Instincts kicking in immediately, Wil smiled broadly to feign a cheery conversation, absently fidgeting with his jacket cuff.

"Noto followed us, yes. You're being paranoid, Dad."

Horatio's gaze was still locked on something behind Wil; he must have found a reflective surface with which to furtively monitor the diner behind him.

"No," Horatio answered in a low, gruff tone. "Someone's been following us since we left the starport. I thought he would leave with Noto, but he followed us in here. He might not be with him."

Wil laughed as if Horatio had told him a bad joke, keeping the seriousness of their conversation well disguised from any passive observer. "Okay, is he alone? Is there anyone else?"

"Seems to be just the one. But there could be more outside, I can't tell."

Still grinning, Wil shook his head, briefly glancing about the diner to take inventory of its other patrons. "Describe him."

"Human. White hair, but young looking. Jittery and anxious."

Wil nodded faintly after spotting the man sitting close to the diner's front door. Though he only glanced their direction a few times, jittery was a bit of an understatement. "So how do we want to handle this?"

Horatio met his gaze directly for the first time since they'd sat down, his eyes sharp. "'We'? No, I'll take care of it, you head back to the Shadow Nova."

"Dad - "

"No, I am not going to argue this, Wil."

Wil dropped his grin to emphasize his point. "And I'm not leaving you alone."

Locked in a battle of wills once more, Wil held his ground, refusing to back down. If this was what Cordira had warned him about, the danger she had sensed, he wasn't about to leave his father to his fate if he could help it.

"He's already seen me with you," Wil carefully appealed to his reason. "And what if he's following me, not you? And he follows me back to the ship? We don't know what he wants. I can help you. We can do this together."

The icy glare from Horatio for his defiance was nothing new, but Wil knew he'd won him over when the elder Sheridan flicked his gaze back up to the reflection he'd been monitoring behind him, sizing up his adversary. He was deciding on their plan of action.

"Fine. Get angry with me, loudly, then leave out the back. If he follows after you, I'll stop him. If not, I'll follow you after a minute, and we'll get him in the alley."

Wil shook his head defiantly, slowly raising his volume with sharp frustration. "No, no, you're not listening to me!"

Genuinely taken aback by Wil's sudden anger, Horatio hesitated, briefly unsure if it was an act. "...is...is this what normal fathers and sons argue about?"

"Do you even hear what I'm saying?" Wil continued, standing from the booth. "Or do you just wait for your turn so you can prove that you're right!"

Horatio appeared anxious, raising his hand toward him in a calming gesture. "Hey, keep it down - "

"Why should I even listen to you? You don't care about anything I have to say!"

Leaving without giving Horatio a chance to respond, Wil quickly made his way out the diner's rear exit through the kitchen, passing a bewildered Gran cook and a dishwashing droid without a word. Thankfully the back door opened and closed without a code, dumping him directly into a narrow and trashed but vacant and dark alley that he scanned with haste. There wasn't any decent cover immediately available, though, and the connecting street was more than a dozen paces away, briefly panicking him. How were they going to catch their pursuer off guard?

A few frantic moments passed before the door opened again, Wil's blaster already in his hand as he pressed himself against the wall just beside the doorway. His muscles tensed with preparation, his breath locked in his chest to halt all sound. He released it all quickly, though, as his father stepped through alone and closed the door behind him without hesitation. Horatio took a swift glance up and down the alley, too, and made the very same observations Wil just had, readying himself opposite his son with his blaster drawn and his voice hushed.

"The street's too far, I heard him right behind me. We take him here at the door."

Wil gave a firm nod and again prepared himself once more, waiting impatiently as he was certain he could hear his racing heartbeat echoing up the alley that would give away their position...

As the door opened a third time and another man joined them in the alley, Horatio was the first to strike, grabbing the man by surprise. He gave a short, startled yelp as Horatio easily and forcefully pinned him against the opposite wall, offering no resistance as though he hadn't even thought to expect an ambush. The man swung his empty, twitchy hands up beside his head and held them there in surrender, having already seen Horatio's blaster in his face, and the genuinely terrified expression he wore made him appear even younger than Horatio had originally described. Still, Wil gripped his blaster even more tightly as he stood just a step behind, ready to aim or sweep up to his father's aid if needed.

"What part of 'I'm not fond of being followed' did you not understand!"

Horatio pressed his forearm across the man's throat with a solid grip on his shoulder, forcing him to take short, sputtering breaths and struggle to choke out words in response.

"I - I... I I had t-t-to...I-I-I need, need to t-t-talk to y-y-you..."

"So talk. Who sent you? What do you want with me?"

The more the man talked, though, the less Wil believed his stutter had anything to do with Horatio's brutal hold...

"No-n-nobo-nobody, nobody! Sent me. I...I-I I know-know you! Horatio! I, I know-know, kn-knew knew you. Knew you. You! An-a-and R-re...Re-Recero!" Though Horatio hadn't eased from him, the man strangely smiled as he absently glanced about the alley, seemingly looking for someone. "Is...is-i-is she...sh-she here, t-to-too?"

Keeping his own reaction in check, Wil monitored his father for a reckless outburst for this stranger daring to say his late sister's name, but surprisingly, none came. He again felt briefly guilty for having expected such backlash from him, especially since he knew how much it had hurt Horatio just a day prior. But to some degree, his father had come to accept and understand that part of himself, seeming to harness it and control it well lately. His voice after a few moments, though, couldn't have been more intense.

"Why are you following me?"

The man appeared serious once more, grasping Horatio's threatening tone. "I...I-I...'ve been-been b-been look, l-loo-looking, looking for y-you for...long time, for f-for for a long time."

"You and about a thousand other brutes and lackeys who have been after me for decades. But you're out of luck today. You're leaving here empty handed, and you're not collecting any bounty on me today, or ever."

Genuinely confused, the man faintly shook his head while still pressed against the wall. "No, n-no, no no bount-bounty..."

Wil could feel his adrenalin rush waning with each passing second, simultaneously bringing clarity and discord to his mind as he considered what he could read from this odd stranger. His fear as Horatio's captive was real, Wil could sense that much, but there was also an air of...innocence about him that was a complete disconnect from the threat that Horatio had perceived him as. Something wasn't adding up at all, something he couldn't quite express or even begin to describe...

"Ho-h-Hora...ratio Horatio," the man continued weakly, still struggling for air but remaining submissive, "I...I-I-I wa-was was...y-your fa...fath-father father's...best friend. Yeah best, best-bes-best friend."