Chapter Four

After everyone had finished their dinner, Ed stood up and began to put the plates on a tray. "Delinda, I want you to take your mother home for me, please."

Delinda nodded, standing up, "Sure, dad."

"Hang on a second, Ed."

Jillian stood up and looked at her husband in the eyes, "'Delinda, I want you to take your mother home'? What am I? An invalid? Someone who isn't capable of driving herself home? Or anywhere else for that matter? Ed, I hate being talked as if I weren't here when I'm standing in the room. I can drive myself home."

Ed sighed softly as he ran a hand through his hair, "Jill, honey, listen, you've had a long day."

"Don't patronize me, Ed! Damn it, you know I hate that!!"

Delinda remained silent as she watched her mother rave. Jillian was pacing the interior of Ed's office, the vein on her forehead throbbing in frustration. Nobody dared to utter a sound, they merely watched as Jillian continued, "If this is how it is going to be, Ed, you patronizing me, treating me as if I were your child and not your wife, than I'll go somewhere else and have the tests done. There are millions of hospitals in America and I'll go somewhere else... Florida, California, New York..." she stopped to look at her husband, "Anywhere to get away from a patronizing husband."

Ed flinched a little, he nodded, speaking softly, "I'm just worried about you, baby, that's all. I didn't mean to belittle you, I didn't even realize that what I was doing could be seen as patronizing, I'm sorry."

Jillian crossed her arms before her chest and nodded, quietly, "So am I. I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

"You didn't..." Ed crossed the room and took his wife in his arms. Delinda looked around quietly before saying, "I'm going to take this tray back down to the restaurant... I'm on my cell if you guys need me, I love you." She walked over and picked the tray up and quietly headed back down the stairs.

Jillian sighed as she walked away from her husband's embrace, "I should go talk to her."

Ed shook his head no, placing a hand on her shoulder, "She's fine, honey. Really, she is."

She turned back and looked at him, "I don't want your life inconvenienced because of this, Ed. I want you to still go to work every day and do the things you like."

Ed couldn't help but laugh softly, "Honey, that won't happen. I'm going to take some time off and help you through this."

Jillian's eyes remained fixed on her husband, "But we don't even know what 'this' is, Ed."

"I'm taking some time off."

"Ed, please..."

Ed placed both hands on her shoulders, softly, "I want to be with you... and it's not like we are in dire need of the cash right now."

Jillian sighed softly, "No, but, Ed, you need a consistent routine. You go bananas without one."

Ed sighed, she had him there. "How about a compromise. I'll go in in the mornings and be out of here by noon or one."

"Ed, please..."

He silenced her by placing a finger to her lips, his brows arched, "That's the end of it, Jillian. I'll come in at my normal time and I'll be out of here by one at the latest."

Jillian nodded, giving in. Ed leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'm going to go and talk to Nessa and fill her in on what's happening."

"Make sure she doesn't worry, okay?"

Ed nodded, "I'll try, hon, but I can't promise anything."

Jillian nodded as she picked her purse up, "Okay, I'm going to run to the market, pick your dry cleaning up and maybe pick some videos up."

"Alright, drive carefully. I should be home by eight or so."

Jillian went over and kissed her husband, "I'll see you later, handsome."

Ed smiled as he watched his wife walk out the door. Exhaling deeply, he made his way down to the floor to talk to Nessa.

"What do you mean they left their daughter?"

Sam looked back down at the child, "I'm telling you, Mike, housekeeping went up to clean the room and the girl was asleep in the bathtub."

"The bathtub?! What the hell...?"

Sam sighed, "I know, I know. Look, just get back here, okay? I need help in figuring out how to tell Ed. He's going to be pissed."

Mike pulled onto Las Vegas Boulevard, balancing the phone against his shoulder, "Sam, just find Ed and tell him, okay? I'm about ten minutes away now."

Mike disconnected the phone and sighed in anger, slamming his hand against the steering wheel, muttering softly, "Where in the hell do people get off just pawning their kids like that?"

Sam hung up and smiled at the little girl. Squatting in front of her, she fixed her collar, "What's your name, honey?"

The girl looked at Sam, it was obvious she was scared. Her voice was tiny and barely audible, "Jasmine."

Samantha took her hands in hers. "Mine is Sam. Jasmine is a very pretty name, how old are you?"

The little girl held up six fingers and Sam nodded, "Are you hungry?"

Jasmine nodded silently and Sam smiled and stood up and took her hand, "How does pizza sound?"

Jasmine's eyes lit up as she nodded vigorously. Sam laughed softly and lead her to her office. Maybe some Domino's would be fuel to help her think of how to break this to Ed.

She watched the tables carefully, ebony eyes glittering, always watching, never missing a thing. She stood like a statuesque tower... looking high and mighty in her white satin Dolce and Gabbana pant suit, her hair falling in soft curls against her shoulders, framing her face.

Nessa Holt, otherwise known as "The Ice Queen", stood by on the side lines, keeping a watchful eye on the tables that she was responsible for. It was a quiet night thus far. Nothing major except for the occasional person trying to get by with snatching a handful of chips out of a cup. Nessa smiled softly as she saw her boss, and surrogate father, approaching her. "Good evening, Mr. Deline, how are you tonight?"

Ed plastered on a smile as he leaned in and kissed her cheek, "How are you sweetheart?"

Nessa grinned as she kissed his back, "I asked you first."

Ed glanced around and saw that people were playing and having a good time. "Can you take a break?"

The woman looked at the man she regarded as a father and nodded, "Yeah, let me get Anthony." She walked away from him and went over to another man who appeared to be shooting the breeze. After a few moments he went over and stood in Nessa's spot and Nessa walked back over to Ed, "Alright..."

Ed nodded and held his arm out to Nessa, which she smiled softly and linked her own through his and he lead her to the upstairs office. The entire time Nessa was dying to ask him what was wrong, but she knew sooner or later he'd tell her and she was sure that it'd be as soon as they got up to his office.

The walk was quiet and swift, they made their way down the corridors of offices and up the metal stairs into the surveillance department and into Ed's office. Ed closed the door behind them and leaned against the edge of his desk and looked at Nessa who had made herself comfortable on Ed's couch.

"Look, I'm going to just be up front and straight with you, I won't bullshit around the subject and I won't sugar coat anything, you are a big girl and you can handle it."

Nessa nodded silently and Ed continued, "While showering, Jillian discovered a lump in her breast. She went to the doctor today and she wants to do a biopsy to determine if it is cancerous and how big it is."

Nessa sat in silence. Ed had always been blunt with her, which she appreciated, and returned the favor to him in her dealings with him. She nodded, the last thing Ed needed was to deal with was another hysterical female, she was sure that Delinda and Jillian were playing those roles beautifully for him. Standing up she let out a soft sigh and walked over to him, wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, whispering softly, "What can I do? What needs to be done?"

Ed smiled softly in spite of himself as he hugged her back. "Just pray, honey, that's about all any of us can do."

Nessa nodded quietly and pulled back, sitting next to him on the edge of his desk. "How's Jillian and Delinda doing?"

He sighed deeply, "Not good. Jillian got pissed at me earlier, said I was patronizing her. I just want to wrap her tightly in a cocoon and shield her from this."

The woman nodded in silence, "When's the biopsy?"

"Wednesday."

Nessa nodded again, "If I can do anything for you, Jillian or Delinda, please don't hesitate to ask, Ed. You guys can call me at any hour of the day, night or morning and I'll be right there."

Ed looked at her surprised, "You aren't going to be at the hospital with Delinda and I?"

Nessa gave him a small smile as she shrugged her shoulder, "That's a family time, Ed, I'd only be interfering."

Ed turned and put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him, keeping her hands on her shoulders, she simply said, "You are family, Nessa. You are a second daughter to us, you should know that by now."

She smiled at him and nodded, kissing his cheek, "That means a great deal to me, Ed, thank you. But if you and Delinda are going to take off, that's one thing, you are all blood relatives. That's easily explainable. But I really should stay here and work. Just please call me, Ed, as soon as you hear anything."

Ed nodded, "I will, honey, don't worry."

Nessa hugged him again, "I should get back down to the floor. Kiss Jillian and Delinda for me, tell them I love them."

Ed nodded again, hugging her back. "I will, honey, I'll see you later."

Nessa broke away and walked down stairs, she knew if she'd look back or stay any longer than she'd cry and she made a promise to herself never to cry at work. Ed sighed as he watched her go.

After she left, he walked back out and saw Danny sitting before some monitors, "Danny, get in here please."

Danny quickly got up and walked into his office, "What's up?"

Ed sighed as he placed his hands on his hips, "Listen, kid, I'm going to need you to put in some double duty stuff here. I'm going to be taking some days off and a maybe a lot of half days."

Danny looked at Ed like a third eye just appeared on his forehead, "Why?"

"Do I need a reason?"

Danny quickly swallowed hard, "No sir."

Ed sighed as he sat down and motioned for Danny to do the same, "Listen, the only people who know this, outside of Delinda, is Nessa. I don't want it to go any further. There's a possibility that Jillian may have some cancer in her breast. I'm going to take some time off and be with her. I wanted to take full days, but Jillian won't hear of it, and I've compromised with her and I'm taking some halves. I may come in in the morning and work till one and take off, or I may come in at two and work till one the next morning, I'm not sure, it just depends on what's going on."

Danny straightened his back as he listened to his boss, he felt a chill run up his spine. "Ed, I'm..." he sighed, at a loss for words, "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

Ed shook his head no, "Just hold the fort down, Danny. I trust you. I know that I won't have to be worrying about this place when I'm supposed to be being strong for my wife. And be there for my girls, okay? Make sure Nessa and Delinda know that they can go to you if they need to. Delinda probably will be taking some time off, I don't know, it just depends on what she wants to do."

Danny nodded, "Yeah, sure, you got it, Big Ed, don't worry. We don't have any events scheduled for a few months so things should be quiet."

The older man crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at his employee, "What are you talking about? We have the De La Hoya and Holyfield fight in two weeks."

Danny rose to his feet, "You didn't hear? Holyfield's manager called this morning, he fractured a rib in training so they've postponed it till it healed."

Ed nodded, speaking softly, "Thank god for small miracles."

He knew that Danny could handle the fights by himself, but he also knew that he'd rather be there in case something went wrong, which was almost always the norm. Danny walked over and clapped his boss on the shoulder, "Don't worry, Ed, I'll handle everything. You just focus on Mrs. D, I won't disappoint you."

Ed smiled softly, "I know, son, thanks. Listen, I'm going to take off now. I probably won't be in till after the biopsy which is on Wednesday."

Danny nodded as he watched Ed gather his laptop and other things, "I'm taking my laptop, pager and cell phone home with me as well as some files, so I can get some work done at home, you call me if you need anything, you hear?"

Danny nodded, "Yes, Sir. Give your wife my regards."

Ed nodded, zipping his computer case up. "Will do, and thanks."

That said, Ed made his way downstairs and Danny sunk down in the chair behind Ed's desk, sighing. There wouldn't be any "just call me Big Danny" jokes this time, or any screwing around with the settings on Ed's computer or monitor pranks. This was serious. As he sat there, Danny immediately had a feeling wash over him that he didn't feel right just lounging in Ed's office. He rose to his feet and walked back out into the surveillance room watching.