"Dad," Liam said it with the strangest look; hopeful, horrified, amused, aghast, "Is that you?"
Nora's lips were a thin bloodless line and her eyes practically bulged from her head. She looked like she was trying to swallow something she couldn't quite get down. Arms crossed beneath her breasts, hugging herself tightly, both hands pressed to her belly, the willowy blonde turned her regal head away from Liam. Eventually, she said in a cold voice, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Dad," Liam impulsively put a hand on the young woman's knee, "It's okay. You don't have to lie. I understand."
"You don't," Jack/Nora had to force it out, her soft clear voice nearly breaking into a sob as she brushed the hand away, "You can't."
"Dad, I can't believe it, I," Liam gestured as if to illustrate how useless words were, "I'm just glad you're still alive."
Nora sniffed and swallowed hard, angrily swiping at her eyes, but said nothing.
"I just have to know for sure," Liam persisted, eyes pleading, "I need to hear you say it."
Still, Nora said nothing. Her shoulders were trembling and her eyes were downcast.
"Dad, please!"
"Mom, leave her alone," Jonni said finally, "It was worse for her. DeMorrell didn't use the stone to make her love him. He hurt her."
"I think - - I think I'm going to be sick," Nora gasped between big gulps of air, "I feel sick."
The next few minutes were spent helping Nora to the bathroom and getting her calmed down. She dry heaved several times, but nothing came up and, after Jonni made her drink some water, Liam led them to the guest bedroom where Nora gratefully laid down. Perhaps it was her overrought nerves, perhaps it was a way of avoiding admitting to Liam/Linda who she really was, perhaps both, whatever the case, Nora quickly fell into a fitful sleep punctuated by the occasional soft cry.
"Bad enough he did it to my son," Liam looked with pity from Jonni, hands firmly in the small of her back, to the girl laying on the bed, the dramatic sweep of her belly tenting out the covers, "He did it to my father too. It's hard to feel sorry for him, but I do."
"What do you mean?" Jonni hissed, giving Liam a shocked look.
"He was Grandpa to you, Jonni, and Grandpa was fun," Liam frowned, "But Grandpa wasn't always the best dad, if you know what I mean."
"This is crazy!" Jonni protested in a stage whisper. Thinking better of it, she took hold of Liam's arm and all but dragged him out of the guest room, "You always said Grandpa was a great man! That he was a hero!"
"Because he was your grandfather and you worshipped him," Liam took one last, mournful look at Nora before quietly shutting the door behind himself, "But there's also a lot you don't know, a lot I never wanted you to know."
"Like what?" Jonni asked in a breathless whisper. She felt like a little kid hearing a campfire ghost story for the first time, full of dread and excitement. What have my parents been keeping from me all these years?
"He killed a man," Liam met her eyes, unflinching.
Jonni read the truth there, but that didn't mean she accepted it, "He was in World War Two! Lots of people killed people!"
"I'm talking about later. When I was young, my father and a colleague of his went on one of his many expeditions," Liam paused, eyes far away, remembering, "Except this time his partner didn't come back. I asked him what happened. He never told me, yet somehow I always suspected."
"You suspected? That doesn't prove anything!" Jonni didn't really want to have this conversation. She was getting stressed out, which was making her heartburn kick in. Still, she had to know exactly what Mom/Liam thought Grandpa had done.
"No, I guess not, but your grandfather has always walked somewhere to the left of the law," Liam shrugged, "He was arrested for illegal accquisition of antiquities in Guatemala, graverobbing in Peru, and barred from ever entering Argentina again. He's slept with dozens of his students and seduced God only knows how many other women."
Jonni's eyes must have given away something at Liam's last comment, because the young man gave a rueful smile and nodded sadly, "So who is she then? Dad's new body doesn't look like family. Too blonde, too athletic, too Nordic. Another of his interns, I'm guessing?"
Jonni opened her mouth to say something, realized how complicated any real explanation might be, and thought better of it. Worse, she had no idea how much Grandpa/Nora might or might not want her to tell. Liam seized on the young woman's silence as confirmation of his theory.
"So is it DeMorrell's baby for sure? It would be more poetic if it were Dad's," Liam grunted.
Jonni couldn't believe what she was hearing, her mouth fell open as she grasped for words, "How could you wish something like this on Grandpa?"
"I didn't wish it on him. Maybe it's karma," Liam's eyes grew distant once more, "I have brothers and sisters you don't even know about, Jonni. You have cousins you've never even met."
"What?!" Jonni grimaced when she realized how loud she had said it and moved a little further down the hall from the door.
"Dad left his first wife for his mistress. He left his mistress to marry my mother. He left mom to go have his adventures in the jungle," Liam said the next part slowly as if the words cost him dearly, "He can't leave this - - and it feels right somehow. Maybe Dad will make a better mother than he ever did a father."
"That woman is your father?" Came a hoarse voice, one that had not spoken in some time. Liam and Jonni both turned in surprise. There at the end of the hall leading to the family room was Gary Gibson, Jonni's father and once husband to Liam in the days when he was Linda. Gary gave a short laugh that sounded almost a little like a bark.
"Gary!" Liam gave an almost girlish squeal and rushed over to Jonni's dad, unashamedly planting a big kiss on the other man's lips.
Gary, to his credit, seemed a little shocked, but knowing who this really was, even briefly returned the kiss. They hugged and whispered a few endearments to each other before turning back to Jonni. Jonni was briefly surprised. Her dad was former army and definitely old school when it came to displays of affection between men. The more she thought about it, Jonni realized the changes both her parents were put through had only strengthened their love.
"Jonni," Gary smiled and managed to rasp out, "Thank you so much for saving your old man."
"It wasn't my idea," she said quickly, "Grandpa was the one who did it really."
"So I did hear you two right?" Gary asked in a bemused if somewhat scratchy voice, "The girl who came here with Jonni is really Jack?"
