Chapter Text
It had been a relatively normal day. They had a call for a car accident on one of the nearby highways during rush hour. Apparently, a piece of machinery had fallen off a semi and crashed through the windshield of the following car. Said car had swerved, hitting the cars beside it, causing a sizable pile-up, and a fire. Thankfully no one was fatally injured, but two drivers and three passengers were put in ambulances and sent to the hospital to be sure.
TK and Nancy had dropped their patient off with the nurses at the hospital and headed back to the station. That had been about half an hour ago, and, so far, they had received no other calls. They decided to restock the truck while waiting for the inevitable next call.
“You still having people over tonight after the shift?” Nancy asked while wiping down the side of the truck.
TK was sifting through equipment, “Yeah. Today is the only day this week that our schedule aligns with Carlos’s. And we didn’t all get to hang out last week, so I think it’ll be nice.” He climbed into the truck and started putting things away in drawers.
Nancy popped her head around the corner and looked at him with a smirk, “You sure you don’t wanna spend your only night together this week alone?” She wiggled her eyebrows and laughed when TK threw a pack of wrapped gauze at her.
“For one,” TK started, going back to work, “Yes, I am sure, it’ll be fun. And two, it isn’t like you guys will be there all night. You all usually leave by 11, and our next shift doesn’t start till 12 the next day.”
Nancy whipped around the corner again, “So you’re saying you are getting some?”
“Shut up!” TK laughed, throwing more gauze at her.
Nancy laughed, picking it up and throwing it back into the truck at TK’s feet. They kept working in relative silence. TK had climbed back down from the truck to sort through more things when he suddenly heard footsteps and looked up when Nancy spoke. A young, teenage, boy had stepped into the station. He looked fidgety and a little uncomfortable. His eyes darted around the station like he was looking for something.
“Somethin’ we can help you with?” she asked with a smile while TK shoved some things into a bag
The boys seemed to swallow before speaking up, “I’m looking for Mr. Judson Ryder,” he spoke fidgeting with his hands.
“Yeah,” Nancy said, “He should be around here somewhere.”
TK gestured behind them, “Yeah. He’s the big guy in the back reading the paper.”
The boy nodded, “Alright, thank you, sir,” and he darted off back into the station.
Tk looked at Nancy with a raised eyebrow, “Sir?” he mimicked, and Nancy laughed.
“Any idea who that was?” she asked, looking back at him as he walked away.
TK shook his head, “No idea. I don’t recognize him from any of our calls. Given that he called him ‘Judson’ I’m not too sure he knows who Judd is either.”
“Weird,” Nancy said, going back to cleaning the truck.
“Yeah,” TK agreed, “Weird.”
Judd was sitting at the counter in the kitchen, skimming through the paper, while Marjan and Paul were cooking, when he heard a quiet voice from beside him.
“Um, excuse me… Mr. Ryder.”
Judd looked up and was met with a young brown-haired boy with bluish-gray eyes.
“Yup?” Judd said, putting the paper down on the counter.
The boy cleared his throat, “My name’s Liam, Liam Dunbar.”
Judd’s mind clicked, “Oh, Liam, you used to run around with Garde’s little brother right?”
The boy, Liam, shook his head, “Uh, no. No sir, I-I don’t know who that is.”
Judd looked at him slightly confused, “Okay, what can I do for you?”
Liam looked around nervously, “Well I was actually hoping I could have a moment or two of your time.” He spoke quickly.
Judd’s interest peaked and he turned to look at him, “Yeah, okay.”
There was a moment of silence and Judd watched Liam fidget nervously before he spoke again, “In private.”
Judd looked to Marjan and Paul with a slightly raised eyebrow, they both just shrugged.
“Uh, yeah,” Judd gestured behind him and stood up, “Come on.”
Liam followed behind nervously. To Paul it looked as though he wasn’t really breathing, it made him nervous. He looked at Marjan. “You getting anything from him?” he asked.
“Other than terror?” She asked, chopping vegetables, “Nope.”
Once they were out of earshot Judd turned to look at him, a confused and slightly expectant look on his face.
Liam shifted on his feet, “Uh… sir it has come to my attention that, uh…” Judd crossed his arms over his chest, trying his best to look non-threatening so as not to freak out this kid anymore. “Wow, a lot tougher than I expected,” he said quietly. Judd raised an eyebrow, “Uh… well there’s no… easy way to say this, but I think… I think you’re my father.”
Just as the words left his mouth Liam heard voices behind him and watched Judd’s eyes dart to the sound. A woman was walking toward them pushing a baby stroller. The people at the counter crowded around her and smiled in greeting.
“Hi babe,” she said to Judd, and Liam’s heart plummeted.
He wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he walked in here. He hadn’t even planned what he was going to say. He just knew he had no other choice. He had to get out of the house. Away from his mother, and his mind only went to one place.
He’d found out about three months ago that she’d been lying to him. For 16 years she’d told him his father was dead, died in a car accident before he was born. However, as time when on he wanted to know about him, even if he wasn’t around anymore. He’d tried asking once, and his mom all but disowned him. She’d grabbed a vase from off the counter and thrown it across the living room, barely missing his head. He tried not to blame her. She’d lost someone she cared about, it could still hurt to talk about after all this time. But something about her outrageously angry reaction made him pause. It seemed, to Liam at least, that she had more upset about the idea of his father, rather than the question itself. He decided that if he wasn’t going to get anything from her, he could at least try and find out for himself.
He started going through old boxes, and photo albums. One documented his mother’s pregnancy and the first year or so of his life. He was flipping through the pictures of her, large pregnant belly, made obvious in a loose-fitting sundress. He went as far back as he could, but there were never any pictures of her with a guy, other than his grandfather, who was seen in some of the later ones, but he passed away when he was 7.
He assumed, at the time, that maybe when she had said he died before he was born that maybe it had been before she even knew she was pregnant, that he wasn’t in any pictures because he hadn’t known. The thought made his stomach turn.
He kept digging through the box, further and further until he struck gold. His birth certificate. His eyes scanned the page carefully.
This Certifies that Liam Geyer was born to Jane Geyer and Jud--n R-der at this Hospital Memorial Hermann Maternity on the 8th day of the 10th month, 2005.
Liam’s eyes stayed glued to the name that had been crossed out next to his mother's. Her last name was different, his was too. His last name was Dunbar, when had she changed it? He thought for a moment before going back to the name.
“Jud–n R-der…” He said under his breath, he couldn't quite make out the rest of the letters. He quickly pulled out his phone and took a picture of the certificate before putting it away in the box, as far to the bottom as he could. He tried to arrange it like it hadn’t been messed with and ran back up the stairs. His mother wasn’t supposed to be home for a while, but he assumed it would be for the best if she didn’t catch him searching through those things.
He sat on his bed and closed his bedroom door. He flipped onto the private browser on his phone and started searching the name.
‘John Rader’ came up first, but he was positive that wasn’t right, not enough letters, and he was positive about the ‘Jud’ in the beginning. ‘Jordon Ryder’ came up next, and while he was sure the first name was wrong, ‘Ryder’ actually seemed to fit pretty well with the scratched-out name. He ran with it but wasn’t getting anywhere. He decided, if not hesitantly, to add ‘obituary’ to the search. He didn’t see anything. He was about to click off when he landed on one that was about three things down. It was an obituary, but it was a different name, Chuck Parkland, underneath is what caught his eye. There was a little blue text that said ‘Must Include: Judson Ryder.’
The name fit, the letters and the age lined up perfectly, and he ran with it. He read about the tragedy. He learned about how he was the only one to survive the explosion. He learned that he was still alive, and he felt like his world had fallen apart. The last straw was the DNA test her ran. It confirmed what he was already sure of. His mother had lied to him. Maybe he was a bad person, maybe they didn’t work out, but she still lied about it all.
He couldn’t look at his mother for a long time. She seemed to ignore his aloof ness in favor of going out with her new boyfriend, whom Liam was fairly certain didn’t like him much. He tried to push it down, tried to pretend that nothing had changed. Judson didn’t even live in Dallas, he was in Austin. There wasn’t much he could do, and he wasn’t planning on doing anything.
Then, three days ago he came home from a ‘friends’ house to find her sitting in the living room, glaring at him.
“Where were you?” she asked, angrily.
Liam stiffened, “Uh, at Mason’s, why?” he lied.
She got up from the chair she had been sitting in and moved swiftly closer. She glared harder, “You’re lying,” Liam’s eyes widened, “You were with that boy again.” she paused for a minute, Liam was frozen in silence, “Get the fuck out of my house!”
“W-what?” Liam asked, eyes wide in shock and fear.
“You heard me, get the fuck out and don’t come back here!” She yelled again, right in his face.
Liam scrambled and scurried out of the house into the yard. The door slammed behind him, a minute later all the lights were off. He stood in shock on the sidewalk, looking back at the house.
He had been thankful he had his backpack when he was forced out. He still had his phone, laptop, and some cash. He also had his house key, so when his mother left the next morning for work he slipped inside and grabbed some clothing and a portable charger. He stole some food out of the fridge and booked it to the bus stop. He couldn’t call any of his friends, he only really had one, Mason. He didn't want to saddle him with this. He already helped Liam through all of his mothers other outbursts. Plus, this one felt more permanent.
He hadn’t really known where he was going at the time, but now, here he was, standing in front of his father, with about half the cash he had started with. He had felt so lost the entire way here, not even registering that he was making his way to Austin until he’d seen the welcome sign. He told himself not to get his hopes up, and thankfully he was pretty good at that. There was just a small spark of hope deep in his chest. One that told him that maybe Judson could help him, him nothing else.
But now there was a woman here, and he realized something that he had overlooked. 16 years had passed, and as far as he knew Judson may have wanted nothing to do with him. Maybe that was why his mother was so upset about talking about it. This man in front of him had his own life, his own kid, sitting in a stroller. He probably wanted nothing to do with him. But the small spark had more power than he wanted it to, so he stayed.
“I didn’t know y’all were comin.” Judd said, accent thick as he took off his glasses.
The woman moved towards him, a bright smile on her face, he couldn’t fault him, she was beautiful.
“Well, we thought it might be nice to surprise you,” The woman said.
“Well, this day is turning out to be full of surprises,” Judd said looking at Liam, “Liam this is Grace, this is my wife, and this is our daughter Charlie. Grace, this is Liam.’
“Nice to meet you, Liam,” Grace said with a warm smile.
“You too Mrs. Ryder,” Liam said quietly. He took a deep breath, “Well I guess I will leave you guys by then. Mr. Ryder, maybe we could talk about this some other time,” Liam turned to leave but Judd spoke up.
“No, I’ll tell you what, why don’t you stay right here, we’ll talk about it right now,” Liam turned back to him.
“Are you sure?” Liam asked tentatively, looking over at Grace.
“Yeah, I don’t keep secrets from my wife,” Judd said, something about the wording made Liam’s heart clench.
“What’s going on?” Grace asked, looking at Judd.
Judd shook his head, “Liam here seems to be under the misapprehension that, uh, I’m his… dad.”
“Uh, excuse me?” Grace said, eyes flicking between the two boys.
“Hang on, we’re about to clear this whole thing up. Because I think that if I had gotten somebody in trouble in the last 20 years I’d know about it.” Judd said, self-assured.
“Liam,” Grace chimed in, “What’s your mom’s name?”
“Uh, Jenna,” Liam said, “Jenna Dunbar.”
Judd shook his head, “I don’t know no Jenna.”
Liam thought back to the birth certificate, “Uh, actually, she, uh, she changed her name. It was different on my birth certificate,” he fumbled with his phone under curious eyes, “Jane Geyer,” he corrected.
Judd fell back against the tabel slightly muttering, “I, uh, I don’t know. I don’t know. How did you… how did you get my name?”
Liam shifted and turned his phone screen around, “My uh, my birth certificate. My mom told me you were dead but, uh, well I started to think she was lying so I… looked you up. This, uh, DNA site, confirmed it.”
“Well I don’t have my DNA on some website,” Judd said, matter of factly.
Grace paused him, “Yeah, you do,” Judd looked at her confused, “Remember after we got engaged we wanted to learn more about our family trees? I had you spit in that tube? That was it.”
“Listen,” Liam chimed in, “I’m not trying to blow up anyone's life. I don’t want any money or anything. My mom doesn’t even know I’m here,” ‘she doesn’t know where I am,’ was left out. “It was a mistake coming here like this. I really do appreciate your time. Alright, thank you.” He turned to leave.
“Liam,” Grace said, “Do you have any way for us to contact you?” She handed Liam her phone and he hesitantly types in his number. Judd still hadn’t said anything.
He nodded at both of them and turned to leave, not really sure where he was going now.
“Grace,” Judd tried.
“We’ll talk about this at home,” and she left.
______________________
Later that night the house was tense the minute Judd walked in. Grace was furiously cleaning , not even looking Judd in the eyes. Judd sat down at the counter with a heavy sigh, “You wanna talk about this?” he asked.
Grace set her mop down and looked at Judd, stoic face, “Give it to me straight Judd. What are the chances that you are that boy's father?”
Judd sighed, “They ain’t zero,” Grace let out a heavy sigh, “Now that was almost 17 years ago, and Jan-Jenna, she never said a word. We dated for a bit and then broke it off. It seemed to be mutual. She never said a word to me.” He repeated the last part.
Grace sighed, “I know I shouldn’t be mad… but I am.”
“That’s fair,” Judd said.
“It’s not. Who's it fair too? Not you. You didn’t know you had a son out there. That kid had to grow up without his dad. It’s not fair to him.” Tears streamed from her eyes, “It’s not fair to me. Please just. Give me some time to process this all.” Grace got up and left to go check on Charlie, and left Judd with a host of things to think about.
___________________________
Liam wandered the city. He stumbled into some cafe and sat down at a table in the corner, ordering an iced tea and pulling out his computer. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do now, but he figured if he ordered something every once in a while and looked like he was doing work the staff wouldn’t mind him staying around. Issue being he was running out of money, and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do when that ran out.
As if by some miracle his phone went off about an hour before the place closed.
Unknown- Hey Liam, it’s Grace, are you free for dinner tonight?
__________________________
Judd stepped into the house and saw Grace standing around the dining room table.
“What’s the occasion?” he asked, seeing all the food she had made.
“Family dinner,” she said, turning to look at him, “I say we got some things to talk about, wouldn’t you?” Judd nodded and gave a small ‘Yeah’, “I know you’re a good man Judd, and you’re going to do right by that boy because he’s your family, and that makes him my family.”
“Did I ever tell you that marrying you was the smartest decision I ever made,” Grace laughed.
“Maybe just once or twice,” she said.
Judd looked down at the table, noticing the three plates.
“Get changed,” Grace said, noticing his gaze, “We’ve got company.”
__________________
Liam’s hands shook as he stepped up to the front door, he’d walked most of the way here, taking the bus when he could. He was tired, and in the same clothes that he was wearing earlier in the day. He didn’t have any nicer ones with him.
He took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell and stepping back.
Judd heard the doorbell ring and made his way into the main room, Grace was still setting the table so Judd moved to the door. He took a deep breath before pulling open the door. Liam, who hadn't been looking at the door, whipped his head to look at him when the door opened.
“Hey Mr. Ryder,” Liam said tentatively.
Judd smiled a little and gestured for him to come in, “Hey kid, you can call me Judd by the way.”
Liam nodded and stepped inside.
“Hey Liam, how are you?” Grace asked.
Liam smiled nervously at her, “I’m good thank you.” He wasn’t sure what to do with his backpack. He just kept it secured around his shoulders as he stepped forward.
As if reading his mind Grace gestured to his back, “You can leave your back by the door if you’d like.” Liam nodded and did so, then he moved to the only seat neither of them were near, and they all sat down.
Liam shifted uncomfortably before choking out, “Thank you, for-for inviting me.”
Grace smiled kindly at him, “Of course. I think we can all agree this is a bit weird, and I’m not quite sure where we should start with all of this.”
Judd nodded along with her words, “Yeah, kid, you uh, you said yur mom told you I was dead, right?”
Liam nodded, “Yeah I asked her about you, well about my father a few months ago and she kinda… freaked out on me a bit. She’d been saying you were dead for years but I just wanted a general idea y’know?”
“Can’t fault you for wantin’ to know. What do you mean she ‘freaked out,’ though? Like specifically what did she say?” Judd asked, taking a sip of water.
Liam stiffened at his words and apparently he hadn’t hidden it very well because suddenly they were both looking at him with concerned expressions on their faces. “She, uh,” he started, “She just kind of yelled a lot, I guess.”
“You guess?” Judd asked.
Liam nodded.
“Listen kid,” Judd said, and Liam started to prepare for the worst, “I don’t know exactly what’s gonna happen from here, but startin’ out with lies ain't no way to get to know someone better.”
Liam’s face reddened and he looked down a little, “Sorry,” he muttered quietly. It was silent for a moment while Liam took a deep breath, “She, uh, got really mad… she… reached for this glass vase we had on an end table in the living room,” he made a gesture with his hands, mimicking the moment while imagining it, “She, um, she threw it at me. It didn’t hit me!” He said the last part quickly, “It missed me and hit the wall.”
Judd sat there suddenly furious. He didn’t know this kid, not very well anyway, and regardless of him being his son he was still furious that anyone would do that to a kid. And for what? Asking a question you didn’t want to answer because you’d been lying to them their entire life?
Grace and Liam both noticed Judd’s firm grip on the glass he was holding, his knuckles whitening. Grace placed a gentle hand on his knee to get him to calm down.
“You said this was a few months ago, yeah? What happened between now and then?” Grace asked calmly.
Liam explained his curiosity and his suspicion. He explained his rummaging and the Google searches. He chose to end it after he did the DNA test. Grace and Judd just listened as he explained. When he stopped talking Judd seemed to pick up on his abrupt ending. One that didn’t explain why he was here.
“So you found out officially months ago?” Liam nodded, “So why now?”
Liam’s leg started to bounce nervously, “It’s not really a big deal, um,” Liam tried to think quickly, “She, uh my mom, found out about me looking into you, she, uh, she kicked me out.”
Judd was livid and Grace was shocked, “Ur mama kicked you outta her house?” Judd asked in clarification.
Liam nodded. Judd clenched his jaw.
“When?” Grace asked.
“Sunday night,” Liam responded, clenching his hands under the table.
“Where the hell you been stayin’ since then?” Judd asked.
Liam looked away again.
“Liam,” Judd said, his voice was stern, fatherlike, he guessed, “Where you been stayin’?”
Liam took a deep breath, “I didn’t really have anyone-”
Judd got up from the table and went to grab his phone.
“W-what are you doing?” Liam asked, Grace was just waiting for Judd to answer.
“Callin’ a buddy a mine, he’s a cop,” Judd responded, looking for teh contact.
“No, no, no, no, no,” Liam stood up from the table, “please don’t!”
“Liam,” Judd said, frustrated, “She’s been abusive to you, and kicked you outta your house!”
“Please!” Liam begged, suddenly his voice cracked and tears welled in his eyes.
Grace reached out to comfort him, “Oh sweetheart I’m sorry. Judd,” she said calmly, “put the phone down.”
“Grace I-”
“I know Judd, and we’ll deal with that later but right now, it’s late, I’m hungry, and I think we all have a lot to process,” she stroked a gentle hand over Liam’s shoulder and moved to put some food on his plate.
They all ate in a thoughtful silence.
Judd didn’t say much else before going to bed.
Grace helped Liam in the guest room, she got him a toothbrush and some shampoo in case he wanted to shower, which he was grateful for seeing as it had been a while since he had. She did her best to comfort him.
“Liam, sweetheart, no matter what happens, you’re always welcome to stay here, alright?”
Liam nodded, “Thank you.”
Liam passed out the second his head hit the pillow.
Grace went into their room and sat down next to Judd, who had apparently just been thinking for the last ten minutes. She rested her hand on his shoulder.
“What are we gonna do Gracie?”
“Whatever he needs us to do.”