The Fugitive
- Chapter Six -
"With all the smiles your children have brought you, isn't it amazing that they can bring so much tears as well?—" anonymous
Emily's mouth dropped and so did her heart, all she could hear was a piercing silence. She looked at Jack while her heart shattered into pieces unable to even blink, or articulate any words. She tried to take a deep breath but it came out as a strangled moan. Her eyes quickly began filling with tears and spilling down her cheeks against her will. She stood there for a few seconds unable to react, but as soon as she felt the wetness of her tears, she stood up from the stool refusing to let Jack see her cry. She found herself leaving the kitchen and going onto the patio running away from her son, but her first instinct was to slap the kid across his face, but she knew she would never forgive herself if she did that, so she fled onto the patio taking a deep, shaky breath, tears freely spilling down her cheeks.
She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, but she knew she couldn't, so she did the first thing her instinct told her, leave the house. She went back into the kitchen to retrieve her purse and keys and headed into the garage, hopping into her car, her eyes swimming in tears. She quickly withdrew her phone from her purse calling JJ.
"Hey, everything okay?"
"Yeah, hmm…are you guys close?"
"We're just pulling onto your street now, what's going on?" JJ asked, noticing her husky voice.
"Nothing, I need to take care of something. Can you please stay with the kids?" JJ saw her drive in front them without even acknowledging them.
"Of course, Emily, what's the matter?"
"I'll see you later, okay." She said with a sob.
"Emily!" JJ called again, but she had already disconnected the call.
Emily threw her phone onto the console not even caring to wait for JJ's response, she didn't really feel like the best mother in the world just leaving her children unattended like that. But, she couldn't care any less right now, JJ and Morgan were just pulling onto the street as she left, so that only gave the children a few minutes alone, and after all, Jack was old enough to watch after his siblings. If he was old enough to fight at school and be incredibly disrespectful with her, he could damn well be responsible for a few minutes.
She found herself unable to focus on the road as her eyes were flooded with tears. Her heart ached so much she found herself unable to breath…who would have thought that a teenager's words would have that much impact in her life. She didn't even wait for Jack's reaction before she left the house, she just didn't think she could have spent another second in front of him without literally slapping him, and that scared her even more. She had never been violent with her children, yes…she had on one or two occasions spanked them as children, what parent hadn't, but not Jack, Jack had always been their perfect child. She couldn't even remember a time Jack had challenged her authority or misbehaved, he had always been such a sweet kid. But now, he was acting out, picking fights and being a brat to her. While she knew his behavior was just in response to his father's arrest, she still found his actions inexcusable.
His words weighed so much on her that she had to pull off the road in order to clear her vison as her eyes keep spilling over with tears. What was she supposed to do now? Ground Jack, call his father and tell him Jack was being a punk? Aaron wouldn't even take her calls, and did Jack really think she wasn't his mom? I mean, she had raised him for ten years, she never expected to take Haley's place in his heart, she would never do that, but, she believed he cared about her at least as a motherly figure, but apparently that wasn't even true.
She had no idea how long she stood there on the side of the road crying and praying this nightmare would end soon. When she had calmed enough to be able to drive again, she turned the car on and began driving aimlessly. As much as she hated to leave the responsibility of her children to JJ, she just couldn't go home just yet. So she parked at the nearest coffee shop she found, thinking that taking a walk and drinking some coffee would clear her mind.
She began walking toward the cafe while looking at her phone. She had at least eight missed calls, from JJ, a few more from Morgan and one from the district attorneys' office. She also had several messages from JJ. "Emily, are you okay? Please talk to me, I'm worried. What happened?"
She began typing a message to JJ letting her know she was fine and that she would be home soon not paying attention to where she was walking.
"You're about to run into a trash can." A very familiar voice said. She looked up in surprise just in time to avoid colliding with the garbage bin.
"I'm sorry." She said, "What are you doing here?" She asked, surprised to see the director of the academy standing in front of her.
"I…uh…live down the road." He replied with a smile "I could ask you the same, don't you live in Richmond?"
"Yeah, I uh...was driving around and..."
"What's wrong?" He asked, noticing her puffy, red eyes.
"Nothing really, I'm just tired and I wanted to get some coffee."
"An hour away from your home?"
"Yeah, I just needed a little drive." She said with a soft sigh.
"What's wrong, Emily? You've been crying. Does this have to do with the situation with your husband."
"Yes and no, it's really nothing..." She bit her lip looking away.
"Well, why don't you sit down for a second. We can get some coffee and talk."
"I'm not really sure I want to talk."
"Alright then, we can just sit and not talk." He said, making Emily smirk.
Steven went to get coffee for both of them, at first, Emily just wanted to run before he was back with the coffee, she was pretty sure having coffee with her boss was against the fraternization rules. But then she realized that it wasn't like Steve and her had agreed to meet there and have a date. She had run into him and in all honesty maybe she did need to talk to him and explain in a little more detail everything that had been going on.. After all, it had been him who had covered all her classes for the past week and all day today after Jack got in trouble at school.
"I'm really sorry all of this is interfering with my work, Steve, I never meant to neglect my classes." She said after they both sat at a table in the patio of the café.
"Emily, don't even mention it, you're going through something very difficult...I can't even imagine how you feel right now."
"It's been hard."
"Did you and Aaron have a fight?" He guessed, wondering if that was the reason she had been crying. "I'm sorry, is that too personal? I don't mean to pry...I'm just worried..."
"No, it's okay." She wanted to say that he was bordering on crossing the line, but she decided against saying that. "It's just my son…he's just...not handling things very well."
"Oh right, he got in trouble at school. Did he tell you what happened?"
"No, not really, he's just so angry right now…I can't even get him to talk to me."
"How old is he?"
"He's fourteen."
"Oh, that's the dangerous age." He said empathically. "My daughter is twelve, so l kind of get it."
Emily had heard through the grapevine that Steve was divorced and had two girls, they had worked together for several years, but she had never paid any attention to the rumors.
"How old is your other daughter."
"Seven, Sabrina." He smiled.
"That's a pretty name."
"Thank you, you have two more children, right?"
"Umm…yeah, Jack is my stepson and I have a ten-year-old and a four-year-old."
"I bet they are just a handful and as beautiful as their mother." Emily chose to ignore that comment.
"My little one can be a lot of work. Ellie, my oldest, is actually a wonderful child...Zoe, she is just very calm and mellow."
"How are the kids taking all of this."
"Not well, obviously." She replied, stirring her coffee. While she wasn't sure she should be having a conversation with the director of academy the way she was, it felt really nice just to be able to talk to someone that wasn't the team and that wasn't pitying her.
"You know, when I got divorced, my girls didn't handle it too well either."
"Yeah, but watching your parents divorce and watching your father being arrested are two different things."
"I'm sorry." He said empathically. "I didn't actually know they had done that."
"Anyway..." Emily said, "I just don't really know how to make this situation better for them."
"I think the best thing you can do is be there for your kids, it might take a while for them to open up to you, but they will eventually."
"Maybe..."
"Listen, if you need a few more weeks off to deal with all of this..."
"Thank you, Steve, I really appreciate it, but I can't take the luxury of missing more time from work...with all of this, I'm not really sure when I'm going to need my vacation time, so I'd rather use it wisely."
"You have hundreds of hours of paid time available, Emily."
"I know, but like I said, I don't know how long this is going to take, plus, it's never good to change the academy routine."
"Your students speak so highly of you, by the way…they worship you."
"They're good people; I really do enjoy teaching them."
"Good, because I know this isn't the time or the place, but I was just advised this morning that Ernie is leaving the academy."
"Really?" She asked, surprised. Ernie Chance was the assistant director of the academy…a very old gentlemen Emily adored. "Oh no, why?"
"He and his wife are actually moving to Montana, and he has been eligible for retirement for over ten years…I just think it's time."
"I guess that's true...so, with whom are they going to replace him?"
"Actually, that's why l brought it up; I was hoping you would consider doing it. I know you have a lot going on, but…."
"Wait! Are you serious right now…why me?"
"You've been at the top of the list for years. I mean, after having run an Interpol office and your years as a federal agent, I'm not surprised at all."
"Yeah, but with everything going on with Aaron…I just..."
"Emily, whatever your husband did has nothing to do with you, you're an outstanding agent. I couldn't have chosen anyone better."
"I…uh…don't know." She said frowning." I mean, don't take me wrong, I'm honored, I just don't think…there's so much going on right now."
"I know, I'm not asking you to make a decision right now, I'm just letting you know your name is first on the list. Just focus on taking care of whatever you need to do now, then we can discuss this again in a few months."
"A few months?"
"I mean, Ernie is going to finish the semester, so that gives you a couple months to sort things out...at least think about it." He added, noticing her hesitation.
"Okay, I will think about it."
"Good, now that I've managed to distract you a little bit, do you feel better?"
"I don't think I will feel better any time soon, but thanks for listening."
"Of course." Steve said, looking down at her hands, noticing that her fingernails were chewed up, and her fingers were bleeding again.
"You have been biting your fingernails again." He said nonchalantly, taking her small hand in his. What was meant as a nice gesture, Emily took as an advance on her.
"I…um…sorry." She said, pulling her hand back. "I think I should leave." She said, standing up.
"Emily..."
"I'm sorry, thanks for everything, Steve." With that, she rushed to her car feeling even worse than she had a few hours ago.
She hadn't done anything wrong technically, but she still felt terrible, why in the world did she think it was a good idea to have coffee with a man that was not only her boss, but had a crush on her as well. She was married and her husband was in jail, her kids were acting out and everything was falling apart and instead of dealing with the situation, she ran away and made it even worse. Of course, it was unintentional…she never expected for things to turn out like that; it wasn't like Steve had attempted to make out with her, as small as the gesture had been, Emily knew really well it mean so much more for him. Maybe it was because she had been in denial for a while now, Steve had always been great to her and part of it was because he was in love with her, or at least, that was what the gossip had been at the academy for a while. Emily kept pretending it was all the stupid teachers who liked drama and gossip.
But very deep inside her she knew Steve's subtle gesture toward her, were, in fact, more than just being a nice boss. No man would do all the things Steve had done for her if there was no particular interest. But, she had been naïve enough to think that her perfect, or so she thought, marriage would be enough to keep him on a leash. Apparently, now Steve knew her husband was in jail and she was vulnerable, so maybe now it was his opportunity to finally make a move on her.
By the time Emily got home, it was quiet dark outside. The kids were already in bed and Morgan was waiting for her outside on the porch sipping on a can of soda. JJ had texted Emily earlier letting her know she had to leave because Lucas was not feeling to well, so Morgan volunteered to stay with the kids until Emily returned home.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I didn't mean to get home so late, I'm really sorry, Derek."
"Emily, we're friends and family, that's exactly what we're here for." He said softly, looking at her. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly." Emily said tiredly, "Are the girls in bed?"
"Yeah, Zoe went to bed about an hour ago, and Ellie fell asleep while we were watching a movie. She has been out for hours now."
"I'm surprised she didn't give you any trouble, she usually a handful at bed time." Emily said sitting next to him.
"Ellie?" He smirked taking her hand. "No way, she was an angel, but then again I am a chick magnet so, all girls love me." Emily laughed rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, whatever."
"Are you sure you're okay, Princess?" He said, taking her hand and looking at her.
"Yeah, I'm okay, it's just been a very long day..."
"Did you and Jack get into a thing?"
"Why do you ask?" Emily asked, surprised. "Did he say anything?"
"No, you did, not directly." Morgan said looking at her.
"You called JJ crying out of the blue and Jack has been in his room since we got here. It's not too hard to put two and two together."
"Did he even eat anything?"
"JJ brought him a snack upstairs but she said he would not talk to her, then I tried going up there, and he would not even open the door to me..." Emily nodded sadly, placing her phone right next to her on the table.
"So, what happened?"
"Derek, I really don't want to talk about it."
"Okay then, but I just need you to know that I'm here, we all are."
"I know, thank you so much, I really appreciate you staying this late."
"Of course, did you take care of whatever you needed to take care of?"
"Yeah, I really didn't mean to be gone so long, I just really needed some time to think."
"It's alright, you've got a lot on your plate. If you ever need me to just come and stay with them, let me know."
Emily nodded, looking into the dark. She was so exhausted she just wanted to dismiss Derek and go bed, but the least she could do after he had taken care of her children is talk to him for a few minutes.
"Are you hungry? I made pasta for the kids."
"You made pasta?" Emily asked, highly amused.
"Excuse me, I am a hella cook if I may say so." His cocky attitude made her laugh.
"Right, right"
Her phone beeped showing a text message from Steve that said, "I'm really sorry if I did anything to offend you."
"Wait, is that really who I think it is?" He asked, glancing at the message and looking at her in shock before Emily retrieved her phone.
"It's nothing, it's late, thanks for your help." she said dismissively, standing up and going inside the house.
"Is that where you were? You were with the Academy Director?" Derek asked following her inside the house.
"Derek, I love you, but this isn't any of your business."
"Emily, I know your mind is all over the place right now, but please don't tell me you're..."
"Derek," She said, with her palm up.
"I don't know what you think you read, or happened, but I'm asking you to please not cross a line you shouldn't. Not that I need to give you any explanation, but I ran into him at a coffee shop and we talked for a little while. That was all, mostly we talked about work." She said, even thought she didn't think she needed to justify herself.
"And he's apologizing because?"
"Thanks for your help tonight, but I think you should leave."
"Emily, I really hope this is not what I think it is because if it is that's kind of fucked up."
"Morgan, stop!" She warned, "You have no idea is going on."
"And you do? Aaron was just arrested, and you're going out with the academy director?"
"You know what, Derek, just because you're a whore who uses people for his own advantage doesn't mean everyone is." Emily bit out coldly.
Morgan smirked looking at her shaking his head, hurt and unable to believe what she had said. He was trying to think of a rebuttal, but he didn't think he could say anything without hurting her, so he decided to be the mature one and just walk away.
"I didn't know that's what you thought of me." He said sadly.
"Derek, I'm sorry...I just…." She started, running a hand over her hair. That had been too low and she knew it.
"Good night, Emily"
"Derek, wait, don't leave, please..."
But the dark skinned man simply continued walking toward his car, with Emily watching him go with a new flow of tears on her cheeks. Why did everything have to be so damn complicated. She sat down on the living room sofa covering her face with her hands; her head hurt so much that she was beginning to feel dizzy. Her phone started ringing again, and she pulled her phone from her pocket tiredly.
"Hey, Dave, what's going on?" She asked in a tight voice.
"Emily, I'm sorry to bother you this late, but I have bad news." Great, just exactly what she needed.
"What's wrong?" The tight feeling in her stomach becoming bigger.
"I just talked to Bechum, the prosecutor in Aaron's case."
"Is he okay?"
"Yeah, Aaron is fine, but they're transferring him to Guantanamo Bay."
"What?" Emily asked in shock, standing up. "Why? They can't do that can they? Is that even legal?"
"It's technically not, unless you're considered a terrorist."
"So why are they transferring him there? He has only been accused with murder."
"Well, there's more."
"More?" Could this get any worse?
"The NSA just found documents of several bank accounts in Switzerland in Aaron's name, all totaling to billions of dollars from government funds."
"Oh my God!"
"They're charging Aaron with treason and conspiracy, as well."
"Once upon a time I was falling in love. Now I'm only falling apart."― xxblagitxx
