FAMILY TIES
      By Spense
 

Chapter Fifteen

Jonny came awake.  Well, kind of awake.  He was choking.  He
struggled, trying to cough but he couldn't.  Something was stuck in
his throat.  His chest burned, and he thrashed, trying to get the
obstruction cleared.

He felt hands restraining him, and a cool hand brush the hair off his
hot forehead.  He opened his eyes to see Will smiling at him.  Jonny
panicked.  He certainly hadn't made a friend of her!  She had every
reason to hate him.  He struggled harder, but Will was stronger than
she looked, and held him still.  He choked again, but over it all,
Will's voice gradually penetrated.

"Shh, Sweetheart, stay still.  Everything is all right.  I'm not mad
at you, Jonny, and neither is your father.  Shhhh,"  Will's voice was
a calm oasis that Jonny tried desperately to focus on.  She
didn't `sound' mad.  Then Jonny tried to take another breath, and
again found he couldn't.  He looked at Will for a second, frightened
now, then lost control and struggled again as he choked, feeling as
though a band were constricting his chest.

"Quiet, Jonny.  Just lie still.  Don't struggle, Sweetheart.  I know
it hurts.  Shhhh.  Try to relax, there you go, that will help."  Will
voice brought him back again, and again, talking to him gently, as
Jonny tried over and over to breathe normally.

Suddenly his father was there, a calm smile on his face, saying
something to him that he didn't quite get.  Jonny struggled to
respond, but again found this throat blocked.  Will kept talking to
him, and he looked at her and his father, his eyes wide with fear,
hanging onto Will's voice as though it was a lifeline.  Neither of
them seemed very worried.  Maybe he was okay.  Will smiled at him,
humming a little now.  His father put a comforting hand on his
shoulder, as he turned to speak with someone out of Jonny's sight.

"Yes," Jonny could hear Benton comment, then pause.  Then, "Yes, he's
still fighting it."  Another pause.  "Yes, all right.  Sedation?"
Jonny thought his father sounded tired.  "No, no.  I think your
right.  Ok, just a moment."

Benton turned back to his son and said reassuringly, "I'll be right
back, Son.  Will is going stay with you."  He squeezed his shoulder.

Jonny nodded slightly, then coughed, and choked again.  But through
everything, the suffocating tightness and burning in his chest, the
choking, the inability to breathe, Will kept him as calm as she could
with her voice.  Soon, Jonny felt his eyes getting heavy.  It was
getting so hard to stay awake.  Now he struggled to stay awake as
well as take a breath.  If he fell asleep, how would he breathe?

But again Will's voice was right there, providing an anchor against
his panic.  "Go to sleep, Sweetheart.  It'll be all right.  I
promise.  Shhhh.  Don't fight it, you'll feel better when you wake
up."  And the last thing Jonny remembered as he let go of
consciousness, such as it was, was hearing Will humming softly to
him, and then Benton's voice joining in.  Jonny was surprised; he
didn't know his father could carry a tune that well, much less
harmonize with somebody.

*    *    *

Jonny slowly began to wake up again.  This time he was very happy to
realize that he could breathe.  He floated in the darkness awhile.
It was way too much work to open his eyes.  He could hear the low
murmur of voices close by, but it was too hard to try to listen.  But
soon, they were intruding on him, and he really just wished they
would go away.  But they didn't, and he soon began to make out the
words.

"How is he?"  Will was asking someone.

"Better," Benton's voice became audible.  "Still asleep.  What about
Rae?"  Jonny thought his dad sounded really tired.

"She's fine.  Mrs. Evans says she's being perfect, and that Race,
Jessie and Hadji are wonderful with her; AND I checked with the
agents in charge of security here at the hospital, and they assured
me everything is fine."  Will's voice became insistent.  "Now what
about Jonny?"

What about me?  Jonny thought.  Why are they talking like I'm not
here?  He thought he should open his eyes, but it still seemed too
hard.

Benton replied, "Physically much better.  He's off the respirator and
breathing on his own."

Jonny thought he heard a relieved sigh from Will.  Now what was that
all about?

Benton continued.  "They've started to bring him around."  He paused,
then continued.  "But the Psychiatrist doesn't know how long Andrea
Lainer has been working on him, or too what extent.  But I think you
and I both have a pretty good idea."  Benton said bitterly, clearly
discouraged.  "I should have told him years ago," he finished,
dispiritedly.

What?  Told me what?  Jonny thought to himself, but then decided he
really didn't care.  It was too nice just to float.

"He'll be all right, Benton," Will was saying.  "You sleep.  I'll
watch him."

Benton again.  "I want to be here when he wakes up."

"Fine, sleep on the couch in here, but just sleep!"

Benton laughed.  "Ok, ok."

Jonny could hear the creak of furniture, as though someone was
settling down, then didn't hear anything for a while.  He finally
decided that maybe he'd better say something, and drew in a deep
breath as though to speak.  It seemed that was a very bad idea,
because his chest suddenly burned, and his breath caught at the
unexpected severe pain.

Immediately, he felt a hand on his cheek.  "Shhh, Jonny."  Will's
comforting voice again.  "Go back to sleep.  You don't have to wake
up yet.  It's all right.  Sleep.  Shhh."

Jonny thought that sounded like an excellent idea, and dropped off to
sleep feeling a feather light kiss on his forehead.

*   *   *

Jonny woke up the next time to the feeling of his hand being lightly
stroked.  He opened his eyes and looked towards that direction.  Will
was next to him, lightly caressing his hand, smiling at him as she
realized he was awake.

"Hi!"  Will commented with a grin, and she gently squeezed his hand.

"Hi," Jonny croaked back, trying to find his voice.

"How do you feel?"  Will asked compassionately.

"Fuzzy,"  Jonny whispered, desperately trying to clear his head,
something was wrong and he just couldn't quite get it.

Will laughed and reached up, brushing the limp hair out of his eyes
gently.  "I'm sure.  You've been out of it for quite awhile."  She
continued at his quizzical look.  "You've been very heavily
sedated."  She grinned wider.  "I thought we might have to sedate
your father as well, he was SO worried."

Jonny tried to laugh, then instantly decided that that was not a good
idea.  Then he remembered that he had been incredibly awful to her,
but couldn't quite remember why.  His expression changed to one of
wariness.

Will noted both his change of expression and his discomfort.  "It's
okay, I'm not mad at you, Sweetheart.  I promise.  Neither is your
father," Will commented quietly, kindly, as she squeezed his hand
again.  "I'll explain later, but right now would you like a drink?"
She was gratified to see Jonny relax at her comments.

Jonny nodded, trying as much as possible not to move.

Will laid his hand back down on the blankets, and moved to sit next
to him on the bed.  She slid an arm under his shoulders and sat him
upright.  Jonny was appalled to realize that he was so weak, he
couldn't even help her.  If she hadn't been supporting him, he
wouldn't have been able to sit up at all!  What on earth had happened?

As Will supported Jonny with one arm against her shoulder, she turned
and with the other hand, placed a straw in a glass sitting on the
nearby table, then held it to Jonny's lips.

"Just a sip," she warned him.  "I don't really want to wear it!"

Jonny snorted, then instantly regretted it.

"You haven't had anything in your stomach for 3 days," she continued.

Jonny obediently took a sip, and savoring the cool sensation down
this throat.  "Than why aren't I more thirsty?" he softly whispered
in reply, trying to avoid as much discomfort as he could.  He hadn't
eaten in 3 days?  He wondered again what could possibly have happened.

"Another," Will instructed him.  As Jonny obediently took another
sip, she nodded towards the IV tubing that Jonny noticed for the
first time.  "They've been pumping fluids into you at a great rate.
You may not need the hydration, but I'm sure it's making your throat
feel better!"

Jonny nodded gratefully, and took another sip.  Savoring the liquid,
he noticed his father stretched out on a couch on the opposite side
of the room.

"Ok, enough for now.  I'll let you have some more in a little bit.
Let's just make sure your system can handle what you've had."

Jonny nodded heartfelt agreement.  The thought of throwing up right
now made him shudder.

Will carefully laid him back onto his pillows.  Jonny collapsed
weakly back onto the bed.  He began to frame a question about what
had happened, and where he was, but as Will gently pulled the covers
back up around him, she began to laugh softly, her mind clearly on
something else.

"Remember our first meeting?"

Jonny nodded slightly, puzzled.  He did remember that.

Will grinned.  "I think this time your father would approve of the
beverage choice.  At least this time it was water, rather than a coke
and M&Ms!"

Jonny laughed carefully.

A deep baritone voice with just a hint of a chuckle joined in before
Jonny could respond.  "Coke and M&M's?  And when was this?"  Benton
joined them, looking tired, but smiling.  Jonny remembered that his
father was mad at him for some reason.  But Benton just leaned over
and smiled reassuringly in response to Jonny's wary statement, as he
felt his son's forehead.

Will answered his question.  "My first meeting with Jonny.  At I-1
headquarters."  Benton looked blank, as he pushed Will off her chair,
sat down, and pulled her back onto his lap.

Jonny licked his lips, and deciding that his father didn't `seem'
mad, whispered carefully, "I was about six."  Funny, he could
remember that, just nothing recently.

Benton laughed.  "Race never told me."

Will snorted.  "Of course not.  He'd lost Jonny.  When he located
him, he discovered that I had found him, and fed him caffeine and
chocolate.  Do you really think he'd admit to any of that?"

Benton laughed out loud, and Jonny grinned in spite of himself.
Benton's determination that his sons eat right was pretty
strong.  "I'd always wondered why Jonny enjoyed visiting I-1 so
much.  I'd always thought it was because of the agents, and that they
paid so much attention to him, and showed him their weapons."

"Dad, what happened?"  Jonny changed the subject to the question
uppermost on his mind.  While both Will and Benton didn't seem
inclined to scold him, he thought he'd better find out.

Benton answered easily.  "You turned out to have a severe allergic
reaction to I-1's latest knockout gas, for one thing.  You stopped
breathing, and have been on a respirator; that's why your throat is
so sore."

Will laughed.  "You should have seen Phil Corvin's expression when
Race laid into him about the new gas formula.  When Phil realized
what it had done to you, he about dropped."

Benton continued, "You were fighting the respirator, so we had to
sedate you pretty heavily until the reaction ran its course.  You're
fine now, but you'll feel pretty lousy for a week or so."

Jonny shook his head in frustration.  He was really tired, and it was
getting harder to think.  There was something else, he knew there
was.  Then he had it!  All his memories came back in a flood.  He
tried to speak, found he couldn't, then tried again more slowly.  He
was still finding it hard to talk, and deep breathing could be a
chore.  "No," he managed to croak, "What about Mom?"  He figured they
knew by now.  And where was she?

Will closed her eyes in pain, and Benton reached over to grab Jonny's
hand.  "Oh, Jonny, that `woman' wasn't Rachel.  Her name is Dr.
Andrea Veronica Rose Lainer."

"No!" Jonny whispered emphatically, shaking his head, denying what
his father was saying.  It wasn't true.

Benton squeezed Jonny's hand.  "I may never forgive myself for not
telling you about her sooner.  She was a colleague of mine at I-1
back when you're mother was alive.  She was brilliant.  She has
advanced degrees in several of the sciences and other fields as well,
including one in Psychology, and interestingly enough, Theater.  She
has always been a master of manipulation.  Many years ago, Phil
Corvin realized that she was becoming a problem, and had her
hospitalized for evaluation.  Unfortunately, that showed that she was
completely unstable mentally.  He tried very hard to keep her under
wraps, however, he wasn't able to keep hold of her.  After you're
mother died, she had surgery done to enable herself to become
Rachel's double."

Jonny shook his head violently, sparking another coughing fit.  "No,
you're lying.  She said she was in a coma," he whispered vehemently.

Benton shook his head sadly.  He hated destroying his son's
hope.  "She kidnapped you when you were seven.  You remember?  The
sail boat?"  At Jonny's brief nod, he continued.  "I couldn't tell
you then.  You were having such a hard time dealing with Rachel's
death.  Both Race and I were relieved that you hadn't seen her.
There never was a good time to tell you."

"But Son, in the past, she has been mainly interested in me.  She
seems to feel that we were soul mates, meant to be together from the
beginning of time.  She felt we were the next evolutionary jump.  I
don't know why she went through this charade now, but back when you
were seven, she thought you might be the next generation in the
evolution.  Anyway, she was supposed to be under wraps at I-1.  It
appears," he added bitterly, "that the news that she was loose was
lost somewhere on someone's desk.  We should have been alerted
immediately."

Jonny shook his head again, tears beginning to cloud his
vision. "No."  It made an awful kind of sense.  Especially as her
personality had changed when she was confronted by Will.

"I'm sorry, Son.  I wish I could tell you differently," Benton said
compassionately, stroking his forehead.

Jonny digested this for a while in silence.  Then a thought struck
him.  "Dad," he whispered slowly, "If this is true, then did she kill
Mom?"

Will could see the pain on Jonny's face.  For the only time she could
remember, she cursed the fact that Jonny was blessed with his
father's quick intelligence.  She would have loved to spare him
this.  From the look on Benton's face, he felt the same way.

Benton suddenly looked very tired and squeezed his son's hand hard,
glad of the contact.  "I don't know Son.  But yes, it is a definite
possibility.  It fits the circumstances."

Jonny nodded slowly, digesting all this.  He hated realizing the fact
that he had probably been used.  He sure had fallen for it hook, line
and sinker.  He tried to bite back the sobs that were building.

His father voice broke in gently.  "Go to sleep Son, we'll talk more
later."

Jonny obediently closed his eyes, he was really tired.  But his
thoughts whirled in circles, fitting the pieces together, over the
pain and disillusionment.