A/N: I think you're going to like this chapter :) things are turning around for our two favorite members of the NYPD. Thank you for all the lovely reviews and comments! I'm so sad there's only one more episode of season 6! Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think! I don't own Blue Bloods
Eddie felt entirely off her game during the undercover that night. Luckily the perp they were after didn't make an appearance anyway but she was noticeably distracted all night. The detectives running the operation decided it would be best to try again the next night since the guy never showed and Eddie was uncharacteristically dazed. All Eddie could think about was that extending the operation meant one more night she couldn't be with Jamie. Tuesday passed slowly, to the point that Eddie wondered if the day would ever end. Finally it did which led to Wednesday. She had the morning off then went into work that afternoon. Eddie had packed a change of clothes in hopes that she and Jamie could go out after work. By the time her tour finally ended she immediately got out her phone and called Jamie. As she listened to the phone ring several times she grew concerned. By the 7th ring she was about to hang up since she knew at this point voicemail was inevitable when suddenly Jamie's voice came across the line.
"Hello?" He said laughing as if at a joke in the background of wherever he was.
"Hey it's me, Eddie" she replied
"Yeah what's up?" He inquired
"I uh wanted to know if you wanted to grab drinks but sounds like you're busy" she said in reference to the people she could hear in the background
"Yeah it's my nephews birthday so we're celebrating at my dad's place tonight. Maybe next week once your dad settles in"
"Yeah okay" she agreed hiding her disappointment
"Okay well I gotta go I'll see you around, be safe" Jamie said as he hung up.
Eddies heart dropped a little but she was beginning to get used to the disappointment. Maybe Danny's wrong and we really aren't meant to be. She thought to herself.
"Who was that?" Danny asked Jamie quietly as his little brother came back into the sunroom from the kitchen to join the rest of the family watching Sean open presents.
"Just a friend" Jamie said nonchalantly hoping Danny wouldn't dig into it any further
"Is that friend a cop?"
"Yeah"
"Does that friends name start with and e and is followed by a -ddie?" Danny continued
"Uncles Jamie I'm opening you're next" Sean excitedly exclaimed saving Jamie from Danny's questions
"Go for it buddy!" Jamie replied to his nephew
"This conversation isn't over" Danny said softly to Jamie as they watched the youngest Reagan unwrap yet another birthday present.
After the phone call with Jamie eddie was no longer in the mood to go out so she went home to her lonely apartment. She walked through the door, dropped her heavy duffle bag, and sighed as she looked around the empty apartment. Eddie made her way into the kitchen and retrieved a bottle of beer from the fridge. As she leaned against the counter drinking her beer, she looked around the room coming to the realization that in the coming days this would no longer be a lonely apartment, this would become a shared space. It's not like her dad had a whole lot of stuff he would be bringing but there wasn't really space for him or his stuff anywhere. Eddie sighed in frustration finally facing the reality that she would have to figure out how to fit two people into a tiny one bedroom apartment. Eddie didn't want to face reality, not tonight. So she flung herself on the couch and proceeded to unhappily browse Netflix searching for a distraction.
She turned on and old rerun of "Friends" first. It always made her laugh but tonight even Pheobe's ditsy comments and Chandler's antics couldn't make her crack a smile. The show was just a reminder of how lonely she felt right now. After only five minutes of "Friends" she changed to "Hawaii 5-0." She watched a few minutes of that but the cop show reminded her of Jamie and her dad, exactly what she was trying not to think about. Plus Hawaii 5-0 is great but CBS has a couple better shows. Finally Eddie tried "Grey's Anatomy" but Merideth and Derek's work-place on again off again relationship definitely reminded her of her and Jamie. At this point Eddie got up to pour another drink. Finally she decided to put on her guilty pleasure, "The Little Mermaid" to which she promptly fell asleep on the couch.
Meanwhile Jamie was leaving his dad's house after a night full of birthday festivities. He pulled out his phone trying to decide if he should text Eddie when he heard the door behind him open and shut. Jamie turned to see Danny coming out behind him and turned around.
"You know you're really good at dodging questions you don't wanna answer" Danny called out
"Yeah, the teach you that in law school" Jamie replied with a little more sass than necessary
"Oh do they? Well you know what I learned from years of detective work? How to get people to answer questions they don't wanna answer"
"Guess we're at a stalemate then" Jamie replied
"No not quite. You know why? Because I think deep down you wanna tell me about Janko. So I have to ask why'd she call?"
"I never said she called"
"You didn't have to"
"Okay she wanted to get drinks. Danny it's really not a big deal"
"What do you mean it's not a big deal!"
"I mean I can't begin to count how many times we've been to get drinks over he past three years it's no big deal"
"It's a bigger deal than you think"
"And why's that?"
"Because she needs you right now! And you need her. She loves you. And I think you love her."
"Danny I-"
"You both deserve to be happy and I just want that for you two" Danny confessed earnestly
Jamie had a look of understanding and confusion plastered on his face as he nodded "okay"
"I'm sorry I just want this for you so bad"
"Me too but I don't want either of us to get hurt again either."
"I understand but I didn't want you to let a good thing pass you by because you're afraid of getting hurt"
"Okay" Jamie said nodding
"We good?" Danny asked
"We're good" Jamie replied
"Alright be safe" Danny replied
"You too" Jamie said as he continued to his car
Eddie woke up the next morning, it wasn't the best night sleep she had ever had but at least she was able to fall asleep. Eddie considered calling in sick the next morning so she could stay home and wallow in her misery but decided against it.
Jamie went to work per usual but spent the whole day thinking about what Danny had said. Jamie hoped maybe tonight would be the night he and Eddie could finally go out again. He decided he would call her after work but by the time his lunch break rolled around he couldn't wait any longer. Jamie was leaving his desk to go to lunch when one of his associates stopped him.
"Hey Jamie you coming tonight?" He asked
"Coming where?"
"Did you not get the email? We're celebrating Lisa's 10th year at the firm. We've got a room at a nice steakhouse downtown"
"Oh I must've missed the memo on that one." Jamie replied
"Well we'd love for you to come"
Jamie was torn. He wanted to spend the evening with Eddie but also didn't want to seem uninterested in his job. Plus it would be a great way to meet a couple more people from the job he's never met. Plus Eddie had her dad tomorrow he reminded himself. She probably needed to get ready for his coming.
"Okay yeah I'll be there" Jamie replied immediately regretting his words.
Several hours later Eddie was getting off tour when her phone rang. It was the correctional facility.
"Hello?" Eddie answered
"Mrs Janko?" The voice asked
"This is she" Eddie replied
"I'm officer Lawrence, I'll be your fathers parole officers I understand you'll be picking him up from the facility tomorrow?"
"That's correct"
"And you've made the necessary living arrangements for once he's released"
"Um he'll be staying with me at my apartment"
"Okay we'll ask you to fill out some forms tomorrow when you check him out"
The parole officer gave Eddie more and more information about procedures for the days and months ahead. When Eddie finally hung up the phone she felt overwhelmed with reality. She kissed her plans to call Jamie out the window succumbing to the fact that she really needed to be home figuring out how in the world her father would fit into her lifestyle in less than 24 hours.
Meanwhile Jamie was dressed to the nines out at the dinner party. The room was crowded with strange faces. Jamie had a weird out of place feeling which coupled with the slight pang of guilt for not reaching out to Eddie tonight made him all around miserable.
Eddie walked into her apartment and looked around hopelessly. She had a small apartment so it shouldn't be hard to prepare since there wasn't much to it yet she still felt overcome. She decided to start with laundry. Hers needed to be washed and a couple of drawers needed to be cleared so there was room for her dads clothes. Eddie emptied the drawers and stared at the pile of clothes in front of her that needed to somehow fit back into two of the dresser drawers. Sitting in a pile of tshirts Eddie finally broke down. The tears started flowing until she was sitting there sobbing all alone in an empty apartment sitting in a pile of tshirts.
Across town Jamie was still miserable. He was fake laughing at another one of his coworker's terrible jokes while making a mental not to always find an excuse to not attend law firm dinner parties. Just as another stuffy old attorney began telling a story about an old case she worked in the 80's Jamie's phone rang. He politely excused himself and answered the phone without even looking at the caller id. He would be willing to talk to anyone just to get out of that party.
"Hello?" He answered
His expression changed to a look of concern when he heard a gaspy "j-ja-amie" at which point he checked the caller id and was horrified to hear it was Eddie calling.
"Eddie? Calm down. Take a deep breath"
All he heard was a choppy inhale and a whimper as she exhaled. He hadn't heard that kind of sobbing since Nikki was much younger.
"Hey, hey Eddie are you hurt?" Once again he just hearts sobbing, which made his heart race faster.
"N-n-nnnno" she struggled to say through the sobs.
"Are you at home?" He replied
"Y-y-" before she could finish struggling through yes he cut her off
"I'll be there in a few minutes" he said quickly clicking off his phone and gathering his coat.
"Everything okay counselor?" A coworker nearby asked him.
"Yeah I just gotta friend whose in a situation and she needs me right now"
The other person didn't have time to say anything else before Jamie was dashing to his car. He had no idea why Eddie was crying like that but he couldn't stand it. Was she hurt? Did someone die? Did someone threaten her? Was she scared? He wished he were driving an RMP just so he could turn the lights on to get there faster. After running only a couple stop signs and red lights he screeched to a halt in front of her building. And basically dove out of the car. If she was hurt time was not something they had a lot of and he couldn't waste a second.
Standing outside he realized that now the only thing left between him and Eddie was an apartment door, presumably locked. He tried the door and was surprised to find it locked but not dead bolted. He fished a credit card out of his wallet and picked the lock letting himself in.
"Eddie?" He called frantically when he didn't see her in the kitchen living room area.
"Jamie?" She replied from the bedroom
He hurried into the bedroom to find her still sitting in the now tearstained piled of tshirts, as she stifled her sobs.
"Eddie what's going on?" He asked as he sat down beside her.
"I- I, Jamie I can't do this" She managed to get out before the sobs came full force again. He put his arm around her and pulled her into his chest. He rubbed her back gently as she cried.
"It's okay, shhh, it's okay, whatever it is we'll get through it." He cooed as she continued to cry. After about 15 minutes of going on this this her cries stifled into the gaspy little breaths that follow a good cry.
"Try to take a Deep breath in, deep breath out." Jamie instructed gently. Once she was almost breathing normally he asked
"You okay?"
She nodded then looked up into being eyes and whispered "Thank you"
"You wanna talk about what sent you crying into a pile of tshirts?" He asked gently bracing himself in case this question sent her sobbing again.
"My-my dad is moving in to-tom-tomorrow" she said still gasping
"Okay, deep breaths, that's okay."
"I can't do it. There's no way he can fit here. I was trying to make room for his stuff in this dresser but I just can't there's no way for us to both fit." She said Jamie could tell tears were threatening to fall again. He looked around the room. It was small but there was potential.
"Okay we can figure this out" he assured
"How?"
"What if instead of clearing space from this dresser we just get another dresser?"
"I can't really afford to buy new furniture right now and I need it tomorrow"
"I probably have something you can use"
"Reagan I can't take your furniture"
"No but we can go to my dads storage unit and try to find something. For some reason we still have all the stuff from Joes apartment and the stuff that Erin had from when she had a house with Jack that wouldn't fit in her apartment now. I'm sure there's something there we can use"
"Are you serious?"
"I mean yeah. I have to call my dad and make sure that's okay and then we have to go all the way out to Bayridge because that's where the storage place is and we have to get the key from my dad but we can do it"
"It's already eight. It will take us at least an hour to get out there"
"So we pull an all nighter."
"I can't ask you to do that"
"You didn't ask I offered"
"But-"
"Unless you have a better idea"
"Maybe there's a way this stuff will work"
"Eddie there's no way you can fit all your stuff into half the amount of storage space"
She looked at him trying to figure out an alternative but she knew he was right.
"Okay but if we're going all the way out to Bay Ridge I'm going to need something eat first" she said getting up and heading out of the room
"Of course you do"Jamie rolled his eyes and followed her into the kitchen