Chapter 1
Somewhere in a house a small child sits in a chair with tears streaming down his face. With no clue of what to do, the child decides to use the emergency phone. He knew that he was not allowed to use the phone unless there was an adult with him, but this was important; he knew his parents wouldn't be too upset. The phone rings in an office.
"McBain."
"Daddy?"
"Hey, what's wrong sweetheart?" John loathed pet names but he always wanted his son to know how much he loved him. He was concerned; he could hear his son's voice trembling.
"Daddy, you have to come home," the child sobbed.
"Whoa, whoa*calm down is everything alright? Where's mommy?" now John was really worried. Where was Evangeline?
"She, she's upstairs," the child said through tears.
"Is mommy hurt? Did something happen?" John waved at an officer that was passing by his office, "Hey I want you to get a unit to my house right now." John tried not to panic, but he couldn't help worrying. "Are you still there, sweetie?"
"Yeah, Dad. I don't know what's wrong with mommy. I'm really scared," the child was now crying uncontrollably; so much so that he dropped the phone.
"Hello*," John hung up the phone and rushed to Bo's office. "Hey, Bo I have to get home, now."
"John, what's up," questioned Bo.
"I don't know yet. I'll fill you in later." Jon didn't even give Bo a chance to respond before he was out the door. On his way out, John ran into Natalie.
"Whoops, sorry John, do you have a minute?"
"No, I don't," before she could complain he was already gone.
On the way home John tried Evangeline's cell phone and there was no answer. Good thing he was a cop or he would have been stopped for speeding. When he arrived at his house, John noticed a squad car out front. He sprinted to the house and through the front door. As soon as he saw Evangeline he wrapped his arms around her.
"Are you alright? Is everything okay," he said while running his hands through her hair after kissing her forehead. "What happened? Where's Tristen?"
She could tell he was upset so she let him hold her. When his grip got too tight she started to pull away. He could feel her moving and relaxed his grip. After John had calmed down, Evangeline decided to start explaining.
"Thank you, Officer*Jackson. You can leave now," she said reading the name off his badge. He looked at John, and when he nodded the officer left.
"Daddy!"
Almost instantly John felt a tiny pair of arms wrapped around his leg.
"Daddy, you're home."
"John lifted his son into his arms and hugged him tightly. He could feel him burrowing his head in to his neck as he often did when he was upset. He rubbed his hand in circles on his back to comfort him. Evangeline knew she was the reason he was so upset. She kissed his cheek and rubbed the top of his head. Having both his parents there seemed to calm him down.
"I don't understand. What happened," asked John.
"I was upstairs taking a nap, but I couldn't sleep. I went to find mommy, but she wasn't in the room. I got scared. When I found her she was crying. So I called you, Daddy."
"What's wrong, why were you so upset?" John slowly brought his hand up and caressed Evangeline's cheek.
She grabbed his hand and kissed it while leading him to the sofa. As they sat down she stared to explain, "Tristen if you were scared you should have told me."
"I wanted to mommy, but I didn't want to make you sadder."
Her son's words shocked her. Why would he think that? She was raised to be strong, and now remembered why she hated crying. She made a mental not never to cry in front of him again. She would rather die than hurt her son.
"Honey, that would never upset me. If you are ever scared, I want you to tell me okay."
Tristen said nothing he just nodded. He used his tiny hands to wipe the tears from his mother's face. She smiled. Tristen was so much like his father. He was tall and had thick black curly hair. Evangeline wanted to cut it, but he insisted on having 'long hair'; just like daddy. Whenever John was away, Tristen took care of his mother. Although Evangeline was a "big girl", she loved the way her little boy tried to take care of her and she knew someday a woman would thank her for it.
"Okay, mommy," he said through a 1000 watt smile. "Daddy, can I go play now?"
"Sure," he kissed his son on his forehead and watched him ascend the stairs to his room. "So, do you want to tell me what really happened?"
John gave her that knowing look so she decided she should tell the whole truth, but if she didn't have to then*
"It's a*it's kind of a long story," she began to trail off.
"That's okay, I'm home for the night."
"Then I should start dinner*," as she tried to get up Jon pulled her into his lap. "Look, it's really not that big of a deal." Jon said nothing' he just stared intensely into her eyes. She hated when he did that. He didn't have to say anything for her to know he wanted the truth. "I, uh, I lost Kelly's custody suit. I let her down now she's on the verge of a breakdown and it's all because of me. I don't understand the judge seemed sympathetic toward Kelly. How could she rule against her?" Her own words stung her eyes. She remembered how she had promised her father that she would be perfect. Not only had she let him down; but Kelly as well. She felt horrible.
"You can't blame yourself for this. No on can be perfect all the time." Jon said trying to comfort her.
"I know, I know. But because of me, Kelly is going to lose her son, it's my fault. I can't imagine what she's feeling. If we ever lost Tristen, if someone ever took him from us*"
"Shh, no, no! That's never going to happen. I will never let anything happen to our son. Never! Never!" John repeated those words over and over while holding Evangeline close to his chest. He stroked the top of her head. After years of bottling up his emotions, he finally was able to let go. He was glad that he had. I was that same love that he was afraid of that created his son, the most important person in his life. When John feels Evangeline relaxing into his embrace, he slowly bring his hand down to her chin and raises it just enough for his lips tot slightly graze hers. They relax into each other and before they know it they are making out.
Evangeline slowly pulls away, "Thank you, John. I needed that."
He kissed the top of her head, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. When Tris called me I was so worried. I couldn't help but think you were injured and I wasn't there to stop it." John said trying to hide his emotions.
"I'm sorry I worried you."
"Don't be sorry. I love you. I can't help but to worry sometimes."
"I love you too, John." Before leaving John's embrace Evangeline kisses him softly on the lips and then again on his forehead. "I should probably start dinner now."
"Why don't we order in instead? I can go get some take out and we could just watch a movie and hold each other all night?"
"That sounds nice, but I already promised Tris that I would make my famous chicken and rice."
"Mmm, that sounds great, but I'd rather have you."
John stood up and wrapped his arms around Evangeline wan kissed her passionately. Against his wishes, Evangeline breaks from his embrace.
"What's wrong," John asked.
"I would like nothing more to make love to you*"
"Good, because I want the same thing," he said pulling her into another passionate embrace.
"But I have to make dinner, you have to help Tris with his homework, he needs to eat dinner," she said between kisses.
"Alright, alright! You are such a kill joy do you know that."
"Oh really, so I guess you wouldn't be interested in what I have planned for tonight."
"I can't say I am looking forward to helping with your case files*"
Evangeline smiles seductively and starts to kiss the base of his neck. Before he can stop her she brings her hand just below his waist and gently massages what she finds. John is totally helpless enjoys her wonderful massage. After Jon releases a low moan, Evangeline stops suddenly and says, "I would hate to ruin our plans for tonight. I guess you're just going to have to wait a while." Evangeline was notorious for doing this. Now that they had a child they found it difficult to have the spontaneous sex encounters that they both enjoyed so much. John realized he would have to wait until tonight, so he went upstairs to spend time with his son.
