Chapter 18.
Baz was worried, but didn't show any outward sign of it on his face to his young charge. He too had received a threatening letter posted under the door, just like Lucas had done. Vaguely Baz wondered if they were the only one's who had received similar notes or was someone targeting the pair of them for some unknown reason. Not wanting to worry Lucas any more than he already was, Baz didn't tell the youngster about his note, but instead asked,
"You wanna come and have some breakfast now?"
Lucas meekly nodded, but made no attempt to move from where he leaned against his uncle, making it almost impossible for the elder man to move. Baz sighed before formulating a quick plan of action, leaning over he began to tickle the youth who squealed in delight. Lucas soon moved and together they headed out the door to grab some breakfast.
***
Most of the crew were already at the dining room by the time Lucas and Baz reached the breakfast queue. Baz began to talk to Barry, while Matt walked up to Lucas, who was still a bit pale.
"You OK?" Matt looked concerned for his younger brother.
"Yeah, I'll be OK." Lucas didn't want to lie to his brother but at the same time didn't want to explain what had happened with the note in the crowded and busy room.
"Aw! Didums!" Matt exclaimed, putting his arms around Lucas and hugging him close. Lucas didn't resist.
"Where's Emily?" The younger man asked.
"Oh, she was tired out from last night's speeches, but she'll be down later on. What do you think of her? I know you only met her last night and everything." Matt was desperate for his brother's approval.
"She's nice. I like her. How did you meet?" Lucas quizzed.
"Well, we met at the academy and, well actually I didn't like her at first…" Matt was interrupted.
Spotting Emily creep up behind Matt, Lucas innocently remarked, "But do you like her now?" Matt laughed at this comment.
"You twit. Course I do! Well it's more than 'like' now, its love."
"I should hope so!" Emily finally decided to speak and slipped her arms around his waist.
"Morning sweetheart," Mat responded, lightly kissing Emily on the mouth.
Lucas made a gagging sound at the back of his throat and received a playful slap on the head from Matt. Lucas laughed before he selected his breakfast and went to sit down at the extended table, where most of his friends were seated. Matt and Emily followed Lucas to the table and sat down.
"So, is everyone ready for a fun packed day of conferences?" Matt sarcastically asked. The people sitting on the table just groaned. "I'll take that as a no then!" Matt concluded.
"What time do we start?" Lucas asked.
"Well, we meet out in the hotels reception at about ten thirty and then a limo will take us to the place where the conferences are being held." Bridger replied, secretly glad that the teen was looking a lot happier than he had earlier and almost back to his original, cheeky self-assured self.
"You're a bit keen, aren't you?" Matt interrupted.
"Oh yeah, cos you know I love conferences so much." Lucas sarcastically replied.
"You two, pipe down!" Baz pleaded, using the best parental tone he could muster. They both apologised and concentrated on their food.
"Urgh! What is this? It's almost as bad as the food on board SeaQuest," Lucas exclaimed, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"I think mine's actually moving," Matt said, examining his food with a fork.
"Well you are prodding it with a fork. What else did you expect to happen?" Lucas observed.
"Yes, I know that you twit." Matt laughed.
"So Baz, what exactly do you do?" Bridger asked,
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you!" Baz replied.
"That's so unoriginal." Lucas stated.
"That's about as original as the 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' jokes." Matt put in.
Lucas suddenly felt very thirsty and excused himself to get a drink. While he was away, Matt was eagerly watching Lucas's movements.
"I think he's gonna get a drink… Yes, he is!"
"You're evil, you know that?" Baz put in.
"You wanna help me?" Matt suggested.
"Yeah, why not?" Nathan and Kristen had gone to get ready and the rest of the crew had began their own separate conversations all except Ben, Tim and Miguel, who were listening into Baz and Matt's conversation with interest.
"Would someone like to explain why you two are getting so hyped up about Lucas getting a drink?" Ben asked, clearly confused.
"Well, me and Baz do this thing where every time Lucas gets a drink and starts to drink it, we have to make him choke on it by shouting 'Don't choke, Lucas!' ya' wanna help us?" Matt explained. "I know it sounds mean, but it really is funny."
"I will," Ben immediately volunteered. Tim and Miguel shook their heads.
"Ok, so when he's got a sip of drink in his mouth shout it and he gets absolutely hysterical and chokes. Ok here he comes. Don't say anything." Matt concluded.
Lucas sat down, unaware that he was being closely observed. He started to sip from the juice and as soon as he had a large gulp of the juice in his mouth, Ben, Baz and Matt shouted as loud as they could,
"Don't choke, Lucas!"
Lucas of course did choke and had hysterics at the same time, while Baz moaned at the teen for not being able to control himself in public. Ben and Matt started to laugh so hard, tears come to their eyes and started to trickle down their faces. Lucas had stopped choking and laughing by this time.
"You're so mean! I should have remembered that by now, but still! You're mean." Lucas moaned good naturedly.
"Ah! I'm sorry." Baz said.
"Yeah, until I try and take a sip of something else then you'll do exactly the same thing." Lucas pretended to sulk.
"You have to admit it was quite funny." Ben observed.
"We're gonna be late, if you're not careful. It's coming up to half nine." Barry warned them, appearing suddenly behind Lucas and making him jump. At this comment, the crew hurriedly glanced at their watches and left, cramming anything they had left on their plates and into their mouths. Matt, Emily and Lucas left the dining room together, chatting animatedly.
"So which one's your room then?" Lucas asked. "I mean, you already know mine."
"It's along this corridor, room 101." Matt showed Lucas, pointing to a corridor adjacent to the where they were standing.
"Anyway, I gotta go, see ya' later!" Lucas waved and ran off t o find his own room.
***
Lucas hurriedly got ready. Bridger was already ready by the time Lucas reached their room.
"Come on, you're gonna be late if you're not careful!" Bridger cried, fastening his tie in front of a mirror.
"Me? Late? Never!" The teen yelled before dashing into the bathroom. Bridger just shook his head in despair. Amazingly, Lucas was ready in time.
***
"OK people!" Bridger yelled, trying to make himself heard above all the other people in the hired out hall. "Now, all of you are going to be split into different groups to do different activities. Crocker, Krieg and Hitchcock are group 1. Ford, O'Neil and Ortiz are group 2. Kristen, Lucas and I are group 3. This is a team building activity day, so have fun but learn a lot from the leader in control of your group. I'll see you at the end of the day. Any questions?"
"What time do we meet back?" Crocker asked.
"Everyone is to meet here at 1200 hours for lunch and then again at 1800 hours in time to go home. You will be given short intervals for resting, should you need them. Anymore questions?" There was a chorus of no sirs and so Bridger suggested, "OK, you're groups are numbered by the huge numbers on the walls. Have fun and I'll see you later. Dismissed."
The crew split up, each heading to their different destinations. As Lucas walked with Bridger and Kristen, he briefly wondered which group Baz, Matt and Emily were in.
***
Lucas tried not to yawn for about the twentieth time that day. Their 'leader' called Dawson had insisted on treating every member of the group, especially Lucas, like kids all the time, making Lucas want to hit him. Dawson also couldn't remember Lucas's name properly and kept calling him Sandy, on the account of his sandy coloured hair. He had not been impressed and Lucas almost lost his temper several times.
"Team-work is about working together in a team. Now can anyone explain what a team is?" The guide droned on. "Sandy, why don't you have a go at explaining what team work means to you?"
Lucas sighed before saying,
"My name's Lucas and team work is where you work together to achieve a goal or a target set."
"Exactly right! Now, can you give me an example of team work?" Dawson smiled at Lucas. Lucas was just about to reply, when he heard his name being called. Looking up he saw his uncle, Baz standing next to him.
"Excuse me, I just need to borrow him for a second." Baz sounded very distressed and looked around anxiously at the group. The guide nodded his assent and Baz took Lucas off to a private room at the back of the conference centre.
"What's wrong? What is it?" Lucas could see whatever the news was, it was bad.
"I just got a letter and, I really don't know how to say this but…" Baz paced around, trying to figure a way to say what he knew would come as a big shock to the teen.
"I've got a letter from Blackstone," Lucas froze. Blackstone was the name of the prison, where his father was currently serving 10 years in. Baz took a deep breath. "I'm afraid your father died last week in prison. He was murdered." Baz let the news slowly sink in, he wasn't sure how his young charge was going to react to this news. "I'm so sorry."
Lucas just sat there, repeating the same phrase over and over again in his mind,
'I'm free, free at last,'
Baz watched the Lucas rock slightly before bursting into tears and collapsing into a nearby chair all at once. The elder man sat on the arm of the chair and embraced the younger man, softly stroking his hair. Lucas started to shake, as though he was cold so Baz took off his fleece and put it round the youth. Slowly he stopped shaking and remained quiet in Baz's embrace. Then quietly he said,
"You know, I'm glad he's dead. Does that make me a horrible person?" Lucas chuckled slightly.
"No, not at all. What he did to you was horrific and you have every right to feel glad." Baz comforted. Lucas frowned, he could always tell when there was something his uncle wasn't telling him, or leaving out.
"How did he die?" Lucas asked.
"He… He was murdered after allegations were made that he raped a female inmate." Lucas closed his eyes, letting all the information slowly sink in.
"Did he do it?" Lucas finally opened his eyes and looked into Baz's face.
"No, they found out something important… Something that your mom wanted to keep from you so she made me promise not to tell you. I won't break that promise, but it's come as a shock to me too, cos I only found out… Well I knew part of it, but not all of it and…" Realising his uncle was blabbing, Lucas cut him off by quietly saying,
"Baz, what is it?"
Baz stopped talking and gave Lucas an envelope, with the Blackstone prison mark on it. Carefully, he took out the letter and read down it. At the end, he was glad he was sitting down; otherwise he would have fallen down.
"Sexually incompetent? That means… He wasn't my father? Who was then?" Lucas looked at Baz for an answer.
"I'm not 100% certain…" Baz started.
"I don't care about being 100% certain. Who is he?" Lucas exploded, unable to control his anger.
"Me."
TBC…
I know this is a really mean place to end it, but what can I say? I'm an ELFer and it's my job to be mean.
Sorry these parts are taking so long, only I've got mocks exams starting on Monday for two weeks and I'm finding it hard to work on this at the same time. I'm hoping to have the next part up sooner.