The hospital told them the patient had checked out days before. Had Dan actually been away so long? He climbs back into the truck with his newly rediscovered son.
"Sir, I don't really..." Gabe sits back in the seat, "What the hell is Shark? I mean, I know what a shark is...the big fish thing, but I don't think that's what you're talking about."
Dan swallows, looking out the side window as he drives, "Don't worry about it."
"I have to worry about it because, as you said, they've apparently got your wife...my mother. They apparently got to my mother."
"Shark was..." He pauses, taking a deep breath, "The guy who took you from us." The story of his past spills out of him like water and soaks into the young man like he is a sponge.
Gabriel nods after a few moments of the other man rattling a story off that would probably best be suited for some sort of soap opera before speaking, "So, from what you're telling me, you owed a lot of money. As a trade off, you gave me to him."
"Not at all." Dan shakes his head, "They took you from us. Said they'd kill Di if we went looking for you."
"That easy, huh?"
"Easy?" He stops at a red light, "Your entire existence, or lack thereof, caused my wife to attempt suicide. It's caused my family to completely spiral out of control because she couldn't get rid of the feeling that you were still present with her. We had Natalie to try to...not take your place, but to give her another child to be a mother to."
"I have a sister?" He smiles a little, "How did that work?"
"It only made things worse."
Gabriel sighs, "I don't understand why you couldn't just tell her the truth."
"She would have made it her life's mission to get you back. To find you, and take you back." Dan shakes his had, "I couldn't risk that. I figured it'd be easier if she just thought you were dead."
"What about you?"
The truck became silent as he began driving again, "What about me?" He asks after a few moments.
"Did you ever regret not..." The younger man shrugs, "Did you regret not going after me? Not looking for me?"
Again with the uneasy silence, almost like Dan was attempting to search for the right words, "Every waking hour of my life." With that, he roughly pulled up into a driveway.
The house looked familiar to Gabe, even like he'd been here before. He smiled at the gentle breeze blowing against his cheek. Things were about to change, and he felt it.