. 02

[pre-story]Content Warnings: Unrealistic anatomy, incest

Disclaimer: All characters are 18+

William's introduction to the Johnson family continues as he tells his story and receives some startling revelations in turn. As always, I hope you enjoy![/pre-story]

Daddy's Home: New Life; Chapter 1, Part 2

"Please close the door behind you, Mr. Thomas, and take a seat." Kanae directed as she walked around her desk, a sleek, ergonomically-curved surface of matte white plastic supported by slender metal legs, and settled into her chair, similarly minimalist but ergonomic in design. Will did as he was told, closing the office door, despite feeling like he was sealing himself in, and moved to settle into the chair directly across the desk from her. It felt small, confining, and he tugged at his collar once more. Kanae set her tablet into the stand resting on the desk in front of her, wordlessly studying and tapping at the screen for a few moments before looking up once more and fixing her gaze on Will.

"I'd like you to confirm our information is accurate, for our records." She spoke, then looked back to her screen. "Your name is William John Thomas, you're currently thirty two years old, and were born on October twentieth, two thousand forty-four. Your father was Jonathan Thomas, born April eighteen, two thousand and fifteen, and passing away on June sixth, two thousand and sixty. Your mother was Abigail Thomas, born January 8th, two thousand and twenty-four, and passing away on November first, two thousand fourty-four." She read the names and dates clinically, before looking up once more. "Correct so far?"

William nodded. "Yeah. I mean... it all sounds right. I don't really remember the exact days, you know?" He replied.

"Understandable. Now, Mr. Thomas, was your father was adopted?"

"Uh, yeah, he mentioned it, but he didn't talk about it much."

"Again, understandable. Now, my records show you received a bachelor's degree in physical education, after which you began work at Nabokov High School as a physical education instructor, and were appointed as coach of both the football and wrestling teams. Your tenure was uneventful until six months ago, when you abruptly resigned. Further investigation reveals a campaign by the local PTA claiming you... assaulted one of your students and urging the administration to fire you. There are some some conflicting claims on social media, however, and there was never a formal lawsuit filed against you." She paused a moment, and slid the tablet aside, folding her hands and leaning forward onto the table and leveling a very intense stare at him. "Can you clarify the events surrounding this incident for me?" She inquired, her tone level, but very serious.

Will winced as the subject was brought up, tugging nervously at his collar. "I... Okay. So. One of the other teachers, Ms. Gill, invited me out to the bar to celebrate the wrestling team making state championships. We had a couple drinks, but then some guy started buying her drinks and I told her to go have some fun. Then, this girl came up to me and started hitting me. She looked a little young, but she says she's 21, plus, this is in a pretty nice bar, and when she got carded by the bartender, there was no trouble, so I had no reason not to believe her. Plus.. I admit, it was a little flattering. So, we ended up hooking up." He began.

"It's only the next morning when she stepped out of the shower without her makeup and extensions on that I recognized her as one of my students, Rebecca White. She was 18, and it was all consensual, but it's still Not Good to sleep with a student, right? She says she knows she shouldn't have been in there, or drinking, but she swears it was harmless fun, just a one-time thing, she's never going to do it again, and she promises she's not going to tell anyone, she's really good at keeping secrets, et cetera. And again, I had no reason not to believe her." He continued, shaking his head.

"I'm starting to relax a little bit after about two weeks, thinking it might have just blown over, but then I got a call from the principal. Karen White was waiting in his office, and once I showed up, she started screaming and howling about how I attacked her little girl, threatening to file charges for assault, rape, corruption of minors, anything and everything she can think of, and to sue the school for allowing it all to happen. Rebecca was there, too, just sitting in the corner, staring at the floor, looking horrified and ashamed. After about three hours of being unable to get a word in edgewise, she finally stormed off, and I could actually explain the situation to the principal. He seemed relatively supportive, which was a relief."

Will paused a moment and heaved a sigh before continuing. "The next morning, I got woken up by the police hammering on my apartment door. Karen had filed charges. I spent the day in lockup until school was over and Ms. Gill had the chance to come bail me out. Within days, the whole school was buzzing about it, and by the end of the week, the principal told me I could either resign immediately or he'd have no choice but to fire me, that the school couldn't take this kind of publicity, and Karen was still threatening to start suing the school over this. So, I quit."

"It took nearly four months to get out from under the accusations. Things were looking pretty grim until Rebecca stood up to her mother and testified on my behalf. The state doesn't require the victim to be the one to press charges, so the trial wasn't over, but Karen had to spend the rest of the trial trying to convince the jury that Rebecca was lying, that I'd threatened or coerced to intimidated her into her statements, somehow. Eventually, though, the jury sided with me, and I managed to avoid both jail time and the sex offender registry. Karen appealed the verdict four times, before a higher court judge ruled the matter closed and had the whole thing stricken from the record. But by then, between living expenses and court costs, I was running out of savings, and the whole time, Karen had kept up her campaign against me on social media. I've been trying to find a new school to work at, but nobody wants to hire a guy with a reputation like this following them..."

Kanae looked thoughtful for a long moment as Will finished his story. "...Your story matches up with what I've been able to uncover. I'm inclined to believe you. You understand my caution when it comes to these matters, I trust."

Will sighed. "Yeah, I get it." he muttered, shaking his head slightly. "I wouldn't want to deal with me if I'd actually done the shit she claimed, either."

Kanae straightened up again and cleared her throat. "Now, as to why I called you here initially... for the record, Richard Johnson is a beloved figure around here. He's either father, grandfather, or great-grandfather to approximately eight thousand people, most of whom live within the city limits of Hartwood, myself included." She explained, then paused for a moment.

It was a well-deserved pause, as William stared, open-mouthed, as his mind tried to wrap around what he'd just learned. Eight THOUSAND? How was that possible? His expression turned to one of disbelief.

"I assure you, we are diligent with our records, there's no miscounting. Three generations, all with abnormally high fertility, remarkably high birth rates, and a multiple birth rate triple the national average... Granted, our sample size is still limited but it's a fascinating trend..." She explained, her normally-level voice growing excited for a moment, before she paused, clearing her throat and straightening up in her seat again before she began to speak again.

"Richard Johnson also amassed a great deal of wealth throughout his life, first, through his career as a professional wrestler, then, through his adult entertainment acting career, and finally, through operation of an adult entertainment studio and several video streaming sites. Upon his passing, his will stipulated that fifty percent of his wealth be placed into a trust to be invested, the dividends to being used to support his descendants. He then left all his possessions and property, and forty five percent of his wealth, to be shared or divided among his four wives and his eldest daughter. The remaining five percent, and a share of custody of his property and possessions, he left to his eldest daughter's only son. This came as a surprise to most of the family, as we were unaware Samantha had even HAD a child."

She paused and folded her hands in front of her, trying to find the right words. "It was known that Samantha Johnson and her father had a... physically intimate relationship." she explained, as tactfully as possible. "The relationship was purely platonic until Samantha reached adulthood, and, according to Richard's wives, initiated by her. By all accounts, it was a healthy, loving relationship, complicated only by their... relation. I want to be clear with this matter, as we don't generally share this information with outsiders, and I would not want you to get the wrong idea about it."

Will was, admittedly, confused, but tried to set aside his initial gut reaction and listen.

"This relationship had, apparently, produced a single child, early on in the physical portion of the relationship. However, the truth of the child's parentage came to light by way of some anonymous outsider, and despite a valiant legal battle on Richard's part, the child was taken from them and placed in foster care, though Richard avoided jail time and placement on the sex offender registry. Samantha was devastated by the loss, and, knowing she couldn't handle another, she had her tubes tied shortly after. The child's original identity disappeared into poorly-indexed government files, buried deeper and deeper each time he was placed in a new home."

"It took ten years of searching to finally track down Richard's first son, only to learn he'd died before his father. But he had a single son of his own, which brings us..." Kanae explained, hands still folded as she extended her index fingers into a triangle, then turned her wrists until it was pointing straight across the table. "...To you."

Will was reeling. Sweat was starting to bead on his brow. His mind was racing, trying to take in everything she was saying. "...Me?" He asked, immediately feeling incredibly stupid for asking.

"Yes, Mr. Thomas, it appears you are Samantha Johnson's grandson, and as such, are entitled to five percent of Richard Johnson's wealth, as well as shared ownership of his properties and access to the trust fund dividends."

Will gripped the side of his head as he tugged at his collar again. It felt like everything was spinning. Was this actually happening? Was he really the product of incest? Was this whole town full of this one guy's descendants? Was some distant relative he'd never known about really leaving him a big chunk of money? NOW? When he needed it most? It was too good to be true. It was all just too crazy, too unrealistic, it was impossible. It couldn't be real. It didn't feel real. "How... how much...?" He managed to croak.

Kanae cleared her throat once more. "Accounting for taxes, your inheritance stands at... approximately twenty five million dollars."

Suddenly, everything seemed to...tilt. Kanae's serious expression had changed into one of concern. "Mr. Thomas? Mr. Thomas!" She was calling out, but she sounded so far away, like she was at the end of a tunnel, a long, dark tunnel that stretched out the space between them as shadows swiftly crept into the corners of his vision. The last thing he remembered was a feeling of weightlessness as the darkness completely engulfed his vision, and then... nothing.