Sins Of The Father

Thank you all for the kind review! I am happy you all are enjoying the mystery.

Jack was sure he heard Mac wrong; I mean, he had to, "Sister?" Mac did not have a sister. He turned to the young man, unconsciously holding the little doll so tight his knuckles were white and his hand was shaking. He took a breath and said, "Did you just say your sister..." Jack's eyes locked with the young genius' and waited literally with bated breath. The young blond blinked and looked at him with such sadness in his eyes that it almost broke the older man's heart, making him want to just grab the kid tightly in an embrace until the boy was whole again.

Mac looked at Jack, trying to hold his composure. He took a breath and ran a hand through his hair. He knew what he was about to disclose was going to change a lot of things, including perhaps his relationship with Jack and the others, but he knew he had to. "My sister" he repeated, holding the older man's gaze, his hands shaking on his lap as he sat up on the couch unsure if he should sit and wait for Jack's reaction to his earth-shattering revelation, or simply flee until the storm passed?

Jack opened his mouth about to speak, then closed it, then opened it again; he was at a loss as to how to even begin to speak, how to even begin to make sense of what his ears were hearing but his brain refused to make sense of. He cleared his throat and stood up, glanced at the young blonde who was still sitting quietly, hands on his lap, head down staring at a spot on the floor that seem to suddenly fascinate him; Jack could tell the boy was shaking, visibly shaking. Jack wondered how much energy his friend was exerting by simply staying seated rather than fleeing, which he knew Mac also was contemplating at this point. He started pacing back and forth in front of the couch where Mac was sitting, not speaking but muttering to himself. Mac looked up at his friend but said nothing. He simply waited.

Jack suddenly stopped pacing and came back to sit on the coffee table, his knees touching Mac's, he took his hands and enveloped the boy's, then Jack took a breath and said; "OK Angus", Mac flinched at Jack's use of his first name, Jack smiled at that, even though Mac is a grown man, Jack was always amused by the fact that he still held authority towards the boy, especially when he chose to use his first name when addressing him; he continued speaking however without missing a beat, "You are going to have to back this up a bit my boy, because you lost me; YOU do NOT have a sister, so I need to understand what you are trying to tell me?"

"Had..." Mac whispered, so softly that Jack was not sure he heard him correctly; "come again?" Jack asked. "I had a sister" Mac said more loudly after clearing his throat; he looked at the older man's eyes as he continued; "my…um… father had a daughter…he um…had an affair and it ended with the birth of my sister, her name was Ashley Rose", Mac said her name like it was precious fragile thing that could break if someone so much as looked at it wrong, a tear slipping through his defenses and sliding down his cheek. "She was beautiful, she was perfect!" Mac said with sadness in his voice far beyond his years.

Jack nodded, it was obvious that this was hard for Mac, that exposing this secret which he evidently had buried so deep that he doubted anyone would have found it had it not been for this box being sent to him today. Jack knew he had to ask, even though he wasn't sure he wanted to know; "what happened to her Mac?" He asked, lowering his tone to one of kindness and respect for it was obvious the child was dead.

Mac stood up suddenly, almost tripping over Jack's feet in his haste to be anywhere else but where he was. He walked out to the deck in a hurried pace. Jack followed the boy, walking to stand beside him and placing a hand on Mac's shoulder who was now leaning on the railing, breathing fast and crying unashamed. "Mac", Jack repeated softly, squeezing the blonde's shoulder in an effort to keep Mac from wanting to run again, "What happened to her?"

Mac felt the walls closing in while he was on the couch, he suddenly felt like he could not catch his breath and he acted on his fleeing reflex running out to the deck. He knew Jack would follow, but at least he would be outside when he lost it; which he also knew he would.

Jack asked the question again after he came up beside him, he heard it the first time too, "what happened to her?" Mac could not stop his tears from falling, and he was not sure he cared anymore. This secret needed to come out, it needed to be let out so it would stop eating him alive from the inside in. He needed to tell someone about the sins of his father, and who better than a man he has grown love like a father? He turned his head to face his friend and spoke: "She died when she was 2" Mac took a breath and continued, "she had a heart defect from birth and um…she died in her sleep" "I remember the night my father got the call from her mother; he was devastated; he fell to his knees in the kitchen and started to cry" "That was the first time I had seen my father cry" Mac shook himself, the memory still very vivid in his mind's eye.

He felt Jack's grip on his shoulder tighten and the older man's body shift closer to him, offering comfort in more ways that Jack even realized he was, Mac continued, "Ashley was my father's princes; she was the 'apple in his eye', when she died…a part of him died too…" Mac started to cry again, "No matter what I did after that, no matter what I said, how smart I was, how quiet, how dedicated, how anything!" Mac's voice rose, filled with emotion, "I was never able to fill that void in my father's life! I was never good enough for him that is why he left!"

Jack could hear Mac's pain in every word the kid spoke. Mac truly believed that he was not good enough for his father to love and that after his sister died, it was because he was not good enough that his idiot father left. He turned to face his friend, aware that he was so full of sadness and anger at this moment that he was lost in a flood of emotion which threatened to wash him away. "Mac", he said, placing both hands on the kid's shoulders and turned him so that he was facing him squarely, "First, I am so sorry my boy, I can't imagine how hard this was and is for you", he waited for Mac to react to his statement, he wanted to make sure the boy was tracking, when Mac nodded slightly at him, Jack continued, "Second, you are NOT to blame for anything here!, not her death, not your father's reaction to it, or his indifference; nothing that happened as a result of Ashley's death is your fault!" Jack shook Mac softly when the boy did not look at him as he said that, "you hearing me kiddo?" Mac nodded.

"I can't speak for your father Mac, but I can speak for myself when I tell you that you ARE a wonderful young man!, a man with a heart of gold so big that it may actually be bigger than your intellect" Jack paused to take a breath and continued, "If your idiot father {Mac blinked at him} could not see you the wonderful boy life had given him, that is HIS LOSS!, you hear me? HIS LOSS!" Jack then grabbed Mac in an embrace, surprised when the young man did not resist, and whispered in the kid's ear; "I love you kiddo"

Mac let Jack's arms envelop him; he probably should have protested, he was a grown man after all and should not need to coddled like a 10-year-old boy, but right now Mac was having trouble not feeling like he did the day his sister died; the day of his 10th birthday, so he allowed himself to be comforted, to melt into Jack's embrace and take comfort in the fact that Jack was there for him, unwavering in his support and his friendship for him, in his love. He placed his head on the man's chest, closing his eyes and listening to Jack's heartbeat as he felt tears fall from his eyes unencumbered; he melted into the man and took comfort in the fact that Jack would never hold it against him, and he wept the tears he had never allowed himself to weep before…

So the secret is out, Mac has to come to terms with his past, but he also will need to figure out who sent him Ashley's doll and why? Was it Murdoc?

Come back for the next chapter and we can find out where this goes from here…

To be continued…