Teacher and the Thief

Chapter 22

A whole month passed, and now it was Christmas Eve. The air had finally grown chilly, but there was still no snow on the ground. The agency also placed Alex and I on partial suspension, which meant we could still work there, train, plan missions, but we couldn't go on them. We also learned that Trisha escaped the hospital sometime during the night before she got released to house probation. Which meant she was hiding out somewhere, and been there for a month. The police couldn't find her, my team couldn't find her, and none of the other teams did, either. We were thrown into a month of paranoia.

The whole month passed without me talking to Adam, either. He texted me for about a week after the Fullerton shooting, but when I didn't reply, he stopped. But without talking to him, my social need for him grew desperate, and my urge was about to break. And now, with it being so close to Christmas, it made me miss him even more.

When are we going to catch her so I can see him again!?

"Have a great rest-of-the-day off, and Merry Christmas!" I called to my team members, who had finished work early. We had a half-day today and tomorrow off, which I was going to spend with family and/or sleeping.

"You too." Jane called before I exited the building, heading to my car. I glanced down at my phone to scroll through any texts I might've missed before climbing into my car, and noticed there was one from Adam. He hasn't texted in three weeks.

It's Christmas Eve. I want to see you.                                                                         

I haven't responded to any of his other texts, but this one I felt that I needed to. Adam, you know I can't.

The shooting was a month ago. I've been watching the news, and no other shootings have occurred. An hour. Come on.

I read it, but didn't reply. I threw my phone on the shotgun seat before focusing on driving and ignoring his text. He had to understand I was doing this to protect him.

I drove home, happy to see my immediate family all home, which meant I could relax a little bit. Dad had lit the fire and my brothers had hot chocolate mugs in their hands, either staring at the colorful Christmas tree or watching the Christmas Carol on TV.

"Where's Mom?" I asked as soon as I realized she wasn't there.

Dad didn't look around and raised his arm, "Kitchen."

I scoffed at his ability to almost ignore me and headed to the kitchen. It smelled of sugar cookies and fudge, and a hot mug was almost slammed into me.

"Here." Mom quipped, and I took the mug from her.

"Thanks. Need help?" I asked, sipping my hot chocolate. "You should be watching the movie."

"Well, Phillip and your father ate all the Christmas cookies, and Eric got worried that Santa's not going to come if there's no cookies." Mom sighed, wiping the back of her arm against her forehead tiredly. "They're just so mean to him."

"He's ten, he shouldn't believe in Santa anymore." I stated, but continued, "What time is it?"

"It's only one." She muttered, and then groaned. "It's only one."She rested her arms on the counter and slammed her head into them.

"Hang in there, Mom. It'll make Eric happy." I tried to cheer her up as I heard the doorbell ring. "I got it. Probably a UPS truck delivering someone else's package again." I chuckled, because they keep doing that for some reason. I put my mug down and opened the door, and it wasn't who I thought it was going to be. He was wearing a suit and had a bunch of red roses in his hand. I guess he was done with me ignoring his texts.