Written for ashly_2x1 on lj, who asked for a continuation/sequel to In Loco Parentis. This is set in a possible future for the fic. (Only possible, though; it's not done yet! :D)
I really hope you like it, darling, and that this is something like that which you were hoping for. Thank you so much for your generosity and for the lovely prompt. :D
DISCLAIMER: Alex Rider is so very, very definitely not mine.
PS - I am offering three fics of 1000+ words over at help_japan; you can find the link on my profile page, if you would like to bid!
When Wolf got through the door, he dropped his bag in the hallway and headed into the kitchen, where he could be fairly sure Alex would be working. When the rest of K-Unit weren't hanging around, Alex's books were usually at the end of the table, opposite the two chairs he and Alex used for dinner, and it gave the whole place a friendly kind of feel, far more like home than Wolf ever remembered it being before.
Since Alex had moved in properly, they'd moved various bits of furniture that he particularly liked into Wolf's flat, which led to a hodge-podge of expensive furniture (Alex's uncle, though Wolf had no time for the man whatsoever, had apparently had pretty damn good taste, and the money to back it up) and Wolf's own IKEA flat-pack things. Everything in the room which was now Alex's had been changed out for furniture taken from Alex's old home, and Wolf had told him, rather awkwardly, that he could put up posters or whatever the hell he liked. So far, the walls had stayed blank, but then he hadn't had anything up on the walls in his other house, so it didn't matter too much.
MI6 were paying the upkeep on Alex's house, whether out of the money Alex's uncle had left him or out of their own pocket, Wolf didn't know. He didn't really care, in all honesty. His focus was mostly on Alex.
"Hey," he said casually. He knew Alex had heard him come in, and knew that Alex would also have processed that he used a key, had dropped off a bag, and walked like he was wearing army boots, so he would have known exactly who it was.
There were downsides to living with a teenage spy, and a kid as bright as Alex, but Wolf found he was more than capable of handling it. Alex was kind of worth the pay off.
"Hey," Alex offered him a smile, clearly tired. As far as Wolf was aware, Alex hadn't been sent off on an assignment recently – mainly due to some somewhat reluctant interference by Wolf's father – but his GCSEs were coming up pretty soon, and Alex already had his work cut out for him. "You want tea?"
"I could make it," Wolf tried, but Alex's smile just grew.
"You really couldn't," he said, and stood to put the kettle on. "How was it?" he asked casually, grabbing a pair of mugs.
"Could have been worse, but I've had better," Wolf said, skirting the issue much in the same way as Alex had.
"Yeah," Alex nodded. "I know what you mean."
"SIS haven't been bothering you too much, have they?" Wolf asked, doing his best to keep his voice as light as Alex's had been, and all too aware that he was failing dismally.
Alex just smiled. "Nah, they've been behaving themselves. Mrs. Jones actually came round here a couple of weeks ago, though."
Wolf did his best not to straighten in his seat or look wary. Unfortunately, Alex was the spy here, not him, and Wolf's distrust of the secret service when it came to his ward was such that he could hardly help it. "Oh?"
"Yeah. Elena was here." Alex's voice was very warm; he unashamedly adored Wolf's grandmother, who returned the favour by doting shamelessly on Alex at every opportunity. The result was that Alex, had he wanted it, could probably have been one of the most spoilt teenagers in London. Alex had no interest in being spoilt; his uncle, Wolf knew from careful and intermittent questioning, had often given him whatever he'd asked for (although he'd often waited for an appropriate date, like a birthday or Christmas, so there was at least that to be said for him, Wolf supposed), he'd just never been there to give them to his nephew personally. So rather than ask for things, as any other teenager might have, Alex revelled in all the attention that Elena gave him. In his rare sentimental moments, Wolf got a little down that he wasn't the one who got to give Alex that attention.
Those moments were rare, though. Wolf wasn't the sort of person who tended to get worked up about things like that; events fell out as they were, and he just had to deal with them as best they could.
Alex was a full-blown military brat now, anyway, and Wolf had taken a fair bit of ribbing when Eagle (of course it was Eagle), asked him how his 'baby' was doing back home after he'd finished a quick phone-call to Alex.
"Wait," Wasp had said, glee in his voice. "Did Wolf knock some chick up?"
"Oh, much better than that," Eagle drawled, glancing at Wolf, who just shrugged. "He inherited this kid."
"You bastards get all the drama," Wasp grinned. "C'mon, spill, what's the kid like? Boy, girl? Where're mummy and daddy?"
"Tragically passed away," Eagle said dramatically, careful all the same not to spill too much about Alex. Their fellow soldiers wouldn't say anything to anyone, but it was just safest not to say things that would have to be unsaid later. "And Wolf got left holding the very large baby. A very large boy baby."
"How old?"
"Fourteen," Wolf interrupted. "And he's a good kid, you lay off him."
"Wolf's a very over-protective daddy," Eagle said confidingly. "So don't talk smack about his kid, OK? Or he will bring down the wrath of god onto you."
"I'll show you 'wrath of fucking god' in a minute," he had threatened idly, and Eagle had thrown up his hands with an expression of mock terror – and that had been how the rest of the SAS found out about Alex. Hardcore soldiers they might have been, but they were also terrible gossips.
For the most part, Wolf didn't mind the ribbing. He hadn't expected to like Alex at all when he first got landed with him, but the kid had grown on him, to the point where he was certainly not going to give him up without a fight.
"How'd that meeting go?" he asked, pulling himself back to the present as Alex put the tea in front of him and headed back to his books with his own mug.
"Not too badly," Alex said, amusement in his eyes. "I've never seen two people be so polite to each other in my life. They clearly hated each other on sight, it was amazing." The mischief in his voice was wholly teenage.
Wolf huffed a laugh. He really wanted a shower and a sleep, which Alex would understand, but only after he'd finished his tea and spent some time with Alex. "What'd Jones want, anyway?"
"To 'talk to me about my options'," Alex said. "Basically, was I working for them or not, when I leave school."
"What'd you say?"
"That I was fifteen and had no idea what the hell I was going to want in three years time." Alex's tone was purely practical, but his expression told Wolf there was no way in hell he was going to work for MI6 any time soon. When Jack had gone back to America, MI6 had lost the one really major hold they had over him, and in placing him with Wolf, they'd made a tactical error they couldn't reclaim. It was, Wolf thought, mainly just fun to watch them scramble to recover the ground they'd lost.
"Good," he said simply, stretching out in the kitchen chair and shutting his eyes for a long moment. "Fuck, I'm tired."
"Go to bed, then," Alex said. "Seriously, I don't mind. I've got Biology homework to do anyway."
"When's it due?" Wolf asked, and then realised how much like a parent he sounded. He was still sometimes a little thrown by that thought.
"Monday, but I've got to finish off another bit of English coursework over the weekend."
"OK then. That lot," by which he meant the rest of his unit, "are probably going to appear at some point, but I can always pretend no one's home if you need peace."
Alex smiled, but shook his head. "I'd like to see them," he said, which was as near as Alex got to outright demanding attention from anyone. Wolf was not about to shoot that one down.
"Your funeral," he said, knowing Alex wouldn't take it amiss.
True to form, Alex just gave him a Look and quirked another quick smile. "Are you going to bed, then?"
When Alex said something, he meant it, so if he said he didn't mind, he didn't mind. It had taken a little while, but they'd finally got him to kick the habit of saying things he thought the listener wanted to hear, had stopped trying to make himself invisible through good behaviour. "Right. I'll see you in the morning, OK?"
"Yeah," Alex nodded. "How long do you have off?"
"Only a couple of days," he said, a little regretfully. "I'm due back on Tuesday."
"Better catch up on your sleep quickly, then," Alex said, and Wolf nodded, standing to put his mug in the sink, and ruffling Alex's hair on his way past him.
"Good to see you, Cub," he said quietly.
"You too," he heard behind him as he grabbed his bag and headed down the corridor to his bedroom.
With any other kid, it wouldn't have worked. Any other kid would have needed more than Wolf could ever give, even with Elena's help. But he and Alex were just such good fit for each other.
FIN!
With thanks again to ashly_2x1!
-ami