Talking Turkey

 “I think Charley looks like he’ll be a better fit with the rest of the team than the other candidates we have,” Lee said, pacing in front of his desktop computer as he listened to the man’s voice coming from the headphones he was wearing. “Yeah, well, you know her parents haven’t signed off yet. We can’t assume yet that she’s going to come.”

Before the man could respond, there came a knock on his bedroom door. “Simon?” Watcher called in. “Your grandparents are here.”

Lee inwardly groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. 

After everything that had happened before his parents’ wedding, he wasn’t looking forward to seeing them again. He doubted he’d get out of answering at least a couple of questions he really didn’t want to answer. 

“Alright, I’ll be down in a minute,” Lee called back before turning his attention back to his computer. “I’ve got to go,” he said, sighing as he powered it down. “Family’s here, and unfortunately, I can’t get out of this. Keep me updated.”

He didn’t even wait for a response before hanging up, taking his headphones out, and tossing them down onto his desk.

Stepping back, Lee reached over and tugged on one of the books on the bookshelf beside him

A second later, the bookshelf shifted and slid into place in front of him, hiding his desk and computer from sight. He knew when he’d picked it that it was a bit cliché, but… he’d always kind of liked the old-fashioned passageways.

Once the shelf was back in place, Lee grabbed up his jacket off his bed and headed for his bedroom door. He opened it and jogged down the steps that led down from his attic bedroom to a small room on the first floor.

He quietly slipped out of the room, glancing around to make sure none of the family was nearby before heading toward the kitchen. The door closed behind him and blended into the rest of the wall.

Lee turned the corner leading into the kitchen and almost tripped over the pile of boxes sitting there. He growled and stepped around them and into the kitchen, where he found his mother running around trying to get all the food ready.

“Watcher,” he said, moving toward the counter and leaning against it. “Tell me again why you thought it would be a good idea to have Thanksgiving here when we only moved here two days ago?”

She glanced over at him and scowled. “Do I need help?” She tilted her head as if she was thinking. "Yes, I do believe I do. Thank you so much for offering!” she said before handing him one of the pans of food. “Just take that into the dining room for me, please.”

“Ich würde es gerne tun,” (I’d love to) he said, rolling his eyes as he took it from her.

She smiled and gave his arm a quick squeeze. “Dankeschön.”

“Ja, was auch immer,” (Yeah, whatever) he huffed, turning to leave and almost running right into his dad. “Papa, pass auf, wohin du gehst!” (Dad, watch where you’re going!)

“Oh… Was ist es?” (What is it?) Gregory asked, peeking at the food Lee was holding.

“Nicht Tasten!” (Don’t touch!) Watcher said, swatting Gregory’s hand away. “It’s for everyone.”

Gregory stuck out his bottom lip. “But I am one of those ‘everyones’ aren’t I?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You guys are crazy,” Lee said, shaking his head as he stepped past his dad and headed into the dining room, praying that he wouldn’t run into any of his extended family just yet. 

Unfortunately, it turned out this was going to be one of the times where his prayer wasn’t answered the way he wanted it. There, already sitting at the table was his youngest uncle, Jordan. Who was, in fact, only a year older than him.

“Oh, hi,” Lee said, clearing his throat as he put the pan his mom had handed off to him onto the table. “Are Grandma Esther and Grandpa Jonathan in the living room?” he asked, already knowing the answer, since there really wasn’t anywhere else they could be.

Jordan nodded as he eyed Lee. “Yeah, they are,” he said. “But I’m guessing you already used your little spy sense to tell you that.”

“First off, what is ‘spy sense’?” Lee asked, squinting at him. “And second, do we really have to go through this again? The reason those men took us before Dad and Wa… Mom’s wedding wasn’t because of me.”

He supposed now that his parents were back together, this holiday was bound to be at least a little bit awkward. And he really needed to be careful not to call her ‘Watcher’ around the rest of the family. That was just going to make them ask more questions.

Questions were something Lee really hated answering.

“So… they just grabbed us randomly?” Jordan asked, frowning at Lee as he bent forward in his seat.

“It does happen,” Lee said, shrugging.

Jordan smirked. “To you more than most, from what I gathered.”

Luckily before he had to respond, his dad and Watcher stepped into the dining room, carrying more food. “Hey, Jordan, can you go grab the pies Mom and Dad brought?” Gregory asked, nodding toward the hallway.

“Yeah, sure,” Jordan said, shoving himself to his feet and leaving the dining room.

“You know, you should probably just tell them the truth,” Gregory said, crossing his arms as he turned toward Lee. “From what you’ve told me, you already told them enough to have figured it out for themselves.”

“Then why would I need to tell them?” Lee asked, shrugging as he flopped himself down into his seat. “Besides, they still think that Uncle Jackson is an analyst, so…”

“Jackson does work for the CIA,” Watcher said, giving him a small smile. “You, on the other hand, should be in high school. I think it might be a little bit different.”

Lee sighed. “I just… hate having to answer so many questions,” he mumbled, knocking his head back against his chair. “And if I tell them the truth, they’re only going to have more of them. So can we please just keep them in the dark a little bit longer? Maybe until I’m eighteen and can legally join the CIA or something?”

His dad snorted as he sat down beside him. “Alright, Kiddo,” he said, ruffling up his hair. “If you don’t want them to know… about everything that happened, then we’ll just keep it between the three of us.”

Lee snorted as he bent over and rested his head against his dad’s shoulder. “I’m not sure it’s just between the three of us, but thanks.”

“Hey, fam,” Frank said, clapping his hands together as he and his family stepped into the dining room. “The party has arrived.”

Inwardly groaning, Lee scooted down in his seat and hid behind his father the best he could. His dad must have noticed because he chuckled before turning his back toward him and greeting his brother.

“I’m starving,” Frank said. “Are we going to eat? Because if we’re not, I’m going to eat all the crustless pie myself, especially if no one else wants any.”

Okay. Lee was pretty sure that was aimed at him. “Hey, Uncle Frank,” he said, sitting up and giving the man a small wave.

“Ah… if it isn’t my favorite heart attack inducing nephew,” Frank said, smirking as he stepped forward and gave Lee a playful smack on the back of the head. “Here you go,” he said, handing him the pie. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who eats it anyway.”

Lee grinned as he took it. “Thanks,” he said. “And I am sorry for, you know, what happened. I would have given you a warning if I hadn’t thought that you would have tried to stop me.”

Five minutes later, the rest of the family had gathered around the table. They said grace and started to talk while they ate.

“So… Why’d you guys wait so long to move?” Frank asked, frowning as he glanced over toward one of the boxes they hadn’t gotten around to putting away. 

It was strange for Lee to realize how different things would be now that both his parents were there. Before Watcher came back, Lee didn’t remember a time when there was anything out of place in their home.

He supposed it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

This place did seem more lived-in than their old house, though Lee was going to miss living there. He didn’t plan on telling his dad, but… he might have used some of the money he’d made as the Phantom Thief to buy the house, using a shell corporation.

But could you really blame him? He knew why they needed to move; too many people knew where they lived now. But that didn’t mean that Lee wanted to say goodbye to the only home he’d ever really had.

Lee was only brought back to the present when he heard his name.

“Simon actually just got back a couple of days ago,” Watcher said, cutting into her turkey. “We decided to wait until he could be there to move everything here. Though hopefully nothing will happen, and we can unpack the rest of the way.”

“Just got back, huh?” Grandpa Jonathan said. “And where have you been off to this time, Simon? I would have thought you’d gotten your fill of traveling when you did that educational tour of the world for… what was it? Two years?”

“Yeah,” Gregory said, nodding. “Though closer to two and a half years. The longest two and a half years of my life.”

Lee gave him a small smile. He knew that they were talking about the cover story his father had come up with to cover where he was when he’d disappeared to become the Phantom Thief.

At least it wasn’t exactly a lie. He had traveled the world, and it had definitely been educational.

“Well, it was nothing like that this time, Grandpa,” Lee said, eating the last of his pie, which he might have started on first, as he smiled at Jonathan. “I stayed in the good old US of A the whole time.”

“Oh?” Grandma Esther said. “Doing what, honey?”

“It’s not very exciting,” Lee said, shrugging. “I’m helping a couple of people I met while traveling start up a camp for young adults. Not exactly the funnest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s something to keep me busy.”

“Right,” Jordan snorted. “A camp for young adults? Do you actually expect us to believe that?”

Before Lee could respond, there was the sound of someone else stepping into the room, and Lee tensed. So did his parents, a second before the person spoke.

“No, please, don’t wait for me to eat,” he said. “I’ve just been traveling all day, I’m not hungry.”

Gregory laughed, and Lee felt himself relaxing as his father shoved his seat back and stood up before turning toward the unexpected visitor to their house. “Jacky!” Gregory said, stepping forward and pulling his brother into a quick hug. “What are you doing here?!”

“How’s my oldest nephew?” Jackson asked, stepping toward Jordan, and Lee snorted under his breath. It really had been a long time since his uncle had seen him, at least, that he knew of. “Man!” Jackson said, taking the seat beside Jordan. “You’ve grown up.”

Jordan looked at him and rolled his eyes. “You’re more of an idiot than I remember,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m your brother. Simon’s over there.”

“Oh…Sorry, bud,” Jackson said, slinging his arm over Jordan’s shoulder. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen either one of you, and you young people all look alike.” He turned and looked over at Lee. “Hello, over there. Good to see you too.”

Lee snorted. “Yeah, I heard. I’ve really ‘grown up’.”

Jackson grinned and shrugged. “What can I say? I am a horrible people person. So… what did I interrupt?”

“Oh, Simon was just about to deny being a spy,” Jordan said, smirking as he took a bite of his food.

Laughing, Jackson shook his head. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, Jordan. But the government doesn’t actually hire teenagers.”

Lee bit back a smile as he glanced at his parents out of the corner of his eye. Yeah… The government would never be that crazy. 

He didn’t miss the way his mother shifted uncomfortably, and for a second, he wondered if she felt guilty for recruiting her own son at barely thirteen. But he didn’t get a chance to think about it before Jackson spoke again.

“Well, hello,” he said, frowning as he looked at Watcher. “Who are you?” 

Giving him a small smile, she cleared her throat. “It’s good to see you again too, Jackson.”

He blinked, and realization slowly seemed to dawn on him as he crossed his arms. “Anastasia,” he mumbled. “The only woman who’s ever broken my big bro’s heart. What exactly are you doing here?”

“Jacky,” Gregory said softly, taking Watcher’s left hand and lifting it for his brother to see. “We’ve kind of worked through things. Well, for the most part. We’re still working through some things.”

“It would seem I missed a lot while I was gone,” Jackson said, shaking his head as he grabbed up a roll, tore a piece off, and looked around the table. “I’m not surprised that Diego, Niki, and Blake couldn’t make it. I can rarely get any time off these days, but… where’s Mia?” 

Lee grimaced. “That would be something else you’ve missed since you’ve been gone,” he said, giving his uncle a small smile. “Happy Thanksgiving.”