Part 7 – Saying things

They sat in silence, Charlie and Colby on the couch, Alan in a chair, Don and Will in chairs opposite.

They sat in silence, not meeting each other's eyes, Don holding Will's hand and Charlie holding Colby's.

They sat in silence, listening as David's car pulled out of the driveway, taking him, Megan and Nena out to a movie.

Finally, Don said, "Colby, you told me that there were things that needed to be said?"

Colby nodded and let out a long breath. He let go of Charlie's hand to rub his face with both hands. God, where to start …

Colby gripped his hands together and looked up. "I never planned on Nena coming to live with me and me living here. It all happened so—you guys know how it happened. She was here for a few days and suddenly she's living here and so am I.

"But I never really … talked about what I expect from the rest of you, in terms of taking care of Nena. With my job, I couldn't do this father thing by myself. I just work too long and too weird hours and if you weren't around to tuck Nena in and make sure she eats, I'd be screwed."

"But you guys stepped up and everything was going great until now. I was selfish, never asking you to help out, just knowing that you would because you love Nena. We never actually talked about discipline and stuff, I just gave you orders about her bedtime and never asked for your input. Like you were my staff instead of my family."

Colby paused for breath but no one else spoke. He swallowed and continued, "So things were going good, but I didn't really want to admit that Nena's growing up. I wanted her to be just-five forever. I wanted her to be my little innocent girl, not touched by the ugly world. But she's growing up, dammit. She's growing up and has eyes and sees stuff that we don't think she does. I wanted her to not like guns, to not be interested in guns at all. I didn't want to admit that she's a smart girl who is into playing 'Fed' and wants a gun for Christmas."

Alan made a sound and Colby shrugged. "Yeah, she told me that's what she wanted, along with a pony and a purple dress and a bunch of other stuff. Don't plan on getting her a pony, either."

Colby frowned, trying to remember what he was saying. "So, she's growing up." He gave Charlie a wry look. "In fact, as Charlie pointed out to me, she really needs to start school. I have a packet of forms that I need to fill out to get her into school and the very last day for late registration is tomorrow. It's a given that Jenny hasn't done it."

Colby pressed his lips together and shook his head. "I like to think that if you guys came and talked to me about the need to give Nena hands-on gun experience, that I would have rationally listened to you and been convinced. But I really don't know. I don't know."

Silence followed this statement and Colby looked around. "C'mon, someone say something."

"I don't mind taking care of Nena," Charlie said quietly.

"Me, either," Alan said.

"I know," Colby said. "That's part of the problem. It was so easy to just let you guys do it."

"She's easy to take care of," Alan said.

"But, while I might act like I know everything, I don't. I need you guys to tell me if I'm walking off a cliff."

Will cleared his throat. "I have something I need to say, too." He met Colby's eyes squarely. "I fucked up. I thought I knew why I was doing what I was doing, but it looks like I didn't. I had no call to be thinking about anything but what Nena needed. I still think it was the right thing to do, but I was doing it for the wrong reasons. If I hadn't been so blind, I hope I would have come talk to you, convinced you. I think I could have, especially with some stuff I've seen, but … I fucked up."

Colby nodded sharply. "That's right, Stevens, you fucked up. I don't care how bad your childhood was, what issues you've got with Don leaving you, Nena is off-limits."

He addressed the whole group. "This is how it's gonna go. Will is never to be alone with Nena, ever. I'm trusting Don to be smarter next time, now that he's on guard. You guys have your own issues, but Nena isn't a game piece. If I have to, Charlie and me will take her and go somewhere else. My career isn't as important as Nena, and Charlie's got standing invites to most universities in the world. If we need to, we'll take Nena way out of your reach."

Will nodded, and Don said, "I understand."

"You better not screw up," Alan snapped and Charlie grumbled in agreement.

Another moment of silence as everyone absorbed the new restrictions. Colby was still angry with Will, but at least his hands weren't itching to strangle him anymore.

"Dad?" Don asked quietly. "This is kinda off the subject but … Colby said that you weren't okay about me being a Fed."

Alan sighed and sat back. "I didn't say that."

"But …" Don looked at Colby.

Alan continued, "It's just that … I was finally okay with you joining the FBI, especially now that you're not in manhunting and I see you more often, then Charlie starts working with the FBI and I find out that he's been working with the NSA and every other government agency that's ever been responsible for every foul thing that the US has ever done. And he's giving them tools to do worse things."

"Hey!" Charlie objected.

"Then Charlie brings home Colby, who used to be an army interrogator, and is now with the FBI, and you bring home Will, who's a drug cop and scary as Hell."

"What?" Don blinked.

"Then it looks like my only 'grandchild' is gonna go down that same road and I'm afraid I flipped out a little."

"Uh …" Colby managed, stunned along with everyone else.

"Scary as Hell, huh?" Will said with a faint smile.

Alan shrugged and nodded. "Sometimes."

Will gave an odd shake of his head, as if he wasn't sure if he was offended or pleased.

"I'm not giving tools to bad guys," Charlie protested.

"How do you know?" Alan shot back and Charlie subsided into frowning silence.

"I didn't know you felt this way," Don said slowly.

"That's because I didn't want you to," Alan said with a sharp edge to his voice. "It's not my job to make my adult children feel bad about their chosen careers or chosen partners. I don't expect you to change either for my sake. I just hope that, in the overall scheme on things, you do more good than harm."

"Alan," Colby said tightly. "I don't know what you think I did for the Army, but I didn't torture anyone."

"God, Dad," Don said. "We need to talk about this."

Alan shook his head.

Don's eyes flashed. "If you don't like Will—"

"Oh, I like Will," Alan interrupted calmly. "And Colby. I like them both a lot and can see that they make you boys happy. It's just what they do that I have trouble with." He put his hands on his legs in preparation for standing. "But, never mind that now."

"That's it?" Charlie snapped. "You're gonna say that sort of stuff then, 'Never mind?' Don's right, we need to talk about it."

"No," Alan said firmly. "We'll talk about it some other time, when emotions aren't already running high. Now, Colby, where is this paperwork you need to fill out for school?"

Colby blinked and stammered, "On the desk in her bedroom."

"Good," Alan said and got to his feet. "Don't want to miss that deadline." Alan got up, walked up the stairs, and left the four men staring after him.

"So I'm not the only one with 'issues,'" Will said wryly.

"Guess not …" Colby said. "Don't know what he thinks I did in Afghanistan, but he's got some wrong ideas in his head."

"I'll say," Charlie said fervently.

All of them slowly shook their heads, then there was a surprised silence as they looked at each other. Just a few moments before they had been adversaries, but Alan's unexpected attack had suddenly put them all on the same side.

"Huh," Colby murmured under his breath. Maybe that's what the crafty old man had intended. It wasn't just Don and Charlie that were smart and occasionally manipulative.

"Is this it?" Alan called, holding up a manila envelope as he came back down the stairs.

"Yeah," Colby said absently. "That's it."

"Okay," Alan said, pulling a pile of paperwork out of the envelope. "Let's see what we've got." He sat down at the dining room table. "Bring me a pen, Charlie?"

Charlie stood up and began looking around for a pen. Don shrugged, went over to the table and pulled out a chair. "Washington Park Elementary? I went to Mayfair and the house hasn't moved."

"But the school district changed, just a few years ago," Alan said. "There was a big local vote."

"Oh yeah," Don said. "I remember the sign in the Mrs. Singh's yard." He frowned thoughtfully and took some of the paperwork.

"Is a blue pen okay?" Charlie asked and pulled out a chair next to Don.

Colby and Will looked at each other. Colby stood up and Will did, too. Colby came over to Will and said quietly, "Nena's off-limits, we clear? Or you'll find that I can be as scary as Hell, too."

Will's face went completely sober and he responded, just as quietly, "Yes, sir."

Colby eyed him for a long moment then decided he was being serious. Colby gave a short nod and went over to the table to start the long-delayed paperwork.