Joe's
After some much needed thinking on his conversation with Richard. He drags his feet to where he knows he will find Robert so he can talk to him.
"Do you have a second after work, and if you do, would like to talk after, at Joe's? It's closed, but I have the keys after I helped the owner out."
Surprised, Robert quickly agrees. "Sure, sure."
Jackson abruptly leaves after.
After work, they meet. "I'm glad you asked to meet. I was going to ask you, but I wasn't sure how you would react to my invitation-"
"Is there a reason that you came here? Do you have something that you want to share with me about why you left, something that you didn't share in Montana?" Jackson cuts to the chase.
"Yes..." Robert hesitates.
"Well?"
He sighs. "I came to Seattle to see you, and got cold feet, was about to leave but covid hit and through that got the courage to seek you out."
"When you came to see me in Montana, the things you said have been eating at me."
"The look of disgust you had in your eyes... I deserved it for not fighting harder, and had I never met you, Jackson. I could have died never meeting you again, and that is the truth, but I know that not fighting harder for you has always been my biggest regret."
"Your mother called and gave me a heads up on your arrival. I recognized you the moment I saw you. I figured it would be easier if you thought I didn't know who you were, but I have been following you. I know you played football and was a captain in high school,"
"I was there for your high school graduation, paid one of the parents to give me an invitation card. I sat right at the back. You were valedictorian, and everyone was shocked. They thought you'd never get it, but I knew.-"
"Okay, Just stop, alright." Jackson tries to stop him, but Robert ignores him and carries on needing to get everything out.
"You hit your head on the door on your way out and fainted. Your mom had gone to the bathroom. I was there and cleaned up your bleeding forehead, you said..."
"I'm gonna be a doctor, just like you someday," Jackson responds.
"And I responded, no, you are going to be an even better doctor because you will succeed where I couldn't. I left before your mom spotted me."
"Wait, that was you? Why didn't you say anything?"
"l know you worked hard to get into med school, that Mark Sloan was your mentor and closest father figure, and after he died. Richard, the man your mother married, is that father figure," Robert says, thinking of how he could have been that father.
"I know you married that nice girl you've known since your intern days. I didn't understand why you divorced her, though."
Robert carries on. "Never seen you more at home than when you were with her and never again after. I know you lost a son..."
"So, you have been stalking me?" Jackson interrupts again.
"No... I mean... yes, but it was the only way I could keep close without reaching out."
He shows him a tattered picture of the two of them when Jackson was only 2.
Jackson's heart warms up just a little at the knowledge that his dad did love him and that he kept this picture after all these years.
Just as Jackson reaches out to touch it, he remembers that he left them and never looked back, even if Robert kept the picture he still left. Jackson drops his hand and angrily looks at him for leaving them, leaving him behind.
"You know I wondered for years where you were. Other kids would have their dads come to school for important events. I stopped hoping you would come back when I was 13. You stalked me yet didn't even try to fight for us, fight for our relationship!"
"The only time you made contact was during my high school graduation, and you didn't even stay. Do you know how creepy that sounds? Did you find those things out after Montana so you could come here with some sob story about how much you always cared for me?"
"You were obviously at my high school graduation, but I don't believe the rest."
For a second, Robert only looks at him then takes out letters and shows them to him.
"I never gave up as easily as your mother, and my father would have you believe. I wrote every birthday, Christmas, and other events for seven years after your mother got full custody. I gave up writing after the 7th year when the letters all came back unopened. I didn't just leave but fought for you."
"In the end, I did give up, but there is much more to the story than me giving up and leaving one day. I didn't want to tell you before because I didn't want to disrupt your life. The things that happened were..."
"I couldn't bring myself to face you after I failed. I failed time and time again to keep you, and it's eating away at me to have you think I suddenly didn't care." Stunned by his words, Jackson only looks at him.
