Title: Half Jack

Rating: M

Summary: Here I was- half deaf, tied up & bleeding out all over the damn carpet- If someone had told me six months ago that Adrian Veidt would be the one to personally end my life, I'd have called 'em a liar. Too bad I'm usually wrong.

Thanks to all my dear reviewers! High fives all around!

I need another story
Something to get off my chest
My life gets kind of boring
Need something that I can confess

Till all my sleeves are stained red
From all the truth that I've said
Come by it honestly I swear
Thought you saw me wink, no, I've been on the brink, so

Tell me what you want to hear
Something that were like those years
I'm sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away

~Secrets by OneRepublic

A short man in horn-rimmed serial-killer glasses greeted us as the chauffeur walked me in. "Good afternoon! May I help you ma'am?" he said cheerfully. Thank goodness he wasn't the snob I expected him to be or else I'd had to gut him.

But before I could answer, the new chauffeur stepped forward and politely asked for the Egyptian Room.

The man's face lit up in recognition. "Oh, you must be Mr. Veidt's guest! Please follow me."

I waved goodbye to the chauffeur who merely smiled and tipped his hat and turned away. Trailing after the man, I began to read the door plaques with peculiar interest. Caribbean Room, Victorian Room, Venetian Room, each title more interesting than the last.

I laughed lightly. "Do you guys have an Alice In Wonderland Room?"

He looked at me curiously. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, y'know, the Mad Hatter's tea party? Alice In Wonder-no? Okay" I cut myself off before I made myself look like a bigger idiot than I already did.

The little man led me to a pair of ornate doors with a gold plaque declaring "The Egyptian Room" above them.

"Right this way, ma'am." He said and gestured for me to walk though.

Immediately I understood why Adrian would pick this room. Under the high glass ceiling grew a virtual field of lush vegetation, perfectly green and groomed but till retaining its natural beauty. I walked down a marbled path passing by gorgeous statues of Egyptian deities and impressively simple fountains when I came upon Veidt sitting pensively at a sweet little table. I stood there silently watching him think until her finally sensed my presence.

"Jack." he said, rising to meet me. "I'm glad you came." Unexpectedly he gently took my hand and kissed it.

"Well I said I would." I said nonchalantly, trying to play off my embarrassment. "This is some room, huh? When I first walked in I almost forgot how to breathe."

"I find it to be quite lovely myself. Egyptian history and culture has always fascinated me." He said with a pleasant smile.

I smirked. "I never would have guessed it."

Veidt's smile never faltered and her poured the tea. "I believe this is the part when we ask questions to get to know one another."

My lips parted and I glanced off at nothing in particular, trying to think of a good ice-breaking question. "Whats your favorite color?" It was simple, direct, clichéd, and the first thing that popped into my head. What the hell, I might as well just start off easy.

"Purple." He said and sipped his tea. I told him I preferred green. "Where do you work?"

"Giraldi's. It's a toy store just a few minutes from where I live. I make little wooden toys ad paint doll houses." I said proudly. My job might not be as important or influential as his but I was a craftsman, dammit, and an artist at that!

"Do you like working with your hands?"

My mind immediately went to dirty places and I grinned. "I love my job." I looked down at my hands and flexed my fingers. They desperately needed lotions. "But I'll probably have arthritis by the time I'm forty. Are you a cat person or a dog person? Or are you a terrorist and you hate animals?"

The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement. "I like all animals but I admire a cat's power and grace far more than any other creature's."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah I know what you mean. I actually have to have a cat around or I get depressed, but I have to hide my cat from my landlady."

"Does your cat have a name?" he asked.

I thought back to my mangy orange tabby back home who was probably nestled atop of my newspaper stack like all cats love to do. "Well, I named him Dave when I rescued him about ten years ago, but he's turned out to be a real jerk so I now call him Lucifer."

Adrian's whole face lit up as he laughed at my "adorable" pet name and I couldn't help but laugh with him. He really seemed like a man who didn't have the opportunity to experience a good hard laugh on a regular basis.

"Well, he's so old now, I can't really blame him for being a grumpy old man. But I do have to lock him up at night or he'll ambush me in my sleep and attack my hair."

"Cat's certainly have interesting personalities." Adrian commented.

I scoffed at this. "Mine's the devil incarnate. He pissed on my bible and my catechism. What does that tell you?"

"Are you catholic, Jack?"

I wistfully hung my head and stared at my lap in shame. "Yes, but not a very good one. I haven't been to mass in months. If by some chance you meet my mother, do not tell her."

"I wouldn't dream of it." he promised.

I nodded. "Word."

Conversation carried on like this for a while, mostly of trading little personal facts and swapping stories and our favorite things. It was nice to learn a little more about him, but it just seemed a bit... shallow. Kind of like my last boyfriend. I knew for damn sure this wasn't all Adrian wanted to talk about, but maybe I was just being unreasonable as I often was.

I decided to hit him with a more personal question for my own gratification. I cleared my throat.
Name one thing that makes you happy. Like the kind of happy where you feel like all oyur problems are long gone and you'll never hurt again."

There was a long pause and for a moment he seemed to be at a complete loss. I started to regret my tactlessness and I wondered if the man had time to be happy. I felt inconsiderate and I desperately wished to kick myself.

"...You don't have to answer that." I said softly. After a moment more of uncomfortable silence, I decided to answer my own question. "What makes me happiest is being at home with my family. I know it's a little cheesy but," I struggled to find a poetically accurate description of my feelings "but there's no other place on earth where I can walk into any room and know that someone is genuinely glad to see me. And... it's truly worth all the bullshit life has thrown at me."

"It's that mutual feeling of welcome and love, I'm sure." Adrian smiled serenely. "You must be quite close."

"We'd better friggin' be after all that effort I put into 'em. Honestly. I have four older brothers and about forty cousins I had to literally battle to keep from killing each other. No joke. It was either I learn how to fight or get pinned down and spit on. I know that doesn't sound "close" but believe me, I'd die for any of them." I took a swig of tea in frustration.

'"Tell me about your brothers."

"Well Adam is the oldest. He's been married seven years and he's expecting his second baby. He and I used to sneak me out of my room and watch the Twilight Zone with me after my parents had gone to bed. Noah and Sean are twins but they're total opposites. Sean used to hide my favorite books and stuffed animals just to be an ass, but Noah would always help me find whatever he stole. Noah's a welder and Sean is a glass blower, and together they make custom light fixtures over in Tennessee. Then there's James, the least obnoxious of my brothers. He taught me to read when I was three. We'd go down to the creek and practice writing in the mud until it got too dark to see or the mosquitoes started biting." My overactive brain started to fire off neurons and it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't spoken to my family since before the accident. "Ohhh, man."

Veidt tilted his head curiously. "Is something wrong, Jack?"

I grinned sheepishly and bit my thumbnail. "I haven't told my family about the accident yet."

"I would have thought that to be a priority. Will they be very upset?"

"It's my mom I'm worried about. She knows I'm such a scatterbrain, but she'll probably give me a verbal beat down about how I'm lucky to belong to a species where mothers generally don't eat their young." Another horrible memory surfaced and I blanched. "She's visiting in a couple days too. I can't remember for shit! Maybe if I tell her about that crazy chick at work, she'll go easy on me."

"And what about this girl would absolve you of this transgression?"

I hesitated as some part of my irrational fear tugged on my sleeve like a warning that Alexis could hear every word we were saying. "She… used to terrorize me in high school. I don't feel safe around her."

I relayed the story of Alexis' abusive and unstable nature and listed all the times I had to go home early because I was too scared to go to class. I also mentioned our little spat the day before, though I left out the part about his being the subject of discussion.

"I just think it's a little strange that she's suddenly in my life again after all that."

It was surprising to watch Adrian's usually pleasant face harden the way it did. "It does appear suspicious, but sometimes paranoia develops out of old fears and things are not as they seem."

I didn't answer but I knew he was right. I was raised to give people the benefit of the doubt but I still mistrusted that mad-eyed witch with every part of my being and probably always would.

"It appears we've lost track of time." Veidt said suddenly. "I'm late for a meeting."

It looked up at the glass ceiling despondently. The sky had grown quite dark and every light in the room had been lit without my noticing. "Oh, my god, I'm so sorry about that." I said guiltily.

Miraculously he only smiled. "I was too busy enjoying your company to notice. Please don't feel responsible."

I shrugged a bit ruefully. "If you say so."

Inwardly I was beaming from the compliment, unused to such a positive response to my left-of-center nature. However I was aware of and worried by my aloof reception to his kindness, hoping I hadn't driven away what could potentially be a strong friendship- these I had very few of.

Walking back to the entrance, I awkwardly proposed to show him some of my work as an opportunity to see each other again.

"I'd be happy to. I'll be away for the next couple of days, but I will have Chelsea contact you to work out a schedule if you'd like to meet at Giraldi's."

I scoffed and adamantly shook my head in dissent. "Not on your life, sport. We'll be at my apartment this time. No way in hell I'm exposing you to her." She'd probably follow him home and rape him just to spite me. Poor man. A disturbing mental picture plastered itself to my mind and I grimaced.

"That's very thoughtful of you." Apparently he then noticed my bizarre expression. "You keep doing that."

"Oh yeah, I know I make weird faces. It usually happen when my train of though is stuck boarding at the station."

He laughed again and I almost thought I could hear bells ringing. "Good luck with your mother, Jack."

I laughed mirthlessly at that. "Thanks for reminding me. Good night, Adrian Veidt."

Oh hell, that rhymed.

A/N Hey, sorry about the brevity, but I wanted to put this out so bad! Please review!