Author's note: I searched several web sites (in vain) to find the names of Joey's and Kaiba's parents. Having no luck, I went the creative route and made them up.

"There you are, Joseph," Elizabeth Wheeler smiled at her son. "I was getting worried about you."

"I was just callin' Yugi, Téa, and Tristan to let them know that Serenity is out of surgery. Any news on when she'll get out of recovery?"

"Probably not for a couple of hours, Joseph. You heard what the doctor said earlier." She patted the spot next to her on the couch in the waiting room lounge. "Come and sit down."

Joey shook his head slightly. "'S okay, Ma. I'll stand."

Elizabeth wasn't surprised by her son's rejection. Ever since her divorce, Joey had blamed her for separating him from his sister Serenity. "Joseph, I know we haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye since your father and I got divorced…"

"And you took Serenity away," Joey replied, bitterness evident in his voice.

"Joseph, I think you're old enough now to understand what happened between me and your father and why I did what I did. Please come over here and sit down. We need to talk."

Joey gave his mother a suspicious sidelong glance.

"Joseph, please," Elizabeth begged. "I know you must hate me for what I did, but you need to understand why I took Serenity."

The resentment Joey felt toward his mother abated slightly when he saw the hurt look in her eyes. "I never could hate you, Ma." He shuffled over to the couch and sat down next to his mother.

Elizabeth reached out and tenderly brushed aside a piece of blond hair that had fallen across her son's eyes. "I almost couldn't believe it when you came into Serenity's room. You've grown so much since the last time I saw you. I can't believe how tall you are now."

Joey abruptly pulled away from his mother's touch. "Ma, stop it! I'm not a little kid anymore."

Elizabeth reluctantly pulled her hand away. Despite all these years, her son's rejection still stung. "You're right, Joseph. You're not a little kid anymore. And that's why we need to talk. You're old enough now to understand the circumstances why your father and I got divorced."

"And you left me!" Joey shot back. "You took my sister away, and you left me behind! Sorry Ma, I'm never gonna understand why you did what you did." Joey quickly turned away, hoping that his mother wouldn't see the tears starting in his eyes. Even though he always tried to maintain a tough façade on the exterior, inside he was still a little boy who would never understand why his mother abandoned him.

"Joseph, I know you're hurting. I know you must think that I abandoned you," Elizabeth reached for her son's arm, but he pulled away once more.

"Leave me alone, Ma."

"Joseph, look at me." Elizabeth took her son's chin and forced him to look her in the eye. And what she saw was almost too painful to bear.

"Why, Ma?" Joey replied, his voice quavering in a desperate effort to fight back tears. "Why did you do it? Why did you leave me?"

"Joseph, when I first met your father, he was a handsome, wonderful man," Elizabeth began. "And we loved each other very much."

"Then why did you leave him?"

"Joseph, you may not understand this entirely, but when you love someone, you think that you can change them."

Joey gave his mother a puzzled look. "Whaddya talking about, Ma?"

"Joseph, I don't know if you're aware of this, but your father has a drinking problem."

Joey was shocked by his mother's accusation. "Wha…? What're you talking about, Ma? Yeah, I know that Dad has a beer every now and then, but he doesn't get drunk or anything like that."

"Maybe not in front of you, but in private he does. Or at least he did. I hope he got help for that. Anyway, whenever your dad got drunk, he'd go off and leave me alone for days at a time. I don't suppose you'd remember that…you were just a baby at the time." Elizabeth sighed. "One night, your father came home and I knew that he had been with another woman."

"Wha…? You're lyin', Ma!" Joey jumped up from the couch.

"Joseph, please sit back down," Elizabeth ordered. "Don't make a scene." The other couple sitting in the waiting area was staring at them.

"Me make a scene? You're the one accusin' Dad of being a womanizing drunk!" Joey shouted.

"Joseph, sit down," Elizabeth ordered once more. "I know that this isn't easy for you to hear, but if you want to know why I took Serenity, you're going to have to hear the truth."

Joey reluctantly sank back down on the couch. He wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Even though his mother had hurt him deeply, he didn't think she'd lie to him.

"Anyway, your father assured me that what happened with the other woman was a one-time deal and that it would never happen again. And I wanted to believe him. But it happened again. And I was furious with him. He had promised me that he wouldn't do it again and he lied to me. And I was so angry that the only thing I wanted to do was hurt him back for all the pain he had caused me."

"There must've been a good reason why Dad did what he did," Joey replied, trying to defend the man who had taken care of him ever since his mother had left him.

"It was the alcohol, Joseph," Elizabeth replied, pain evident in her voice. "And I won't deny that your father and I were having problems with our marriage then. He had assured me that he was going to try to work on our marriage, but when I caught him with that other woman…"

"You…you caught them together?" The blood drained out of Joey's face.

Elizabeth nodded. "And when I did, the only thing I could think of was revenge. I wanted to hurt your father the same way he had hurt me. And Joseph, I'm not proud of what I'm about to tell you, but you deserve to know what happened."

Joey felt ill. "Ma, you're starting to scare me."

Elizabeth took a deep breath, trying how to figure out the best way to tell her son what was coming next. "A few days after I caught your father with that other woman, I ran into an old friend of mine from school. An old boyfriend, actually. We hadn't seen each other in years, so we had lunch together and decided to catch up on old memories."

Joey felt an ominous tightening in the pit of his stomach. He knew what his mother was going to say next.

"Afterward, we both agreed that we had made a huge mistake and agreed not to see each other again. And it was just one time, Joseph. But that was enough to finish off what little bit was left of our marriage."

Joey turned an anguished face to his mother. "Oh God, Ma…you…you slept with that other guy?"

Elizabeth nodded slowly. "Yes, son. I did. And I'm not proud of it. Revenge doesn't solve anything, Joseph. It just makes things worse. And for a long time, I didn't tell anyone about it. Until…"

"Until what, Ma?"

"Until one day your father and I had a huge argument, and I told him the truth about Serenity."

"You told him the truth about…what does Serenity have to do with all this?"

"Joseph," Elizabeth took her son's shaking hand in hers. "Serenity isn't your sister. She's your half-sister."

Joey was stunned. "My half-sis…? Ma, what are you sayin'?"

"Joseph, what I'm saying is that your father isn't Serenity's father. You and Serenity are half-brother and sister."

With an anguished cry, Joey buried his head in his hands. "No…it's not true, Ma! It's not!"

Elizabeth laid a hand on her son's shaking shoulders. "Yes, son, it is. And when I told your father, that was what ended our marriage. From then on, he couldn't even stand to look at Serenity. Your father couldn't deal with the fact that she wasn't his daughter."

"Oh no…no…" Joey wailed, overwhelmed by his mother's confession.

Elizabeth reached up and gently stroked her son's hair the same way she had used to do when he was a small boy. "And Joseph…even though you may not believe me, when I left with Serenity I wanted to take you with me. But your father said that if I took his only child away from him, he'd make certain that I'd lose both you and Serenity. And the last thing in the world I wanted to happen was to be separated from the two of you forever." Elizabeth felt the tears starting in her eyes. "And since I wanted to spare both you and Serenity the pain of having to go through a bitter divorce, the court battles, all the ugliness, I decided that the best thing to do was accept your father's compromise – take Serenity and leave."

Shocked, Joey's head shot up. "My fath…? Ma, are you sayin' that splitting me and Serenity up was Dad's idea?"

Elizabeth swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and nodded. "I'm so sorry, Joseph."

"Oh, God…oh no…no…" For several minutes, Joey sat with his head in his hands, weeping, not caring what other people thought. His macho façade had completely crumbled under the weight of his mother's words.

"Oh son, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Elizabeth leaned over, took her near-grown son in her arms, and rocked him the same way she had used to when he was little.

"Ma…does the other guy know about Serenity?" Joey finally sniffed, wiping his nose on his shirtsleeve.

"No son, he doesn't. I never told him. He had a wife and family of his own, and if they knew what we had done, it would've destroyed their marriage. We agreed not to tell our families about our affair. And when I discovered that your father couldn't have been Serenity's father, I decided that it was best not to tell Hiro."

"Hiro? Was that the other guy's name?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Hiro was killed in a car crash a few years ago. He never knew about Serenity."

"Killed…? Oh man…what happened to his family?"

"Hiro and his wife had two sons. His wife died giving birth to the younger one. One was about your age, and the other was a couple of years younger than Serenity. I think they were sent away to an orphanage in Donkato."

"An orphanage?" An eerie feeling made the hair stand up on the back of Joey's neck. "Do you know if they ever got adopted?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "No."

"Ma, don't you think that Serenity has the right to know what happened to her brothers? Her half-brothers, I mean? They're her family, too."

Elizabeth shook her head firmly. "No. As far as Serenity is concerned, you're her only brother. And I'm going to keep it that way. She doesn't deserve to suffer because of my mistakes."

"Suffer…? You mean you haven't told Serenity yet?"

"No. I wanted to, but with the medical problems she was having with her eyes, I figured it best not to upset her. When she's older, I'll tell her like I told you. But right now, she doesn't need to know. And I want you to promise me not to tell her, Joseph…understand?"

"All right, Ma. I promise. But I think you're makin' a big mistake. Serenity needs to know that she's got two other brothers besides me out there."

Elizabeth smiled and laid a hand on her son's cheek. "Joseph, all that Serenity needs to know right now is that she's got a big brother who loves her very much. And…"

"Mrs. Wheeler?"

Both Elizabeth and Joey turned to see a nurse standing in the doorway.

"Mrs. Wheeler," the nurse repeated. "Your daughter Serenity is out of recovery now and is resting comfortably."

"Is Serenity all right?" Joey asked as he and his mother stood up.

"She's doing well," the nurse smiled reassuringly. "You can go see her now.

"I'm gonna call Yugi and the gang first," said Joey, heading for the telephone. "And I'll catch up with you guys in a moment."

To be continued…