Wednesday, October 2, 2013 Who: William and Daniel What: an important chat When: Wednesday around 7pm Where: Shorty’s Rating: low, just cursing Status: complete/closed
William had wanted to meet with Anne, but she was on some sort of mission that made face-to-face interaction impossible, plus he was furious with her after the way she’d reacted to the news. So he settled for a chat with Daniel, because he had questions about Kaarena and Connor’s time spent at Seagram that Connor couldn’t answer and William didn’t want to ask Kaarena. Daniel hadn’t been there at the time, but he could possibly get answers for William. Daniel could be trusted, or so his old friend thought.
He sent Daniel a message asking to meet at Shorty’s again. It was a neutral spot, so they’d both be safe there. William arrived first and took a seat at a table near the back, quickly ordering a pitcher of beer for the men to share.
The text from William wasn’t so terribly out of the ordinary but it was slightly unexpected. Daniel had agreed to meet as it was a safe place and fuck it, they didn’t have a buddy system in place.
It was a brisk weather day and Daniel grabbed a coat and was on his way, sending a text to Oliver to touch base (connecting with Willowbrook associates seemed to be the theme of the day). Arriving at the bar, he scanned the crowd and found William in the back, already starting on a beer. Daniel hoped there’d be no singing this time. “Already drinking? That’s either a great sign or a terrible sign,” Daniel said as he pulled out a chair opposite William. “What’s the occasion?”
“A good sign. I’m celebrating,” he said while raising his glass toward Daniel. “And you get to join me. I promise I won’t get drunk this time.” Daniel couldn’t get drunk at all, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t partake in a happy toast.
“I have big news to share,” he started, but quickly added, “And a favor to ask. But first the news. I’m a dad,” he blurted out, waggling his eyebrows afterward and taking a sip of his beer.
Daniel sat and was reaching for a glass when William said he was a dad. It took several seconds to get a handle on the moment. Did ‘dad’ still mean what Daniel thought it meant? William Knox, a dad? He figured he himself would have a child before Will.
“You’re a dad?” Daniel asked, repeating what he heard William say. Maybe he misunderstood. When William didn’t correct him, he continued. “You have a baby? You?” He didn’t mean to sound so shocked…..but it was William.
William anticipated many such reactions. His own brother had a similar one, but William couldn’t discuss that with Daniel. He trusted the guy, but not that much. “He’s no baby. Connor Fannar. Remember that time I hooked up with Kaarena...and how she left the school soon after? Surprise!” He took another sip. “She just told Connor this week when he turned eighteen.”
”You have an eighteen year old?” he asked, even more surprised. He remembered Kaarena vaguely, nothing stood out about many of William’s conquests. “He’s at Willowbrook?” Daniel let out a soft laugh. “Well isn’t that just a bit in the ass?” Reaching for a glass he raised it in a toast. “Congratulations are in order then. They are, aren’t they? Had to be a hell of a shock to learn.”
William nodded. “Yeah, he’s at Willowbrook. Looks just like me too. I can’t believe I missed it the last few years.” He shook his head at that. It baffled him still how he could be so blind. Connor could have been a young clone!
“That’s an understatement,” he said with a chuckle as he raised his glass as well and clinked it against Daniel’s. “But yeah, congratulations for sure. On two counts! Because I’m a grandfather too.”
Daniel stopped mid drink. “He’s got a kid?” he asked after swallowing down what he had. Daniel suddenly worried for every student at the school if he was like William. “The .. grandbaby, that’s so weird to say about you. It’s not at school is it? Boy or girl?”
William had to laugh. He agreed. It sounded weird. It was going to take time for him to be totally comfortable saying it, and he figured he’d probably freak out the first time Lukas called him ‘grandpa.’ “Boy. Lukas. He’s seven months old. Connor seems to take after me in a lot of ways.” And hopefully William would be as good of a father as Connor seemed to be. “Lukas isn’t at school. They won’t allow it. Fucking sucks. I know it must be hard on Connor.”
Daniel shook his head still in a state of surprise. “You’re a dad,” he said again. “And a grandfather. Which one burns your ass more? I gotta think the whole granddad…. Gramps,” Daniel added in with a smirk. “Ok that’s never not going to be funny.”
“Yeah, yeah, yuck it up, asshole.” William rolled his eyes, but not once did his smile vanish. It was strange to be a grandfather, but he was happy. “Doesn’t mean I’m old. Just….far more experienced than I realized. A kid and a grandkid. It’s crazy!” He sipped his beer and then filled both their glasses again.
“So, now for the favor. Kaarena joined the Syndicate when she left Willowbrook. Connor was born at Seagram and spent his first six years of life there. I know you haven’t been there long enough to have been around them, but do you think you could do some digging for me? I don’t have any other friends in the Syndicate...not like you.”
Daniel doubted that Will never knew grandparents, Daniel certainly didn’t. He didn’t know the first thing about how a grandparent was supposed to act. As William spoke, Daniel drank more of his beer, listening. There were people at the Syn who had been there longer but he didn’t think for a moment a man like Alex Ripley would help. Dahlia if he swore her to secrecy, but knowing how she gossiped, it was probably a bad plan. Anne? Maybe but she was gone for who knows how long.
“I’ll look into it; I can’t make any promises I’ll find anything,” he said honestly. No sense in making promises he couldn’t keep. “What sort of information are you looking for?”
“Anything you can find. I know it’s a lot to ask. I doubt many people at Seagram would like the idea of you helping me. Keep it quiet. Stay safe. That’s top priority. But if there are people you trust? See what you can dig up. I wanna know why she left Seagram. The money as an agent had to have been good, and the Syndicate surely treated Connor well. So why leave?” It didn’t make sense to William. “Especially given that she didn’t come back to Willowbrook. If she didn’t like what the Syndicate was doing, why not rejoin the Centurions?”
Again, Daniel nodded. “Not sure the people I know and can trust will know that but yeah, I can ask,” he said again. Maybe Tahmoh? “Gramps.” No that was going to be golden for a long time. “So Connor is 18 now? So 13 years ago? You can’t ask him where they lived for the past few years?
“They left around 2001. I checked his file. He was living in Southern Pines, North Carolina before Willowbrook. Kaarena is still there. She takes care of Lukas. Apparently the kid’s mom bailed.” Which upset William. It wasn’t his choice to be absent from Connor’s life. But Lukas’ mom left knowing full well what she was giving up and the pain it would likely cause her baby later in life.
”Is Lukas’ mom a mutant?” he asked quietly but so William could hear. Not that it mattered one way or the other but he knew that both sides took a special interest in mutants from two lines of mutants. “Any idea where she is?
William shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t asked yet. Connor and I are going to have dinner tomorrow night and talk about things.” He sipped his beer. “We didn’t discuss much of the indepth shit when he dropped the bomb on me. We both needed some time to let it soak in. Now it’s time to delve into the hard topics.” He rubbed his face, the smile having faded. “I’m gonna have to tell him about the rebellion and everything before it.”
”He doesn’t know? How is that possible that a Willowbrook student doesn’t know?” he asked, feeling pretty proud he kept the anger from his voice. Every mutant should know about it. He didn’t care what side they were on.
“Of course he knows about the rebellion. But only from a text book. He needs to know what we went through.” All the painful details. “About his grandparents.” William’s heart ached for them still. Even more so now that Connor and Lukas had joined the family tree.
Realizing suddenly that very few people knew Connor was William’s son, and even fewer people knew that William was a double agent, he looked to his friend with a serious and pleading expression. “You have to promise me no one from the Syndicate will hurt him. Either of them. All the paranoia on campus lately…I honestly don’t know what’s behind the increased security. I get that you probably can’t tell me if there is something in the works at Seagram, but keep my boys safe if there’s an attack. They can’t grow up the way we did.”
Daniel knew that if an attack was planned on Willowbrook, his first contact would not be to William but to Woo or a Willowbrook higher up. He had to warn the school and he figured once that was in motion, everyone else would know to be prepared.
But William was the closest thing to a brother Daniel had. He couldn’t risk that. “You know I’d tell you what I could. We shouldn’t have a reason to move in on the school, William.”
It worried William sometimes that he could be attacked by his own people. So few people within the Syndicate knew that William was one of them. What if none of those people got the memo before an attack? There’d be no warning. He had always knew it to be a possibility, but now with Connor at the school as well, he had real cause to worry. “Just warn me so I can get Connor to safety. That’s all I ask.” William wondered if precautions might need to be taken to protect Lukas and Kaarena as well. He’d have to discuss that with Connor over dinner.
He felt terrible keeping from his oldest friend his true alliance, but he had to. “Hey,” he said reaching over and putting his hand on William’s arm (not in a come on way but brotherly). “I promise. I will do what I can. I know this means a lot ot you.”
William didn’t like the secrecy either. Not with Daniel. He loved the guy, and it had sucked being separated all these years. He wanted to come clean with Daniel, but William was under strict orders. The only people inside Seagram that were allowed to know the truth, other than the top of the Syndicate operation and his successful recruits, were Anne and Eli.
He smiled at the gesture and placed a hand over the top of Daniel’s squeezing it. “Thanks. It does.” And it meant a great deal that Daniel cared and was supportive. Anne had not been. William was furious with her right now, but he couldn’t talk to Daniel about it. He also couldn’t tell Daniel that he was going to be meeting with Marcus Blair tonight. So many secrets.
”For what it’s worth, they don’t keep me in the upper echelon of information, but like I said, I will do whatever I can,” he said with a nod. Taking his hand away and taking a drink, he smiled then. “So tell me more about your son. What is Connor like?” He really did want to know.
“Thanks, Daniel,” William said again. He was filled with gratitude. There was no asking Anne about Connor’s time spent at Seagram, at least not now, and William wouldn’t be able to prod Blair for information, so William was going to have to rely on Daniel.
“Well, he looks just like me.” William pulled out his phone and searched for an image he’d saved from the school’s website. He showed it to Daniel. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. He’s like a young clone.” Without the hint of red in his hair. But Connor was a spitting image of dad otherwise. “He seems like a good kid. Devoted too. It speaks volumes that he wants to be so involved with his son.”
Taking the phone and looking at the photo, Daniel smiled. “Wow, it’s you as a teenager,” he said passing the phone back. He was amazed that no one pointed it out to William but he then wondered who exactly there would have known William at that age. “How often do you think he’ll get to North Carolina to see him?”
Looking at the phone again Daniel again smiled. “I can’t believe you’re a dad,” he said, not teasing but honestly surprised.
William smiled at Daniel’s reaction. “I know.” It was crazy. Like looking into his past. William’s teenage years were… messy. He’d been so wrapped up in trying to figure out how he felt after the rebellion and then getting sucked into a sexual relationship with Anne. He was glad those years were behind him.
“As often as possible. I messaged Dobbs today and told her that I want to arrange for regular visits. I’ll drive him to North Carolina every weekend if he wants. Connor should get to spend as much time as possible with his son. You and I both know how important parents are. I want Connor to be a good dad.”
Daniel knew what William meant. He was lucky enough to have his parents around much longer than William’s but he was always considered family to his parents. “With guidance from you, he’ll have the best chance to be. Plus he wants to be part of his son’s life it sounds like so that isn’t a battle that needs to be addressed. If he didn’t want that…. it would probably be a lost cause.
Will anyone at the school help you out with him?” he asked, not really knowing who was there to assist. “Everyone is ok with you taking off with him as your buddy?”
William nodded in agreement. He wouldn’t need to talk Connor into wanting to spend time with his son. The desire was already there, and that meant more than almost anything. Connor wanted to be a good dad, and William knew he would be.
He grinned. “Are you still trying to find out who my travel partner is? I told you.. it’s confidential.” Because the information could get William fired, and he needed his job as a teacher more now than ever.
Daniel held up his hands in a surrender pose. “I’m not, really,” he said honestly as he smiled at his friend. “You mentioned the buddy system and figured as you were mostly an adult, it would be ok for him to travel with him. Besides, what you do and who you do it with is your thing. The less I know the better to be honest.” Just as he wouldn’t regale William with his personal life, he didn’t want to know William’s.
The addition of Connor in his life did make things challenging on the dating front. William still planned to leave town with Cora though. He’d already bought the plane tickets, and he wanted to get away with her for a weekend of good fucking and good food. “For all I know, you’ve got spies inside Willowbrook.. and are trying to figure out who it is. I know you’re jealous, man, but give it a rest,” he teased.
”You really think highly of yourself, don’t you? It’s like you can’t even fathom that I have my own thing going, I need to know of your sex life?” he said joking albeit the part of having anything going was a lie. “You go off and do your chick thing. But just be sure to wrap it next time,” he said again smirking at his friend.
Daniel had a good point with wrapping it. “Yeah, I’m going to have to be more careful. I’m excited to have Connor in my life, but I don’t need any more surprises.” What if there were others out there? The chances were high. William was a slut, and he only bothered with condoms when requested. If women were on birth control and didn’t care, William didn’t either. “What about you….ever considered kids?”
Daniel shook his head. “No,” he said. There wasn’t much to discuss. The last thing he wanted was to have to watch a child of his subject to what his parents had to. Sure the odds of that happening were slim but there was still a chance. Not to mention his perilous situation at Seagram...had he been found out? No, he’d not put a child in that situation.
“Gay men and kids are all the rage, but I’m not really daddy material,” he said well knowing William wasn’t either but it wasn’t a choice William made.
William finished off what was left of the pitcher of beer with a long swig. His head tilted, surprised by Daniel’s quick refusal of the idea. “I think you’d make a great dad.” But if Daniel didn’t want it, he didn’t want it, and that was to be respected.
Signaling the waitress, he paid her cash for the beer and offered a generous tip. “Thanks, love.”
He turned back to Daniel. “I hate to cut this date short, but I should be getting back. Thanks for meeting with me. I needed someone to talk to about all this.”
”Anytime, William,” he said finishing off his own beer. “Keep me updated on him. I’d like to meet him sometime if it’s alright with everyone. But you take care and keep sharp.”</s>