A/N: Muses young Do only good, Really unanimous leaders eternally speaking. To houses elevated Early arias raise the heavens.
Has Lost Count Of What Chapter This Is
"Welcome back to N-Tek, Mr. Nathanson."
Max blinked, looking from Rachel to Dread, then back at Rachel. "Rachel, his name is John Dread."
"It is now. It used be Marco Nathanson. CEO of N-Tek before Smith took over. He did a lot of good for the organization."
She was about to continue speaking, but at that point Jefferson gave her a very slight shake of the head, which was lost on everyone in the room but her and Max. Or so they thought.
Dread grinned, and Jefferson Smith could all but hear the wheels turning in that sinister mind. "Now now, Ms. Leeds, surely I could've been of more help to N-Tek. Starting with not blowing up the building fifteen years ago."
Max stood in stunned silence as Kat, Rachel, and Jeff refused to look him in the eye. But he could tell the last person in the room was looking right at him, sunglasses or not. Oblivious to the pained looks his surrogate father was giving him, Max worked on processing what he had just found out. Dread had blown up the building, and Dread was Marco Nathanson, so it meant that Marco Nathanson had blown up the building.
He was suddenly hit with a powerful flashback of that day. Sirens had woken him during the early hours of the morning. He had gotten out of his "big boy bed" and padded down the stairs to find his babysitter, looking like she had just been woken up from a nap, on the phone. As she noticed him listening in on the conversation, her side of the exchange became more terse. Going to the window, he stood on his tip-toes to see over the ledge. Two fire engines sailed by, lights blaring and illuminating flashes of the blackest sky he had ever seen. Josh stood where he was for a minute after the trucks had past, wondering what could've possibly caused this rude awakening. Just about to turn away, he heard another sound- a car approaching. Transfixed, he watched as the comparatively quiet Ford made a sharp turn into the driveway-just narrowly missing the trash cans sitting on the curb for the men who would come to empty them in a few hours.
Knowing that the car in the driveway didn't belong to his father, Josh watched curiously to see who got out of the car. He only had to wait a few seconds before the round-shaped head and broad shoulders exiting the vehicle identified the individual to be his Uncle Jeff. A visit from Uncle Jeff, though appreciated, wasn't exactly a rare occasion, as the man was his father's best friend and all but lived in their house with them. Curiosity satisfied, Josh decided to go back into the kitchen and see if he could get the babysitter to tuck him back in.
Turning the corner into the kitchen, he was about to speak when he saw the look on the woman's face, and decided it would be better to wait for Uncle Jeff. The babysitter didn't like him very much as it was. It could've had something to do with the time he had knocked her over on his skateboard and broken her ankle. He left the room before she noticed he was there, and had caught the words "explosion" and "casualties" but neither had really meant anything to him. Explosions were cool, sure, but he was never allowed near them, and he had no idea what the word "casualties" meant. He was just pondering whether or not it would be worth getting yelled at to steal some cookies from the jar next to the fridge when he heard the front door open.
Deciding against the cookies, Josh ran to the man who had just entered the house, and tugged on his pant leg. "Uncle Jeff! Uncle Jeff! I need you to tuck me in because I got up when I heard the firetrucks go by and then I wanted to get some cookies but I don't really want them and there's a monster under my bed and I need you to come with me so he doesn't eat me and I have to wake up early tomorrow because the X-games are on and I want to see Tony Hawk and…and…" he looked up as he heard an odd noise-had Uncle Jeff just sniffled? He must have a cold. But he looked up again to see that the man was biting his lip, and his voice wavered when he spoke.
"Sure, I'll come tuck you in Josh."
But that was it. As the man led Josh up the stairs and back to his room, there was no idle chatter, no asking if he had behaved himself for the babysitter even though the answer to that question was already known, nothing. Josh wanted to ask him what had made him so sad, why he was here when it was still dark out, but something about the man's demeanor made him hesitate. Josh hadn't seen his uncle act like this since that time last year when he had come over and sat at the kitchen table staring into space, while his dad said "Linda wasn't worth it." Whatever that meant. Josh recognized that same look of loss and grief. He wondered what his Uncle Jeff had lost this time.
"Just stay in bed for the rest of the night, ok Josh?" Jeff asked as he smoothed the boy's bed sheets. "There are a few things I have to take care of, then I'll come back."
The man stood up to leave, but Josh raised his body up a little and propped himself up on his elbows, ruining the flat-looking surface Jeff had created on his bed. "When's my dad gonna be home? Did he tell you? He promised he would stop working late so much. Did you talk to him tonight?"
Jeff had looked like he was getting himself under control until Josh said this. Biting his lip again, it was a minute or so before he spoke. "You're dad's not going to be home today. I didn't talk to him tonight. I wasn't at work. I-" he had started to say more, but instead rushed out the room.
Josh wasn't really bothered by all this. Grown-ups acted funny all the time. It wasn't until later that next day that Josh began to get a funny feeling. His Uncle Jeff had been home with him all day- weird when his dad wasn't home. Josh had enjoyed Jeff's company until the older man had refused to let him watch the x-games, because he wanted to watch the news.
Stupid stinky news, Josh thought. There was never anything good on the news. Peeking into the room, Josh noticed that there was some lady talking and a big building on fire in the background. He thought it looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Oh well. He went into his room, grabbed a pink rubber handball and went into the hallway to throw it against the far wall and catch it again. This was a forbidden past time due to the many breakables in the area, but the vacant expression on his uncle's face had not escaped Josh, and the boy wanted to see just how much he could get away with.
Losing his interest after ten minutes of the throw and catch game, Josh went to check on his uncle again when he saw the clock. Squinting to see the arrow-like things that pointed to all the numbers, Josh could see that the short one was halfway between the six and the seven. Josh couldn't really tell time yet, but his dad had always told him that when the little hand was on the seven, he would be home. Happy that his dad would finally be back, Josh parked himself on the floor in front of the front door, and sat tossing the little pink ball up and down, waiting for his dad to come home. Since he was able to see the clock on the wall from his position, Josh concentrated on the hand as it edged closer and closer to the seven. He was going to yell at his dad when he got home. Unless he brought him a present. Then he wouldn't mind so much.
Josh had not realized he had fallen asleep until he opened his eyes and saw the short hand was now halfway past the seven and the eight. His dad must be home! But where was he? When he fell asleep, his dad always found him and brought him to bed. His dad always came in the front door when the short hand was on the seven. Always. Sitting against the wall, perplexed as a child of four can be, Josh was still in the same position when Jefferson Smith found him.
"Josh?" the man asked unsurely, "What're you doing?"
"I was waiting for Daddy…but he's not here. Why isn't Daddy here, Uncle Jeff? Where is he? He promised he'd be home when-when…" upset at the realization that his father had lied to him, Josh stopped talking, and just stared up at the tall figure of his uncle above him. Brown eyes wide, the beginnings of tears forming, he couldn't have looked more pitiful. Getting down to Josh's level, sitting down on the floor next to him, Jefferson Smith put his arms around his best friend's son and started to explain the terrible truth.
Max suddenly snapped back to reality as he felt someone tug lightly on his arm. Realizing he had let the expression on his face soften significantly, Max quickly hardened his features so that he regained his former unreadable countenance. Angered at having been caught in such a delicate train of thought, he quickly looked around the room to see who had noticed. Everyone, of course.
He sighed heavily, and began to form some sort of explanation when the door to Jeff's office swung open without notice, and admitted a sixth person to the gathering. A familiar redhead lurched into the office on crutches, her left leg in a large white cast.
"All this technology available to you idiots, and you don't even have cable!"
Dread stood up to give his chair to the newcomer. "Now, Abigail, be polite to our hosts."
The girl rolled her eyes, and took the chair without thanking her grandfather. She looked up to see Max staring at the cast. "Got a problem, turbo-boy?"
Max was about to respond with something incredibly witty, but was stopped as the floor suddenly began to move, until it was inches from his face, and then everything went black.