AN: Lots of answers and progress in this chapter. I appreciate your reviews so much! There are only a couple of chapters left in our story, and then I will work on a new version of this in Eric's POV. I hope you enjoy today's update, and see you Saturday!
Since it was the weekend, Jack had no luck tracking down any information on the administrative revocation the prison had placed on Eric's family visits. We've not gotten any calls from the prison, or any answers to my repeated calls. Johanna and I have been met with the same dead ends, and even his own legal team has not gotten a definitive answer as to why Eric had any of his rights revoked. Unfortunately, a prisoner's rights can be revoked at any time, for any reason, and the prison system is under no obligation to tell his legal team, family or otherwise anything.
Miles has been upset, as the weekend crept by he became increasingly aware that something was wrong. Jack was amazing as always, realizing that Miles was on the verge of breaking down over this unexpected interruption of the routine we've had in place since meeting his father, so he came by on Sunday and took Miles to a baseball game and dinner, and even let him spend the night. Jack dropped Miles off at school before heading to his own office, where he renewed his efforts to track Eric down.
We were all being left with dead ends.
Johanna forced me to take the day off, especially since today was one of my scheduled appointments with Evelyn Johnson, and there was no way I'd be able to sit through a session with the difficult woman without losing my cool. I decided to walk over to Jack's office, after confirming with him that he had a free morning without any court cases or meetings to prepare for.
His assistant escorts me to his office, and returns with coffee for both of us. Sitting across from Jack is familiar, but the frown and worry lines on his face are not.
"What is it?" I ask.
"Tris, did Eric share anything with you about a serious fight when he was in El Paso?" Jack asks.
"He said there was a large group altercation in which the prison went on lockdown, it delayed him being sent back to Chicago." I answer.
"One of the inmates that was seriously injured during that altercation has recently been taken off of life support, and he succumbed to his injuries. Eric is one of three inmates being charged in connection to his death." Jack says carefully.
"Oh my God…" I whisper.
"He's been extradited, he was processed in El Paso late last night. I've been in contact with his legal team here, and they are putting together a defense team for Eric."
"He wasn't even a part of that, Jack! He told me he got caught up in it because it turned into an all-out brawl, but he didn't participate in it. He even protected one of the smaller inmates when he saw how seriously he was being beaten." I argue, "Is that who died?"
"I don't have a lot of information thus far, however I do know there are several clean recordings of the brawl, along with eye witness testimony. If Eric is telling the truth, the video proof should exonerate him. Tris, I hate to say this, but this is typical behavior by the prison system. They are in the business of protecting themselves, and now that the injured party has passed, they need to protect themselves from any civil liability. I myself cannot be tied to the team, since there would be a chance for conflict of interest due to my relationship with Eric's son, however I have Silas en route to offer his legal assistance to the team."
Silas Roundtree is a partner in Jack's law firm, and also someone Jack trusts implicitly. I feel better knowing that he has sent him to work on the case since he cannot be there.
"Jack, can he have visitors?" I ask suddenly. I watch as Jack checks something on his computer.
"Tomorrow at seven PM is his first approved personal visitation, and his approved list from here was already sent. He's allowed personal visitation daily at seven." Jack replies.
"I'd better find a fight then."
"Tris, this could take weeks, or even months depending on the evidence and discovery. Are you sure you want to go now?" Jack asks.
"He's innocent, I know he is, and I need to be there with him so he's not carrying this alone." I reply.
Jack smiles and nods his head, "I thought you might say that."
"Thank you for this, and for everything you do."
"Always Tris. Eric is a part of our family, and I don't want to see him railroaded when he is this close to finally being home. Anything I can do, I'm here. Let me know if you'd like help with Miles, I can tag team with Jo and Pedro while you're gone." He replies and we exchange hugs before I head out.
After talking with Johanna, I packed everything I need to work remotely, along with clothes and other necessities. We made arrangements for Miles to stay with them, and for him to be allowed to spend whatever time with Jack he needed to make it through this.
I purposely booked a flight late enough so I could be home to explain the situation to Miles. I didn't want to leave that task on anyone else, and when I told him I was going to Texas to be there for his father as expected he wanted to come with me. I didn't tell him how serious the charge was, it was something that neither Jo nor I thought would be necessary, however we did tell him that Eric had another court case to work through before he could be considered to come home.
Our son is antsy, but I know I am leaving him in the best hands possible. Once Miles understood that he couldn't miss school to go with me, he was insistent that I get to Eric as quickly as possible because he was sure his dad was scared being away from us.
I'm sure he's right.
I made it to El Paso without incident, and checked into the hotel that is closest to the prison and courts. It's a nice enough place, with its homey apartment like feel, but I am nervous and frustrated over the entire situation. My phone rings, and I answer the unfamiliar number as I look for my comfortable yoga pants to change in to.
The recording is for the El Paso Regional Correctional Center, and I quickly accept the charges.
"Tris?" Eric says over the loud hum of prison noises.
"I'm here, are you okay?" I ask.
"Today's the first day they've allowed me to call. They didn't even give me a chance to call you before I left Chicago. I couldn't speak to my own son. Is Miles okay?"
"He's fine, he's at home with Jo and Pedro. I told him I needed to come here to be with you..."
"You're here? In El Paso?" He cuts me off.
"I am." I reply.
"Tris, baby, I never expected you to be here." He says.
"I love you, I am committed to you, and I will follow you wherever I need to get you out of there." I reply.
"I love you too. You have no idea what it means to me that you came here." He says quietly.
"I know that you didn't do what they're accusing you of." I begin but Eric cuts me off.
I didn't do any of this shit, Tris. I have no idea what they're even trying to accuse me of here. I helped that guy. When that fight went down and I saw how he went limp, I got over to him and I fucking protected him. They know this, and yet I'm being brought here, away from my family when I was weeks away from a possible parole to be brought up on some bullshit charges. I did nothing wrong." He says angrily.
"I know baby, I know. There's already a legal team being put together, and Jack sent Silas here since he cannot participate due to conflict of interest. Silas is one of the best lawyers in his firm. I'll be there tomorrow night for visitation too. We've got you."
"I'm so sorry, you shouldn't have to deal with this shit." He replies.
"You did nothing wrong, Eric." I argue.
"I let myself get sent here. If I had of just told the fucking truth when Jack put me on trial, we could have had such a great life. But, I almost get myself killed multiple times, I deny you, I deny our son, I get into multiple fights everywhere I go…"
"Stop. Now." I command sternly.
"I fucked this up." He interrupts.
"Eighteen year old Eric made mistakes, twenty eight year old Eric is a good man who is going to continue to look forward."
"Tris, it's murder. If they find a way to make this stick…"
"Eric, you did nothing wrong. There is video, so even if there are witnesses that have an issue with you and want to frame you there is video proof of your account of things."
"Okay. I'm trying to focus. I'm scared Tris." He replies.
"I am too baby, but we have to have faith in the system."
The phone cuts us off without warning, and I realize then that things are going to be much different in El Paso.
Days turned into weeks, and I faithfully visited Eric each time he had personal time. By week three, his legal team had finally been allowed access to all angles of security video from the prison on the day of the brawl. Eric's recollection of the events was spot on. You could clearly see him avoiding the fight and just trying to get back to his cell. Once the gates were lowered, he was effectively trapped, and he jumped into action when he saw the man being beaten until limp.
Eric muscled his way to the man, then threw his own large body over the man's much smaller one to protect him. He laid there, taking their kicks, punches and other blows until the guards broke everything up and pulled Eric from the smaller man's limp form.
He had tried to save the man's life.
His legal team got all charges against Eric dropped, and yet we've been at a standstill for days. He missed his parole hearing back in Chicago because of the extradition, and we couldn't seem to get any traction to get him sent back to Chicago so he could get back on the parole board's schedule. Every time I've talked to our son, he's been emphatic that I am not allowed to leave his dad until this is figured out, but I don't know if I can keep my promises to him to not leave Eric.
A call interrupts my thoughts, and I answer the unknown number.
"Tris Prior" I bark into the phone.
"Good morning Miss Prior, my name is Natalia Ivenncio with the El Paso Regional Correctional Center, I am showing you as the next of kin for Eric James Coulter." A woman states in a very matter of fact tone.
"I am." I breathe out, "Is something wrong?"
"He is scheduled for release today at 10:30AM, will it be you or someone else picking him up?" She asks.
"Release... as in for good…?" I stammer.
"Yes ma'am, we received notification from Illinois State that they were in possession a pardon from Governor Morris' office. We have validated the pardon, and gotten permission to release Mr. Coulter from here instead of extraditing him to Chicago as long as he has a next of kin available to release him to. We are processing Mr. Coulter for release now, will it be you or someone else picking him up?" She asks in a very manner of fact tone.
"Me, it will be me." I reply.
I write down the instructions the woman reads off, and I hurriedly begin changing my clothes. The woman doesn't offer much explanation, other than Eric is being released after receiving a full pardon from governor Lydia Morris this morning.
I hop into my rental car and follow the GPS directions to the administrative building that Ms. Ivenncio instructed me to go to, and once there I fill out scores of paperwork, making decisions on behalf of Eric that we hadn't even talked about by listing my apartment as his place of residence. I'm signing the last form when I see him enter the room, wearing a jeans and t-shirt combination that he normally was allowed to wear on his weekend visits with his son.
I watch as they pass him several packages and envelopes, and finally he turns to face me.
"Hi Tris," He says with a smile.
"Hi Eric," I reply, "Are you ready to go home?" I ask and he nods his head.
He shifts all of his belongings to one hand, opening the door for me, and then stepping into the outside world for the first time in almost ten years as a free man. He stops walking, and just stands in the parking lot with his eyes closed and his face turned up to the sky.
"I'm free." He says after a beat.
"You are." I agree.
We walk to the car in silence, and Eric puts his belongings into the trunk. Once he closes the trunk, he pulls me flush to his body and kisses me.
"I'm free, Tris. Free." He breathes against me. We hold onto each other for a long time before we're both settled down enough to make the drive back to the hotel.
We decide the first order of business is to get Eric some essentials, and after much protest on his part he finally relented when I explained my spending money came in the form of a "hero fund" that I and many other key players had received for our parts in ending the war ten years ago. It had paid for my apartment, established a college fund for Miles, and I had invested with the help of a financial advisor. I don't have to work, but I love what I do, and I have no issues sharing that with Eric.
After all, he's the reason I'm here.
We can't fly back to Chicago, because as of right now Eric has no valid form of identification. I make arrangements with the rental car company to use it to travel back to Chicago, and get instructions on where I can turn it in once I am back in the city.
We decide to wait to leave until we both can have a decent night of sleep, because with Eric's future so uncertain neither of us had slept much since being in El Paso.
Eric calls our son once we're back in the hotel room, and Miles' excitement is off the charts. While Eric is using my phone to catch up with his son, I order a phone for him to be sent to our apartment in Chicago, and then realize he and I have yet to have a conversation about his living arrangements once we make it home.
"Have you seen the size of that shower?" Eric asks as he walks back into the living area of the suite.
"I've been using it for almost a month now, so yeah." I smirk at him.
"Wanna use it with me?" He wiggles his eyebrows at me and then yanks his shirt over his head and tosses it at me.
I walk over to him and carefully run my short nails up and down his chest, "Wanna get dirty first?" I ask and his grey eyes darken.
He follows me back to the bedroom, as I undress and leave a trail of my clothes behind. When we make it to the room, he picks me up and tosses me gently onto the bed, and it's then I realize he's shed his own clothes in much the same fashion.
In the dusky light of our room, his broad shoulders and pale skin stand out, and my eyes travel down to his fully erect manhood, thick and pointed up at him with a slight curve towards his belly.
"Can I touch you?" I ask quietly and he nods.
He's still standing and I put my hands on either side of his hips to move him closer to the bed. I gently place my hand around him and he moans from the direct contact. I stroke him up and down and I can feel him harden even more. I know consent is very important in our relationship, and I want to ensure he is always comfortable. I look up at him and find his stormy eyes watching me.
"Baby, can I taste you?" I ask him and his eyes widen.
"I trust you. I am safe with you." He says lowly and I nod my head, "Yes, I want you to try."
I start slow, parting my lips and running my tongue along the ridge, only taking his head into my mouth. He moans loudly at the contact and I look up at him through my lashes.
"More." He begs.
I grasp him firmly, then lick him from base to tip, tracing my tongue along his thick veins and he slightly bucks against me. I hollow my cheeks to take him all in, and I can feel him bottom out deep in my throat. He threads his hands in my hair and holds me still for a moment, and I swallow around him.
"Goddamn…" He murmurs before letting the pressure on my head go.
I let him guide me, using only my mouth at first while he moves my head in a rhythm he likes. When I add my hands, a string of expletives fly from his lips and he's no longer holding himself back.
"Tris, I'm going to cum…" He tries to move my head and I stay put, swallowing everything he gives me, and remaining attached to him until he gives me the signal to move.
He tumbles onto the bed next to me, and pulls me on top of him.
"Everything with you is so fucking good, every part of this, you always… everything." He breathes heavily.
I'm rutting against him for friction, being careful not to touch him there just yet, but in a surprise move he flips us over and begins to move against me, his hardness is traveling through my wet lower lips.
"Feels familiar, doesn't it?" He purrs.
"God yes…" I whine as he passes over my clit repeatedly.
"You wanted me so badly back in Erudite, didn't you baby?" He asks.
"I did." I breathe.
"Remind me…" He says as he drops his lips to mine.
I shift my hips slightly, just like I did that day and he thrusts inside of me, filling me. He threads his hands in mine and pulls our entwined hands over my head and continues to swivel his hips against mine. Some of my other orgasms with Eric have been quick to build, but with the way we are taking things so slow I can feel the warmth spreading in my belly and the tingly path it seems to take down.
"I'm so close…" I moan.
He adjusts his angle just slightly, and then it happens, I can feel my climax washing over me in waves, and I cannot help from calling his name repeatedly as I spasm around him.
He follows directly behind me, kissing me passionately the same way he did during our first time. He collapses on top of me, but he is careful not to put all of his weight on me. I rub his sweaty back and he sighs against me.
"I think I've always been in love with you, Tris." He whispers against my neck before placing an open mouth kiss there, and swiping my sweaty skin with his tongue, "Is that crazy to think?"
"No. I'm sure I loved you well before I ever admitted it to myself."
"Ready for that shower?" He asks and I chuckle before nodding my head against him.
We wash each other thoroughly, enjoying our freedom to explore each other's bodies, and when we exit the shower and are wrapped in towels I finally broach the subject of our relationship.
"Eric, what are we?" I blurt out awkwardly.
"What are we? Well we are entirely too old to be having an uncomfortable conversation about defining our relationship," He chuckles and I swat his ass through the towel, "We're in love. You're mine. I'm yours. We are in a committed relationship. We are Miles parents. Maybe we'll be someone else's parents down the line. I was thinking adoption, or fostering. For now, you're my girlfriend, but in the future I would like for us to get married. Just not before I am settled and am independent. I don't want you to have support me, hero fund or not, I want to be an equal contributor to our family, and when I finally ask you to marry me it'll be with a ring that I buy myself." He replies.
"Money, and who supports who, none of that matters to me." I argue.
"It does to me. I've always been under someone else's thumb, Tris." He replies.
"Does this mean you'd prefer to live on your own once we're back in Chicago?" I ask tentatively.
He brushes my wet hair away from my face, "Hey, none of that awkwardness or hesitation with me, babe. I want to live with you and Miles, but I want you to be comfortable with that too. You've had the hesitation in our relationship, not me." He retorts.
"That's not exactly fair, I was treating you." I argue.
"You were also hesitant to start anything with me. You seemed to think that my focus on you was because you magically fixed my issues with intimacy. Do you not see how that may have hurt me?" He asks.
"How?" I ask, needing to hear the reason from him.
"You dismissed my feelings. You basically said as soon as I was out of prison I'd want all of these other women and not you. You accused me of being focused only on what was in front of me, and not anything else, like my son. You didn't believe that I could have possibly began falling for you ten years ago, and absolutely be in love with you now." He says.
"You're right, and I am sorry for that." I reply honestly.
"Why didn't you believe me?"
"I projected." I finally admit.
"Projected?" His brow furrows.
"I projected my own insecurities and feelings onto you. It's a lot to explain."
"We have time, babe, please." He says as he leads us to sit on the bed in our room.
"It's a lot to unpack, so please bear with me. Back in Dauntless, we were just kids. I had this huge crush on you, and when you kissed me I totally imagined having a whole relationship with you. This little inexperienced girl from Abnegation, who'd never as much as touched a boy who wasn't related to me suddenly has this handsome and mysterious leader kissing her. It was a big deal. When I started seeing Tobias, it didn't necessarily diminish the things I felt for you. I just was impressionable, and he was this guy who I knew from back home, he made me feel safe. I trusted him, and I believed him when he said things about you that were supported by my own observations of you.
Everything that happened in Erudite between us confused me. Suddenly you were the one protecting me, and not him. You could have just led me out of the faction and let me figure it out, but you put your own life on the line and went with me. We didn't just have sex, it was something more, and it wasn't just because we were losing our virginities. Between that, and the way you were treating me afterward, it clouded things. I was even more confused with what I felt for you.
Leaving you on that train was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, and that includes everything that's happened since that day. You absolutely saved my life, without any regard of your own. Everything that I had suppressed feeling for you was bubbling on the surface. I thought you had died, and like I said before my reaction to that trauma was doing whatever Tobias asked me to do as long as he didn't leave me. I used him in a way, I used him to convince myself that I felt nothing for you, and could just get over whatever stupid crush I had.
Then I saw you in Candor.
I wanted to talk to you so badly that day, Eric. They stopped me, because we were both witnesses in the same trial they wouldn't let me see you. I thought for sure you'd walk out of that building that day, so I waited."
I pause to collect myself and to his credit, he remains silent and just threads our hands together.
"You never came out. So I just went home with him. I existed, on some sort of auto-pilot for weeks. I told myself I needed to love him so I could just forget about you. I found out I was pregnant, he left, and I was alone with my thoughts again. All of those thoughts were of you.
I tried, Eric. I tried to come to you and to tell you everything. I wanted you to know I was pregnant, and I wanted you to get out of jail, but then I realized that you would have to want those things too. I knew that me trying to just fix you was no different than Tobias trying to force his opinions on me, and force me into wanting the things he did. So, I finally listened to your repeated denial of my requests to see you, and I tried to focus on my pregnancy.
I couldn't stop thinking about you, though. I went to therapy religiously, I fixed myself. I became someone I could actually like, and when Miles was born I worked hard at being his mother. He was my complete focus, but looking at him was looking at you, and I knew our son needed to know who his father was.
The first time I went to Jack, it was to find out legally how I could help you, and to keep you as a part of Miles' life whenever we could. Jack is a wonderful man, but I used him just like I used Tobias, I needed to find someone else to prove that I didn't want you. So when I say I projected onto you, it was because of that. I did have feelings for you, the entire time I've known you, and I would throw myself headfirst into other relationships to prove that I could forget you. It had the opposite effect, it made me realize that I've always wanted to be with you.
I guess because I wasn't mature enough to figure out how I actually felt about you without being with other people, maybe I thought you'd need that too. I projected that onto you, and I'm so very sorry."
"I accept your apology." He replies simply.
"That's it?" I ask, "You're not angry with me?"
"No. We've lost ten years of our life together and I'm not going to waste a second of what we have left. You dealt with our situation by trying to be with other people in an effort to forget. I dealt with it by being angry, and sending myself to prison. We're similar in the way's we've dealt with our personal traumas. I'm not angry at you, I'm relieved that you trust me enough to tell me all of that, and I'm grateful that it led us here," He grins at me, "Especially with how hot you look in just a towel."
I look at him in awe. I know we have so much further to go, but I realize the Eric who is now in front of me is a changed man, one who is healing beautifully.
"You're grateful that is led us to be sitting in a damp towel on a bed in a hotel in El Paso?" I ask cheekily.
"The towels are very optional at this point." He sits up and yanks his from around his hips, tossing it onto the floor next to the bed.
I look at his thick erection and toss my own towel to the side, before I straddle his lap and he pushes himself inside of me again.