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When Helen first got pregnant, Ian was happy for her and for his brother. How could he not be? He knew how badly they wanted a child. While he was sure he would never understand the desire to become a parent, he was excited to become an uncle.
Still, he wasn’t without his worries and his fears for the child’s safety. He and John were spies. It was a dangerous job, and John always seemed to get the most dangerous missions. Fortunately for the incoming baby, John was giving it all up for a normal life with his family.
But John had to be a fool to think it was that easy. Their job wasn’t the sort where you could simply hand in your two weeks notice and walk away. Sure, John had done exactly that, and, despite not being happy with it, Blunt had accepted it (or so he said), but John still had plenty of enemies that might want him dead rather than simply retired. And what if they went after Helen and the baby as well?
Ian never voiced these concerns to his brother. He was sure John had thought of all of this and was aware of the risk, but Ian had begun to fear that his brother might be a bit too blinded by his own excitement to fully grasp how dangerous it was to bring a child into such a world.
But he played the part of the excited brother looking forward to meeting his future nephew.
*****
When the baby was born, Ian knew instantly from the moment he saw Alex cradled in Helen’s arms that he would do absolutely anything to protect this child. It was the closest thing to anything parental he’d ever felt, and he knew John would tease him if he told him, despite how obviously happy John would be to know how much his little brother cared.
Ian visited John and Helen and Alex at every moment he could. Whenever he wasn’t off on a mission, he was usually looking after little baby Alex for a while so that Helen could get some much needed rest.
*****
The news of the “plane crash” hurt more than any torture Ian had ever undergone. Of course, he did know it had been an assassination by Scorpia. He was one of very few agents granted the privilege of that knowledge. Even if Blunt hadn’t seen fit to tell him, deep down Ian knew it would only have been a matter of time before something like this happened.
At least Alex was safe. Ian couldn’t be more grateful that the poor child had been too sick to join his parents like he was supposed to. All that mattered now was keeping his nephew out of harm’s way. He knew in that moment that he would dedicate his life to protecting Alex. No matter how much a small part of him wanted to die just so he could see his brother again, Ian knew he had to stay alive, not for his own sake but for Alex. He would need to be extra careful now. He was all this child had left.
He tried not to cry when he retrieved Alex from the babysitter who’d been hired to look after him. The young woman just hugged him as tears welled up in his eyes.
Alex was too young to understand what had happened. He was blissfully unaware of the tragedy he had just endured, and Ian envied him a bit for that.
*****
Ash visited that night. He and Ian had never been close, but Ash had been John’s best friend and was Alex’s godfather, and Ian was glad to see him.
Ash had been the last person to see John and Helen alive, and he’d watched the plane explode with them on it. He didn’t want to relive it though, and Ian wasn’t about to make him. He had no desire to hear a detailed description of how his brother perished.
“I feel awful,” Ash said. “I wish I’d done something to stop it.”
“There was nothing you could have done.”
He nodded but didn’t seem to believe it. Survivor’s guilt. Ian felt it himself, but he was sure it was so much worse for Ash after having witnessed the plane blowing up.
“What are you going to do about Alex?” Ash asked, changing the subject.
“I’m going to raise him as though he were my own son.”
“Are you gonna tell him about his parents?”
“Of course. He deserves to know they existed. Obviously, I can’t tell him everything, but I want him to know that they were good people and that they loved him.” Ian wanted a lot more than just that for the kid, but he would at least make sure his nephew thought fondly of the parents he would soon no longer remember at all.
“Ian, I know you and I don’t know each other all that well, but I want you to know I’m here for you. And for Alex. I want to be a part of his life, if you’ll let me.”
“Of course,” Ian said without a moment’s hesitation. “You’re his godfather. It’s what John wanted.”
“Thank you. Just keep him safe.”
“I will,” Ian promised. He didn’t have the faintest clue how he was going to manage that, but he would. He had to.