Chapter 14 

The two men stared at each other in total silence. 

"How the fuck did that happen?" Connell hoped he hadn't spoken aloud.  

"I never met him, Mars I mean," Rice (he still couldn't think of him as anything else) was explaining. 

"I lived with my mother on Bast until she died when I was about five. There was no-one in her family to take me, so Dad told me she sent a message to my birth father when she knew she was dying. Something along the lines of 'Surprise! Guess what? We had a baby!' I gather," Rice smiled derisively at himself, "Except he was already dead, he never got the message. My Dad got it instead. He had Mars' console unit and he saw the message. He came and got me, brought me up as his own, gave me a new name, adopted me. Not many men would have done that, taken the risk." Rice looked defiantly at Connell. It was obvious he was proud of his adopted father, grateful that he had taken him into his home.  

And Rice was the man he was calling 'Dad'. 

Connell couldn't help wondering if the Colonel had told him he was the man personally responsible for Mars' death. He bit down hard on his lips to stop from saying anything rash. He really needed to think this through. He was pretty sure Stefan had been told a different version of the events of twenty four years ago than he had. 

He couldn't imagine what on Earth had made Colonel Rice adopt the boy. Had it been something as petty as revenge? Surely not, that was carrying things to extremes. Perhaps it was something as simple as not being able to have children himself and taking one he could get. He doubted he'd ever know, Colonel Rice was hardly likely to tell him! 

He was as certain as he could be that his own father, Liam Connell, had known nothing about any of this. Otherwise he would have fought tooth and nail to adopt Mars' son as his own, they would have been brought up as brothers. God, now that was an awkward thought! He didn't feel at all brotherly towards him.  

Rice was still looking at him, watching for his reaction. "I realise it's even less likely you'll want any sort of friendship with me now," he added bitterly. 

"What on Earth do you mean?" Connell asked in utter bewilderment, jerked suddenly out of his musings about brotherhood. 

"You know, seeing Mars kidnapped your father, held him prisoner. Forced him to-" he stopped suddenly, maybe Connell hadn't told his son that detail, he wouldn't have if it had been him! He changed what he had been going to say. "Forced him to help him escape, from jail!" Rice was now glaring at him defiantly, getting agitated. 

"That's not actually true," Connell kept his voice as calm as he could. "That was just the story put out for the public. The reality was my father chose to help him escape, at the risk of his own career, his life even. They were close friends." 

He could tell Rice didn't believe him. It was scarcely surprising. The only people who knew the whole truth were Nicholas Mars and Liam Connell, though he suspected Colonel Rice had guessed most of it. He had simply chosen the most politic version to profess to believe afterwards, to preserve the patrol's reputation. 

"Is your father an om? Were they lovers?" Rice asked crudely. He was trying to find something that made sense of the different stories he had been told, but Connell was shaking his head. 

"No, they weren't lovers, just friends. My father is straight. He and my mother have been happily partnered for over twenty three years, I have two younger sisters still at home." He looked at Rice, trying to convince him. "I think you should talk to my Dad." 

Now it was Rice who was shaking his head. "I can't do that. I can't go behind my father's back, it would be like calling him a liar to his face." He dropped his gaze, searching carefully for the right words, trying hard not to be any more offensive than he could help. 

"I know Liam Connell is your father. I'm sure he's told you his ... his version of events, but have you considered that he might have done that to protect himself, and you?"  

"I suppose that's possible," conceded Connell equally carefully. "And I could say exactly the same thing to you." 

Rice looked startled for a moment before he rejected the suggestion, Connell could see it in his face. He spoke before the other man could start an argument neither was going to win at this point.  

"I guess we'll both need some time to think about that. I should get going, I'll see you later." 

Connell stood up and turned to go. Then he changed his mind. "My father would kill me if I didn't do this," he murmured. 

"What?" Rice asked warily, his shoulders braced defensively. 

Connell bent down swiftly before the other man could protest and gave him a fierce hug, holding him tight for a second. Rice went stiff with shock, he didn't even have a chance to push Connell away before the other man released him just as swiftly.  

"I know one thing," Connell said on his way out, "My Dad sure didn't call me Nicholas because he hated Nicholas Mars. In his own way, he loved him." 

XXX 

God that had felt good, thought Connell. He'd been wanting to do that ever since he first saw him. He wished he'd had the courage to give him a kiss as well, right on the mouth, but he was pretty sure that would have ended with a punch in the nose. As it was, he'd just have to remember the feel of his warm back through the flimsy gown, his cheek, slightly roughened against his own, his heart, beating wildly against his chest. 

Nicholas Mars' son! He still couldn't believe it.

He couldn't wait to tell his father the news. 

He wished fervently that Stefan would talk to Liam, his father, and the sooner the better as far as he was concerned. But he couldn't make him. He'd have to come to it in his own time, he wouldn't believe anything he was told by the Connells unless he was ready to listen. He'd have to listen to the truth eventually, wouldn't he? 

He wondered what Colonel Rice would say when Stefan told him his secret was out. He wondered whether Stefan had told him yet that he was actually working side by side with him, Nick Connell. He wouldn't be at all surprised if they had a visit from the Colonel in the very near future. 

Connell sighed, it seemed that history was in danger of repeating itself. Only this time around ironically, it was he, Connell the om who was falling in love with the straight man. He wondered if somewhere in the ether Nicholas Mars was laughing his head off.