Part 45

"It was like nothing I've ever dealt with from him before. Like he was trying to get me on his side. Make a common enemy out of you." Zander and Donna were back in Donna's room.

The phone rang. "Let me call you back in a minute," Donna said. She said to Zander, "Do you want David to come up or stay downstairs?"

"Come up."

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

He sat down on the couch then, and put his head in his hands. Donna looked at him compassionately.

She went to let David in. He could see something had happened.

He went over to Zander. He bent his knees and leaned on his heels, like he did with a child patient who was sitting down or on a low bed, so he could look up at them.

Zander looked at him and smiled a little, lifting his head. He had liked that he had grown as tall as David. He had not ended up as tall as Cam and was stuck with looking up at him forever. And so somehow, he appreciated this going down to the same level.

"What's up?" David asked him.

"Nothing I won't live through," Zander smiled ruefully. "We were just recovering from our little talk with Dad."

"Already? Your heart doctors probably won't like that."

"Yeah," Zander said, ruefully, feeling calmer. "Here's a new thing they may not like. Dad's already gone to see the police chief in Pine Valley."

"It's OK, not to worry," he put his hand on Zander's arm for a second. "that's already blown over." He got up and sat on the couch next to Zander. "The Chief of Police already came over to my office to tell me she won't hesitate to extradite me back to New York State in the event I commit any crimes for which New York State may want me. Well, that's true of any citizen."

Zander smiled a little.

"See, it's no big deal."

"I feel better about that," Zander said. "I hate to be messing up your life any more."

"Forget it. What did you tell your dad?"

"I told him he could see Ginny when he mends his ways, and that was what I wanted to tell him."

"You did a good job of it, too," Donna said. "He hardly got to distract you. I'm sure he kept a couple of his smart aleck remarks to himself. I could tell, he really did. That's another first."

"It was so strange to me; it's the first time he ever tried to be on my side, that I can remember, anyway. And it was so strange the issue he did it on. Like you two lied to us two."

"Well really, it's actually true," Donna said.

"I guess I went too far when I told him there's no woman that wouldn't cheat on him."

"Maybe you went too far," Donna said. "But then, that opinion is kind of true, too."

Zander laughed a little. "I could use a change of scene," he said.

"Come to Pine Valley some day," David said. "My brother is dying to see you."

"Do you mean it?"

"Yes."

"I may take you up on it."

"Do that."

"I think I'd like to see him, too. I like his picture. I really like the picture of you and him. He's a kid in it. Do you know the one?"

"Yes."

"And the one of you and your father."

"I like that, too."

"I don't mean to hurt Dad's feelings, but he acts like he has none to hurt. Dad talked about it like you two have been working around the clock to deceive him and me for the past twenty-two years."

"Poor Cam," Donna said. "Always the victim. But you know, he actually did take a little of the heat. It may be a miracle, but he did say he was part of it, or something like that, didn't he Alexander? Maybe I imagined it."

"No, he did say something like that."

"Well, it wasn't hard to fool him," Donna said. "He was at work all the time."

"I went to see you that time," David said. "When you were ten."

"I remember that."

"I did it, but then thought I could have tipped him off. He didn't notice anything, but when I went back, and looked at the photo album I copied yours from, well, I thought he had to have figured it out on the spot."

"When I think of this from my point of view, me and Ginny, I think it must have been a kind of torture."

"I wasn't really sure, until I saw you and then looked at those pictures. Then I got your picture, and sometimes it was rather painful to think about. I'd see it every once in awhile." He took out his wallet and pulled out the photo of the ten year old Zander.

"You've still got that," Donna said.

"Yeah, and I always kept it like this, it seemed the best way to avoid one of my ex-wives asking questions about it, like they would if they found it somewhere in the house. I never could come up with a good explanation for it. I couldn't bring myself to toss it."

"It's strange for me, or new, to think anyone was aware of me like that," Zander said.

"I also had this in the back of my mind I might take some action, vague, but Donna said, as I remember it anyway, to look out for you if something happened to her and Cam figured it out. I don't know what I would have done, but I would have done something."

"I remember that," Donna said. "I mean, I remember telling you that."

"I could hang around as the family friend," David said. "Then the down side to that was that the more I might do that, the more likely Cam could figure it out."

"It sounds mostly like a real drag for you," Zander said.

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be. I figured you would never know. It is easier for me that you know. It may be harder for you, though."

"No," Zander said. "It isn't harder. I'd still just be avoiding Dad. It wouldn't have come about that I'd have told him all I just did. I'm sure I'd still be just dodging him or avoiding him. I planned to never see him again when I first left home."

"He still cares about you and so he comes after you," David said. "You see that? He comes from a generation where he was raised with the idea he had to be stern. For your own good. So he thinks."

"He's overdoing that. Nobody else dislikes their father being around so much. Emily Quartermaine's grandfather is like that. But she doesn't hate him."

"Cam does overdo it," Donna said. "Painfully. It's that it's not your fault, you understand? It's not that you're not worthwhile."

"What about Pete, though?"

"He thinks you are different, so you need a different approach," David said. "He told me you have different personalities and so he has to treat you different. He has these theories on raising children."

"It almost could be easier if he didn't," Zander said. "I mean if he didn't care. Rather than his theories. I don't think it would be good to go on theories, either."

"Doesn't matter what you do, so long as Ginny is sure you love her," Donna said. "This is where Cam doesn't get it. Then he didn't have it himself, probably, either. There I go feeling sorry for him again. He's good at that."

"He's always in the right, according to the rules," Zander pointed out. "You're stuck explaining why some rule should be broken."

"They were made to be bent," David said. "Or they'd stay the same. We'd still be burning witches."

Zander laughed again. "I feel much better."

"And you're taking your prescription every day," David said.

"Exactly, according to the directions," Zander said, smiling.

"That's a rule that doesn't need to be broken," David said. "If you forget, take it, unless it's so close to the next dose that it's better to skip it."

"Yes, doc," Zander smiled again. He got up. "I'll go to Brenda's room. I told her I'd go tell her what happened."

"She'll be worried," Donna said. "Go on."

"Thank you, Mom," he said, and he hugged her. "It's nothing sweetheart," she said, hugging him back.

"Thanks, David," he said.

"Any time."