For Once In My Life
“This is the colonel, you aren’t going to need to see him but for some reason he feels obligated to come say hi” Jayce could tell Grace was pissed off, eyeing him like this was all his fault
Hey, Grace? My Dad walked out years ago! You really think we’ve been keeping in touch?
Has nobody connected the fucking dots? Nobody’s realised that my fucking father is here?
“Good afternoon, sissy’s” Xavier Talis smiled, his golden tooth shining bright in the white light of the room.
Fuck
He wore a tight military uniform, his initials embroidered on the breast pocket like Jayces. No, stop making comparisons. His hair was short and freshly cut with a large scratch on the side of his face. He put his hands behind his back and began to slowly pace.
“I thought I’d come out and give you a nice, warm welcome to Pandora” he said grimly “because you are not in Kansas anymore”
Jayce swallowed, frozen in his spot.
“If there is a hell…you might want to go there for some R&R before you take a trip into that forest” he gestured to behind him “Maybe you’ve faced problems before…maybe you got your heart broken or..maybe your family left you in the dirt”
He said it. He eyed Jayce, immediately scowling.
Damn it, there was no hiding now.
His fucking dad knew it was him.
His jaw clenched and his knuckles turned white.
Viktor, who Jayce had temporarily forgotten was right next to him, frowned at the sudden change.
“Jayce…?” He whispered, he got no reply.
“But I can assure you, nothing you have been through can compete with what's waiting out there” the colonel shook his head “No sir, there ain’t nothing. As the head of the marine department it is, technically, my duty to protect all of you, by any means necessary”
He paused, making direct eye contact with Ekko and Powder, who were standing behind Vi, gripping her pants.
“I will not succeed” Xavier said slowly “not all of you are going to make it out alive, some of you are going to be twisted and mangled in ways you can not comprehend”
Vi got in front of him, moving the kids out of his glance “With all due respect, you’re not the only protector, Colonel” she said
He didn’t even look at her “you’re correct, but, with all due respect, you don’t know the storm coming your way when you step foot in that forest”
It was a quiet, tense few seconds. Jayce saw Caitlyn bite her lip from a bit away.
“Alright, thanks for the bedtime story, Xavier” Grace said, making her presence known once again “but this crew have had a rough ride, maybe save the threats for another time”
His father grinned “Of course, Doctor”
He turned to leave “Sweet dreams, tree huggers”
☆
He was walking to his cabin when he got grabbed by the collar and pushed into a small storage room, it was pitch black before his father flicked on a tiny lamp.
“Hi, Jayce”
Jayce put his hands into his pockets “My duffel is out there, I don’t anyone to steal my shit”
“Piss off about your fucking duffel I won’t keep you long”
Good, great even.
“How did you know it was me?” Jayce asked
“Jesus, boy, I may be a deadbeat but I can recognise my own fucking son when I see him”
Jayce rolled his eyes “Yeah, whatever, Colonel” he mocked “I don’t suppose anybody here knows your real last name?”
“Nope. To everybody on Pandora I’m Colonel Miles, but you just had to come and ruin my identity”
“What are you talking about?” Jayce leaned against the cluttered desk behind him “how does me being here ruin you?”
“You saw the look on Augustine's face,” he hissed. “She's spent months with you, of course she’s gonna know me! How many of your little pals thought the same?”
“Maybe you’ve forgotten, but I don’t read minds. You were pretty fucking threatening, I doubt anybody was paying attention”
“Oh, you want threatening?” Xavier said “So help me, Jayce, if any of your little green-fucking-thumb friends say anything I will make sure Pandora isn’t the only thing that hurts you”
Jayces eyes widened, his demeanour suddenly changed up “what?”
Xavier got in his face “You don’t know the work I’ve put in to get to where I am today, I will not have it be destroyed by my stupid son who suddenly wants to be a scientist”
“Oh, fuck you” Jayce spat “there’s nothing ‘sudden’ about this, you left before I could even develop passions, you’re a horrible man and mum was-“
He suddenly had his mouth covered with his fathers hand “Don’t talk” he said darkly “I don’t know how she raised you but you don’t know shit”
Jayce was certain he had stopped breathing
“You know nothing about what happened, and it’s gonna stay that way” he put his hand down “you conduct your little experiments but stay out of my way, you hear me, son?”
“Don’t call me that” Jayce mumbled
Xavier took a minute before speaking “why are you even here, huh? You tryna impress a girl or something?”
Jayce laughed, almost manically “Yeah, I spent days flying across space and conduct difficult experiments for a girl”
Xavier rolled his eyes “whatever, I don’t actually give a fuck” he moved quickly, so quickly that Jayce flinched, but instead he just reached for the door handle “you’re not one of those faggots are you?”
He frowned “why would you assume I was?”
Xavier didn’t turn around “because you look like one, and you quack like one” he opened the door “don’t come looking, if we need to talk, I come to you- Move!”
And just like that, his dad had left, bumping into Caitlyn, who was holding onto his duffel bag.
“Jayce!” She said worriedly, walking into the room and placing the duffel down gently “are you alright? What happened? What did your dad say?”
Fuck, of course she would recognise him.
He stared at her, tears welling up in his eyes, his mouth trembled as he tried to speak, not bothering to hide his emotions
“Jayce?” Cait said, placing a soft hand on his face. He quickly pulled her into a hug, silently sobbing into her shoulder, she immediately hugged him back tightly “You’re okay”
They stayed like that for a while, just the two of them as Jayce calmed down and as the night began to set in.
“You give great hugs” he smiled, carrying his duffel bag to his cabin, Cait walking next to him with a clipboard and a check-list
“How about you? You give big bear hugs” she smiled
Finally, they reached their cabin, Caitlyn opening the door for him.
The two walked in and immediately gasped.
The cabin looked a mess, there were shouts and two tiny kids running around with shower caps on their heads.
And then, the two most guilty-looking adults appeared in front of them.