Emma's POV:
Ed leaned against the seat, sleeping upright with arms crossed. How is it even possible to sleep like that?
"Wakie wakie Eddie," I sing as I unbuckle my seatbelt.
On hearing me sing, he stirs awake. "We are here already?" he mutters raspily, checking his watch. His eyes widen.
"Don't tell me you drove so fast."
"I might have," I shrug. Ed shakes his head, too tired to get upset with my rash driving. He stretches his arms up as he simultaneously cracks his neck. His tense muscles visibly relaxes. He brings his hand down and stifles his yawn with the back of his hand.
Gosh, my husband.
When Ed notices my unusually long stare, he raises his eyebrow. I place my hand against my Edward's cheek, smiling tenderly. Edward smiles back but his eyes are pulled together in confusion at my sudden display of emotion.
"Edward?"
"Hm?"
"My darling husband, the most handsome, the love of my life, the father of my kids-"
"I understand you want something from me. What is it?"
I feign a surprise. "What? Am I not supposed to appreciate my husband?"
"Of course you can. But I know you well enough that you're not superfluous with words."
I smile cheekily. "Carry me, will you?"
Edward lifts a mocking eyebrow. "If my memory serves me right, I remember you rejecting me from carrying you after our wedding because of your feminism."
"I don't remember. Carry me, Eddie-buddy."
Edward glares at me in mock anger. "After that comment, I don't think I will."
"Hey!" I call after him but he already left the car. I let out a frustrated sigh as I unbuckle my seat belt and step out.
Men. Unbelievable creatures.
Before I could stand straight, I am swept off my feet. Literally.
"Eddie-buddy?"
"I will drop you, Emma."
I try to hide my smile as I poke him on his face. "And I would drag you down with me."
"Stop flirting, Eighteen. Doesn't suit your demeanor."
I make a face and slap his chest. Edward chuckles before setting me back on my feet when we are inside our home. I peck him before navigating towards the left side of my home.
"You're going into the lab?" Ed asks as he walks towards me.
"I uh, yeah. I want to make a gift for Elena," Technically that's a truth. I wanted to surprise her but I also want to hide the coordinates somewhere. Ever since that hijacker called me out, I wasn't feeling right about the whole situation. I better tell Ed about it.
"Remember I lied to my father about the coordinates," I bring up the topic slowly. After returning home, we completely forgot about this coordinates.
I see gears turn in Ed's brain as he nods in return, "Yeah, I was about to ask you that. Where are the coordinates?"
"Safe, for now. I guess we are gonna have a long conversation about that. Maybe tomorrow, I want to concentrate on Elena for today," I say.
"Right. I'll let your dad know that we reached home," he says pulling out his phone and walking the other way.
I get inside the lab and quickly grab all the equipments I need. I put on goggles and other safety gears. I skillfully mold the metal, planning to make a sliver bracelet.
I pause before entering the coordinates. I take in a deep breath and let it out. My instinct tells me what I am doing is right. I should trust it. I would probably remove the coordinates and place it somewhere else, but for now, no one would suspect the bracelet.
I place the coordinates and a small red button which will pop open the numbers. After molding it perfectly, I look at it with a smile. Though the bracelet is a little too big for Elena's small hands, I want her to have it for a long term.
I walk up the stairs towards Elena's room. The dimly lit room, with curtains shut close is so tempting to jump into the bed and fall asleep.
Elena is bundled up in her blanket, most of her face hidden behind it. I walk towards the curtains and draw them open. Immediately like the intruder, sunlight invades her room.
I walk towards her bed and slowly sit beside her and sing happy birthday for her. She stirs in her sleep and lazily opened her eyes. She blinked them before a grin formed in her face.
"Mommy," she giggled before tackling me in a hug. I hugged her back tightly, savoring the moment with a permanent smile.
"Good morning princess," I whisper softly, running my hand through her brown hair.
She pulls away from the hug with a cheerful smile, "You're back. I thought you wouldn't be here for my birthday."
I smile softly. "I promised and mommy never breaks her pinky promise."
She got up and jumped on her bed, gleaming in happiness. The worried look she carried for few days was replaced by pure bliss.
"So, what did you get me for my birthday?" she asks, anticipating for her gift.
I think about the bracelet I made for her. I fetch it out of my pocket and show her. "I got you a bracelet."
She reaches for the bracelet and wears it with a toothy grin. "Mommy, that's too big for me," she says as she pulls the bracelet up her forearm.
"I know, do you like it?"
"I love it," she says tackling me in a hug once again. I chuckle. After few minutes, I pull away and place my hands on her shoulders.
"Let's go wake him up, shall we?" I say, referring to Ben. Then I thought I will deal him on my own. It's not like he is gonna wake up anytime soon. After all, it's Ben we are talking about.
"You know what, you freshen up. I'll wake him up by myself," I say walking towards the door.
***
"What did you get for your sister?" I ask Ben while putting his socks on. He said nothing in return and kept chewing his toy.
"Nothing?" I ask grabbing his shoes before putting it on and tying his laces. He didn't care as he kept looking at the ceiling like he hates the very thought of not being the center of attention.
"Alright, look at you," I say picking him up, making him stand on the bed, "You look like a prince," I say with a cheerful smile. He shows off his toothy grin, happy to get his attention back.
"Come on, let's go," I grab hold of him and walk down the stairs. I see guest have already arrived. The kids scattered themselves around, chasing each other. Elena looked like a princess in her floral dress with a tiara. Ed was greeting other agents. We kept the party simple by inviting just few family friends and agents.
"Happy birthday Elle," I hear someone say. I turn around to see Alex nervously pass a gift box to Elena. She happily gets hold of the box muttering a quick thank you as she unwraps the box. He nervously shifts on his foot, playing with his fingers.
"No way, you got me a fire truck," Elena exclaimed happily.
"You like it?"
"Yes. Can you come home tomorrow and we can play the fire station game?" Elena asked joyously as the young man nodded with a bright smile.
"Let me ask dad about it," he says and runs towards his dad, adoptive dad but Alex doesn't know that yet.
I walk towards Ed hoping to put him on duty to take care of Ben for a while. He looks at me and send a charming smile before excusing himself.
He got hold of Ben and Ben reluctantly went to Edward, not wanting to let go of me. He rested his head on Ed's shoulder and kept chewing his toy.
"You look really pretty," he compliments.
"Flattery is gonna get you nowhere," I ridicule as Ed laughs.
"Kidding. You look pretty-" I get cut off by a loud ear splitting screech. Ben wails in Ed's arm wanting him to let him down. I look over Ed's shoulder to see him enter. I smile.
Ed lets go of Ben as he ran towards him. The conversation of all the agents dies down as he walked majestically towards us. The only sound was Ben's giggle and Elena's thumping foot as she ran towards him.
"Chief," all the agents stand in attention with their heads held high, referring to him in unison without missing a beat. The power and authority he held is miraculous.
"Grandpa!!" Elena says jovially. Dad picks Ben up before hugging Elena with a pleased smile. He looks around to see all the agents are still in their formal, respectful stance. Dad rolls his eyes.
"You're off duty. Relax yourself and enjoy the party."
"Yes sir," they all chorus again.
"Sometimes your dad scares me a lot," Ed mumbles beside me.
"Well, it's my dad we are talking about."
***
I layed my head against the headboard as I hear Elena gush happily about her evening. The party went great. Everyone enjoyed themselves except me. It wasn't like I didn't enjoy the party. It's just that, as the night kept approaching, the nagging feeling of something I couldn't describe kept suffocating me. I guess I am just over reacting to that hijacker's threat.
I see Ed walk out of the bathroom towards Ben, who kept glaring at Dora, the explorer. Whenever she pauses, his glare turns worse. I guess he hates the girl with purple bag pack.
The feeling is mutual munchkin.
Edward picks Ben and places him in his crib. Ben wails not wanting to sleep. Ed pulls the blanket over him but Ben kept kicking his foot not letting Ed to succeed in his job.
"Sleep Benjamin. You were playing the whole day," Ed mutters. Ben points towards the television, probably asking Ed to change the channel. Ed looks back at Dora before turning towards Ben.
"What? You want to watch Dora?"
Ben gives Edward an incredulous look which says 'The audacity of yours to think I want to watch that.' I chuckle and switch the channel to play Spongebob squarepants. He gleams happily looking at me with a grateful look.
"Emma, stop spoiling him. You both have to sleep. And you were driving the whole night. You better get some sleep eighteen," Ed says sitting on the couch.
"Eighteen?" Elena questions looking at both of us.
"That's my number princess. We use that in the agency," I don't abbreviate more on that topic.
We tend to use our numbers only in agency and during mission so they don't get to know our identify and put two and two together.
"What's your number dad?"
"Seventeen."
Ed's ringtone chimes in breaking our talk. He walks towards the desk and frowns at the caller ID, like he knew what's the caller gonna say.
"Yes sir?" he says.
Dad.
"Again? But how?"
I sit up straight at look at him. This doesn't feel right. Ed shuts his eyes close before pinching his nose.
"Alright sir, I'll be there," with that he shuts the call.
I get out of the bed and walk towards Edward. He motions to the other side of the room so we are out of kid's ear shot.
"Another attack," he whispers, "Though very few were injured, FBI and the agency wants to take precautionary measures. I have to go check out the surveillance of that area."
"Should I accompany you?" I ask slowly. I don't know why but my instincts are going wild. I don't want Ed to leave either.
"No, you don't have to. I'll be back in no time."
My shoulders slump. I slowly and reluctantly nod. Ed notices my tired stance and narrows his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. Something is bothering me but I can't pinpoint it," I sigh massaging my temple.
Every legacy comes to an end.
Ever since that hijacker called me out, I don't really feel safe anymore. Antonio also did know I am an agent. How? Or is it that he just made a guess and turned out to be right?
"If you don't feel good I'll stay back. It's fine. Chief will appoint someone else," Ed suggests, with his head tilted to his left.
I shake my head. This isn't right. Don't be selfish. There are people who need help and I shouldn't hold Edward back from helping.
"No, it's okay. Maybe I just need to grab a few hours of sleep," I mutter rubbing my eyes.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
Ed still looks at me sceptically like he knew something is bothering me. He waits for few seconds before nodding his head and walks towards the closet to grab his leather jacket.
He hugs Elena and Ben, bidding them goodbye.
"Be a good boy and go to sleep Ben," Ed says. Ben sticks his tongue out in return. I chuckle.
Ed walks towards me and grabs hold of my hand before squeezing it once. It's kind of a ritual we follow. A silent promise and prayer when we part for a mission. I reciprocate his action with a light smile.
"I'll see you soon," he says as I nod. I didn't want to let go but I had to, eventually, when the ringtone chimes in.
"Yes sir. I am on my way," he says and walks towards the door. He sends a one last smile before shutting the door. My eyes are still fixed on the door, hoping maybe he would retreat his decision.
That's too much to ask for. He is doing his job and I shouldn't hold him back just because of one silly instinct.
I walk towards the window and see Edward race down the stairs towards his car. He balanced his phone against his ear with the help of his shoulder as he opened the door. He looks up as if he knew I was watching him. He sends a smile and waves his hand lightly. I mimick his action before he drove off.
Little did I know that this would be the last time I will be seeing him.