Chapter Text
JB sighs, turning his Elucidator over in his hand, again and again. It would be so easy. He can just call them. Or even send them a message. He can do it through his Elucidator too, he doesn’t even need to get up and get a phone.
But something deep inside keeps stopping him.
They had known. Maybe not his sister, but certainly his parents did, at least to some extent. They had known he was adopted, and they most likely had known that he was, is, from the past. And they had never told him.
He doesn’t mind the fact that he’s adopted. He wouldn’t ever have. He cares that they lied to him his entire life. Plenty of people are adopted, it’s completely normal, he knew adopted kids growing up. But the feeling of betrayal he felt, sitting in that Time Hollow, watching what Mileva did, looking at Hadley because neither of them were adopted, neither of them had known one of them was.
JB hasn’t talked to any of his family since.
Footsteps make him drop the device into his lap, and he looks up, meeting Sam’s sharp eyes. The former Projectionist has a towel draped over his shoulder, and his hair is sticking up more than usual. JB can’t help but smile softly at the sight.
Sam could have just as easily changed the setting on the Elucidator, but Chase seems to be enjoying the little things of being human, and JB can’t be happier about it.
“Hey, Sam.” JB starts, getting the still-good-looking-even-after-a-shower man’s attention. “Can I get your advice on something?”
“What’s up?” Chase replies, plopping down onto the couch next to him.
“It’s family stuff.” JB explains, picking at a loose thread in the couch cushion as he talks, earning a slight frown from Sam.
“I can’t say I’ll be any help, since that subject is a bit outside of the realm of my expertise,” His friend begins, crossing his legs and leaning back, turning his face towards JB. “But I’ll do the best I can.”
“Thank you.” He replies, before taking a deep breath, preparing himself to speak. “It’s just, I haven’t talked to my family in months, since I found out about the adoption and that I’m from the past, and I’m really not sure if I should. They’re my family, but they lied to me for all my life.”
Sam sits quietly for a moment, his head cocked slightly sideways, seeming to contemplate what JB had said.
“Is the relationship you have with your family important to you?” The Projectionist asks.
“Well, yes…” JB answers, sounding more hesitant than he would have liked. “All my relationships in the present are important to me.”
“Why?” Chase presses, not sounding condescending or harsh, just curious.
“I only have so many people left in my life now, especially since Hadley stayed in the past, I can’t lose more relationships.” JB explains, running a hand through his hair, a gesture he does without really thinking about it, as he speaks. “And they’re, well, they’re my family, after all.”
“Does being your family excuse them for lying to you for forty some odd years?” Sam asks, blinking at him with eyes a bit too large for the question to not carry a hint of sarcasm.
“No, but they are my family, and I had good relationships with them all before this.” JB argues, even as the point the Projectionist brings up is the one he’s been fighting himself over.
“Relationships that were built on a lie, right?” Sam counteracts, although neither of them have any venom in their voices, or have even raised them.
“Not all of them. My sister is only a couple years older than me, so she wouldn’t have known, at least for a while.” He responds.
“Then maybe you should start there?” Sam suggests. “Call, what’s her name? Althea?-”
“Yes, her name’s Althea.”
“-Start with calling her, and then you don’t even have to talk to your parents again if you don’t want to.”
He’s right, and JB knows it. It would be easy to call her, and he does want to, but…
“What if she sees me differently?” He asks, his voice barely over a whisper. “If I tell her I’m from the past, that my being here is the result of someone illegally time traveling and barely avoided paradoxes, she might never view me the same way again.”
“And if you don’t tell her, would you ever talk to her again? Or would you just keep hiding here, not willing to face who you once were?” Sam asks gently.
“I’m not hiding.” JB argues, shifting uncomfortably at the assessment.
“Maybe you aren’t exactly hiding , but you are being avoidant, and I’m not sure that’s helpful.” Sam counters.
“Alright, fine, I’ll call her.” He gives, snatching the Elucidator out of his lap.
He does want to talk to his sister, and a part of him is glad he’s being pushed to it, but there’s still a knot in his stomach at the idea of it.
Sam places a hand gently on his leg, and his eyes are soft when JB looks at them.
“You don’t have to. There is plenty of time to do it later.” Chase says softly.
“I know.” He replies, his voice equally as low, as he scrolls through the Elucidator, finding the program used for calls.
He finds the contact for his sister, Althea Alice Amantha K’tah, and taps it.
“Hello? Alonzo?” Althea’s voice rings out into the room.
JB takes a deep breath in, preparing himself, and he feels Sam squeeze his leg, giving him silent encouragement.
“Hi Thea. It’s actually JB now.” He says, his voice sounding much more sure than he feels.
“Oh. Well, hi JB.” His sister responds, sounding surprised, but seemingly adapting easily. “It’s been months since I heard from you, and the Time Agency has been all over the news, what’s going on?”
This is it. This is his chance to tell his sister who he was.
“Most of what’s going on is classified information, so I can’t share it.” JB replies, one hand tapping it’s fingers against the armrest in a nervous tic. “But… that’s not why you haven’t heard from me.”
“Is something wrong?” Althea asks, concern dripping from her voice.
“I’m… Did you know I was adopted?” JB asks.
There was a long silence on the other end of the call, before he hears a heavy sigh.
“I didn’t know, but our parents said somethings that did make me suspicious.” She explains.
“And you never thought to tell me?” He asks, unable to keep the hurt out of his voice.
“JB, it wasn’t my place. What if I was wrong? You’ve been obsessed with time travel ever since we were kids, if you even suspected something of that sort we both know you would want to travel back to meet whoever your birth parents might be.” Althea replies, her tone bordering on pleading.
“But, Thea, I’m from the past and I didn’t even know it for my whole life , or what I thought was my life, which apparently is a lie.” JB says, and he can’t keep his voice from breaking.
“You’re from the past?” She asks, her voice full of disbelief.
“Yes.” He breathes. “Not by the company the Time Agency was working so hard to take down, but… Althea, I fought so hard to stop this exact thing, and it turned out I wouldn’t be here if someone didn’t mess with time.”
“I… I’m sorry.” She replies after a few beats. “If I had known…”
“It’s not your fault.” JB responds, running his hand through his hair again. “But I hope you can understand why I haven’t talked to any of you in… a while.”
“Yeah, I get it.” She replies. “But, I’m here for you, you know that, right? You can talk to me about this.”
“Yeah, I know. Thank you.” JB says, his voice soft, but less hurt.
“Of course. What else are big sisters for?” Althea asks with a chuckle.