Players:
Summary: Jeri brings Kevin home He runs into Christopher and Eddie.
Date: February 07, 2010
Growing Family
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.
The day has passed. Things have gone… weird for Jericho. He finally pulls up outside, moving to the other side of his car to pick a sleeping boy. Early to mid teenage years. He kicks the door shut. The alarm goes off as the car flips. Oops. Moving around, he lifts the car back up one-handed before sliding to the door and opening it casually. He looks around. "Christopher? You home?"
Where else is Christopher but the kitchen. So as soon as he hears the alarm, and Jeri's voice, he comes out to the living room. "Hey babe, I was just making some…babe, what happened?" He asks, seeing the boy in his arms. "Everything okay? What was that noise out there just now?" After all hearing a car filp does make a bit of noise.
Placing Kevin on the couch, Jeri goes to turn on the news.
'Freak accident in Florida at the home of Reverend Shay. An explosion hard enough to destroy everything for a half mile around the residence happened this afternoon. Authorities don't know what caused it. The Reverend and his wife were away, but their son Kevin was still in residence. No evidence of Kevin has been found.'
Sneering, Jericho punches the off button on the TV itself… and his fist through it. Oops. "Liars. All of them." He says. His gray streaks are gone from his hair. He looks… younger. "Control, Jericho. Control. Easy."
Christopher walks over to Jericho and runs a hand where his grays used to be. "Honey, what happened. Is this that boy that was mentioned on the news?" After all Christopher is a smart man and picks up on things fairly quick. "Are you okay, I've never seen you lose control like this with your powers."
Jeri nods softly. "I did a favor for an old friend. Kid's powers were out of control. And they were… frightening. Saved him. But at a cost." He's being extremely terse. "Kid had powers similar to Jared's. Magnified. Strong as Addison." He pauses. "Dad's a religious nut. Told him he was bad and evil. Power started killing folks. Gained his trust. Power-shared. He rewrote his own genetics in an act of sacrifice to kill himself and the powers that had sentience. Rudimentary." He's speaking through his teeth. He's not meaning to be so brusque, but something really pissed him off. And that, in itself, is rare for Jeri.
Christopher notices Jeri's pissed and he's never seen his husband this mad. He tries to take his arm and leads him to the couch to get him to sit down, hopefully. "Babe.." He says looking at the boy. "And this is the boy whose powers went nuts? What exactly happened?" He says getting a general idea as he goes to the kitchen and grabs a bottle of cranberry juice to bring it to Jeri. "Would you like some vodka or rum with that?"
"Yes. Please." Jeri says with a firm nod. "Yes. His powers went rogue. Gained a life of their own. While Kevin was sacrificing himself to prevent it, it escaped. And… it went into me. I… I let it. Otherwise, he was going to die. Now, I've got it locked inside me. It ate away the parts of my genetic structure that were unnecessary. Made me into what I COULD be, rather than what I was. I let it. Because I needed it to save Kevin. He's now genetically closer to me than he is to his father. In essence… another one. His father was abusing him." He's starting to calm down now. "I don't know the extent. But, I know that his eyes used to be brown. Now, they're shade for shade my eyes."
Eddie's been in his shower, washing away the residue from the pool as he'd been getting some exercise out there in the heated waters. Dressed in his usual superhero themed garb and drying his hair with a towel, the power booster makes his way into the living room. "Dad," he greets when he sees Jeri's back. He's missed most of what's been said thanks to having been in the other room. He's just happy Jeri is back, moving to give him a hug. He blinks when he noties the boy on the couch. "Umm…"
Christopher gets Jeri a stronger drink that includes cranberry juice, on for him and Jeri in fact, and sits down on the couch. "Wow, well I can understand why you did what you had to love. I'm glad you did what you did to save Kevin, every child deserves a chance." He says wincing slightly at the father being abusive part. "Hey Eddie." Christopher says as he walks in. "So, is he going to be staying with us for a bit?"
"Hi, Eddie. Forgive me if I don't hug you back right now. I'm angry and my strength is off the charts. I need to go to the school to get my levels tested again." Jeri explains before looking at Christopher. "His father launched an orbital attack on his home, just because I wouldn't give him the son he wanted. I wouldn't turn him to a full religious zealot. And he took his own powers away from himself. His dad made all his money from the faith healings. He told me point blank, 'If you don't save that bastard, it's going to cost me hundreds of millions a year.' That's his SON he was talking about." He controls himself, taking a deep drink of the concoction. "He may be staying with us longer than a little while. His genetic code is as close to mine as Jared's is. If not moreso. His powers copied a lot of myself into him to keep him alive."
Eddie blinks several times, confused. He looks at the boy on the couch and then squints at Jeri. "Umm…what did I miss?" he asks softly, concerned frown on his face. All the talk of a father abusing a son and religious zealots have him worried.
"Well you did the right thing love. That man doesn't deserve to be a parent if he's just using him for money. No." Christopher says as he knows his husband cares just as much about the well being of children as he does. "He can stay here as long as need be, since Ricky moved out we have the open room." He smiles and shakes his head. "What is it with us babe, Eddie, then Jared, who is your son, Ricky, Mikhail and now another kid who needs us." He looks at Eddie and smiles. "Jeri would probably be best to explain that."
Jeri knees slightly, moving to sit on his knees. After all, with his newly toughened body, it's soft to him. "Dad has old friends. Contacts. They asked for a favor. He…"He points to Kevin. "he had some problems. I helped his powers out. His powers were like… like Jared's powers on overload. He could rewrite genetics. He tried to kill himself. So, I helped him. He now… well… he's effectively my son also." He says with a bit of a shrug. He offers a half-smile to Christopher. "Don't forget Wesley. Didn't you always want to be a mother?" He teases.
Eddie just listens closely, watching Jeri closely. He's got that same oddly calm look in his eyes he's had since getting back but eventually he smiles. "So another brother?" he asks. "What's his name? Does he know he's got a bunch of brothers?" he asks. To him, this is pretty normal.
Christopher frowns at Jeri before shaking his head. "Oh you shush, I've always wanted to be a father and now I have how many sons?" He says chuckling. "But you're lucky that you know have two of your own." Christopher won't ever get that but he's fine with Eddie and Jared. "Ah Wesley, we should have all the kids and your brother over for dinner soon. His name is Kevin Eddie. And I'm not sure he knows much of anything right now." He says looking Kevin over to make sure he's okay.
"Kevin Shay. Though I don't know if he'll want to keep that or not. Especially since he's legally dead now." Jeri glares at the TV before nodding. "Yes, sir." He pouts at Christopher. "But I can never have another. Not at the risk of what happened today happening again." Though, there are other ways it could pass on. "It's bonded with me. I don't want that getting out." He looks at Kevin. "Man, that kid is wiped out. He slept through me flipping the car and breaking the TV."
Eddie tenses slightly at the name Kevin. Same as his biological brother. The power booster shakes it off though. He looks at Jeri in concern. "What's wrong?" he asks, swallowing. "Dad…"
"Well since he's legally dead, I have Scott helping with Mikhail, we can him to help create a whole new identity for Kevin if he wants it." Christopher says slipping an arm around his husband to try to help comfort him. "I understand babe, it's not like we don't have a fulfilling family already." He says looking over at Kevin. "Well the kind of day you were talking about, it sounds reasonable why he would be that exhausted."
Jeri waves to where his gray stripes used to be. Or some of the wrinkles around his eyes. He looks much younger, actually. "Don't worry about it Eddie. I just am worried. I have a feeling I haven't heard the last of Kevin's dad." He says with a bit of a shrug, drinking more of his cocktail. "I hope he'll be ok here. We don't have everything he was used to."
Eddie's frown deepens. "Dad…" he sighs. The power booster shakes his head and sits down on the floor. He goes quiet, watching Keven a few moments and then turning to watch Chris and Jeri.
Christopher nods to Jeri and drinks his own cocktail as well. "Well if you do here from him again, you have me to stand by you as well. Both you and Kevin." After all Jeri is Christopher's husband and he'll stand by him no matter what. "I hope so too, we may not be overly rich or overly lavish in how we do things but we're comfortable and we're rich in love no matter how cheesey that says." He looks over at Eddie and raises an eyebrow. "What's up kiddo?"
"I know. I just worry. He's got money out the ass. He said that Kevin would cost him hundreds of millions." Jeri explains. Oops. Oh well. "It's alright, Eddie. We'll be ok. And Kevin… well… we'll have to see how he's doing when he wakes up. And what his powers will be like. If he still has any."
Eddie sighs again. "What's that jerk with the money going to do?" he asks. "If he comes after me or any of us do I have permission to kick his butt?" he asks in as innocent a way he can manage.
Christopher shakes his head, obviously annoyed with what he hears. "Children are not supposed to be money makers. I'm glad that it's costing him hundreds of millions, he deserves to go into ruin for doing that to his son, for driving his son to want to kill him." He shakes his head and looks at Eddie. "What's it matter, you're going to try if we say yes or no."
"No, we fight this one legally. And fortunately, he can no longer prove this is Kevin. HIS Kevin." Jeri says with a superior smug grin. "He's got enough me in him to show up more mine on a paternity test." He winks. "He can try things. I'm glad my life has always been an open book to the feds."
Eddie pouts at Chris. "Try?" he asks. He crosses his arms and pouts a bit more. "Not gonna try. He comes trying to hurt my family and I won't let him get away with it," he says. He frowns at the mention of the feds. "What?"
Christopher nods to Jeri. "Well that's true, even if he tries there's nothing to prove that anymore. Maybe getting to change his name is a good idea, and maybe the last name of Parker-Mayfair. Especially since what you say of Kevin and your genetics is true."
"The government knows about me and what and who I am, Eddie. That's why they called me in for this. I'm one of the few superhuman teenager mental specialists." Jeri says with a sigh. "Why do you think I had to spend some time psychoanalyzing some people for them. Like Mr. Brock? I won't hide who I am. It's easier, and safer, to be out in the open." He nods to Christopher. "I'll talk to him. Let him decide in the future what he wants to do."
Eddie goes quiet for a few moments, attention turning back to Kevin. He quietly hopes the guy stays around for awhile so Eddie can get to know his new brother but he doesn't say anything. He scoots over to lean against Chris a moment. "Why doesn't the government just lock the jerk up then?"
Christopher nods to Jeri and stands up. "Well don't worry about it love, we'll get through this just fine." He says kissing Jeri. Then Eddie's hair gets ruffled and he gets a kiss on the top of his head. "I think that sounds like a great idea, but right now, I have to finish making dinner. And after your day babe, you need a good meal."
"Eddie. Money makes the rules. He makes more than we do. There's nothing we can do about that." Jeri says with a shrug. "We'll need to build another room on. Or put two in one room." He says to Christopher with a shrug. "We'll work out logisitics later. I need to get some sleep." He says with a nod, "And then tomorrow… I need to find out how I've changed."
Eddie frowns. "And that's why I don't trust the government," he says softly. Standing, he places a kiss on each adopted dad's cheek. "I'm gonna go get some meditating in until dinner is ready, okay?"
