Part 30

"He is the most, the most," David tried to think, back in his hotel room, talking to Leo on the phone. "Irascible, cold-hearted, arrogant know-it-all. OK, I guess I'm an arrogant know-it-all sometimes, but I hope I'm not a cold-hearted one."

"Maybe you shouldn't get involved in it, David," Leo said, affectionately. "Sounds like a mess and it's none of your making. Well, I guess Alexander is of your making, but what happened afterwards is not."

"I assumed it was a stable household and that was best. Of course anyone could say that was the easy thing to do, but I think I did care, and really thought that it was the best thing for the kid, and it might have been harder had I seen him, but I didn't. It was easier that way. Then later when I did see him, there was no way I could start uprooting his home, Donna didn't want to, either, so it would have been too much of a mess."

"But now you think it might have been better?"

"Good question, Leo. Thanks. Maybe not. Right now just after that conversation with Cameron, I feel like it would have been far better, even if he lost some time with his brother. If I had, he wouldn't have been in the position to shoot his brother."

"But the thing is, David, Donna should have told you from the beginning."

"It's amazing she told me at all, come to think of it."

"I'm surprised you didn't kidnap that kid when he was ten just to get his blood sample."

"Very funny, Leo. I suppose I could have given him something to put him to sleep and gotten it without his knowing it. But if I had been more certain would I have gotten enough involved to alter the whole balance and the outcome?"

"You could have altered it for the worse, you know."

"That's hard for me to believe right now."

"The genetics makes a difference? Maybe you just want to help wayward youth after working with so many of them at the shelter the judge sentenced you to."

"No, it doesn't feel like community service. I guess the genes make a difference. Maybe it shouldn't. It does, though. So what really kills me is that Cam comes across as having no idea, so he thinks this kid is his that same way. This is the way he really treats his own kid!"

"Some fathers are worse than no father at all."

"This might be such a case. Well, Alexander could use a friend; I guess that's the most I can do, now."

"OK. Count me in, if you need me."

"You're the greatest, Leo, and you've got something there. You're closer in age, and had nothing to do with creating all this either."

"OK, but come back home soon, David, and steer clear of this Cameron or you may end up punching him."

David laughed. "Good advice. If I'm not like my biological son, I won't ignore it."

"Maybe you are, and therefore he's smart, and that's why he ignored Cameron's lousy advice."

"Yeah. Cam would never believe his advice wasn't the greatest. And you thought I was arrogant. You should see this guy."

"That would be something I've never seen before!"

David laughed. "Put a lid on it, Leo!" he said, affectionately.

"I wanted to find out what I could," David was telling Zander, having gone to the brownstone and being lucky to find him in and with no one else there. "It occurred to me that moment and I couldn't help myself, I guess. I don't think I made him suspicious, but he doesn't let on much of what he's really thinking."

"Yeah, even Mom doesn't know if he's really suspicious. I'm not real eager to tell him, either. He should get all the credit. Or blame."

"I wish I had been more of a friend. I could have at least done that."

"I don't see what else you could have done. It's only chromosomes, and that part doesn't matter much."

"I know that, but then, they're my chromosomes. I've been accused of being egotistical, but then I think anybody would think it had some importance. Look at it from the point of view of your daughter. You couldn't just exchange her for some other little girl. If you found out she'd been switched accidentally at the hospital with someone else's child, you'd want to see that other child."

"Maybe, but I'm attached to the one I have, so I don't think I could give her back even so."

"I understand. It's a mystery, how much we are born to be and what influences on us do to affect us. I appreciate that Cam is your father in the way that counts. Yet your chemical make-up can have a great effect on how you react to things, and sometimes your parents' descriptions of you sound familiar – like I've done things like that, is what they get me thinking."

"You might not think that if you didn't know it. If you were just talking to Mom like an old friend, and she's talking about me, you might think – what a jerk her son is."

"If so it would only underline my point. I can't think you're a jerk, maybe, because I do know. But the old friend thing. That's what I can do. You can talk to me without getting judged. I can't judge anybody; I've done too many stupid things myself. That can balance out your father, even if it's just the littlest bit, and it'll help you out."

"You are easier to talk to," Zander said. "Way easier than Dad, even if it has nothing to do with chromosomes."

"Well, there you have it. I don't even have to be related to you to be a friend."

"What are some of these stupid things you've done?" Zander asked, grinning.