Eddie walked in and sighed leaning back against the door.
"I can't believe this" she mumbled to herself.
"You okay?" he said quietly as he walked towards her.
"Just..." she said as the tears started to form, "just hold me please."
He nodded and immediately complied. He rubbed her back and kissed her forehead over and over again.
"You want to talk about it?" he asked.
She looked over at Scarlett who was still sleeping on the couch. "I'm going to put her to bed first."
He nodded and let her go. He watched as she expertly picked up the little girl and carried her away.
"Ok" Eddie said walking back in the room almost thirty minutes later. "She woke up when I changed her into her pajamas but she's down now."
"Good" Jamie replied from his place on the couch. She sat down beside him and cuddled into his side.
"Where should I start..." she said.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, Eddie. If you prefer to keep it to yourself, that's totally fine with me."
She smiled at his empathy. "No. I want you to know." Eddie took a deep breath. "We met at a college party that my friend invited me to. I was 19, he was 21. It wasn't bad in the beginning. He was a perfect gentleman. Always very respectful of me. Took me out on dates and loved to tell everyone that I was his girlfriend. Then...", she paused and closed her eyes.
"Then what?" Jamie asked as his arm tightened around her.
"I lost my job and my apartment. He was nice enough to let me move in with him. That's when he changed."
"What did he do?" Jamie asked gently. He felt his anger for the man rising by the minute.
"By letting me live with him, he felt like he was doing me a favor. He started to control my every move. What I did, where I went, who I hung out with. And if I didn't do something he liked? Oh man. He was verbally and physically abusive. But I didn't do anything because if I would've left, then where would've I gone? I had gotten another job by that point but I didn't have near enough to get my own place."
Jamie really didn't know how to respond so instead just pulled her in tighter.
"So I stayed" she continued. "I figured that if I just played nice to him then hopefully he'd be nice to me. That didn't work. I think my saving grace was getting pregnant with Scarlett. After I told him, the abuse stopped."
"All of it?"
"Physically? Yes. Verbally? No. As I got bigger, he would call me fat and say I wasn't pretty. I just dealt with it. I felt like once I had her, things would change and he'd come around. We could've actually been a family. Then, when I hit the six month mark, he left. I got a notice on the door that I had ten days to pack up my stuff and leave. In those ten days, I met Hattie and she helped me out so much."
He kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I wish I could do something..."
"You're doing it right now" she interjected. "You're here with me and Scarlett. Just like you've always been."
He tilted her chin up and gave her a sensuous kiss. "I love you so much" he whispered. "You girls are already my family. You've been for a very long time. I'll always do my best to protect you and keep you safe."
She smiled. "I know you will."
They sat in the quietude for a while before Jamie asked:
"So, what're you going to do about Aaron?"
"I'm not letting him come into her life. Almost three years and now he wants something to do with her? No way. I called him after she was born and told him to come to the hospital to see her. I wanted to at least give him that chance. He hung up on me. And a couple of days before her first birthday, I invited him over to Hattie's because she threw her a birthday party. Again, nothing. So, tell me if you think that should permit me to allow him to see her?"
"No" Jamie immediately replied. "It doesn't. Not at all. You put the opportunity out there more times than you should've. But you did it because you have a great heart, Eddie. That's one of the things I love most about you. And he's a fool because he let the two most amazing people in the world slip through his fingers."
She burrowed closer into his side. "I love you and I appreciate everything you do for us. Thank you, Jamie."
"It's my pleasure" he replied. "You should get to bed, Eddie. It's getting late."
"You still coming back tomorrow?" she asked.
"Only if you'll have me" he replied. "I'll have to leave by three to get to Bay Ridge on time."
She nodded and smiled at him. She stood up and he followed behind as she lead him to the door. "Thanks for coming with us. I really appreciate it and I know Scarlett does too."
"No problem. I always have a great time with you two." He leaned down and gave her one last kiss. "See you tomorrow, Janko. I'll be here around ten."
"Alright." He opened the door and she watched as he walked down the hallway.
The next morning, Jamie woke up to an early phone call from Frank.
"Dad? Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine. I forgot that you, Danny, and Erin don't get up as early as Pop and I do. I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to come over and have some coffee with your old man before church today? I realized that you and I haven't gotten to talk for awhile."
"Dad, I completely forgot to tell you that I won't be able to make it to church today."
"Really? How come?"
"Uh, there's someone I have to go meet. I promise that I'll be there for dinner."
"Does this "someone" have a name?" Frank asked. "Or names?"
Jamie's eyes widened.
"I just hope you two plan on asking for new partners" Frank continued. "A person would have to be blind not to see what's going on between the two of you. I saw how you were at the hospital when they took Officer Janko's little girl in."
Frank had just finished speaking with the doctor who had attended to Scarlett and was walking around the corner looking for Jamie when he saw it. Eddie and Scarlett were dozing away on the bed while Jamie sat right by their bedside. His son leaned over and kissed the top of Eddie's head and affectionately reached out and caressed the little girl's cheek while giving her a look he knew all too well. It was the same way he looked at each of his children and grandchildren. He smiled and decided to let them be and reconvene with Jamie later.
"We're going to do it tomorrow morning" Jamie replied. "We just started dating yesterday."
"Good" Frank said. "I'm really happy for you, son. You brighten up around her and that little girl. And I hope some day in the future, you can bring them over so we can get to know them better."
Jamie smiled. "Thank you dad. See you later."
"See you later son. Have a good time."
"Your dad knows!?" Eddie said in a panic. "What did he say!? Am I fired!?"
They were at the local pool after having breakfast at Hattie's apartment. They were sitting with their feet in the shallow side while keeping a very close eye on Scarlett who was happily wading around in her floaties by them.
He chuckled and put a hand on her arm. "Calm down, Eddie. Everything's fine. He already knew. He said it was pretty evident when I was with you guys at the hospital."
"But everything's okay right? He's not mad?" she asked nervously.
He kissed her cheek. "Everything's perfect, babe. He's fine with it and he said that he hoped that I could bring you two over one day so he could get to know you better."
She started to relax. "Really? I really thought I'd get fired or something like that."
He pulled her into his side. "No, he'd never do that. We're doing everything the right way so there would be no reason for them to fire you or me."
Eddie closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Good."
"So, about our date on Saturday..." Eddie said after awhile.
"What about it?" he asked.
"What're we doing?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out, Janko" he replied.
"What! I have to know something so I can figure out what to wear!"
"Just wear you a nice dress and some shoes you can get around in. That's all I'm going to say for now."
She nodded. "Noted." She then called out to Scarlett. "You ready to get out, baby?"
"Not yet! Five more minutes, pwease!"
"Okay. Five more minutes." Scarlett nodded happily and continued to wade around. She was truly a water baby.
"Do you ever see yourself having more kids, Eddie?" Jamie asked.
She pursed her lips for a moment. "Yeah I do. I grew up as an only child and it wasn't that fun. I would really love for Scarlett to have a brother or sister she can get close too."
He smiled and made a mental note of that for down the road. He wasn't trying to get ahead of himself but it did make his heart happy to know that there was a good chance it could be the two of them having one of their own in the future.
Eddie decided to throw out a question of her own. "Do you see yourself staying in Brooklyn Heights? Or could you imagine living somewhere else?"
"Hm" Jamie mumbled. He thought about it for a moment. "It's probably a long shot but I've always wanted to move back to Bay Ridge" he finally answered. "I loved growing up there and I've always seen myself eventually settling down there."
She smiled. "Because of your dad?"
"That and mainly because I just really liked it. It's definitely a future goal of mine."
Eddie nodded. "If you don't mind, I do have another question that I've been meaning to ask you."
"Ok shoot."
"What's been your longest relationship?" she asked. "You obviously know mine was Aaron."
"Sydney Davenport" he replied. "We met at Harvard."
"Oh really? How long were you guys together?" she asked.
"Long enough for me to propose."
Eddie's eyes widened. "Wow. What happened?"
"Looking back in it, we were still very young. I don't think either of us were ready for a commitment like that but at the time, it was because she didn't like the idea of me putting myself in danger by being a cop. We'd been drifting apart even before I became a cop. She was supportive but at the end, she couldn't handle it anymore. She went off to work in London and that was that. I haven't heard from her since."
She reached out and patted his hand. "I'm sorry that happened. I kind of feel bad that asked."
He leaned over and kissed her softly. "Don't be. I'm glad that you asked and now you know. The best thing I have now is you and that little fish over there with the pink floaties."
She chuckled. "Yeah? I'm very glad to hear that. Do you have anymore questions for me?"
"Mmmm, not now. If I have anymore, I'll surely let you know." Eddie nodded.
"Ok" Scarlett said floating over to them. "I had enough. No more."
Jamie chuckled and plucked her out of the water. Eddie went to their bag and grabbed a towel to wrap the little girl in.
"There you go bug" Eddie said after she wrapped the towel around Scarlett. The toddler yawned and sleepily leaned against Jamie's chest.
He smiled and kissed the top of her head. "I guess it's time to go" he said to Eddie.
"Yep, it looks like it's nap time for someone."
They gathered their things and made their way back to Eddie's apartment.
"It's almost three, Jamie" Eddie said as she came out from laying the sleeping toddler in the bedroom. "Shouldn't you get going?"
"Oh damn" he replied. "You're right. I still need to get back to my place and shower." He stood up and walked towards her.
"After tomorrow morning, we won't be partners anymore" he said. He wrapped his arms around her waist while she placed hers around his neck. "How do you feel about it?"
"Mmm, I mean it's a bummer but if it means that we can have more days like this without having to watch our backs then I'm all for it."
He nodded and gave her a kiss. "I better head out. See you bright and early, Janko. Give a kiss to the munchkin for me."
She smiled. "I will. See you tomorrow."
He winked at her and walked out.
Sorry for all the scattered updates with my fanfics. I'll try to get on a more consistent schedule soon. Please review!
