Disclaimer : Duh! It's fan fiction.
Betrayals
By aniki19
Chapter 5 - Secrets Reveal
Stepping into the manor, he move through the big hall to the family room. As he walked, he couldn't help but wondered who the 'Master' was. Looking around, he saw that much of what he remembered was no longer around. Whatever happen to the picture of old Uncle Wilbert, he wondered. So much had change.
As he stepped into a room filled with family pictures and portraits of his ancestors; he noticed a familiar figure standing near the fireplace with his back turned towards him. As he crossed the wooden floor, the man turned around, seemingly jolted from his thoughts.
"Ah, Jesse my dear boy, you made it after all." He took a sip of his drink and made his way towards Jesse.
"I had doubts you will be coming knowing that you cancelled your flight," He took a quick glance at his watch. "and the late hour." He added sourly.
"Cut the crap, Noah. You know I only came back for one purpose and one purpose only. Where is Nana?" Jesse was not in the mood for this kind of family reunion.
"Now, now Jesse, do mind your manners. The old coot can wait a minute longer. Don't I even get a hug?"
Noah extended his arms, spilling his drink on the Persian carpet. "Come here, Jesse."
Jesse could tell he was drunk. He reeks of alcohol. He gets irritatingly polite and brutally honest the more drunk he gets. Rolling his eyes, Jesse gave an exasperated sigh and looked over his shoulder for the butler.
As if knowing he might have a problem with Noah; the butler had waited outside the room and seeing his distress, had simply nodded and quietly escorted Noah away from Jesse. "You're quite right, Master Kilmartin. He should have given you a hug. Young Master must be tired." He smoothly talked to Noah. "You must be too, sire. Come, let's put you to bed; you've had quite enough to drink tonight." As he was guiding Noah out of the room, he managed to mention to Jesse in a quiet tone that his grandmother was in her room upstairs.
"Thank you, Jasper. It is Jasper, isn't it?"
"Why Master Jesse, you remembered me after all these years?" The butler smiled. "It's good to have you back, sir." He paused on his way up the stairs. "The house was never quite the same since you've been gone. Although I'm sorry you had to come back under these circumstances." He shook his head sadly and continued his trudge up with Noah.
"Me too, Jasper, me too" He whispered to himself.
Ten minutes later, he stood outside his grandmother's door. Taking a deep breath, he turned the doorknob and made his way to the centre of the room where a frail figure was lying on a massive bed.
"Nana, you awake?" He kneeled down at the side of the bed and held his grandmother's hand to his chest. "It's me, Jesse. I … I tried to get here as soon as I could…Nana? Nonna!" He cast a worried look at his grandmother.
She was too still.
He knew it; he was too late.
The still figure gave an almost audible moan. A wash of emotions ran through him; though the strongest that could be felt was relief.
"Calmarsi Jesse, I'm still breathing. I just dozed off a little. What took you so long?" The frail figure had woken up and had pushed herself to a sitting position.
A little taken aback; Jesse can't help but grinned. For the first time in almost a decade, he laid eyes on his Nana. If not for the haggard look about her and the telltale signs of exhaustion, she had changed not one bit.
She was still the same old feisty, no-nonsense woman he had remembered and loved. "Well, aren't you going to give me my long awaited abbraccio? And don't forget my bacio."
"Oh Nana, I've missed you so much' He gave her a kiss on both sides of her cheeks as was tradition and bent over to give a hug, well aware of her fragile state. He held her for a minute longer; just enough to wipe away the tears.
They made casual talk---Jesse doing more of the talking---trying to catch up with each other but it seems more and more evident to Jesse that his Grandmother is tired. He should stop now and let her get her rest.
A soft knock at the door disturbed the two. "Master Jesse?" Jasper stuck his head through the entrance. "Oh Madam, I'm so sorry for interrupting; I'll be brief." He gave a quick apologetic nod. "The guest room is ready. Or would you prefer your old room, young Master?"
"It's alright, Jasper; the guest room will be fine. I'll be there in a minute. Thank you, goodnight Jasper"
"Very well, Master Jesse. Have a good rest." He closed the door softly after him.
"Nana, I should be turning in. My eyes can barely stare open." He faked a yawn and stretched his arms. "I'm exhausted from the long drive. We can talk more later in the morning." He moved closer to give her a goodnight kiss.
Nana sighed. "Alright then, goodnight il mio bambino caro." As she gave him a hug, she whispered in his ears; "Adam Kane has done an excellent job bringing you up. More than what I could have done".
He stood still; still hugging her. "Nana, what do you mean?" he broke the embrace and stared at her in shocked silence. "How do you know about Adam?"
"Hush, il mio amore, not so loud. Questi muri hanno degli anni." She look him in the eye and continued talking in a soft tone. "Who do you think gave Adam the resources to find you?" She smiled sadly. "I couldn't lift a finger when he took you away but I knew you were miserable." She grabbed his hand tightly "and I'll be damned if I do nothing and let you suffer when he took you to that, that torturare la camera ! An istituto medico he told me. Your padre just wanted an excuse to get you off his hands." She patted his cheek; tears falling off her face. "Oh Jesse, mio povero caro. I know you have suffered much. Though you were born into privilege, vita has not been very kind to you. Sono spiacente, il mio amore. I wish it was not soThe least I could do was try to track you down and put you someplace safe." She lean back in her bed as if spent and close her eyes in exhaustion.
"Nonna," Jesse whispered. He pull up the blankets and tucked her in. He kissed her softly on her forehead and said "La buonanotte ed i sogni dolce , Nonna." and backed slowly out of the room. Before he closed the door, he heard her reply "Buonanotte, il mio amore."
Later, in the guest room, he tossed and turned. Try as he might, he couldn't find a comfortable sleeping position. He was tired --- his eyes keep closing--- but he seemed restless. Too many things were on his mind.
He wondered why Adam never mentioned his Nana before when she is obviously one of his many benefactors and why if his Nana had keep in touch with Adam; she never made contact with him? And seriously, since when is Sanctuary a 'safe' place? The number of bruises and scars that he accumulated over the years in Sanctuary is her definition of 'safe'? From whom?
He sighed. He switched on the small desk lamp on his right and glance at the time on his watch. Great, 5.30 a.m. Well, if he couldn't catch some sleep he might as well stay awake. Perhaps then he might think clearly. He took out his laptop from his luggage and tried to do some research. He checked his mail and was pleasantly surprised to see an unknown mail on his video message. Opening it, he came face to face with Shalimar in her recorded message.
"Hey Jess," She gave him an exasperated look. "Boy, I sure hope you're having fun wherever you are coz I sure am not! Just my luck the helix computer crashed --- no thanks to Brennan." She rolled her big brown eyes. "And Adam's not in a very good mood since you took off. Everything seems to piss him off!" She leaned closer to the screen and in a hushed voice, "Secretly, I think he misses his dear Mr Fix-It." He grinned. "So, my dear Jesse, when are you gonna be back? I just remembered it's your turn to do the laundry and you are not weaselling your way out of it this time, mister!" There were some commotion in the background and she sighed. "Well, the mob is back. I'll better go. Call me back o.k.? Ciao!" She blew him a kiss and signed off, leaving Jesse with a blank screen.
A knock at the door. Who could it be this time of the night?
"Ah, Master Jesse, you're up. I trust you did not sleep?" He asked a little too solemnly.
"What is Jasper? Did something happened?"
"It's your grandmother, sire; she…" he choked. "She has past on."
I'm really sleepy now. This is all I could come up with. But don worry, they will be more! Oh e twists n turns! I can hardly wait! lol! o.k…this is what those phrases meant :
nonna - grandmother
calmarsi - calm down
abbraccio -hug
bacio - kiss
il mio amore - my love
il mio bambino caro - my dear child
buonanotte - goodnight
torturare la camera - torture chamber
istituto medico - medical institute
padre - father
questi muri hanno degli anni - these walls have ears
mio povero caro - my poor dear
vita - life
sono spiacente - I am sorry
la buonanotte ed i sogni dolce - goodnight and sweet dreams
At least this is what I think it means…hey! I don speak Italian…this is just a pet peeve coz somewhere in season 3 Jesse could speak Italian! (gasp)Anyway…if I made any mistake with e translation…let me know n I'll correct them. And now on to honour my reviewers…:
FalconWolf3 : hey…u! that was fun chatting to you again though I must admit the time difference just sucks! by the way…what happen to your update(s) that you promised for your story? Dominion Wars? Huh! Better update soon or else! No laptop (get it? A Jesse 4 a laptop?) for u. Just kidding…just update soon..o.k…I need to know who e spy is…please!
Feral's Revenge : (rubs tummy) well…I did enjoy e cake and (evil grin) the boys. Muahahahaha! (evil laughter)…I wonder what else you can offer me…(even more evil laughter) nah…it doesn't matter…(gives feral's revenge e remains of the boys) you can have them back. I think I exhausted them..hehehe…glad to know u enjoy e previous chpt. I hope u like this on too. I got it lengthy again jus for u! just as long as u give me cool reviews like you always do..I'll be more than happy to continue writing.
Tanukiimbreed : hey girl! Don't worry there will be more..oh n did I mention ur story,really rocks! Keep rocking, gal!
Crittle247: yup. U beat me to e 5th chpt but can u also do so for e 6th one, too? Coz ur story is pretty cool.i wanna read more!
Joslin : Mayhem? mayhem? Hah!…that is just the tip of the iceberg my dear. Stay tuned!
Lips Record : I cannot believe u let ur bro choose the name for u! pleaselah! Just ur luck he didn't mentioned 'lip service' hahaha! Oooppss…horny,corny lol! Appreciate u took e time to read e story coz I know how much u 'love' MX. Hey ppl…this is e only person reading this story who doesn't watch MX coz she thinks it's lame! N she has only watch one episode. Mutantx fans unite and flame her please! Lol! Just kidding! Jangan marah nanti cepat tua! hahaha!
Kas7 : ah! A new reviewer! Grovelling n begging will get u somewhere so..here u go..another chpt!