Chapter 8

The door to the mansion opened before Kaiba had even gotten the chance to open it for himself. There was nothing unusual with the situation except the fact that he was returning home far earlier than what he had planned. "Where's Jay." He asked his maid as he passed by her through the doorway.

"In his room playing with master Mokuba." The maid replied happily.

Kaiba nodded his head in thanks before starting to make his way up the stairwell. "Jay!" he shouted out as he reached the last step. He felt his stomach churn at the thought that Mokuba may have told everything to Jay about who he came to be there. Surely his brother wouldn't do anything like that?

Knocking lightly on the closed door to his son's room, Kaiba opened it and entered. He saw Mokuba dive down the side of the bed out of sight and Jay, who was chasing after his uncle, stopped and squealed; "You're home early!"

"I need to speak to you about something." Kaiba said forcing out the words from behind a fake smile. He had to do what he had decided back in his office before he chanced his mind.

"It's okay." Jay smiled up at him as he came closer. The police hat that he was wearing slipped down over his eyes and he pushed it back up with ease. "Uncle Mokie told me."

"He what!" Kaiba glanced over to his brother who had popped his head up from his hiding place with a sheepish smile on his face. He couldn't believe that Mokuba did actually tell Jay after all, and felt his heartbeat increase rapidly with fear.

"About why you have to work late." Jay continued pushing his hat up again. "It's because you're the CEO who everybody relies on to sort things out."

"Oh that." Kaiba said with relief and felt his heart rate begin to slow down again. He should have known better than to think that Mokuba would do anything like that. Once again he forced the smile upon his face again. "What I have to say is something different." he began but was cut off by his son's excitement.

"You wanna play too?" Jay asked "We're playing cops 'n robbers. Uncle Mokie is the robber and I'm the cop." He explained but only got a silent stare from Kaiba. "Aw, come on dad, you can be my back-up partner."

Kaiba couldn't believe his ears at hearing Jay call him dad, and from the look he saw on Mokuba's face, neither could he. He had been waiting for the day that this would happen but at the moment hearing that word just made him feel like someone had stabbed him through the heart. Seeing Jay smile up at him after pushing his hat up again made the imaginary blade dig deeper and twist inside his heart.

"Okay." Kaiba told his son quietly, as he held back the aching in his heart. "Just for a little while." He watched as Jay ran and jumped on top of his uncle pretending to handcuff him. Just a few more hours, Kaiba told himself. Then you have to tell him. You have to give him up.

Father and son sat on the bed as they read a book together. Jay was wearing his pyjamas and sat in front of his father as they both leaned back onto the headboard. Kaiba came to the end of the story and closed the book. He sighed heavily and forced himself to say what was on his mind before he changed it again.

"There's something I have to tell you." Kaiba spoke quietly as he saw Jay's smiling face beam up at him. "It's about your parents." He felt his heart rate quicken at the thought of finally revealing everything to his son.

"I miss them." Jay whispered as he lowered his head sadly. "I know that I shouldn't because they don't want me anymore, but I do." He sniffed and wiped a tear away before asking; "What about your parents?"

"They're both dead." Kaiba replied to his son's question. He felt really bad for making Jay believe that his didn't love him.

"I'm sorry." Jay whispered thinking that he had said something wrong.

"Don't be." Kaiba assured him. "It happened a long time ago." And yet after all these years he still missed them both, especially his mother. He didn't want to make his son feel that way.

Unexpectedly Jay threw his arms around his father's waist and hugged him tightly. Kaiba felt a wave of terror wash over him. Right now Jay loved him dearly but that love would soon disappear once he had told him everything. But it was his choice; he didn't have to say anything. Things could still remain the same as they were and Jay wouldn't find out the truth until he was much older. Kaiba had considered this as an option but knew that it would still be as hard a task to do even then.

"Look, Jay, I haven't been very honest with you." Kaiba said as he pulled his son off him. His heart felt like it was about to explode if it beat any faster. Staring Jay in the eyes he began to tell him the truth; "Your parents do want you. It was me that took you away from them."

Jay's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in disbelief from what he had been told. "Why?" he asked almost crying.

"It's complicated." Kaiba said not wanting to go into details. "But I want to put things right by returning you to them, before you start to hate me."

"I won't hate you." Jay said honestly which made Kaiba's heart rate lessen as some of his fear melted away. "Daddy says that if you spend your life hating somebody that you just become the hated in return." He stared harder. "You didn't answer me. Why did you take me away from them?"

"Like I said it's complicated." Kaiba replied wanting to break the eye contact between them. He never knew just how uncomfortable it could be to be questioned by a child, but he only had himself to blame for the situation he was in now.

"Then explain it to me." Jay demanded. After receiving a blank look he raised his eyebrows. "I'm six years old, not retarded."

Kaiba found it hard not to be amused by the demand and statement he had just heard. A faint smile appeared on his face as he thought about how much his son was like him when he was younger. "Do you know where babies come from?"

"From the mommy's belly." Jay nodded and with a smile added; "And I know how they get there."

For a moment Kaiba was surprised to know that a six year old knew so much about sex but then laughed; "Close enough." As Jay had told him that they get there by 'the daddy's magic.' He really didn't fancy pointing out the correct way to his son as the one time explaining everything to Mokuba had been difficult and embarrassing enough.

Moving from behind Jay, Kaiba now sat next to him on the bed looking at the floor as he spoke. "Before your parents were married, I put a baby in your mother's belly .At the time I didn't know and we didn't see each other for a long, long time."He took a deep breath. "Later, when you were born it was your daddy who was there for you, but I am your real father. When I found this out I became angry with your parents and wanted you all to myself." He raised his head and turned to look at the young boy. "That's why I took you away from them. I lied to you about them because I wanted to be your daddy."

For a moment there was silence. Kaiba couldn't believe that he had shared information like this. The kind of feelings that were always hidden from everyone else, even his own brother. He had pretty much raised Mokuba all on his own because he had too, but now he longed to raise his own family.

Jay thought about what he had been told before speaking. "So what you're saying is that I have two daddies?" Not quite what Kaiba had been trying to explain but at least he had been following what was said. A huge smiled appeared on his face as he hugged Kaiba once more. "I must be the luckiest boy alive!"

Kaiba felt the stabbing knife in his heart again. He had told Jay the truth and still the boy loved him. It would be so easy for him to just leave things at that and not let him go but he knew that it had to be done. "Tomorrow I'm going to take you back to where you belong with your family."

"You should come too and then we can all live together." Jay suggested as he still had his arms wrapped tightly around his father.

"That's a nice idea, but I won't be coming with you." Kaiba ran his hand over Jay's sandy coloured hair. The mind of a child was so simple and problems were easily solved, but this wasn't the world that they lived in and he knew that the Wheelers would never let him anywhere near Jay ever again. He held back his sorrow as he felt it build up at the back of his throat. "You may not see me for some time."

"Why won't I see you?" Jay asked innocently as he pulled away and looked up at his father.

The truth that his parents would keep them apart might cause Jay to react badly towards them when he would be returned the next day, and after doing everything that he had already done, Kaiba knew it was best to not tell him this. "Because there's a lot of work that I have to do for my company. It will mean that I'll be spending all of my time there instead of here with you, and I don't want you to get lonely all by yourself." He could feel his eyes begin to water and his throat burn as he forced a smile onto his face. "Come on, it's passed your bedtime, now sleep."

"Okay." Jay smiled before he crawled over to his pillows and got under the covers. He yawned as he watched his father cross the room to the door. "Goodnight, dad."

Closing the door, Kaiba stood frozen for a moment as his heart was stabbed again by the word 'dad'. There was no going back now; Jay would be gone by tomorrow evening. He covered his mouth with his hand and closed his eyes to stop the tears.

"You okay?" Mokuba's voice came from down the corridor.

"I'm fine." Kaiba said wiping his hand from his face and blocking off his emotions. "I've spoken to him about what's happened and I'm going to return him to the Wheelers tomorrow." He began to stride off away from his brother. "I just have to contact them."

"I'll do that for you." Mokuba said quickly. "You've done enough today already and I'm proud of you for choosing the right thing to do." He watched as his brother stopped. "Besides I don't think that they'd talk to you anyway."

"Thanks Mokie." Kaiba said without looking back at his brother. He continued to walk away from Mokuba and too his room.

His brother might have thought it the right thing to do, but now Kaiba's heart was shattered at having to let go of his son. Of course Mokuba would never know just how much he was hurting right now as admitting his feelings once was painful enough.