Day 4
LaGuardia International Airport
2:45 p.m. EST
Vin relaxed once he reached the terminal. He had never liked flying, only doing it when necessary. He paused, realizing Chris was still in the mass of people exiting the plane into the terminal.
"Anxious much?" Chris joked when he caught up.
"If men were meant to fly, God woulda given 'em wings," Vin stated.
"Well, come on. Ezra's waitin' for us at baggage claim."
Vin looked down at their one carry-on duffel each and shrugged. He didn't understand why Ezra carried so much stuff with him. Vin learned in his days as a bounty hunter for the U.S. Marshalls that lighter was better.
They met Ezra, who led them to his car. Vin looked at the rented Jag and shook his head.
"I didn't think folks drove in New York, Ez."
"Most do not, but I will not level myself to ride in a public taxi which has been filled with goodness knows what," Ezra said as he pulled into traffic.
Chris rolled his eyes. "So when are we meeting this Fitzgerald guy?"
"This evening. We're convening in the hotel bar at seven."
Chris glanced at Vin in the back seat. The younger man seemed calm, but that didn't fool Chris, who could feel the waves of tension radiate from his friend.
Still not too late to turn back, Chris reminded Vin.
I'll be fine… eventually.
Federal Building
Manhattan
6:00 p.m. EST
"Hey, man, you miss me?" Danny said, going up to Martin's desk, snapping the latter out of his daze.
"What are you doing here?" Martin asked.
"We got back this afternoon. I just had to grab a few things from my desk. Where were you just now?"
"Hampton Hotel Bar," Martin said simply.
Danny straightened from where he stood bent over his desk and turned back to Martin. "Martin? You okay, man?"
"I don't know, Danny." Martin met Danny's gaze. "You know that guy you met in Denver?"
"The one who looks like you? Don't think I'll forget him anytime soon. Why?"
Martin took a deep breath. "I'm meeting him there in an hour."
"What? Vin Tanner's here?" Martin nodded. Danny walked over and leaned on Martin's desk. "Want some backup?"
Martin looked up at Danny, but seeing only genuine concern, nodded.
"All right, then. Let's get this show on the road."
Hampton Hotel
Manhattan
7:00 p.m. EST
Martin stood at the bar, nervously fidgeting, as he shifted his glass from one hand to the other. Danny almost laughed at him.
"Relax, man. You're the one who wanted to do this."
"Yeah, and now I'm second guessing that decision," Martin muttered.
Right then, Ezra, Chris, and Vin walked in. Danny spotted them, still not believing how much Vin and Martin looked alike.
"Well it's too late now," he said. "Here they are."
Martin looked up, meeting Vin's gaze, and he knew. He didn't need to see what Vin carried in the envelope. He knew this was his brother.
"Hey, Ezra," Martin said, as the trio joined them. "This is Danny Taylor, my partner."
"Mr. Taylor," Ezra greeted, shaking Danny's hand.
Chris shook his head, introducing himself to Martin, "Chris Larabee, ATF Team 7 leader."
Martin nodded, accepting Chris's offered hand. "Martin Fitzgerald, FBI Missing Persons Unit. Though I guess you already knew that."
Martin looked to Chris's right, and met his own eyes. "Vin Tanner."
"Martin," Vin nodded. "I know ya got questions, but I can't answer all of 'em. I can tell ya where ya come from, but that's about it."
Martin nodded. "I'll take whatever you can give me."
"All right. I jus' wanted ya to know I ain't got all the answers. We got rooms upstairs if ya'd rather do this more privately."
Martin nodded, grateful for the offer. Ezra led them up to a lush suite that Martin could tell made his brother uncomfortable.
Don' care much for fancy stuff.
Martin froze when he heard Vin's voice in his head. What the…?
Vin almost laughed at the deer-in-the-headlights look on Martin's face. "Sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean to startle ya."
"Oh dear lord," Ezra moaned. "It's bad enough to have to put up with your silent communications with Mr. Larabee. Now there's a third in the mix!"
Danny looked confusedly between Martin and Vin. "What did I miss?"
"Vin and I have a way of communicating without words," Chris spoke up. "I'm not sure you would call it telepathy, but we can definitely sense the other. I'm guessing Martin has it, too."
Ya get used to it after a while, Vin thought.
I certainly hope so, thought Martin, giving his head a light shake.
"Shall we?" Ezra said, motioning to the sitting area, furnished with a couch, coffee table, and several armchairs.
Vin sat on the couch with Martin, Danny and Chris taking the chairs on either side. Ezra quietly retreated to his room, recognizing that his presence would only crowd Martin.
Vin emptied the contents of the envelope onto the coffee table. Along with the birth certificates Chris had seen earlier were several pictures. Chris recognized Rebecca Tanner from a picture Vin had in his apartment.
Martin picked up a picture; three smiling faces faced the camera, the twins laughing as their mother's arms grabbed them from behind. He held it gingerly in his hand, as if afraid it would disappear.
"That was taken just before she got sick," Vin said quietly. "Before she was diagnosed, actually."
Martin looked up at Vin, the question on his lips but unable to come out.
"Ovarian cancer," Vin said quietly. "She never knew she was sick 'til it was too late. She died six months later."
Martin didn't know what to say. On the one hand, he felt sorry for Vin, growing up without a mother, and yet, he felt a twinge of sadness at the thought that he would never know the woman who gave birth to him.
"What… what happened?" Martin asked. "After she died, I mean."
"We were wards of the state, sent to an orphanage. We were there for a year 'fore you were adopted. After that, I was passed on to several foster homes."
Chris noticed Vin didn't mention his time spent on the streets. He guessed Vin didn't want Martin to feel sorry for him.
"Why just me?" Martin murmured quietly. Vin looked at him curiously. "Why did my parents take just me? They had to know there were two of us."
Vin shrugged. "I cain't answer that. The place closed a few years after we were there, and all their records are so far buried in DSS storage that no one'll even look."
The more Martin thought about it, it didn't make sense. Finances had never been a problem for his parents, so that couldn't have been the reason for leaving Vin behind. Katherine Fitzgerald would have loved two boys, so that couldn't have been the reason, either. Victor…
Victor.
"Oh no, he didn't," Martin growled out, anger at his father beginning to boil.
Danny saw the look in Martin's eyes, and figured it out as well. Chris and Vin, however, were still out of the loop.
"Victor didn't want Vin," Danny said quietly, his own anger towards the Deputy Director forming.
"I can't believe he left you behind," Martin said quietly, but Danny could see the rage burning behind his eyes. "How could even he do something so heartless as splitting us up?"
Vin's eyes moved to the floor as he finally replied, barely above a whisper. "He prob'ly didn' want a son with problems, seein's how I's dyslexic an' all."
Now Martin understood. Vin's dyslexia must have been evident when they were kids. Victor Fitzgerald would not want a child with a learning disability to mar the family name, so he took Martin, only.
By now, Martin's blood had begun to boil, furious at the man who didn't deserve the respect of being called his father. He stood and began pacing the room.
"When Ezra said the man was a heartless bastard, he wasn't kidding," Chris said quietly.
Danny shrugged. "That may be putting too fine a point on it, but yeah."
"You know, all my life, I've always felt like I had to prove myself to him," Martin muttered. "Now I know why. I was never his to begin with."
"Martin, now's not the time to start letting him get to you," Danny said, standing and walking over to him, placing a hand on his arm.
"When is the time, Danny?" Martin fumed, whirling to face him. "Was it when I was six and my dog got hit by a car and he told me to suck it up? Or how about the time I failed a test in high school and he dressed me down in front of my girlfriend? What about when I came home early from college for Thanksgiving and caught him screwing his twenty-three year old secretary? What about when he tried to get Jack fired? When do I finally put my foot down? When is enough enough? Tell me, Danny, 'cause in my mind, this takes the cake."
Martin's voice had steadily increased in volume as he recounted just a few of his father's past transgressions. Danny simply stood there, letting Martin's anger roll over him in waves.
"I'm not saying you shouldn't be mad," Danny said quietly, once Martin had calmed a little. "You have every right to be. But you don't need to go off half-cocked. Take a step back."
"You can come back to Denver with us," Chris suggested. "Give you a few days to cool off, and you and Vin can get to know each other."
"Jus' need to be sure we tell the boys to be gentle, s'all," Vin smirked. "Ya know how excited they can get."
"Perfect," Danny said. "Go to Denver. Clear your head. Then you can come back and punch Victor Fitzgerald's lights out, and please let me be there to see it."
Danny said this last bit with a teasing look of mischief in his eyes, but Martin knew his friend only meant the best. He looked over at Vin, meeting his brother's eyes.
It's up to you. The boys can get a little rowdy, but they'd be happy to have ya, Vin's thick Texan accent drawled in his head.
"If you say so," Martin shrugged, already more comfortable with the mental link he shared with Vin. "Guess I'm going to Denver then."
