Title: More Old People
Author: Dancing Star
Crossover: PSI Factor / Sue Thomas: FBEye
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay, Jack / Sue
Rating: 12
Category: AU,
Summary: Connors and Lindsay's niece wants to find out who her father is...
Notes: Praying for those who lost their homes because of "Hurricane Sandy". To everybody who wrote to me on facebook because my name is Sandy, too: This is NOT funny!
More Old People
It was a sunny Thursday evening in autumn, when the door bell of the little house, in which Lindsay Donner and her mother had lived, rang unannounced. One year ago the old woman died and Lindsay took a while to get accustomed to this fact. Her good friend Connor helped her and after he had confessed to her he loved her, they got married and moved into this house. There had been a bit of refurbishment and the room of the old lady was a nice guest room meanwhile.
Connor Doyle opened the door and he noticed the visit was his younger sister Rebecca and her daughter Amy. "Hi, uncle Connor."
"Hi Amy. How are you?"
Lindsay appeared next to Connor at the door and greeted them as well.
"I hate disturbing you but I wouldn´t do if it wasn´t important... Would you mind to take care about Amy until Monday?", Rebecca asked, "I have to go to Chicago urgently."
Connor nodded understandingly. Since Amy was born, Rebecca worked at a yoga school in Youngstown and had to join regular training sessions. Usually this sessions took place at the weekend and Rebecca was happy when one of her relatives took care of her daughter. She actually didn´t want to ask her brother and his wife, but Amy wanted to spend the weekend with her uncle and aunt.
"That's OK," Lindsay finally said, "We like Amy very much."
Amy was delighted and went past the adults. She put her bag on the couch and then went into the kitchen to get something to drink.
"Thank you!", Rebecca said, and went to her car, "I'll pick up Amy on Sunday evening."
"If your plane is delayed, we may send Amy to school on Monday?", Connor asked and his sister waved to them.
"Yes," Rebecca replied, laughing. She was relieved that her older brother helped her. Rebecca was sixteen years old when she feared she might be pregnant. She noticed it when she woke up several days with nausea feelings. Rebecca once persuaded her brother to drive her into town. Her mother had written Connor a long shopping list fortunately. He was busy for some time, so she could see the doctor. Lindsay didn´t know about Rebecca´s problem and she also wanted to come to the city because she urgently needed a new dress. Of course, Rebecca hadn´t told her family she was afraid of being pregnant and she wanted to do it either.
"Stop!" Lindsay said, as Connor drove past a row of shops, "I want to get out." She had already slammed the passenger door of the SUV and walked to the other side. Connor rolled down the window on the driver's side. Meanwhile, Rebecca already got out, too.
"And you're sure that two hours is enough for shopping?", Connor asked anxiously.
"Yes," Lindsay quickly kissed him goodbye, "I've no doubt. See you later." She waved goodbye and hurried across the street. "Let's go," she suggested and went to a shop that sold clothes.
"Uh, I have an appointment", Rebecca retorted, " I´ll join you later, okay?"
Lindsay was a little surprised, but she thought nothing about it and she let go Rebecca. The doctor's office was located just around the corner and she met her ex-boyfriend Ignacio at the door. They had not seen for more than four weeks because he had cheated on Rebecca with Svea, a Swedish exchange student. "Are you sure you're pregnant?", he asked and she nodded.
They had to wait ten minutes until Rebecca was brought in an examination room by a nurse. Her ex- boyfriend stayed in the waiting room. After fifteen minutes she came back and looked deathly pale. "So what? What is it? Are you pregnant?", he asked as he followed her to the door.
"No," Rebecca replied flatly and that was the last moment when she had seen Ignacio: Two weeks later he had to go to prison because he was involved in drug dealing. He never knew that she had lied. Rebecca was pregnant and that evening she told her parents. Her father scolded like crazy and asked why she had chosen a small-time criminals like Ignacio as the father of her child. Her mother hugged her protectively. Connor was eighteen, he was one year older than she was, and he had never told her what he thought about this. But Rebecca knew he thought the life of his sister would come to an end now. Amy was born nine years ago on a Sunday in March and Rebecca first noticed she didn´t look like her: Amy hadn´t her mother's blond hair and pale skin. Her black hair and light brown skin were a proof the Mexican roots of her father. Rebecca never regretted that she kept Amy and raised her without a father. Her daughter was a good kid. It wasn´t always easy, but everybody loved Amy. Nevertheless, it was not always easy for her to leave her daughter alone.
While Rebecca went to the airport, Connor went out into the garden.
"Hey Amy!", Connor said to her, "I think it's great you spend the weekend with us."
"Me too, uncle!"
Next morning, Friday, Connor and Lindsay got up on time for sending Amy to school. "Uncle, when will you have to work tomorrow morning?", Amy asked, when she watched her aunt preparing her a cheese sandwich. Now Amy sat down beside her uncle at the table.
"I don´t have to work tomorrow," Connor said, "Tomorrow is Saturday." Connor worked from home, so it was no problem when he decided to stay in Ohio instead going back to the big city.
They sent Amy to school on time then Connor went in his office and sat down behind the laptop and was working while Lindsay visited Sue and Jack in the travel agency.
When Lindsay came home from the supermarket in the evening, she was very surprised when a tent was standing in her living room. She listened, when Connor and Jack talked to each other and Amy commented what they said. "Are you in this tent?", she asked and put a bag at the table, "What are you doing in there?"
"Come on in," Connors's voice suggested and she pushed the peach-colored fabric to the side. Lindsay saw that Connor, Jack, Sue and Amy were lying on some cushions and stared at the ceiling together. "What are you doing here?", Lindsay repeated her question. The last time Amy had visited Connor and Lindsay for the weekend, the girl wanted to watch a documentary about the largest animals in the world and when it was about seven meters long anacondas, Lindsay put her feet up to the safe couch.
"We look at pictures," Jack said, "Connor fixed up the old projectors." Jack pointed now to a photo on the ceiling of the tent and Lindsay lay down between Sue and Connor, also looking at the ceiling. "These are photos from our school days," she said. Connor pushed a button on a remote control and the next image appeared.
"It was the evening of the summer festival", Lindsay recalled. Her father had taken the picture when Connor picked up Lindsay for the party. That was the night in which the teenagers had kissed for the first time.
"My god, I can´t believe that I ever had such a bad hairstyle", Connor complained.
"I can´t believe you ever had so much hair", Jack added, laughing.
"Hey! Be careful, buddy!", Connor yelled and pushed the button on the remote control again and now they saw a photo of Jack and Sue at the summer festival.
"Back then we were a sweet couple," Sue said and grabbed the hand of her boyfriend. "Hey, we are still a sweet couple," Jack said.
They then went to the next image: It was the old house of the Doyle family, photographed by Connors father: The front yard was lined with red roses. On the next photo they saw Rebecca as a sixteen year old girl and a dark-haired boy with light brown skin. Lindsay held her breath as she saw the picture and luckily Connor pressed again the button on his remote control and now they saw a picture of Connor and his father, as they sat next to a pond and fished. The photo was taken during college vacation.
"We should eat something," Lindsay suggested, "Sue, would you help me to cook dinner?", Lindsay was hoping Amy hadn´t notice her hesitation, but after the photo session, when Lindsay took the child to bed, she said: "The boy in the photo was Moms boyfriend, right? Is this my daddy?"
Lindsay would ask Connor later how a picture of Rebecca and Ignacio could end up in their photo session. But Lindsay decided to tell the truth to the child, although it wasn´t her job. Amy was very auld and smart for her age.
"That's your father, yes," Lindsay finally replied and sat with her niece on the bed. She noted something was wrong with Amy, because she suddenly looked distressed at her blanket.
"In my school there is a girl...," she finally told, "Her parents get divorced."
"That's bad...", Lindsay replied.
"Yes. But I don´t know how it is like to have a daddy."
"Oh, sweetie," Lindsay hugged her niece.
"Will you help me to find my daddy?", Amy asked Lindsay suddenly let her go.
"I... I don´t know... Your Mom wouldn´t like that."
"Yes," the girl sighed, "I know that Daddy was in jail at that time."
Lindsay was shocked that Amy knew about it. She didn´t expect that Rebecca had told her nine-year-old daughter the truth about her father. She was even more surprised that Amy had never seen a photo of her father.
"Do you know the old people test, Aunt Lindsay?", Amy asked and Lindsay nodded.
"Of course I know the old people test", Lindsay's mother had once talked about that and said she should think about if she wanted Connor in her life when she was old.
"How do you know this test?"
"Grandmother talked about it a few times," the child replied.
Lindsay knew that her mother Barbara and Connor's mother were friends in youth. Probably the two had spoken at that time about the old people test and Lindsay had to chuckle a little bit.
"You know, I've never seen my daddy, but I think he and Mom would pass the old test people," Amy looked now at her aunt with big eyes, "And? Will you help me?", she asked again.
The next day was Saturday and Amy and Lindsay visited Sue in her travel agency. Levi was happy to see the visit when he welcomed the child barking excited. "Go and play together," Sue suggested. The travel agency "Travel for the deaf" was indeed located on a busy street, but behind the building there was a large courtyard. Among the customers of the small travel agencies were deaf people from all around the country who appreciated a thoroughly organized holiday abroad and didn´t have to worry about hotels or other things. Jack and Sue mostly contacted their customers via email.
Sue watched satisfied when her hearing dog Levi and Amy ran to the door that led into the backyard. When both were gone, Lindsay breathed a sigh of relief. "What's going on?", Sue asked.
"Last night, after Amy has seen a photo of her mother and father at our photo shoot, she wants to meet Ignacio." Lindsay also reported she had asked Connor yesterday, after their friends had gone home and Amy had gone to bed, how a picture of Rebecca and Ignacio could end up in their picture collection and her husband apologized and told her he had no idea how this could have happened. Connor then asked, if she was very angry, but of course Lindsay wasn´t angry with him. He was her life and her great love.
"That would be pretty difficult," Sue admitted. Back then in school Sue and Jack weren´t only friends of Connor and Lindsay, but also friends of Connors younger sister Rebecca. When Rebecca was pregnant at the age of sixteen years this was obviously a shock for them. As far as Sue and Lindsay knew, Ignacio had to go to jail a few days after Rebecca's first appointment with the doctor. "I think it's not a good idea," Sue said finally, "Ignacio doesn´t even know about Amy."
"We have no idea where he currently is ", Lindsay added and she thought it was the best for Amy, if her father was back in Mexico now. "The problem is, she wants to meet him."
"And what does Rebecca think about that?", Sue asked, when she put the new travel brochures for the coming season on the shelf. Then Sue offered her best friend a cup of coffee and Lindsay answered: "I suppose, Rebecca knows nothing about that."
While Lindsay was talking to Sue, Amy was playing with Levi in the backyard of the building. "Catch the ball, Levi!", the girl cried and threw a yellow tennis ball, which the golden retriever chased immediately. The ball rolled directly at the feet of a man and Levi grabbed his toy and carried it back to Amy. "You have a very nice dog," the man told her.
Amy grabbed Levi's collar and together with the dog she walked to the dark-haired man. When Levi was with her, nothing would happen. She was sure. In his smart suit, he didn´t look threatening, anyway, she thought. Amy thought for a moment, he had exactly the same Mediterranean skin, like she had."That's not my dog," Amy replied.
"What´s your name?", the man asked.
"My name is Amy... And what's your name?"
He hesitated a moment, but finally he answered. "My name is Tom. Is your mom called Rebecca?"
"Yes," Amy nodded, "You know her?"
"We were friends... How old are you?"
"I'm nine," Amy's voice was firm, "You know..."
At that moment they were interrupted by Lindsay. "Amy!," exclaimed Amy´s Aunt Lindsay horrified. To see her niece talking to a strange man wasn´t only the nightmare of all mothers, but also the nightmare of all aunts.
"I gotta go. My aunt is waiting for me, "Amy apologized to the man and went back in Levis accompaniment to the back door of the travel agency. On the way home, Lindsay scolded Amy and asked her if her mother hadn´t taught her that she shouldn´t talk to strangers.
During dinner there was silence at the table and Connor watched Amy when she put some noodles listless on her fork. Lindsay was also poking around in her food without appetite. Connor first looked at Lindsay, then at Amy and then back at his wife. "Won´t you tell me what happened at the travel agency today?", he finally asked.
"No," Lindsay and Amy replied simultaneously. After dinner, Lindsay sent her niece into her room and when she and Connor were alone, she told him what happened: " Ignacio showed up in Sue's travel agency today and asked Amy a few things when they were alone, playing with Levi outside." When she said this she didn´t look at him but put the used dishes into the dishwasher. Connor was standing next to her and handed her a glass of wine.
Her husband´s wine almost stuck in his throat. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure!", Lindsay said, "I recognized him." And she hoped that Amy hadn´t. "How did he know where Amy is?" Lindsay wanted desperately to know and Connor shrugged his shoulders. "I don´t know. Perhaps he has seen Rebecca", he surmised. Connor knew that Ignacio went to prison a little more than nine years ago and of course he knew this wouldn´t last forever. But actually he had believed Ignacio had returned to Mexico.
"Amy wanted me to help her finding her father. Well, there´s no need ... She even told me what questions he had asked her", when she told this to her husband, Connor and Lindsay had an idea what was going on. Now Ignacio certainly knew that Amy was his daughter. When he thought about the time nine years ago and when he noticed Amy's Mediterranean look, then...
"Shall we call Rebecca?", Lindsay asked anxiously and Connor embraced her. She leaned her head against his shoulder.
"I think this won´t be necessary," Connor said, "She is coming home tomorrow night."
On Sunday, Connor and Lindsay visited Connor's mother. She lived in a retirement home in the city and of course old Mrs. Doyle always looked forward to family visits. Jack and Sue sometimes visited Angelica, too, and the old Mrs. Doyle asked them constantly if they ever wanted to get married. Sue then usually responded a little ashamed. She was glad that her own parents had stopped pushing her and Jack to a wedding and now Mrs. Doyle began doing it. Not that Sue didn´t love Jack, but she liked her life how it was. In addition, she and Jack were a couple since high school and they didn´t think they needed a marriage certificate as proof of love.
"And what about you two?", Angelica asked every time when she had finished addressing Jack and Sue at a wedding, "When will you two finally have a baby?" Every time she said this, she looked at Connor and Lindsay with big eyes and the clunky glasses made her eyes almost greater.
"Mom," Connor then called, "Lindsay and I have enough time to have a baby."
"Your sister was seventeen years old when...", Angelica began and Connor raised his hand. In this case he hated being compared to his sister.
"Come, Angelica. Let's go to the cafeteria, we´ll eat a piece of cake, " Sue and Jack suggested and Amy pushed the wheelchair of the woman out of her room. The girl noticed that her aunt and uncle didn´t seem to come along. "Now, come on!", she called them too excited.
On the way to the cafeteria of the retirement castle they had to go through the garden of the facility. There was also a kind of connecting tunnel between the cafeteria and the residential buildings (because it was not acceptable for the old people to walk through the garden in winter), but today the weather was very nice and they pushed Angelica's wheelchair through the garden. "Amy, not so fast!", the old lady complained, because her granddaughter pushed the wheelchair really fast. Amy defended herself by saying she wanted to eat a cherry pie and she doesn´t want Jasper to have the last slice again. Cherry pie was available every Sunday in the retirement home and Jasper, also a resident, always ordered the last piece.
"You look very concerned," Sue stated, when she looked into the face of her best friend.
"No, I...", but Lindsay decided to tell her the truth, "I'm still a little worried because I've seen in Ignacio at the travel agency."
"And are you really sure it was Ignacio?", Jack asked.
"You sound like Connor!"
"Well," Jack thought, "How could he know you are exactly on that day in our office?"
"I suspect he tracked down Rebecca, when he was released from prison, and when he noticed she´s out of town currently, he was searching for her relatives," Connor said.
"I think that's pretty scary," Sue agreed, as she reached the entrance to the cafeteria. While her friends entered the building Sue stayed to call for Levi, who was walking in the garden. "Levi!," she called for her dog when he wasn´t to be seen. And then she saw him: he stood in front of a Mediterranean-looking suit- man and was barking. "Levi, come here," she called again and the man seemed to notice her. With a strange look in his eyes he stared at her. The fact that Levi was already on his way to her, Sue barely registered. She started when someone touched her shoulder.
"Sue? Are you all right? ", her boyfriend Jack now appeared in her sight and she nodded. She looked once more to the point where the man had been standing, but he had disappeared without a trace.
Of course, Sue had told them she had seen Ignacio in the garden of the retirement castle and she was relieved that Jack believed her. They sent Amy and Levi to Sues and Jack's apartment so they could talk undisturbed.
In the evening, a thunderstorm raged over Youngstown, as Amy stared impatiently at the clock. Her mother wanted to come back from Chicago today, but in this terrible storm, it would certainly take a while before her plane landed.
From the corner of her eye Lindsay saw, how Connor went to the door and was searching for his car keys.
"Where are you going?", Lindsay asked while Connor was putting on his raincoat.
"Jack and Sue called," he said, "Their fridge is broken and they need help." Connor reached for his wife to kiss her.
"IGIT!", Amy cried and covered her eyes. Her aunt smiled.
"See you in two hours," he said goodbye to them and went to the door.
The time flew by and a little more than two hours later, Lindsay began to worry. Outside the terrible storm was still raging and the she wanted to call Sue to ask her how long Connor and Jack would still need to repair the refrigerator, as Amy rushed into her living room. "Aunt Lindsay!," she exclaimed exhausted and her aunt thought at first she was excited because she had seen a spider, "I was in the bathroom to wash my hands. Then I heard a scratching noise and saw a shadow at the window."
The blood froze in Lindsay's veins, because she had an idea, who the shadow at the window was.
An eerie scratching was scraping at the front door.
"The noise is back," Amy grabbed her aunt´s hand as she spoke. The noise came from the door now. Lindsay was alerted, when she heard it too and she got up from the couch on which she had been sitting.
"Stay in the living room," Lindsay whispered to her niece and looked near the entrance of her house for an object with which she could defend. All she found was an umbrella. Damn, why didn´t Connor have a baseball bat or golf club? If necessary, she would have to pick a carpet beater from the basement and pray this was robust enough to fend off a burglar. So she chose the blue umbrella and took it over her shoulder. Lindsay was ready to put down the intruder. From the outside the door was still shaken. Finally the lock and the door opened. Someone pressed the light switch and Connor, Jack and Sue appeared in front of her.
"My goodness, it´s you!", Lindsay exclaimed relieved and dropped her umbrella, "What are you doing here?" She was confused. Amy also came to them.
"I live here," Connor replied, "Jack and Sue wanted to tell you something important," Connor replied for Jack and Sue, then he noticed the umbrella in the hands of his wife, "What did you wanted to do with the umbrella?" He wanted to ask her if she wanted to know him down but he didn´t.
"Nothing, I ...", she shook her head and looked at her friends, "What do you want to tell me?"
"Jack asked Sue on the ride here in the back seat of my car if she wants to marry him," Connor replied once again for Jack and Sue.
"Is that true? What did you say?"
A smile on Sue's face loomed and she showed Lindsay her engagement ring. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and a bolt of lightning flashed. The thunder rumbled through the city.
"Are you expecting someone else?", Jack asked and Lindsay shook her head slowly. She remembered the umbrella, she was still holding in her left hand. When no one opened the door, the knock came again. "Come on. I know you're home, " a familiar voice said," Connor's car is parked in front of the house."
"Mom!," Amy shouted and ran to the door to open it for her mother. "Hi Mom," Amy was very happy to see her.
"Hey Amy. Did you have a nice time with your uncle and your aunt?", as she said this, she stepped closer to the door. Rebecca's hair was wet because of the rain. Amy replied to the question of her mother with a "Yes".
"What have you done last weekend?", Rebecca stood in the doorway to take off her wet raincoat. Lindsay decided she would tell Connor's sister about what happened in the travel agency and the retirement castle later. The strange thing about the story was that Sue had seen Ignacio, too, so it wasn´t a figment of her.
"Come in and tell us about Chicago... We were ...", Lindsay already began to answer, but she was interrupted by another, unfamiliar voice: "I wanted to get in touch with Amy. Why didn´t you tell me I have a daughter, Rebecca?"
Ignacio first looked at Rebecca, then at Amy. The girl seemed to be shocked that be the man who had approached the travel agency and introduced himself as Tom should be her father. Amy was almost grateful when her aunt put her arms protectively around her shoulders.
"How...?", Rebecca was unable to speak.
"How do you know where we are?", Connor wanted to know.
"Finding you wasn´t hard. You still live in Youngstown", he now looked at Lindsay, Sue and Jack. He knew them still from school.
"Well, you didn´t answer my question yet, Rebecca," Ignacio said, "Why didn´t you tell me that we have a daughter?" He remembered well the day when he had accompanied her to the doctor and then she said she wasn´t pregnant.
"You ask for?", Rebecca cried, went out to Ignacio in the rain and pushed him back, "You were in jail! You were a danger to me and my daughter!" Before he could say a word she pushed him away and she noticed that someone grabbed her left hand. "Let's go inside," Connor suggested to his sister and quietly took her with him to the house. He called out to Ignacio he should now leave them alone. They would talk to each other another time.
Rebecca was glad that Lindsay had managed to send Amy to bed. Actually, she wanted to take home her daughter today, but she accepted the fact that Amy would go to school tomorrow from here.
"We wanted to tell you, but then we had anticipated," Sue said. Lindsay got a cup of coffee for Rebecca. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Lindsay saw Ignacio when he talked to Amy in Sue's travel agency... And Sue has seen him when we visited Angelica in her home," Jack said. He thought that Ignacio was right: It wasn´t hard to find them because they all still lived in the same city where they had visited school.
"Why didn´t you call me?", Rebecca asked.
"That was my fault," Connor admitted.
"I hate him," murmured Rebecca.
Lindsay didn´t understand. "Who? Connor?"
"No, Ignacio. What is he thinking? He can´t appear in our life after such a long time."
"Well, maybe you should have told him he has a daughter. Looks like he now wants to get to know her", Sue suggested," We never understood why you didn´t tell him." She knew Rebecca was afraid, Ignacio would still deal with drugs and of course it was dangerous for a child.
"I don´t know if someone who has been in prison for nine years is a good deal for a child," Jack discussed and of course they realized how depressed Rebecca looked into her cup. They asked her what was going on and finally Rebecca confessed that Ignacio had been in prison only for five years. Meanwhile he had written her several letters that she threw them away without reading the lines. What did he want her to tell? How happy he was with his Swedish exchange student Svea? Then as now, she couldn´t bear that thought.
Connor and Lindsay found that the confession made sense. They assumed that Ignacio had managed after his stay in prison to find a normal job and started a normal life. Lindsay acknowledged by the fine suit he had worn.
"Don´t you think it´s possible he has changed?", Sue asked and Rebecca looked at her. After she had thought a few seconds, she shook her head.
"Well, he was the only one who survived the old people test," Lindsay recalled. They all had already heard about the test and their mothers once had told long ago that in Rebecca´s mind Amy's father had passed the test. Then he had foolishly taken up with an exchange student.
"This test is terrible nonsense!", Rebecca exclaimed.
"It´s not," Lindsay sounded a little hurt, "Maybe there's no second chance for you and him, but Amy should give her father a chance."
The next day the weather had improved. Connor had promised to take Lindsay, Rebecca and Amy to the city after school. Last night his sister was thinking about Lindsay's words and she felt she was right. Ignacio should get a chance to get to know his daughter. Now Rebecca was curious to hear why he suddenly wanted to meet Amy, why he hadn´t called before, and why he was cheating on her back then.
"Stop!", Lindsay said, as Connor drove to the cafe where Rebecca and Ignacio had arranged to meet by telephone this morning. Lindsay had agreed to come along for moral support. "We want to get out here," Lindsay declared. She had already slammed the passenger door of the SUV and walked to the other side. Connor rolled down the window on the driver's side. Rebecca and Amy also got out.
"And you're sure two hours will be enough?", Connor asked anxiously. It was almost like nine years ago, he thought.
"Yes," Lindsay quickly kissed him goodbye, "I've no doubt. See you later." She wanted to turn around when Rebecca was suddenly standing in her way.
"I want to do it alone," her voice was very quiet, "It would be very nice if you would pick me and Amy up in two hours."
Lindsay nodded in agreement and went back to Connor in the car. They were still watching and then waved Amy them goodbye and went with her mother across the street. Ignacio was waiting in the cafe and after Amy hesitated, she hugged her father very relieved.
When Connor and Lindsay drove home in their car, she threw a glance in the mirror and she held her breath when Rebecca also hugged her ex-boyfriend. Secretly, she wondered whether Rebecca could ever forgive Ignacio.
"Promise me you will never leave me alone," Lindsay whispered and put her hand on Connors.
And he agreed with her: "Never..."
