Harry's POV
It breaks my heart seeing Eva like this. She finally finds peace and happiness in her life and then her husband is killed at work, and she is left with two toddlers. I couldn't imagine what she is going through right now...
"I should go make sure they aren't killing each other." She tries to stand up off my bed.
"I can go check on them if you need another minute." I gently push her back down.
"I can't sit here any longer in self-pity—I need to go be with my kids and get my mind off—" she trails off.
"Okay." I nod. She gets off my bed and walks to the door and opens is slowly.
She stops and turns around "Thank you." She nods, but she doesn't make eye contact.
"Anytime." I smile back, she nods and walks down the hall. I take a few deep breaths before I follow her to the theatre room. Ryan is sleeping on the couch while the girls are sleeping on the floor.
"I should properly take them home." She whisper.
"You guys can stay tonight so you don't have to wake them." I tell her quietly.
"No, I need to take them home." I can see the panic rising again.
"Okay, let me help you get them to the car." I step towards the girls.
"Thanks." She mumbles, as she moves towards Ryan.
"Where you taking Addie, daddy?" Avery asks me.
"She has to go home baby, go back to sleep and I'll be right back to take you to bed." I kiss her forehead before scooping Addie into my arms.
"Ok." Avery nods sleepily before she falls back to sleep. Addie stirs slightly before nuzzling closer into my chest. Eva and I walk down the stairs quietly, we get to her car with both kids still sound asleep.
"Thank you." Eva whispers as I buckle Addie into her car seat.
"Anytime." I smile.
"Harry, you coming." Ryan asks sleepily. Eva and I look at him, confused.
"You coming home with us?" He asks.
"No, baby. Harry's home is here." Eva tells him.
"Okay." He nods and falls back to sleep.
"Sorry about that." She tells me, closing the passenger door.
"Nothing to apologize for."
"I should get them home... I'll talk to you later." She walks around the car to the drivers side.
"Okay, goodnight Eva." I open the door for her.
"Goodnight." She gets into her car, I close the door and she starts the car. Once I step away she turns the car around and drives down the driveway.
Eva's POV
It's been a few days since the kids and I went to Harry's for a movie night. He has tried calling and texting me, but I'm to embarrassed to talk to him. Actually I'm extremely embarrassed... I almost passed out in front of Harry... I had a mini panic attack/breakdown in his bedroom...
"Mummy!" The twins run up to me, I'm picking them up for daycare.
"Hi, kiddos." I hug them both."
"Eva, there's someone on the phone for you." The secretary holds up the daycare a phone.
"Okay." I narrow my eyes, confused. I walk over to her and take the phone from her.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's Harry."
"Oh—ummm okay. What's up?" I ask.
"Can you please take Avery home with you and the twins? I got stuck going to a meeting and I can't pick her up and I don't want to call—"
"That's fine, but I don't have a car seat for her." I cut him off.
"We have a spare." The secretary whispers.
"The daycare has a spare one, so I will take her home with me and the twins. I will text you my address so you can pick her up when you're ready." I tell him.
He sighs in relief. "Okay thank you so much. I owe you big time."
"It's not a problem." I tell him.
"Thanks again... I gotta run, I'll talk to you later."
"Okay bye." I hang up the phone and hand it back to the secretary.
"Come on Avery— you're coming with us." I tell the cute little girl talking to my kids.
"Cool." She smiles, runs to get her bag and comes back to us.
"Ready." She grins widely. We all link hands and walk outside and over to my car. One of the daycare ladies helps me put the other car seat in my car, before we load the kids up. I'm glad I didn't have triplets, because I think I'd lose my mind.
"Daddy have another meeting?" Avery asks as I pull out of my parking spot.
"Yes, he will come get you when he is done." I tell her.
"Okay." She smiles, she then starts up a conversation with Ryan and Addie.
When we get home I help them out of the car and they run to the front door. I unlock the door and they run to the playroom. I put my purse and keys down and walk to the kitchen to figure out what I want to cook for dinner. I guess I could make spaghetti... Every kid loves spaghetti and if Avery is still here for dinner...
"Mummy can we play with play-doh?" Addie asks. I keep the play-doh away from the kids so they don't get it everywhere. I don't need to spend hours trying to get it out of the carpet.
"That's fine, but you have to sit at the kitchen table." I remind them.
"We know mummy." Ryan groans.
"Don't get attitude with me." I tell him sternly.
"Sorry." He cowers. I leave the room and get the play-doh from the laundry room and bring it back to the kids who are sitting nicely at the kitchen table.
"Remember don't mix the colors." I remind them as I place the box of play-doh in the middle of the table.
"Avery do you like spaghetti?" I ask.
"Yes, it's my favorite." She smiles.
"Okay, good." I smile and go to the cabinet and start pulling out the ingredients to start the sauce. They play quietly while I cook dinner. I don't hear from Harry until after dinner, he is still in the meeting and he will pick Avery up as soon as he is done.
"Alright kiddos, let's get you ready for bed and then you can watch a movie."
"I don't have my pjs." Avery says.
"You can borrow some of Addie's." I smile at her. She smiles and the all run upstairs to change. I follow them upstairs, and go to my room to change into a pair of yoga pants and a loose tank-top, before I go to Ryan's room to make sure he didn't get stuck putting on his shirt again.
"Need help?" I laugh softly. He is trying to fit his head through the sleeve of his pajama shirt.
"No, mummy I'm fine." He continues to struggle. I roll my eyes and walk over to help him.
"Here you go." I twist the shirt so his head goes through the proper hole.
"Thank you mummy." He smiles and kisses my cheek.
"You're welcome sweetie." I kiss the top of his head and ruffle his hair.
"Mummmmm." He groans. I laugh and walk out of his room and over to Addie's room.
"You girls okay?" I poke my head in the door.
"Yes."
"What movie should we watch?" Avery asks.
"I don't know, let's go look at our options." I smile at her.
It took a while but they all agreed on a movie to watch. We are all curled up into blankets on the sectional in the living room watching 'Home'. It's an older movie (came out in 2015) but it's one of their favorite movies.
The movie finishes and I still haven't heard from Harry so I put the kids to bed (Avery is in Addie's room sleeping). I'm currently in the kitchen cleaning up dinner. The doorbell rings so I put down the rag and make my way to the front door. I open it expecting to see Harry, but instead it's Jake's partner Chris.
"W-what are you doing here?" I ask him.
"You've been avoiding my phone calls and texts." He takes a small step towards me.
"I've been busy." I lie. I haven't talked to him since Jake's funeral.
"What are you doing here?" I ask him.
"I need to talk to you." He takes another step closer to me, I take a step back.
"I don't need to talk to you."
"It's about Jake."
"What about him?" I ask, staring at my feet.
"We never told you what happened—"
"Because I didn't want to know." I stop him from continuing.
"But he—"
"Stop just stop talking." I raise my voice slightly.
"Everything okay here?" Harry appears behind Chris.
"Yes, he was just leaving." I deadpan.
"Eva, I really need to tell you—"
"She's obviously not ready for that." Harry places a firm hand in Chris's shoulder.
"Call me when you want to hear his final words." Chris pushes Harry's hand off his shoulder and walks back to his car.
"You okay?" He asks, as I let him in the house, I close the door behind him.
"Yeah, how was your meeting?" I ask, hoping he doesn't ask who Chris is.
"Long and boring." He chuckles.
"Are you hungry?" I ask.
"I have left over spaghetti." I add.
"I'm starving." He smiles.
"Follow me." I tell him and lead him to the kitchen.
"I love your house." He says as he looks around.
"Thanks." I open the fridge and pull out the sauce and left over pasta. I grab a clean plate out of the cabinet and start making him a plate.
"I really appreciate you taking Avery today... I didn't want to ask Sara for help and I couldn't ask my parents since they are out of town on holiday. I owe you big time." He smiles.
"It's really fine. She kept the twins occupied while I cooked." I smile.
"She loves you and the twins... She talks about you guys all the time." He smiles.
"My kids love you and Avery too. They've been happier since we started having the play dates." I put the plate in the microwave. I turn around and see he is smiling at me. We sit in silence until the microwave beeps.
"Any luck on finding a job?" He asks, after he's done eating.
"I've only been casually looking." I shrug.
"What kind of job are you looking for?"
"definitely a nine to five job or something I could do from home. I don't want to be away from my kids, since I'm the only one they have." I tell him.
"I can understand that." He places his hand onto of mine.
"I know you don't want to work for me, but I do have some work you can do from home." He says hesitantly.
I hesitant before asking "what kind of work?". He goes on to explain the type of job he has open.
"I'll think about it." I tell him.
"We wouldn't really be working with each other." He adds.
"I know, I just need to think about it. I'll let you know in a few days."
"Okay." He nods.
"So I need to apologize for something's." He says awkwardly.
"Okay, let's—ummm move to the couch." I point to the sectional. He nods and we walk to the couch, we sit close to each other but not too close.
"I shouldn't have fired you all those years ago—"
"that was years ago –" "I was wrong and I—"
"no, it's fine Harry. It's in the past." I cut him off.
"I know but I need to get this off my chest." He tells me.
"Okay." I nod for him to continue.
"I treated you like shit all those years ago, and I'm so sorry for that. You didn't deserve that! I was with someone who wasn't good for me and I didn't know until it was too late that she was changing my personality." He pauses and takes a deep breath.
"I fired you for no reason. I took my anger and sadness out on you and I shouldn't have. You did what you needed to do and I now know she would've followed through with her threat."
"Either way I should've told you." I admit. I always realized that, but I didn't have a chance to tell him I was wrong.
"And if you didn't fire me I wouldn't have given Jake a proper chance and I wouldn't have two beautiful kids, so I should be thanking you. Everything happens for a reason right?" I smile.
"That's very true. I honestly believe we were meant to bump into each other again." He playfully pushes my knee.
"we always run into each other years after we having a falling out." I laugh.
"Yes we do... It's our thing." He winks.
"Do you think it's weird that I don't want to know what happened to Jake?" I ask him after a few minutes of silence.
"What do you mean?"
"I know he was killed in the field but that's all I know. I didn't want to know what happened or any of the details. It's been months and I still don't know." I explain.
"I can understand completely why you wouldn't want to know and I can understand why you would." He scoots slightly closer to me.
"He told me he was working in a case and the unsub was a sicko, so I don't want to imagine what he did to Jake. In my head I can just tell myself he was shot and died instantly, but my gut tells me that wasn't the case and I can't handle that." My eyes burn with tears.
"I like knowing he didn't suffer, it helps me sleep."
"I don't think it's weird at all... You do what you gotta do for yourself. Your well being and the twins well being is what matters." He assures me.
"Thank you. Everyone thinks I'm weird and stupid for not wanting to know what happened."
"You're allowed not to want to know." He pays my thigh.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." He smiles. We sit and talk about life for a while.
"It's getting late, I should get Avery home." He says when he looks at the clock and its eleven.
"Yeah, I'll show you where she is." I nod, stand up, and guide him to Addie's room.
"Come on sweetie, time to go home." He whispers in Avery's ear. She stirs and wraps her arms around his neck. He scoops her up without waking up Addie, we walk out of Addie's room, and back down the stairs.
"Thanks again. I owe you big time." He tells me.
"You're fine." I tell him once again.
"I'll see you soon." He tells me after he puts Avery in the car.
"Okay, bye." I wave.
"Goodnight, Eva." He says before he gets into his car.
"Goodnight, Harry." I smile and close and lock the front door.
A/N: The most frustrating thing is knowing where I want this story to go, but not being able to write it down on paper. It took all week to figure out how to write this chapter. Hopefully you liked it!
This story will end at Chapter 80 (80 being the epilogue)
I'm taking One Shot and preference requests so keep sending them in. I'm so excited to start writing them.
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The next chapter will be up next Thursday!!!
Love,
Allie xoxo