CIA Academy of Espionage

Washington, DC

Nathan Hale Administration Building

December 17th, 2015

1640 hours

3rd Person POV

Ben began hyperventilating as the rush of emotions hit him hard. His entire body trembled as he tried to stutter out words. With wide eyes, Alexander and Catherine rushed forward and knelt directly in front of him, each one grasping one of Ben's shoulders.

"Ben? What's wrong?" asked Catherine frantically.

Sweat and tears started streaming down Ben's cheeks as he tried to speak, but couldn't.

"I-I—" he stammered.

He started full-out sobbing. As he covered his face with his hands, the adults looked at each other with scared expressions on their face.

Both of them were absent to some degree as parents, and consequently were not as experienced. Making matters worse, considering Erica's overall lack of diverse emotions, they had never faced something like this before. Thus, they were a bit unsure on what to do for the boy in front of them. Furthermore, they had never seen Ben like this before. But when they thought about it, they realized that they had, but couldn't quite place it. It clicked for Alexander first.

'The funerals,' he thought. Then it dawned on him what Ben was going through.

"Panic attack," he whispered to himself. But Catherine managed to hear it.

He hesitantly reached forward and wrapped the young boy in a hug, only to be a bit startled when Ben clutched him tightly like his life depended on it. However, Alexander took it in stride, holding the boy as he sobbed into the agent's shirt. Alexander let out a small grunt as he shifted himself to more properly sit on the ground. However, he never let go of Ben. He turned towards Catherine and quickly whispered in her ear: "It's his family, almost certainly. Bolt the door. Nobody enters."

She understood immediately. She nodded and quickly put a sticky note on the outside of the door which said: "DO NOT ENTER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES - Alexander Hale."

She then closed the door and locked it, turning back to see her lover holding on to Ben, whispering soothing sounds as the agent-in-training continued to cry hard. He turned towards her, motioning her to come forward. She did, kneeling and wrapping Ben up in a hug from behind.

Acting on pure instinct, they held Ben between them. They whispered words of comfort, which didn't seem to help. Nonetheless, they kept trying. Eventually, Ben started whispering something between his tears.

"Don't... go... please... don't... leave... me..."

Alexander clutched the boy he'd come to have paternal affection for a little tighter. "We gotcha, buddy. You're gonna be OK," he murmured.

Catherine did the same as she also came to have maternal affection for the boy. "Don't worry, sweetheart. We won't let you go," she whispered.

Ben was delirious, not hearing Alexander and Catherine's words and continually pleading for them not to leave him. They didn't get annoyed or irritated. They remained patient and held him in their arms, continually promising him they wouldn't leave him.

Eventually, Ben's sobs became choked gasps and hiccups as he still mumbled pleas for the adults not to leave him. They kept calmly promising that they wouldn't go, stroking his hair or his back soothingly.

Some hours after the breakdown began, his mumbles went silent as he cried himself to sleep in his mother and father figures' arms. Relieved, Alexander exhaled a small breath he didn't realize he was holding. 'Hopefully Ben gets some rest,' he thought. He glanced at the clock and cursed silently. It was almost lights-out for the students. He looked at his lover and then at the young man between them.

"Now what?" whispered Catherine.

Alexander thought about it. The two kept saying that they wouldn't leave him, and he intended to keep that promise. He looked around the room until his eyes rested on his couch. Then he got an idea.

"Cath, I've got an idea. He can sleep on the couch and we'll sleep in the chairs. I'll go get some blankets and inform his RA that he's sticking with us. I'll be back ASAP. Luckily he's on break," he whispered.

She nodded, while he moved to slowly extricate himself from Ben's grasp. However, as soon as he managed to free himself, Ben started whimpering in his sleep, as if in pain. Thinking fast, Catherine moved directly in front of Ben and hugged him. He quickly clutched her tightly, making the whimpers cease almost immediately. She gave a look towards Alexander that just said, 'Go! Fast!' He nodded and quickly, but quietly, rushed out of the room.

While the adults focused on their individual tasks, they both had a nagging thought in the back of their head.  While they had a theory for the cause of this panic attack, they couldn't help but wonder: what in the world happened to Ben? What was the unknown variable they were missing?

Alexander POV

I sprinted towards Armistead Dormitory. Nothing else was on my mind other than completing my objective and booking it back to my office.

I honestly had no idea what I was doing. Heck, neither did Catherine.  It scared me out of my mind.  What were we supposed to do? What if we messed up? Why didn't we just call for someone better suited to handle this?

'He probably trusted you two enough to be willing to break down around you, and you two only,' my mind responded.

I felt a new confidence within me. I still had no idea what I was doing, but I was going to give it my damn best shot.

I used my card to gain access and made it up to his floor just in time to see the RA, Roger, knocking on each door to check if his hall's students were inside. He had just reached what appeared to be Ben's door, and was not getting a response.

Walking up to him, I said, "Roger, is it? That won't work. Ben isn't there."

Roger frowned. "But Agent Hale, where is he? He's violating curfew."

"He has to stay in my office. We have a bit of a problem."

"What?!? What happened?"

"I'm not at liberty to say. Now listen: I need to grab some items from his room, so if you would please unlock it?" I asked.

"Yes sir," he responded, opening the door.

I dropped my voice extremely low. "I'm not going to say what's happening, but make sure that nobody realized he missed curfew. It wasn't his fault, and if that's all it were, I would have brought him here myself. But right now, he needs to stay in my office. Don't worry, another agent and myself are watching him. Like I said, keep it quiet. Do you understand?" I whispered as menacingly as I could.

His eyes widened and he raised his eyebrows, hesitating, but he nodded again. "Y-yes sir," he said, stuttering a little.

"Great. Now get moving. You never saw me," I say before ducking into Ben's room.

I quickly grabbed a bag, some pajamas, and a change of fresh clothes. As I'm about to leave, I notice a certain picture on the nightstand: Ben with his parents and siblings.

'Dear God...he lost pretty much every connection he had to the normal world,' I thought.

I'm not sure why, but I packed the photo too. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I booked it to my quarters to grab some blankets. Little did I know that someone saw me...

So... how was it? Like I said in the Author's Notes in the beginning, the story tends to sound better in my head than in writing.

The plot thickens. There are details in here that will make y'all scratch your heads, but questions will be answered as the story progresses.

Word of warning: this may sound repetitive, but I'm serious when I say it's going to continue getting darker from here, and pretty emotional. At least, it should.

As always, feel free to answer questions, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Until we meet again, stay safe!

- ADF-2