"Put him on that bio-bed," Justin ordered as they walked into the facility's medical center, he pointed at the nearest bed. He moved to the console and called up the emergency medical programs, taking the hypo-probe that emerged from the console at the same time. Programs ready to receive, Justin turned and went to inject the probe that would allow the program to fully detect all of the injuries and heal them.
He moved past Scott, who stood at the head of the bio-bed, staring down at Liam, and reached to inject the probe in Liam's neck.
He didn't even see Scott move, only became aware of it as searing pain shot up his arm as Scott grabbed him and held tight.
"Scott!" Troy said.
"No," Derek said. "Justin."
"I forgot," Justin said, "it's okay." He looked at Scott, not quite meeting his eyes enough to see that they were Alpha red. He looked down and tilted his head, openly baring his throat. "Alpha," he said, "I'm sorry Alpha. I want to help him. This will help him." He kept his voice even and soothing, forcing himself to keep his pain and fear from surfacing in his voice. An Alpha protecting an injured and new Beta was dangerous, if Justin had been thinking, he would have remembered that. Now, he had to hope that Scott's casual yet wholesale adoption of Derek's pack would override the instinct to protect the person who was essentially his firstborn child.
After a long moment, Scott's hand eased and Justin carefully pulled back. Then he leaned over, keeping his movements smooth and open, to inject the probe in Liam's neck. That done, he heard the beep of the machine signaling the activation of the probe. He backed away slowly, and turned to the console, reaching over to put the hypo into the return chute.
He winced slightly as the movement pulled on his clawed arm, but he didn't make any move to bandage it. He needed to know Scott was back with them before he dared to heal himself with the equipment, he wasn't sure what their Alpha would see as a threat to Liam.
There was a soft ding and one of the screens flashed. Justin reached over and tapped it, reading it's message and translating the Eltarean automatically. He frowned and tapped the screen, ordering it to rerun the test.
"That's not right," he murmured, frowning. Then he turned, "Ethan, can you come here for a moment."
"Okay," Ethan said, giving the bio-bed a wide birth, and followed by Aidan. "What do you need?"
"Can you, would you provide me with a blood sample?" Justin asked, "I need to see something."
"Okay," Ethan said after a moment.
Justin pointed to a softly glowing square, "Just let a few drops fall on that."
"Both of us?" Aidan asked.
Justin sighed, "Sure, a wide sample can ensure fewer errors. Just do it one at a time."
He turned back to his console, unwilling to watch as the twins cut themselves and let the blood fall. In less time than before, Justin had his results, and he was doubly glad that the machine was displaying in Eltarean and not English.
"Is that bad?" Ethan asked.
"No," Justin said, "it's not… it's not about Liam exactly. It's a subroutine, something everyone gets scanned with." He turned to look at the room, "It's just odd. Derek, Troy, would you mind also providing samples?"
"Sure," Troy said.
Derek stared at him for a moment, then walked over and dripped blood on the appropriate square.
"Now what?" Scott asked tightly. "Would you like mine too?"
"All right," Justin said.
All the tests came back and Justin spread them on the large screen. He knew it was a risk that Rose was nearby and could read Eltarean, but he had to see. It didn't make sense.
Then suddenly it did.
"That son of a bitch," he whispered.
"What?" Scott asked.
"Hold on," Justin said as he activated his comm., "Hardison, do you copy."
"Here," Alec said promptly.
"Are you busy or can you do me a favor?" Justin asked.
"I've got time," Alec said.
"I need you to find my file for job number whiskey tango seven nine eight zip on the Mountain servers. There should be a sub-file labeled blackmail subject D and one labeled blackmail subject T. That's D as in dawn and T as in top. There should be a case number on both of them, I need to know if they match."
"On it," Alec said, "and yes they do."
Justin grinned, "Thanks man. I'll let you get back to work."
"No problem," Alec replied.
Justin turned to the others, "So," he said, still grinning. "About a month ago, as part of our incentives for coming to town, we did security upgrades for several businesses in town, and I learned a very interesting secret."
"What kind of secret?" Scott asked.
"Well, one of the businesses in question was the Beacon Reproductive Clinic," Justin said.
"The sperm bank?" Isaac said.
"Yup," Justin said.
"You know who my father is," Troy said.
"I do," Justin replied, "I wasn't sure if you were aware of that."
"It was a memorable learning experience," Troy said.
"Well, I don't know the story behind this, and I doubt we ever will," Justin said, "but Troy, you and Derek, well, you're related."
"Please tell me it's not Peter," Troy said.
"No," Justin said, "and Derek, from the date, I think this was before."
"Before?" Derek said.
"You're half-brothers," Justin said gently. "You have the same father. Why your father chose to donate, I don't know, but it was before your parents had formal acknowledgement of their relationship."
The two of them looked at each other, and Justin hoped that Derek would see what Justin had, not the appearance, but the mannerisms, the movements that came naturally to both of them. He'd had time to observe them, and he could see where they matched.
"Okay, that's weird, but what freaked you out before that?" Isaac said.
"That's a little more complicated," Justin said, "and annoying. Aidan, what do you know about Liam's dad?"
"Uh," Aidan hesitated, "his name was… Johnny or John. She's used both. They dated for a few months before he moved because of his job. She liked him, but she wasn't in love with him."
"Ethan, do you know anything about your own dad?"
"No," Ethan said, "Mom said he was a one night stand when they were both miserable and coming off break-ups. I never heard his name."
"Neither have I," Aidan said. "Aunt Krystal might know."
Justin nodded and looked around the room for a moment. "My mom died seventeen years ago," he said finally. "My dad buried himself in a bottle for months afterwards and I lived with an old friend of my mom. One day, my dad picked me up after school, and he couldn't stop apologizing for not being there for me. It's the first time that particular cycle of grief and alcohol happened, so I tend to remember it. I've never known what kicked him out of that cycle, but it leads me to the next question I had. When is your birthday?"
"September 7th," Ethan said, frowning.
Justin saw Aidan's eyes widen slightly and he sighed.
"My mom died in November. My dad picked me up on February 13th." Justin said, "And now it makes sense."
"What does?" Scott said.
"It wasn't a break-up was it," Aidan said.
"No," Justin said. He sighed, "Aidan, Ethan, and I are related by our shared father. Given the dates, I'd say that my dad was drunk, had a one night stand, and had a walk of shame wake up call." He offered his hand to the twins, "He's living in Japan, if you wanted to meet him, ever. He's remarried, has a daughter. We talk at Christmas, but we're not close, haven't been for years if we ever were."
"That wasn't what first set you off," Boyd said quietly.
"No," Justin said, "and that's the confusing part."
"How so?" Ethan asked.
"Because according to the scans, Liam is also my paternal half-brother."