Family Ties

Part 67

Stepping away, he clipped his mask back in place, while she kept screaming as if attacked, cowering in her chair.

"Now, I think our business is concluded." He turned to leave, while Beatrice was screaming and crying. Giving her a double dose was the only way he could ensure that she'd never be able to harm Jackson or his family.

---

Reaching home, he quickly showered and changed, stashing everything away carefully and left for Damon's. Once he got there, it seemed as if a party was in full swing, with lights streaming from the house.

"Do you think I could join in the fun?" He asked, picking up Skye and hugging him as if this was their last time on earth together.

"You're squeezing too tight Papa." Skye squeaked, pushing away from him, as they made their way over to Jackson.

"Sorry, Squirt, Papa's very happy to see you laughing." He looked at Jackson who seemed strained. "Are you okay?"

"You know, things could be worse." He mumbled, holding on to Raymond. "I guess your dads already told you what happened?" Raymond nodded sadly, setting Skye down.

"Conversation for later?" Raymond asked with a light smile.

"Conversation for later." Jackson grinned back, turning to listen to Gillie while Skye held onto his hand.

Raymond walked over to Kelley, who was carefully watching everything from the sidelines, while the others chattered away.

"How is he doing?" He asked concernedly looking over at Skye.

"He was a bit shaken up at first, but you know how resilient kids are. After a bit of talking through it,  he seems to be in a better space." Kelley waived at Skye when she caught his eyes.

"I suppose Dad asked you to tell him it was a test?"

"I didn't think it was a good idea to lie to him. It would complicate things in the future when you start hiding the truth from him." She placed her hand on Raymond's arm. "He was happy that he got to save his Pappie from the bad men, but at the same time he's worried about why people would try and take Jackson away and most importantly, what to do with his feelings of hurting someone."

"He's still processing things, so let's see what happens. If he asks about it, make time to tell him what you think he should know. He's also a bit clingy at the moment and won't leave Jackson out of his sight, but that's understandable. Just make sure to reassure him."

"Thanks, Kelley. What would we do without you?" He smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. It looked like Skye wasn't scarred for life from this experience, but there was also a lot of uncertainty and only time will tell.

"Come on, he's my kid too," She smiled. "Of course I'd be looking out for him."

They remained chatting for a while before Raymond moved off to find his dads.

"You get it done?" Damon asked grimly, pulling Raymond and Jesse to the side.

"It's done. The Russians won't try to get anywhere near the city for as long as stories about the Inquisitor keep floating about, I suppose, but I'll be keepiing an ear out," he rubbed his eyes. "I think I may have gone a little bit overboard, though." Pinching his nose, he could still see the terrified look on Beatrice Dealer's face and hear her horrific screams as she was locked into her own nightmare of madness.

Eric had designed it so that it heightened your deepest fears, bringing them to life. In most cases, one dose was more than enough for the drug to take effect, but by then, it was too late for the victim to do anything. Once in your system, it kept the nightmare alive for quite a while to set the hallucination in place, after which there was little chance of recovery from the terrible visions that the person would have haunting them.

"Better to go overboard than give them another opportunity to Jackson." Damon tried to set him at ease.

"What did you do?" Jesse asked.

"I may have made her go mad for the rest of her life."

"It could have been much worse if Jackson was taken. We haven't said that much to him, only that  he was a target because of his family." Jesse informed him. "Don't worry Ray, you did what was needed and after talking to Kelley, I think that both he and Skye will be right as rain." His smile was sincere as he placed his hand on Raymond's shoulder.

"I suppose you're right." He shrugged, then smiled when Jesse lightly tapped his chin with his fist. "Thanks for everything tonight. You really got me out of a pickle there."

"We're family, it's what we do." Damon grinned punching his shoulder playfully. "Now, whose doing the cleanup if you're hanging out with us?"

I've got Billy and his team to stage everything. They'll only have a burglary gone wrong to go on, by the time he's done, and Beatrice is certainly not in her right mind anymore, so she won't be able to help them. As for Alexis and his men, they're cowering in a corner while making their way back to whatever hole they crawled out of.