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Jonas (notintheweapon) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2011-08-27 22:18:00

Lost and insecure, you found me.
Who: Jonas and Emogen Broderick (NPC)
Where: The Broderick mansion
When: Early afternoon


Jonas had the window down the entire time as he drove, letting the feeling of the wind through his fingertips distract him from the claustrophobic feeling he got every time he was in a car. Next time, he’d have to remember to get a convertible, those were cheap enough these days, if a little impractical for living in Michigan. When the weather was as nice as this, Jonas certainly wouldn’t complain. They still had a long while before winter came, and therefore he wasn’t going to worry about it yet. And hopefully, he could talk Selena into joining him long before then.

She should’ve come with me for this. We should’ve talked to Emogen together. Jonas rubbed at his temple, pulling up to the mansion and killing the engine. It was a beautiful place - Nathaniel had said once Emogen’s family was well off, but he didn’t imagine it would be this well off. That was probably why she’d agreed to meet with him when he called, thinking he was likely with some sort of charity or something looking for money. He hadn’t lied, but he’d let her get that impression when he called. He did want to talk about soldiers. Really, just one in particular. His son.

Getting out of the car, Jonas drew a breath. It was now or never. He straightened his jacket and knocked on the front door.

Even twenty-three years later, Emogen was a sucker for a soldier. No one could possibly replace her soldier but it didn’t matter. She would do anything for any branch of the armed forces and was currently debating accepting a position at a veterans’ hospital. It would mean stepping down from another board or two but it was worth it to her. She’d never married, never found a love like she had with Nathaniel. It had been fast and it had left her with a beautiful daughter, but it had cost her too much. She wished she’d never let him go back. But those regrets were only a few the blonde woman had in her life. And they weren’t for dwelling on.

It wasn’t unusual for her to get a call from someone wanting to discuss a charity and given that she was still recovering, even a month later, from that car accident involving that demon, she didn’t mind the man she’d spoken to on the phone coming to the house. She was sitting in one of the sitting rooms near the front door and was on strict orders to stay sitting for the majority of her day. With her mother out to a luncheon and her father playing golf with the nice weather, she’d told the staff to back off a little and let her function on her own. At least she didn’t have any stitches to pull.

When she heard the door, she stood slowly and waved off the maid who came bustling into the room. Emogen could get the door herself. Last she checked, she was a big girl. She made her way to the heavy oak door and took a deep breath, making sure she was still as perfect as she could be. Appearances were everything. That had been drilled into her since birth. The man on the other side was a ghost and she could barely hide her surprise.

It took her a moment to regain her composure. “Jonas LaSalle?” she inquired.

It didn’t take an empath to see that he’d surprised her, which wasn’t his intention. Jonas had only seen a handful of pictures of Emogen, and those he’d lost when Selena had dragged him to Celestia. Still, her reaction was enough - he and Nathaniel had shared enough similarities to tell they were related. He just didn’t want to tell her how they were related just yet. He knew he didn’t look old enough to have a 20-year-old son, much less a 20-year-old son who died 23 years before.

He gave her a smile and inclined his head in her direction. “That I am,” he said. “Miss Broderick, thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I hope I’m not inconveniencing you too much.” Even now there was a hint of a Southern drawl in his voice, from all those years in Oklahoma. You could take the boy out of the farm, but you couldn’t take the farm out of the boy, not completely.

She smiled as she took a step backward. “Not at all, Mr. LaSalle. Please, come in.” It was nice to have someone to meet with, though the fact that he reminded her of Nathaniel was something she couldn’t shake from her mind. It was too similar but he couldn’t be related to him. Could he? If that was why he was there... No. She pushed that thought from her mind. There was no way he could be related to him. It was just a trick of the light and thinking about Nate too much lately, that’s all.

“Would you care for something to drink?” she asked, leading him back into the room she’d been in previously. Her pace was slow and she did have a little limp but she knew she was getting better and this was something she’d been living with for a month so it wasn’t something she noticed much. The sitting room well lit with comfortable but obviously expensive furnishings. There were folders about and a laptop as this was Emogen’s home base while she was recovering. Add to that the pitcher of iced tea and two glasses, one of which was half filled, on a serving tray on the table and her lunch plate, and it was clear she had spent her morning there. She spent most mornings there.

Jonas followed her in, closing the door behind him. It clicked shut almost without a sound, the man more gentle than he looked. He was walking into someone else’s home - a very expensive home, but home nevertheless. He would of course respect that. And upon walking into the sitting room, and seeing her limp, as well as the way she’d had it set up? It was obvious Emogen had been injured recently, and was recovering from something. Selena would be able to tell better, and he made a mental note to bless the place before he left. He didn’t want to see any danger come to her, no more than the pain his family had already inflicted. Unintentional, but still pain.

“A drink would be lovely,” he said. “But please, allow me. I don’t wish to be an inconvenience.” Jonas’ easy smile - which wasn’t easy to pull off given all of his thoughts at the moment - should be enough to put Emogen at ease, or at least he hoped. He was prepared to do what he had to in order to find out what he needed to know, and since she was injured, it wasn’t in his nature to just sit idly by and let her struggle.

“It’s alright,” she protested but he’d beaten her to the pitcher and she settled back against the couch cushions. There was a soft click as she closed her laptop and moved some of the papers, tidying up a little. Her mother would be appalled at the state of the room, but it was comfortable to the woman. “Thank you,” she said softly, finding that when he bent his head like that, he reminded her of Nathaniel again.

“Well, Mr. LaSalle, what is it that you wished to speak to me about?” Best let him approach her on how he wanted her to assist him. She was already trying to figure out what she could provide for his organization.

He took his time with the tea, pouring himself a glass and putting it onto the end table next to him. Then, he refilled her glass before taking a seat in a chair across from hers. It was a wingback, and quite comfortable, but Jonas couldn’t allow himself to relax. Taking a sip of his tea, he nodded his thanks, then folded his hands in front of him. His back was straight, his posture perfect, and he drew a few deep breaths.

“Miss Broderick - Emogen.” He lifted his eyes to hers, and he didn’t look away. “I wish to speak to you about a soldier you once knew. Lieutenant Nathaniel Castle.” Castle wasn’t actually Nathaniel’s last name, but it was the one Jonas was using when he’d been born and therefore the one Nathaniel used. It didn’t matter now, she would know who he was talking about.

The glass was near her lips when he mentioned the name she’d been repeating in her head and it was a wonder she didn’t drop it as she put it back on the table. “How...” She felt flushed and she took a deep breath. “How did you know Nate?” she asked softly, wondering if he was one of his old Army buddies. She hadn’t spoken to any of them in over twenty years and it was more than shocking that one was sitting in her living room, so soon after she’d been hurt, after Telyn had found out the truth. Would she want to meet this man?

Anyone else might have flinched, but Jonas didn’t. Instead a sad look crossed his face, an old pain that never quite went away, always aching in his chest. When he closed his eyes, he could still that horrible moment again, Nathaniel lying there, blood everywhere... “The truth is bit hard to explain - or perhaps, I should say, accept. Nathaniel and I are family.” Another pause. “Nate was my son.”

She knew that look all too well. It was one she had on her own face on more than one occasion. It was one of loss but that couldn’t have possibly prepared her for what he was about to say. Family she could understand. Father, well, that was a different story. “His... how can you be his father?” she asked, leaning forward and wincing with the pain before sitting back.

Jonas had expected that. He thought he’d been prepared for it, but perhaps not. Nathaniel had kept his word, and hadn’t breathed a word about what they were to the girl. That knowledge probably kept her safer than she realized. But, now that he’d already admitted the relationship, he had to go through with the rest. “Nathaniel never told you what he was,” he said. “What his family was. It was for the best, you see, to keep you in the dark. We’re angels.” Matthias told him the angels made the news, once the gates reopened. He was, however, ready to handle a bad reaction.

Angels. Her hand went to her mouth as she tried to process this. Angels. He was an angel. The man who she’d fallen in love with was an angel and there was one sitting in the same room as her. Of course, she believed in demons and, being that they were a more religious family, she of course believed in angels. Did that mean she believed the man sitting across from her was an angel?

It took her a few moments to speak, not a hundred percent sure she did believe him. “You’re an angel. And Nate was an angel too?” she questioned, her brain trying to wrap around the concept.

He watched her face, judging her reaction. If Emogen thought they were messenger-of-God type angels, he hated to break it to her, but they were anything but that. Jonas didn’t have the answers to God and the universe anymore than the next person in line did. He nodded. “He was. A patron angel, to wounded soldiers. That’s why he had to leave. It was his calling. His charges.” Though he was sad, there was pride in Jonas’ voice, too. Nathaniel had grown up to be an extraordinary young man, and it was a shame his life had been cut so short. “I can show you, if you wish.”

Hearing what Nathaniel was, knowing how much he loved the Army, his fellow soldiers, how there really hadn’t been anything she could have said or done to make him stay with her, brought tears to her eyes. Surely Jonas was telling her the truth, but still she nodded, not trusting her voice. Her Nathaniel was an angel, one who had watched over soldiers. Maybe seeing what ever it was he could show her to prove it would make it easier. It could make it worse, but she was hoping for the former option.

The last thing he wanted to do was make her cry, but it really couldn’t be avoided at this point in time. Rather than saying anything, Jonas stood up and took off his jacket, leaving it tossed over the arm of his chair. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and then they appeared - beautiful pale gold wings, shimmering a little in the light coming in from the nearby windows. It had been a long time since he’d shown his wings off to anyone, and it was still dangerous to do so, but this was Nathaniel’s Emogen. This was what had to be done.

Her gasp was soft as she took in the sight before her. Okay, so angels were real. Well... Beautiful wasn’t exactly the word for the wings that had appeared and she almost wanted to touch them. Had Nathaniel had wings too? She wished she could have seen them and wondered what color they had been, how they had looked. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at his face for the first time and nodded once more. “I’m sorry... I didn’t... I wasn’t sure how to believe that,” she admitted. “Even after everything I’ve been through, I wasn’t sure angels could be real.”

He left them out for a minute, flapping them - there wasn’t enough room in here to actually fly, and Jonas knew enough by now not to attempt to - before docking them again, as if they were never there. The scars that showed where said wings went were still covered by his shirt. “That doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “We don’t tell anyone what we are - it’s too dangerous. For you, and for us.” They’d always been hunted, and more so in recent years. Jonas could summon a giant axe for a reason. “Nathaniel thought you’d be better off without him, that you could have something of a normal life.” He supposed that, if he’d fallen in love with a human, he might have thought the same thing, if his virtue would have let him. “I wish... I wish he could have told you this himself.”

It had never entered her mind to tell anyone what he was, what his son had been. Before she could assure him that his secret was safe with her, he was continuing and she found herself wishing the same thing. “I wish he had told me. I don’t know that … Life without him was never easy. I know I was only seventeen but he... I love him,” she said, taking a deep breath and wiping at her eyes. “I will always love him and nothing you’ve said has changed that. Nothing really could change that.”

Unable to help himself, Jonas kneeled before Emogen and took her hands in his own. Selena would love this woman, he was sure of it. If only for the emotion she showed, for the devotion she still had to their son. “He wrote us letters about you,” he told her. “I know he loved you too. You have no idea how reassuring it is to know you feel the same way.” He squeezed her hand in sympathy, as it was helping him as well. It was never easy to talk about Nathaniel. “That being said, I do fear I have something else to ask you. I don’t wish to intrude into your personal business, but as it involves Nathaniel, I must know.”

It was more than reassuring to have someone tell her how much Nathaniel had loved her. It didn’t help the tears in her eyes but it felt good. And it was so incredible to meet his father. He’d spoken of his parents often with love and respect and she had always longed to meet them. What he said next made her feel guilty and she nodded. “Telyn,” she said softly. “Her name is Telyn.” It wasn’t even a question in her mind how he knew. It didn’t matter. The secret wasn’t something that she could have hidden for her whole life, try as her parents might have to keep it under wraps. It was bound to come out.

So it was true. The little rumor Matthias had heard from some of Nathaniel’s old friends about Emogen having a daughter was true. “Telyn,” he said the name aloud, testing it on his tongue. It was a strong name, but pretty. He liked it. Selena would, too. “I have a granddaughter.” Jonas paused, letting that sink in. He’d been prepared for the news of that to go either way, but he was glad to know it was real. And, above all that, he wanted to meet her. “Did Nathaniel know?” It wasn’t like he could get angry over something that couldn’t be changed. Nathaniel knew what his father would have told him about knocking a girl up and leaving her - you didn’t do it. Never.

The blonde woman shook her head. “No. I... I wanted to tell him but everything happened and... I was devastated to lose him, when he thought I needed better but then to lose him forever... My family... they...” It was all a too freshly opened wound and she took a deep breath, squeezing his hands. “My brother and his wife had lost their child before it was born. I was only seventeen. They adopted her and raised her. She only found out the truth about a month ago and she... she didn’t take it well.” Not that it wasn’t completely unexpected. Emogen felt for the girl, wishing things had been different. “I’m sorry I never tried to find you but I was a scared teenager. I didn’t know what to do or who to look for. It took over a year for me to find out he was dead.”

The idea of someone else adopting and raising his granddaughter didn’t sit well with Jonas. No offense meant towards Emogen, or her brother and his wife, but if she was forced to give the baby up, then Jonas would have cared for her. In a heartbeat. Though he supposed that, if she’d grown up in a place like this, Telyn would have been cared for. Should have been loved. Why didn’t I see this coming? That was the catch with his powers, he wasn’t actually mastered enough with them to make his visions come on demand. He only saw whatever the gods wanted him to. “Was she happy?” Then, he added, “I cannot say I blame her, lying is not something I can tolerate.” His virtue was honor, for crying out loud. It came with the territory. “And it’s all right. We cannot change what’s already been done.”

“I always thought she was. And at least I got to be a part of her life, in some way. She and I were always close but I never told her why.” Emogen squeezed his hand once more before pulling one back to wipe her face again, starting to finally calm some. “I thought it would be easier. I never dreamed I would be in an accident like that, never dreamed that she would have to be the one who saved me. It took her nearly a month to even talk to me and I started to tell her about Nate, how good he was. I... I’m sure she’ll want to meet you...” The past was passed and she knew that but this was a woman who had lived her life with too many ‘if only’s to completely embrace that mantra.

With Emogen starting to calm down, Jonas eased up and moved back to his seat. He was there if she needed him - he was an angel, after all, he couldn’t turn away someone in need - but he didn’t want to overstep his bounds, either. “An accident?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. “That I did not know about.” Though he could have guessed, able to see that she was still recovering from something. “I want to meet her too. I promise - I promise that I will do my best to let her adjust. To not overwhelm her.” It wasn’t in Jonas to lie, but perhaps he would not tell her the truth right away.

“I was in a bad car accident. There was a demon and I don’t remember much,” she said softly. “I nearly died and lost a lot of blood. Telyn’s donation saved me.” With everything going on, she wasn’t sure that the girl would be happy about learning more but she wasn’t going to deny her that experience. “She’s a firefighter. She is a wonderful young woman. I think she’s overwhelmed enough at the moment. I’m not sure there is going to be a right moment for her.”

Jonas’ jaw clenched at the mention of the word “demon.” They were, of course, his natural enemies and he wished every single one of them dead - especially for how they’d hunted down the last of his kind left on Earth after the gates closed. Angels like his mother, who died in battle. There was no salvation for a demon, they were all going to die, and die painfully. “I am so very sorry,” he murmured. “We never meant to bring any of you into our fight.” It would rage on regardless, but the angels, at least, did not want there to be any human casualties. “A firefighter,” and that brought a little smile to his face, knowing that was the job he’d planned to do here. “I shall do my best to break it to her easy. I’m afraid that lying is not exactly an option.” He didn’t want to, either. He wanted to meet his granddaughter face-to-face and be able to tell her they were family.

It was still something she was getting used to, that the man she loved was actually an angel, that they had been fighting with demons for ages, that her daughter was a half angel. Was she in danger because of what she was? Many questions started to bubble up in her mind and she wondered if she should ask any of them or if they were better for Telyn to ask herself when the time was right. “I wouldn’t expect you to lie. She’s a strong woman. She’s always followed her own path, but made sure to honor my brother and sister-in-law.” Emogen had always loved that about the girl, that she was always so respectful and willing to help and sacrifice. Was that due to what she was? She wasn’t sure but it didn’t matter, not to her.

The fact that Emogen used the word “honor” had Jonas smiling. Yes, that was his grandchild, doing the right thing, the honorable thing. He might not have met her yet but he knew it was in his bloodline and damn it, he’d be beyond proud of that. He saw it as his right as a grandfather and he was going to live it up for all it was worth. “That is all we would have ever wanted for her. Her grandmother and I, I mean.” He bowed his head to her, eager now to go on and tell Selena everything he’d learned. She’d be just as excited about all of this as he was. “Miss Broderick - Emogen, thank you. You have given me the best news I could have hoped for.”