Generation 4, Chapter 15: Keep your chin up, boy!

It was happening. It was finally happening. For Mitchell's part, I was nervous.

Just a few days after his conversation with me, he got my father on the phone, and confessed his love to my sister and the wish of marrying her. Of course, Richard Jackson was never one to communicate over the phone, and wanted to meet Mitchell in person. However, with the weather conditions being horrible, none of us could drive to Lucky Palms. 

The only solution was a video chat on Skype...and that was one entertaining afternoon.

My father's nose was extremely close to the web camera, as he had tried to get the best view of Mitchell. It was the most threatening look he had ever gave someone.

"You say you want to marry my daughter, puny boy?" For a man that had kept a business-like posture his entire life, it was both strange and hilarious to hear him speak like a true barbarian. At least, to me, it was hilarious. Mitchell was a bit too shaken up to find anything funny at that point.

"U-uh, y-y-yes sir...," Mitchel stuttered out an answer, looking everywhere except at the screen.

"Why are you rambling like a complete idiot, boy? Do you have a speech problem?" my father had fumed.

"Richard!" I heard my mother's all-too-familiar-disapproving tone in just one word. "Don't you understand this is hard for him? It's not like you ever asked my father..."

That had put my father in his place, and after that, he was a lot more negotiable.

Like a complete fool, I stood at the window and peeked at the proposal taking place. I felt like it was my duty, in my father's absence, to see that things go smoothly.

But the urge to jump in and hug my sister, to protect her from someone else, was getting too strong.

"Daniel Grayson Jackson, what on earth are you doing at that window?!" Vala called from the kitchen, hands on her hips, with a irritated look on her face. "Are there naked old ladies walking down the road? You should be ashamed for looking at them. They're not in control of their minds anymore...they say amnesia is a terrible thing..."

"Oh God...," clasping my hand in front of my eyes, trying to contain the laughter that was itching to erupt, I moved to the kitchen, hugging her around the waist from behind as she had turned away from me, subtly planting a kiss at her neck. "For your information, Mitchell is out there in the cold, proposing to my little sister."

"Ah...," she nodded knowingly. "The big brother attitude kicking in, huh?"

"Pretty much."

"Good luck with that."

I sighed, sparing one last look at the window before turning to the staircase. "I'm gonna head to bed. Enjoy your dinner."

That ended up being a lie. As soon as I got to the main bedroom and saw my laptop open at my researching page, I forgot all about sleep and clambered behind the screen.

Hours could have passed, but I was oblivious to most of it, until Vala peeked into the room with a raised eyebrow, all dressed up and ready to go to bed. "I thought you would be sleeping by now?"

"Yeah... I remembered I had some, uh, work to do for tomorrow. You know how hectic a journalist's career can be."

She frowned, and hesitantly went to sit down on the bed. "No, I don't, so please, enlighten me."

Despite the impression she gave people, Vala was really smart, and could usually figure out when someone was lying to her. When she suspected someone of being a liar, she went into full hunter mode, bombarding the individual with questions. I was rather afraid that was going to happen to me.

But I couldn't tell her what I was up to. Not yet.

After Sarah's mother had come all the way to Sunset Valley to incriminate her husband, I nearly became obsessed with finding out all about Oscar McMullen and his lawless activities.

It seemed like mister McMullen was quite good at hiding what he does. If it weren't for the top given by his wife, I would never have guessed what he was capable of.

From what I could find online, he was the head of O.M. Industries, an engineering group that have thousands of registered patents, all contributing to the latest age of communication. What the articles didn't say, was that he had to resort to sinister ways to stay ahead of other companies like his one. On the "about" page of his website, the graphs he had on display showed just how successful he was because of the criminal activities done in the background.

"Daniel?" from the sound of her voice, it was obvious she was getting impatient. "I'm waiting for an answer..."

"Tell you what," after quickly bookmarking the page I was viewing, I closed the laptop and went to sit by her. "Let's go down to the beach tomorrow and chat a bit about all of this, okay? It's really important..."

"Sounds...serious. Daniel, you didn't join any kind of weird cult, did you?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow."

"Okay...," she relented. "Just know that after you've confessed, I have some important news to share as well."

Those words troubled me the entire night, even lingering in my dreams.

When the sun peeked over the horizon, it filled me with the strength to tell Vala the truth about my research. However, as soon as the dark clouds started to swoon in the sky, my courage turned to dust.

Even with the heavy rain, Vala was persistent, and wished to walk down to the beach with me. I dared not deny her request.

Sunset Valley was still new to me in so many ways, especially the neighborhood. To be able to walk around rather than ride in a car all over town, was an enjoyable experience.

"Are you finding this-"

"-magical?" her eyes darted in my direction, face alight with joy. "It's really beautiful here. I think I'll stick around here a bit longer..."

It dawned on me suddenly: That had to be the news she wanted to share. She was going on the run again...but why?

"I think it'll stop raining in a bit, don't cha think?" she turned to me, pointing with her umbrella up at the sky. Her hunch had some merit. The sky was clearing up, and the sun was finally peeking through.

"The weather? Really, Vala? That has got to be the worst opening line to a conversation ever. Whatever is on your mind has got to be a lot more serious than what I have to tell." I chuckled as I spoke, but inside, I was so nervous, I could have had a stroke.

"For the love of all that's holy, Daniel, just spit it out already! I can't come up with any way to ease into the topic, so please, help me out."

"Fine. You asked for it..."

"Yes, I did, so would you-"

"Your previous so-called boss was my fiancée's father. He had her killed."

She gasped quietly and her eyes widened momentarily before being replaced by a mixture of angst and anger. "What?" she choked.

"The head of this crime syndicate's name is Oscar McMullen. His wife sold him out, and she asked me to get revenge, for her sake, for Sarah's...but also for everyone who has had to suffer because of him."

"I... I don't know what to say..." She stepped back, her hand desperately covering her mouth. With Vala, it was always calmest before the storm. For a moment she would be sad, but in the end...

Her eyes flashed with new found confidence and vengeance. "I'm in. Whatever revenge will be taken, I am so gonna a part of it. You need me, really. I have knowledge of the stuff that goes on in there and-"

"Vala, you had me at 'I'm in'. Of course I'll let you help."

Seemingly satisfied with the answer I gave her, she turned to the ocean, picking up a stone from the sand and flicking it across the water. "This kind of ruins what I wanted to tell you..."

"How so?"

"Because you're gonna worry your ass off and keep me out of the fun."

No response. Instead, she ran across the beach and retrieved a float from under a lounge chair and ran back to me. Her strange behavior didn't bother me, until she started undressing into her underwear.

"Uh, Vala..."

"I know, I know, it's raining! But you know what? I don't care!" she yelled, and skipped through the shallow waters with the float in her hands.

"You're absolutely crazy!" I yelled back at her as soon as she started lounging in the deeper waters, looking rather proud of herself.

"And don't you forget that!" I heard the faint answer. "Hey, come and join me. That is, if you have the guts to face the cold..."

That was the card she always pulled in a conversation. Playing on the fact that a guy had to defend his honor...it always worked on me, sadly.

"If my clothing gets stolen, you're buying me some new ones!"

"Fine! Now get over here, for Pete's sake."

The rain did a fair job of flattening my hair against my head before the ocean's water could even try. Just as I was close to Vala, the last drizzle of rain disappeared.

"Just my luck...," I muttered.

"Huh?"

"Never mind... So what did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, nothing too big. I have a suspicion that I might be pregnant, which some might think is really serious."

It was hard for me to remain floating in the water. "What?" I echoed her reaction from earlier. "Vala... That's BIG news."

After the shock, other signals popped up in my head. What was I thinking? The baby wasn't mine, probably. We had only been together for a short while, and before that time, she had ample time to explore her other options. So determining the identity of the father could be like searching for a needle in a haystack of infinite size.

"Well, I don't know how to react, to be honest... I wasn't expecting this to happen."

"Oh... I see. So, what are you gonna do about it? How're you gonna contact the father?"

Having turned away from her, I could not see the reaction on her face, but the way she inhaled a deep breath, she did not seem happy with my question. "Daniel, there's no doubt in my mind that you're the father. I wasn't with anyone else in that time frame... Oh, you're so cute when you're worried!" she chuckled, and continued to relax.

If I had been sitting in a chair, I would have leaned against it for support, because all my muscles felt like jelly. I was going to be a father.