One thing Erica disliked about attending events as a civilian was the fact that she almost always had to leave her weapon at home. The UN security team would frown upon anyone, including an off duty FBI agent, arriving armed.
Tyler was up on the ship, planning to arrive with Lisa and Anna, So Erica had the house to herself as she waited for Jack to arrive. Glancing in the mirror, she gave herself a final once over and decided she looked pretty damn good.
Not that looking good really mattered. She wasn't trying to impress anyone. Nope.
That was her story and she was sticking to it.
Still, the one shouldered midnight to cerulean blue ombre dress, with its bronze and pewter beaded mid-drift, complimented her fair skin and hair. Normally not one to wear silly shoes, she justified the bronze and pewter slides with criss-crossed straps by telling herself that the heel was only a sensible 1.5 inches high.
Plus, they looked really good with the dress.
There was a knock at the door and she gathered up her purse and wrap. Jack was a few minutes early, but she didn't mind. There was sure to be a good bit of traffic out tonight, what with the media and public attention surrounding the V's visit to the UN.
"Hey, Jack…" she began as she pulled open, but her voice trailed off when she saw it was her neighbor, Judy, standing on the stoop instead of Jack.
Judy was one of the neighborhood gossips and only stopped by Erica's for one of two reasons. Reason 1 was that she had some tidbit of dirt she was in the process of bring to the attention of everyone within a four block radius and Reason 2 was that her gossip radar had alerted her to something with the potential to interest her.
"Well, Erica, look at you, all dolled up! Planning a night out?"
Great. By morning the entire neighborhood would know her business. She had to ditch Judy. Now.
"Yes. In fact, my…date is due any minute."
The smile Judy gave her made Erica want to cringe. She fervently hoped that Jack didn't arrive in the church van he used when making the trip to her place.
Oh, thank God, that was him stepping out of the taxi by the curb.
Instead of his usual black on black with a collarino or his practical sweater and jeans, he wore a black, three button suit. His shirt was a crisp white and his tie an icy blue that brought out his eyes.
He looked good. Really good.
"Well, I think your date is here," Judy said, clearly giving Jack a head to toe once over as he made his way up the walk.
"That's him," Erica said, quickly stepping out onto the stoop and locking the door behind her. She started towards the car, unlocking it with the remote even before Jack had joined them, saying, "We really have to get going, Judy, sorry."
Taking his cue from her, Jack gave Judy a nod and changed course, opening the SUV's door for Erica. Since it was her car, he opened the driver's side door, which was nice. Most men had that macho 'Grr-me-man-me-must-drive!' thing, even when the vehicle belonged to someone else.
Judy followed along like a yappy dog, basically shoving herself into Jack's line of sight. "Well, hello there! I'm Judy Gianni, Erica's neighbor. So nice to see her getting out of the house."
Jack had a slightly deer-in-the-headlights look, but he covered nicely. "Lovely to meet you, Ms. Gianni. Jack Landry."
Thankfully, he didn't tack the Father onto the beginning of his introduction.
Erica was impressed by how smoothly he managed to move around the car while simultaneously directing Judy off to one side, so they'd be able to drive away cleanly. Once he was in the passengers seat, they waved goodbye and set off.
Buckling his seatbelt, Jack turned to her and said, "Evening, Erica. You look…stunning."
Torn between a laugh and a blush, Erica did both. The normal greetings had been eschewed in favor of ditching Judy, so she glanced his way with a smile. "Hey, Jack. Looking pretty snappy yourself."
His fingers were opening the buttons on his jacket, something usually done before taking a seat, but he hadn't in their rush. Also, she was willing to bet he wasn't used to wearing the suit. It was a classic cut, so she couldn't tell if it was new, though the tie probably was.
"Thanks," he replied to her compliment, shifting and pinching the tie between two fingers.
Yup, it was definitely and probably not something he'd pick out himself.
"Who helped you choose the tie?" she asked and had her suspicions confirmed when Jack tossed her an amused look.
"Ryan," he replied, sounding slightly put out. "Apparently, he, Sidney and Hobbes had a discussion and decided I was incapable of dressing myself for tonight. So I let myself get shanghaied into a shopping expedition, not knowing that Ryan is something of a fashionista. Hobbes and Sidney came along to keep up a steady patter of mocking and inane commentary and Joshua thinks we're all insane."
She could only laugh at the picture his words painted. "Wait…you all dragged Joshua with you! Why would you do that to him?"
Jack actually chuckled. "Also Ryan's idea. He says Joshua needs to be socialized and spending all day cooped up in Hobbes's basement isn't helping him any. Unless you count giving him the opportunity to really hone his sarcasm to be a good thing."
Considering the levels of exasperation and snark the V doctor was already capable of, he and Hobbes seemed destined to drive each other crazy. Or beat the hell out of each other.
Grinning, Erica asked, "So, how did that work out?"
He snorted. "About as well as you'd expect. Ryan got to indulge his inner Rachel Zoe, Hobbes made a remark to the girl selling pretzels that earned him a slap. Then, while Ryan was torturing me and Sidney had migrated to the Apple store, Hobbes thought it would be funny to drag Joshua off to Spencer Gifts and, as family friendly as most malls are, there seems to be an…adult portion of that store."
"Oh no," she laughed, imagining how that might have confused their resident alien.
"Oh yes," Jack continued, shaking his head ruefully. "We had no idea where they'd been, but we knew it wasn't going to be good, as Hobbes looked far too smug and Joshua couldn't have looked more confused…at least no one was around when he asked for clarification as to what a Guidette was and why would someone want a Love Doll of one."
Hearing the words Love Doll come out of Jack's mouth was almost enough to make her choke. There were just some words that should never be uttered by a man of God.
Especially not when said man of God had made more than one appearance in some rather…sinful dreams.
"What…what did you tell him?" she managed to ask, half giggling/half gasping.
Jack shook his head. "Well, first we let Sidney try to explain…I know, bad idea. Then Ryan stepped in. I thought Hobbes was going to have a seizure, he was laughing so hard," he told her, then grinned. "Okay, in retrospect, it was amusing."
Much of the rest of the drive was spent chuckling over the shopping trip from hell.
Entering the UN proved to be a challenge. The media types had set up a veritable gauntlet of cameras to catch a glimpse of anyone entering the building for the 'gala event'. Most of the guest list was made up of political figures and their families, but some socialites and pushy celebrities (who no doubt made enormous contributions to campaigns) had wrangled invites. Of course, the paparazzi were just salivating over them.
Which was just fine with Erica and Jack clearly felt the same way. Without fuss, they made their way to the entrance, ignoring the clamoring crowds and the occasional flash bulb. They garnered a look or two, but once the more learned photographers realized they weren't famous, they were largely ignored.
Once inside the great hall, they looked around at the crowd, which was vast, and realized the task of keeping an eye on Anna amidst the melee wouldn't be easy. Across the room, they caught a glimpse of Anna, Lisa and Tyler beside her.
The young V princess caught Erica's eye and offered her a nod.
Let the games begin.
TBC…..
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