"I think it's a matter of opinion."

Eagle readjusted his grip on Cub's wrist and shoulder. Then he cocked an eyebrow at Wolf.

Why had Wolf spoken up? Wolf himself wasn't sure.

"How so?" Cub asked in that broken, mournful tone. His voice sounded as if it was coated with some kind of viscous tar: thick and distorted.

Wolf swallowed and glanced at Fox, who was staring him down disapprovingly. No wonder there - Fox probably thought Wolf was playing with Cub's emotions.

But he wasn't.

"If you had sex, you're not a virgin physically," Wolf stated slowly. "But, if it was unknowingly or unwillingly, you're still a virgin at heart, I'd think. Or mind or soul. Or something like that..." He trailed off uncertainly.

A new voice joined the conversation. "I agree with Wolf," Snake murmured quietly.

Cub's head whipped to the side to see who had spoken. Then, very slowly, his gaze traveled to the floor by his own feet. Blankness covered his face now - he seemed like a shell compared to the boy they had met in training. He said nothing, reflecting his hollowness.

"Alex?" Fox asked again. "Were you raped?"

Wolf studied Cub's face. The table was between them, but there wasn't much space between them. Somehow, Cub was expressionless. He seemed to have shut down. It was like a computer had turned off. Not even one light was flickering. He was dark.

"Do you have any more questions about sex?" Wolf asked as softly as he could. Cub shook his head and blinked a few times.

Eagle let go of Cub's arm. Wolf had to agree - Cub didn't need to be restrained anymore. Snake followed suit. They stood on either side of Wolf and Fox. The four of them were lined up across the table from the boy, who hadn't so much as twitched when they released him. K-Unit and Cub.

A reunion, Wolf thought, of the worst circumstance.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," Eagle said quietly. When Cub didn't respond and the others looked at him, he shrugged. "I just wanted to put that out there. None of us wanted this to happen to Cub."

Snake looked back at the boy. He had glanced upwards for a moment - somewhere near the table's edge - but he dropped his eyes to the floor quickly. "You know that it's not your fault, right, Alex?" Snake asked gently. "The victim is never to blame," he added. "It doesn't matter if you put yourself in a situation to be taken advantage of. The rapist is to blame. He's at fault - not you."

Wolf wondered why Snake said that. It didn't seem to fit the moment. Later, he would find out Snake had known someone in Cub's shoes, handled it poorly, and learned better ways to handle it. He wasn't as unprepared as Wolf thought they all were. The knowledge would leave them wondering if MI6 knew. Even so, that was the future.

Now, Cub crossed his arms and hugged himself. It was the biggest reaction they'd seen since he shut down.

"You'll get through this," Snake continued sincerely and reassuringly. Wolf could see the heart Snake projected into his words and actions. He was more human than Wolf had ever seen him before. "It'll never leave you, but you'll get through this. You may not be the same, but you'll still be Alex."

Eagle agreed, "Snake's right." Wolf found himself nodding.

Fox swallowed. Wolf could hear the measured out emotion in his voice. Not too much pity, not too much pressure. A delicate balance. "I still need an answer, Alex. We know you and Tarel had sex from the medical evidence. We just need to confirm that you were unwilling."

Wolf bit his lower lip before contradicting Fox again. It unnerved him to argue with the agent - his former unit-mate. "'S not a matter of unwillingness, anymore, is it? He didn't know. Maybe he enjoyed what Tarel did to him but didn't know what it really meant. What it really was, I mean. That's a different form of sexual abuse, I think."

Fox looked at him and smiled grimly. "Yes, that would be."

"Our objective is only to show that Cub was telling the truth about Tarel's plans," Eagle pointed out. He was looking at the bigger picture, as per his usual. Wolf was suddenly grateful for Eagle's bluntness. It was very efficient and left little room for doubt.

Fox nodded. "Well, Alex?"

"He already said he said the truth," Eagle answered.

Wolf studied Cub closely. He was still unreadable, like a book written in some language Wolf had never heard of. Being asked to read it only served to frustrate Wolf - it got him nowhere.

"I'll go turn off the recording equipment," Snake said hurriedly. He left the room. No one watched him leave.

Wolf continued to try reading the stone-faced child. Then, without warning, an English word leaked out of his eye.

Teardrop.

The interrogators looked at each other, trying to come to a consensus: what now? Fox looked ready to die miserably; Eagle, disconcerted and remorseful. Neither made any sign of having a clue what to do.

Wolf could only imagine what he looked like.

A small plop led his eyes from his teammates to Cub. His teardrop had plummeted onto some part of his shirt.

Fox's voice came from somewhere next to Wolf. "Alex, I'm s-"

"Shut up," Cub whispered.

Wolf glanced at Fox. His mouth was still open from his incomplete platitude. Wolf suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu. Then Fox licked his lips, closing his mouth. He sighed heavily. "Then, do you want to-"

"Go away," said Cub, this time far more loudly and clearly.

"-go home?"

A pause.

"No."

The memory came to Wolf sharply. His mother had acted toward his father at his grandmother's funeral the exact same way Cub was acting toward Fox now. The disbelief, anger, depression... it was all there. And the wanting to stay at the funeral.

And what had Wolf done? Nothing. He had stood there and watched his mother's coldness toward anyone and everyone who approached her. It was much, much later that she had confessed to Wolf how she really had felt that day: scared, embarrassed, and, above all, in need of a shoulder to cry on.

Without words, Wolf walked around the table. He could feel his unit-mates' eyes on him, questioning. And he, too, was questioning about what he was about to do.

Cub looked up when Wolf stood directly in front of him. They made eye contact, just as Wolf had with his mother on that mournful day so many years prior.

They both had brown eyes.

Similar situations.

Same look.

Wolf took a deep breath. Then he very slowly reached out and touched Cub's upper arms with his fingertips, as if asking for permission. The eye contact remained, even as Wolf gently spread his fingers and squeezed softly. He could feel Cub's upper-arm muscles slowly relaxing under his delicate touch.

Cub broke their connection by looking down as a second tear dribbled out of his other eye. At least he hadn't twisted away, Wolf figured. He didn't mind being touched, even after his ordeal, it seemed.

Taking that as his cue, Wolf swiftly slid his hands from Cub's arms to his chest's sides. Just as the boy raised his own arms to defend himself or something of that nature, Wolf yanked him out of his seat and pulled him to his own chest, trapping the smaller wrists between them, elbows askew, by holding him closely. Cub released a squeaky whimper.

Fox had walked around the table as well, and now he walked into Wolf's peripheral vision. "Wolf, what are you doing?" he asked sharply. "He was just raped!"

"And why should Wolf act differently?" Snake retorted, causing Cub to stiffen. Apparently, he hadn't registered the soldier's return. Wolf hadn't, either. "This is all unrecorded, by the way."

"Because..." Fox paused, and Snake interrupted.

"We should respect his feelings?" Snake's face contorted as Wolf looked over. His voice dropped in volume but upped in sincerity. "He needs someone to trust. Did you consider that right now he might want to be held? To feel secure?"

"I just..." Fox started. Then he looked at Cub and shook his head. "I didn't see it like that."

Wolf looked down at Cub. Somehow, the child sensed the new gaze, and he looked up, reconnecting their eyes. Cub's were uncertain and sad.

Then Wolf realised Cub's elbows were still imitating a chicken.

Very slowly, Wolf slid his arms down Cub's back to let his arms down. Cub stiffened dramatically at the new gesture, and his eyes, still directed at Wolf's, widened like a waxing moon.

"Wolf..." Fox murmured quietly. He'd clearly noticed Cub's less-than-favorable reaction.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Wolf whispered to the boy wrapped up in his arms. At those words, Cub pushed on his chest - hard. But not hard enough to break Wolf's embrace. He only succeeded in leaning backward.

"No," Cub muttered brokenly. "Stop. Let go of me." He wasn't looking at Wolf's face anymore.

Fox's anxiety was obvious, despite his previous admissions. "Wolf, I don't think that's a good idea anymore."

Despite the negative response, Wolf found himself studying Cub further. The more he looked, the less he saw adding up.

Hurt, tired, scared...

Embarrassed...

Instead of listening to Fox's protests, Wolf pressed Cub's head into his chest with one hand, leaving the other around his waist. He could feel the boy struggling.

"No," Wolf whispered into Cub's ear. The child stilled at the vocalisation of doubt. "I don't believe you." Wolf let that sink in for a moment before saying something he'd never thought he'd ever say in a voice more delicate than ever before: "It's okay to cry, sometimes."

Just as he'd wished he'd held his mother years before, Wolf held Cub closely when he let out the first sob.

AN: Hey, everybody! Thanks for sticking this out with me. I hope y'all liked it. I'm aiming for bittersweet, sweetie. The moral of the story is to give hugs when people need them.

Some things I wanna tell y'all:

1. I loosely based Alex's reaction on the 5 stages of grief because I haven't had any experience with rape victims or great tragedies in my memory. The five stages of grief are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The idea is that Alex was left off in the fourth stage but will reach the fifth someday. It's 'cause his virginity is dead, so to speak. I also couldn't figure how to put such emotions in Alex's own words. That's why, with the exception of part of an earlier chapter, this is written from Wolf's point of view. Mostly why, anyway.

2. I had some ideas about the characters beforehand. Wolf's character is supposed to be unsure about the pervading topic but caring yet brusque. Ben is supposed to be very much on-the-ball and professional. Eagle is supposed to be straightforward and somewhat outspoken. Snake is supposed to be the most supportive and knowledgeable about the situation.

3. Yes, Alex is out of character. I don't know about you, but I'd be out of character if I'd just found out something horrific had happened to me without my knowing it.

4. I'm not continuing this. I'm certain. Please don't ask me to, because I couldn't promise to complete it. If anyone else writes a continuation, let me know and I'll put a link to your story in a new chapter.

5. The title is a pun. "Debriefed" is like debriefing, but if you "de-brief" someone's briefs, well, you just took off their undies.

So yeah. That's it. Did you like it? (And do you agree with Wolf's opinion about virginity? I do!)