The first scene of this story was from the actual show last summer, before Eve became the killer (weird, but whatever). But the emotions behind it are a little different…Anyway, this continues from then, so anything that has happened since then on the show, uhh, hasn't.
CHAPTER 1
"So why do you think Maddie is afraid of your husband?" Officer Jack Snyder asked the woman sitting across from him. It may have been a conflict of interest, but he had grown to enjoy Eve's company, whether or not her younger sister was the main suspect in an ongoing murder investigation.
"I didn't say that," Eve responded, shaking her head violently. "At-at least, I didn't mean to."
"You just said you can't even mention Louis' name without Maddie getting upset. Why?" Eve just stared at him. Jack paused, expecting a reply. When none came, he prompted again. "Eve—" Still nothing. "Look, we can drop this if you want, but if Maddie's involved in another incident—"
"I guess the detective's back," Eve interrupted, finally springing back to life. She pushed back her chair as if to leave.
"If something's going on with your sister," Jack began, reaching out to take her hand and pulling back at her quick move away from him, "you can't ignore it or tell it to go away, you know?" Eve settled back in her seat. "Don't you want to help your sister?"
"You sound like Louis," Eve sighed, "except you're being kind. When he says it—" her voice faded. Ever since she and Louis had gotten married, and maybe even before, he had expressed very strong views on how she was raising her sister. She appreciated it on one level; she was young and had never really had role models to show her how to properly raise a young girl—if her parents had been at all like that, she wouldn't have had custody of Maddie in the first place—but sometimes Louis was downright cruel in correcting her parenting skills. Sometimes it felt like he would've preferred if she hadn't been there at all.
"What?" Jack shook Eve out of her thoughts.
Eve looked at Jack and proceeded. "Louis and I have a complicated marriage. I mean, maybe they all are…"
"There's no maybe about it," Jack joked, but Eve barely noticed.
"But, whatever problems we had, Louis was always so warm and paternal with Maddie. In fact, seeing him with her I always thought he'd make a really good father."
"Thought. Past tense," Jack observed.
"Ever since we got here, Louis has been," she searched for the right word, "strange. He came down so hard on Maddie's boyfriend, and he's been overbearing with Maddie, and last night he even got violent with Henry."
At the mention of Eve's brother, with whom Jack had never gotten along, Jack's eyes narrowed. But, as annoying as Henry was, he wasn't a violent man. "What did he do?"
Eve looked closer at Jack, and her voice lowered. "You know how I told you that Maddie is afraid of Louis?" She was speaking so quietly that Jack had to strain to hear her. "She's not the only one." Before Eve could stop it, the next sentence tumbled from her lips. "I am, too." Jack's eyes changed instantly from that of friendly concern to profession inquiry, and Eve realized what she had let herself say. Immediately backpedaling, she started to speak again. "I should have seen—We have all been in a state of reaction, and I am singling Louis out, and we have all been reeling and-and not acting like ourselves, and I'm the one who asked him to deal with Maddie when she is clearly out of control, and, I mean, this has got to be a really frustrating time for Louis, and…"
Jack interrupted her rambling. "Okay, so you were wrong. You're not a bit worried about Louis?"
"I—I really shouldn't have said anything," Eve mumbled, looking down at her hands.
"We both know you had to." An uncomfortable silence fell between them. There was so much Jack wanted to know, but he felt that now wasn't the time to push her. "I just have one more question."
"What?" Eve's voice sounded tired.
"It's one thing to tell your pal Jack that you're afraid of your husband, but it's a whole other thing to tell Detective Snyder. Who do you want me to be here, Eve?"
Eve's eyes clouded in worry. "I was starting to think of you as just Jack, like you said I should—" the pitch in her voice raised, and Jack interrupted to calm her down.
"Okay. Okay."
"And nothing I told you means that Maddie did anything," she insisted, referring to the homicide investigation.
"You're right, you're right," Jack agreed, "which is why I don't have to put my detective hat on. Maddie being afraid of Louis—or not—isn't a crime. Louis acting weird isn't a crime. Your being worried…"
"Thank you," Eve said, sighing with relief.
"Unless someone's safety is at stake. If that's the case…"
"No! No," Eve struggled to keep her voice calm. "Nothing I told you means anything, really, about the case or anything else."
"Okay, I just want to make sure in case there's something else you wanted to tell me about what's happening."
"No, there's-there's nothing. But I understand if you want me to stop reaching out to you. If it makes you feel uncomfortable—"
Jack shook his head and reached for Eve's hand. This time, she accepted it gratefully. "Not at all," he assured. "I'm fine with it, believe me. In fact, I could use a friend myself. Okay?"
"Okay," Eve said unconvincingly. With his other hand, Jack rubbed her arm supportively. "Thank you," she whispered.
Louis watched them from the other side of the room. He saw the man touch his wife's arm, and he saw how he looked at her. His fists clenched. Who did this guy think he was? If Eve wasn't going to stop him, he'd have to do it himself, Louis decided.
"Well, thanks for listening." Eve finally felt calmer. She didn't know what she would've done without him these past few weeks.
"That's what friends are for," Jack shrugged. "And I've been happy to have the distraction." Eve laughed as Jack made a funny face and shoved him lightly from across the table. "Same time tomorrow?"
"My wife will be busy tomorrow," Louis cut in, approaching the table and placing his hand tightly on the back of Eve's neck. With his other hand, he gripped her elbow and assisted her in standing.
"Louis!" Eve cried in surprise. "Louis, this-this is Ja—Officer Snyder. He was just giving me advice on what to do about Maddie. Officer, this is my husband." Eve's voice had gone up, Jack noticed, and she had called him Officer Snyder for the first time since they had met.
"Louis, it's a pleasure to—" Jack began, extending his hand.
"Thank you, Officer," Louis interrupted, pulling Eve closer to him. "I will take care of my wife from here on out." Eve smiled apologetically at Jack as Louis hurried her out of the room.
Jack heard Louis' voice muttering angrily as the husband and wife left the room.
LATER THAT DAY...
"Eve," Jack answered the phone happily. "I was worried about you."
Eve laughed uncomfortably. "No need," she assured. "I was just calling to see if you'd be willing to move coffee tomorrow. Maybe to Java?"
"You don't want your husband to run into us again," Jack suggested, trying hard to keep his voice light.
"If it's a problem—"
"No, Eve. No. It's fine. Still 10:00?"
"Perfect." Jack could almost here the smile in her voice. "Oh, and-and Louis wanted me to apologize for him. About before—"
"Don't worry about it," Jack insisted, sure that Louis had nothing to do with this apology.
"No, really, he has just been really stressed out, like I said before. He didn't know who you were, and he got worried. You can't trust me to find my way out of a paper bag, much less keep myself out of trouble," she repeated insults she had heard hundreds of times. "He was just looking out for me."
Jack couldn't listen to his friend talk about herself that way. "Really, no problem. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Don't be late," she laughed.
"Never."
FIN part 1
So, yeah, that's the beginning…I hope it doesn't suck :) .
