Players:
Summary: Jared stops by the Parker-Mayfair residence with some unexpected news….
Date: March 12, 2009
Log Title Are You My Daddy?
Rating: PG
Westchester - Parker-Mayfair Home - Living Room
While it's not an excessively decorated living room, it does have all the necessities. There is a large comfy-looking blue sofa with a matching loveseat and chair next to it. The three are all angled around a nice large-screen TV with all the accoutrements. The excess decorating has not been done… for a reason. The owner apparently knows someone else will want to do that.
Sitting on the couch, enjoying a cup of coffee, Christopher was just watching whatever mundane thing he could find on television to kill sometime before cooking dinner for when his husband gets home. He has the night off from the salon tonight so he's just been taking what time he could to relax with all the stress that's been going on. As the doorbell rings, Christopher looks confused as he goes over to answer the door. "Did you fo- Oh, hello." He says sounding surprised. "Can I help you?"
Jared blinks at the man opening the door, and then blinks again. Not exactly what he expected, especially since the guy looks nothing like him. Wet, and a little annoyed looking the teen on Christopher's door step looks at his paper again and then eyes Christopher as he asks, "Are you Jericho Parker-Mayfair?"
Shaking his head, Christopher gives Jared a bit of a concerned look as he's sopping wet. "No, I'm his husband, he should be home in a bit, something I can help you with in the meantime?" A part of Christopher just wants to rush off and get the kid a towel.
Jared blinks and does not for a second hide the look of surprise at Christopher using the word husband. "Your…" After a second he shakes his head, "Sorry, figured married just not expecting that. Its…its something personal. Look…just looking for someone specific, if he isn't here I can come back later…"
Christopher waves a hand and shrugs. "Don't worry about it." He says in regards to the look of surprise. "Well you're soaking wet and he should be home soon, are you sure you don't want to come in for a bit and wait?" Christopher asks figuring he's one of Jeri's clients. "I mean you must be freezing outside."
Jared just looks at Christopher for a long moment, bitting his lower lip before hs sighs and nods. "Sure, why not. Not like I have anywhere else to be." Bouncing a little, like he is full of nervouse energy, the young man sighs and steps forwards to enter the house since Christopher offered. "Weather here is as far from what I am used to as possible, but its not like I need to worry about getting a cold or anything…"
"Well at least it's stopped snowing, here, I'll get you a towel." Christopher says walking off and returning with a fairly large fluffy towel. "I'm Christopher by the way, I figured I should introduce myself so it's not completely awkward being in a strangers house." He says with a friendly smile. "So are you one of Jeri's clients?" He asks curiously.
Jared drops his very full looking back pack on the ground by the door and takes the towel with a barely grunted, "Thanks." When the boy takes the towel, if his hand manages to brush against Christopher it would leave a faint lingering tingly feeling. Jared nods as the man introduces himself and jsut shrugs a little, "Names Jared Stone, no…not a client." Jared has no idea what to say to Christopher, hell he has no idea what he is going to say to Jericho. Left leg still bouncing a little in nervousness Jared pulls off his soaking hoodie and starts to towel dry while looking at Christopher and focusing on him for a second with his fairly new ability to sense others.
Christopher considers the tingling feeling for a second but doesn't think anything of it. Even though he's a curious man, he doesn't press where the teen knows Jeri from. "Well if you like, I can make you some coffee, tea or hot chocolate Jared, help you from catching a co…" Then between the tingling feeling and something Jared said before, Christopher gives Jared a curious look. "Are you here about a certain school?" He asks curiously.
Jared gives Christopher a really confused look once more. "School? Why would I want to talk to him about a school?" The boy just shakes his heand and then looks over at his bag. "You know what, this was a stupid idea, I should never have come here looking for him…" Jerad starts to inch twords his bag looking almost like a trapped animal for an instant.
"No, no, sorry, it's just something you said and Jeri and I both are teachers at a school in the area." Christopher says notcing Jared's nervious, and at Jared's words, Christopher nods confused. He's not really sure what to say since he doesn't know the teen that well. "Well, do you want me to let him know that you were looking for him Jared? Is there a number I can give Jeri or something?"
He changed out of work clothes before taking a long run home. Sweating, hair pulled back in a tail, and panting, Jeri opens the door. "I still feel so off, sweetheart." He calls out, not noticing the company. His voice is deep and resonant in the house. "I'm just not running at my normal speed and I don't like it. Not even breaking one anymore." Christopher probably knows that Jeri means a hundred miles per hour, but it could be taken any way. Stopping suddenly, he notes the other person. "Oh, hi." He offers a smile as he goes to grab a towel for himself. He runs, even in the rain.
Jared shakes his head and reaches for his bag as he just about talks himself out of meeting the man that could be his Dad, or just another disapointing false lead. Of course that is when the person he was looking for suddenly walks in the door. "Um…yeah hi." The boy's left leg could probably vibrate through the floor if he had anything close to super speed. Damn, he should have left earlier. "Um, are you Jericho Parker-Mayfair?"
Christopher gives Jeri smile. "Welcome home love, I was going to make dinner in a bit but it seems you have a guest." He says as it's kind of obvious he does. "Well maybe we'll talk to a few people at the school and see if there's a way to get everything back to normal, in the mean time though, I'll run into the kitchen and make a pot of coffee since the two of you are pretty soaked." He says stepping into the kitchen and even if he's not inteionally eavesdropping he can still hear pretty well from in there.
Drying his hair with a tilted head, Jeri looks at the kid. "Yeah, that'd be me. What's up?" He asks, friendly as ever, and as clueless as ever about this particular situation. "Anything I can help you with?" He asks, before calling to Christopher. "Make it decaf. I can't stay up all night with all this stuff going on. The kids need me. Their sanity and the sanity of the other teachers depend on me." He jokes, with his normal lopsided grin.
Jared watches Christopher go, and bites his lower lip. A lot of the interply between Christopher and Jericho mostly passes over Jareds head while he trys to decide just how he is going to approach this. "Ok…I…I am looking a Jericho Mayfair that used to live in New York about 15 years ago. One that knew someone by the name Andrea Stone…"
"Decaf it is hon." Christopher calls from the kitchen as he puts the pot of coffee on. After a while he does come back out to the living room and stands in the doorway to listen to the conversation. He knows Jeri's from Colorado so he's curious as to what this is about, but for the moment he stays quiet.
"Andrea… OH! Andrea Stone. Yeah, I remember her." Jeri says with a chuckle, and a blush as he looks towards the kitchen. "She was the last girl I dated. We had a big age difference, but I looked older than I was at the time. Fifteen and six and a half feet tall." He grins as he looks at the kid with a grin. "Yeah, I suppose that would be me, then."
Jared blinks at Jericho…can't help but bring his left hand to his face while he thinks a second. Ok, even if he knew an Andrea Stone, that could have been a coincedence but…well the whole being 16 thing pretty much gives away that it is who he was looking for. "I…oh damn I shouldn't have done this…" Jared grabs at his back pack and turns to leave before stopping and…damn the hard decisions. Without looking back at Jericho he talks, telling him the things he is pretty sure he could not say to the man's face. "I…I am Andrea's son, she….she died about a month ago. Mom…mom kinda wrote about you in her diary and…"
Christopher nods to Jeri as he says he dated her. He knows that Jeri's been with a woman before but that was years ago. "I'm going to check on the coffee." Christopher says as he can tell the conversation is starting to get a bit personal and he ducks into the kitchen to let Jared talk to Jeri. He just figures it's hard for the teen to talk about his mother dying and that she might have just written about an old friend.
"Oh god… I'm sorry, son." Jeri says, softly. He doesn't know the double meaning the word carries, he's just using it to mean a younger guy. "Would you… would you like to talk? I'm a psychologist. I'm used to dealing with things like this." His words are softer and much less raucous. "You're more than welcome to stay for a little bit, if you'd like." It's been years since he's seen Andrea. She did mean a lot, but she was in her 20s while he was only 15. Illegal in almost every state and country in the world at that time.
Jared stiffens noticably as Jeri calls him son, and takes several deep breaths as he fights to stop any tears. Over a month and he has yet to actually cry for his mom, not with everything around him. "I…damn it, yeah I want to talk but…but not about her…" At least not yet, thats something he is not ready to talk about with anyone yet. "Damn it, I jsut wanted to see who you were…know what you were like after finding out…after reading…" The boy can't quite say it, he is still having a hard time beleiving who Jericho is. He stops for a second to look at Jericho, just reading his body with his powers before saying softly, "Well I guess that means I am not first generation…"
Christopher comes out of the kitchen and hands Jeri a cup of coffee, just how he takes it. He's confused about what Jared's saying but it doesn't click. "Well, if you want, you're welcome to stay for dinner, I mean, if you're the son of an old friend of Jeri's, why not." He says figuring Jared's nerves more come from dealing with the passing of his mother. "First Generation?"
1) Jericho slept with Andrea Stone about fifteen or sixteen years ago. 2) Jericho is a mutant. 3) The boy looks similar to Jeri. 4) The boy said not first generation. "Wait. Are you… Did… I have…" There's been a lot of stress in Jericho's life lately. The fighting in the city. The extra sessions. The battles he's participated in. Throughout, he's taught his adopted son many things about life. But right now, as Jericho stands near the door, he takes advantage of something he learned from his adopted son. He faints. Right across the front of the door. Oops.
Jared blinks, and says a few words that should get his mouth washed out with soap as he sees Jericho faint. The young man moves fast as he is suddenly kneeling next to Jericho grabbing his wrist to feel for a pulse while leaning down so he can put his ear over the man's mouth while watching his chest to see if he is breathing. One good thing about having a Doctor for a mom, he knows first aide and how to react in an emergancy. "Don't be dead, don't be dead, God damnit not after I finaly meet you."
Christopher rushes over to Jeri's side and sighs. "He's okay, he just fainted. We're used to this with our son." He says since Christopher knows he can't lift Jeri on his own unless he uses his powers, so that's what he does as he uses his light generation to build a stretcher and bring him to the couch. He goes to the kitchen to wet a cloth when things finally add up in his mind. Oh boy. He takes a deep breath and walks back out to try to pat the wet cloth on Jeri's head to wake him up. He's not going to Prince Charming him right now. "Jared, Jeri's your father, isn't he?" He asks trying to stay calm.
Slowly, Jeri's eyes open as he looks at Jared and at Christopher. "Damnit. I'm taking after Eddie." He says, slowly moving himself to a sitting position. Hey, he's a doctor, too. He rubs his face slightly. "So…" He says, looking at Jared. "For real? I mean, this isn't some trick?" He asks. "I mean, she never told me. I never knew. Here I am, married with an adopted son and never even thought that I might have one out there."
Jared's adrinalin levels have shot through the roof, and when that happens his healing powers go all over the place. Just being near him at the moment is proibably enough to heal anythign that might be medicaly wrong with someone, and probably enough to make Jeri and Chris feel a little energized. The boy does not seem the slightest fazed by the sudden appearance of the streatcher made of light as he backs over near the door for a moment, and starts digging in his back pack. After a moment he moves over to stnad near Christopher and Jericho holding a worn old leather bound book. To Christopher he can only nod, watching Jericho. "I…she…her diary, she said it was why she left, went to California. She didn't want to burden a teenager with a family when she could raise me all on her own without help…"
Christopher reaches over to grab Jeri's hand and give it a squeeze, but doesn't let go. "So..okay..well, Jared, that settles it, you're staying for dinner tonight. Do you have a place to stay?" If he's Jeri's son, Christopher won't push him away and he figures maybe a nice meal will give the two a chance to talk a bit. "I'll start cooking, you two talk for a bit." Christopher says as he only thinks it's apropriate that they be alone for a bit.
"And if you don't have a place to stay, I can arrange one. Very quickly. My adopted son and my housekeeper are dating. They won't mind bunking together for a while. We'll just need to add a little soundproofing." Jeri coughs casually as he picks up his phone to begin a quick dial. He does feel the energy coming off of Jared and pauses. "Christopher, isn't there a student at the school that makes people feel like this? I haven't met him… but Eddie told me about him." He turns back to Jared. "Have a seat. I'm not gonna hurt ya. How could I? I mean, especially if you are my son. What's the gift, or… do you mind if I share it?" He asks, tilting his head.
Jared bites his lip and lets his leg bounce a little more. The damn nervouse tick just keeps coming back, and he thought he had delt with that years ago when his coach kept yelling at him about it while practicing. "I…hell I am not even supposed to be here. The people at the home are proably still freaking out over my leaving. Look…I just wanted to meet you not force your son or his girlfriend out of thier rooms…" The talk about the school and gifts mostly goes over his head but Jared does get at least a little bit of an idea over what they mean. "Sorry, can't really control it. People around me get healthy, and when I get really emotional it tends to just ramp up a lot."
The sound of pots and pans shifting can be heard before Christopher pokes his head out from the kitchen. "Nonsense, Jeri and I can get in contact with them and try to talk things over. And you're not forcing Eddie out of his room, him and Ricky, his boyfriend, practcially share a room already. It wouldn't be that big of a change." He says as he is pretty much insisting that Jared stays for the time being.
"Bah. All Ricky keeps in his room is clothing. He spends all his time cleaning or in Eddie's. It's not anything." Jeri shakes his head, "Ah. I have an enhanced musculature and the ability to split my powers with another person. I get a sense of what theirs are when I do. And right now… I'm stuck." He chuckles softly as he holds up a finger to speak into the phone lightly.
Jared just blushes as Christopher mentions that the house keeper is thier son's boyfriend, not girl friend. "Gods, I apparently like the taste of my foot today. You wouldn't think gymnast whose coach lives in West Holliwood would keep making that same mistake." Jared shakes his hand and then watches Jericho talk on the phone, of course as soon as it gets to a point he can actually talk to someone about being a mutant they make a phone call.
Christopher waves a hand. "Don't worry about it. I mean it seems like you're going through a tough time and I can't imagine this has been easy on you." He says quietly so Jeri can talk on the phone. "Jared, do you have any food allergies, or anything you don't eat? I was going to make lasagna for dinner, I hope that's okay." He says as he's quick to accept the fact that Jared's quite probably Jeri's son, all the evidence is there, and he's not about to scorn that fact.
Mutterings on the phone consist of, "Hey kiddo, it's dad. Would you have any problem with Ricky moving in with you for a bit? Sharing your bedroom until I can get some contractors to build another room onto the house?" A pause. "Uhm… well… we… need to give someone a place to live." He looks Jared over and shakes his head softly, with a light smile as he extends a hand and splits powers with his other son. "Lifesense. Ties that bind. Similarities." He looks at Jared, feeling out and blinks. "No… no doubt about it at all." Of course, when he does the power split, Jared will get a brief increase in body mass and size, but he returns it just as quickly.
Jared shakes his head in response to the questions about food, "No allergies, I preffer Marie Callender to Stouffers for the lasgna as long as you add a little extra cheese in the last half hour of cooking…" he lets his voice trail off a second before giving a small smile, "Mom worked odd hours, I had to cook hald the time." As his father does the power sharing thing Jared blinks, "Whoa..what was that?" He shakes his head and looks at Christopher for an explination since Jericho is on the phone. "I haven't felt anything like that since…since they told me about mom and my powers kinda…bloomed."
Christopher chuckles. "Screw that prepackaged crap, I'm a culinary teacher, I make it myself." Chrisotpher says with a grin. "And one of Jeri's gifts is to share powers he can absorb some of yours and understand how they work and in return he gets half of yours. Okay well I'm going to step into the kitchen and cook up dinner. You talk talk for a bit and Jared, if you don't have a place to go, you're staying here. No arguing that." He says with a smile as he ducks back into the kitchen to cook dinner.
"Well… something that I did in my past has effects on the present. Eddie? Son? You know that I experimented with a woman when I was young, right? She died recently. Her son is here to see me. He is like us. And… he's my son. His mother never told me. I never saw her after… well…So I need to make sure he's taken care of, too." There's another pause. "You have a brother, Eddie. Congratulations. I have a son I didn't know I had before. But, we already have a good family, so making it bigger shouldn't be a bad thing." Jeri says, with a chuckle. "You're more than welcome to head home and meet him. I'll bet someone would even give you a boost to get you home faster." He looks up at Jared and nods. "There's no such thing as pre-packaged here. Christopher wouldn't allow it."
Jared nods at Christopher, and suddenly gets the feeling he is going to end up either in the way in the kitchen at some point or learning form the guy. After the comment about him staying here, and not arguing he just nods and softly says, "Well that beats another night in the rain." Jared just watches Jericho a moment as he talks to his son, he corrects himself mentaly, his other son. "Well that is gonna change my diet, food was what ever I could learn to cook for myself or what ever prepackaged stuff I could talk mom into."
Hanging up the phone, Jeri nods quickly. "Nah, we get good food here. So, yeah. Both mutants. Well, you're quite in luck with that at least. I'm a mutant. Christopher's a mutant. Our son, Eddie is a mutant. And his boyfriend, our housekeeper, is… well, not a mutant, but definately something else." Jeri laughs, taking things much better now. Hey, he was always taught that you take care of things that you did. And technically, this is something he created. "And we teach at a school for mutants. Go figure." He pauses. "I'm sorry, I really don't know where to begin with anything. Andrea… I never saw her after that night. She was busy with medical school and I was busy with… well…" Jeri coughs. "High school."
Jared nods at Jericho and gives a little grin. "I always eat good food, just usually premade, well at least up until recently…" Jared bites his lip and shakes his head a little before changing the subject. "Yeah, odd luck. I find out I am a mutant little over a month ago, end up able to tell who is and isn't a mutant and next thing I know I meet them everywhere." The young mutant seems to fiddle with the leather bound book he has in his hands a few seconds while looking at his father before deciding to hand it to Jeri. "Here…this was the only thing of Mom's I got to take before the state sent me to the home I was in. Its her Diary…it had a lot of stuff about you in there…even where she paid a Private detective to look for you a couple times when she felt guilty about not telling you…"
"If you don't mind… I'd rather read it later. I know all I need to know. Your lifesense showed that… we're too similar to be anything but. So, I believe it. Even if it'll take me some time to accept and understand it." Jericho sighs softly. "And I really hope someone comes across Eddie. He fainted when I was hanging up the phone. You'll learn quickly. He… does that a lot." He pauses for a few moments. "Well, dinner should be ready soon, if you're hungry." He offers a half-smile.
