid had clearly been up for a while; he'd dressed himself in one of the spare sets of clothes from his suitcase. The clothes were much the same as the ones he'd been wearing before except the jeans were lighter and the t-shirt was orange with a peace symbol on it. Wolf's lips twitched slightly at that, the soldier with his kid wearing a peace t-shirt.

Jack had left the duvet and pyjamas folded (in the sort of universal way that all five year olds left everything folded like) on the sofa. Still, Wolf appreciated the effort. It was nice to see that his kid had good manners but not quite so nice to remember that Wolf had had absolutely nothing to do with it.

'Hey Jack. You want breakfast?' Wolf asked. Jack nodded silently. He was holding that blue fish again, dangling from his right hand. Wolf would have thought that the hold looked careless if he hadn't noticed just how tightly the little boy's fingers clutched at the stuffed toy. He didn't remark though; if the kid wanted to carry a fish teddy around with him, who was he to criticize?

He made his way back out to the kitchen and pulled out the brand new box of coco pops he'd bought the day before. Jack accepted a bowl with a sullen mutter of gratitude before taking his breakfast inside, perching on the sofa and tucking in slowly.

Wolf was about to pour himself a bowl when he heard his mobile ringing. After a mad scramble back to his room, he punched the answer button triumphantly.

'Hello?'

'Hello. Lieutenant, its Captain Hastings here. I was just going through the extremely extensive stack of paperwork on my desk when I happened across a green 3214 at the bottom of my pile. Do you know what a green 3214 means soldier?'

Wolf liked Hastings, always had. He'd been on a half dozen deployments with him and Hastings had been his first duty sergeant. It was well known that the man was extremely paternal with younger soldiers who'd come up under his wing and Wolf had always found this to be true.

'No sir,' he replied, quaking. Was it a notice of transfer, moving him to some god forsaken desk detail in the middle of nowhere? Hastings wouldn't allow that to happen, would he?

'It means that one of my troops has an ankle biter who's just been written onto the military and military family health insurance scheme. Why didn't you tell me, you son of a bitch?' Hastings asked, his tone switching almost instantaneously from severe to delighted. Wolf rolled his eyes. He knew that Hastings would tell everyone how the Lieutenant in K-Unit nearly shit himself over some bullshit paperwork.

'Yeah, that'd be Jack.'

'You motherfucker. You do know that's it part of being a father, don't you, bringing in pictures of your baby for your bosses to take time out to coo over. How old is he?'

'Five.'

'And you're only getting around to registering him now?' Hastings chuckled. Wolf's dislike of paperwork was legendary within his troop.

'No, no. I, uh, his mother, uh, she never told me. She died recently and he lives with me now.'

'I… Sorry, Lucas, I… Sorry for your loss. I'm an insensitive prick, I know. Listen, next time you're down at Hereford bring him with you. I'll take him on a tour of the facility, show him the trophy room and tell him all about the history of the organisation. Does he want to follow you into the job?' Hastings inquired cheerfully.

'Well, he's five years old. I wouldn't sign him up just yet.'

Hastings snorted. 'Listen Lieutenant, I can hear in your voice that you're a little worried. Not about the exercise but the kid. And I can tell you that it's not going to be easy. Anyone who says so is a goddamn liar, Santos, understand? But it's not impossible. Parents have been raising children for thousands of years and by the by we manage to get it right. Must count for something, mustn't it?'

'I suppose,' Wolf said.

'Oh, you'll do just fine. How bad can it go? Treat him like a new recruit. He needs instruction and boundaries and you give him them. You are his superior officer, but you're not a tyrant. It's a working relationship, Lieutenant. You remember that.'

'Yes sir.'

'And if you tell anybody that I expressed an interested in your offspring, I'll cut your balls off so you won't have to worry about having another. Alright?'

'Of course sir.'

'Good. Lieutenant, you sound a little run down. You feeling okay?' Hastings asked.

'Yes sir, I'm fine sir.'

'Look, Lieutenant, budget cuts are a bitch, I get that. We're all feeling the pinch and the higher ups are getting their balls busted about saving money. There will probably be forced redundancies, you follow me?'

'Yes sir,' said Wolf.

'You, Lieutenant, are one of my best troops. You need to take a few days leave to sort yourself and Jack out, you do that. It's not like your position is going to be gone before you get back. You got a sitter hired for today?'

'Uh, I was just gonna be bring Jack with me. Thought maybe he could stay in the waiting room,' Wolf explained.

'Bullshit. Listen, I've got reservations about child minders too; my wife's always at me to pay for one but at the end of the day, you're paying them to eat your food, watch your television and keep one eye on the kid. In that order of priority too.'

'Yes sir,' said Wolf. He'd have to remember to espouse Captain Hastings view on Snake later.

'You take three days leave, soldier, including today. That's a fucking order. You get that little boy situated with school and the like, spend some time with him. Then you report to Hereford with him on Thursday at around about two o' clock and I'll sort out the duty rota with you. Alright?'

Wolf was relieved to hear no pity in Hastings' voice. Pity he couldn't handle. Still, he didn't want special treatment either.

'That's alright sir. I'll get Jack sorted out in my own time.'

If there had been a wrong thing to say, that was most definitely it.

'Lieutenant, you're taking three days leave with full pay. You're getting Jack sorted out and you're spending time with him. You're reporting to Hereford with him on Thursday and you're sorting out the duty rota with me. Is that clear?' Hastings voice was frosty.

'Yes sir,' said Wolf, cutting his losses.

'Fantastic. See you then,' Hastings chirped, ending the call. Wolf quashed the urge to punch something. Now the kid was affecting not only his home, but his work too. How was he supposed to make serious rank while trying to look after a five year old?

He swore under his breath while he poured his cereal, slamming the fridge door once he'd gotten the milk. And then he plonked down on his chair and glowered at the bowl, spooning mouthfuls petulantly.

After a few minutes of sulking, he started to think that maybe it was a good thing to have a few days off. He'd have time to get Jack sorted out with a place at school, get the boy a bed. It was only when he thought about it that he realized he had no clue about Jack's education.

'Jack,' he said, clearing his throat gruffly. 'I was wondering. What school did you used to go to?'

Jack was too busy slurping the chocolate milk from the bottom of his bowl to answer. 'Jack, I asked you a question,' said Wolf, hating the way he sounded like such a prick. Jack glanced up and blinked docilely a few times. He looked exhausted.

'It's called St. Michael's,' he mumbled, going back to his milk. Wolf rolled his eyes. St. Michael's? There could be a million of those for all he knew.

'Where was it? Jack, I'm talking to you.'

Jack's eyes flickered back to Wolf's face, his face blank. Wolf wondered absently if the kid was hard of hearing or just being impertinent.

'It's at the end of Nana's road.'

Wonderful. How specific was that? Then Wolf realized that he actually had no idea where Jack had grown up. He hoped it wasn't Scap, for the kid's sake.

'Jack, where did you and M- your mum live. Jack. Jack. Jack, I-'

'Shut up! Just shut up! I don't want to live with you I want my mum!' Jack screeched, flipping his bowl onto the floor with a loud clatter. His lower lip trembled and his eyes glinted with useless rage as he struggled to keep a lid on things.

Wolf felt his own temper ignite rapidly, threatening to spill over. Jack watched him with stubborn, obstinate eyes and Wolf could almost have swung for the boy.

'I-'

What Wolf was about to say was cut off by the loud whine of his apartment's buzzer. Someone hammered impatiently on the door and Wolf growled quietly, crossing to glance out through the peep hole. Eagle and Snake were standing outside, neither looking to be in a particularly good mood.

Wolf shot one look over his shoulder at Jack that was lost on the kid; he was just sitting there, staring at his lap. Then he opened the door and plastered a more welcoming expression on his face.

'Luke, what the fuck? I told you to be outside. We're gonna be late,' Eagle said impatiently. It seemed to take a minute for it to register with him that Wolf wasn't in a hurry at all.

'Hastings' has given me three days paid leave,' replied Wolf steadily, feeling himself flush. He waited for them to call him a suck up.

'Fair play to him,' Eagle said.

'Yeah, he's a good leader,' said Snake.

Wolf cringed, the back of his neck uncomfortably hot. It would've been better if they'd called him a lazy prick or something like that, rather than being of sympathetic idiots.

'Well, we'll ring when we finish up. You two are still coming to lunch in Luton, right?' Eagle asked. Wolf gave a response that was half a shrug and half a nod.

'Great. What're you gonna do for the morning?' Snake asked, shifting from one foot to the other and peering into the flat at Jack.

'I thought I'd sort Jack out with a school but I'm not really sure how,' replied Wolf.

'Oh. You don't wanna rush into stuff like that. Why don't you do something else with him today? My aunt is a school inspector; I'll give her a call and get a list of good schools off her. I've nothing on tomorrow so I can come over and go through them with you in the morning, yeah?' Snake offered.

'Mark, I am capable of picking a school for the kid!' Wolf snapped, unnecessarily sharply. Snake took a step back, visibly stung.

'Whoah, Luke mate, he's only offering to help,' defended Eagle.

'Yeah. I appreciate it. It's just- Fuck it. I'm not having a great morning.' Wolf motioned for them to move back, which they did, and then he stepped out, holding the door nearly shut behind him. 'Jack's been playing up. He just fucked an empty bowl on the ground 'cause I asked him where he used to live.'

'Huh. Did you speak, how should I put this, insensitively?' Snake asked.

'Luke? Insensitive? Mark, you're crazy,' scoffed Eagle loudly.

'Fuck off, Matt. Anyway, just take it easy with him. He's had a rough time. We've gotta run 'cause we're late as is. Talk to you later, yeah?' Snake said.

Wolf nodded and waited until the two of them had disappeared down the stairs before going back into his flat and shutting the door behind him. Jack didn't look up.

Briefly, Wolf considered what he'd do to kill the morning. He had so much stuff he needed to get done but he wasn't sure what to start with. Maybe the bed would be the best idea, then some clothes. They could go shopping and Wolf could buy the kid a present or something, try and make his flat a little more kid-friendly. Actually, first thing he ought to do was empty out the spare room. No, wait. First thing he'd have to sort Jack out.

Snake's advice to take it easy with the kid surfaced in his mind for a minute, but it was easily shrugged off. If he let Jack get away with throwing bowls, he'd be setting himself up for trouble. Surely he'd better off nipping that sort of stuff in the bud. After all, his parents had never stood any nonsense off him and it'd never done him any harm.

Vaguely, he tried to recall the few memories he had of the few parenting shows he'd ever seen. Predictably, that wasn't much to work with. He did think he had a recollection of something called the naughty corner but he wasn't sure.

For a minute, he wondered if that might be effective but in the end he decided that maybe inaction was the best course of action. After all, if he ignored it then Jack might not do it again.

He decided that the best thing to do was go and sort out the spare room. He was a little at a loss over what exactly he was supposed to do with Jack while he was busy. He figured that he never really did anything with Jack anyway so it was probably best to just leave the kid to his own devices.

'Stay there and behave,' he warned, feeling a slight twinge of guilt at the way Jack's tiny shoulders slumped sullenly. Maybe he was too hard on the boy.

'Fuck you.'

Strike that. Too hard on the boy? In that instant, Wolf could've slapped seven shades out of the kid. And then Jack ran a small hand through his unruly hair and it struck Wolf how small the boy's fingers were and then it hit him right between the eyes that that exact movement was what he did with his considerably shorter hair.

It was like an egg buried in his brain that had suddenly hatched, his face caught somewhere between one of his trademark scowls and a moronic grin. That was his habit. Had Jack always done that or had he just picked that up over the past two days?

Then he remembered exactly what Jack had said and he didn't have to wonder where the kid picked that up. After all, they'd spent the day before in the pub with his friends. Of course Jack would hear words he wasn't supposed to. Actually, Wolf wondered about that one. He tried to think back on a time when he didn't know the f-word and he couldn't remember when or where he'd learned it.

Suddenly, Wolf wished with his entire body that he had a clue what he was doing.

'Jack, don't use that word,' he admonished gruffly.

Just before he had a chance to congratulate himself, Jack's jaw hardened abruptly. 'Fuck you.'

'Jack, what'd I just say? Don't use that word,' Wolf replied angrily.

'Fuck you.'

'Jack, I- Look at me. Jack, look at me. Jack. Jack. Jack, I swear to… Y'know what? Fine. Say whatever you like. I'm going to go clean up the spare room. Come help if you want, don't if you don't. But if you so much…. Forget it. Just behave yourself,' Wolf managed to bite out, retreating to the spare room. He slammed the door behind him and sat for a few minutes, scowling. He didn't see boxes of junk when he looked around the room; he saw nothing but work, work and more work.

He got started slowly, mainly because he didn't actually have a clue where he was going to dump all the stuff. After a few minutes, he decided that the only thing for it was to push all the junk against one of the walls to free up the most space possible.

It worked surprisingly better than he thought. It was never going to make for the prettiest room in the world but at least it was usable. There was no bulb though, so he figured he'd have to remember to pick one up.

He spent three quarters of an hour sorting out the spare room. By the time he poked his head out the door to check on Jack, the kid had left his seat. For a second he felt panic bubble in the pit of his stomach but he figured that Jack wouldn't have wandered far.

'Jack?' He called. Sure enough, the toilet flushed noisily and Jack came out of the bathroom, avoiding eye contact with Wolf.

'We're going shopping for a bed for you, alright? C'mon, go get your coat,' Wolf said, retrieving his keys from the kitchen table. Jack shrugged silently and tugged at the front of his t-shirt and after a minute Wolf got fed up, grabbing the coat himself. He didn't bother asking Jack to put it on; if the boy got cold he could ask for it.

It wasn't a long drive out to Ikea, the place where Wolf always went for his furniture. Jack said nothing the whole way while Wolf agonized trying to think of something they might talk about. His mind drew a complete and total blank.

Ikea wasn't too busy but that was to be expected considering that it was a Monday morning. Wolf wandered aimlessly, following the arrows on the floor, Jack trailing behind him. Sometimes another customer would look with interest at the cute little boy who looked very alone. But Jack shied away from people who passed him and Wolf glared at anyone he thought looked anything like a child snatcher. They made a slightly unlikely pair.

'Hello sir. Can I help you with anything today?'

The nineteen year old who approached Wolf looked barely old enough to have finished school. Wolf eyed him in the most unfriendly way he knew how. God, they didn't make 'em like they used to.

'No thanks,' he replied stormily, shrugging past the obnoxious employee. He glanced back over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't lost Jack then kept going, short cutting between two shelves to the beds.

With almost homing pigeon accuracy, Wolf found the cheapest bed in the shop in under a minute. It was just about a hundred pounds but Wolf didn't really see much difference between it and the bed that was three times its price on the left.

'What d'you think?' He asked Jack quietly.

Jack shrugged, burying his hands in his pockets.

'Well I think it's great. Nice and big, y'know?'

Another shrug.

'Right.'

Wolf had given the bed the thorough once over before it struck him that it was an adult's bed. Maybe one aimed towards children might be more suitable. Probably more expensive too, he thought to himself.

He decided that there wasn't much of a rush to get a bed. Jack seemed happy enough on the sofa and anyway, he'd have to see how he was fixed for money. If possible, he'd prefer to get the kid a nice bed, not just whatever was cheapest. Hopefully he'd be in a position to do that soon.

They wandered for a little longer until they found their way up to the food court. Wolf wasn't really hungry but he bought both of them a drink. Sparkling apple juice for him, cola for Jack. On an after thought, he bought two slices of chocolate cake too, making sure Jack got the bigger one.

It wasn't hard to find a seat and once they had, Wolf was happy enough to pick at his cake, drink his apple juice and people watch. Jack seemed restless, eating a few forkfuls of cake between fidgets. He appeared to be having trouble focusing; his eyes were glossy and distant, his legs swinging slightly. Every few minutes he'd try to get some cake on his fork and miss, the tines scratching the plate, his face a mask of concentration. The first thing he'd done when they'd sat down was the slightly unusual act of pushing his drink as far away from him as possible.

'Jack, don't you want some cola?' Wolf asked, attempting to sound as nice as possible. Jack glanced at Wolf and cocked his head to one side, like he hadn't heard him. Wolf reached over to lean closer and somehow caught the glass with his elbow, knocking it to the floor.

It shattered loudly, making Wolf and Jack jump. Wolf was about to reassure Jack when he glanced over and saw that the boy was staring wide eyed at the floor, his entire face tight and scared. He crouched and scooped up the soaking glass, leaving it on the table. Jack didn't move.

'Jack? Jack? You alright?' Wolf asked. They were getting more than a few strange looks from the people around them, staff and customers, and Wolf decided abruptly that it was time to leave.

He scraped their leftovers onto one of the plates and stacked them up. Still Jack sat there, the same expression on his face.

'Jack, c'mon,' Wolf said. After a minute he got fed up and reached down, lifting the boy. Jack's entire body was tensed, as stiff as it had been when Wolf had lifted him in the supermarket. It was hard to tell who was more uncomfortable.

Wolf guessed before they got back to the car that Jack had had another accident and sure enough when he buckled the boy's seatbelt in, the crotch of his jeans were darkened and stained. Whether Jack was aware or not, Wolf wasn't sure. Every few minutes the kid would flinch or whimper, and once Wolf thought he heard him give a dry sob but there was no outburst like the clown thing.

Rather than drive home, Wolf parked in the car park at the nearest big shop. He carried Jack inside, disturbed by how the kid seemed so frozen. He raced down a few aisles to the other side of the store and grabbed the first pair of bottoms that looked like they might fit, snatched a packet of clean underwear and practically sprinted to the checkout.

'Twenty two quid?' Wolf asked in horror when he saw the price the girl at the counter had rung up.

'Yes sir. The bottoms were part of our sale,' she explained cheerfully. Wolf was about to ask if he'd just found the most expensive kid's underpants in the world but figured that it didn't really matter, handing over the money in a slight daze.

He tucked the receipt into his pocket and carried Jack back out to the car, his purchases in a paper bag slung around his left wrist. The drive home seemed to take hours longer than the drive to Ikea and Jack went deathly quiet.

As soon as they got back into the flat, Wolf flung off his jacket and deposited Jack to the bathroom. Rather than go through the whole stewing-in-own-dirt scene again, he decided to rinse Jack down with the shower. It was something he didn't think he'd ever try again; apparently Jack would shrivel up and die if he got water on his face.

The new underpants and bottoms fit well enough, the bottoms a little baggy. Wolf figured too much was better than too little though. The kid could grow into them.

Jack took up his familiar position in the corner, the bright blue fish with him again. Wolf slumped in his chair for a few minutes. Then he paced. Then he sat down again. It was only ten o' clock. The others wouldn't be finished until at least midday, maybe longer. Daytime television would only depress him. Eventually, he decided to try and have a conversation with Jack.

'Uh, Jack…. Later on we're going out for lunch,' he began.

'Don't,' whimpered Jack. Wolf bristled, crossing to stand in front of the boy. He towered over the tiny, miserable child by quite a bit, hoping his height wasn't intimidating the kid.

'Don't what?'

'Don't send me away. I'll try to be good, I swear.' Jack's lower lip trembled and he tightened his grip on the fish. Wolf blinked at the words. Where had Jack gotten that idea from?

'I'm not gonna send you away. I… You just… Forget it. Why'd you think I was gonna send you away?' Wolf asked, genuinely perplexed at how the boy had jumped to that conclusion.

Jack didn't answer.

'Anyway, that's not gonna happen. I, uh… it's…. I'm never gonna send you away,' said Wolf uncomfortably.

'Mum said it was me and her for forever.'

'Well…. Why don't you go watch telly for a while?'

'So he said 'my mum said it was me and her forever'.'

'And what'd you say?'

'I asked him if he wanted to watch television.'

Snake shook his head disbelievingly. They were sitting in Wolf's kitchen, sipping two mugs of steaming hot tea. The others had were in the living room; Fox had hurt his leg in the exercise and Eagle was busy trying to engage Jack in a discussion on the merits of crayons.

Wolf picked at the edge of his table absently. Snake had taken one look at the kid and then insisted on them having a little 'chat'.

'You asked him if he wanted to watch telly?' Snake repeated Wolf's words disbelievingly.

'Well, yeah,' Wolf shrugged. 'I figured I'd only upset him if we talked about it.'

'You figured you'd upset him? Luke, you're such a fucking dickhead. You just didn't want to deal with it so you tried distracting him, didn't you?'

Wolf shrugged again, flushing.

'For Christ's sake Luke, he's five years old! He was expressing some serious concerns and you told him to go watch T.V. He opened up to you and you didn't wanna know,' said Snake, a little louder than was socially acceptable. Thankfully, it was below the level of being heard in the living room. Wolf's face turned deep red.

'Mark, as far as I'm concerned, you need to mind your own fucking business,' he spoke quietly. 'You always think there's some ulterior bloody motive to everything. You're worse than a fucking shrink.'

'Yeah, well maybe you need a shrink fuckface,' Snake's whisper was the closest to a snarl that Wolf had ever heard a whisper accomplish.

'And here we go. You think there's something wrong with Jack, don't you? You're so fucking predictable,' scowled Wolf, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible. 'He's a kid, Mark. They all do shit like that some times.'

'Shit like what?'

'Nothing, forget I said-'

'Shit like what Luke?'

'Just…. It's really not-'

'Shit. Like. What?'

'Well he… He keeps wetting himself. At the supermarket, at Ikea; it's only two times and lots of kids do it but it's just he does it weird. Like he doesn't do it 'cause he can't hold it in… It's something else. It's probably one of those phases that people are always banging on about,' Wolf elaborated uncomfortably. Snake's forehead furrowed and he blinked, glancing over his shoulder in the direction of the living room. Fox was engrossed in a newspaper and Eagle was loudly expounding on the benefits of markers as opposed to crayons.

'Luke, he's five years old. He's definitely been toilet trained; if I remember Mel rightly, she's not the kind of woman who'd let her kid get away with wetting himself. Does he have nightmares?' Snake asked thoughtfully, picking at a hangnail.

'Uh… I dunno… I don't think so. But it's not like I've been checking him in the night or anything- I'm always wrecked and sleep deeply. Look, it's not really a problem. And it's not that unusual,' said Wolf, trying to avoid letting Snake know how much it worried him.

'It kind of is. Maybe you should take Jack to see a child psych-'

'He's not going to see some fucking shrink!' Wolf snapped loudly, drawing an interested glance over the paper from Fox. Eagle launched himself into a loud diatribe to cover the lag. 'He's not crazy or anything,' Wolf lowered his voice.

'You know as well as I do that that's not all psychiatrists deal with,' said Snake calmly. 'Maybe he needs to talk about some stuff that he doesn't feel comfortable discussing with you.'

'Mark, I'm doing the best I can with what I fucking have. It's not like there's a manual for this sort of shit,' Wolf said.

'That's a given. But you can't just pretend that nothing's going on when he says things like that. I mean, it's only gonna lead to more problems further down the line,' replied Snake.

'Fuck it. I don't give a fuck. Maybe I should send him away, give him to child services or some shit. I mean, they're only gonna wind up taking him off me for being a crap parent anyway,' Wolf said darkly, carefully keeping his voice below the hearing level of the others.

'Don't even think about shirking your responsibilities like that you wanker. You think that's the best for him? Give yourself a chance at least. Now, are we going to lunch at my parents' or not?'

'No. I can't take him out, the state he's in. He won't talk, won't do anything. He just sits there with that fucking fish thing. I don't know what to do,' said Wolf. For the second time in as many days, he felt like crying. That was a most un-Wolf-like feeling to experience. He hadn't cried since he was four years old and even then it'd been for his pet rabbit, not himself.

'Right. I'll call my mam and tell her something's cropped up. I'll reschedule for next week. She was waiting to get the go ahead anyway- I'll tell her it's a matter of national security,' Snake resolved.

'Don't be a twat. You three go ahead, me and Jack'll hang here,' corrected Wolf.

'It's alright. We'll have a pizza night, all of us. Give Jack a bit of time to get used to us all, yeah?'

'No. You go eat at your parents'.'

'It's not happening.'

'Mark-'

'All for one and one for all, Luke. It's the SAS motto, after all,' Eagle chimed in from the living room. Wolf hadn't realized that the others had turned to join the conversation.

'No it's not you dumb fu- uh, fool,' said Fox with a careful glance at Jack. 'It's 'Who Dares Wins.'. It's on the headed paper your offices use.'

'Well, it should be,' Eagle replied.

'Right. Y'know what? We're going to do something constructive today. It is now…' Snake checked his watch, 'half past two. Matt, Ben, you're going to go see a movie and take Jack on the London Eye You are going to eat sweets and chocolate and popcorn and then you're going to waddle home no later than seven o' clock. Any questions?'

'Ooooo! What movie!' Eagle shrieked in a comically feminine way.

'Whatever's showing and suitable. Luke and I are staying here to sort out a school for Jack.'

'Cool. We get the little guy, you get big daddy. So anything we should not let him have?' Fox asked. They all turned towards Wolf expectantly.

'Eh…. Jack, are you allergic to anything?' Wolf enquired gruffly. He kept his eyes on Jack to avoid seeing the accusing look he knew Snake would hurl at him. Then he wondered if maybe he ought to rephrase the question for Jack. After all, the kid was only five.

'I'm lactose intolerant,' replied Jack. He looked very small and very vulnerable, squeezed between Fox and Eagle on the sofa. Wolf felt good, knowing his child was smart enough to know words like allergic and lactose intolerant; it made him feel smug.

'Okay so ice cream is out. No milk shakes either. You two got that?' Snake said sternly.

Eagle bounded to his feet, Fox peeled himself off the sofa and Jack followed their lead with considerably less enthusiasm. He stood by with his blue fish, tugging at the front of his t-shirt agitatedly. His gaze slid to Wolf almost shyly.

'You're not coming?'

'Uh, movies aren't really my speciality. Plus I've got some stuff to do. You'll have a great time,' said Wolf.

'What your dad means, Jack, is that you can go and have fun and when you come back he'll be waiting here for you,' Snake explained patiently. Jack gave a suspicious little half shrug, eyes darting from Snake to Wolf and back again.

'C'mon Jack. We'll get popcorn and stuff like that,' said Eagle in the kind of voice that would inject enthusiasm into a corpse. Jack's lips twitched and for the first time Wolf had ever seen, the kid smiled. Albeit a short, shy smile but a smile none the less.

'Here,' Wolf said, slipping Fox a twenty. He figured that would cover the cinema ticket and any junk food that Eagle insisted on pumping the five year old full of.

'Great, it's sorted then,' Snake declared.

Fox started nonchalantly for the door, promising Wolf quietly that he'd keep an eye on things. Wolf prayed that he did; Eagle wasn't known for his responsibility and, although Wolf trusted Eagle with his life, he didn't trust him to keep Jack out of trouble.

Eagle ushered Jack after Fox cheerily and in a minute of bustle they were gone, the apartment door closing behind them with a definite click. Wolf felt an unnecessary urge to watch them go through the peephole that he happily smothered. They'd be fine, he knew it deep down, but he wasn't sure enough that he felt completely confident.

'Right. I'll ring my aunt Maura. My laptop's in a bag out in the hall, you go get it set up. We can go through the list she gives us with a little help from Google,' said Snake, leaning on one of the kitchen worktops.

Wolf retrieved the laptop and plugged its charger in, silently thanking the cosmos that it didn't look too complicated. Anything other than simple technology got Wolf flustered, angry and liable to punch something.

'Hi aunt Maura, it's me, Mark. I'm good thanks, how're you?'

Wolf rolled his eyes as he navigated around the start up menu and opened the browser. Snake flipped him a one fingered salute over his shoulder.

'Oh that's great. Listen, I know it's a bit short notice but I've got a friend who needs a school for his son. Yeah, a primary school. In Lambeth.'

The browser loaded relatively quickly, impressing Wolf. Snake's laptop was quite ugly but nippy enough when it came to the actual important stuff.

'I see. Yeah. Okay. St. Josephs. Ashwell. Clapmole. Elm Lane. Cloverfield. Crown Street. Morris Milton. Uh huh. Don't go for St. John's. Great. Thanks a lot aunt Maura. Okay, cheers, bye. Bye.'

Snake dragged the only other kitchen chair around to Wolf's side of the table so that he could see the laptop too. Wolf drummed his fingers anxiously on the tabletop while Snake tapped away on the keys.

'Okay. Well, my aunt reckons you're best bet is either Elm Lane or Cloverfield. Elm Lane is all boys, Cloverfield is mixed, they've both got pretty good reputations but she said it might be hard to get a place a month and a half into the school year,' he explained, pulling up a website.

It was all smiling kids playing football, writing in workbooks and eating lunch. The beaming faces made Wolf more than a little uncomfortable. So did the token phrases that seemed to pop up every few sentences like 'cultural diversity', 'achieve their full potential' and 'love of learning'.

'So, d'you want to send him to an all boy's primary?' Snake asked.

'Eh. Not really. Heard those places mess with a kid,' replied Wolf uncertainly. Snake rolled his eyes but clicked a few keys on his laptop and brought up another website.

'Right. Well, Crown Street has its own sports pitches and…' More tapping on the keys and a few clicks. '… Clapmole seems pretty alright but it's a mile away. Oh, this looks alright. Ashwell's got a pool.'

'Mark, I just want a school that's not gonna cost me an arm and a leg, takes Jack for the day and maybe smartens the little punk up a bit.'

'Okay. Mid range school, maybe with a homework club or something? Ah. Cloverfield. My aunt reckons it's a safe bet,' said Snake.

'How far away is it?'

'Half a mile. Near Cloverfield park. It's not too expensive and it's got an after school program. D'you wanna give them a ring?'

'Sure,' Wold said, pulling out his mobile. 'Number?'

'020 7830 7650'

Wolf dialled the number and listened to it ring twice before someone answered.

'Hello Cloverfield Primary School, how can I help you?'

The woman on the other end of the line sounded frazzled, irritable and intimidating.

'Uh, hello. My name is Luke Santos and I, eh, was wondering about enrolling my kid,' he said, trying to sound responsible. Snake sniggered.

'Right. You'll have to make an appointment with Mr. Richards. Tomorrow morning, nine o' clock?'

'Eh…. Sure?'

'I'm going to register your details in the computer preliminarily, alright? It's just the national education mainframe. Only schools, the department of education and the department of child services have access to it so you don't have to worry about the details being exploited.'

'I s'pose so but-'

'Fantastic. See you then.'

She hung up before Wolf got a chance to.

'Well?'

'I've got an appointment tomorrow at nine. Think you can watch Jack for me?' Wolf asked.

''Course I can. Don't trust Matt with him?'

'Actually it's because Matt's got a bird. Figured I'd throw you a bone, letting you take care of my kid,' said Wolf. Snake chuckled.

'Real kind of you fuckface.'

'My pleasure.'

Wolf's phone rang again and he answered, resisting the urge to bash himself in the head with the offensive item until he stopped existing.

'Hullo?'

'Is that Mr. Lucas Anthony Santos?'

'Yeah. Who am I speaking to?'

'Mr. Santos, my name's Tony Hill. You're a very hard man to get hold of.'

Snake mouthed 'who's that?' Wolf shrugged by way of reply, grabbing a slightly dented apple from the fruit bowl by the sink.

'I've been trying to get in touch with you for a few days now but your registered number was a dead end. Can I just verify your contact information? Is that your own phone you're using?'

'Eh, yes. Who are you?' Wolf asked bluntly.

'I'm your caseworker. You know, your social worker. I spent months trying to contact you about your son; you were out of the country or something? You spoke with my assistant, Glenda, a few days ago but she never thought to record your number.'

'Right.'

'Well, I had you flagged and you just popped up in the education database. Can I just get your address please?'

'Sure. Its apartment 2A in St. George's, Cleaver Square, London SE11 4EA. What exactly are you calling me for?'

'It's just to check that you're settling in all right, schedule a visit and generally make the transition as smooth as possible. Now, there are a few things that need taking care of.'

'Such as?' Wolf asked casually, inwardly hoping guiltily that maybe they'd found out that he wasn't fit to take care of the kid.

'There's a huge backlog of payments you need to collect, the insurance companies need to straighten out some things and of course there's the matter of Melanie's home and articles; things like that.'

'What d'you mean, Melanie's house? What's that got to do with me?'

'Mr. Santos, Melanie left her house, all of her money and possessions to Jack in her will. I suppose you missed the reading. Anyway, the property's mortgage is long paid off but there's still insurance to pay on it every month. Seeing as Jack is a minor, the house can't be registered to him until he's of legal inheritance age. So that leaves you to care for it, along with any money bequeathed to your son. You should speak with Melanie's solicitor about this because I'm only really able to give you a dumbed down version of the process. It's a little bit over my head, I'm afraid.'

Wolf felt faint. Not only did he have a child to look after, but also another house to maintain and pay for. He was going to die.

'Hold on a second. I'm supposed to pay her insurance policy every month on a house I'm not living in?'

'No, no, of course not. You'll need to re-negotiate a new policy with the company. Insurance, I'm told, is non-transferable.'

'You're joking.'

'Ah, no. I am not. I'm not really too well versed on the ins and outs of that sort of business really. You should talk to Mr. Hanratty, Melanie's lawyer. What I am well versed in is social services payments. You really do need to pick them up.'

'Payments? For what?'

'Well, for having Jack of course. He's entitled to a lot of things, his mother's pension fund and so on. But that's really not my field. The payments, I can advise you on. You're a single parent of a child under the age of sixteen whose other parent is dead. That means that weekly you're entitled to… one hundred and twenty two pounds, eighty six pence.'

Wolf was about to ask why when he remembered not to look a gift horse in the mouth. After all, this guy wanted to give him free money. It'd really help with caring for Jack and getting him to school, and though Wolf did have qualms about claiming benefits he figured if he was entitled then he was entitled.

'Also, seeing as you're going about enrolling Jack in school, I thought you might find having his records useful. I can send them by swift post so you'll have them in the morning, if you want.'

'Sure. Anything else?'

'Quite a few other things actually. Let me ask you, have you ever heard of a 29S yellow form?'

'Uh, no.'

'Well, we've got a lot of ground to cover then.'

'Fan-fucking-tastic.'

Another chapter down, hopefully not too long a wait either. Unfortunately, these chapters are getting longer and longer every weekend but I hope that doesn't bother you. And I did try and keep the language realistic, helped along by the fact that Wolf sees it as an issue around Jack.

Do you remember when you learned the f word?

-DIBAW