After the Goodbye (3 years later)
Hello? How can we help you? Gregorio asks as we both look to doorway.
"Hi, I was looking for Agent Percy."
"Well, I'm sorry Petty Officer, she no longer works here."
"Oh shoot, I was hoping to see her. I use to workout with her at the gym before I deployed. She helped me get into shape so I could pass the master physical fitness test."
"Well she is headquartered in Washington now. She has been gone for almost three years. You can call her at the FBI office in D.C. I bet she would like to hear from you."
"Do you know her Tammy?"
"No LaSalle."
"I haven't thought about Percy for a while now. Do you ever talk to her?"
"Yeah, every once in a while."
"I'm shocked that she just went away and never kept in touch."
"You still miss her don't you?" Tammy asks.
"What would make you say that?"
"Oh just the hound dog look that I see that comes over your face whenever anyone mentions her name or we come across of one her old cases." "Well, this time Tammy the profiler, you are right. Yes I miss her very much."
"Did you try to contact her after she left Chris?"
"Why would I do that Tammy? You know I'm part of the reason that she left."
"Do you have regrets? Chris? Chris? Are you going to answer me?
"Do I need to Tammy? You know I miss her. Do you want me to tell you that I regret not asking her to stay? I do and I was mad at myself for the first year. But she didn't reach out to me either so I just buried away that part of my life."
As King walks in he addresses Tammy, "I need you to go with me down to NOPD. Chris, I need you to check in with Patton and see when he will be putting the security upgrades on the computers." "Okay King. See you guys later."
An Hour later
Hey Chris" "Yeah Triple P" "Why don't I start on yours first then you can get back to work." "That's okay, I just wanted to return some e-mails. I can log in on Gregorio's computer."
As I sit down to Tammy's computer, I see that she forgot to log out. As I move the mouse her screen comes up. I wonder who that little sweetie is. I think I'll just be nosey and look in her picture folder.
Wait a minute. There's that little girl again and she's sitting on Percy's lap. Here's a Christmas Photo. "Merry Christmas Aunt Tammy love Sonja and Chrissy Marie." What the hell? Marie is my mother's name. Wait I couldn't see this before? I quickly e-mail some of the photos in the file to me and deleted the send action from Tammy's computer.
"Hey LaSalle I can't get access right now, I will have to come back. LaSalle did you hear me? You can go back to your own desk for an hour or so."
Back at my desk, I pull the pictures up and it dawns on me that this little girl looks just like my sister only two shades darker and has hazel eyes like my father and Cade. This cannot be happening.
Later that night
I try to keep the calm in my voice as I address her "Hey Percy, what's going on?" "Hey LaSalle! I haven't heard your voice for years. How's everybody back in New Orleans? How's your brother?" She goes on and on for two or three minutes appearing to careful not leave an opening for me to speak other than to answer her questions. Then she says "hey it was nice to talking to you but I need to get up out of here"
"So Percy is that really all you have to say to me?" Silence. "Sonja you need to quit playing me." "Playing you?" "I checked my e-mails on Tammy's computer today and found a file full of photos of a little girl who looks just like my sister and with names familiar to my family. What the hell Sonja?" Silence again. "Sonja answer me!"
"I don't know where to start Chris. I know what you want to know. There's no reason to lie – yes Chrissy is your child. I didn't want to burden you and I didn't want to go back into a point in my life where I knew you didn't want me."
"You were wrong Percy to deny me of my child and for her not to know her family. Momma has been dying to have a grandbaby. And my children would be entitled to the opportunity of being a LaSalle. She's entitled to a nice home and a full time nanny, private schools, music lessons and sports opportunities."
"Chris I never thought that far."
"Well just what the hell were you thinking?"
"I told you Chris. I remember what you went through with Melody. You were all ready to love Tucker, but you were clear that the mother was not what you wanted in a wife. You had made it clear to me that you didn't want me as a wife either even after that night we spent together.
"So just who else knows besides Tammy?" "No one. My mother doesn't even know who Chrissy's father is." "Well Ms. Tammy and I will be having a long talk tomorrow. This was so wrong of both of you.". "Don't blame Tammy Chris. I swore her to secrecy. She would have never even known if she hadn't run into one my fellow employees at a sniper training class at Quantico that winter. She wanted to surprise me and stopped by my office and there I stood with my mouth wide open and my belly bulging. She has tried for months to get me to tell you but I wasn't going to force myself back into your life.
Well, I have to think about this Sonja. I want to fly out and meet my child. I will put in for a leave tomorrow. Do you think you can get vacation time for a few days?
The next day
"King, I need to talk to you in private." "Sure, let's go upstairs."
"I spoke with Percy last night." "Really, how's she doing?" "So did you know King?" I asked hardly containing my anger." "Know what?" Did you know that Percy gave birth to my child? With a shocked look King responds "no. A child? Are you sure?" "Yes, I found some pictures on Tammy's computer. Percy named the little girl Chrissy Marie. Marie is my mother's name. She looks just like my sister except with a darker skin tone and has Cade's hazel eyes. So King I need to take a week and fly out there." "Sure Chris. Look Chris. We're not that busy today. Take off today and think about what you want to say to Sonja and what you might want to do. Now, you will make sure that you get a DNA test this time, right?" I nod yes. "I'll take the test for the sake of filing for 'joint custody' King but that girl looks just like my sister and now that I think about it a little more, my Aunt Ruth too."
"So you're sure there is nothing else that I can help you with. Yeah, keep Tammy away from me for the next few days."
"Good morning Christopher" Tammy says as she and Sabastian come through the door. I roll my eyes at her as I brush past her. This is not a good day to mess with me Gregorio I think.
I get in my truck and realize that I can't drive like this. As I reach for my cell phone I grasp that there were only two individuals who could even begin to be a comfort to me. One I just left and the other was momma.
I try to keep it together as I punch momma's number in. "Momma it's me." "Chris, what wrong?" "Why would you ask that?" "I know your voice son, what's wrong?" I don't know where to begin then I tell her about the last two days in my now totally messed up life.
"Well son, you have every right to be angry. What did the mother say?"
"She gave me some story about how she knew that I didn't want her so she didn't want to burden me with a child."
"So can I ask do I have a grandson or a granddaughter?"
"It's a little girl momma. Percy named her Chrissy Marie."
"Oh a grand daughter and a namesake, now that's special. So are you going to be able to meet your daughter any time soon?"
"Yeah, I going home to make my flight arrangements for this weekend and plan to spend at least a week out there."
"How old is she?" "She's 27 months." "Can you send me picture of her."
"Yeah, let me do that right now." Ding.
"Oh Chris, she's beautiful. She looks just like your Aunt Ruth did when she was little girl."
"I thought so too momma as well as sis. I don't need a DNA test to know that girl is a LaSalle. I'm not sure what the hell Percy was thinking. She knows I always cared about her. I smile as I remember our last mission together, our last night and our parting words as well as that horrible airport scene"
I knew momma was the right person to call. As I calm down, I start to realize that I am guilty in all this as well. I kept Percy at arm's length for months. I refused to see how much she meant to me until it was too late.
Shit. I turn on the radio and there is an old Leanne Rimes song playing "Soon". I played that song every hour for nearly the first month that Percy was gone. I finally tried to make myself to start dating and even found two women who I really thought I could have something with until the first one saw me with Tammy and concluded since we were in our own little world in a conversation we involved and told me off about sneaking on her. The second one interrogated me when we were out one night and I saw Loretta and went over to speak with her. Her description of Loretta's heritage left me speechless and I just got up and walked out.
I finally decided to go back to college and pick up some hours in criminal justice as a distraction. That joy didn't last long when in my second class a petite black woman with curly black hair sat down right in front of me. To make it worse, she wore the same perfume as Percy.
Friday finally came and I worked just a couple hours. King offered to drive me to the airport which ended up being good because the closer I got to the plane the madder I got.