3rd person pov
Before marrying Angela, way before, in fact, Joe Reagan had been in a relationship with a fellow Police Academy student, Paula Hill. She quickly dropped out and moved away after one of their dates, though, and never even bothered to tell Joe why. The truth is she did not want to stand in his way with the Academy, and did not want to marry him, but knew he would want to marry her should he find out that she was carrying his child. She would raise this child on her own, living amongst her small number of relatives in her hometown of Warwick, Rhode Island. Joe never had to know. She would honor him in giving the boy the same name as his father, Joseph Connor, but her maiden name. Her baby would be Joseph Connor Hill. The only other thing is that Joe Reagan had mentioned to her that his late mother had gotten him a medal of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, or that's what Joe Reagan had been told. So she got her son the same medal. It wasn't like the medal and a similar name could one day trace back to her child's biological father. She wasn't worried about that.
Breaking her out of her thoughts, her now 13-year-old son Joey came into the living room after completing his homework sliding onto the sofa to sit next to his mother and turned the TV on, the news displaying another case of an officer killed in action in New York City. Her son's voice broke through her thoughts
"That's too bad. I feel bad for that family. Even if I've got nothing to do with it, being from Rhode Island, and this going down in New York City."
His mother dared to look at the screen, finding herself unable to breathe. Her son had everything to do with the situation on the screen. Not in a way that he was to blame, but the officer, make that detective, who was killed was his birth father. Not that she was going to disclose that. Instead, she hugged her son a little closer to her than usual and spoke
"You're so sweet, Joey. I love you."
The teenager squirmed in his mom's tight embrace, a tone of levity in his voice
"I love you too, anaconda. But I gotta breathe."
Reluctantly, she let him go, and he turned to the TV once more
"It says he had a 2 year old.. Man, that bites... But, on that subject. Mom, who's my Dad?"
Her breath hitched at her throat, she spoke firmly
"I told you that's not a topic for a young boy."
He rolled his fire-tempered eyes
"I was a young boy when I asked at age 4, the first time. I'm 13 now, Mom. I have questions and things to talk about, but with my DAD."
Almost pitifully, his mother replied
"Why not your uncle Mike?"
Her son sighed
"Because I'd like to talk about these things with my DAD."
Taking a stand, Paula spoke
"I don't know how to get in touch with him."
Shaking his head, the boy seethed
"You just don't want me to."
And with that, he slammed the door to his room, eyes catching the glare of the St. Jude medal, patron of lost causes, he had been given and scoffed
"Mom's more of a lost cause than me. At least I'm trying to meet my Dad."
The comment, though spoken under his breath, was heard, and he was grounded for it. Talk about unfair.
Timeskip Joe 25 years old, Joe pov
Against my Mother's every wish, I was now an accomplished Detective with the NYPD at the age of 25. However, much to my annoyance, never in my life did she ever say a word about my father. But now, I could find answers for myself, and sent out my DNA to be analyzed by one of those 23 and Me labs, hoping for answers to unlock this other side of me I've been denied my whole life. And my answers were honestly frightening. My Dad was NYPD Warrants Squad Detective Joe Reagan, the same one I saw declared dead on the news at thirteen years old. Reagan as in my boss Commissioner Reagan, who just so happens to be my Grandfather. And I had a brother, 12 years younger, turning 13 this year. Or maybe he was already 13, I had no idea. Who knew I would turn out to be like the Kennedys of the NYPD... My Dad was forever gone, but I had his whole family around, including my own half-brother. I had no idea how to go about this...