When Did This Happen by morejovan
Chapter Two:
As Evangeline lets herself into her townhouse later that evening, she starts to think of all the things that happened to her that day.
It started off great she thought, laying in John’s arms as he gently fell asleep. She always felt better after seeing him and being touched by him in any way. She chuckled to herself thinking, "How much lust and want can you have for one person?"
As she dropped off her briefcase at the desk in her office/den/family room and walked upstairs to change, she thought about seeing Antonio and how his eyes looked dead. She knew John was worried about Antonio and so was she. She liked Antonio as a person and didn’t like seeing him going through so much pain. The thought of seeing Antonio made her remember her conversation with Bo.
As she changed into a pair of Capri sweat pants and a tank top, she thought to herself, "Did I answer Bo correctly? Should I have said that she and John weren’t attached at the hip and they were just enjoying the ride? Did she smile too broadly when she said the ride is great? How did Bo find out about her and John? He’s been out of the office a lot lately. Did John tell him? I doubt it. Maybe it was Nora? Maybe Daniel? Did it show that much? Hmmmmm".
She walked back down to the den and logged onto her computer to check her email. It was at this point that she remembered her confrontation with Todd and Blair. At first she was angry. How dare Todd speak to her that way! However, when she thought of him saying how she was no longer a lawyer that had never lost a case, she happened to look up at her Dad’s picture and tears started to run down her cheeks. On the one hand, she was mad that she was letting Todd’s words eat at her this way, but on the other hand, she was remembering her promise to her Dad and really feeling like she let him down. Then, she realized that something was up with the judge and she became determined to get to the bottom of what happened.
She was just getting up to grab a Kleenex to wipe away her tears when the doorbell rang. As she headed for the door, she wiped her eyes with her hands and ran her hands down her pants legs. When she reached the front door, she looked through the peep hole while simultaneously saying, "Who is it?"
A great big smile came to her face when she saw that it was John and heard him say, "It’s me Evangeline, John." A quick thought ran through her head before she unlocked the door. "John’s only dropped her off a couple of times, but he’s never been inside before."
As she opened the door and said, "Come in" as she was backing away from the door to give him room to enter, she noticed that at first John was smiling and then he suddenly looked concerned.
She asked him, "What’s wrong? You look worried."
John said, "You tell me. You look like you’ve been crying. What’s going on?"
Evangeline started walking back to the den, through the front room, past the stairs, and right after the walk-thru kitchen, and she thought to herself, "Man, he’s so perceptive. I guess that’s the FBI/Cop in him."
John followed her and as he walked through the kitchen, he placed some bags on the counter. He walked up behind her in the den and turned her to face him. He said, "What happened?"
Evangeline stared at him for about 10 seconds and then just threw herself into his arms and placed her face into his chest. She teared up a little again and was mad at herself for acting this way. She tried to turn away to grab that Kleenex, but John held her tight.
After about 20 seconds, he lifted her chin so that they were looking at each other face to face and said, "Okay, you’re starting to worry me. Really, what’s going on?"
Evangeline looked embarrassed and told him about all the calls from Todd and how she met him and Blair at the Palace Bar, how she quit and what he had said to her. She went on to say that she was okay about it until she looked up at her Dad’s picture and her promise just flooded back in and she cried a little. She’s mad about it now because she let it get to her.
John just intently stared at her as he listened to what happened to her that day. He held her close again and rubbed her back. He said, "You know you can’t take what Manning said to heart. I personally think he’s a nut and you’re better off not representing him. About your promise, you know that’s a tough standard to live up to, don’t you?"
Evangeline just nodded yes into his chest, but didn’t move from his embrace.
John went on to say, "Plus, you know we’re going to find out who got to that judge and if we’re lucky, we can restore your undefeated record."
Evangeline said, "At this point, I don’t really care about my record, I just want to get Kelly her baby back. I’m not sure how much more she can take. She’s so fragile right now."
While still standing in his embrace, but laying her chin on his right shoulder and looking into the kitchen, she said, "I’m glad you’re here. How did you know I needed to see you this time?"
John replied, "I hoped you wanted to see me, but I really wanted to surprise you because you’ve surprised me the last couple of times. Actually, tell me the truth, you’re happier to see those bags of food back there than you are to see me."
She chuckled, "Don’t make me laugh Lieutenant. You know I’m trying to wallow in self pity here. What’s in those bags though?"
John released her from his embrace and said, "Its Chinese food for us to have for dinner, if you haven’t eaten yet. I remembered what you ordered the other day at lunch and took my chances that you’d want it again."
Evangeline started walking toward the kitchen and said, "Actually, I’m starved. Thanks. I’ll put it on plates and you make yourself comfortable."
John removed his jacket and looked around her den. He went over and picked up the picture that had made her cry. "So this is your Dad, huh?"
"Yeah", she replied.
John observed the picture and stated, "You look like your dad in the eyes. Is this other picture your Mom? Your facial shape and nose match her. Boy, you can tell you are the offspring of these two people."
"Yeah, that’s my Mom", she said as she walked back in the room with two plates of food. She motioned for him to go to the couch. "Would you like something to drink? I have water, soda, and juice".
‘I’ll just have water", he said.
She went to get their drinks and then joined him on the couch. As they ate, he commented on how nice her place was and that he couldn’t believe this was the first time he’d been inside. They talked about the rest of their days, respectively and then Evangeline brought up the fact that she’d seen Antonio and her conversation with Bo.
Evangeline asked John, "Do you think my response to Bo was appropriate? After all, he is your boss. He just caught me off guard asking me something about you and I didn’t realize he knew we were seeing each other. I wonder how he found out."
John’s next comment astonished her. He said, "I told him. Remember when we had to bring in RJ and I told you that RJ might say it was harassment due to our relationship? Well, I wanted to let Bo know ahead of time so he wouldn’t be surprised. That was okay, wasn’t it?"
"Um, yeah, that was fine. I just didn’t realize you had told anyone. That’s all", she said. She smiles to herself at this point as she grabbed his plate and walked into the kitchen……..
