Alex writes a letter to Wolf, telling Wolf that he is not his legal guardian. The only problem is that Wolf is Alex's legal guardian. One-shot, AU, no slash.

A/N: This is just a one-shot. I was thinking about some of the "Wolf-is-Alex's guardian" stories that I have read, and this was the result. Please leave a review if you enjoy it, or even if you manage to make it to the bottom. I look forward to hearing your feedback!

For those of you who are following "Hold Your Arms Steady," it should be updated sometime on Monday.

Enjoy!

## Break ##

Wolf was exhausted. He had been working his new job for five weeks now and had enjoyed it. He was getting used to being Alex's caretaker. Really, he was. He didn't mind the sass, the stoic expression on the boy's face. He was even getting used to the fact that Alex answered everything with "classified," including what time he had gotten back last night.

That had drove them almost to the point of an argument. Wolf had backed down, knowing what Alex was like when he felt threatened. He had good reason to be.

Although Alex had cared for Jack, she hadn't been the most stellar guardian for the boy. The thoughts that Alex had some rich daddy and some nice mommy were gone when Wolf had met Alex's actual guardians.

Wolf glanced at the note on the table and sighed. So he and Alex were back to using code names again. He had to explain to Alex's social worker why Alex would only call him Wolf for the first ten weeks of his stay. "He thinks it's a good nickname," Wolf had lied, lamely.

Eagle had howled at that. "A good nickname, Wolf? You should've told her the truth! She'd have died laughing!"

Wolf had splashed Eagle with a cup of cold water. Smiling at the memory, he sighed as he opened the note.

Wolf,

You aren't my legal guardian. I don't care who you think you are. No, Jack was my legal guardian. She may have ignored her husband beating me, she may have ignored her husband ripping me to shreds, as you put it, but she was my legal guardian.

Wolf snorted. So Alex had written him the whole note to trash-talk his parenting skills? He sighed and shook his head and continued to read.

She always took care of me after Mike beat me up. That day when you found me, that bandage I had on my hand was put on by Jack. Without Jack, I never would have been cared for. Then again, without Jack, I wouldn't have had to go face to face with Mike.

You have to understand Jack, though, Wolf – she was a good guardian.

And then you came along. MI6 couldn't have their top superspy (although I'm not a spy anymore; since you're making me take a break) being abused at home, now could they? That would look pathetically bad on MI6's part.

Then again, they never found out about it. They bought the lies from the fact that "oh, I had been beaten up at school."

You didn't. I don't know why you didn't. When you found me in that alley, trying to take a nap, I thought you would just laugh and walk away.

Why didn't you?

You were determined to Help ME. I've never had someone so determined to help me before. It has certainly been an interesting experience. My parents – well, I never knew them; other than the fact that John Rider was a spy and my mother turned to alcohol to drown her nerves and her sorrows.

When Ian raised me for the eight years that he did, he was a drunk. He went on all of his missions drunk. He did cocaine when he was at home. He saw visions. He was my guardian.

But you're not my guardian, Wolf!

You care about me. I know you do. I hear you talking about me with Snake on the phone at night. You wanted medication for my nightmares once. The other time you wanted advice on what to do after you yelled at me. (Normal people would have either not cared, apologized, or told me it was my fault.)

You care about me. You were talking about me with Eagle when I was listening. You didn't know it. You told Eagle you didn't like my social worker. That's great – I don't either! You should have seen him when he was alone with me for two bloody days. Guy almost helped Mike, Jack's husband, break my arm. I was there when you told my social worker that you would be requesting a new one because "you didn't like his attitude towards me."

If only the social worker had seen you at camp!

I was there when you were talking with Fox about his tutoring of me and what I was learning. I saw the books you purchased for me so I could learn.

I saw the Christmas presents under the tree this year that you bought for me and that the K Unit set up.

Let's face it, Wolf.

You aren't my guardian.

You're my father. You were more my father than John Rider ever was.

So this is my really awkward way of saying thank you.

Cub

Wolf was surprised. He had expected, after the "you aren't my father" line, to hear about how he had treated Cub like shit, not about how he had been nice to him.

He sighed. It was time to explain why he had reacted the way he had about Alex's guardian. This was not going to be an easy letter to write.

Dear Cub….

## End##

So, what did you think of my first Alex Rider oneshot? What do you think Wolf would have put in his letter to Cub?