Summary: Parker wonders why Piper Taylor has no family members on her side helping her to prepare for her wedding to Scott Tracy.
Notes: This story ties into Star Celestial and Words that Were Never Read...
"Where are her parents?"
2065
Something was bothering Parker about Piper Taylor…
While he knew that she was the niece of Lee Taylor, and that her uncle was still currently on Mars, he hadn't heard anything about any other members of her family.
The girl was getting married to Scott Tracy in a couple of days time, and pregnant with the first Tracy grandchild, you would think every member of the Taylor family would be coming out of the woodwork, trying to get in on the action.
When curiosity got the better of him, Parker decided to ask Jeff what was going on, as he watched Penelope, Kayo, Penelope's childhood best friend and John Tracy's girlfriend, Annabelle, Piper's doctor friend and Virgil Tracy's girlfriend, Willow, as well as Grandma Tracy, fuss over the bride to be, in the sunken lounge of the com's room on Tracy Island.
The boys were out on a rescue and Jeff was at his desk muti-tasking, keeping an eye on that rescue, the last one that the boys would be out on before they took a break for the wedding, Tracy Industry business and watching his future daughter-in-law prepare for her wedding.
As Parker approached the desk, Jeff gave Parker a wistful look, "Times like this make me really miss Lucy and Helen," he murmured softly, as he gazed at the scene in front of him. "They both should have been here for this."
"Helen?" Parker asked.
"Piper's mother," Jeff clarified. "Lee's younger sister, and the person who actually introduced me to Lucy, when she was working in London."
Parker nodded thoughtfully, "So what happened?" He asked. "Why isn't she here helping out her daughter?"
"Helen died in a car accident in '38," Jeff replied. "The brakes failed on a truck pulling up to an intersection hit her vehicle and exploded, she died pretty much instantly," Jeff sighed. "Piper was barely a year old at the time, Helen had left her with Lucy, so she could run a few errands in peace."
Parker frowned, the poor girl had lost her mother before she ever really had gotten the chance to know her, "What about her father?" He asked.
"Never in the picture," Jeff growled. "And Helen was pretty tight lipped about who the guy was," he gave Parker a dark look. "She acted like she didn't know who he was, forgetting that Lee and I knew her since before she was born and could tell when she was lying."
Parker looked at Jeff, "Did you ever find out who the man was?"
"No," Jeff snarled. "We didn't, I did ask Lucy if she had any idea, who the guy was and she did say that she had a suspect, but she didn't want to name, names until she was sure," he sighed. "If Lucy ever did find out who he was she took it to the grave with her."
"So who raised Miss Piper when she was growing up?" Parker asked. "From what I have heard about Captain Taylor, he didn't spend much time on earth in the past thirty years."
Jeff snorted softly, "Lee's harder to get and keep earth side than John," he replied, as he looked at Belle. "But then again, John has some very compelling reasons to come down to earth, that Lee doesn't," he gave Parker a cheeky look before sobering back up. "Piper was raised by her grandmother, Harriet, for the most part, although Lucy and I helped out quite a bit over the years, she and Scott were pretty inseparable back then."
"Could have fooled me," Parker commented. "Up until a couple of months ago, Miss Piper didn't have much of a role in International Rescue."
Jeff cocked eyebrow at Parker, "Scott has always been little bit on the overprotective side when it comes to people he cares about," he commented. "A trait Scott inherited from his mother, it comes out most often when Alan and Piper are involved, with Alan, Scott tends to pull him closer, like a mother hen protecting her chick, while with Piper he tends to push her away."
Parker looked at Jeff curiously, "Why would he push her away if he cares for her so much?" He asked.
"Scott realised he had feelings for her that went beyond friendship when he was fifteen," Jeff commented. "With Piper being only a couple of months older than John, you can see the problem Scott had at the time."
Parker nodded, three years may not seem like much of a age gap for someone Parker's age, or even at the current ages the Tracy brothers were now, but when you're a teenager someone that's fifteen may as well be thirty if you're only twelve years old… Parker could see why Scott had a problem, "He pushed her away to protect her from himself?" He questioned.
Jeff nodded, "From what I gather that's what happened," he answered. "The real problem started when Piper reached an age where her having a romantic relationship with Scott wouldn't be an issue and Scott, used to keeping her at arms length, still kept pushing her away."
Parker nodded, he understood the mentality behind such a thing, he had done something similar to the woman he loved to protect her from him, when he went to prison for his crimes at the end of '36.
It was a mistake that he regretted to this very day, by the time he got out of the pokey, Star was gone, killed in a car accident much like Miss Piper's mother, "So what happened to Miss Piper's grandmother?" Parker asked, wanting to change the subject away from past regrets. "I would have thought she would've wanted to be here, considering that she raised the girl."
"Trust me, if Aunt Harry was still alive, Scott would have had his ass chewed out about his behaviour long before the boys rescued me from the Oort Cloud," Jeff replied. "And she and mom would have been here having a ball planning things," he sighed, sadly. "Harry died of a heart attack in '56 not long before the terrorist attacks that killed Tim and Ann, that dragged Scott into the war with Bereznik…" Jeff clenched his fists in anger. "I should have been there for them at the time."
"But that wasn't your fault," Parker replied. "That's was all on the Hood, what happened to you."
"I know that," Jeff replied. "Even Lee has told me that, but it doesn't change the fact that I should have been home helping and not stuck on an asteroid millions of miles from home," Jeff ran a hand down his face. "There was a reason why I quit the space agency, after the Mars mission, and it was so I could spend more time with Lucy and the boys, the fact I missed eight whole years…"
The comm beeped on Jeff's desk, and the image of Penelope's father, Hugh, appeared on the small projector, "Jeff," Hugh began. "I was about to ask you if you knew where my daughter was, seeing that she had cleared her schedule for the next few days, but seeing that Parker is standing next to you, I'm guessing she is on the island with you."
"You've guessed correctly," Jeff replied. "She has been helping Scott and Piper organise their wedding."
Hugh frowned, "I didn't realise she knew Helen's daughter that well to be considered for part of organising for such an important event," he commented.
The friendly atmosphere that had been in the room evaporated instantly, as Parker realised that Grandma Tracy and the girls had heard the comment, "What pray tell, was that supposed to mean Father?" Penelope questioned, her voice soft and deadly.
"That I thought that you were only going to be a guest at the wedding," Hugh replied. "I considering that you're not that close to the bride."
Penelope looked flabbergasted, and Parker knew why, even though Penelope didn't know Piper that well, she knew Scott and was also currently dating (much to Parker's chagrin) Scott's brother Gordon.
Who was one of Scott's groomsmen, which meant, "I am part the bridal party," Penelope snapped. "I told you this a couple of weeks ago, and that I would be taking a week off prior to the wedding to help prepare."
"Well you are going to have to pull out," Hugh growled. "You're expected at a four day event in London starting tomorrow."
"I cancelled that event," Penelope snarled.
"I uncancelled it," Hugh shot back. "You are expected to be there, if all goes well you will be able to make it back in time for Scott's wedding as a guest."
Penelope had a thunderous expression on her face, and Parker didn't blame his charge for not wanting to go, the event was a mixer with all the who's who of the British upper classes, and were known to be dreadfully boring.
Also Parker would sooner trust the rapscallion goldfish over any of the grease balls that attended those parties.
Jeff also seeing that Penelope didn't want to attend, and knowing the nature of the party Hugh wanted to attend spoke up, "I don't think the world is going to end if she gives the event in London a miss, Hugh," Jeff cut in. "If anyone asks tell them that her employer has requested her to be some place else."
"Stay out of this, Jeff," Hugh growled.
"Don't punish your daughter and Piper, for something that has nothing to do with them," Jeff shot back. "I know you didn't get along well with Helen, and I am fully aware of the reason why."
Hugh stared at Jeff for a moment, before cutting the call.
It was silent in the room until a confused Piper spoke up, "What was that all about?" She asked. "How did my mother know, Lady Penelope's father and what caused them to have such a falling out?"
"This is news to me as well," Penelope added. "So what happened between them?"
Jeff sighed, as he ran a hand through his hair, "Some of this you might have already noticed," he started. "Hugh Creighton-Ward is a lot of things, a dedicated family man isn't one of them."
Parker looked at Jeff in surprise, in all his years that he had knew Jeff he had never heard of Jeff actually criticising Hugh on the way he had brought up Penelope.
"I know what I just said sounds very hypocritical coming from me," Jeff added, quickly. "I know full and darn well I'm not father of the year material-"
"There are only a few times that I would truly criticise your parenting ability, Jefferson," Sally cut her son off. "At least you always tried, for the most part, to be a part of your son's lives."
"From what I've observed over the years," Belle added. "You've done a lot better job than Lord Hugh has done, especially since Lady Allison died."
Parker nodded his head in quiet agreement, after Allison died the raising of Penelope was pretty much passed onto himself and Lil the cook/housekeeper, there was a governess, but the less said about that woman the better, as far as Parker was concerned.
"But if I remembering things correctly, my mother died years before Lady Allison passed," Piper pointed out. "So how?"
"The fallout between Helen and Hugh happened on New Year's Eve about a week after Penny was born," Jeff answered. "Hugh expected Allison to leave Penny with the nanny and attend the Creighton-Ward New Years party, but Allison wasn't ready to leave Penny alone with anyone else for an extended period of time.
"Knowing that Allison didn't want to go to the party Helen, had decided that she would keep Allison company for the night and give the party a miss," Jeff sighed. "Apparently when she arrived at the manor, she walked to a pretty nasty fight between Hugh and Allison and didn't hesitate jumping to Allison's defence."
Piper, Willow and Kayo all looked horrified at what Jeff was saying, Belle and Penelope, on the other hand, looked appalled but not surprised, having both come from traditional upperclass families, children tended to be only seen and not heard and generally raised by nannies, with the parents overseeing things.
Allison, Parker remembered, had been one of the few Lady's that actually wanted to have an active hand in the way her child was raised, and it had been a source of tension throughout her marriage to Hugh.
Parker remembered a fight where one of Allison's colleagues had gotten dragged into it, in which Sunny had told him to fuck off and go to hell, and told him that she would only accept parenting advice from him, once he started acting like one himself.
"Helen bundled up Penny and Allison and booked a flight home the next morning, as a result," Sally continued on for Jeff, as she turned to Penelope. "You and your mother actually spent the first six months of your life, staying with Helen and Harry, with Lucy and myself dropping in from time to time lending a hand," Sally put a hand on Penelope's shoulder. "Scott first met you during this time as well, but he didn't really show that much interest with you as he did with, the then yet to properly arrive, Virgil."
"Allison almost left Hugh, because of the incident," Jeff continued. "And Hugh pretty much had to grovel to get Allison to come back, but his relationship with Lucy, Onaha and especially Helen, because Hugh blamed her for him nearly losing his marriage, never recovered."
Parker frowned at Jeff's words, something wasn't adding up with Jeff's story, he knew that Lady Allison had three close friends, Star, Sunny and Luna but Jeff hadn't mentioned any of them…
Parker froze mid thought, as he remembered what he knew about them.
He knew next to nothing about Luna, all he remembered being said about her was that she was married and had a daughter, as well as the fact that her brother-in-law was a bit of a shady fellow.
Which kind of matched up with what he knew about Kayo's mother, Onaha, and shady was a pretty mild description when it came to the Hood.
When he thought about Sunny, two things came to mind, the fact she had been a communication's expert and that she always seemed to be pregnant or had a lot of kids in tow…
From what he knew about Jeff's wife, he skill with communications had been very similar to John's, and if having five boys didn't account for having a lot of kids, nothing would.
Then there was Star… and a lot about he knew about her was eerily matching up to what he had been told about Helen…
Like how she had an older brother, whose best friend she introduced to Sunny, and the couple ended up getting married.
Helen had been Lee Taylor's younger sister, and she had been the one that introduced Jeff to Lucy.
The only time Parker had met Hugh with Star, it was obvious that the two of them didn't get along, if Sylvia hadn't been there, Parker was pretty sure things would have devolved in a fight.
Helen and Hugh didn't get along after the fallout of New Year's eve '35.
And most damning of all - Star had died in a car accident in '38.
Helen died in the exact same way in the same year.
"Mr Tracy, Sir?" Parker asked, in a shaky voice.
"What is it Parker?" Jeff asked.
"Lucy and Helen," Parker continued. "They didn't happen to work for Lady Sylvia by any chance?"
Jeff gave Parker a questioning look, "I thought you knew that," he replied. "They worked for Sylvia under the alias's of Sunny and Star Celestial."
Parker suddenly felt very uneasy on his feet, he stumbled into the sunken lounge and sat down in on of the chairs, and buried his face into his hands…
After all this time it was a surreal feeling knowing the real name of the woman that he loved and lost so many years ago, yet with with came with more questions like…
Parker looked up suddenly and stared at Piper, Helen had a daughter, Jeff said he didn't know who her father was, "When exactly were you born girl?" Parker asked.
Piper seemed taken aback by the question looked at Penelope and Jeff with confusion.
"Is everything alright Parker?" Penelope asked, concerned for the man that was a better father figure to her than her own.
"I am not sure," Parker replied, as he turned his attention back to Piper. "Sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable, Miss Piper, but can you please answer the question."
"The seventeenth of June, Twenty Thirty-Seven," Piper answered.
Parker started to do the math in his head, "And you weren't born premature or anything in that regard?" He asked, nervously.
"No…" Piper looked at Sally and Jeff. "Not as far as I know."
"What's wrong, Parker?" Jeff asked.
Parker braced himself, and hoped Jeff realised that this was news to him as well, otherwise, "I think I might know who Piper's father is…" he started.
"What!?!" Jeff sputtered. "Who is it, and how would you know that?"
"I think it might be me," Parker continued, and then explained his history with Star, including his disastrous decision to push her away from him to protect her from his past.
By the time Parker was finished, you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
A silence that was broken by Willow offering to do a DNA test, to confirm or deny Parker's theory.
"Do it," Jeff growled, obviously unsure what to think of the entire situation. "We need an answer, one way or another."
Piper was staring at Parker in shock, and Parker didn't know what to think, if Piper was his he had missed out on 28 years of her life, he knew Penelope better than his own child, for Christ sakes, not to mention she was getting married in a couple of days to the father of her baby.
Oh god, if Piper was his he was about to become a grandfather…
Willow came back into the room with some needles and swabs, and proceeded to take samples to test.
The Tracy Brothers returned from another successful rescue while everyone else waited on the test results.
Scott instantly went into smother hen mode as soon as he saw Piper's distressed expression.
Thankfully, they didn't have to wait much longer for the test results, which confirmed that Parker was indeed Piper's father.
Jeff, to his credit, didn't explode, it was probably helped by the fact that Parker had no idea that Star had even had child.
Piper started sobbing in pain and confusion in Scott's arms, Parker didn't blame her for her reaction, the closest thing the girl had to having a father had been Jeff up to that point…
Which begged the question, why didn't Lucy, Allison or even Sylvia try to track him down and find out if he was Piper's father sooner?
Surprisingly it was Sally that answered the question, "There were a couple of reasons why nobody looked into who Piper's father was, when Helen died," she said. "Lucy did claim to have some suspicion on who it could be, but since she didn't know how Helen felt about Parker when she died, Harry decided not to pursue it, because Piper already had a strong network of people who would be willing to take care of her should a the time come and Harry was unable to look after her…"
"If anything happened to Harry, while Piper was growing up, Lucy and I would taken her in, no questions asked," Jeff added, while glancing at Scott. "Sometimes it was a hard job to send her back home to her grandmother."
A soft burst of laughter echoed through the room.
"Harry decided that she would leave the decision on finding out who Piper's father was up to Piper when she was ready," Sally continued. "We never thought that Lucy, Allison, Sylvia or even Onaha would all pass on before the question was asked…"
"Sometimes I wondered," Piper admitted. "But I always figured that my conception was either an accident, and Mom didn't want to bring the guy into the picture for whatever reason, or a situation similar to Fermat's, where she wanted a sperm donor but didn't want to go through a bank," Piper sighed. "Even now knowing it was the former, doesn't change the fact that I didn't want to be that child that came into somebody's life and turned it upside down by letting them know that I existed," she looked at Parker. "I'm sorry that I didn't look for you, but I didn't know if you were married and/or had other children, not to mention I was mostly happy with the way my life was going… So I was happy to let sleeping dogs lie."
Parker nodded his head, he understood not wanting to bring uncertainty into somebody's life, that was the reason why he pushed Helen away after all, "I understand," he replied. "Probably more than you realise," he held out his hand to Piper. "But I would like to get to know you better, now, if that's okay with you."
"As long as you return the favour," Piper replied, as she took her father's hand. "Dad."
Parker ignored Scott's disgruntled yelp, as he pulled his daughter into his arms and hugged her for the first time.
0o0o0
As Jeff watched Parker hug his daughter, he could have sworn he heard Helen comment behind him.
"About time you realised who she was Nosey, I am sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you about her myself."
Jeff spun around only to see a shooting star crossing the night sky, through the windows of the villa…
Notes: You may have noticed if you read Family Secrets: A Sunny Day in Marineville, that Lucy didn't get along all that well with Hugh, and a large part of that reason was to do with how Hugh treated Penelope as she was growing up, Lucy, however, never directly criticised his relationship with Allison, which is why Hugh still could have a civil conversation with her.
To Hugh when it came to raising kids that was just how things were done, but Helen in the New Years fight accused Hugh of not loving his wife and then took Allison away from him - he never forgave Helen for that (even though it was the right decision, according to Allison herself at the time).