Playing With Fire

52

Eric went to his office to read the e-mail. He sat behind his desk, tapping his thumbs nervously on the desk, waiting his computer to start. He opened the mail and read.

"The fuck is this..." he said irritated. It was a letter from the Candors leaders, asking Jamie to appear in front of the council, to give a testimony. He stood up and started pacing around his office, nervous, feeling panic sneaking in.

I though I fucking dealt with this! he thought angry, How can I tell her this?? Now that things are going better! FUCK!

He stomped back to his seat and read it through once more, finding out that it will take place in two weeks.

"Dammit, Jamie..." he said under his nose, "You had to go and kill him!"

He stood up, shutting off his computer and walked out. He went home, finding everybody asleep. He felt relieved. It would have been extra hard to hide it from others. He spent few hours going through the files and preparing for it. He thought that when it was time to tell her that, he could calm her down, saying he has her defence speech ready. After some time he dozed off, surrounded by papers and his tab.

Morning came quick, his alarm clock relentlessly ringing in his ears. He tried to push it away, but it remained to ring.

"Dad, wake up!" he heard Ethan say and he opened his eyes, looking around "Huh?" Ethan was standing next to his bed, holding the alarm clock near his head.

"Yeah, I'm up. Jesus!" he said slapping the clock away from him "Get that thing away from me."
"Good!" Ethan said bit annoyed "It has been ringing about 10 minutes."
"Shit, sorry." Eric said sitting up and gathering the papers "I'm up."

"The girls are awake." Ethan said walking away.

"Thanks." Eric said and got up, got dressed and took the papers with him.

"Good morning daddy!" Ivy said and Lily added "How did you slept?"

"Quick." he said in a hurry "Ready for breakfast?"

"But aunt Sarah isn't here." Rose said sad.

"I know, baby. She went to work very early." Eric said looking in the fridge, realizing that they're out of milk "Fuck..." he mumbled and said "You know what? Lets go to the Cafeteria today! Everybody, ready in 5!" he ordered and went to grab his stuff. He waited at the door for the girls to get their shoes on, holding the door open to them.

As soon they walked in from the door, everybody at the Cafeteria looked at them for a moment, then resumed to their breakfast.

"Go get yourself trays." he said and took coffee for himself. As they had gathered food on their trays, he said pointing at one table "There's room, go sit there."

"Daddy, where are you going?" Ivy asked when Eric started to walk towards the leaders table.

"Daddy's gonna talk to Four for a moment." he said to her and gave Ethan a nod. It usually meant that he had to watch over Rose. Ethan nodded back and helped Rose to open her juice box "Here."

"Good morning, Eric." Four said and looked at the kids.

"Morning." he said serious and looked at Tris "Tris. Morning."

"What's up?" he asked and Tris said "You took kids to a breakfast, so sweet." and waved to the kids who looked at their way.

"Yeah, we ran out of milk." he said rolling his eyes and leaned closer to Four "Listen, shit's about to hit the fan."

"What?" Four asked furrowing his brows.

"I got an email from Candor last night, telling Jamie to go and give a testimonial. In two weeks!" Eric said pissed.

"Oh crap!" Four said worried "I though you dealt with it."

"Yeah, I thought so too." he said annoyed "But it seems that Candor is after the truth."

"We're at your service any way we can." Four said serious.

"I hoped you'd say it." Eric said patting on his shoulder and added serious "Meet me at my office in half an hour."

"Will do." Four said.

"Eric, Rose is up to something." Tris said to Eric. He cocked his head, seeing her having things in her way, despite Ethan who tried to make her behave.

"Shit gotta go." Eric said quickly and stood up, walking quickly to his kids. Four and Tris watched him go to his kids and take the situation under control.

"His one hell of a good father." Four said in admiration.

"And so will be you.." Tris said smiling and embraced her pregnant belly.

"Soon." Four said excited and put his hands on hers.

When the kids had finished their breakfast, he sent the older kids towards the exit till their ways parted. He and Rose walked towards the day care. Sarah was already at work and as soon as Rose saw her, she was eager to run to her. Eric held her hand tighter and crouched down, saying "Hey, hey hey! Where's the rush?!"

"I'm sorry daddy," she said.

"It's okay." he said sweet and demanded "Kiss!" She pecked a kiss on his cheek and slapped her hands around his neck, hugging him.

"Thank you." he murmured and when she pulled away, he said "Have a nice day!"

"Thanks daddy. You too." she said sweet and rushed in from the door. Eric watched her for a moment, then sighed and was on his way. He went to his office and prepared for the meeting with Four. He also called Michael and filled him in.

They put a plan in place, who to ask as a witness, what to say, what to show. Preparing for it, made him feel better, not so nervous anymore. They were ready.

"Not a word to Jamie until I say so." Eric's last words to Four when he opened the door for him.

"Got that." Four said and left.

He closed the door and sighed, brushing his hands over his face. Discussing such personal matters wore him out quicker that any other matter. He quickly looked through his email and responded to some of them, in a hurry to see Jamie.

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Alright, another chapter done! Some shit floating on surface, lets see how Eric is dealing with everything.

I'm sorry for the slow update. I have the stroyline in my head and I'm writing as I go. Been writing almost every day while I deal with other things in my life. Fortunately I got over the writers block, SO... Lots to come.

And feel free to vote and leave comments. I appreciate every comment. It puts a smile on my face and motivates me to write more.

Thank you for the love! Stay healthy and keep on being awesome!