Burning Man
By: Aubrie1234
Wheeler stared at the DNA box in apprehension. Why couldn't his friends have gotten him something a little less imposing for Christmas? It had been over a month since he had gotten the box and now the other Planeteers were pushing for him to try it as they sat in the main hut's living room.
"Well?" asked Gi, "Aren't you going to open it?"
"Да, you have been complaining that you wanted a chance to find out if you have other family members besides your parents." Linka added, "Why don't you try it?"
"Well, if you grew up like I did, you'd be pretty scared too, babe."
"What's so scary about finding out where you're from?" Ma-ti asked. Wheeler gave him a look.
"I know where I'm from, but finding out about my family is a bit...much, don't you think?"
"I am sure they are better than your own parents." Kwame said, "Just try it, Wheeler."
"If that's true, I wish I'd been with them instead." the redhead muttered to himself, then said, "Fine, I will, but let me do this in private." He stood up and moved out of the room with the box in hand, shaking his head.
"I just realized something." Gi said after a moment of silence, "Couldn't we have just asked Gaia about Wheeler's family?"
"Perhaps, but what's the fun in just getting the answers?" The mentioned Spirit of the Earth walked into the room with a smile.
"True." Linka admitted, "But do you really know who he's related to, Gaia?"
"Yes, and I think you're going to really like them, once you meet."
"Could you tell us?" Ma-ti wanted to know. Gaia shook her head.
"Not until Wheeler finds out for himself."
"Fair enough." said Kwame.
"Done." Wheeler announced as he came back into the room, "I think I'm gonna send this back at our P.O Box in New York City. Said it's gonna take 6-8 weeks until it comes back." As he spoke, Wheeler wasn't meeting their eyes, either keeping a secret or being nervous.
"I wonder what you will discover about yourself, Yankee."
"Probably a lot more than I should, babe."
Wheeler was anxious when it was time to check the P.O. Box and see if the results were back. He wanted to see them, and yet he didn't. He didn't know what he would find and he was terrified and excited at the same time, but his friends managed to convince him to check it, and so he did. For a week he kept going to New York City, checking over and over again for the results and feeling both glad and disappointed when there was nothing. But then, just as he was ready to leave it be, the results were back, and he almost couldn't believe the results. Of course he had ancestry from Western Europe, among other places, but he was more focused on the note that said that he had relatives elsewhere who were also looking for relations. They had also taken the test like himself and wanted to know if there was anyone out there they were related to, and Wheeler was astonished.
"I almost can't believe it." Wheeler murmured, staring at the report in his hands as his friends sat around him in the living room, "I mean, I was so sure I was alone..."
"Who are they?" Ma-ti asked.
"Drew Saturday and Doyle Blackwell. I think they might be my siblings."
"Why are their last names different? I thought your last name was Wheeler."
"It is, but that's because I was adopted. And they're my brother and sister, so it makes sense that Drew has a different last name if she's married."
"You should meet them." suggested Linka, "They are your family, after all."
"I don't know. It's been years, how could we know for sure? This was a bad id-"
"No it wasn't." Gi interrupted, "They're looking for family too, I'm sure they want to meet you."
"You're way more confident about this than I am." Wheeler put his head in his hands.
"You don't have to ask them to come here and meet us." Kwame said, "You could contact them and suggest meeting them slowly, since it has been so long." Wheeler shook his head, but before he could say anything else, Gaia came in.
"Planeteers, there's an Eco-Emergency." she announced, and the report was forgotten as the 5-piece group went to their jobs.
Wheeler was hoping that would be the last he heard of his newfound siblings, but he should've known better. His friends kept pestering him about it, to meet them, but Wheeler didn't know if he could. It wasn't until Gaia pulled him away for a moment to talk to him that he finally made decision.
"Wheeler?"
"Yeah?" He looked up from polishing his wind-surfboard, as if to take it out later, wondering what the Spirit wanted of him.
"I'm curious about something." She sat beside him, "Why don't you want to meet Drew and Doyle?" Wheeler paled. He was afraid she would ask this.
"W-well..." He looked back at his board, "What's the point of messing up their lives by just adding myself in?"
"But they want to see you, you said that the report mentioned they were also looking for family."
"They've probably had better lives than mine anyways."
"How do you know? Have you looked them up?"
"...No. Are they famous?"
"A little. But that's not the only reason why you don't want to see them, is it?" Wheeler shook his head.
"No, it's not. I'm just-" He gave a sigh, "What if they don't like me? What if I lose the family I just found because of that?"
"Oh Wheeler..." Gaia sighed to herself, "They wouldn't have asked the people to keep the information open if they didn't want to meet anyone. Whatever happens, I'm sure that they'll like you, good or bad. Now, will you please try to meet them?"
"...Fine. I will, but only to make you guys happy."
"I promise that the meeting won't be that bad, Wheeler. As the Spirit of the Earth, I know what everyone is like, and I know that they're better people than you give them credit for."
"I hope you're right." Wheeler said and Gaia left him alone to his polishing, hoping that he truly would give Drew and Doyle a chance.
Wheeler sat at his favorite cafe in New York City as he waited for Drew and Doyle to arrive. At first he had contacted them and made sure that they were definitely siblings before they arranged to meet, and he had tried to research them. Emphasis on 'tried,' as the two were hard to look for and almost impossible to find. All he knew was that Drew and her husband Doc were scientists of some sort, they had a son named Zak, and that was it. There was basically nothing on Doyle, though they probably knew a lot more about Wheeler, since his status as a Planeteer and heroics weren't covered up. And again he found himself doubting if they would get along, if he would lose his only remaining family, and he tried to get rid of those feelings, but he couldn't. He wondered if Drew and Doyle were the same way.
Hearing the doorbell ring, he lifted his head to see the door opened by the two people he had come to meet. They had sent pictures of each other so that they all knew what they looked like when they met, and Wheeler wasn't disappointed. Drew was the albino woman who looked sexy and Doyle was the redheaded strongman with the mohawk who looked like he should be a punk instead of a good guy. Wheeler wondered if he was and if Doyle could crush his head in. He was taken out of these thoughts as they spotted him and came over, smiling.
"Hello." Drew greeted as Doyle nodded, the two of them sliding into the opposite side of Wheeler's booth, and their looks made the Fire Planeteer wonder how they could possibly be related. They looked almost nothing alike and Wheeler wondered if the tests could have been false. But they had tested twice, so how could they be wrong twice? As it was, he nodded and smiled.
"Hey. I'm Wheeler. You're Drew and Doyle, right?"
"Yep." said Doyle, leaning on a hand, "And so you're a Planeteer?"
"Don't go too fast, Doyle." Drew gave her brother a glare.
"No, it's fine." Wheeler said, "And yeah, I am. What about you guys? All I could find out was that Drew was a scientist, married, and has a son."
"That's mostly right." said Drew, "I'm a cryptozoologist, and Doyle-" Drew cut herself off, a confused look on her face, then turned to her brother, "What's your job now, anyway?"
"Official or unofficial?"
"Official." Doyle shrugged.
"Don't really have one at the moment."
"What's a cryptozoologist do?" Wheeler asked, trying to get things back on task. He already felt like a third wheel after seeing how well the two interacted with one another.
"Study cryptids." Drew answered.
"But they don't exist, do they?"
"Doesn't mean you can't study them." she answered.
"So..." Doyle looked a little more awkward now, "The one big thing about this whole meeting we wanted to know..."
"Yeah?" Drew gave a sigh and looked at Wheeler seriously.
"When we were younger, Doyle and I got separated from our parents. We thought they died as soon as it happened, but upon finding out about you, that means they survived. Do you know what happened to them?" Wheeler paused.
"Yeah, but I don't really remember it because I was too young. I know what happened because my adopted mom told me." Wheeler closed his eyes, "As far as I can tell, after you got separated from them, they tried looking for you up until they had me. I think that our mom died soon after I was born and our dad tried to take care of me, but a few years later he got sick and died."
"So… They're still dead." Doyle summed up, voice low. Wheeler nodded.
"Sorry to get your hopes up." he said.
"No, it's okay." Drew said, taking Wheeler's hand as if to console him, "We knew they were dead to some extent, but we're just glad it wasn't because of something else." She smiled, "We're just glad to find another piece of our family." Wheeler shrugged.
"I guess. Even though Ma told me about my real family, I never took the time to think about you guys, who you could be, and I guess that's because I never wanted to face the reality of it all."
"You had it easy, though." Doyle commented, "After the separation, Drew was raised by monks and I was alone, moving from place to place. It was only out of luck that we got to see each other again." Wheeler shook his head, frowning.
"Not really. I didn't have it easy at all. I'd say my life was like a mix of both of yours. Sure I was raised by my adoptive parents, but my Pa was an alcoholic and beat me, had me go out and get him his drinks, so a lot of nights I spent my time away from home." He crossed his arms, "Ma didn't stop him, but she loved me, so I guess that kinda counts as being better off."
"That sounds awful." said Drew.
"I know what you mean." Doyle spoke glumly, causing the other two to look at him in surprise, "Some of the places I've been were kinda like that, being hurt and abused and such, so I hightailed it out of there first chance I got. Why didn't you?"
"Ma. I couldn't just leave her behind." Wheeler rubbed his ring with a finger, looking at it, "I didn't really leave until I joined the Planeteers. It was great, being free, but sometimes I wondered how Ma was doing. She's better now, so I don't have to worry as much." He looked up at them again, "Anyway, what about you guys? How's your side of the family?"
"My husband Doc, our son Zak, and I travel all over the world to study cryptids. And when we need it, Doyle babysits Zak." Drew gave Doyle a look, "He usually stays with us now anyway, sort of like a squatter." Doyle just grinned.
"But you guys love me, you know that. And I'm gonna be moving out soon with my partner, so you don't have to worry your pretty little head about me much longer." Drew sighed.
"Chances are I will anyway. But Wheeler, what's life like as a Planeteer?" Drew angled the second half of the question at the almost-forgotten man. Wheeler blinked as she continued, "We saw some of the things you've done on TV and it seems nice to save the world every day."
"I guess." The youngest of the trio shrugged; he seemed to be doing that a lot around his siblings, "It's nice to see the world but sometimes the villains are just so annoying."
"You're right about that." Doyle agreed, "Some of the people I've met still hate me." Wheeler raised an eyebrow.
"You have enemies? Who?"
"Well," Doyle looked sheepish and a little ashamed, "I used to be a mercenary, and that lifestyle makes a lot of enemies. I'm mostly out of it, but sometimes I do a job or two if money's low."
"...My family is crazy." Wheeler surmised.
"You don't know the half of it." The other two agreed in unison.
After they talked a little more, Wheeler decided to show them around some of his old haunts, since they mentioned that they'd like to meet his mother if they could. They said they wanted to thank her for taking care of their little brother, and Wheeler didn't doubt that having them meet would be kinda cool. And on the way, besides the haunts, there was a special place he wanted to show them.
"Here we are." Being October, chilly winds were already blowing through the city and seemed to pick up a little when the Planeteer opened the cemetery gates, "I know you probably don't like to be reminded that they're dead, but I thought you might wanna see 'em one last time."
"...You didn't have to do this." Drew murmured softly, the atmosphere imposing a solemn silence on all of them.
"I know, but you knew them better than I ever did. You deserve this." With a small gesture for them to follow him, he lead the way through rows and rows of graves until he came to a large one, commemorating two people at once. On its surface there wasn't much besides the epitaphs, just a small landscape. Wheeler, despite having seen it so many times before, joined Drew and Doyle as support while they gazed at the grave.
Destiny Andrea Blackwell née Sullivan
Beloved mother and wife
May you keep loving forever
o-+-o
Devin Oscar Blackwell
Good friend, father, and husband
Life's boundaries never applied to you
"...I'm glad Dad had someone who cared enough to give him an epitaph." Doyle said quietly.
"And they're not wrong. Mom was always a loving person, and Dad was just so lively and fun." Drew wiped at her eyes, "They were amazing parents." She turned to Wheeler, "Thank you again for showing us this."
"No problem." He supposed he should feel like an outsider, which he did, but he also felt like he belonged with these two. He may not have been as smart, but he could see parts of himself in them at times, so he wondered if he just looked different and that was it. He'd love to be part of their family if they'd let him because, besides the Planeteers, Gaia, and Ma, he really didn't have anyone else. And after a moment, the trio left the graveyard to continue on their way, following Wheeler as he continued to show them the city. He showed them some of his hangouts, a few pieces of Trish's 'art,' and tried to make the journey as long as he could. He was nervous about them meeting his mother, even if they had good things to say. When she saw them, would she not think of Wheeler as her son anymore? He hoped she wouldn't do that to him, and all too soon they were at the apartment where she lived.
"You never mentioned if your mom lived with your father anymore." Doyle noted.
"Yeah. Bastard had liver failure. Serves him right." Wheeler, despite his background, tried not to curse when he could (as he was usually around Ma-ti and the girls), but to him, his father deserved his anger.
"That's cruel." Drew frowned.
"If you were abused by your alcoholic father, you would hate him too." Things became quiet again between them. They climbed the building until they came to Wheeler's mother's apartment, where he knocked on the door. He could have used his key, but he didn't want to just barge in with two strangers. When the door was opened, Wheeler found his mother just as she had always been, and her eyes lit up when she saw her son.
"Wheeler!" she cried, giving him a sudden hug, "Oh, how have you been? It's so nice to see you again!"
"I know, Ma." For the first time since meeting Drew and Doyle, Wheeler felt a smile cross his face as he hugged her back, "I came for a visit, and I wanted to talk about something."
"Oh?" Then she saw the other two visitors, "I'm sorry! Please, come in!"
"It's okay." Drew tried to assure her, but Ma was having none of it as she had them take the couch and chair as she fixed them something to eat.
"See? This is why you had it better than we did!" Doyle exclaimed as he took the chair while Wheeler and Drew took the couch.
"Don't get your hopes up." Wheeler warned, even as he gave a wink. Drew looked around, a little uncomfortable.
"I've always lived in open spaces… This seems so confined."
"It is." chorused Doyle and Wheeler, who then shared a look of surprise. Maybe Wheeler was closer to his brother than he originally thought.
"It's nice to meet all of you." said Ma when she returned with some sandwiches.
"You didn't have to do-" began Drew.
"Ma does what she wants, Drew. You're not gonna change her mind." said the younger redhead as he grabbed a sandwich, "Anyway, Ma, these are my older brother and sister, Doyle and Drew. I did a DNA test and it turns out we're all related."
"By how many years?" asked Ma.
"Drew's 6 years older than me..." Doyle thought about it, "And how old are you, Wheeler?"
"27."
"Wow. I'm 33 and Drew's 39. We're all 6 years apart."
"Don't remind me of my age." Drew sighed.
"Well, I'm glad you've found your family, sweetie." Ma said, "I always wondered if you would go looking someday."
"But you're part of my family too, Ma." Wheeler added quickly.
"And I always will be, but now you've got new people to connect to."
"But-"
"No buts, Wheeler." The Planeteer turned a little red at his mother's rebuke and kept quiet.
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Wheeler." Drew said as she and Doyle shook hands with the woman.
"It's been nice meeting you too." She smiled, "Please come again anytime. I'd always love to know more about my son's family."
"Hey, we don't have to leave yet!" Doyle said.
"I know, I'm just saying that if you want to, I'm always free."
"Thank you for the offer, it's very generous." Drew spoke, "I can see how Wheeler loves you so much."
"I'm glad you think that." They all talked a little more with the woman before they had to leave, and with it late in the day, it looked like it was time for them to all go home.
"Where are you staying, anyway?" Wheeler asked, curious as they stood outside of the building, "If you don't have a place, i'm offering mine."
"No, it's fine, we have a place." Doyle assured, "But maybe we can have a few more meetings like this, so you can meet our side of the family. I mean, we've already met yours."
"Yeah, but you also haven't met my friends. They're like family to me."
"I know how that feels..." Doyle shook his head a little, as if remembering something sad.
"Maybe we can do it when we're both not busy." Drew suggested, "Which is probably harder than it looks, since we all get called away at a moment's notice with what we do."
"True, but let's try to plan a date anyway." Wheeler said, "And we can meet wherever."
"How about at your place?" Doyle said, "It's fine with us."
"Alright..." Wheeler found himself looking forward to seeing them again, such a difference from the beginning of the day when he didn't think things would end well. He was glad he had tried now, and he hoped everyone could get along as well as they did today.
Yeah, new story. I know I should be working on others, but this one just didn't want to leave my head. And I made up the names of Drew and Doyle's parents, since we never learn them in the series. I hope you guys like it, so please read & review!