Piece by Piece

74. Trouble

Davyn preferred the times when he was in school. The coursework was fascinating, he had time to read and tinker with his substances, and he was away from Baron and all his whining.

The organization had been functioning well enough to handle itself without his constant imput for a long time now, but old habits died hard, and Nicholas Harkin liked to be reminded why he was not the supreme leader of his own operation. Phone calls were fortunately brief and coded, and everyone mostly did what they had to do.

Then, there was the matter of his new task of keeping an infant alive. Surprisingly enough, Jimmy seemed to thrive in his dorm room. He slept, ate whatever was presented to him, and could keep himself entertained with colorful toys and the little attention Davyn gave him. During the lectures, Davyn usually took him along in a carrier and let him sleep there while various professors droned on. 

The baby ended up being a prop that brought him sympathy from staff and peers alike, so it turned out that his dumbass decision didn't ruin his life.

One day in December, as he was struggling to organize his study time versus his experiment time, Jimmy laying in his crib and babbling to himself, Davyn received an unexpected visit from Rachel and Simon.

"How...?"

"We spoke to Phillip, he told us where you were, and we decided to invite ourselves over," Simon said joyfully, pushing past Davyn and entering the room. "Nice! A dorm room all to yourself."

He couldn't be bothered to answer. His eyes were trained on Rachel's obviously pregnant belly. "Phillip didn't mention this."

Rachel let out a laugh. "I warned him not to. We've been planning to come and see you for months and I wanted to surprise you. Ta da!" She reached her arms out and twirled.

Davyn kept staring, a whirlwind of feelings overwhelming him. He was happy for his friends, but it reminded him too much of the betrayal he'd suffered. Darkness swirled inside him like an awoken snake.

"Oh my God!" Rachel shrieked. "You have a baby?"

This snapped him out of it. "I take it that Phillip didn't mention it."

"No, he didn't." She turned to him, worry in her eyes. "Where's his mother?"

"He doesn't have one. Just me."

"Crap," Simon breathed. "Did anything happen to--"

Davyn shook his head. A part of him wanted to tell them the truth, but he was sure explaining how he'd stolen his brother's newborn would not go over well. It sucked, but he decided to keep his friends and lie.

"No, nothing like that. More of a fling thing, and the mother didn't want to be in the picture."

"Oh." They both fell silent, watching the baby.

"He's very cute," Rachel offered. "Looks a lot like you."

He shrugged. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

"I'm sorry," Simon said, "but this is so shocking."

"Says the guy who sprung his own offspring on me. Congratulations, you guys."

"You, too." Rachel reached in the crib and picked Jimmy up. "Oh my God, you're so precious. What's his name?"

"Jimmy. James."

"You're such a well-behaved little gentleman, aren't you, Jimmy?" she cooed. The baby grabbed one of her flaming locks and pulled. "Ouch. Strong grip."

"How'd you guys manage to sneak here? I won't insult you and ask if you were followed."

"We weren't," Simon confirmed. "They've asked me to install a better security system for their servers, and I took the opportunity to badmouth you every chance I got. Rachel and I now officially hate both you and Phillip for your betrayal. But especially you. So they shouldn't suspect that we're keeping in touch."