Chapter Twenty-Six

John looked around at his family, wondering what they were pulling into another parking lot for. "What're we doing here?" He asked, noticing how the Johnson's vehicle continued on to the house.

Clarissa opened his door, taking his hand as he got out of the car. "This is where we have to get the test done." She cast a glance over her shoulder at her husband and daughter. "Do you want Thomas to come too?" She asked, knowing that Claire was out of the question.

John shook his head, dropping his gaze to the pavement. "Just you."

She nodded, squeezing his hand to let him know she understood. "Okay."

Thomas wrapped an arm around his daughter, knowing that talking to John might not get him anywhere at the moment. "Do you know anything about John's sexual past?" He asked, knowing that this conversation would be awkward for them both.

Claire looked up at her dad. "He's a virgin." She stated, knowing that he was going to be curious about her knowledge of John's birthmark. "The only reason I know about his birthmark is because he forgot his clothes when he took a shower, and I caught him walking back to his room in a towel."

Thomas nodded, watching as John took a seat in the waiting room and immediately started fidgeting. "John, relax." He sat in the chair next to the boy, reaching out to give him an encouraging pat on the back. He stopped when John shied away, knowing that he was already freaked out about the test. "Don't worry, you're innocent. They're not going to find anything on you." He smiled, looking up as Clarissa started filling out a bunch of paperwork for him.

"What year were you born?" She asked, having trouble recalling the year. "December twentieth of what?"

"Sixty-six." John stated, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Nineteen-sixty-six."

Clarissa nodded, jotting down his date of birth. "Do you know what hospital you were born at?"

John shook his head. "I wasn't born at a hospital." He answered. "My mom had me at my grandma's house when my dad kicked her out."

She scribbled down the word 'homebirth' under place of birth, pausing when she realized that his grandmother could have lived in another town. "What city does your grandma live in?"

John dug his nails into his palms, knowing that they had to know these things. "She lived in Joliet, before she died when I was two." He swallowed the lump in his throat, the fuzzy memory of her kind face swimming into view. "She was the only one who gave a damn about me."

"Johnathan?" Called a woman in a white lab coat, smiling sweetly as John and Clarissa stood. "I see we're doing a DNA test tonight?" She looked between them, knowing better than to speak of what they were really here for.

John nodded, feeling Clarissa press a hand to his back. "Are you the one doing it?" He asked, knowing that a woman would be more gentle than a man would, but also knowing that a man would be less embarrassing to bear himself too.

The woman opened a door for him to go into, placing the clipboard she'd been holding onto the counter. "I'm afraid so baby." She motioned to his pants and shirt, knowing that the poor kid didn't want to do it. "I'm gonna need you to strip down for me." She pulled out a sterile wipe package, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

John looked over at Clarissa, giving one last plea to not let them do this, before dropping his pants. He pushed himself onto the exam table, averting his gaze from Clarissa as the woman gently ran the wipe over his length. "I didn't do it." He stated, his voice choked with humiliation of what was being done to him.

Clarissa nodded, rubbing a hand on his back as the doctor scrubbed between his thighs. "I know honey." She felt him jump when the woman accidentally got too rough with her job. She shushed him, pulling his face into her shoulder as silent tears rolled down his cheeks. "It's okay." She whispered, watching as the doctor dropped the sample into a plastic bag to be tested in the morning. "We're almost done."

The woman nodded, opening a bloodwork kit. "Just need to get a little blood and this will all be over sweetheart." She flinched back when John jerked away from her, tucking his arms between he and Clarissa's bodies. "Sweetie, I need you to let me do this." She soothed, rubbing a hand against his back.

Clarissa draped her jacket over his lap, knowing that the longer he felt exposed the harder it would be to get him to cooperate with them. "Johnny, we need to do this." She pressed her lips against his head, knowing that she was the closest thing to a mother he'd ever had. "Come on baby, we need you to give us some blood."

John shook his head, burying himself deeper into Clarissa's body. "I'm not giving Vampires anything." He whimpered, his fingers gripping at her blouse.

The women smiled at each other, knowing that they shouldn't find humor in John's trauma. "Well, I guess we wait for him to calm down then." The doctor sighed, knowing that the visit had freaked him out. It would have scared anyone, having a stranger touch those parts of your body, especially when you were seventeen.

Clarissa gave her an apologetic look, feeling John hiccup as more tears soaked into her shirt. "I'm sorry."

The woman shook her head, looking at the young man before her. "I understand what he's feeling. We get a lot of teens in here that have reactions like this, it's hard for them to let us do these things. Especially if they've ever been sexually or otherwise abused." She nodded to the scars lacing over John's legs, having put the pieces together. "Is he a foster child?" She asked, knowing that Clarissa was far to kind to have caused this boy the amount of pain he'd felt.

Clarissa nodded, running her fingers through the back of John's hair. "He is. But he's also my future son-in-law." She smiled as she felt John's muscles relax a little, knowing that he was thinking about Claire. "My daughter loves him, and her father and I both approve of him." She rubbed her hand over his shoulders, feeling him slowly start to relax against her. "I'm sorry, I'm Clarissa." She smiled, holding her hand out to the doctor.

"Hanna." She chuckled, grinning as John finally let his arm slip out from between he and Clarissa's bodies. "You gonna let me do this?" She asked, taking John's wrist in her hand as she started to search for a vein.

He gave a short nod, giving her the signal to start poking his arm to find the perfect spot for the needle to go in.

She lined the needle up, starting a count to let John know when it was coming. "One, two, three." She raised her brows when John didn't even flinch, shocked that he didn't seem to feel it after the way he'd reacted to seeing the needle. "Well, that was easier than I expected." She stated, filling up the second of three vials to ship off to the lab. "Almost done." She closed the connection point and switched out the vials, replacing the full one with the empty. "Just have one more."

John curled closer to Clarissa as the needle shifted in his vein, causing him discomfort as his blood flowed through the needle and into the vial. "Ow." He whimpered, feeling Hanna place pressure on his arm with a cotton ball just before pulling the needle out.

"I'm sorry babe." She sighed, placing a band aid over the cotton ball to hold it in place. "We're done now."

Clarissa let him pull away from her, watching as he pulled his pants back up and fastened his new belt. "How about I make you some cookies when we get home?" She asked, hoping to somehow make the traumatic night better for him. "I can make your favorite; snickerdoodle."

John nodded, starting back toward the waiting room without another word.