Chapter Two: The Hood's Secret

Tessa began hyperventilating. Virgil turned to her, grasping her shoulders. "Calm down, Tessa!" He was trying to be calm himself, but he was close to hyperventilating himself. "Darling, there's no way that could be Mimosa Granger. The world would have to be so small . . ."

Tess looked insulted. "Virgil! I would know this woman even if I was blind! Can't you trust my judgement!" she yelled, on the brink of tears.

Virgil dropped his hands from her shoulders and buried his face in them. "I don't believe this . . ."

Tessa stood up and stared at him in disbelief. "Well you better start believing it! We're sitting ducks, and frankly, I'm not one who wants to sit around through this kind of thing." She was in full panic mode now as Virgil looked up at her.

"What for! We're screwed now, aren't we!" he roared, standing up to face her.

"Will someone please tell me what the heck is going on!" Jeff yelled, standing up. The entire shell-shocked family seemed to be agreeing with him.

Tess crossed her arms in front of herself, tears now pouring down her face. Virgil took a step towards her, taking her in his arms, ignoring his father completely. He placed his lips next to her ear. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it . . . I didn't mean to yell, Tessa," he whispered.

"Ahem!" Jeff yelled, now clearly more than mad.

Virgil broke away, no longer ignoring the rest of the family. Instead of turning towards his father though, he looked at Gordon. "Is it true!" he snapped. "Is Mimosa Granger the mysterious woman you refuse to tell us anything about!"

Gordon swallowed. He nodded slowly, scared of his brother at this second.

Tessa bit her lip. Virgil turned around, unable to stand the sight of his brother. His hands were on top of his head, crushing the spike he'd created with so much hair gell that morning. Tessa looked confused and worried, not to mention scared beyond consolation.

Jeff seemed more than a tiny bit annoyed. "I repeat: would someone please tell me, what is going on here!"

Virgil looked over at Tessa. "Would you care to tell them how our lives could possibly be ruined, or shall I?" he asked sarcastically.

Tess's voice was small. "I will." She looked at Jeff. "Sit down. You'll want to be when I tell you this."

Jeff obeyed. All eyes were on Tessa as she took her seat as well, and as Virgil sat next to her.

She looked down for a moment, her eyes searching for where to begin. No one said anything.

Tessa took a deep breath. She looked up, her ice blue eyes flicking between all of them. "I want to set the record straight first: I had no idea of any of this up until a few weeks ago. I didn't tell you for many reasons . . . this is something hard for me to accept, you have to understand that, and it's even harder to share. But you need to know this now more than ever.

"A few weeks ago, when I went to visit my father, he'd told me there was something I needed to know. And everything we had between us changed . . ."

-

A few weeks earlier . . .

Tessa Highlander walked through the doors into the Maximum Security Ward at the London prison where her father was residing. She stepped up to the desk, the regular African-American guard on duty. "Hi, I'm here to see my father." Tessa smiled at the woman.

The woman seemed startled. She smiled then, recognizing Tessa. "He's in the questioning room at the moment. You can go right in."

Tess thanked the woman and turned, walking into a room down the left hall. She stopped and knocked on the door. Another guard opened it, and escorted her in. "Dad!" She ran to her father, who embraced her.

But when Tessa pulled away, there was an emotion on her father's face she'd never seen before. "Dad? What is it?"

"Sit down, Tessa," he commanded, in a gentle but firm voice. She obeyed.

He sat down across from her, lacing his fingers together tightly. He looked up at the guard abruptly, pleading with his eyes. "Could we - could we be alone for a bit?"

Tessa was surprised that her father had even asked such a thing. So it came as a complete shock when the guard nodded and stepped just outside, closing the door behind him.

"Darling," he began, "I want you to know I loved your mother dearly. No matter what other impression I've given you, she was the only woman I ever really loved."

Tess nodded, scared.

He paused for a moment. "Shortly after you were born, your mother and I . . . we . . . well, we had a bit of a falling out. We argued about everything and anything. It started out as silly things. Like, whether you should wear your green dress or your pink one, or if we should move to a bigger house . . . that sort of thing." He couldn't look at her. "But soon they got worse. It got so that I could barely stand to be in her presence, and when I was . . . I believe you already know that part. So, after work and for hours at a time, I went to a small bar near where we lived for comfort."

Tess tried to take a guess at what was coming next. "Are you telling me you're an alcoholic?"

His eyebrows raised slightly and he looked directly at her. "That would be a lot easier to talk about, but no. At first it was the alcohol I went for, but that changed. I met someone there . . . her name was Iris."

Silence fell over Tessa. Every piece of emotion had been swept from her face. "Oh. I see."

The Hood looked down, clearly ashamed. "I stayed out later and later. Your mother became suspicious, but after awhile, gave up confronting me. I would come home drunk and angry . . . she would hide with you until I'd fallen asleep almost every night."

Tessa suddenly broke the silence, bursting with bitterness. "So . . . what happened? Did you fall back in love with my mother? Did you murder Iris like you murdered my sister! What happened?"

The Hood tried to ignore her bitterness, though it was hard. "Your mother came to me one night and told me she was sorry. She had nothing to apologize for, but I forgave her. I realized what I'd been doing to my family, and quickly broke it off with Iris. She understood, and we never spoke again."

He looked up then, straight at Tessa, who had her arms crossed. There was nothing but silence between them for a long time. She broke it. "Why are you telling me this? Did your guilt catch up with you?" She laughed slightly. "Are you actually trying to make me hate you?"

He shook his head. "Tessa, last week . . . a girl came to visit me-"

Tessa knit her eyebrows and laughed. "No one can visit you unless they're a blood relative!"

He closed his mouth and stared at her, waiting for it to sink in.

Realization hit her like a slap to the face. "Oh. I see . . . how stupid of me." She stood up.

He stood as well. "Tessa, please! I didn't know she was pregnant when I left her, and I'm sure she didn't know either."

Tessa stared at him. "And what would you have done if you'd known? Would you have left us to join her in yet another happy marriage? Or would you have stayed with us and lived a lie?"

He softened. "Please . . ."

"Please what? What do you want me to do, forgive you?" she asked.

"I know you can't do that." He looked directly at her then. "I want you to meet her."

Tess stood there for a moment, thinking. "Okay . . . okay, I'll meet her."

The Hood smiled. He walked to the door, and opened it. "Could you please bring her in?"

He walked back inside, and was soon joined by a tall woman, with wavy brunette hair almost reaching her waist. Tessa stood up politely. "Tessa, this is Mimosa Granger. Mimosa, this is Tessa Highlander," The Hood said.

They stared into each other's eyes - the same, ice blue eyes their grandmother had when she was alive. Tessa looked her up and down, getting a good look. They smiled, though Tess's was sarcastic. Mimosa held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Tessa shook it, a half-smile across her face. "Thank you. Nice to meet you too." She was still smiling as she dropped the hand and turned back to her father.

Her father smiled back at her, clearly pleased at the turn this meeting had taken. He put his hand on Tess's shoulder. "After I get out of here, Mimosa and I are going to move away. She has a small place back home in the States. It would be ever greater if you joined us there, Tessa."

Tess stared at him, the grin leaving slowly. "I can't do that, Dad. I'm getting married . . . I'll be on my own with my husband."

"Bring him along," he suggested.

"I can't do that! You of all people should know that."

"Then leave him." He said it as seriously as ever.

She stared at him, no trace of happiness on her face. She picked his hand off her shoulder like it was rotting and threw it down. "Don't touch me again. Ever." She turned to Mimosa. "It really was nice meeting the woman who just destroyed the last remainder of my past."

With that, Tessa opened the door, and marched down the hall, emotion gripping her. "Tessa!" her father yelled from the door. "Get back here! I'm your father!"

She turned around, angrier than she'd ever been at him. "Jeff Tracy is the only father I've ever had!" she thundered back.

Her father was even angrier. "He's not your father and you know it!"

Her voice was bitter. "Then I guess I have no one except Virgil." She turned on her heel and ran out of the building, crying all the way.

-

When Tessa had finished her story, she looked up. She could already feel her eyes going red with tears. She realized that her hand was now encased in Virgil's, the only person who knew about this ahead of time, but she didn't remove it.

No one said anything for a long moment. Jeff turned towards Gordon. "How much does she know?" he asked calmly.

Gordon's head had been in his hands for awhile. He surfaced, though, looking directly at Jeff. "Well . . . that's hard to say."

Scott turned to his brother. "Well, say it anyway." His tone was that of someone who didn't want to take any crap.

Gordon sighed. "Let's put it this way: it's easier to list the things she doesn't know than what she does."

Everyone looked away except Jeff. "What doesn't she know?"

Gordon thought for a moment. "I never told her the location. She doesn't know that we're IR . . . she thinks we live in London, and I work for the military in rescue missions . . ."

"Does she know your name? Our names?" John asked.

"She knows that we're close. I just didn't tell her how literally. Yes, she knows my name. Yes, she knows Scott and Lana's, obviously, and she knows that another brother is getting married."

Virgil looked up for a moment. "Then there's a chance she won't suspect anything." Tess looked at him.

"How's that?" she asked.

"Well," he explained, "she had to have been in London for awhile. She was probably eager to get home, and likely was mad things with her long-lost sister didn't go so well. The Hood doesn't know our names - well, apart from mine and Dad's. And there are more Tracys in the world. The fact that you, Gordon, told her we live in London helps too. She probably split after her father told her what he could, so she didn't really have much of a chance to explore."

"Right!" Gordon replied, brightening. "She told me after the wedding she'd been in town for a few days now . . . she'd have to have left early. And she's never acted weird or anything when we've talked."

Jeff let out a deep breath. "Still. It would be best if you broke off contact with her immediate-"

"No!" Tessa cried, letting go of Virgil's hand. "If Gordon breaks it off straight and out, she'll get suspicious," she turned towards Gordon as she spoke, "Slowly distance yourself from her. When you talk, give as little information as possible. After awhile, break up with her. And don't tell her the name of your brother's fiancée. Or your brother, for that matter."

Jeff nodded. "Tessa's right. Like the saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

-

Tessa awoke with less of a start the next morning than she regularly did. It was 3:30 almost exactly. She did as she usually did; she pulled herself out of bed not bothering to make it. As she walked down the hall, she didn't stop in to watch Virgil.

She rounded the corner and walked through the living room towards the balcony. The glass door felt cold to her fingertips as she opened it. She stepped outside, the breeze hitting her more than usual without her housecoat as she closed the door behind her. Tonight, she wanted to be alone.

Tess rested her elbows against the ledge as she brushed a piece of her red hair from her eyes. Her thoughts were focussed tonight on Mimosa alone. How could Gordon do this to us? Was he not thinking?

She knew that it was pointless. There was no way Gordon could have possibly known she was Tess's half-sister. Why did her father have to have an affair! As if her life wasn't messed up enough thanks to him.

And then there was Virgil.

Tessa exhaled hard. He had really hurt her with all his yelling. She knew he didn't mean it, but he'd never gotten along with her family (except for Tin-tin and Kyrano, of course), and he rarely tried.

The sound of the glass door sliding behind her startled her, but the sight of Virgil didn't. He slid it closed behind them, but when he turned around, he just stood there, staring at her. She returned his gaze. He looked her up and down, frowning at her shorts and tank top. "You must be cold," he stated plainly.

She nodded, aware of the breeze circling her neck. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. He looked down into her eyes as her fingers made their way up his back and onto his neck. Their eyes closed and soon their lips met. He embraced her tightly and she returned it. When he broke away, he whispered softly, "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I never meant to hurt you . . . it's your father, not you, Tessa. Sometimes he does the stupidest things . . ."

She held him, resting her head on his chest. "I know."

He pulled back, and took her hand, pulling her towards the door. She let go of his hand and stood firmly. "I don't want to go."

He blinked. "What?"

"I don't want to sleep in your bed. Virgil, if your dad caught us-"

"-he'd see me on the floor and you asleep," Virgil finished. His grin was mischievous as he continued. "Admit it Tessa - you want to sleep in my bed. You crave the danger."

She returned the grin as he placed his hand out for her. "And what if you're wrong? What if I only sleep in your bed to mess it up and annoy you?"

He laughed. "Tessa, you can't possibly mess it up anymore than I do. Now, c'mon." He slid the door open without taking his eyes off of her. She placed her hand in his.

Instead of pulling her inside though, he pulled her into his arms. They laughed, arms wrapped around each other as they made their way inside.

"Just what are you two doing?"

Virgil and Tessa stopped in mid-kiss to see Scott standing there. Virgil turned towards his eldest brother, still holding Tess. "Playing checkers. Why?"

Scott shook his head. "You have a very interesting way of going about it."

Virgil shrugged. "I'm working on it."

"Well you're not doing a very good job," Scott commented.

Vigil's eyebrows rose. "Please. I'm a far-better checker player than you've ever been."

"Yeah, right. I'm the master checker player here. You're in denial."

Virgil broke away from Tessa and turned to face his brother fully. "What is it you want, Scott?"

Scott held up his mug, which Virgil and Tessa had both failed to notice before. "Couldn't sleep - thought I'd get a cup of joe. And, you know - while I was up - I thought I'd let you know, Virgil: Dad thinks what you're doing with Tessa, letting her sleep in your room and all, is sweet but if you keep it up - he's going to have to kill you."

Tess was confused, but that was not unusual. "He knows about that?"

Scott blinked. "Tessa, are you aware that what you're having aren't just regular nightmares?"

Tess was taken aback. "Excuse me?"

Scott looked towards Virgil. "You didn't tell her?"

"You've been having night terrors," Virgil explained, turning to her. "You don't just dream horribly, Tessa; you sleep terribly. You thrash, and kick, and have even been known to let out the occasional scream. It started about the same time you started having that dream. When you sleep in my room, though, it stops."

Tess bit her lip, not saying anything for a long time. "So everyone knows? Great. Just what I need - everyone to know about my dreams and my personal life." With that, she stormed off towards her room, without a backwards glance at Virgil or Scott.