Suddenly I See

Disclaimer: The thing speaks for itself. If any of us owned "The Cape," would we have let it end so soon?

Vince frowned as he made his way across the rooftops of Palm City. His son's words had hurt him. "You're always pretending to be someone you're not." That was really uncalled for.

Alright, he'd admit there was some truth to it, in the beginning. Years ago, when he had first donned the cape, clearing his name and exposing Peter Fleming as Chess had been the sole focal points of The Cape's career. Hadn't every plan he'd foiled, every villain he'd fought, somehow been tied to Chess? Hadn't he rationalized every decision he'd made as leading him incrementally closer to the end of his quest to go home? Back then, he'd be the first person to admit that he was merely masquerading as a hero, using his assumed identity to give his son hope, and give him a means of staying a part of his life.

Somewhere along the line, that all changed.

Oh, Chess would always be The Cape's archenemy, the Joker to his Batman, if you will. And Vince would never give up his hope that one of these days, he'd find a way to expose Fleming and go back to his old life with his family. But at some point, Vince realized that he was no longer playing the part of Palm City's hero; he had become it.

It had started slowly. Orwell (he would no doubt always think of her as Orwell, though he now knew her name was Jamie Fleming), his eyes and ears, would alert Vince to the existence of emergencies in Palm City that needed his attention. Rollo, ever the fan of The Cape, would encourage Vince to take action and live up to the legend of his comic book namesake. As time went by, the ties between battles he fought as The Cape and Chess became attenuated or nonexistent. And it had finally dawned on him that Fleming wasn't the only villain in the city, and he wasn't behind every disaster that struck. There would always be more work for The Cape to do, and he couldn't possibly justify turning his back on people who needed him whenever it didn't further his personal mission.

Nor could he continue to turn a blind eye whenever The Carnival crossed his path, but he managed to hammer out the terms of a truce with his unlikely allies. One condition was that The Carnival would stop using guns; Vince had to argue long and hard to win that concession from his mentor and friends, so resistant were they to change. It was necessary, though. Vince shuddered to think what would happen if Max or Rollo were ever wanted for murder…As it was, Vince still disapproved of The Carnival's heists, but, thankfully, the thieves' prime victim had become ARK Corporation…

Going home to his family would always be his goal, the thing that would keep him sane at the end of a long night. But now he began to wonder, if Vince Faraday was finally allowed to rise from the ashes, would it have to be at the expense of The Cape? If ARK was dissolved tomorrow with its CEO behind bars, would Vince be able to give up his alter ego and live as he had before? He didn't know the answer to that, and the uncertainty was unnerving…

"You only ever come here wearing that ridiculous get-up." Vince winced. He had never anticipated that his relationship with Trip would become so strained after Trip discovered his identity. He recalled how his son had finally found out the truth about him a year and a half ago.

Flashback

"I want to meet with him." Trip spoke with determination as he addressed The Cape. When the vigilante didn't respond, Trip continued. "I want to see my dad."

"Trip-"

"You've been telling me for years now that he's still alive, that he's still in touch with you. You know where he is! You've said that he misses me. It's time I finally saw him again."

It was all Vince could do to keep himself from removing his mask right there and then on the roof. It was so tempting…But he had to try to preserve his secret, didn't he? Thoughts of dissuading his son ran through his head, but he quickly discarded them. Trip had inherited Dana's stubbornness. Nothing would change his mind once it was made up. That had been to his advantage in that Trip never stopped believing in his innocence. Now, how to handle this?

"Alright. You're right." The Cape promised Trip that his father would meet him downtown the next day, on the condition that Trip not tell anyone, including his mother.

The promise had taken Trip by surprise. In his excitement, he barely got any sleep that night. He dashed off to the meeting place, making sure he'd be there at the appointed time. He hadn't seen his father in years! Where was he? Was Trip early? Was he-oh please, no-too late?

He spun around as he felt a hand on his shoulder. There stood his father, a baseball cap and the hood of a sweatshirt covering the top of his head, looking tired and wary, but very much alive.

"Hello, Trip."

"Da-"

"Shh!" Vince hissed. "Not here!" Right, Trip had to remember that Dad was still considered a wanted fugitive. But it was hard to focus on anything other than the fact that his father was actually here. The next thing he knew, he was embracing his father in a tight hug.

"I've missed you so much."

VFVFVFVFVFVFVFVFVFVF

That first meeting was followed by another, and another. Trip didn't want to lose touch with his father again, and Vince relished being able to be himself with his son once more.

One day, a few weeks later, Vince was in the midst of a chat with his son, when his eyes widened. He heard sirens in the distance at the same time that his cell phone rang. Few people had that number and the only one who ever used it was Orwell. Begging Trip's forgiveness, he excused himself to go answer Orwell's call. Sure enough, it was once again time for The Cape to save the day.

Looking back, he supposed he could have stopped it from happening. His instincts and his reflexes had become so honed that he should have heard the footsteps approaching, should have been able to hide what he was doing and disappear without anyone being any the wiser.

As it was, Trip stumbled upon his father as he was preparing to don his mask. He stared. His father had already pulled on the rest of his costume, but the hand that wasn't holding his mask held Vince Faraday's baseball cap; the contrast was jarring. He had not been prepared for this revelation, and the implications were only beginning to pop into his brain. And to make matters worse, instead of sticking around to discuss this, to help Trip make sense of it all, his dad merely put on his mask, apologetically murmured, 'we'll talk later,' and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

By the time The Cape came around the roof that evening, Trip had realized that his father had no intention of telling his mother that he was still alive, let alone that he was the mysterious hero she was head-over-heels for.

End Flashback

"Mom deserves the truth." Trip had been insisting that since the day he realized that Dana had gone from pining for the memory of her supposedly-dead husband to pining for the man in tights.

Vince sighed. His son was right. Vince couldn't keep putting this off; this couldn't wait until Chess was exposed to the world.

It was time for him to tell Dana the truth.

Author's Note: Well, as you can see, this isn't a one-shot anymore.

Want to see more? Let me know by leaving a review (or leave one explaining why you don't).

Speaking of reviewing, thank you for your review, V! So glad you enjoyed chapter one. Knew I couldn't be the only person not rooting for Vince/Orwell.

Want me to write something else? Don't forget to vote in my poll before I take it down.