As Liam made his way off the elevator he felt suddenly nervous. He'd been sitting on the information off the background check for a week now-not knowing what to do. Also, during this week he'd avoided being around anyone. Work and home -that's all he was allowing himself right now. Because if he talked to someone he would allow himself to be rational on this and have his mom reach out to John.
He'd almost decided to just throw the information away and not deal with it at all when he got a text from his brother. Ethan had asked him if everything was ok-that he hadn't seen him in a few days and was wanting to hang out. He lied and said he'd been busy with work. That's when he asked if him and mom got into a fight or something because she got upset when he mentioned that Liam hadn't been around.
That had been the deciding factor on confronting John McBain. He couldn't be for sure-but he felt like the man's ghost had directed his mom's life even with his absence and he wasn't going to let him do the same to him.
Knocking hard on the door he waited a minute before it finally opened and he saw an older version of himself standing on the other side. He wanted to be angry that what everyone said was true and he looked like him, but he couldn't deny it.
John was surprised who was at the door-it took a moment to process what exactly to say, "Liam-hi. Come in," he said as he opened the door the rest of the way.
"Surprised you knew my name," he scoffed as he came in and took a look around the Washington DC Condo he found himself in. The furnishings were sparse, not much thought put into decor or use. His detective skills went into overdrive and he began to deduce what type of man lived here by the surroundings. One that thought of this as just a place to sleep. The lack of pictures of Uncle Mike and his cousins made him realize the man didn't see personal connections with people as anything important to have. People were dispensable to him-to be used for their purpose and then tossed aside when done. Like he and his mom had been.
John watched his son study the room-knowing immediately he was doing the same thing John would have when coming into a new place. Take it in and figure out what made the person tick. When Liam turned back to look at him he thought of how he'd seen that same look from Natalie before. One of uncertainty of why she was even coming to his door mixed with anger at some wrong he had done on her.
"Can I get you something to drink? Water? Beer?" he asked as he motioned towards the fridge.
"No, I won't be here that long."
"How are you? Is your mom ok?" he asked, his hands stuck in his pockets because he wasn't sure exactly what to do with them at the moment.
"Yeah, she's fine. She got that damn medal."
There it was-the thing that brought his 20-something year old son to his door. He didn't say anything, just nodded.
"And now she's decided we need to sit down and have a family discussion on why you walked out on us. I don't need it though-because you don't share anything with me except for some DNA."
John just nodded, trying to keep the slap in the face he received with those words from showing, "I'm sorry, Liam."
Liam ignored the apology given to him and kept going, "Because family is there for each other. They are there when their son has his first pee wee football game. Or when he graduates from the Police Academy. Or when their mom gets sick and he thinks she's going to die and he'll be left all alone," he said as John watched his eyes turn a steely blue that he'd seen before with Natalie.
John was surprised at the declaration Liam had just made, and wondered exactly what had happened with Natalie during all these years apart. He wasn't going to pry-not yet. He saw a lot of himself in his son and knew he wouldn't be open to the volley of questions he'd caused to start spinning in John's head.
"Ok, well if she calls me I'll tell her I'm not interested. Nice seeing you," he said as he turned for the door, fighting every fiber of his being at doing it.
"That's it? That's all I get from you? I don't even know why I came here," he scoffed as he went to the door.
John almost wanted to smile at hearing those words-in a different lifetime he thought he remembered her saying them before, "You came here to tell me to go to hell."
Liam glared at the cockiness that the man before him showed, "Go to hell."
John just nodded and shut the door without another word. Going to the kitchen he pulled out a beer bottle and twisted the cap off before making it to his office, glancing at the slot machine that was across from the room's entrance. Beside it were two pictures-one from Liam's baptism and another that Michael had sent of Liam's graduation from the Police Academy. Sighing he raised his bottle towards them before going towards his desk, "Already there kid."
Curled onto her couch, her feet pulled underneath her, Natalie tried to make sense of the past week. How she'd talked to herself over and over again on reaching out to John. She'd tried to talk with Liam a few times but he was ignoring her calls and text messages. Yesterday, Ethan had brought up that he hadn't seen his brother and that had gotten her misty eyed. So, today she went upstairs to the bullpen to find Liam and was told he'd taken a personal day.
That had been enough for her to decide to call Michael and ask for his brother's number. She knew questions were going to come, and she almost wanted him to be his brother's guard dog once again. For him to tell her John was happily in love with a family of his own. At one point in her life Michael's words of wisdom would get her head straight-perhaps it still could. Reaching for the phone she paused at hearing steps in the hallway and looked up to see her daughter walk in, "Hey sweetie," she smiled, glad for the distraction.
"Hey," she said as she came over and curled into her. These moments were fewer between, she thought as she ran her hand over her daughter's auburn hair. "Do you have that medal from the other day?"
"Sure," said Natalie as she reached over onto the end table and handed it to her.
Izzy studied it for a few minutes, flipping it over and Natalie was about to ask what she was looking for when she finally spoke. "John gave you this, didn't he?"
Once she got over the shock Natalie laughed, "Actually, I gave it to him. Originally, at least. How do you know about John anyways?"
"Grandma Roxy," she said as she sat up and scooted back some.
Natalie wasn't surprised at the answer-the woman had always been their biggest cheerleader, "What did she tell you about him?"
"That he broods-a lot. She showed me a picture she had taken in Grandma Vicki's foyer-he looks like Liam. She says your relationship was like Romeo and Juliet. Star-crossed lovers. Though she mixed up the words. And that when you would walk into a room his eyes would light up."
Natalie laughed at the description, "Well, yes-all of that is true. Our relationship definitely was more of a Shakespearean tragedy than a fairy tale. It was complicated and messy-but at the end of it all we made a beautiful thing that is your brother." Hearing her phone ring she looked over and was surprised at the name. "I really need to take this."
"Sure-I'm going to go text with Macy," she said as she jumped up and was off.
"Michael-hey-I was just about to call you," she said as she stood up and began to pace.
"Uhm-really, that's interesting."
"Yeah-," she paused as the doorbell rang.
"I got it," yelled Izzy as she came back down the stairs and answered the door.
"Who is it?" she asked as she half listened to Michael begin to ramble. "Hold on, Michael," she said as she rounded the corner and came face to face with his brother.
"Hi, Natalie," said John as he stood there with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He'd heard who she was on the phone with and realized his brother was trying to give her warning to prepare herself-or batten down the front door to avoid him-he wasn't sure which. After Liam had left he sat there and stewed-trying to decide what to do. On the drive here he'd called Michael to catch up and told him where he was going. His brother had tried to talk him out of it-saying nothing good would come of it-and he may be right, but he still had to see her.
"Hi," said Natalie as she looked at her phone and saw that Michael had ended the call. Before she said another word she realized they still had one eavesdropper in their presence and looked down at her pre-teen daughter. "Isabella-I thought you were going to text with Macy before bed."
"Yep. Goodnight," she smiled as she got one more glance at the man in the doorway and bolted upstairs. Natalie watched her go and then returned back to the doorway. "I guess you were why Michael was calling me. But how-what are you doing here?"
"Can I come in?"
"Of course," she said as she motioned for him to come in and then closed the door behind him. "Sorry about my daughter."
He nodded as they walked into the living room, "She looks just like you."
"And apparently is getting her romance stories from Roxy, what does that tell you?"
John shook his head and made a face at the thought. Keeping his head down he decided to cut to the chase, "Liam paid me a visit."
Natalie ran her hands over her face as she put her phone down, "I'm sorry, John. I-I got the medal and then I thought it was time he knew about us-and about why you left. I guess he's more like me than I thought-act first, think later."
"Yeah, he let me have it as well as you did once or twice."
"I hope he didn't interrupt your family time."
"Huh?" John asked, confused. "No-no family. Just me. I decided to come-despite our son's and my brother's pleas. Because you are right-he needs to know the truth."
"And before he knows the truth I think I do too, John."
"Right," he nodded.
"But not tonight-I have two kids upstairs, though I'm pretty sure one of them is sitting on the landing," she laughed. "How about you meet me at Rodi's at 9 tomorrow? I'll have the kids dropped off at school and it's my day off at the station so no distractions."
"Won't the new owners mind?" he asked, knowing the bar had been sold a long time ago.
"I don't think she'll mind," she smiled at the meaning.
"You bought it? But the paperwork I saw-."
"Those owners were ready to sell a few years ago-I bought it from them," she said with a smile. Feeling a sudden awkwardness she began to walk back out of the living room and to the front door, "So, see you in the morning?"
"Yeah, sure," said John, feeling the same awkwardness. Making his way to the door he looked back at her before giving her a slight smile, "Goodnight, Natalie."
"Goodnight, John," she said as she closed the door. Looking up the stairway she suddenly heard a bedroom door shut and just shook her head before going to find something to take her mind off what was to come in the morning.