Take Two: Chapter Sixteen
Eric stared up at the cement ceiling. He was laying on the hard cot. He had no idea what to do. He felt like throwing up, like crying. But he didn't do anything. In the cell next to him were the kids hired to pretend to be assassins, and Eric didn't want them to hear him.
He had been alone since he was arrested. Eric remembered the world going black after he pulled the trigger. He didn't really remember anything except his uncle struggling to breathe, and Kono crying out when Ricardo hit her. And he remembered Steve's face, when Steve saw Ricardo bleeding on the ground next to a coughing Danny. Danny hadn't noticed Eric. At least, it didn't seem like it. The police had, however. As Steve knelt beside his partner, he looked up only once to watch the police handcuffing Eric. His face was stony.
Eric desperately wanted to talk to someone. He was an outgoing guy. He hated the silence. So did his uncle, to some extent, but Danny was far better at hiding this. Sometimes, at home, nothing pleased Danny more than to sit with a beer and stare out the window. Eric didn't function like this. He always needed to be speaking with someone. What he wanted was to call his uncle, with his one call. But he was in the hospital. His other uncle was dead. He couldn't call his mother, because she would ask too many questions. And she would worry. In the end, he ended up calling Rachel. He told her Danny was in the hospital. She asked why he was calling from jail. He didn't say anything. He just repeated that Danny was in the hospital, and that she should tell the kiddos hello from Cousin Eric. Then he hung up.
Now he was alone. He hoped he hadn't wasted that one phone call.
Presently, a policeman came up to Eric's cell and said he had two visitors. Eric stood up, went to the bars of the cell, and peeked out.
The morphine, which had not had enough time to really do its magic, wore off before Steve and Danny reached the jail. So, when Eric saw his uncle trudging towards him, he looked pretty shitty. Steve kept trying to put his arm around Danny, but Danny kept shrugging him off. Eric had to smile.
"Unlock it, would ya?" Danny muttered at the policeman. The policeman nodded, unlocking the door. Eric stepped back as Steve and Danny stepped in.
For a moment, the three looked at each other in silence, before Eric cleared his throat.
"Wanna sit down, Uncle D?"
"Yeah." Danny nodded, instantly going towards the bed. He was only somewhat relieved when he sat, exhaling slowly so as not to hurt his ribs. It didn't work.
"How are you?" Steve asked Eric. Eric was looking at his uncle, and didn't answer. Danny's neck was purple. It looked horrible. His face was screwed up in pain. "E," Steve said again.
"Uh, you know. They…" he tried to come up with a joke, but he couldn't think of anything. He couldn't look past his uncle. "You know." He finished lifelessly. "Hey, Uncle D, I'm glad you're out and about." Eric said. "Did the hospital kick get rid of you already?"
"Something like that." Danny muttered.
Steve's phone buzzed. He glanced at Kono's text. Ricardo is alive. He's going to be okay. Get Eric out.
"Eric, you should know that the police want to charge you with manslaughter."
Eric and Danny made the same noise of disbelief. Both Williamses shook their heads. Steve almost laughed at the similarities.
"So he's dead then, huh?" Eric asked.
"No. No, Ricardo is alive." Steve said. "I'm going to do everything in my power to get you out, okay?"
"Sooner rather than later, right, Steven?" Danny said from his spot on the cot.
"Right." Steve said. "Give me a second." Steve nodded at Danny before leaving the cell. He caught up with guard and the two began to climb the stairs to the main offices.
Eric watched Steve go before turning back to his uncle. Danny thought no one was looking, and he was clutching his side again.
"Uncle D?"
"You actually shot someone, E?" Danny looked up. "I mean, you really shot him, huh?"
Eric shrugged. "He was killing you."
Danny cringed. He thought about his purple neck that he had caught in the mirror.
"I mean, what was I supposed to, Uncle D?" Eric continued. "You would have shot him."
"Yeah, but I've got a badge, bud."
"Uncle D, c'mon. Eric shook his head. "Just, I don't know, just appreciate the sentiment."
"Thank you."
"Yeah." Eric huffed.
"No, thank you." Danny clarified. "Really. Eric. Thank you. And, uh, you know, I'm sorry. For lying about everything, you know, and pretending you're too young to know some things."
"Man, this case really messed you up, huh? I don't think you've ever apologized to me before."
"Yeah? That's because I've always been right before."
"Uncle D, I, uh, want you to know I didn't mean what I said. You know about you and Mattie. I've, uh, had some time to think about it, you know, in jail and all. I was angry. I didn't mean what I said. Sorry, bro."
Danny nodded more to himself than Eric. "I know why you said what you said. I was supposed to save him. If I had, who knows, maybe you wouldn't be in jail."
"'Who knows?' You think this was bound to happen?"
"I always thought I'd find you in here for, I don't know, public nudity or something."
"That would have been wicked." Eric grinned. "My first time in Hawaii."
"Oof, I wish you hadn't have given me that visual, Eric."
"You brought it up!" Eric laughed.
Danny smiled. He rubbed the back of his neck. When he looked up, Eric was looking at Danny's bruised neck again.
"Eric, did you use your phone call to call Rachel?" Danny asked suddenly.
Eric flushed. "Well, yeah. I mean, who else?"
"How about a lawyer, huh? Anyone else!"
"Uncle D, I think you underestimate Aunt Rach. I mean, did she not bring you those clothes?"
"So?"
"So? C'mon, Uncle D. I'm just saying."
"I think you're just in denial. Rachel and I have been divorced for a long time, now, you know."
"Uncle D, I'm not the one in denial."
Steve poked his head in the cell. "You ladies done chitchatting? Strings have been pulled."