Finale of Favor. The electricity and heat are back up, so I am temporarily leaving my bunker to bring this to you. Thanks for following, R&R, and if you have any candles or blankets, send them to me because we need more! ~ SamayouTamashi

He woke to the sound of helicopter blades rushing above him and a gentle, warm presence beneath his head. A hand passed through his hair as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. As he stretched and slowly sat up-so as not to aggravate his pounding head-he also felt the hand resting loosely around his wrist disappear. "Feeling better, Alex?" That must have been Ben he'd felt then.

"Yeah, but where are we exactly?"

Ben asked one of the other people he couldn't identify yet the location, and the answer came back to him. "We just passed over the Turkey/Iran border. We're boarding a plane to get to London once we land in Geneva, Switzerland."

"Awesome." A second, and somewhat worrisome, thought came to mind immediately following the first. "What did MI6 say when you called them?"

Alex felt Ben tense and relax again. "Jones has resigned. She told Blunt that if he can't keep his agents safe, then he should be retiring too. Her original employers offered her back her old job, and Mrs. Jones agreed so fast they never knew what hit them."

"MI5, I assume?"

"Right on. I believe her exact words to Blunt were, 'While they might be sons of bitches too scared to even let their spies leave the continent, at least they keep them safe.'"

Sitting the rest of the way up, and avoiding the nagging tingle under the gauze wrapped around his head, he shook his head. "I knew she was quite a character but…I would never have guessed."

Across the room from the spies, another voice piped up, "Guess your number two now, eh?"

Snake, he recalled as some of the fuzzy memories came back. "That's right. Oh god, I bet that means more paperwork, doesn't it?" While Alex had a fairly nice office, he was almost never there and tended to avoid the documents demanding his signature and immediate attention. Maybe, he thought, I could pay someone to go through all that for me. They could forge my signature and everything.

Ben could read his mind, apparently. "And why would you care if you got more paperwork? You hide from it anyway so nothing would change."

"But at least I can get into my office for now. Any more of those evil things and I'll be climbing into my office via the ceiling."

The two were laughing as Wolf stepped through the cockpit door. "Looks like Sleeping Beauty's awake. How was that lovely sleep, hmm?"

If looks could kill, Wolf would have been deader than most corpses. "Ben, can you hand me a gun," he asked coolly with a blank stare. "Call in pest control while you're at it."

"Please don't go at each other while we're in the air, Alex. He's just moody because the last time you two were in the same plane, you were the one to kick him out of it."

"Am not!" K-Unit's 'fearless' leader yelled back.

"Says the guy avoiding all the doors on here like the plague," Alex chuckled evilly.

"I-I'm going to check on the pilot," Wolf retorted with a slight stutter before leaving the small cabin.

At this point, Ben was holding his head in his hands. "Will you two never get along in normal situations? I have to stick you guys in a full-out battle before you agree on anything."

The medic nodded wisely. Snake had never seen them not irritate each other unless their lives depended on cooperation. That would be the day, to see them friendly towards each other. It would likely be the day, he figured, right before the apocalypse.

Alex sighed, also agreeing with his partner as he mentally slapped his hand away from the itching spot on the side of his head. "How's Falcon doing?" he asked, nodding towards the prone figure lying beside Snake. The soldier's leg had been propped up on a pillow and someone had covered him with their camouflage jacket. A line from the IV rack attached to the wall next to Falcon trailed down to connect with the arm that wasn't covered up.

"He didn't lose much blood, but I was worried that when he said his ankle was going numb that he might lose the bottom piece of his leg altogether. I got some fluids in him and he seems to be coming along better than I could have imagined. After some rest and physical therapy, I can almost guarantee him a full recovery. Why do you ask?"

His face flushed in shame. "When I was undercover, I was partnered with an older terrorist from the sniper unit. Salim was the one who shot Falcon, and I couldn't stop him without blowing my cover then and there." What he meant to say was that he would have been killed on the spot.

"It's okay, no harm done. Falcon would be happy to know that you cared," Snake murmured.

"I… I know, but I still wish I'd done something. I could have done something, but… I didn't. I just saw him go down and hoped he wouldn't slow the rest of you down." He leaned heavily back against the cold metal walls of the helicopter cabin.

"Doesn't make it your fault," Snake informed him. "You aren't invincible and you aren't all powerful. Everything bad that happens isn't your fault, so get used to it. We all feel that if we'd been a little faster or thought of something sooner that we could have changed the outcome, but the truth is that some things are out of our hands. The sooner you understand, the sooner you'll feel better."

Alex contemplated this and nodded. "Feeling like a philosopher today, Snake?"

"Don't push your luck, kid."

Laughter flooded the cabin once again.

"I just realized this," Alex thought aloud with a pensive look, "but I think Ben is only the second person to partner with me and live."

Dread filled his still-living partner. "I'm sorry, but did I miss something important here?"

"Well, when I teamed up with the CIA the first time, the two agents acting as husband and wife were both killed by this crazy maniac. The second time I worked for the CIA, I partnered up with Tamara, who actually lived through the experience. My godfather betrayed me and then was shot and killed. Rahim was shot by another lunatic trying to take over the world, and then you already heard about the supposed Russian leak*. He was killed not long after the mafia heads."

"On the other hand," he looked over at a somewhat mortified Ben, "Tamara and Rahim might not really count since they entered fairly late in the game."

"There must be a curse placed on all your partners," Snake said with a chuckle. "Try not to kill off Ben, if you would be so kind."

"I try so hard, but they all end up shot or impaled while I seem to have the luck of the devil. Truly, it's a miracle that I'm still alive. So far, anyway." Alex smiled to imply that he was joking.

"Maybe I should retire while I still can," Ben muttered under his breath, looking a little pale at the new information.

Snake shook his head with a grin, though he was horrified at the teenager's admission. What sort of hell was MI6 putting this kid through? It couldn't be legal, could it?

While they had been puzzling over the spy's past, Falcon was stirring. "Whatever's being pumped into me feels wonderful, Snake. Do they bottle this in pill form?" he slurred.

Ever the doctor, Snake looked sharply over his shoulder. "You. If you even try to sit up so help me you will be comatose until that leg looks better than your working one."

Holding his hands up in defeat, Falcon looked over at Alex. "See what we have to put up with? This isn't even a life-threatening wound. Wolf was working with a separate unit for awhile and when he came back with a bullet in his shoulder," Alex's eye twitched as he recalled Wolf pushing him out of the way, "Snake wouldn't let him off the painkillers until the stitches came out. If he so much as twitched a finger, this guy was telling him to quit aggravating his shoulder."

"That's an exaggeration and you know it," Snake glared at him.

Falcon grinned at his slip. "Note how he says exaggeration and doesn't even try denying that the event took place."

"Go back to sleep before I put you there myself."

"You wouldn't hurt your mortally injured comrade, would you?" Falcon knew he was pushing all of the medic's buttons and enjoyed it much more than he should have.

As the two playfully bickered-playful on Falcon's side at least-Alex stood up shakily, leaning carefully against the wall. Ben glanced up at him but knew from experience that it would be best to pretend that he hadn't seen anything. Best to let him recover on his own than try to help and get your head ripped off.

Knowing that Snake would have treated him the same as Falcon if he hadn't been as distracted by his teammate as he was, Alex stealthily made it to the cockpit making sure to stay out of the medic's line of sight. The door shut almost silently behind him, helped by the noisy engine.

"What're you doin' here?" a gruff voice asked, startling him from his reverie.

"Ahh," he spun around to see Wolf leaning in the doorway next to where the pilot was seated. "Sorry, forgot you were back here. I'll leave-"

"You're fine. Plenty of room here for the both of us, I'm sure." Something was off in Wolf's demeanor, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

"Heights?" he assumed.

"Part of it," came the hesitant explanation.

A comfortable silence fell between them. Alex relaxed and let himself slide back down to the floor as he leaned against the wall. His eyes slid shut as the tension he'd pent up inside began to settle down. With the fading of the adrenaline, all that was left over were the regrets and weariness. The recklessness, skill and surety of MI6's Agent Rider were abandoned to reveal a tired teenager with a tendency to distance himself from those around him and wariness towards trusting anyone.

"Stress?" Wolf had seen the masks of Agent Rider slide off, and when his eyes opened, it was the teenage Alex he was looking at and the eyes of an aged veteran he met without hesitation.

"Part of it."

There was a mutual trust between them that could only pass between those who were enemies on the outside and comrades at heart. It was a trust that said nothing taking place in this secluded area would ever be revealed to anyone else.

Alex pulled his legs in to rest his head on top of them. He didn't let his emotions bubble up to the top often, but when they did, it was only then that he ever relaxed completely. Even Jack was wary to wake him up in the mornings for school anymore. At her suggestion, he had moved to using an alarm clock for the days where he wasn't suffering from the constant nightmares keeping him from sleeping.

The situation was almost identical to Wolf. Barely two months ago, he had watched every member of his unit (with the exception of Falcon) get shot within a handful of seconds. Had they not been wearing the Kevlar beneath their shirts, his entire unit would have been killed that night. As he went from base to base, taking on terrorist cells in the Middle East one by one, the need to protect his unit from harm had only increased with time. As the stress built up he felt ready to explode.

Yet, as he had heard Snake say, there are some things that are just out of your hands. Nothing you do can stop them from happening despite the effort you throw at the problem.

And then Alex came, appeared on the balcony to take the problems right out of his hands and place them all upon himself, the same tiny teenager he saw slowly secluding himself more with each passing hour. It was like watching himself in a twisted sort of carnival mirror.

Watching his 'mirror,' he let himself release his worries into the stillness. Wolf closed his eyes and let out a calming breath. Feeling better than he had these last few weeks, he left the peace to check on Falcon. Even if there was nothing he could do, at least he could reassure himself. He left, but not without a hesitant glance behind him.

Snake was ready to wring his patient's neck when Wolf entered the cabin. It was nearly disturbing that someone who'd just had two bullets in his ankle could be this bouncy already. Eagle was beginning to rub off on the new recruit a little too much for his comfort.

"Wolf, tell him that if he doesn't stop moving around that his IV is going to fall out and I'm not going to be merciful in putting back in place."

Wolf turned solemnly to Falcon. "If you don't stop moving around, I'm afraid that I will be hiding with the pilot until he's thoroughly killed you and tossed your body off this helicopter."

Falcon decided that it might be time to stop his antics. "I can't help it. It's so funny to watch him get frustrated."

"True, but you won't be thinking that the next time he gets to bandage you up."

The new recruit paled at the thought and made the wise decision that he was tired and needed rest.

Alex walked back in several minutes after, and Wolf could see the mask zipped back up tightly around him to put Agent Rider back in place of the youth he had glimpsed earlier. "Did everyone miss me?"

Wolf snorted. "Yeah, Sleeping Beauty. We were all over ourselves with grief that we couldn't see you."

The eye twitch was back. "If you call me that again, I'll be kicking your sorry butt out another plane."

"I'd like to see you try that, princess."

"Oh you would, would you?"

Ben was in between them once again, keeping each from tearing out the other's throat. "Now, now. Let's not dissolve into a mindless bunch of kindergarteners for the sake of my sanity."

"Speaking of kindergarteners," Alex frowned, "where's Eagle?"

"Uh," a glance passed between Wolf, Snake and Ben, "the pilot had some caffeine on him."

"So we kinda…er…might've locked him in the storage below the chopper," Snake added.

Alex pinched his nose as the twitch came back to his eye. Kindergarteners, the whole lot of them.

A/N: Once more, a helluva ride for me from beginning to end! Sorry about the confusing bounces between viewpoints, but I really couldn't do the story without it like this. I wanted the end of Favor to be a conclusion to both Safehouse and Favor.

An extra note: I'm thinking of doing an AR/NCIS crossover because the two would mix perfectly together in my opinion. Ironically, my twin is looking at an FMA/NCIS crossover that looks to be just as awesome as my own brewing ideas and the two are looking more and more similar the further we plan into them. (Being twins is hell for our creativity, I tell you...) Anyone in support of these, please send us support so we can work on them while this damn ice storm continues to wreck havoc with our electricity and internet connections.

Thanks for following me all the way and keep an eye out for the new stuff!

*This refers back to Safehouse, in case you're confused. The rest were straight out of the books. I even double-checked to make sure I had remembered all the names correctly.