Shades of Grey Chapter 17
Title:
Author: TalliW
Characters: Stephen Hart, Tom Ryan, Nick Cutter, James Lester, Abby Maitland, Connor Temple, Jenny Lewis, Oliver Leek, Lyle, Finn, Helen Cutter, Ditzy
Rating: K+, T in later chapters
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Lyle and Finn belong to Fredbassett.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the wonderful Fredbassett for beta duty.
Summary: Ryan has survived but he isn't the man he was. Can Stephen and Cutter manage to work together to help him? Perhaps Ryan has changed in more ways than it appears on first sight.
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16
Chapter 17
"Okay, Tom," Stephen said. "Here is some paper for drawing. You stay here with Uncle Jon until I come back. It won’t take long."
Ryan put his toy cars on the sheet of paper and shook his legs, dislodging more sand from his clothes as he did so.
Left alone with Lyle, Ryan regarded the soldier from head to toe, looking for something to occupy himself with other than just drawing.
"Uncle Jon, can I see your gun?"
"No frigging way, mate. The gun stays on the owner. Regulations."
"Have you often shot with it?"
"Yep."
"At people?
"If it was necessarily."
"And Stephen?"
"Don't think so. Cutter and Stephen already get concerned when they have to shoot an animal. Typical civilians."
"Did you kill people?"
"Look, Tom. This isn't twenty questions. Why don't you draw something?"
"I don't feel like drawing. I want to go back to the park. Bobby still has my Roadster."
"Perhaps Stephen will go back with you later, but for now you have to wait here."
"Can't we wait in the lunch room? There’s a vending machine."
"No, we can't. Stephen said to wait in his office. So we'll stay right here until Stephen comes back."
Ryan knit his brows. The other day Lyle had been so much fun. Now, dressed in his black uniform, he was strict and distanced. So Ryan made his displeasure known.
"Bäh."
Lyle couldn't believe that his former CO had just stuck his tongue out at him. Dumbfounded, he tried to remember how his parents had reacted in such a situation. His first impulse to answer in the same way seemed a little childish.
"My, what a long tongue you have," Finn said from the office entrance. "Can you reach your nose with it?"
The young soldier grinned when Ryan actually tried it but only reached the middle between his upper lip and his nose.
"No can do," Ryan declared. "Can you?"
"No, me neither. But I get pretty close."
To proof his claim, Finn passed his tongue above his upper lip and tried to make it touch the tip of his nose. He only missed his nasal septum by a few milimetres.
"Cool. Try again. Perhaps you'll make it."
Lyle rolled his eyes as Finn really started practising. Sometimes he seriously called the mental state of his team mates into question.
"Sorry, mate. Doesn't work," Finn apologised after several attempts.
Lyle already knew what was coming next when Ryan's eyes hefted on him.
"Forget it. I won't lick my nose. I'm not a dog," he declared quickly before Ryan could say anything.
"Leave him if he wants to be a spoilsport," Finn threw in rather unhelpfully as Ryan instantly picked up on the word Finn had used.
"Spoilsport. Spoilsport," Ryan intoned whilst jumping up and down in his chair. "Uncle Jon is a spoilsport. Spoilsport ..."
The look Finn received from the lieutenant didn't bode very well for his future. Still Finn couldn't manage to keep a straight face as Lyle showed that his tongue wasn't long enough either to touch his nose tip just to shut Ryan up.
"And that is all?" Stephen asked in disbelief.
The thin manila file didn't contain more than a birth certificate of a Tom Richards and the adoption certificate where the name and address of the adopting family had been blacked out.
Lester leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "That's all the official information I could get."
"That only confirms our assumption that he was adopted. And you’ve called me here for that? I hope Tom isn't too miffed about me pulling him away from his play. But thanks for trying."
"Stephen,you still have to learn a lot about government bureaucracy. I said that was the official information."
Stephen, his hand already on the door handle, turned around to Lester and looked him straight in the eye.
"Then what inofficial information did you get?"
"Take a seat and let me tell you a story. Cutter, you too. Seeing you slouch against my filing cabinet makes me think of a rebellious adolescent. Certainly not an image I want to conjure up."
Stephen followed the request quickly, eagerly awaiting what Lester had found out about Ryan's past. He motioned impatiently at Cutter who didn't show the same willingless to indulge Lester.
Deliberately slowly Cutter sunk in the chair beside Stephen, ignoring the scowl on Stephen's face and Lester's annoyed expression.
"Once upon a time there was a little boy named Tom," Lester started his tale. "He lived with his grandmother in a small house in the suburbs because his parents had to travel a lot on business. Tom loved his grandma very much and was friends with the whole neigbourhood, so most of the time he didn't miss his parents. Unfortunately his grandma wasn't in the best of health. So one day she had a stroke and half of her right side stayed paralysed. Unable to look after the boy any longer, she had to sent him away to a boarding school until his parents returned from their latest trip. But Mr. and Mrs. Richards never made it back home. They had a fatal car incident in Leeds. The news about the death of her only son and daughter-in-law hit the old Mrs. Richards hard. Her health rapidly deteriorated. She died of an embolism three weeks later."
"Oh God," Stephen gasped out. So Ryan had lost everyone he loved shortly after each other.
Without any reaction to Stephen's surge of emotion Lester continued.
"The boy wasn't informed until his parents and grandmother had already been laid to rest. The responsible social worker deemed it best to spare him the attendance at the funerals. So little Tom couldn't even say goodbye. He was six and an half at the time."
Stephen nodded sadly. He already had guessed the latter.
"The state placed him in a foster family. But the couple couldn't handle the emotionally scarred child and his abandonment fears."
"Was he abused?" Stephen asked tonelessly.
"Apparently not physically but there must have been some verbal abuse. In a short time Ryan turned from a rather outspoken child to a reserved, quiet boy without any real attachments. When the child protection people and the court finally got active and removed Ryan from that family the damage had already been done. Afterwards, he went through a few more foster families. He was either brought back or did a runner himself until he wound up with Major Gordon Ryan and his wife Lily. Tom was trying to steal their car and was caught by the major. Instead of handing him over to the police, they took him in and gave the unruly teenager a home. That's where the story of Tom Richards ends and the story of Tom Ryan begins."
"So they adopted him."
"Yes, they did. And rather fast, considering how slowly the mills of bureaucracy usually grind."
Cutter, who had been silent the whole time, cleared his throat. "Are his adoptive parents still alive?"
Lester gave a curt nod.
"Then we have to contact them."
"I was assured they have been informed about the situation."
"And where are they?" Stephen snarled. "It’s been more than two weeks since Ryan came out of the anomaly."
"They will return at their earliest convenience."
"Tom almost died and they haven’t bothered to come here?"
"There are more important things."
"What could be more important than their son?"
"Well, the safety of our country comes to mind."
Stephen's expression showed he couldn't care less about their country right now.
"Wait a minute," Cutter mumbled. "What does that mean? Ryan's adoptive parents are ... What? Some sort of secret agents?"
"I don't know what they are doing for a living, Cutter. There is some information not even I'm privy to," Lester admitted grudgingly.
"Great. And what now?"
"Until the Ryans return I have free reign where Tom is concerned. For now I want him to undergo a hypnosis session. I've called in a specialist who can help him remember. We need answers and fast. I hope that is all right with you, Stephen?"
With mixed feelings, Stephen nodded his asset. He knew Lester would go through with his plan no matter what he might have said.
"And what will happen to Tom afterwards ?"
"Well, that depends on what for answers we get. Should his regression into childhood continue, then placing him under supervision would be only be a waste of government resources. As long I have a full operational team at hand I have no objection if you want to play nurse for him in your freetime henceforth.
"Then it's good I have a nice list of babysitters at home," Stephen said bitterly.
Author: TalliW
Characters: Stephen Hart, Tom Ryan, Nick Cutter, James Lester, Abby Maitland, Connor Temple, Jenny Lewis, Oliver Leek, Lyle, Finn, Helen Cutter, Ditzy
Rating: K+, T in later chapters
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Lyle and Finn belong to Fredbassett.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the wonderful Fredbassett for beta duty.
Summary: Ryan has survived but he isn't the man he was. Can Stephen and Cutter manage to work together to help him? Perhaps Ryan has changed in more ways than it appears on first sight.
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16
Chapter 17
"Okay, Tom," Stephen said. "Here is some paper for drawing. You stay here with Uncle Jon until I come back. It won’t take long."
Ryan put his toy cars on the sheet of paper and shook his legs, dislodging more sand from his clothes as he did so.
Left alone with Lyle, Ryan regarded the soldier from head to toe, looking for something to occupy himself with other than just drawing.
"Uncle Jon, can I see your gun?"
"No frigging way, mate. The gun stays on the owner. Regulations."
"Have you often shot with it?"
"Yep."
"At people?
"If it was necessarily."
"And Stephen?"
"Don't think so. Cutter and Stephen already get concerned when they have to shoot an animal. Typical civilians."
"Did you kill people?"
"Look, Tom. This isn't twenty questions. Why don't you draw something?"
"I don't feel like drawing. I want to go back to the park. Bobby still has my Roadster."
"Perhaps Stephen will go back with you later, but for now you have to wait here."
"Can't we wait in the lunch room? There’s a vending machine."
"No, we can't. Stephen said to wait in his office. So we'll stay right here until Stephen comes back."
Ryan knit his brows. The other day Lyle had been so much fun. Now, dressed in his black uniform, he was strict and distanced. So Ryan made his displeasure known.
"Bäh."
Lyle couldn't believe that his former CO had just stuck his tongue out at him. Dumbfounded, he tried to remember how his parents had reacted in such a situation. His first impulse to answer in the same way seemed a little childish.
"My, what a long tongue you have," Finn said from the office entrance. "Can you reach your nose with it?"
The young soldier grinned when Ryan actually tried it but only reached the middle between his upper lip and his nose.
"No can do," Ryan declared. "Can you?"
"No, me neither. But I get pretty close."
To proof his claim, Finn passed his tongue above his upper lip and tried to make it touch the tip of his nose. He only missed his nasal septum by a few milimetres.
"Cool. Try again. Perhaps you'll make it."
Lyle rolled his eyes as Finn really started practising. Sometimes he seriously called the mental state of his team mates into question.
"Sorry, mate. Doesn't work," Finn apologised after several attempts.
Lyle already knew what was coming next when Ryan's eyes hefted on him.
"Forget it. I won't lick my nose. I'm not a dog," he declared quickly before Ryan could say anything.
"Leave him if he wants to be a spoilsport," Finn threw in rather unhelpfully as Ryan instantly picked up on the word Finn had used.
"Spoilsport. Spoilsport," Ryan intoned whilst jumping up and down in his chair. "Uncle Jon is a spoilsport. Spoilsport ..."
The look Finn received from the lieutenant didn't bode very well for his future. Still Finn couldn't manage to keep a straight face as Lyle showed that his tongue wasn't long enough either to touch his nose tip just to shut Ryan up.
"And that is all?" Stephen asked in disbelief.
The thin manila file didn't contain more than a birth certificate of a Tom Richards and the adoption certificate where the name and address of the adopting family had been blacked out.
Lester leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "That's all the official information I could get."
"That only confirms our assumption that he was adopted. And you’ve called me here for that? I hope Tom isn't too miffed about me pulling him away from his play. But thanks for trying."
"Stephen,you still have to learn a lot about government bureaucracy. I said that was the official information."
Stephen, his hand already on the door handle, turned around to Lester and looked him straight in the eye.
"Then what inofficial information did you get?"
"Take a seat and let me tell you a story. Cutter, you too. Seeing you slouch against my filing cabinet makes me think of a rebellious adolescent. Certainly not an image I want to conjure up."
Stephen followed the request quickly, eagerly awaiting what Lester had found out about Ryan's past. He motioned impatiently at Cutter who didn't show the same willingless to indulge Lester.
Deliberately slowly Cutter sunk in the chair beside Stephen, ignoring the scowl on Stephen's face and Lester's annoyed expression.
"Once upon a time there was a little boy named Tom," Lester started his tale. "He lived with his grandmother in a small house in the suburbs because his parents had to travel a lot on business. Tom loved his grandma very much and was friends with the whole neigbourhood, so most of the time he didn't miss his parents. Unfortunately his grandma wasn't in the best of health. So one day she had a stroke and half of her right side stayed paralysed. Unable to look after the boy any longer, she had to sent him away to a boarding school until his parents returned from their latest trip. But Mr. and Mrs. Richards never made it back home. They had a fatal car incident in Leeds. The news about the death of her only son and daughter-in-law hit the old Mrs. Richards hard. Her health rapidly deteriorated. She died of an embolism three weeks later."
"Oh God," Stephen gasped out. So Ryan had lost everyone he loved shortly after each other.
Without any reaction to Stephen's surge of emotion Lester continued.
"The boy wasn't informed until his parents and grandmother had already been laid to rest. The responsible social worker deemed it best to spare him the attendance at the funerals. So little Tom couldn't even say goodbye. He was six and an half at the time."
Stephen nodded sadly. He already had guessed the latter.
"The state placed him in a foster family. But the couple couldn't handle the emotionally scarred child and his abandonment fears."
"Was he abused?" Stephen asked tonelessly.
"Apparently not physically but there must have been some verbal abuse. In a short time Ryan turned from a rather outspoken child to a reserved, quiet boy without any real attachments. When the child protection people and the court finally got active and removed Ryan from that family the damage had already been done. Afterwards, he went through a few more foster families. He was either brought back or did a runner himself until he wound up with Major Gordon Ryan and his wife Lily. Tom was trying to steal their car and was caught by the major. Instead of handing him over to the police, they took him in and gave the unruly teenager a home. That's where the story of Tom Richards ends and the story of Tom Ryan begins."
"So they adopted him."
"Yes, they did. And rather fast, considering how slowly the mills of bureaucracy usually grind."
Cutter, who had been silent the whole time, cleared his throat. "Are his adoptive parents still alive?"
Lester gave a curt nod.
"Then we have to contact them."
"I was assured they have been informed about the situation."
"And where are they?" Stephen snarled. "It’s been more than two weeks since Ryan came out of the anomaly."
"They will return at their earliest convenience."
"Tom almost died and they haven’t bothered to come here?"
"There are more important things."
"What could be more important than their son?"
"Well, the safety of our country comes to mind."
Stephen's expression showed he couldn't care less about their country right now.
"Wait a minute," Cutter mumbled. "What does that mean? Ryan's adoptive parents are ... What? Some sort of secret agents?"
"I don't know what they are doing for a living, Cutter. There is some information not even I'm privy to," Lester admitted grudgingly.
"Great. And what now?"
"Until the Ryans return I have free reign where Tom is concerned. For now I want him to undergo a hypnosis session. I've called in a specialist who can help him remember. We need answers and fast. I hope that is all right with you, Stephen?"
With mixed feelings, Stephen nodded his asset. He knew Lester would go through with his plan no matter what he might have said.
"And what will happen to Tom afterwards ?"
"Well, that depends on what for answers we get. Should his regression into childhood continue, then placing him under supervision would be only be a waste of government resources. As long I have a full operational team at hand I have no objection if you want to play nurse for him in your freetime henceforth.
"Then it's good I have a nice list of babysitters at home," Stephen said bitterly.