The Recruit

Chapter 12

"Papà!" Jake greeted his dad with a hug that was responded in kind by his father.

"Mi manchi, ragazzo mio."

"I miss you too, papà." Jake hugged his dad tighter.

"I got another phone call from the school. You missed first period again." Jake's dad looked at his child disappointedly and little Jacob looks at his feet nervously.

"Hanging out with Master Kojiro, perhaps?" Little Jacob nodded guiltily.

"I'm sorry papà, I don't like math anymore. I want to be an assassin like you." Jacob's dad sighed, his chest swelled with pride that his son wanted to follow his footsteps, but he is worried that his smart boy didn't know what he was asking for. He hoped that school could change his boy's mind, but once the young boy met Kojiro, he kept coming to the Ordinatio for some philosophy lesson. He knew why his boy did not like math like he used too. The boy needed more challenge as he outgrew his second grade math very quickly.

Lucius made a quick mental note to spend time solving harder math questions with his son. It's an activity they both liked and he liked to see his son beamed happily when he thrived on solving questions.

"This had been going on for a few weeks, caro mio." The father let out an exasperated sigh with a mock disappointed look. The boy pouts as he regrets disappointing his father. Lucius loved his smart boy and understood his predicament, but he didn't want to spoil him rotten only for his son to grow up with a sense of entitlement. He wanted his little one to understand the concept of responsibility. He paused for a moment to think of a common ground that both he and Jake could accept.

"Jake, how about we spend more time doing the harder math questions, if you promise to attend your math classes, okay?"

"But then I won't get to see Liv!" Realizing his mistake, Jake closed his mouth and okayed his father's request. Lucius could see that the boy tried his hardest to get his dad to smile at him again.

Seeing how excited his little boy to talk about this Liv, he gave him a smile "Tell me more about Liv. Did you see her in Master Kojiro's class?" The boy nodded enthusiastically.

"She is a new friend I made today. She was impressed with my answers to Master Kojiro's question and called me daebak!" Lucius couldn't help but grinned proudly at his son. Every time he brought him along to the organization headquarter, little Jake would strike up a conversation with anyone he sees. The assassins would end up singing high praises of his son, calling him the prodigy of the assassin.

He kissed the top of his son's head as his son continued telling him about this Liv. "You know, she is smart and she is pretty." Lucius catches his son looking at the ceiling dreamily, he suppressed his laughter to listen more to his son. "And... I think she is much like you. She is the only person who sees me as me and my capabilities. Not an 8 year old who are too young to know anything." Jake pouted a little but not wanting to make his father sad too, he quickly fixed his pout to a smile.

"There will be people who look down on you just because it's who they are or they have a prejudice that children do not know any better, little one. Don't fret my little assassin; the people who see through you would know your value and potential, like Liv does. As for the others, when you grew up into a fine young man, people would stop looking at your age and they will see your capabilities as I do." He kissed both of Jake's cheek and gained giggles from the youngster.

"Do you remember the quote I told you?" Lucius asked his son.

"Never let the praises gets to my head, remain humble and curious." Lucius nodded as he put his son on the kitchen counter as he got ready to make food for them both.

"You said mamma – your wife, liked to ask questions like me right? Hearing your stories about her make me miss her." It felt like oxygen left Lucius's chest hearing his boy asking about Lucy.

"She was. If she was still here, you two would get along. She would give you kisses and make you tasty snacks." Lucius gave Jake a smile that he hoped masked his sadness.

Silence.

Lucius turned back to check what caused his bubbly son to stay quiet and found his little boy crying. He went to his side to hug his son, patting his back to comfort him. He hugged his son close to take comfort in the knowledge that there is another person who loved and missed his Lucy as he does.

See Lucy? 

You had two people missing you: Me and the child I raised as my own after your departure. He would have been ours, if you were still here. I knew you would have loved him too – he is funny and curious like you. I wish you had stayed back then. You would have found that you were not alone and that we needed you. 

You didn't need to die, thinking that nobody loves you.

He wiped his own tears swiftly before his child sees his own sadness. He kept thinking if he had told her his feelings and begged her to stay before the two weeks ended, she might have lived and they would have been happy. However, she is no longer here, but his son is.

"Would you like to have a mom?" He asked his son.

"Are you seeing someone?" Jake countered eyeing his dad suspiciously.

The Master Assassin laughed and shook his head.

"Then no, I don't need a mamma unless you really really like her. Then I'll try to like her too. I only need you. I already have two mamma, my birth mom and mamma Lucy. It's enough for me, papà."

Lucius's heart clenched. His Jacob has always been considerate and way too mature for his age. The vampire sometimes wanted to shelter his son from the world, so he would be able to enjoy his childhood as a child does.

"I found Lucy. Would you like to see, Mamma Lucy, ragazzo mio?" He could feel his son nodded as he kept hugging the 6 foot Master Assassin.

"Okay. Tomorrow we go see her." He promised his child.

Originally the Master Assassin originally told one or two stories about Lucy to Jake. Then as he kept asking about Lucy's adventures, one day he asked if he could meet her. Lucius always diverted the conversation, since he didn't know what to say to his boy. He didn't know whether Lucy was alive or if she does where she was located. 

One day, the boy just stopped asking to meet her.

Last fall in a parent-teacher conference, his teacher asked Lucius about the child's mother and Jake stepped up to tell her that his mamma was in heaven like his birth mother. 

Then his little fingers grabbed his teacher's hand and dragged her aside. Once Jake was sure Lucius wouldn't be able to hear them, he whispered quietly to the teacher to stop asking his papà about mamma, or his papà would be sad.

As a vampire, Lucius could hear extremely well. He casually eavesdropped at the conversation, curious of what prank would his little son play at him this time and he was shocked to hear what he heard instead.

The teacher had looked at him apologetically but at the same time he could see that the teacher was surprised by his son's ability to empathize like a mature adult. 

If only the teacher knew, I never even told my son that my wife had died. Lucius kept the thought to himself as he smiled at the teacher - pretending he didn't hear anything.

Remembering the event, he came back to the present. Turning on the heat of the stove, he continued cooking as his son patiently on the counter behind him.

"Alright, son. I'll call the school tomorrow to get you a day off, we'll head to the headquarters, you wait for me to finish my paperwork and then we could go see mommy. Deal?"

"Deal." His son chimed from behind him. He thanked the Lord every day for his little Jake.