Here is the next part of the story. Hope you are enjoying it so far!
Don't own em.
I couldn't believe who I was looking at. It was just impossible. Well, more like it was improbable. I blinked a couple times, not knowing what I should say.
"Mrs. Delko," he greeted with a slight bow of his head.
"Horatio?" my greeting came out like a question and in a barely audible whisper.
"Natalia, Who is it?" Eric's voice sounded from behind me and I turned as he came into the entry hall. He stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide.
Horatio cleared his throat, "Hello Eric. I have something to talk to you and Natalia about. If you don't mind us coming in, that is."
He moved slightly and for the first time I notice the three other people. Yelina was standing calmly behind Horatio. A much older Ray Jr. was standing beside her and a young girl that was the spitting image of Yelina, with the excepted of her blue eyes, standing by him.
"Of course," I moved to the side and allowed them to enter and Eric showed them to the front room. I entered behind them and looked at the girl, "Hello Lorene. I'm Natalia. I haven't seen you since you were a baby. How about I introduce you to someone?"
She nodded her head and I smiled, "Danni!"
"Yes, momma?" she yelled running down the stairs, stopping as she entered the front room to see the room full of people. She recognized the red head man and the woman from old photos of the team, but not the other two.
"Danni, this is Horatio, Yelina, and Ray. We have to talk about something. This right here is Horatio and Yelina's daughter. Her name is Lorene and she's only a couple months older than you. Everyone this is our daughter Danielle," I quickly introduced and everyone said a quick hey. "Okay, why don't you take her up and show her your room?"
"Okay," she shrugged. "Come on." She grabbed Lorene's hand and took off back up the stairs.
"She seems like a ball of fire," Yelina commented, smiling.
Eric chuckled, "Soccer and football for her."
"When was she born?" Horatio questioned.
"About a week after you all left," I answered, and then my demeanor changed. "It's true isn't it? We're going to go back into war."
A slight nod was received from Horatio, "Yes, it seems that way. This is why we flew back here. Well, Ray and I flew back. I tried to get Yelina to stay with Lorene."
"I've told you this," Yelina shook her head; "I'm going to help."
"It could put both you and Lorene in danger just being here," he argued.
She crossed her arms, "And you and Ray are in danger being here."
"I…" he sighed, it'd seem he'd lost this battle many times.
I sighed, "We've got to do this."
The close of a bedroom door took the adults attention to the upstairs. Eric rolled his eyes, "That girl has got to learn to stop eavesdropping."
"Best we call them down here?" I question Eric and Horatio and Yelina.
Eric nodded and looked over at Horatio and Yelina. With a nod, Yelina answered, "I guess we had better talk to them. Lorene!"
"Danni!" I called after Yelina had finished. The sound of two pairs of feet running down the stairs came seconds later, and a couple more seconds later, the two little girls popped their heads into the room.
"Yes?" Danni asked sweetly, a small smile on her face. It was obvious she was very aware that that they had been caught.
"We are supposing you heard?" Eric asked.
Instead of an answer from Danni, Lorene turned to Horatio, "Is it true, Daddy? Are we all in danger just being here?"
"Lori," Horatio tried to calm his daughter but in the end knew he had to be truthful with her, "yes. It is very possible."
Danni's eyes turned wide, "Momma, they do things to people here. They hurt them."
I sat down on the ground and Danni came over and hugged me. "I know," I replied. "I am very aware of it. But, I need you to not worry. Okay? I need you to trust us and to not worry?"
"Yes, Momma," she nodded.
"Now," Eric sat down beside me, "what have we discussed about eavesdropping?"
"To not to," she replied, chewing gently on the nail of her pinky finger on her left hand.
"That's right. Now, remember what we discussed earlier? About not telling anyone?" Eric asked. Danni nodded and he continued, "That includes this. And, that includes not telling Melissa."
"Yes sir," Danni nodded again, and then turned to look at Lorene, who was standing by her mother. "Come on Lori, I've got the new football game."
"Football?" I heard Lorene say, just before the door closed and their voices were muffled.
I looked outside; the sky had darkened not only by the fact that it was getting late but also by clouds since I let Horatio in. It looked like it was about to rain. It hadn't rained in near six weeks.
I sighed. I loved the rain. Ten years ago, I would stand and dance in the rain. Eric would even join me sometimes. It was once again back in those times when I could be carefree. But, maybe, just maybe, if we were lucky, those times weren't too far off anymore.
Eric must have caught the look in my eye as I stared at the quickly darkening sky. His arm came around me and he pulled me to him. He looked up at Horatio, Yelina, and Ray.
I turned and looked at him and he nodded and said, "We'll help."
I nodded in agreement. My thoughts traveled through the years, back when Calleigh and Ryan had been here. I knew we must do this now. We have to do this for them, we have to do this for Danni and Lori, we have to do this everyone else out that, and we have to do this for ourselves.
We are falling apart, I can feel it. Not us as a couple, we are falling apart as individuals. We are losing ourselves slowly, hanging onto each other and the little we have left for our lives. I can see by looking at Yelina and Horatio that they are the same. Similar thought run through their heads that run through ours. They want Lori as happy and we want Danni. They want her to see live before all this, how they were before all this. And so now, we have to fight to get back everything we had before. The only draw back, we could lose everything in the process.
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