Eddie stood in Luis' living room in her panties and one of Luis' T-shirts, last night's events replaying in her mind. They held each other, kissing, sometimes slow and tender, sometimes passionately. They drifted off to sleep holding each other, her head resting on his chest. It didn't matter to her that they hadn't had sex. The sex was a technicality as they were already connected in every other way.
"Good morning."
Eddie jumped, Luis' voice yanking her off the train of thought.
"Sorry," Luis said with a chuckle, standing in nothing but his boxer-briefs.
Eddie smiled and lightly swatted his bare chest. "Don't do that!" she playfully chided him.
Luis feigned confusion and hurt. "What?" he asked. "I can't say good morning to my lady?"
Eddie raised her eyebrows. "Oh, so I'm your lady, now?" she inquired, the palm of her hand on his chest. "You think I'm that easy, huh?"
"Well, uh…" Luis said, desperately searching for the right words. Eddie just looked at him pointedly, raising her eyebrows. She was loving this.
"You are just soooo… Easy to admire!" he said. "Easy to respect! Easy to trust! Easy in all the right ways!"
Eddie smirked. "Okay," she admitted, "that was a good save."
"Easy on the eyes, too!" Luis tossed out.
Eddie pretended to be annoyed, playfully rolling her eyes. "Of course you'd throw that one in!"
Luis pulled Eddie in to him, enveloping her in his embrace. Only, unlike nearly three months ago, he wasn't comforting a friend. This morning, it was an unabashed expression of care for someone who was so much more than a friend. His "lady", his "girlfriend" – he didn't care what word they agreed upon so long as they knew this was a point of no return.
"You know we have to talk to Carlson about this, right?" Luis said in reference to their Seargeant, hating to throw a wet blanket on the moment.
"Don't remind me," Eddie mumbled into his chest. She looked up at him as she said, "I wish we could keep this between us," she confessed, longing in her eyes. "Just for a little bit."
"We can't," Luis said. "Word will get out. People will talk."
"Yeah yeah yeah," Eddie muttered.
"Don't 'yeah yeah yeah' me, Janko," Luis said.
Eddie eyed her paramour. "Aren't we bossy?"
Luis flashed his thousand-watt smile. "I learned that from the best partner in the world!"
Her eyes narrowed at him. "Oh, you are so asking for a – "
"Kiss?" Luis said. "Don't mind if I do!" He leaned in and kissed Eddie tenderly, their lips dancing as she returned the kiss.
"You're a good kisser," she said as she dreamily looked at Luis.
"I do what I can, I do what I can," Luis said with faux humility.
Beep beep! Beep beep!
Eddie looked at an alarm on her Apple watch. It simply said: Dessert.
Eddie flashed a small smile. "I got to go. I got dessert duty for dinner tonight."
"Oh," Luis said, realizing what she meant. He knew it in the back of his mind that she still went to the weekly dinners, but now that she and him were definitely more than partners on the job, it held different meaning.
"Hey," Eddie said, knowing the wheels were turning in Luis' head, "they're still family to me. It doesn't mean this," she said as she rubbed tender circles on his chest, "isn't any less real or that I don't want it."
Luis nodded. "I get it. They'll always be family to you. It's just…" he trailed off and looked out his apartment window.
"It's just what?" Eddie pressed.
"Look, I know this is brand new for us," Luis said, stating the obvious more for his benefit than Eddie's, "and I know we have some bridges we need to cross, but…" He looked right into Eddie's sky blue eyes. "I'd eventually like to be family to you."
Eddie just looked at him.
"I'm not saying we need to get married next week or anything like that," he continued, "but we're in our thirties, now. I don't want to play games, anymore. I don't just want you. I want us to be us."
Eddie smiled warmly. "I want that, too," she said. She patted his chest. "First thing tomorrow, we tell the Sarge. Also, I'm going to tell them tonight about you and me."
Luis grimaced. "Sure you don't want me as backup?"
"Who says I wouldn't be your backup? You don't know them, I do," Eddie said with a satisfactory grin.
"Yeah yeah yeah," Luis said, playfully throwing Eddie's words back at her.
"Don't 'yeah yeah yeah' me, Badillo!"
-
It had taken some time, but the Reagans had accepted the fact that there'd be, yet again, one less person at the table. First it was Betty, Henry's wife. Then it was Joe, then Linda. Now, it was Jamie. But they had found their groove.
After the blessing had been said, people dug into their food.
"So, Aunt Eddie," Sean began, "I heard that Regnis lady going to be in prison for fifteen years with no possible chance for parole until all fifteen years are served?"
Eddie grinned proudly. "Yep! And your Aunt Erin did all of that!"
Erin smiled at the compliment. "Yeah, well," she countered, looking at Eddie, "you encouraged Officer Badillo to report it. He probably wouldn't have done that without you."
"I'm just glad she's doing time," Henry piped in, shaking his head. "It goes both ways, you know. Goes both ways."
"You were right, by the way," Danny piped in, pointing at Eddie. "That lady had done this before. The other guys she'd done it to were too embarrassed to admit it. God only knows how much longer she could have gone on before she was caught. Good work, Officer!" he said with a wink and a nod.
Dinner progressed with pleasant conversation into dessert that Eddie made. Silk chocolate pie. A spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down, perhaps? Eddie wasn't sure.
"So… Ummmmm."
The entire table looked at her.
"Yes?" Frank inquired.
"I have an announcement to make," Eddie said.
All eyes were now definitely on her and she felt it.
"Someone has come into my life. Someone that… I really care for and… He really cares for me."
Everyone's mouths were open.
"I love all of you very much," Eddie said. "You have been family to me and you always will be. And I wasn't planning on this, I wasn't looking for this – like, not at all. And I love Jamie and I always will and he will always be part of me and – " She stopped herself as she knew she was rambling, tears coming to her eyes.
Everybody just looked at her.
"Somebody please say something," she finally pleaded.
"I think it's good," Danny said with a warm smile.
Eddie eyed her brother-in-law.
"I mean it," he continued. He then looked around the table. "As someone who lost his wife… I get it."
Eddie returned the warm smile. He really did get it.
"I think it's cool," Sean said, echoing his dad's thoughts. "We need more love in this world, not less."
Eddie smiled brightly at her nephew. They always had a special bond. Perhaps because they both went through trauma at a young age with her dad going to jail and his mom dying. But the bond was there.
"No one can ever take Jamie's place," Henry said, "and I know you know that," nodding at Eddie. "But that doesn't mean you can't make room in your heart for someone else."
"I agree," Frank said with a world-weary sigh.
Everyone looked at him.
"When my wife passed away," Frank continued carefully, "I made peace with the fact that I would never find that type of love with anyone else. And I don't regret that decision."
"But I would regret it," he continued, looking at Eddie, "if anyone in my family took my and Pop's decision as a cardinal rule to live by. I would absolutely regret it and consider it as a failure as a father and as a grandfather."
He narrowed his eyes lovingly at Eddie, who would always be a daughter-in-law to him. "I'm really happy for you, Eddie."
All the while, Erin was silent, looking down at the dining room table. "So just like that, huh?" she said, looking at Eddie.
"Erin, I…" Eddie began.
"It took you and Jamie five years! Five! Years! Five years to get your heads out of the sand and admit your feelings for one another! You get married and your married for three-ish years. He dies suddenly, catching everyone off by surprise. But two years or so after he dies, you're ready to move on? Oh, I see! Guess you didn't love him after all!"
"Hold on, Erin," Danny said, trying to bring calm to an increasingly-tense situation. "That's not fair, not even close to fair."
"Erin…" Eddie said breathily, tears coming to her eyes.
"You know what?!" Erin barked. "Maybe you're better off with someone else… You never really fit in, anyway."
Everyone's eyes went wide.
"Now wait a minute!" Frank said.
Eddie's sadness turned to anger.
"I can't believe," Eddie muttered. "After everything we've been through…"
"I can't believe it, either," Erin replied curtly.
Eddie stood up.
"I need to go," Eddie said. "I'm glad most of you are okay with this." She glared at Erin. She then looked around at the rest of the table.
"I do love all of you very much," Eddie said. "But I think we maybe need some space from each other."
"Eddie, please!" Henry begged.
"No, Pop," Eddie said firmly. "I think it'd be best if maybe I didn't come to Sunday dinner for a while. I think we need to all heal in our own way."
With that, Eddie walked out the door.
Everyone looked at Erin in shock, except for Danny.
Danny was angry.
As Eddie drove away from the Reagan House, Eddie pushed a button on her car's consul.
"Call Luis!" she said amidst the sobs.
A couple rings went by before the phone was answered. "Hey, you! What's up?" Luis said brightly.
"Luis?" Eddie said, trying but failing to hold in the crying.
Luis stopped everything he was doing.
"Whoa! What… What happened?"
"Can you come to my place for the night? Please?"
Without hesitation, Luis began to throw some things together for an overnight bag. "I'm on my way. Just give me 30 minutes, okay?"
Eddie sniffed. "Okay."
"Can you tell me what happened?" Luis asked, already having an idea of what happened at Sunday dinner with the Reagans.
"I don't," Eddie said sobbing. "I don't want to talk about it over the phone. I… I just… I need you."
Silence.
Luis' eyes narrowed. "I'm right here. And in thirty minutes, I'll be right there at your place."
-
Luis knocked on Eddie's apartment door. Eddie opened it up, her eyes red and puffy, remnants of tear stains streaking her cheeks.
"Eddie…" Luis said, shocked at her broken state as he walked in to her apartment. He had only been here once when he house-sat for Jamie and Eddie when they went away on vacation.
"Just hold me, please," Eddie finally mustered.
Luis pulled her in tight, wrapping her in his embrace as she sobbed into his chest. He showered kisses on the top of her head as she shook.
"I'm right here," was all Luis could say. "I'm right here."