Here's the next chapter. Please enjoy!
39. The Eye of the Storm
After what felt like 2 minutes, Maria was gently shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw her smiling down at me.
"Dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes. I thought that you might want to freshen up a little."
I smiled gratefully and nodded. I left Carlos sleeping and followed Maria to the bathroom. She handed me my suitcase and some towels. "Take your time dear. If you're not ready in 20 minutes, we'll wait. Nothing we're having for dinner will be ruined if it's delayed."
I nodded and went to take a much needed shower. I revelled under the hot water but didn't take too long. I didn't want to hold dinner up too much. To save time, I brushed my hair but didn't attempt to style or dry it. I just twisted it up on my head and secured it with a hair tie. It wasn't elegant but it would keep the wet hair off my back and out of my face. I dressed in casual clothes but didn't bother with any makeup.
When I went back to the bedroom, Carlos was still asleep. I stood watching him sleep. He looked so peaceful. I almost hated waking him up. I leaned down and kissed him before quietly saying, "Carlos, dinner is almost ready. You need to wake up."
Carlos was very adorable when he was groggy. That was the biggest reason that I gave in and woke him. I loved the first few minutes of him waking. After a thorough stretch and a lengthy yawn, he rolled over and looked at me. We stared at each other for a moment. He needed more sleep but he reluctantly got up and went into the bathroom. I left him to it and went downstairs to find the rest of the family.
Rosa was the first person I saw when I got downstairs. She hugged me and then led me into the back yard where a large table was set up for the seven of us. I looked at the sheer amount of food and suddenly realised how hungry I actually was.
As soon as Evie and Isabel saw me, they raced over and hugged me. Ricardo told them to leave me alone and then proceeded to hug me himself. When he let me go, he went inside the house with the girls to help Maria. All four of them came out a few minutes later with more bowls and platters of food. There was enough food here to feed an army. I didn't see how the 7 of us could even put a dent in the amount of food on the table.
We sat and ate but nobody mentioned my ordeal. Their avoidance of the topic was a relief. I wasn't really interested in dwelling on what had happened to me or reliving it again. I was far more interested in eating the wonderful food that was prepared by Rosa and Maria. It was delicious and according to Carlos, it was all his favourite foods growing up.
When dinner was over and most of the mess was clean, Ricardo told the girls to go gather their things. It was then that I remembered that he and Maria had stayed here last night. Carlos and I stayed with the girls at Alex's.
Ricardo must have guessed my train of thought because he said, "Lisa and Amy come home tomorrow. Maria wants to get the house ready for them so we are going to stay there tonight and do a bit of work in the morning to get things ready. When we didn't know where you were, we brought all of your things here. Carlos has been staying here and all of his things are here.
"I will come by tomorrow around 9 to pick you and Carlos up. Our flight isn't until 1:30 but I figured you'd both want to see Alex, Lisa and Amy once more before you left. We will have plenty of time at the airport for lunch."
I nodded and thanked Ricardo for thinking of us that way. He continued to explain the plan. "After we say goodbye to the family at the hospital, Maria will drive us to the airport and come back to help Lisa and Alex get settled in."
Carlos and I nodded our agreement to the plan. Carlos wrapped his arm around my shoulder and said, "We'll be ready by the time you arrive in the morning Papa. It will be good to see Amy before we go."
We said goodnight to the girls and Carlos' parents and then helped Rosa put the last of the leftovers away. When everything was finished, Rosa sent us to bed. We were both exhausted so neither of us argued or tried to get out of going to bed. We were both exhausted so an early night was something we both needed.
Once curled up together in bed, Carlos finally spoke about what he went through when I was missing.
"I have never been so scared in all my life, Babe. I was afraid that I would lose you and I definitely don't want to lose you. Morelli kept trying to send me home but he couldn't. He had no authority to arrest me and the FBI thought that I could look for you as well as anyone.
"When the FBI finally triangulated Tyler's phone, they called Morelli. They mistakenly assumed that Morelli would share all of the pertinent information with me. He said nothing to me at all the entire time. He kept telling me that I was getting in the way and that I would be to blame if anything happened to you.
"It was actually your FBI handler who contacted me to tell me about your possible location. He called about 15 minutes after they told Morelli about the location. He wasn't surprised that Morelli didn't share the information. He mentioned something about cops always compartmentalising information and told me the location anyway."
I looked at Carlos for a few minutes before speaking. "When I escaped, I was terrified. Joe caught me and tried to calm me down, but it took a few minutes to even realise who he was. I didn't expect him to be in Miami and it just didn't fit. Joe then went on and talked about our past in a way to try and soothe me. It seemed like he was trying to manipulate the situation. He kept saying things like 'You should come home with me and let me take care of you in Trenton.' I ignored his words because I was only interested in finding you. I knew you were close.
When I finally saw you, I had to push Morelli really hard so he would let go of me. It was your arms that I wanted around me, not his."
Carlos smiled and said, "Morelli did talk of you often whenever we were together. He tried to convince me that there was something between the two of you and that what you and I had would never last. I laughed when he said that because you told me all about the whole Tasty Pastry incident and how he wrote about you on public restroom walls. I brought that up and he backed off a little. He must have underestimated how much we mean to each other and the lengths that I'd go to find you."
I stared into Carlos' eyes, "It's really weird but I could feel you nearby, even before I escaped. Knowing you were close by gave me the strength to stand up to Tyler. If Joe hadn't intercepted me, I'd have found you sooner."
Carlos had a funny expression on his face. "I know what you mean Babe. I had coordinates that spanned a pretty big area, but for some reason, I was drawn to that building. I just had a feeling that you were there."
I leaned over and kissed Carlos. He smiled at me and said, "We have a strong connection Babe, don't ever doubt that."
After that, we settled down and slept through the night. Carlos woke up at 7 but left me to laze in bed. At 8, he came up and woke me for breakfast. Rosa had made pancakes and I was in heaven. After eating, we packed and were ready when Ricardo turned up a few minutes before nine.
I was sad to say goodbye to Rosa but she assured me that we'd see her soon enough. She was planning on returning to Newark when Maria and the girls came back in two weeks. We said goodbye and then headed to the hospital. Things were hectic because Lisa and Amy were in the process of being discharged. We each held Amy one last time and then hugged both Lisa and Alex. They both expressed their joy at seeing me again and relief about my safe return.
We said goodbye to the rest of the family and then Maria took us to the airport, leaving the girls with Celia. We didn't have much time so Maria just dropped us off and we went to collect our tickets. The FBI had been generous and had left us tickets for 1st class seats. I was happy with this until we walked into the lounge and ran into Joe.
Joe was booked on the same flight as the rest of us. Somehow, our tickets were issued so that Joe was seated beside me instead of Carlos. I walked over to the desk and asked the woman there if I could switch seats. "I'm sorry Miss Plum, but that is not possible. The officer over there explained that you have been through a bit of an ordeal and that you need a police escort back to Trenton. Officer Morelli has volunteered to be your escort and as a result, you must sit with him."
The woman looked over at Joe. She was clearly infatuated with him because she went on to say, "If I were you, I'd be happy to have to sit beside that hunk of a man."
I rolled my eyes and said, "I don't need an escort, and I'm not going back to Trenton with Officer Morelli or anyone. I live in Newark and that's where I intend on staying. Besides, I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I could sit with my boyfriend."
I pointed to where Carlos was sitting with his father. I saw the woman's eyes widen as she looked at Carlos. "Oh my. Well, Officer Morelli made it clear that you could not switch seats, but you can always ask the flight attendant once you board. They may be sympathetic with everything that you have been through recently."
I nodded and walked back to Carlos. I explained what the woman had said about the seats and could tell that this clearly angered Ricardo. He didn't think much of Joe and he didn't try to hide his opinion. Well, he didn't hide his expression. He never really came out and said anything against Joe.
Ricardo decided to take matters into his own hands and went to the desk and explained things a little better to the young woman at the desk. He walked back a few minutes later and handed me a new boarding pass. "I will have the pleasure of sitting with Officer Morelli for the flight back. You and Carlos will be across from us and he has the window seat. He'll have to go through both me and Carlos to get to you."
I grinned and asked, "How did you do it?"
Ricardo said, "I explained a bit about your ordeal and told her that Carlos is the only person who can calm you if you have a panic attack. Since she knows that you were abducted, she just assumed that you had frequent panic attacks. I did nothing to dissuade her of her interpretation of my explanation."
I giggled at Ricardo's lies of omission but I was also grateful for them. I could sit with Carlos and Ricardo could keep an eye on Morelli. Ricardo was grinning and it looked like he was enjoying throwing a wrench or two in Joe's plan. It was clear to all of us that Joe tried to use his position as a police officer to force me to sit with him. I have no idea what he was thinking or what he hoped to accomplish with such a stunt. Luckily I'd never have to find out.
When we boarded, Joe didn't look very happy to be sitting beside Ricardo. To make things worse for Joe, the flight attendant was male so Joe couldn't use charm to get his way. It helped that I clung to Carlos and looked scared of Joe. The flight attendant was very sympathetic and took very good care of me for the duration of the flight. He practically ignored Joe.
Ricardo tried to talk to Joe. He asked Joe about the Navy and why Joe left after only two years of service. Joe made his retirement from Navy life sound more glamorous than it really was. He told Ricardo that he got injured and was unable to perform his duties. He was medically discharged shortly after.
I laughed at this because I had heard rumours that didn't shed a favourable light on Joe as a Navy guy. I had heard rumours that he had debilitating sea sickness and couldn't even go on a boat when it was docked. This ruled him out for the typical ship board duties and he ended up being stuck behind a desk that was safely landlocked for the majority of his time in uniform. He was later given a medical discharge about 3 months before his 2 years was up.
I knew the factual truth about why he got the 3 month reprieve though. When he was home on leave at Christmas this past year, I had a driving test scheduled. My Dad was taking me out for some last-minute practice. I was nervous and my dad thought it was best to go out immediately before the test to get warmed up.
I was concentrating on my driving and doing really well. My Dad hadn't complained or pointed out any errors in over 10 minutes. We pulled around the corner in front of a convenience store and Joe and a few of his friends were standing around in the parking lot.
Joe yelled out a greeting to me and got so flustered that I Iost control of the car. I ended up hopping the curb and running over Joe. He broke his leg in two places. The funny thing was that my Dad didn't seem to be upset. Joe didn't' press charges and my dad just pretended it never happened. He was also quite pleased that I passed my driving test with flying colours.
My mother on the other hand, complained for about a month.
"Poor Joseph had to leave the Navy because of your stunt. How do you think that makes me look? Joseph can't even get around. You should come home and help him out on the weekends. "
She tried to use her usual form of a guilt trip to get me to come home more often so that I could apologise to Joe. I already had apologised. It wasn't my fault that he was on the ground rolling around in pain when it happened. Luckily I didn't have to endure her nagging for very long, I went back to college a few days later.
For the remainder of the flight, I didn't once think of Joe. I was too busy cuddling up to Carlos and sharing tender kisses as Carlos tried to distract me from the plane taking off. Every once and a while during the flight, Carlos would kiss the top of my head or whisper to me in Spanish. I snuggled into him and fell asleep. I managed to sleep all the way through the rest of the flight. Carlos woke me up after we had landed and were the pilot was navigating the plane to our stand.
We gathered our things and exited the airplane and made our way through the airport maze. We had no luggage to collect so Carlos, Ricardo and I left the airport without even a goodbye to Joe. I had completely forgotten that he was even on the plane. I was too wrapped up in Carlos to acknowledge much about the rest of the world.
More to follow.