Chapter 1
This situation was completely new to Ethan, as he’d never had a baby left on his front porch (temporary or not) with a letter saying he should take it in. His first instinct was to hand it over to the police who were well equipped to deal with this kind of thing. The amber alert program was more than sufficient to handle this situation, but it was that soft look from Julia that made his mind falter, in what he should really do.
Ethan was just planning on getting a full nights sleep with Julia, without any IMF mission handlers to come knocking down on his door telling him in some kind of crypt coded language that he was needed, when the doorbell rung and then there it was, a baby with a letter telling it that the baby was actually of special circumstances, and shouldn’t be handed over to the custody of the state.
The look in Julia’s eyes told him that in the four minutes they had been with this baby, she’d already fallen in love with it. Julia herself was sterile, and couldn’t have any children after a particular accident, that she believed was just and luck, which was actually part of a coordinated attack that was meant for Ethan. Luckily she went left the situation unscathed, as the people trying to gas Ethan accidentally used the wrong chemical composition that just left her infertile.
“I’ll take him in, Ethan.” Her eyes were in a no-nonsense state and she cradled the infant in her arms as if she were the biological mother herself. They’d talked about adoption before, but they never got around to it, and with a baby now in their arms, this was the perfect opportunity. She hadn’t seen her family for a year, only keeping contact with them through the phone line.
It would be perfectly reasonable for her to say that she was pregnant during that time, but didn’t tell her mother as she was afraid of giving birth out of wedlock.
“Well… if nobody comes forth to the police to try and claim it within a week, I suppose we could claim it as our own. I have a buddy that works in a government department that could help us register the child as our biological one.” Ethan’s voice was steady, and he was looking intently at the child.
Ethan kissed Julia softly, then after a moment's hesitation kissed the infants forehead before sitting in a comfortable silence. Ethan stood up and told Julia that he’d be back, and he was just going down to the store to buy a few things for the baby.
Currently, they were staying in England. Ethan claimed they would just transfer to England for a year maximum, as there was a huge experimental program going on with the transport system he worked for, and if all went well, he’d even get a promotion. She’d agreed after he told her that he considered this very important to him.
They were due to go back to D.C. in just a month and now there was this baby on their hands.
The small city they had settled in, which Ethan had been assigned to taking down a local black market circuit, instantly took a liking to Ethan’s easy-going persona he put on. The local grocery store had taken quite well to even, even with a few witty jokes about him being an American in the British which were taken in with good faith.
When he was checking out the bag of nappies and a carton of goats milk this got the attention of the person who usually served Ethan. He smiled wildly as he insinuated what buying these two products could mean.
“You did the dirty and have a little kiddo, eh?” The cashier smiles wildly and expresses how happy he is for them. “Man, I know I’ve technically got no credible experience, but I have two nieces and oh boy, they are such a handful.” Ethan nods along and keeps the conversation going. When its time for him to go, he gives the cashier a hefty tip and starts making the jog back to the place him and Julia were currently staying.
The infants blanket it was wrapped up in was embroidered with the word “Harry” and Julia assumed that was the name that the biological mother must have decided for him. That would have to change, Julia wanted all ties with the infants past gone if they were going to pull this off. He would be named something not too far off from Harry, but not close enough to make an immediate connection.
It had been two weeks and there had been nothing about a missing child.
Julia messaged Ethan and he confirmed that by the end of the month the paperwork would fall through and Adrian Meade-Hunt was officially a baby born to Julia Meade and Ethan Hunt. Ethan had done all the paperwork himself, and without the knowledge of any other agent in the IMF, that a baby anonymously popped up into the system among thousands of new babies that were being born every day. Since the baby already seemed to be a few months old, they had to set the birth date back a few months.
Adrian Meade-Hunt would never ever get to know his proper family, and its like they kidnapped him, no matter how morally just it was, Julia, realised, but reasoned that growing up in the state system would have been far worse.
“Hey, mum,” Julia’s smooth voice goes through the phone. Her mother has been getting phone calls from Julia every week since they had come to live in Northern London, but Julia had just called yesterday, so why would she be calling the very next day?
“You know that I’m coming home at the end of this month, right?” Julia makes sure her mother knows whats going on so far. Her mother nods, and almost forgets she’s on the phone but catches herself and mumbles a quick ‘yes’ to Julia, who seemed satisfied by the response.
“Julia, whats wrong?” Her mother finally asks, she already knows that Julia is coming home at the end of the month, so why would she be reminding her about it… unless something had changed.
“I’ve been dishonest with you… I have a child. His name is Adrian. He’s two months old now.” Julia quickly confesses, and for a while, there's a silence through the phone. Julia’s afraid her mother is beyond mad that she could not tell her about this for what… if Adrian was two months old, and a pregnancy was nine months, then she would have been lying about this for eleven months. Almost the entire time she had been in Northern England.
“The father?” Her mother finally sighs into the phone.
“Ethan.” Julia is reluctant and pained to give these answers, but this lie would be one the whole world would have to believe.
“As soon as you step foot back in this country, I want to meet him. The whole family is going to meet him.” Julia has a sigh of relief but sucks in her breath again when her mother resumes speaking.
“Don’t think you’re off the hook young lady, you can’t just hide something that big for so long.” Julia nodded numbly before hanging up the mobile-phone.
“Told your family?” Ethan asks her for confirmation. They’re at the airport, standing before the private jet. Julia didn’t know how Ethan could afford to hire a private jet, but he did work for the department of transportation after all.
She nods, looking at Adrian, who is cradled in her arms. Ethan smiles comfortingly before climbing aboard the private jet, with her following. He’s carrying their luggage, and for a pair who have been living in England for the last year, they only have two bags of luggage to bring back.
She knows after the long flight, the moment she steps off the plane, there will be a welcoming committee of her entire family, even though her family promised they wouldn’t come. One of her younger cousins are probably going to be holding up a bold obnoxious sign that says ‘WELCOME BACK JULIA’ and then scrawled purposely to look like a last minute addition ‘and Ethan’.
Adrian sleeps through the entire flight, and this time when they get off the plane and go through customs, there is an assistant there to take their luggage. He mumbles something to Ethan that sounds suspiciously like ‘Agent’ but catches himself once Ethan shoots him a knowing look.
As expected, waiting on the other side is the entirety of Julia’s family, sans her grandparents who were probably too old to come all the way to the airport from where the elderly care facility is located.
It seems like her mother hadn’t told anybody else about the new addition to the family, as everybody seemed to freeze in shock when they caught sight of the baby. It’s her sister that makes the first move, and she walks over looking at the child wrapped in a silky burrito like fashion.
Julia smiles uncertainly, and her sister softly speaks.
“Whats his name?” She gives gentle smile.
“Adrian Meade-Hunt.” The infant is fast asleep, but even so, her sister can begin to draw up similarities between the new parents and the baby.
“Can I carry him?” Julia nods, and her sister takes the infant into a gentle hold, cradling it while supporting the head. “He’s beautiful. If he gets any of Ethan’s looks, he’s going to be a charmer.” Julia can’t help but agree.
“Ethan and I plan to get married soon, probably within the next few years.” Julia breaks the news to her family, and most of them are happy for her, except her uncle, who was extremely catholic and not very happy that Julia decided to have a child out of wedlock. The rest of the family is charmed by the baby, and they all agree that a new addition to the family was a surprise, but a welcome one.
Ethan and Julia soon go to their little family home, and Ethan immediately orders things required for a baby’s nursery. The local ‘Baby’s R Us’ had everything ready for them to collect the next morning, and in the meantime, the baby just had to sleep with Ethan and Julia in the large king bed.
Setting up the nursery the next day wasn’t too difficult, but they both had jobs to get back to. Ethan’s manager apparently decided he was needed back in the very next day, and Julia had to go back and reapply for her nursing job at the hospital, chances were she was going to get the same job and position she had when she left, and be welcomed back with open arms.
Somehow, from Ethan’s apparent surplus of money he just happened to inherit from his parents, he had enough money to hire a nanny that specialised in infant aged babies. She was there now every day except Thursday, Saturday and Sunday’s.
All days that at least one of them had as a day off from their job.
Adrian was turning two, and Ethan just marvelled at the fact that he had managed to gain what seemed like the normal semblance of a family, and how Adrian managed to grow pretty normally so far, but if Ethan had any say in it, Adrian would be raised to defend himself. There was no way in hell that he would let his kid be raised without knowing anything in the martial arts.
Maybe he’d even teach a few of his vital skills to Adrian, just a few tricks of the trade that he’d learnt and picked up during his extensive time at the IMF.
Adrian would be none the wiser, probably just assuming that it was casual father-son bonding, or that the lessons in self-defence and the martial arts were just one of his father’s quirks.
Ethan soon got straight on it, teaching his son the basics of both reading and writing in over six languages. Adrian too fluent, but could communicate the bare basics in those languages as well and this was all by the time he had turned six years old.
His accent was a little off, and you could tell that Adrian wasn’t a native speaker, but these were all things that could be perfected later on. The very base of most martial arts was taught, and Adrian could take on a fully grown man by the time he turned seven.
That was around the time Ethan had gotten the call.
“Are you one Mr Ethan Hunt?” The caller asks, and Ethan immediately replies with the pre-prepared response. “We would like to offer you and your family an all-expense paid trip to Australia. Offer ends soon.”
That confirmed it for Ethan, it was the IMF then calling and by how the call went, they wanted to meet in the nearby seven eleven store down the road from his current residence.
It’s his handler that meets him there and tells him about a new program.
“We’ve been made away you’re a father. Congratulations.” The formality doesn’t hold any real warmth behind it, and even if he was congratulating Ethan, Adrian was born seven years ago. A blank stare from Ethan makes the man cut to the chase.
“Don’t they just grow up so fast…” The man grins and leaves behind a thick heavy duty book. Ethan can already tell that its just a screen inside a bookcase and it could either mean one of two things, he was being called back into field work or there was a discreet briefing for him.
Ethan grabs the book and wordlessly leaves the store, discreetly checking around that nobody was following him.
When he gets home, the briefing of the situation was so much worse than he could have ever imagined. The IMF is starting a new program to train and prepare future agents before they’re even old enough to decide for themselves. It would be discreet, disguised under the guise that the children were just going to a prestigious school that was extremely hard to apply and get into.
Ethan looked over the proposed curriculum that catered to those around Adrian’s own age, and agreed that it would be pretty useful for Adrian to learn all these skills that would get him up to par with a professional field agent by the time they graduated the program, which just took however long it took that specific child to reach that skill point.
The graduation rate was an estimated age range from 16-19-year-olds, and they didn’t have to be an agent if they didn’t want to by the end of it all, it was just preparing them for the route which they’d most likely be inclined to take due to the familiarity that the IMF would have become by then.
Part of Ethan told him that he shouldn’t bring Adrian into this life, and another part of Ethan told himself that just by living with Adrian, he’d already had brought him into the life of being an agent for a government run agency.
He put down Adrian meads-hunt as a confirmed student through the discreet computer that had been sent to him and got ready to make the call that Adrian had been accepted into a prestigious school of the Integrity of Moral Form.
Julia was so joyed that her sons potential had been recognised by a prestigious school, no matter how unheard or underground the school was.