(BL)Alpha Made-Chapter 559: Noah, taking one for the team

Andrew didn’t want to point it out, but it truly felt like the debrief was more about the happier side of things. It felt like the Beckett’s were doing their best to keep things positive. Light. Like they didn’t want to rock the boat.

Andrew had no idea why they were like that, even as they explained how the company was doing after Maxwell’s honeymoon had been interrupted, but he did know that it couldn’t go on for forever.

Maxwell had told him about his family, that they had attempted to ruin their wedding, and Andrew was excited to hear what happened to those who had been caught. He knew that the Beckett’s would have a heavy hand in this, so while he was grateful for them attempting to shelter him, Andrew was the one who had gone in and retrieved Nicole. He didn’t need to be coddled.

"What happened to them?" Andrew asked, cutting off Thomas as he was about to go on a rant about the board of directors being useless. The room grew quiet.

Andrew and Maxwell had started this conversation in the kitchen but had moved to the couch at one point. Maxwell was tucked against Andrew’s chest, his knees pulled up as he cared for the other man. Andrew had his arm around Maxwell’s body, keeping him in place as the phone balanced on the couch cushion besides Maxwell’s head.

"To who, Andy?" Luis asked, sounding a little nervous. Andrew sighed.

"Maxy told me that they tried to crash the wedding, Luis. You don’t need to hide it. I’m not upset that you hid it from me either. It was the smart call, since I was already a nervous mess. I would have panicked more. I’m not upset that you didn’t tell me about it the day of, or in the days that followed. I’m sure you had your hands full actually dealing with them." Andrew was rather understanding, he felt.

He was very understanding, actually. Kind and caring as well.

The sound of Thomas’ sigh on the other side, along with the quiet whispers of a group of people in the same room almost made Andrew smile. He could tell that they were panicking, and it said something about Andrew that he found it sweet.

"Come on, you guys. Just tell him the truth. Even I’m curious how you handled the situation. So? Did you hand them over to the police or did you hide them away somewhere? Did Dad remember all of his training?" Maxwell joked, but the silence that met them on the other side of the phone had both Maxwell and Andrew shifting.

Maxwell glanced back at Andrew, his eyes widening, and even Andrew felt shock fill him.

What? Had they...really not let the police get involved? Had they handled it personally after all? Andrew hadn’t anticipated that kind of a response, and it was clear that Maxwell hadn’t either. In fact, his lovely husband almost looked...impressed with his parents.

"We did get the police involved." Thomas admitted after what felt like years. "Eventually." Holy shit. What did that mean? What had they done? What kind of state were they left in? Who was it that had attempted to ruin Andrew and Maxwell’s big day?

"If I may, but what family members were they?" Andrew asked. He had no idea. Maybe his father, maybe a few siblings, maybe an aunt or uncle? Andrew had no idea, he just knew they were right to have a grudge against him. He did want to see them fall to ruin. Maxwell tucked himself against Andrew, rubbing his back against Andrew’s chest.

"I remember you saying you thought you saw his father. Who else?" Maxwell asked and they were met with silence again.

"It was your father and a few stragglers. We weren’t able to get your grandfather." Thomas admitted after a moment, sounding ashamed as he said it. Andrew didn’t think it was a shameful thing in the slightest.

"Why do you sound so upset? That’s a big deal. You turned my father over to the authorities? Good. He deserves to pay for his crimes against others. I’m sure he’s going to be wrung dry of everything he’s ever owned and I will feel no sympathy for him." Andrew’s words weren’t impassioned. They were just words that left his mouth.

Maybe he should have felt more impassioned, felt bigger, deeper about the issue, but honestly? Andrew couldn’t muster it. He wouldn’t muster it. The man didn’t deserve his emotions anymore. The man had already taken so much of his emotions already, Andrew had more important things to spend his emotions on now.

"Well, we did turn him over, as well as a few of your half siblings, an aunt I believe, and a few cousins." Thomas said. "It got front page coverage when it was announced, and finally some of the other members of the family began to trickle in. Cutting ties with the family, calling for your grandfather to come out of the woodworks and take accountability for the regime that he’d upheld for so long. It was honestly...I was rather worried that you were going to see it on your honeymoon." Thomas admitted, sounding guilty.

"We avoided the papers and t.v." Andrew told him easily. In the few moments where Maxwell and Andrew weren’t busy touching each other, they had been at the beach, swimming, cooking together, in town. They had tried to watch a movie and that had ended horribly. They had just been too thirsty for each other.

"Oh. Well, good. I’m glad. I was worried that it would leave a sour taste in your mouth. The ring leader wasn’t caught and uh...your ex started talking." Thomas said quietly. Andrew felt how Maxwell stiffened at his father’s words.

Andrew’s ex.

Dr. Tracey Williams. Though, she was probably already stripped of her title by this point. Andrew just didn’t feel right not calling her Dr. She was crazy, but she was certainly intelligent.

"Had she not been speaking until now?" Andrew asked, out of the loop when it came to that aspect of his life. Thomas cleared his throat.

"Yes. She had been tight-lipped, but after she heard about your marriage, she-"

"That fucking whore." Maxwell growled. "I bet she tried to negotiate so that she would be able to speak with Andrew, didn’t she?" The silence that met Maxwell’s genuine anger told Andrew and Maxwell that he was right. Maxwell scoffed. "It wasn’t enough that she ruined his life and experimented on him, but she wanted to talk to him again after she did it? She’s fucking insane." Maxwell snarled.

"She’s not going to be able to stand trial, Max. She’s certified at this point. George already let me know it, and her lawyers, while disgusted with what’s come out about her, are doing their best to defend her. She’s not right in the head, which was why they had Noah stand in for Andrew." Andrew blinked, his breath caught in his throat.

"What?" Andrew asked quietly and Luis sighed.

"We tried to convince him against it, but he wouldn’t hear a word of it. He said that if she was crazy enough to experiment on you that she wouldn’t be able to tell one black man from the next. Surprisingly, he was right." Luis didn’t sound all that surprised, but Andrew was still processing that Noah, his half brother, had stood in and faced her.

For him.

Andrew’s arm around Maxwell shook.

"How is Noah? Is he alright? He’s okay after facing her?" Andrew asked. He didn’t care that his voice trembled slightly, everyone knew that he’d gone through hell at her hands. He was more worried about Noah.

"He was fine. She was mostly toothless, and he actually got more upset about the fact that she thought you two were the same person, and about the things that she said about you. To you. We have the recording if you want to listen, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It sounds...insane, Andy. I promise. Noah was pissed about the things she was trying to manipulate you with and he said he wasn’t regretful that he did it if it meant that she gave an honest report on what she had done not just to you, but to many others." Thomas let out a shaky breath. "Including Noah and Nicole."

There it was.

The truth that everyone had feared, but had known would come to pass. The Abraham family had been not just experimenting on others, but their own people. They were greedy, wanting as many true alphas from their family as possible.

But for what purpose? What did that grant them? What power did having so many true alphas from one family give you? Andrew couldn’t imagine it. Couldn’t even fathom it.

True alphas were just...alphas with a shinier coat. They weren’t better than other alphas, not by a long shot. They were just people.

"What about the other Doctor? Any news?" Andrew asked and Thomas groaned.

"No. She’s refusing to talk. Won’t talk, and spat at your ex when she saw her. They apparently had a rather tense interaction recently and are now banned from being in the same prison." That was intense, but then again, Heather was just as much of a monster as Tracey was. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Did they...mention who the Doctor was?" Andrew asked, a memory from that time floating to the surface.

"Why? Does that name mean anything to you?" Thomas asked, his voice sharp. Andrew let out a sigh, frustrated.

"No. I’m just remembering the title at one point. They must have been talking when I was drifting in between consciousness and unconsciousness. From the sounds of it, you know who that is. Or you have a good guess." Andrew stared at the phone. Maybe they should have waited to have this conversation face to face. Andrew felt a little strange not being able to see Thomas’ facial expressions right now.

"The running theory is that your grandfather is the Doctor, and that he’s the one who laid the groundwork for this to happen. It’s been going on since your father’s generation. The experimentation, I mean." Thomas added, sounding sick. Andrew couldn’t argue against it either. Andrew was feeling ill himself.

"What?" Bile rose in Andrew’s throat, the word more of a reflex than anything else.

"Are you fucking serious?" Maxwell’s voice was softer, horrified. "That long?" Andrew felt sick as well.

"Yeah. That long. Andrew was just the case that blew the whole operation open. They’ve been trying to clear up their tracks ever since." Thomas said. The words hung in the air as everyone wrapped their heads around it. The Beckett’s had had a lot longer to do so, so it was mostly Maxwell and Andrew grappling with the revelation.

Holy shit.