An extra long chapter today!!! Hope you like it :P
Ben's POV
I was in the kitchen, cooking some dinner while Erica was by the computer trying to find any new information about SPYDER. I could see how she is furiously typing on the keyboard, probably trying to hack something.
"Erica dinner will be ready in 10 minutes, so start wrapping up on what you are doing." I told her. But she just looked up, gave me a small nod and continued to furiously type.
"Nice talking to you as always." I said that under my breath as quietly as I could, but Erica heard it.
"I heard you, just so you know." I looked at her only to see her eyes looking over the monitor in my direction. "What do you want me to say to you? Thank you for letting me know that dinner will be ready soon chef. Is that what you wanted?"
"Yeah, that actually would be nice." I thought that I finally got her attention, but she just looked at the screen in front of her again and didn't say a word.
Understanding that having a conversation with her would be pointless and impossible right now, I put the food on the plates and brought it to her.
"Here you go." I handed the plate to her.
"We are not eating by the table?" She asked.
"Well it doesn't look like I will be able to get you away from the computer, so I think it is just better this way." I walked to the sofa and turned on the TV, not waiting for her to continue our conversation. Both of us were in completely different places in the room, eating the dinner I just made. It was a new recipe that I decided to try, and I was actually enjoying the meal.
I was going thru the channels on the TV, but could not find anything interesting to watch, so I just quickly finished my serving and went to clean up the kitchen.
The room was quiet except for the sound of running water and the furious typing, so I decided to put on some music on the speaker. When the music started playing, Erica looked up again.
"No, I'm not going to turn it down. It's depressing of how boring and quiet it is in here." I told her, already knowing what she wants to say. Erica just rolled her eyes and resumed her attention to the computer.
Music filled the room and I started cleaning the dishes. When I left spy school, music was one of the things that helped me get thru the sudden change and it has stayed that way ever since. With each year, by listening to the music and later also singing, I was able to discover the brave and bold side of myself. Now singing is like second nature to me and I'm not as shy about it as I was when I was in school. So without even realizing, soon I started humming to the melody and taping my foot to the ground.
"Ben, can you at least stop tapping your foot. I can't concentrate." Erica spoke to me after a few minutes.
"No."
"Ben, please!"
"Ok, ok. But I think that you should do something else. You have been sitting by that computer for 6 hours now."
"You can't tell me what I should or shouldn't do." She raised her eyebrow.
"Well, then I will keep tapping my foot. If you say that I can't tell you anything, then you can't tell anything to me either."
"Why is it so important to you that I need to do something else?"
"Have you seen yourself? You look clearly tired, you are typing fast because you are tired of the lack of new information and you are still not completely back on your feet after the explosion. Do I need to go on?" She looked at me and I could see that she was trying to figure out a good comeback, but was lost. I knew that she knows that I'm right.
"Look Erica I personally think that they will be quiet for at least a few more days. Their mission was to destroy you. Now that that's supposedly done, they will slowly try to figure out their next step. As I said, Catherine and Cyrus are keeping an eye on them. This is basically no different than when we got activated on missions in school. If you want to look for information, fine, but at least don't lose your sense of reality."
There was silence between us, but then Erica spoke: "Fine." She shut down the computer and stood up.
"What do you want me to do then?" Erica asked as she walked to the couch and laid down.
"Well, you could just rest." I offered.
"Oh, no! Ben, I'm bored out of my mind. I have been only resting since the explosion." She sat up to look at me.
"Ok, then we could talk. What new information did you find?" I went to pick up the plate that was left next to the computer.
"Absolutely nothing. I hacked the CIA's database, but the only new information there is about my death or the building that blew up."
"Did you just look at the CIA's database or did you also hack something else?" I asked.
"Of course I did! Who do you think I am? An amateur?" She gave me a hard stare.
"No. That's not what I was trying to say. Let me rephrase that. Where else did you look?"
"Everywhere that you could imagine. I looked at all of the cameras around the building, but because it is in the middle of nowhere, that didn't help at all. I even looked at the database for the Washington police department, but that was pointless because all of that information is already known to the CIA." She laid down again. "I'm just annoyed that right now, the only thing that I can do is sit and wait. It really isn't fun being dead."
"Well, it was your idea." I pointed out.
"Thank you for saying that. I feel better already."
There was silence between us again. It really is annoying that there is nothing we can do to stop SPYDER, but we have to be patient. We don't really have a choice.
"Want some wine?" I offered.
"What is it with you and wine?" Erica sat up again.
"What? Do you have a problem with my preference of beverages?" I went to my small collection of wine. "So, do you want some?"
"Yeah, that would be nice." I picked out a bottle and went to open it. While I was doing that, Erica got up and went to get the wine glasses. "I might as well help you." She said.
"Well, how thoughtful of you." As I said that, she gave me a smile and went back with the glasses in hand. "Oh, I almost forgot that I bought some snacks to go with the wine."
I walked to the fridge and prepared what I bought at the store. Sometimes I like to spoil myself, so I tend to buy some fancy food now and again. Since I knew that we would need to wait until something happens, I bought some for me and Erica to try.
"Here you go." I placed the snacks on the coffee table and poured some wine for both of us. "So, what would you like to talk about?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So, let me get this straight. You want to tell me, that once you had a mission where you had to find out who kidnapped the president's dog, but later it turned out that the dog was just hiding under one of the guest room beds." I asked in disbelief.
"Yes. I'm not making this up." Erica answered and took a sip of wine.
"Why did they give you the job? Wouldn't the staff be able to find him?"
"Ben, really? You repeated it yourself. They thought that he was kidnapped."
"Oh... yeah... right." Why am I so stupid? "But still... why you? It's not like your speciality is animal control."
"I don't really know, but I can't say no to the president. My guess is that he heard about my other successful missions."
We have been talking like this for a few hours now. Just pointless chatting but I'm definitely not complaining. It has been a good way for me to know Erica a bit more. She still doesn't want to reveal anything about her childhood or anything about her feelings, but still, this is better than nothing.
"But let me tell you, that mission was an absolute nightmare. I had to go through most of the rooms in the white house, just to look for any clues. I'm glad that in the end, I found the dog before I was halfway through. Although that isn't saying a lot since you know how many rooms there are in the white house."
"Yeah, I still remember after the tour I got when I had to pretend I was friends with the president's son." We sat in silence just enjoying the night.
Erica placed her glass of wine on the coffee table and spoke to me again: "Ben, can you please tell me how you got this apartment?"
"Yes, I can. Like you said, no more secrets between us." I placed my own wine glass on the table and continued: "To be fair, there isn't much to say. When I got back from Australia..."
Just then, I got interrupted. Someone knocked on the door. I looked at the direction where I heard the knock from, but when I turned back to look at Erica, she was already gone. I just heard her footsteps going in the direction of my bedroom.
Realizing that I should go and see who is knocking at my door, at this time of night, I got up and went to open it. But before, I made sure that Erica is nowhere in sight.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Catherine." Oh no, this can not be happening. What could she possibly want from me now? "Umm... can I please come in?"
"Yes, of course." Well, I didn't actually want to let her in because Erica is just in the next room, but I knew I had to. Otherwise, it will seem weird to Catherine.
I slowly opened the door and looked at Erica's mother. She looked clearly tired and if I do dare say so myself, even broken. I welcomed her in and offered something to drink. Both of us entered the living room and sat down on the couch.
"Sorry to bother you, Ben." She never calls me like that, so clearly, she doesn't just look tired and broken, she is tired and broken. "I was in the area and saw that the lights in your apartment were still on, so I thought that I should come up and check on you, to see how you are doing." Catherine has a heart of gold.
"I'm doing fine, I guess." I hate that I have to act like Erica is dead. Catherine should really know that her daughter is alive and well, but I promised that I will not tell anyone. "Although I should be the one asking you how are you feeling."
"I'm holding up." She took a deep breath. "I always knew that there is a possibility that Erica could die before me, but I just never thought that, if it would happen, it would be this soon. It hasn't really fully set in to be fair. After the explosion, I was hoping that in the end, she somehow got out of that building, but I guess... too many days have gone by, to keep hoping like this." I want to tell her, I want to tell her so badly that Erica is just in the next room, but I have to keep my mouth shut. Now I'm just hoping that Erica can hear our conversation and will change her mind about not telling her mother the truth.
"I'm sorry, I came here to check on you, but now I'm just talking about myself and how I feel." Catherine was trying to apologize to me, but I think that was absolutely unnecessary.
"You don't have to apologize for anything. If you ever need to talk you know that you can always come here." Erica will kill me for this.
"Benjamin, you are too nice for own good."
Catherine looked around and spotted something that I missed beforehand. The two wine glasses on the coffee table. "Oh, I'm sorry. Is somebody else here?"
"NO! I mean, no there is no one else here."
"Then why do you have two wine glasses on the table?" Catherine asked and to be fair I don't know what to say to her. The only thing that comes to mind is the truth, but I can't reveal anything.
Erica's POV
"Oh, I'm sorry. Is somebody else here?"
"NO!"
"Then why do you have two wine glasses on the table?"
Sh*t! How did I forget the wine glass!?
Ben's POV
"Umm... I did have a friend over, but he left before you came. I just... didn't tidy the place up." I hope this will do for a cover story.
"I'm sorry, it wasn't my place to ask you this question." Catherine placed her hand over her eyes. "I suppose I really need some rest because now I'm just not acting like myself."
"No, it's absolutely fine. Don't apologize for anything. I understand how you feel right now, so there is no need for any formalities." I don't want her to feel bad and I'm trying my hardest here to comfort her, but I just feel that it is not my place to do so.
We sat in silence for a while and I didn't know what to say, but then Catherine spoke: "Was it wrong for me to think that someday... no, I shouldn't say this."
"No, what is it." I tried to encourage her.
"I guess you are old enough to start talking to you about this... Have you ever thought, that someday you will want to start your own family?"
*thump*
Both me and Catherine turned our heads in the direction of the sound. It was coming from my bedroom and my guess is that Erica has something to do with it.
"What was that?" Catherine asked. She tensed and turned her head back in my direction.
"Oh... umm... I opened the window in my bedroom and I think the breeze knocked down the book that was keeping it open... yeah, that's probably it!" Why I am so bad at coming up with good cover stories?
"Are you sure?" Catherine asked again.
"Yes... This isn't the first time this has happened." How will I ever keep this up?
"We should maybe go and check."
"NO!" Well, that was loud... "We don't need to go and check. No one can possibly be in there. No one would scale the side of the building in the middle of the night, in the center of the city."
"Benjamin, are you alright? You seem stressed about something."
Okay, I need to calm down. "I'm just stressed about the fact that we will have to take down SPYDER without the help of Erica. That's all."
Catherine relaxed the moment I mentioned Erica and I was glad that she forgot about the whole incident just a moment before.
"This probably isn't my place, but can I ask you a question?" She asked.
"Yes, you can." I was a bit scared about what she will ask me, but I guess this will be better than trying to convince her that there is no one else here.
"Are your feelings towards Erica the same there were before you disappeared, or have you moved on since then?"
Well, I will take back what I said before. This is worse than just trying to convince her that there is no one else here. Now I'm in a situation where if I say how I feel, Erica will probably hear, or if I don't say anything it will be just as bad, because it will look like I can't decide.
But ever since we met again I have a feeling that I have been beating around the bush. I have told myself that I will tell Erica how I feel, but that hasn't happened yet. Will it ever happen? Will I ever have the guts to tell her? Is there ever going to be a good time to tell her this?
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Catherine disrupted my train of thought.
"I think you know the answer. I think you already know how I feel since everything that I do basically screams how I feel." I told her, without really thinking.
"Benjamin, I... I don't want to bother you for much longer, so I will soon be on my way, but I will tell you that sadly there is still no new news from SPYDER. It may take weeks or maybe months for us to find out anything new about their next plan, but like I said I will inform you if anything happens."
I looked in the direction where Erica was, hoping that in the end, she decided to show herself to her mother, but she wasn't there. I think I should buy some more time, so Erica can think about her next action a bit more.
"Have they found Erica's body?" I will admit. This is not the best question that I could have asked.
"No. That was the reason why I was hopeful that she is still alive, but the CIA is still looking."
I was trying my hardest to think of a question that would maybe help Erica decide the right thing to do and thankfully one came to mind. "If you don't mind me asking, what will you miss about Erica the most?"
Catherine smiled and thought for a few seconds. "It's hard to pick one, but I guess her passion. Since she was little, she has always been passionate about everything and everyone she loved. Even though it sometimes didn't seem like it."
Thankfully that did it. I looked again and saw Erica standing a few feet behind Catherine. She gave me a nod indicating that I can finally reveal that she is alive.
"Catherine. What would you say if I told you that Erica is standing behind you?"
"I would say, that... wait, what? Why would you ask me that?" She turned around and I could just see that she was in shock. Of course, that is understandable.
Catherine slowly stood up and walked around the couch to see Erica up close. It was a sweet mother-daughter reunion. The both of them were close to tears and soon enough Catherine hugged Erica tightly.
"Ouch! Mother, I am happy to see you, but can you please loosen the hug? You are hurting me, by pressing on the stitched up cut that I have." Erica spoke with some pain in her voice.
"Oh God! I'm sorry!" Catherine stepped away.
So, just like with the last chapter, I don't know if I like this one, but I guess I will feel like this with every chapter from now on. :D I think part of the reason why I don't really like it, is because it is 01:30 am right now and my brain is demanding some sleep. (If you see any mistakes, please tell me. :) I don't really trust myself enough to say that I have checked my spelling. :P)
Just so you know, I have absolutely no idea when will the next chapter come out, but hopefully soon.
Bye! :)