A/N: This one's very wordy. Don't say you weren't warned.

…………………

Truth Comes Out

…………………

"I thought I'd find you here."

"Go away Lucas." I say, not even bothering to turn around. I should have known he'd find me. Lucas and I have been coming up here since we were little.

Here is this old, small castle type playhouse in Central Park that most kids love, but their parents won't let them go into. Ours never minded, so it's been kind of our spot since we were seven.

"You honestly think I'd leave you alone at a time like this?" he asks, sitting beside me, his long legs now a full half foot longer than mine. I remember when they were the same length.

I snort. There's really no other word for the sound. "Like what?" I ask. "A time when I finally find out my mother's name? Or when I find out she had an affair that resulted in another kid? Or when said kid shows up thinking my dad's his father? Or when I find out that Tom Quincy destroyed my parent's marriage?"

Lucas doesn't answer. Instead, he wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me against him, my head tucking under his chin naturally.

"No wonder my dad hates boy bands." I mutter.

"You okay?" he asks.

"No. I don't know if I'll ever be okay again." I confess. Lucas is the only person in the world I could tell something like that to and know that they'll understand without reading too much into it.

"You're probably not the only one who feels that way."

I take a deep breath. "My dad brought that whole little scene on himself."

"Not him. I'm talking about Miles."

I sit up and pull away from him. I don't want to hear this right now.

"Like it or not Lane, that kid is your brother."

"Half brother." I correct.

"Blood is blood. He's still your family." Lucas tells me. Artists.

I look at him finally. He has that determined glint in his eye, like when he's made up his mind to use his mother's jewelry in his work and won't hear about how grounded he's going to get.

"Lucas," I say slowly, "you are my family. That kid…he's just a relative."

"How can you say that?"

"Because I've lived the past fifteen years without any siblings and it's worked pretty well for me. Besides," I smile softly at him, "I've got you, and you're the best brother anyone could ever ask for."

He returns my smile with a deep sigh. Once more, he wraps an arm around me and I settle against him.

"Are you going to make me like him?"

"I've learned from experience that no one can make you do anything you don't want to, but I think you will regret not at least trying to get to know him." Lucas says after a few moments, beginning to play with the ends of my hair.

I stand and hold my hand down to him. "Well, come on. I've gotta get this over with and I'm not doing it alone."

…………………

Three faces shoot up at the sound of the penthouse door opening.

"Lane, where have you been? I almost called the cops." My dad sounds frantic and anxiety is etched all over his face.

Wordlessly, I walk over and sit on the couch next to Miles. He eyes me warily. "I think it's about time you tell us both everything. And I mean everything."

I watch Tom's eyes flit over to Lucas standing in the doorway of the off the foyer. He's about to ask him to leave, I know it.

"Lucas stays." I tell him bluntly. "Or you go."

Tom starts, as if surprised by my frankness. It is my house after all. I watch him eye me, then Lucas, and finally his eyes fall on my dad. Something passes between them wordlessly. Like a recognition almost.

"I guess I'll start at the beginning." Dad said.

"That's usually a good place." I replied sarcastically, and for once he didn't scold me.

"Jude and I were a lot like you and Lucas. We were best friends, grew up next to each other, practically spoke our own language. Only I wanted more than that. I fell in love with her…hell, I don't even know when it happened." he said, a wistful look coming over his face at the memory.

"Then she won Instant Star and everything changed." His gaze locked onto Tom and the air in the room charged dramatically. "We both always wanted music careers. She got hers and I got mine by connection I guess. Only it came with a catch."

"You." I said to Tom. He nodded.

"Jude had the hugest crush on him. Even with other guys, including me, it never entirely went away. That was probably why we were so on again-off again for so long."

"How long?" Miles asked.

"About two years. We could never really seem to make it work, but we couldn't quite give up either."

"And you?" I asked Tom. "How did you feel about her?"

"I fell for Jude hard. But she was underage and I wasn't willing to risk our working relationship. So I tried to keep my distance. At least romantically."

My dad snorted. Guess that's were I get it.

"I did." Tom declared. "But it was hard. That's probably why I put so much into my relationship with Sadie."

"Aunt Sadie? You dated her?" Miles asked his father.

"He married her." Dad clarified.

"You were married to Aunt Sadie? Mom's sister?" Miles exclaimed.

Lucas whistled low in the doorway. Tom frowned at him.

"That's kinda gross." I said.

"I did love her. But when Jude married Jamie, I didn't think I had a choice."

"Yeah, that's a really good excuse." Lucas muttered.

Tom glared at him again. "You sure he's not yours? He's exactly like you were at that age." he said to my dad.

I looked over at Lucas, who shrugged.

"Anyway," my dad said, annoyance creeping into his voice, "during one of our on again phases we ended up t the Grammy's in Las Vegas. Jude won two awards, we gambled a little, drank a lot, and I just asked her."

"You eloped?" I never would have pictured my father being that…wild.

He nodded. "We got a room at Ceaser's for a week. The label and our parents were going crazy looking for us. Eventually, a maid leaked the story to the papers and here came Saint Tommy," he glared at Tom and his face darkened considerably, "to the rescue. Broke our door down and assured Jude that she could get an annulment."

"Man." Lucas muttered. Once more, Tom looked ready to throttle him. But he merely took over telling the story. "Jude told me she didn't want an annulment. I tried to reason with her, tell her what it would do to her career. But she didn't care. She wanted to stay married even though she was only eighteen and had a whole semester of high school to go."

"Dad." I exclaimed, shocked at what I was hearing.

"I loved her." he said simply. "More than I thought it was possible to love anyone. Until you."

"Jude found out she was pregnant the day of her graduation." Tom cut in. "Darius went berserk, tried to get out of the contract with her…and I proposed to Sadie. Before you," he looked at me, "I still thought I had a chance."

"Sorry I ruined your plans." I deadpanned. Lucas snickered.

"Jamie started managing artist full time. He went on the road with Jude and began the early copies of Riff on the tour bus. By the time you were born, the magazine was a smash and Jude was nominated for more awards than you can imagine. Her career exploded, I think it was that video."

"What video?" Miles asked in a voice that made it obvious he'd seen them all.

"The one with him in it. The label didn't know what to do for the song, so Sadie stayed up all night and made it out of home movies and stuff she'd shot herself. And then she won a billion awards. It was her big break."

"That was around the time you two split." Dad said.

Tom nodded. "I realized it wasn't working and she moved in with that friend of hers. She filed for divorce two months later."

I felt someone's gaze on me. I turned. It was my dad's. "When Jude found out she was pregnant." His eyes flitted over to Miles.

He returned his gaze to me. "You were six months old, and one night Jude and I had this huge blow up. Over everything, even things we'd fought over in elementary school. I accused her of not really loving me and she left. I didn't hear from her for three weeks. She came home, crying, and begged me to forgive her. I did of course. I was never able to tell her no."

"She had been staying with me. She finally admitted what had gone down with Jamie, we got really drunk, and it happened. The next day she went home and told me never to speak to her again." Tom added.

"Then," my dad said, "she told me what had happened between them. And that she was pregnant. I could have killed Tommy. But she said she wanted us to raise the baby together, Tommy never had to know."

Miles looked at his dad like he was a stranger.

"But I couldn't. I couldn't imagine ever being able to get over the pain of what she'd done. So I took you and came to New York." My dad got up and walked over to sit on the coffee table in front of me, taking my hand.

"I knew it was over, but I couldn't let you go. I was terrified that Tommy would somehow find a way to take you away from me and I didn't want him raising my daughter."

"Why would he want me?"

"Because I wanted Jude." Tom said. "I found out from her friend Kat what was going on and I asked her to marry me. I promised we'd get you and the four of us would be a family." He took a deep breath, looking down at his clenched hands. "But she only wanted Jamie. And he refused to speak to her. That's when she lost it."

"What do you mean?" Miles asked softly.

"Complete nervous and mental breakdown. Involuntarily committed during the last six months of her pregnancy. You were born in Pinecrest Sanitarium in Nova Scotia." Tom said. "I called Jamie as soon as Mrs. Harrison called to tell me that Jude was in labor."

"I got there within an hour. They had already done a c-section, and Jude was asking for me." He blinked rapidly, as if struggling not to cry. "She was lucid finally. Told me she loved me, that she was sorry, and asked me to forgive her. I think he knew she wasn't going to make it, so she asked me to raise Miles."

"She did?" he asked.

My dad nodded. "She named you. After Miles Davis. She loved his music. Already had the birth certificate filed. That's why Tommy had to legally adopt you."

"Why didn't you raise him?" I asked.

"Because as much as I loved Jude, I just couldn't do it. He was her son, and I would have loved him, but he belonged with his father. Just like you did."

"She died two hours later. She was holding you when it happened." Dad told Miles. "She loved you very much."

"So where does that leave us?" I demanded.

"I have no idea." he said simply.