Disclaimer: See prologue. Suffice to say, Eric, Kimberly and Alice aren't mine. Everyone else is.

Thank you to Gamine, Irina and Ekat for the beta'ing.

Please offer feedback -- it tells me how I'm doing.

~*~

Chapter 2 -- Surprise

The journey home was pleasantly uneventful. Even the traffic seemed lighter than normal, although he realised that was more a function of him leaving for home a good two hours before his normal time than anything else. Pulling onto Maple Street, however, he was greeted by the sight of someone pacing the sidewalk outside his house, clearly waiting for him to arrive. As irrational as it was, he couldn't stop the sharp spike of fear that speared through his gut at the sight.

He felt immediately embarrassed when he realised the someone was Kimberly. She might have occasionally threatened him with bodily harm for spoiling her daughter but she didn't actively want him dead. Then again, he realised uneasily, he hadn't spoken to her properly in eight weeks. Not since he'd made such a royal mess of things in the aftermath of Biocon's demise.

"There you are!" she exclaimed before he'd even had so much as a chance to shut off the SUV's engine.

Eric blinked. However he'd been imagining the conversation starting, that was not it. "I'm sorry -- can we start this conversation again? I think I missed something along the way."

Kimberly looked suitably sheepish. "Sorry." She allowed him to switch off the engine and climb out of the vehicle. "I tried to call you at work -- but they said you'd already left."

"You must have just missed me," Eric replied, guiltily recalling that his phone had started to ring as he had been leaving. "Sorry -- it's not you...I've just had a very bad day." Understatement of the month, Myers.

To Eric's surprise, Kimberly's expression turned concerned. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah." Just someone tell me which parallel universe I've slipped into... This wasn't making sense. He and Kimberly hadn't spoken properly in almost two months and the last time they had, he had gotten the distinct impression she wanted nothing much more to do with him. So why was she now acting as if that conversation hadn't happened?

"Good."

There was a long, awkward pause. "Kim -- look...um..."

"It's your birthday today," Kimberly blurted.

Eric froze. "How did you know that?"

"You told Alice," Kimberly explained.

"When's your birthday?"

The question appeared to be a non sequitur. "Uh, why?"

Alice smiled sweetly. "So that I can get you a birthday present."

Eric groaned softly. "I knew it was too much to hope for that she might forget that."

Kimberly snorted. "Alice? Forget something about you? She had me write it down on the calendar and she's been looking forward to today since January."

"Oh." There was not a lot else Eric could possibly say, although the concept made him feel decidedly uncomfortable. He could understand Alice being excited about her own birthday but why was she excited about his?

"Anyway." Kimberly sighed. "Alice wants you to come over this evening."

"Kim...I don't think..."

"So that she can give you your present," Kimberly interrupted hastily. "And..."

"And?" There was more?

"She's hoping you'll stay for dinner."

Eric stared for several moments, wondering if he'd heard Kimberly correct. "Dinner?" he finally echoed.

Kimberly nodded. "It's your birthday and...unless you have other plans...we...I would really like it if you did."

Eric hesitated. It was tempting to lie and say he had other plans for the evening, but all he could think of to do was getting reacquainted with good ol' Jack and Jim, and getting rip-roaring drunk was a bad idea from so many perspectives. While it would allow him to forget the day's events, it was hardly staying 'vigilant'. And then there's the morning after... If I turn up for work tomorrow with a filthy hangover, Gina really will start to worry about me. He sighed. And I can't let Alice down.

That was when it hit him that, in spite of everything that had happened, his mood seemed to have improved just by talking to Kimberly. Odd... And it slowly dawned on him that she had made a point of insisting that it wasn't just Alice who wanted him to come over. Maybe I do still have a friend here...

"Sure." And just when Eric didn't think the day could get much stranger, Kimberly flung her arms around his neck in a hug. "What's this for?"

Kimberly blushed and released the hold. "Like I said, Alice has been talking about it for weeks."

Eric dredged up a smile. "In that case, I can't let her down -- can I?"

Kimberly glanced at her watch. "I'm just going to collect her from her after-school club...so...is half past five good for you?"

Eric glanced at his watch. It was just coming up to five o'clock. "Sure. Gives me time to get changed."

"Oh, I don't know," Kimberly replied as she headed for her beat up Dodge, "I think that uniform looks kinda sexy."

Eric was aware that his jaw had hinged open but he didn't seem to be able to do anything about it.

Did she just flirt with me?

Still with the eerie feeling that he'd somehow been transplanted into an alternate reality, one where he hadn't demonstrated what a screw-up he was, Eric shook his head. It had to be just friendly banter. There was no way Kimberly would be interested in him like that for real, not now.

He shook his head again. C'mon -- you promised you'd be there for dinner, and it'll be cold by the time you show up at this rate. Don't fuck this up again.

Turning back to the SUV, he locked it and set the alarm -- it wouldn't prevent someone from tampering with it, but it might give him some kind of advance warning -- then he headed into his home to have a much needed shower.

~*~

At twenty past five, feeling unaccountably nervous, Eric vaulted the wall that separated his meagre front yard from Kimberly's and knocked on her front door.


"Eric!" Alice squealed as she opened the door. "Happy birthday!"

Before he could do or say anything, she had flung herself at him in a wild bear hug that actually drove him back a pace. Eric found himself chuckling at the greeting. "Hey, Alice -- how're you doing?"

"I've missed you," she announced. She looked up at him. "But you're here now so that's OK."

He had no chance to process that statement as he found himself being suddenly grabbed by the hand and dragged into the house and through to the kitchen, where Kimberly was putting the finishing touches to the table.

"Happy birthday," Kimberly said, putting down a bowl of salad.

Eric's jaw worked without any coherent sounds actually coming out. The table looked loaded. A bowl of salad, a basket of fragrantly steaming garlic bread, a large and equally steaming pizza...there was even what looked like a bottle of wine -- although a closer inspection revealed that to be grape juice. It was more food for one meal than Eric thought he'd eaten in the last week. Wow...!

"I hope cheese pizza's OK," Kimberly continued, straightening. "I figured it was probably a safe bet."

Eric managed to gather his self-possession back together to nod. "It's fine...thank you."

Kimberly smiled. "Have a seat."

"Can I get his presents?" Alice asked.

Presents? Plural? Eric found himself thinking as he mechanically took the seat Kimberly had indicated.

"Good idea," Kimberly agreed.

"Yay!" Alice dashed off into her bedroom.

"You guys really didn't have to..." Eric began.

Kimberly smiled. "We didn't have to," she agreed, "but we wanted to."

Eric found himself smiling shyly. After the day he'd had this all seemed a little too good to be true, but he wasn't about to start complaining. "Thank you."

Preventing any further 'grown up' talk, Alice returned, bearing two, large, flat packages done up in Winnie-the-Pooh wrapping paper. Eric fought hard not to laugh at that. Kimberly looked slightly apologetic. He shook his head as much to say 'don't worry about it' and smiled.

"This is from me, an' this one's from mommy," Alice announced, waving each parcel in turn.

If Eric was any judge, Kimberly had probably done the wrapping on both. "Which one would you like me to open first?" he asked.

"Mommy's," Alice insisted, thrusting the left hand parcel forwards at him.

It was something of a surprise to Eric to realise that his hands were shaking as he tried to undo the paper. He hadn't been kidding when he'd told Jen he couldn't remember the last time anyone had bothered over his birthday. He glanced up, aware that Kimberly was looking at him a little puzzled.

"Never been very good with wrapping paper," he admitted.

Kimberly smiled. "Find me the man who is."

Eric chuckled, finally succeeding in getting the paper open. The laughter died on his lips as his eyes fell on a beautiful, framed panoramic photograph of a lake. The water was so still that the surrounding scenery was perfectly reflected in the water's surface. It would have been hard to judge which way up it was supposed to hang but for a duck serenely swimming across the image.

"Do you like it?" Kimberly asked.

"It's beautiful. Thank you."

"Now mine," Alice ordered as Eric carefully set the frame down beside his chair.

Feeling this package, Eric guessed it was another frame. Hand still shaking somewhat, he managed the paper rather better this time, revealing a framed poster that loudly proclaimed: Everything I needed to know, I learned from Star Wars...

"Cos I know you like 'Star Wars'," Alice explained.

Eric recalled the evening's baby-sitting when that little titbit about himself had come to light. Alice had insisted he watch a video with her. He had complained a little for a start, since he'd actually brought some Silver Guardian paperwork home to do, but his protests had died a swift death when she'd produced a copy of 'A New Hope'. It was a film that had provided one of the pitifully few really bright spots to his childhood and to his relationship with his mother.

"You're a grown up," Alice had complained, on discovering that he not only liked the film but knew large chunks of the dialogue.

"So?" he had retorted. "I was the same age as you are now when I first saw this film."

She had looked at him in complete bemusement, clearly trying to picture him being the same age as her, shaken her head and settled back to enjoy the film. After that it had become standard operating practice for baby-sitting that once a month, one of the Star Wars films would be dusted off and watched.

"Do you like it?" Alice asked, breaking his train of thought.

Eric glanced at the various mottoes written across the bottom of the picture. "Yes - thank you." He grinned. "You can help me hang them if you like."

"Cool!"

"After you've eaten," Kimberly suggested, smiling. "Pizza's getting cold."

~*~

Eric knew it was a cliché but he really couldn't remember the last time he'd had this much fun. Dinner had been wonderful -- and so had the company. So much so that it made a mockery of his resolution to leave. It's gonna hurt like hell if I do leave, he found himself musing while he banged in a nail from which to hang one of the two frames. But it's gonna hurt like hell if I stay.

"Here," offered Alice, handing him a second nail.

"Thank you." With a couple of hammer blows, the second nail was into place on the mark he'd made. "Let's see if that's straight." Carefully, Eric hooked the frame clips over the two nails and took a step back. "What do you think? That straight?"

Alice regarded the frame for a moment. "Yep."

Eric glanced at his watch and noted that it was still not yet half past six. He wasn't used to eating quite so early. On a sudden impulse not to have this particular evening end, he turned to Alice. "What say we go to the park for a bit?" he suggested.

Alice beamed. "Yay!"

"Let's go see if your mom's finished the dishes yet."

Eric had offered to help Kimberly with the washing up, but she had pointedly told him, "It's your birthday. You don't do chores on your birthday." With a mischievous grin she'd added, "Unless it's picture hanging. Go on!" She had pointed to the door and before he could say anything else, Alice had grabbed him by the hand and started pulling. There had seemed little point in resisting after that.

"Cool!" Alice exclaimed, pulling him back to the present, and dragging him, once more, in the direction of the backdoor -- this time his own.

"Has anyone told you your daughter has Borg ancestry somewhere in her past?" Eric complained as he re-entered Kimberly's kitchen. At Kimberly's blank look, he added, "You know, the whole 'resistance is futile' bit?"

Kimberly grinned. "Out stubborning a six year old -- bad idea."

"I'd spotted that."

"We're going to the park," Alice announced at that moment.

"Your idea or hers?" Kimberly wanted to know.

"Mine -- but she wasn't complaining," Eric answered.

"I bet. I don't see why not, although," she added, "we can't stay too long -- you have school tomorrow, young lady."

"OK." Alice bounced up and down. "C'mon!"

Eric chuckled. "The park isn't going anywhere." To Kimberly he added, "Do you want to take your car or mine?"

"Yours," Kimberly answered, "if that's OK -- mine's overheating again."

Eric started to nod, then it hit him: bel Abis. Reality came pouring in like a shower of icy water. This whole evening was stupid and careless. What if it turned bel Abis' attention onto Kimberly and Alice? What if bel Abis had done something to the SUV? What if...

Stop it! Eric's mental shout stopped the babbling. Intel wanted me to go about my normal routine. I've got to trust that they're doing their jobs otherwise I'm going to go insane. He swallowed. This is going to be OK, he reminded himself.

He realised that Kimberly was staring at him.

"OK?" she asked.

Eric forced himself to smile. "Of course."

Kimberly looked sceptical enough that Eric knew she wasn't prepared to let him off with that answer. To his surprise, however, she said nothing during the whole drive to the park and he began to think that maybe she would let it lie.

As they entered the park, Alice gave a whoop of joy on spotting several of her school friends already in the play area. Barely waiting for Kimberly's permission, she dashed off to join in the games.

"Are you OK?" Kimberly asked as she and Eric sat down on a convenient seat.

Eric sighed. So much for letting it lie.

"I know we haven't talked recently."

That caught him off guard. "I guess we haven't."

"We've missed you," Kimberly admitted. Eric risked a quick glance at her to see she was looking apologetic. "I didn't deal too well with things...and I should have realised you weren't up to that kind of conversation. I'm sorry."

Eric blinked, definitely off guard at that. "But I..."

Kimberly shook her head. "You tried to explain and I didn't give you the chance." She offered her hand to him. "Friends?"

Eric found himself smiling as he accepted the hand. "Of course."

Kimberly's attention wandered back to Alice, who was engaged in a loud game of tag. "You are OK?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah."

He felt her gaze turn on him. He didn't risk meeting it. "I'd have thought you'd be a better liar than that," she observed quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, when your life was in a constant state of danger because of Ransik you were never jumpy...nor when all that shit was going down over Dirk and then Biocon. Whatever it is now, it can't be nothing."

Damn, but she was perceptive. "It's just...work trouble. I've gotten used to having Wes around to share the workload -- and he's in Europe for the next three weeks...and I get the feeling you're not buying this."

"That would be a nope," Kimberly agreed. "Has anyone ever told you you're a lousy liar?"

"A few people," he admitted, sighing. "Sorry."

"Why do you do it?" Kimberly asked.

"Defence mechanism." He could feel Kimberly staring at him again. "I know -- it's fucked up."

"That wasn't what I was thinking," Kimberly replied. Eric's head jerked round and he finally met her gaze to see her not so much glaring at him as studying him.

"Oh?" he finally said.

"I was wondering who hurt you so badly."

Eric had no response to that. He looked away again.

"I won't push," Kimberly continued. "But if you want to talk..."

Eric sighed. "I had someone pay me a visit this morning -- someone I've not seen in nearly three years," he admitted quietly. "He didn't exactly stir up some great memories." Eric slowly shook his head. "Stuff I don't really like talking about. There are some things about me you're better off not knowing." He glanced at her, to see Kimberly frowning. "I didn't put that very well."

"No kidding," she agreed. "Don't you trust me?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to organise his thoughts a little better. "It's not an issue of trust...I do trust you."

"Good." Kimberly looked relieved, but still puzzled.

"I'm an ex-marine. There is a bunch of stuff that I've done I can't talk about."

"And probably a bunch more you don't want to tell me about," Kimberly guessed.

Eric nodded. "Just because I had to live through it doesn't mean that you -- or anyone else -- should have to."

"Eric, I've been to other worlds...other dimensions...seen my friends get hurt...seen my friends forced to serve evil...been forced to serve evil myself... Been married to Dirk Cunningham for four years. There is nothing you could tell me that would scare me," Kimberly promised.

This just might, Eric replied silently. I can't risk that.

"And what if I want to share those nightmares with you?" she added quietly.

Eric froze for a second. Did she mean what he thought she did? "Don't. Please. Kimberly. You don't want to get that close to me. I'm..." Eric sighed. "I'm damaged goods."

He could feel Kimberly's eyes boring into him. "Damaged goods?" she finally echoed, her voice filled with incredulity.

"You said it yourself," Eric replied. "Someone hurt me, badly. In every sense of the phrase. I'm not... You don't need my emotional baggage."

"Eric, if all this is just because you don't like me as anything other than a friend, just say so," Kimberly retorted. "Don't fob me off with weak excuses."

"I do like you. Under other circumstances I'd...I'd have probably long since asked you out. But you don't deserve someone who comes with a full set of paranoia and psychoses."

"And don't I get any say in the matter?" Kimberly retorted angrily. "Eric not only am I a grown woman who is fully capable of making her own judgements, I am a mother. Now, my daughter saw something in you, something you clearly can't see for yourself, that made me start to look -- and I think I can see what it is. You're a good man, Eric. You're loyal. You're kind. You're the first guy I've met since I was sixteen who didn't treat me as either an object or as the scum of the earth -- and that is so rare..." Kimberly trailed off and shook her head. "I can take it, Eric, if you'll give me the chance."

"And when I wake up in the middle of the night screaming?" he shot back.

There was a long, tense silence. Eric wished he could take the words back. They were too honest -- it was too much truth. She was bound to walk away now she knew just how screwed up he really was.

"Know something," Kimberly eventually said. "I'd love to get my hands on whoever did this to you."

Eric's head snapped round to look at her. "Why?"

Kimberly offered him a smile. "Because I'd like to give back to them what they've done to you. You don't deserve this."

Eric got the sudden mental image of Kimberly going toe-to-toe with bel Abis and couldn't help but smile faintly in return. "You'd give him a good run for his money."

"So I should hope." Kimberly sighed. "I can take it," she repeated. "Let me help you. Please."

There was something both tempting and terrifying about telling Kimberly about bel Abis. Tempting because it would allow her to understand him. Terrifying because that understanding would almost certainly drive her away for good.

And then the decision was taken out of his hands altogether as Alice bounded over.

"Mommy, are you gonna come push me on the swings?" she asked.

"You know, I think a big girl of six can push herself on the swings," Kimberly replied with a smile. Alice pouted. "Why don't you see if Eric will?"

Eric found himself on the receiving end of a look that would have made a puppy dog envious. Deciding that if he went with Alice he could put off the rest of his discussion with Kimberly, he held out a hand to Alice. "Lead me to those swings."

"Yay!"

She grabbed the proffered hand and dragged him off the bench in the direction of the swings.

"Can I ask you a question?" Alice asked as she settled herself on the seat of the nearest swing.

"Sure you can," Eric replied.

"Who do you have?"

As he started to push the swing, Eric frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean."

Alice sighed with exaggerated patience. "I have mommy, Wes has Jen -- who do you have?"

Eric opened and shut his mouth a few times. "I...well..."

"You do have someone, don't you?" Alice added artlessly. "Everybody should or else they'll be lonely."

"I...have my friends, you, your mom..."

Alice huffed in annoyance, cutting him off. Although he couldn't see her expression, Eric got the distinct impression that she was rolling her eyes.

"I don't mean like that," she finally said, "I mean someone special."

"Oh."

"So do you?"

Eric sighed. "No," he finally admitted.

"That's good." He waited for the other shoe to drop. "That means you can share mommy with me."

Tag team effort, Kimberly? Not fair. "'Fraid it doesn't quite work like that."

"Why not?" Alice asked. "I know she likes you."

"Well..."

"Is it because you don't like her?"

"No!" Eric answered hastily. "No -- I like her a lot. And you for that matter."

"Then where's the problem?" Alice wondered.

Eric glanced around the park, seeking inspiration as to how he could explain what the problem was in terms that a six-year-old could grasp. "It's..." His questing gaze fell on an out-of-place sight. A man of Middle Eastern origin, dressed in pressed slacks and a button down shirt, who was staring straight back. Eric's mouth dried in fear.

"It's...?" Alice prompted.

"I think it's time we were heading for home. You have school tomorrow," Eric managed to answer, forcing himself to look away from the observer.

"Oh, but..." Alice whined.

"Alice, this isn't a debate." He stilled the swing to enable her to slide off the seat.

"If I come quietly, will you ask mommy out?" she wheedled.

"I'll think about it," Eric replied, glancing around to spot the observer again, only to realise that he had vanished. Or maybe he wasn't there in the first place. Somehow that was a worse thought. "C'mon. Let's go get your mom and head home."

TO BE CONTINUED...