Exerting all the considerable power of his mind, Ha'gel froze time for all those in the area. Staring at the human in front of him, he remembered the time ten years before when he had been trapped on this planet and had to merge unexpectedly with a new human host when his previous host started to have a heart attack. The merging had only lasted for a few of this planet's short daily cycles but had had unanticipated consequences. It wasn't till after his people had retrieved him from the place called Gettysburg that he'd had any idea how many consequences.
The human he had merged with - one of the ones frozen here now - had had an unexpected liaison with a female member of his species... a female that he had not planned to see again. The intercourse had been a strange experience for one of his race; strange, but not altogether unpleasant. He had put it from his mind when his people retrieved him from his field studies of the planet's inhabitants.
Had he known then that a child had been conceived that night he would never have left... could never have left. To leave a child of his kind alone in this world was simply not feasible. The child's heritage would necessitate training and care. The child could not be taken from this world permanently, it was of this world. Nor could it simply be abandoned. It was unthinkable for him to be able to stay with the child - his race could not merge with another species indefinitely - and the Council forbade him to stay. Humanity was not ready for his true form.
The Council had heard his plea, however. They had granted him one last option... an option not used in millennia... an option that they agreed that the situation on the planet called Earth warranted. That was why he was here.
He could - if the human father of the child agreed - carry out a full Mind Merge with the human.
It would alter the man's brain chemistry to an unheard of level for a typical human. The merging would increase the human's cognitive reasoning and reflexes. Empathy would strengthen in general, telepathic abilities would link him to the child, as and when the child's latent abilities came online.
Unfreezing only the stricken FBI agent, Ha'gel explained everything to the initially stunned yet slowly accepting man.
Ronald Sandoval looked from the glowing eyes of the alien addressing him and down to the gunshot wound to his chest that was clearly there yet was not bleeding him dry. The frozen tableau of the drug bust that had gone so tragically wrong was visible out of the corner of his eye. His mind raced with what he had been told... what this alien proposed to do to him, and why.
He had a child. Somewhere, he had child. With his divorce from DeeDee after seven years of marriage, he had given up the hope that he might find anyone that would want to start a family; especially not with an agent of the FBI that was notorious amongst his peers for his dedication to getting the job done, no matter the personal risk.
He had a child out there. A child that this being Ha'gel said was alone.
"How can you know that the child is not safely with its mother?" asked Sandoval.
He watched as the alien gave a helpless wave of his elegant silver-skinned hands. "I cannot define it for you in human terms; if I could do so, I would.
"The child's mind cries out to me intermittently... and, considering the mind is untrained, this power and range is remarkable. I cannot - what is the human term - 'home in' on the child, nor can I tell the gender of the child from the mind. All I can feel is sorrow and a profound sense of loneliness. I must assume that something has happened to the mother."
Ronald Sandoval saw the sincerity in the alien's eyes - at least, he thought he could, alien body language was not his specialty. He looked down at his chest again then back to Ha'gel.
"Let me see if I've got this straight. You want my permission for you to merge with me this time. You say the gunshot isn't going to kill me but, rather than heal me, you want me to be taken to the hospital. While I'm being operated on - and then recuperating - you are going to merge your mind with my own and trigger some changes that I will need to have in order to look after the child - if and when I find them. You won't stay longer than necessary to train me in my new gifts, that about cover it?"
Ha'gel inclined his head in a nod.
"Why don't you just merge with me and take me over like you did before?"
Ha'gel bowed his head briefly before meeting the human's demanding eyes. The man deserved the truth; after all, his earlier usurpation of his body had resulted in the conception of the child that now needed aid. In a soft tone, he related the ramifications - as listed by the Council - if he stayed in human form indefinitely.
"...The child is a miracle, but it is a miracle that should never have been. Even so, it cannot simply be abandoned. The Council has sanctioned this solely because it has a human parent that we can help to nurture it and aid it to develop. If you choose to accept our offer."
For a long moment, Ronald Sandoval said nothing, but there was really only one choice to make. "I accept."
Ha'gel bowed his head. "My profound respect and gratitude." He then grasped the agent by the hand and there was - according to the eyes of Ronald Sandoval - a brilliant flash of light, and then he felt himself spiralling into unconsciousness.
It was three months later before a quietly determined Ronald Sandoval, using both his own and the Bureau's resources, finally tracked down the child... a son.
Flying out to New York, he then spent two weeks impatiently badgering the city's Social Services departments to get the necessary interviews and tests done to see that he was indeed the father of Liam Beckett.
It was five weeks after initially flying to New York that the Social Services department invited him back to have a supervised meeting with the ten year old boy.
More nervous than when he'd single-handedly faced down three armed robbers, Ronald Sandoval walked slowly into a spacious lounge in the administration centre of St. Breda's Orphanage. Inside the room were three people; a counsellor from the Orphanage, an observer from Social Services, and a silently still little boy; shoulders hunched slightly, hands in pockets, staring out of the only window in the room.
Ignoring the adults in the room, Ronald Sandoval walked to stand close to, but not too close, to the boy. Unconsciously mirroring the boy's stance, Ron waited silently for the boy to acknowledge him. It took several long moments but he finally heard a nervous sigh, and he turned to see startlingly green eyes peeking up at his face from beneath slightly lowered lashes.
Softly, Ron said, "Hello, Liam. I'm so glad that I've finally been given the chance to meet you. My name is Ronald Sandoval. You can call me Ron, if you'd like to."
He shook the hesitant hand that was offered to him, and, smiling gently, he said, "Shall we go sit down and have a chat?"
The two professionals in the room watched with quiet wonder as the notoriously solitary and skittish Liam Beckett slowly relaxed and gained confidence under the patient handling and concern of the FBI agent.
The story of the sudden appearance of a man claiming to be Liam's father had ricocheted round the Social Services team which dealt with St. Breda's with surprising speed. At first glance it had appeared unlikely but the agent had been insistent. He refused to divulge the source that told him that he had a child, stating only that somebody he trusted had told him that it might be a possibility. He'd agreed to background checks, DNA tests... whatever it took. He held firm to his goal; he wanted to take care of his son.
The quiet conversation between the counsellor and the observer tailed off abruptly at the simple question that the boy asked, "Are you my Dad?"
Casting a quick glance at the observers in the room, Ronald Sandoval turned his full attention back to his son and whispered, "Yes."
The boy nodded and seemed to accept that. He then frowned sadly and said, "Then why didn't you come get me after my mother left me here in New York?"
Ron pushed a hand nervously through his hair and said, "Because I didn't know, Liam. I have no other excuse. I only found out that it might be possible that Siobhan and I might have had a child about six months ago. Around the same time, I was injured in the line of duty before I'd had the chance to start the search for you.
"As soon as I could, I began looking for you. I never stopped. I was so relieved when I finally traced you to New York."
It took a lot longer for the boy to digest this news, but, he eventually nodded and said, "Okay."
The meeting lasted another twenty minutes before it was time for Liam to head back to rejoin his year group for dinner. Standing hesitant at the door to the lounge, Liam looked back at the man that was his father and said, "Are you coming back?"
Sandoval looked at the Social Services observer and then at Liam. He said, "Yes, I'm coming back. I'll be talking to Social Services and to a judge... I want to ask to receive full and legal custody of you, as your father. Would that be all right with you?"
Smiling shyly, Liam said, "Yes, sir. I think I'd like that more than anything.
Sandoval smiled at his son and said, "See you soon, Liam."
Once Liam had gone, Sandoval turned to the woman from Social Services and said, "How do we go about this? I want him with me as soon as possible."
Three weeks later, Ronald Sandoval stood in the doorway of his former spare bedroom - now his son's room - and said, "Sleep tight, Liam. I'm right down the hall if you need anything, 'kay?"
"'Kay," was the sleepy reply.
Ron's hand was halfway to the light-switch when his son said, "Would it be okay if I called you 'Dad' sometimes, as well as Ron?"
Heart beating with emotion, Sandoval murmured, "You call me 'Dad' any time you want to, Liam. Welcome home."
"Thanks, Dad. G'night."
"Good night, Liam."
Half an hour later, Ronald Sandoval sipped reflectively at his wine. His life was going to be different now... a lot different. He had a son. He was a dad. That was going to be enough to be going on with, for now. His son's peculiar heritage would be dealt with as and when it became an issue.
Lips smiling against his wineglass, Sandoval mused silently. He wants to call me Dad. I never knew a word could have that much power over me. I'm a daddy.