A Perfect Storm

Chapter Nineteen

August 14-

I said I'd cut all ties when the time came and now it was nearly that time. We were going to take down the panthers tomorrow. I had said goodbye to June and just had a small goodbye with Mozzie, although I would officially mean it tomorrow, "are you ready to go?" I asked Jaxon after Moz left.

"Yeah. Why are we going to the Burke's?"

"I don't know. Peter said he had an announcement" I explained before we left.

After the announcement Jaxon followed Peter into the kitchen to get coffee and Elizabeth and I had a talk. I felt like it was a good final conversation, we finished talking just before they came back out, "what ya got there?" I asked Jaxon, seeing him carrying his own mug.

"Milk" he smiled as he sat down.

"He wanted a mug too" Peter explained.
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"Go get ready for bed, then come back out here, I want to talk to you" I said to Jaxon as we walked into our apartment.

"Okay" he responded, already halfway down the back hall. Once he finished up in the bathroom and went to his room to finish getting ready, I went to start getting ready myself. When I walked back into the main room Jaxon was sitting on the floor against the end of my bed, reading a book, I sat down next to him and he set it down, looking up at me. "What'd you want to talk about?" He asked.

"I think it's time I told you everything"

"I'm old enough now?"I nodded when he asked, "but I wasn't old enough last month"

"Well you're 8 next week, last month you still had a whole month left, so now you're old enough" I smiled at him after finishing my lie; I couldn't bear to tell him why I was really going to tell him. I thought about how I would start this for a minute, "so....You know this thing on my ankle?" He nodded, "it's not just some anklet you think is cool because it lights up. See when I was 18 I began breaking the law, it took a few years but the FBI, your uncle Peter, caught me. I did 4 years in prison before making a deal with Peter, I'd work with them for the next 4 years on this anklet where they track my movement and I can't go out of a certain range. That's also why I can't just stay home without reporting, they'd come grind me. If I make to many mistakes I'm hauled back off to prison. Before I was arrested I was in France for a little while and that's where I met your mom, we worked together for a little bit"

"Why'd you start breaking the law?" He looked up, confused.

I sighed slightly, "remember Ellen?" He nodded, "well see....so back when I was a little kid my dad did something really bad and Ellen worked with him, he would have gone away for a long time but instead he did something so he and all of us would be protected. My mom didn't trust him anymore and left him so she lied to me for my whole life. Ellen told me the truth....I wasn't ready to take it even if I needed to know it" He leaned against me and I put my arm around his shoulder.

"Did mom break laws?"

"Yeah. She was 16 when she left home in Menton, France. She moved around France for a while and at 19 she moved to New York"

"....What did grandpa do..?"

I looked down at him and sighed, I didn't want to tell him but I did promise to tell him everything, "When I was a kid, he murdered a cop. Just a couple years ago he killed someone else. He chose not to take responsibility and he's being looked for by the FBI"

"Murder?"

"It's...Uhm..." I had to think of how to explain this topic to a child, "it's when a really really bad person takes someone else away from everyone who cares about them for good"

"Y...you mean death...?" He looked horrified. I slowly nodded "Why doesn't he just take responsibility?"

"He's a coward. He saw what he did and didn't care how it affected others"

"I-is he coming back?" I could tell he was scared.

"Don't worry, he wouldn't risk it. But if he does you're going to be safe" he nodded, still worried looking. I pulled him into a tight hug. "You really have to go in tomorrow?" He asked after a long time.

"Yes. It's a very important day. We need to take down these people, bud. But hey....I'll pick you up from school okay?" I didn't want him to know anything was going on.

"Alright" he sighed as he closed his eyes.

"I love you, little buddy"

"I love you too" he mumbled as he was falling asleep. This hurt me a lot to do, but I had no more choices. Jaxon is still young, he'll recover and he's bound to become someone other than a criminal with guardians like Peter and Elizabeth. I scooped Jaxon up and carried him to his bed, I looked at him after I set him down, he had grown up so much since the day I took up my parental duties, he looked even more like me now but I could still see a bit of his mom in him. I knew this would be the last time I see him as I needed to leave for the office before he would get up for school.