2. Lora Bradley – December 23, 1989

Author's Note: Take's place directly after Chapter Five, "Who Am I to Disagree?" in Subroutine.

Jet was still in his bedroom when Lora came to visit him. Curled up on his bed, he was reading a book aided by the light of his "Spider-Man" themed flashlight and table lamp to this left. She couldn't get a good look at the underside of the book.

The most she could make out were streaks of red and blue, but not much else. Hesitant, Lora tapped gently on the open door. The heavy huff of air that followed told her nothing about his mood had changed since that afternoon. Jet did her the respect of looking up from his book when he asked, "What?"

"I just wanted to check in on you, before I went to bed," She said, entering the room. Jet fiddled with the switch on his flashlight, his eyes were downcast when his mother sat down on the edge of his bed. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sure," Short and to the point. Lora reached out and gripped her son's wrist, she didn't so much as flinch when he reactively pulled away from her and stuffed his hand under the covers. "Jethro," She said.

Finally, he looked up at her again, frustration clear in his expression. "Do I have to go to summer camp?"

Ah, there it was. "Yes," She said. "You don't want to stay here, do you?"

"No, I wanna go home with you," Jet said.

"You can't, not right now," Lora said. "But, I promise it won't be like this for much longer."

"But, how long is that?" He whined. "You never tell me how long I have to be here."

"Jet, that's because I don't know when exactly I'll be done with my work. We were almost finished with our project, that much I can tell you," Lora said. "Besides, this is your home too."

"This is dad's home," Jet corrected her, sullen.

"Jethro," She warned.

"It's true! Most of my stuff is at your house," Jet persisted. "I miss my old bed."

"Jet, this house and the one in Washington belong to both me and Alan." Jet's nose scrunched up at the casual drop of his father's name. "Your father isn't just babysitting you."

"No, duh. He doesn't watch me at all," Jet mumbled. "All he does is work." Lora thought about giving him the usual explanation – that his father was a busy man, and with Flynn gone, his workload was doubled now. But, that wasn't fair him, it wasn't fair to any of them. It certainly wouldn't put him in a better mood.

"You guys forgot my birthday," He added. Lora opened her mouth to respond then closed it again. Jet's eyebrows were drawn together. His cheeks were slightly rosy as he looked up at her – eyes glassy with un-shed tears.

"Jet, you have to know we didn't mean to," Lora said. "We were –"

"Busy, I know," He sniffed, rubbing his face angrily when tears rolled down his face. "I turned seven, and nobody told me happy birthday. I just sat in that stupid office and then we went home." He stopped himself from saying more, not completely trusting his mother to understand him.

She cupped his face gingerly, accustomed to the resistance the affection usually stirred in her son. He twisted his head away from her and leaned against the headboard. For once she didn't go after him, her fingers pressed against the bed, steadying her.

"Jethro, you know both your father and I love you, don't you?" Jet's shoulders hunched as started to play with his flashlight. "Hey," Her hand touched his, halting the switch of the flashlight momentarily. Jet raised his blue eyes to meet his mother's. "I mean it, Jethro. We love you very much, and we're going to fix this. We're going to make this right. You just have to give us the chance."

Jet nodded stiffly. He wanted so badly to believe his mother. The contrary, at least where his father was concerned, gnawed at his heart, twisting the shards. He stopped short of saying what he really felt about his father to his mother. Mom was a lot of things, but doubtful of his father's intentions was never one of them. Easily as the belief that his father stopped caring about him came, it would never hold under the scrutiny of his mother's faith. So he just nodded regardless. She'd have him believing the opposite too.

Lora wrapped her arms around her son's body and squeezed. Jet laid his chin on her shoulder and allowed himself to be rocked. "Summer camp won't be so bad. You'll make a lot new friends, and you still have time to be with us in the meantime. Everything will turn out fine, you'll see."

FIN.