9 :

Nathaniel was immersed in his mind, trying to organise his memories. It was now two weeks since Nathaniel could walk again and since then he had finally let free Marc memories from where he had blocked them. Which based on the number of headaches he was suffering before that, wasn't a moment too soon. As time goes bye, the headaches were growing even stronger and it was starting to worry him.

The reason for these headaches were evident enough, on one side there were the memories of a twelve years old innocent boy and on the other side a forty years old trained killer. He knew that if he continued to try to dissociate the two, he could end up with a split personality warring for the control of his body. The headache was a warning he took very seriously. Hence the meditation, that was the best way to merge his two identities into one.

What was even harder was the memory he was getting, some of them were disturbing, others gruesome and some were against his own morality which made them even more difficult to process and own. Because it was that, he had to own Marc life as his own if he wanted to use his memories or even function as a human being. His family had already suffered enough because of him, he couldn't afford to get locked down in a mental institute because he would develop a mental health issue.

Unbeknown to him, his personality was gradually changing, evolving. He became hard working, impassive and most of all collected. With Marc experience and his own, he became a fifty years old man in the body of a sixteen years old.

Finally opening his eyes, he stood up, smiling in satisfaction. Removing the dust and grass on his short and his tracksuit jacket. He remembers the moment when his grandma learned that he did not have clothes at his size anymore. She insisted on buying him new clothes which he opposed vigorously. He explained to her that he was going to get taller and gain weight in the following week, the clothes that she bought today will not be his size anymore in a few weeks. He knew that she wanted to show him in front of her friends to show off. He convinced her to wait a few months and then she could show him off as much as she wanted.

He then chooses comfortable sportswears knowing that he will not go out for the foreseeable future. Seeing his grandparents coming his way, he started walking toward them, hugging them both in the process.

"Nathaniel stop hugging me!" Said his grandfather in a stern voice triggering a laugh from his wife and grandson.

Nathaniel learned quite a bit from his grandfather when talking with his grandma. He was a hard working, no-nonsense, cold man. Except with his family despite him trying not to show it. He bitchs about Nathaniel hugging him yet he never stops him from doing so.

"No can't do grandpa, you have sixteen years of due hugging and I know how much you like taking dues" Said Nathaniel with amusement triggering a bigger laugh from his grandma. He could swear that he saw the corner of his grandpa's mouth twitching too.

"Smart ass grandchildren is even worst than a smart ass daughter" He grumbles in an almost inaudible voice which triggers another bout of laughter that he joins this time.

"Dearest, why do you meditate that much?" Ask with curiosity Diane.

"That helps me think grandma. I can organise my thoughts much better that way and the calm helps me plan for the future."

"What do you want to do in the future, kid?" Ask his grandfather interested.

"For the immediate future, intellectually I need to keep learning and reading to catch up with my studies. Physically, well I was going to ask you if I could borrow Jean and Amal from you." Ask Nathaniel which startled Robert.

His grandfather was someone important, he had people protecting him and especially two personal bodyguards. Amal was a former highly trained Mossad agent, who his grandfather recruited five years ago. Jean was a former french Legionary which was surprising. They tend to be extremely loyal to their country, becoming bodyguards of senators and even the French President at the end of their service. Marc did many joint operations with french legionnaires in afghanistan when he was a SEAL. These guys were absolute beasts and he was glad that they were allies to the US. Despite the SEAL training ingrained in his mind, he knew that he was going to train way faster if he was challenged.

"Why do you want them?"

"I need to do muscle reinforcement and nothing is better than autodefense training to do that. Jean and Amal are uniquely qualified to do that. Moreover knowing your fame, our family wealth and mom work as a prosecutor, I need to know how to protect myself. I can't and I won't rely on someone else to protect me." He said with a firm voice.

Robert appeared thoughtful, hearing that while Diane frowned.

"Dearest, they are brute, if you want to protect yourself we could hire someone else. Besides, your grandfather needs Jean and Amal for his own protection." Said Diane, she always had a bad impression of them even if she begrudgingly admitted that they were very competent.

"That's not really a problem. We have an entire company of security agents, I could hire remplacement. For how long do you need them?"

"A month, maybe a little longer not knowing what exactly they can teach me and how much I can learn." Answered Nathaniel, happy that his grandfather appeared satisfied by the idea.

"I will allow it kid but first you need to convince your moms. Good luck with that." He said with a smirk as the smile of his grandson turned into a wince.

After that, they start talking about something else and it was only late at night that Robert realized he had forgotten about asking his grandson his questions.