Chapter 19: Talk it Out
After shopping Friday, I perched myself on the edge of the roof, taking in the Manhattan skyline. I missed it more than I realized. Gotham had it's own um, charms, but it would never by my city. New York would always be home.
"You usually only sit up here when you're upset." Dad sat down next to me, two mugs of hot chocolate in hand. I hadn't even heard him come up.
"Just thinking." I said, taking the mug he offered.
"About?"
"A lot of things I guess." I shrugged, taking a sip.
"Anything you want to talk about?" He knew me too well. I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder.
"Can you tell me something?" I asked.
"I can try."
"What did my mother do?"
"Do?"
"Where did she work?"
"That was eighteen years ago Jamie, she probably doesn't work at the same place anymore."
"Just humor me, would you? Or did you never get that far in the conversation during your one night stand?" I teased. He smirked at me.
"She was engineer somewhere I think. I don't remember." He said, taking a sip of coffee. I sat up and sighed. "Why the sudden interest in your mother's occupation?"
"I found something last week after the whole mess with Spellbinder. Well, Bruce found it actually." I started.
"What is it." I could hear the annoyance in his voice.
"We found a microchip in my skull. Something that's been there since I was a baby. And knowing that my mother had me the first year of my life..."
"You think she's responsible for it." He finished.
"It makes the most sense." I reasoned.
"What does this chip do?" He asked. I explained what Bruce had told me about it and the connection to Roger Tech and MedCorp. I also mentioned Victoria's invite to tour MedCorp. We sat in silence for a minute while he processed everything. To be honest, it still seemed kind of surreal for me a week later.
"Bruce is right. You should go to MedCorp. Ask questions, learn what you can. Anything can help to understand why you have a microchip in your head."
"You're not mad?" I was expecting more of a reaction out of him. He chuckled
"Of course I am. Someone experimented on my daughter. That isn't okay. But I can't do much. We don't know where your mother is and MedCorp isn't going to hand out a list of former employees. This is ultimately your choice if you want to find out more. Thank you for not hiding this." He put an arm around my shoulders.
"No point in hiding it. It wasn't like this was your secret." We both knew what I was implying. "One more question though."
"What now?"
"What was her name?"
"She introduced herself as Valentina Ramirez. But when I researched her after you came along, I couldn't find anything on her."
"She used a fake name?"
"Seems that way." He shrugged, staring out at the skyline.
"It has to mean something though. She wouldn't give me that name if it meant nothing, right?"
"Maybe she just liked it. As far as I know, the name Jamie didn't have a significant meaning, yet that's your first name."
"Jamie Valentina sends mixed messages about my race though." I mused. Dad laughed.
"It just makes you unique Little Bird." He pulled me closer. "Does this mean our stalemate is over?" He asked me.
"I guess. I still want to know things, but you can't really answer them." I sighed.
"Good. I hate arguing with you."
"I don't know, I kinda enjoy it." I joked. He playfully shoved me.
"Come on, its getting late and you have packing to do tomorrow." He said, standing up.
"Don't remind me." I groaned.
A short, but sweet chapter. More of "I need these two to get along for once." kind of chapter.
Fun Fact: The roof is Jamie's favorite spot ever, and she misses it when in Gotham.