"No way. No freaking way!"

Kyle had known a lot, so Snitch Gravel's story provided little surprises for him. The last part about Tom and Jimmy had caught him off guard, sure. But this? It explained everything and yet made him want to scream.

It couldn't be so obvious. So easy.

So silly, and senseless, and immature.

Freider couldn't have been right all along and this was nothing but a high school grudge over some girl.

Maxi's killer gaze moved from Snitch Gravel to him and her demeanor changed. For a moment, it looked like she would drop her gun in shock, but her grip tightened and she stepped forward.

"Kyle?" she whispered. Her eyes shone with tears.

"Hi, Mom. Yes, I'm still alive." Which was the least of their worries right now. A part of him wanted to go hug her, make her feel safe, but the problem was she shouldn't have been there to begin with, involved in all this mess. She was supposed to be the good, innocent parent. "What are you doing here?"

"She ran away," Jimmy answered through gritted teeth. "From safety and from her responsibilities. So of course she'd end up here."

Huh, Kay hadn't mentioned that bit. The rosy tinge of her cheeks showed she'd kept it out of their little catch-up session intentionally. Which means it was likely a lot more messed up than he realized.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"That's why you left?" Sam asked, taking one step forward, his fists clenched. "To play the hero? What the hell were you thinking? Do you know how hard it was for us to figure our what to do with the kids?"

"Don't chastise me, Sam," Maxi snapped, her attention drawn from Kyle. "I obviously made the right call! You need my help!"

"For what?" Sam yelled. "We're fine!"

"Fine? Have you seen your face?"

Sam winced, bringing his hand to touch his cheek. "That happened before we left. It's part of the reason we did. But can't you see we're not captured?"

Stupidly enough, Maxi did not seem to have seen that before Sam pointed it out. Her eyes moved from Sam to the empty cages around them, only then computing that they were outside. Just to drive the point home, Sam held up the keys and jingled them.

"But he... But..." Her shocked gaze moved to Snitch Gravel. "What are you doing?"

Snitch Gravel shrugged. "Having a nice chat."

"No!" Maxi's voice was filled with panic. "No, you can't! You didn't!"

"Can we get back to the part where we obviously all realized that Mom is your ex-girlfriend?" Tom asked. "Before she shoots you and we can't have the truth."

"Tom, don't be silly," Jerry said, his tone reasonable. "Mom won't shoot him."

Kyle wasn't so sure. Maxi's eyes filled with tears again and her weapon hand was shaky. All of a sudden, it felt like their presence was of little importance, that the remaining catalysts of their misfortune had finally met.

"What did you do?" she whispered. "How could you tell them something like that?"

"Isn't it true, though?" Sam pressed on. "Weren't the two of you together?"

Maxi glanced from him to Snitch Gravel, the panic morphing into confusion. "What exactly did you tell them?"

"A lot, but not everything. Funny that you'd show up just when your part came up." Snitch Gravel took a step towards her. "Maybe you could illuminate all of us."

"Stay back!" She made a nudging motion with the gun.

"Come on, Millie. Isn't this why you're here? To reconnect with your past?"

The name sounded so strange and yet so right coming from Snitch Gravel. Their mother seemed to melt the tiniest bit every time it graced the air, even if she did her damn best to ignore it. Kyle could see it in the way she moved, in how her spine seemed to straighten, in how her defeated posture seemed to turn into that of a warrior. Her hands stopped shaking and she stood tall, like she never had before.

"I'm here to get my kids back." She threw another fleeting glance to Kyle. "All of them. And to tell you once and for all to leave us alone."

"As Sam pointed out, they're free to go." Snitch Gravel swept his hand in the direction their mother hand come from. "But before that, they wanted to know why they ended up here in the first place."

"It's all your fault," Maxi said between her teeth. "You drove them to this, brought them here to toy with us, to..." She faltered as she realized her words made no sense.

"Actually, this one is not his fault," Tom said, "which is why I think he's right. You need to come clean or let him do it."

The shock on Maxi's face was somewhat hilarious. "You're siding with him?"

"Siding? We want the truth, Mom," Sam said. "And so far, he's been the only one whose story actually makes sense, the only one who treated us like adults who can know and judge for themselves. Why didn't you tell us he used to be your boyfriend?"

"Wha--?" Her gaze darted from Snitch Gravel to Sam and then the rest of them.

"We asked you if you knew him specifically," Jerry added. "You said you did, but left it at that. You even claimed that you didn't know Snitch Gravel's real name. It would've been the perfect time to give us the truth. It would have helped us understand."

"Yeah, Millie, why didn't you tell your kids the truth?" Snitch Gravel clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth, shifting his weight from the tip of his toes to his heels, apparently enjoying the situation.

"Stop calling me that! Stop--" She lowered the gun and stomped her foot. "That's it! We're getting out of here. Now!"

"No," Sam said. "Not without the truth."

"The truth? The truth is that he's out of his mind!"

"True," Snitch Gravel said with a shrug. "We were actually discussing why that is. How it came to it. The role you and Freider played."

Hearing the name of his father had Kyle realizing something he'd overlooked before because he hadn't even dreamed that his mother had such a big part in all of this.

Millie's disappearance had always been metaphorical and somehow it felt so weird that there was a parallel between Snitch Gravel's relationship with his mother and Kyle's own relationship with Kay.

Where scared, innocent Kathy had gone to leave room for Kay, Millie had dissolved into Maxi. Except in his mother's case, it didn't seem to be an upgrade.

"It's not my fault or Freider's that you were so obsessed with me," Maxi snapped.

Snitch Gravel raised his eyebrows, no longer looking amused. "Obsessed?'

"Yes. Isn't that what you call it when one person refuses to let go and stalks the other?"

"I'm sorry darling, but this was never about you. It was about them."

Maxi faltered. "What?"

"I never stalked you. I didn't even stalk Freider, though I'll admit I was tempted. I stalked your children. Because through them, I could see all your failures."

Kyle winced at the harsh insult. His mother, however, didn't seem to register it. Instead, she looked bewildered and confused. Maybe even a little disappointed.

"So you see, it's you who with the obsession. You who couldn't let me go," Snitch Gravel continued matter-of-factly. "You who still thinks I owe you something, that you could stop me single-handedly just by showing up. You are so sure that you're still the center of my universe that you dared come here alone to face me. Knowing, hoping I would never touch you because I still have lingering feelings for you. Now that's obsession. And speaking of of getting here..." He looked in the direction she'd come from. "Who helped you?"

Maxi blinked and for a moment she seemed to be taking in what he'd just said. Then, she frowned and glared at him. "Why do you always assume the worst of me? That I can't make it on my own?"

Jimmy huffed. "Seriously, Mom? Who was it?"

Maxi turned to him, putting her hands on her hips. "What did you say to me?"

"Be careful!" Snitch Gravel reached forward to grab the gun she'd propped against her hip.

"Get back!" She pointed the weapon again.

Snitch Gravel pulled away, his hands raised. "Maybe you should put that down before you hurt someone."

"Are you afraid I'd actually hurt you?" she asked, taking one step forward. "Strange. You didn't seem to think I'd be capable of it a few seconds ago."

"Oh, you're perfectly capable of hurting me. You've done it before."

"Like you haven't?"

"Strange. I thought all the screaming meant something else."

Maxi blushed furiously. "You did not just say that in front of the children, you pig."

"They're not children, they're adults. And I think they can figure out for themselves what sort of relationship we've had. There's only one type that leads to the mad obsessions you claim."

"They don't need to know about any relationship!"

This was getting out of hand. Kyle was half tempted to step between them and shake some sense into both of them. The resent was obvious. Unfortunately, so was something else. Even as Maxi threatened him with a gun, there was undeniable chemistry between them. More than there had ever been between her and Freider anyway. Which made absolutely no sense.

"Why did you do it, Mom?" he asked. "Why did you decide to marry Freider?" Just a few months after Snitch Gravel had disappeared, no less.

Maxi turned to him, her expression a mixture of defiance and fear. Then, it morphed into pain. "Why? In his story, did he get to the part where he abandoned me?"

"I never abandoned you," Snitch Gravel said, outrage lacing his voice.

"Yes, you did! You left and came back months later when it was too late." Maxi lowered the gun again. "I needed you so much, and you were aloof, and brooding, refusing to tell me just what on earth you were up to. I eventually found out, though. You were planning to blow up the school all along."

Snitch Gravel winced. "That's not true. I told you I wanted to surprise you. I went to Harvard and Princeton for interviews."

"You... You what? And that took you over three months?"

"No. I came back right after the fire."

"No. You. Didn't." Maxi's eyes filled with tears. "You have no idea what it was like. To be there in the middle of the riots, almost get trampled to death, the fire, being unable to breathe. I almost died! And you weren't there!"

Snitch Gravel took a step back, his eyes wide with surprise and maybe a bit of fear.

"It was the one moment in my life when I needed you most," Maxi continued, the passion in her voice all-consuming. "And as fate would have it, you weren't there. Freider was! Out of all the people in the world, it was him." Her voice cracked. "He was the one who pulled me out of the crowd when I was having a panic attack. He took me to the hospital, he saw to it that I'd be okay.

"And then to find out that it was you all along who planned that mess, who wanted to take that ridiculous Snitch Gravel to the next level. Who almost had me killed because of your pride and your sick ambition." She huffed and looked around. "Though I guess I should congratulate you. All your hard work paid off."

"No, don't do this," Snitch Gravel said between his teeth. "It wasn't me and you should've known that from the start."

Maxi scoffed. "Of course. Your friend took the credit and confirmed it! You were gone, trying to escape the consequences of what you'd tone. It's me who should've know better when you're the one who lied to me, refused to talk about what you were doing."

"I was protecting you!"

"From what? From you?"

They both fell silent after that and Kyle held his breath. None of them had let out a sound, allowing Snitch Gravel and Maxi to sink back into their past, have a fight that was probably long overdue. Maybe if they pretended they weren't there, the truth would finally come out.

"Yes," Snitch Gravel finally said. "From me and from the ugliness in my life. You knew I was damaged from the moment you met me. You yelled it in my face, if I'm not mistaken. And I never disagreed, never claimed to be proper or normal."

"Oh, bullshit. You just liked the power this whole Snitch Gravel persona gave you."

"I never denied that either. But, for you, I wanted to do better. That's why I decided to go to college like you wanted, leave that life behind. For. You."

Maxi looked away, the gun now limp in her hand. "I don't buy that. The moment you disappeared is too much of a coincidence."

"Isn't it?" Snitch Gravel's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "The coincidences are amazing. How it was Freider who found you in the crowd and saved you, how it was him taking care of you. How it was Fredier I ran to after I came back, frightened out of my mind. How it was him who told me to run, that I had no choice, that no one would believe me and understand."

Kyle winced. Yep, that sounded like conniving Freider. Send one away, take care of the other. Divide and conquer. No wonder Snitch Gravel hated him so much.

"But he claimed he believed me," Snitch Gravel continued. "He also claimed that he would find you and tell you that I was innocent, that I'd come back for you."

Maxi's eyes widened. "What?"

"Oh, yes. He must have missed that part. Let me guess. Instead, he told you what an evil prick I was and that you should stay away from me for your own good."

She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. "No... Actually, he didn't mention you at all. Just Snitch Gravel, but in passing. Because I didn't know." Her voice became so low, it was hard to pick up the last word.

"You know what?" Snitch Gravel insisted.

"I didn't know he knew you," Maxi whispered. "If I really knew who he was I would've never... But all your secrets..."

"Holly fucking shit," Tom breathed, "this is turning into a major soap opera."

Jerry shushed him, just as Sam waved his hand to keep him quiet. Kyle could get the need for side comments, but now was not the time. Not when they were finally getting the whole picture.

"Who cares?" Snitch Gravel snapped. "If it wasn't Fredier, it would've been someone else."

Maxi shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Isn't that what started this, though? That it was Freider? How do you think I felt when I found out?"

"How do you think I felt when I came home and found you pregnant?"

And that, as far as Kyle was concerned, was the worst bit of it all. It was strange to think that it was him this was all about and it stirred conflicting feelings inside him. Kay squeezed his hand and he looked down at her. She was staring and Snitch Gravel and Maxi, her face illuminated by an understanding that Kyle didn't share. What had she seen? And it hurt that he was too afraid to ask, worried he'd break the spell.

Maxi had no answer for Snitch Gravel's question. She just lowered her face and took it, the tears still pouring down her cheeks.

"Oh, boy," Jimmy said after a few moment of silence. "So this is it, then? Dad betrayed your trust and stole your girlfriend?"

Snitch Gravel turned to them, his gaze misty, as if he were still stuck in the past. He seemed to have lost all his energy while facing their mother. "Good enough for you?"

"Not even close." Jimmy hesitated a moment. "Not on its own, but combined with everything else you told us..." He let the sentence trail off, as overwhelmed as any of them.

"It still doesn't justify what you did," Jerry said for good measure.

"I never said it would." Snitch Gravel shrugged. "Some men are better than others. I mean, look at Herrison's son. At your father and at me. At your mother. All we know is how to destroy. You are the better ones, all of you. Able to forgive, to accept and move on. And I'm not going to deny that or even claim I'm in any way a good man. That ship sailed long ago."

That was true. It was a long and complicated history. Not that their life had been a walk in the park, but through every difficult thing they'd ever been through, they had something Snitch Gravel never had.

"We had each other," Kyle said. "We held each other up. You had no one."

"I thought I had Freider," Snitch Gravel said. "And I hoped I had Ron. But one pushed me over the edge and the other one needed saving. Then I had Phillip and Rachel and Simon. Until Rachel and Simon were killed." He turned to look at Maxi. "And at one point, I thought I had you. And that was the only time I truly believed happiness was possible. But you shut me out as well, left me, forced me to repressed in order to survive. I never had closure because I never knew why."

Maxi turned away, still crying. All the fight seemed to have gone out of her as their story reached its end.

"It's him," Kay whispered. "It was always been him, not you."

Kyle frowned. "What are you talking about?"

She turned to the others instead. "Don't you guys see it, too? We had it all wrong."

There seemed to be relief filling his brothers' faces. Before Kyle could ask, Jimmy's expression morphed into an exasperated one.

"I have a feeling this is not over," he mumbled. "Because there's one thing that Mom hasn't answered."

Jimmy was right, and it was the most obvious question. The rest could wait until this was over.

"How did Freider do it, Mom?" Kyle asked. "How did he get you to marry him so fast?"

Maxi turned to them looking exhausted. "He didn't. All he had to do was ask. I initiated it. I pretended to fall in love with him."

"What? Why?" Snitch Gravel asked in shock.

"Because..." She looked from him to them and all strength seemed to be seeping out of her. "Oh, God. What does it matter anymore? I've kept this secret for so long, it's destroyed everything. Me, my family, my life. And I can't even explain to myself why I'm so afraid to say it out loud now. After all, Freider's been dead for over five years and you all think the worst of me anyway. The betrayer. The cheater."

"More secrets?" Jessie mumbled. "Just great."

"Um, Kyle..." Jimmy said, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Hold on tight for this one."

"What are you talking about?" he asked looking to his brother.

"There's only one logical reason I can find to justify what Mom did," Jimmy said, his gaze moving from him to their mother. "And that's marrying Dad so fast so she could hide the fact that she was already pregnant."

"What?" Kyle and Snitch Gravel asked at the same time.

They both turned to stare at Maxi next who was gazing at her boots, biting down on her fist.

"But that doesn't make sense," Snitch Gravel said. "The math doesn't make sense. Kyle was a preemie. There was no way I could've been the father. Believe me, I counted!"

"He wasn't," she whispered. "I lied to throw Freider off."

Snitch Gravel shook his head. "I saw him when he was born. He was tiny, barely viable."

Kyle wondered how Snitch Gravel could throw all those rational arguments out there when his own brain seemed to have jammed. Was it still a wild theory Jimmy had dropped or had his mother confirmed it? He couldn't even tell anymore.

"I don't know what happened," Maxi said between tears. "I always wondered if it was God's punishment for my lies... But then again, it served my lies, made them believable."

"Are you saying...?" Kyle swallowed and shut his eyes, trying to regain his senses, to stop the earth from running out from under his feet. "Stop playing around. Tell the truth for once! Say the words!"

"You did not," Snitch Gravel said, shaking his head, his voice filled with muted fury. "You did not lie to me for thirty years over something this important. You did not let Freider abuse and mistreat my child. You did not allow me to hunt him down and nearly kill him so many times."

"I'm so sorry, Davyn," Maxi whispered.

And in that moment, everything seemed to break into pieces.

🧭🧭🧭

Oho, yes, so dramatic. We finally have Maxi's side of the story.

And the confirmation of your wild theories that, yes, made sense, and yes, were right. And with that, we get the second beautiful bomb of the backstory. Just one more to go. Will your theories be confirmed?

I surely hope you're enjoying this and that the reveals make sense and are satisfactory (and not lame).

In the next chapter, more bombs! And maybe some nice sappy stuff as well because I think you've all earned it.

Don't forget to vote and comment! And here's to more wonderful surprises.