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Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 4:39:12 PM) The highway wasn't near as desolate as he remembered, years ago. Houses and businesses sprung up, and the simple two-lane road nad been widened to deal with heavier commuter traffic. He didn't mind too much, though. His bike was perfectly capable of squeezing between cars.
Safe? No. But it would get him there faster.
Angel had to remind him how to find the place. He'd only been there a few months before leaving. He still knew his way to the old place in New York...which was now empty. He was going to make a point of buzzing by it, one final time. But later. Right now? He had family to see.
His Harley didn't have the distinctive sound. He'd had to have the engine changed to an eletric when the final ban on fossil fuels was passed, so there might not have been any warning as he pulled into the narrow driveway and parked.
He thought he was prepared, no matter what happened. If Tien tired to beat the crap out of him, he was ready. Broke down crying? He was ready. Of course...he also thought he'd be ready to see Adrian again. That hadn't gone well.
Jake ran a hand through his short hair before walking to the porch, and ringing the doorbell. Waiting. He probably looked like a stranger now. In high school, he'd kept his hair longer. Still had a tin bit of baby fat and lended some roundness to his face. But unless his dad's powers had failed him...he should know who was waiting at the door.Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 4:39:16 PM) ((Yay!))�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 4:51:44 PM) Tien was bent over the kitchen table, two long sheets of paper spread out in front of him, each about two or three feet long.
This can't be possible, he was musing to himself when the doorbell interrupted his concentration. With a sigh he set down the pen in his hand and went to the door.
He hesitated, his hand stretched out but still two inches from the handle.
"No. This can't be possible," he said to himself. Then he swung open the door.
He faced his son, blinking in the white light of the winter sky, expressionless.
He didn't say anything.Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 4:59:33 PM) Jacob didn't say anything immediately, either. Just looked. Tien looked much older, now. Different than he remembered...but it was still him. His eyes hadn't changed. And it felt like him. Jake had missed that, as much of a hassle as it had been during his teen years. Having parents who always knew when you were upset or pissed of or irrationally happy about something. Always knew when you were lying to them. And always knew, no matter what you said, that you loved them.
Jake still loved his father.
After a moment, an almost-smile came to his face. Tien could still try and beat some sense into him, and he'd just keep grinning.
At the moment, Jake wasn't make much of an effort to keep himself hidden. Poor Nathalie...she could barely control things. Jake seemed to have inherited all his parent's control and then some. Tien would be able to pick up on his nervousness, the anxiety over this reunion. How happy Jake was to see him. There was something residual, too. Following him around from days past. He was injured, too.
But still smiling.
"Hey, dad."�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 5:09:30 PM) Very slowly, Tien stepped down off the front step. He moved like an old man. A much older man.
He was tired. Drained, emotionally and physically. And he was badly bruised. Anita had come dangerously close to breaking his nose. He wore black and blue from the bridge of his nose around his eyes like a mask.
And very slowly, he wrapped his arms around his son's shoulders and pulled him into a hug. In that embrace Jake would feel the strength of a young man. Etienne was tired, but far from spent.
"Welcome home, son."Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 5:17:24 PM) The bruising of course, had not gone unnoticed. He'd ask about it in time. It had to tie in with...
Since he'd returned to DC, he had thie nagging feeling terrible things had happened with his family. Had happened, and were happening. Adrian was much worse than the last time Jake had seen him. Angel was hiding things from him. Luna still hadn't recovered from being left by James. And whatever had happened, was happening here...
"I should have come home sooner." Mumbled loud enough for the older man to hear, as he stepped closer. Jake put his arms around his father...step-father, really, but he'd never made the distinction in his own mind. He knew how he was related to everyone, but Chance and Tien had raised him. They were both 'dad' to him. One of the best lessons he'd learned in life is that family doesn't stop at bloodlines.
Just like his mom, physical contact made the empathy greater. He'd feel the full impact of Tien's emotive state, and Tien would feel the guilt settle in Jake. He should have come home sooner. Should have been around for whatever this was, to fix it.
Tien would also feel the bandages covering his son's back, the pain associated with them pushed away for now.�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 5:25:59 PM) He'd almost forgotten what it felt like...that subtle feedback loop of emotion. Only one of the many ways Jake was like Michelle...
He felt the bandages, and through the embrace, a touch of the pain Jake felt, though the boy was pushing it aside. Added to his own, it made him wince as he finally let Jake go.
"We have a lot to talk about." He hated stating the obvious like that, but how else were they going to get through this?Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 5:30:27 PM) "Kinda figured that." Jake turned momentarily, looking at his bike sitting in the driveway. It was the same one he'd had since he was sixteen, just neutered with that damned eletric engine. He figured it would be safe enough there.
Then, Jake's eyes moved past Tien, into the house. Knowing Nathalie, she was outside with the horses. He wanted to see her again...soon enough, he would. His dad needed him right now, and that was what he'd come back for. To be there for his family.
"Who did that," Jacob motioned to the rather extensive bruising on Tien's face, "and where do they live?"�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 5:35:15 PM) A humorless smirk tugged the corner of Tien's lips. "Your sister."
"...Your other sister. Come inside. Your bike will be fine there." Some back part of his brain couldn't help but appreciate the irony that Tien had spent a great deal of time and energy teaching the kids to always put away their bikes when they were done riding them...but there was a sense of urgency to everything, now. He turned and stepped into the house, not waiting for Jake to follow.Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 5:41:02 PM) "Nathalie hi...other sister?"
So he'd been gone a while. But...other sister? Immediately, he started wondering what exactly Tien had been doing in his spare time.
Or who, for that matter.
Jake stepped in behind him, locking the door-force of habit-and following Tien through the tiny house.�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 5:47:15 PM) He led the way back to the kitchen. "You seem to have another half sister. She's 24. Her name's Anita. And...don't ask me how, but she's your mother's daughter. Genetically, anyway." He put his hands on the two long papers on the kitchen table. Gene scan printouts from the hospital's lab. One sheet was the marked one he'd shown Anita. The other had Michelle's, Anita's, Jake's, Nathalie's, and oddly, his own. He sighed heavily as he looked at the sheets again.�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 5:47:51 PM) ( *hugs for Damon!* )
( Heya Nate, Whit! )Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 5:51:20 PM) As a teen, he'd helped out at his father's workplace. But genetics were not Tien's area, and certainly not Jake's. Still, he looked over the sheets, taking in the information as best he could.
"...these are wrong. They're wrong, aren't they? I mean...pregnant women are pretty easy to notice, yeah?"
Twenty-four. Jake would have been two. What little he remembered of his toddler years did not involve a sibling in any way, shape, or form.
"She must have given you a false sample or something."�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 5:59:15 PM) "I drew it myself." His voice was heavy with weariness. The headaches and lack of sleep had only a little to do with the near-concussion Anita had given him.
"She's dangerous, Jake. Hates us. She's trained, and she's unstable. Shot one of my nurses right in the hospital...She's after all of us. You were going to be next." He raised his startling blue eyes to Jake for a moment, then looked away. "I'm glad you're back. I was trying to track you from what Angel told me...I...was afraid I was going to be too late."Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 6:04:42 PM) "Then she bled the wrong damn blood." Jake was being fairly insistant that Tien had been lied to. Of course, he could always make her bleed a little more, to get a proper sample...
Jake looked up from the papers, meeting his dad's eyes. Always seemed odd how alike they looked, even if they shared no blood.
"Too late? Nah. I've done a pretty good job of keeping myself alive. Don't worry." Downplaying the seriousness, of course. He didn't doubt Tien's words about Anita being trained or hateful, and didn't find his father's fears irrational, either. But he could worry in private.
"You and Nathalie safe here, though?"�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 6:10:04 PM) "Your sister is safe with Luna at the moment," I hope, "I'm fine."
He unbent himself over the table and leveled his eyes again on Jake. "...You're alive, I can see that much. But you're not well, I can also see that. Have you seen a doctor?"Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 6:11:01 PM) ||*will get an address, and invite Anita over for a violent shootout...er...dinner. Yeah*||Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 6:13:08 PM) "Good." Although, he didn't entirely believe Tien when he said he was fine. Maybe, he'd drag his father somewhere safer. He didn't know where, exactly...but he'd think of something.
"It's nothing, dad. Don't need a doctor." Which was a tremendous lie. But it was worth a shot.�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 6:13:18 PM) || ...No, Nathalie. Not yay. *goes to pinch the bridge of his nose out of habit, winces and puts his hand down* ||�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 6:18:41 PM) "Bullshit." Jake wouldn't have heard Tien use a tone like that, or words like that, but on very rare occasions, if ever. Tien had always been careful about his language around the kids. But Jake was a big boy now, old enough to be spoken to as an adult.
"Turn around and lift your shirt," he ordered. "Or if you won't let me examine you, I'll drive you to the hospital and you can try to explain this to someone else. I won't ask any embarrassing questions, I promise. I just want to know you're all right."Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 6:27:01 PM) Jake sighed. He'd rather explain to a strange medical professional than have his father even try to imagine what happened.
Jake had heard that tone, a few times. No amount of arguing or tactful manipulation would get him out of this. Tien could feel the light shade of shame surrounding Jacob as he turned away, pulling off the shirt.
Most of his back was still covered by taped on bandages. Once removed...his entire back was very nearly covered in wounds in their various stages of healing. The freshest, including eight deep scratches down the length of his back, were just a few days old. Older ones, like the small bunch numerous bunches of tiny puncture wounds on his left shoulder were weeks old. Most of the cuts looked unreal. No knife could make marks that way. The areas that weren't open were likely bruised. This continued onto his sides, some on his arms. One of the wounds dissapeared under the waistband of his jeans. There were bite marks...not human teeth, most of them.
They had been thoroughly disinfected, once. But Jake hadn't done anything more than change the bandages in the last few days.
He winced, waiting. Not for physical pain this time.Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 6:33:07 PM) ||...eyes. *mildly distracted*||Jacob Thomas Chandler (Nicole) (1/11/2005 6:34:53 PM) ||*would be interested in reading...maybe...*|| ((Aww. I think he misses Tobias a little.))�tienne Alain Badeau (Anniver) (1/11/2005 6:36:02 PM) Tien had seen a lot of gruesome injuries. Compound fractures before they'd been set, transections, and the like. But this was his son.
He stepped back, and cupped a hand over his mouth. He wasn't going to let his son suffer the indignity of making his father cry, no...But that took the self control of an empath. He closed his eyes until the burning stopped. He took a deep breath.
He almost broke his promise in spite of himself ( What did that to you? Why? What happened? Did the ones responsible survive? ) but didn't. Instead, he spoke calmly, gently. "I'm going to get some disinfectant and some antibiotics from upstairs. I'll be right back."
Maybe with the floor between them he could cry. And rage.
