Sins of the Father

This one literally came out of me on the day of submission. I don't know where it came from, but here you go. Another 750 word entry.

*

"What are you saying? I'm not his son??" exclaimed Cole Cox.

"I'm sorry, were you unaware? I'm deeply sorry to tell you this way..." answered the doctor, concerned.

"No, I didn't know. What the hell?" replied Cole, decidedly angry.

"I think you may need to talk to him directly," the doctor stated. "But either way, your bone marrow is not a match. We'll keep looking."

Cole sat down, and put his head in his hands. How could his dad not tell him something that momentous? Unless... he himself didn't know?

When Joseph Cox awoke, he found Cole sitting in the highchair next to his bed, regarding him with suspicious eyes, arms folded.

"Did you know?" he asked Joe, bluntly. "That I'm not your kid?"

Joe sighed. He knew this day had been coming, but there was no real preparing for it. He had made his peace with his decision years ago but now the price was due.

"Yes," he said simply.

"But it's not what you think," he added. "There's a lot more to this."

"So dear sainted Mom was a slut then? She catted around while you were in the Gulf, doing that Desert Storm thing?"

"Cole!" exclaimed Joe, sharply. "No, your mom wasn't a slut. She was never unfaithful to me, so cool it. I'm not your biological Dad, true, but then...I'm not Joe Cox either."

Coles eyes snapped wide, shocked to his core. "What?"

"Your dad was my best friend. We were in the same outfit over there, doing things we shouldn't have been doing. We were disposable and we knew it. We did things that could never be done officially. But your Dad, he was the best of us. He saved my life more than once. We'd play cards at night, him telling me all about his life. About you. About Jen, your mom. How he loved her. And you. When she died in the car accident, he was distraught. Destroyed. I think he ended up with a death wish. He made me promise to be there for you, if anything happened. You had no other close family, so there wouldn't be any support for you. I think this weighed on Joe's mind."

"So, who are you?"

"My real name is Colin Dawes. My parents disowned me when I was a kid. I was bad news. Minor drug dealing, got caught up in a mob attack on some suspected pedo. The judge told me 'army or jail', so off the big green machine I went. I did okay, and ended up in the same outfit as your dad, and he took me under his wing."

"He died saving a bunch of us. Out of ammo, down to hand to hand, in the caves. He took on six guys, giving us time to get clear. He had a crazed look in his eye, and made me promise to take care of you. He knew you would end up lost in the system if not. I'd already been injured with the shrapnel in my leg, so I was out, even though I begged him to let me take his place."

"A day after we got out, there was an air raid, and the badguys got the shit bombed out of them. I went back, and found your dad's body. I made the decision to become him. Swapped our tags. No one was going to miss me. The guys I was with knew and understood. This way there would be no legal bullshit to get in the way of me being able to be your dad. I was invalided out almost immediately.

"But Cole, I became him. I ended up a far better person than I've ever been, being Joe Cox. When I ran into situations I didn't know how to handle, I'd ask myself, 'what would Joe Cox do?' and I'd have my answer."

Joe smiled at his son.

"And I got to love you. I got to be there. To be a dad. To be a role model. To be better than I have ever been in my life. And I got to pay a little of my debt to Joe. And I don't regret it for a second."

Cole, sat, staring at his father, astonished. Finally, he stirred and said, "Well...I have to say it. You ARE a hell of a good dad, so... thanks. Thanks for being there. I love you, Dad."

After rubbing his face, he said, "So, tell me more about Joe Cox...?"