Title: The Quiet House
Fandom: Spooks (MI5)
Rating: G
Length: 768 words
Summary: Much to Adam's surprise the house is very quiet, so what's happened to Wes and Lucas?

When Adam reached home following a day at work, he found the house was very quiet.  In fact, considering the current inhabitants should have been his son, Wes, who as a teenager did nothing quietly, and Lucas, who still did not like total silence around him, it was far too quiet.

In addition, there was no welcoming smell of dinner cooking, which he’d come to look forward to on his arrival.  His stomach grumbled just at the thought of there being no food.

A quick glance round downstairs confirmed that there was no-one there, so he went upstairs.  Lucas’ bedroom door was slightly ajar, and Adam could hear gentle rhythmic breathing coming from inside.  He pushed the door softly until he could just look inside and saw Lucas lying on his bed, covered with the throw and fast asleep. 

Happy there was nothing to worry about there, he continued onto Wes’ bedroom.  This time the door was slightly further open, and Adam went in.  Wes too was asleep, but with his feet on the pillow.  Adam looked at him carefully, but Wes appeared peaceful and gave the impression of having been sitting on his bed and then simply lying down without bothering to swap ends.

Curious as to what had happened, he went back downstairs and into the kitchen.  There he discovered a saucepan of Bolognese sauce which Lucas must have made earlier, so he found some spaghetti and set it to cook while he heated the sauce up.

About quarter of an hour later he heard first one set of footsteps coming downstairs followed shortly afterwards by a second set.  He looked at both Lucas and Wes as they came into the kitchen and decided there was nothing urgent which they needed to discuss, so he finished cooking and served out.

As they began eating, Adam said, “This is very nice, thank you for making it, Lucas.”

“I was happy to do so.  I’m sorry it wasn’t ready when you came home, I’m afraid I crashed out,” Lucas replied.

“Me too!” Wes added.  “Crashed out that is.  Lucas made the food while I was doing my schoolwork.”  The last few words were said with great emphasis.

“I’m glad you’ve been doing your schoolwork,” Adam said.  “Do either of you want to tell me why you both crashed out?”

“I was doing my work on the kitchen table,” Wes said, “while Lucas cooked.  But I’ve not got much sauce on my book, just the odd drop.  And I was thinking about school and what it must be like to be a sentinel and I accidentally bumped into some of Lucas’ thoughts.”

“Cooking helps me think,” Lucas said.  “I was letting the colours and sounds bring back memories, so I wasn’t aware of Wes’ thoughts until they came through to me.  He’ll be a really good guide when he’s older.  But at the moment he only gets a sense of what’s going on and it’s very fuzzy.”  Adam’s lack of understanding must have been clear because Lucas added, “Let me demonstrate.”

Instantly Adam felt a message come through from Lucas: Can we have some ice cream?  Raspberry ripple would be good.

Adam was halfway to the fridge when he realised they hadn’t finished what they were currently eating.

“Ask Wes what the message was,” Lucas said.

Adam turned to Wes, who said, “Cold.  Pleasant.  Pink and white.”  He licked his lips.  “Hmm, probably ice cream.  Can I have mint chocolate?”

“Yes, I see what you mean,” Adam said.  “And yes, once we’ve all finished the spaghetti, we’ll have ice creams.”

“Anyway,” Lucas continued, “maybe I should have stopped Wes, but also I was too far deep into my own thoughts, and we ended up sharing a bit of our feelings without having to really express them.   That sort of thing is tiring anyway, and it needed extra effort to understand each other, so I said I needed a break, because I didn’t think it fair to Wes if I zoned out and I went upstairs and just fell asleep.”

“And I thought I’d go up to my room and think about things a bit,” Wes added, “and the next thing I knew I could smell the Bolognese and I was feeling hungry.”

Adam looked from Wes to Lucas and smiled.  A counsellor would throw up their hands at the idea of a confused teenage guide and a badly traumatised sentinel having anything to do with each other, but somehow or other it worked and, other than keeping a careful watch on them both, Adam was not going to interfere.