FAMILY TIES
      By Spense
 

Chapter Nine

Jonny woke up just before five the next morning, stiff and cold.  He
realized he'd been sitting in the same position on the window seat
since the scene in the family room yesterday afternoon.  He got up
and stretched, looking out at the fog blocking the sunrise over the
Atlantic Ocean.

"Com'on, Bandit.  Let's go.  I need OUT of this house!"  As Jonny
turned, he felt a lancing pain through the back of his neck and
realized he had a splitting headache.  He felt the back of his head
with careful fingers, wincing as he found a raised knot.  Marble was
certainly hard.

Jonny dressed and grabbed some Advil out of the medicine cabinet in
his private bathroom.  After downing 2, he thought a moment and took
the bottle with him.  He didn't plan to come back until the last
possible moment this afternoon, and this headache felt like he'd
definitely need more.  Mentally he cursed his father, then stopped
dead in shock.  He'd never even had thoughts about his dad like that
before.  But then again, he'd never been aware of how much his father
was lying to him before, either.  Well, he wasn't a child anymore,
content to accept things blindly.

Patting the pocket of his pullover windbreaker to make sure the pager
was hidden firmly, he quietly let himself and Bandit out of his room
and into the quiet hall.  Absolutely nobody was stirring.  Good.
He'd noticed that with a new baby in the house, people were up at
some really strange hours.  At least everyone appeared to be asleep
right now.  He might be able to get out without seeing anyone.

Silently, Jonny made his way down the stairs to the kitchen.  The
only sound was the slight noise of Bandit's tags on his collar.
Jonny put his fanny pack, bike pack, and bottle of Advil on the
kitchen counter.

Quickly, efficiently and quietly, Jonny fed Bandit, added an apple, a
couple bottles of water and some Gatorade to the collection on the
counter, and began rooting around in the fridge for sandwich
makings.  His arms full of cheeses and meats, he turned back to the
counter.

"Going somewhere?"

Jonny started visibly in surprise.  Race was leaning against the
counter, examining Jonny's small pile of supplies.  He was wearing
only pajama bottoms and was bare-chested, obviously just awakened.
Even so, he looked perfectly alert.  Typical agent B.S.  Jonny
thought in disgust.  Always instantly wide-awake.  He mentally kicked
himself.  He thought he'd been really quiet.

Jonny regained his composure and put his burden down on the counter
and began to make several sandwiches.  He shrugged in response to
Race's query, and was thankful he'd kept the pager in his pocket –
and not put it on the counter.  That would have been a disaster to
try and explain.

"Out on my bike," he answered shortly, clearly discouraging
conversation.

"Pretty early," Race commented in response.  He picked up the bottle
of Advil.  "Headache?"

Jonny only nodded curtly, and kept buttering bread.

Race moved over and felt the back of Jonny's head.  Jonny flinched as
Race found the small lump.  "Ow!" he exclaimed, ducking out of the
way and turning to glare at Race.

Race returned to his original position against the counter,
commenting, "Sure you're okay, Kiddo?  That's quite a knot.  Any
double vision?"

"No!  I'm just fine," Jonny snapped irritably.

"Ok."  Race watched him speculatively for a moment.  Jonny had a bad
feeling that Race was considering forbidding him going.  He wasn't
sure what he'd do if Race did that.  But thankfully, instead Race
finally just asked, "Do you want some breakfast?"

Jonny shook his head as he packed the sandwiches in waxed paper.

"You're Dad was pretty upset last night," Race began again, looking
carefully at Jonny.  Jonny began to feel as though he was under a
microscope.  Most people only had one or two parents.  He had the bad
luck to have three under his roof, and only one was his real parent.

`My Dad was upset', Jonny thought.  Funny, both Will and Race had
prefaced their remarks the exact same way.  His Dad.  What about
him?  Obviously the only item of importance was his Dad's feelings.
Jonny's reason for being upset was pretty clearly of no consequence.
If his father hadn't been upset, would they have ignored the whole
thing?  Probably, Jonny thought bitterly.

"Why don't you stay a little longer, have some breakfast, and talk to
him when he gets up?  I know he wants to talk to you," Race
suggested.  "He was very concerned about you last night, but felt you
needed the space."

Great, now everybody knows about it.  How can you live in such a big
house and never have anything be your own business, Jonny reflected.
He could just see the scene---everybody ranged about him, inserting
their own opinions, and never asking his.  Just like being on trial.

"Uh-uh," Jonny said with finality while packing everything he had
ranged on the counter into his fanny pack and bike pack.

Race sighed patiently.  "Feel like talking to me then?  Just the two
of us?  How about I come with you."

"No!  I just want to be alone!  Is that too much to ask?"  Jonny said
explosively, temper flaring as he turned to look Race in the eye for
the first time.

Race raised both hands in surrender.  "No problem.  Where are you
going?"

Jonny shrugged.

"Ok, when will you be home?"  Race prodded.

Silence as Jonny continued packing.

"Jonny," Race said warningly.

Knowing he'd pushed as far as he could, Jonny answered
shortly, "Dinner, I'll be back by dinner."  Whistling to Bandit, he
grabbed his packs and headed for the garage, seeing Race watching him
in concern out of the corner of his eye.