“He’s on the floor rolling like a little roly poly.” Elizabeth followed her friend in and grinned, as she picked him up and gave him kisses on his cheeks and neck. He squealed and she kissed him more.
Yeah, her mood was better already. The scent of baby lotion and sight of chubby legs always had that effect on her.
“You want some coffee, Des?” asked Elizabeth.
“Yeah, I missed my little boyfriend here and had to come see him before work.” At one time the fact Elizabeth named her first born child after Callen bothered her. Okay, it still irritated her, who was she kidding?
Elizabeth wandered into the kitchen to pour her friend some coffee.
Thank God for caffeine. It was all that was saving her life the last few months. Well, that and her father-in-law. Now that she was going back to work in a few days, he was transitioning to full time care giver for his grandson, and loving every damn second of it. He’d be by later to take CJ for a walk on the Rez. The man loved showing off his little Native grandson.
The Blackhawks reigned supreme on the Rez, and he was the next heir to the family tree house.
Desdemona kissed CJ more and then placed him back on the baby blanket on the floor, before following Elizabeth into the kitchen. It astounded her that after three months, the woman looked better than before pregnancy. Granted, she didn’t know her personally then, but she’d seen the pictures on the book shelf. All the baby weight was gone, and if possible, she was in better shape. Elizabeth stood in her kitchen in the tiniest little running shorts and FBI t-shirt, and Desdemona couldn’t help but be jealous again. Legs that long shouldn’t be legal. Damn gene pool.
“What?” asked Elizabeth, as she noticed her friend staring at her.
“There are days I hate you.” Hey, the truth felt really good!
Elizabeth laughed. “Uh, should I ask why or should I assume it’s because I’m bitchy, badass and can beat you down?”
Now Desdemona laughed. “No it’s probably because you gave birth three months ago and you actually lost more weight than you gained.”
“Well I’m glad to know that’s the only reason. You do realize I’m out running every morning at five a.m. right? I had to earn this body. Trust me; childbirth doesn’t give you your ass back as a consolation prize for the hideous pain.”
“Yeah well, I can’t attest to that.”
Elizabeth didn’t miss the tone in her voice. “What’s up, Des? You look like you’re about to cry.”
“I’m good. I just miss Callen.” That was part of it, but the rest was just many layers of hurt, anger and sadness that she wasn’t going to dump it on Elizabeth. This was her friend and partially the reason at the same time.
“I spoke to him this morning. He’s coming home soon.”
Desdemona tried to not let it bother her. Of course Elizabeth spoke to him, and yet he didn’t call the woman he proclaimed to love. Oh wait, he openly proclaimed to love Elizabeth.
Constantly.
Repeatedly.
Right after kissing her square on the mouth with his lips lingering dangerously too long. Wasn’t there some brother rule where ‘thou shalt not kiss your brother’s wife on the lips’? If not there should be!
Wow, the green-eyed monster was up and at ‘em early today.
Elizabeth noticed the flash in her friend’s eyes, just before she buried it again. “For the record, Des, he called Ethan to check in, and I answered his phone while he was showering. Callen didn’t call me to just chat.”
“Oh.” Immediately, she felt better. Now she felt bad that she’d thought about her friend like that. A sigh escaped her lips.
“Want to talk about it?” Elizabeth was really worried about both of them. Lately there was tension between the two of them and she didn’t understand why, but she had a sneaking suspicion it was the affection she and Callen openly shared.
“No, I’m fine.”
Elizabeth wanted to push, but Callen was trying hard to get this woman to marry him and soon; she didn’t want to stir the pot any more than it obviously already was churned up. “Can I ask a favor?” she asked, sipping her coffee and watching the woman over the rim.
“Sure Lyzee.”
“Can you watch CJ while I run up and shower? I’m taking him to see daddy for lunch, and I don’t think I can get him to stay still for me as I shower and blow dry my hair.”
“Absolutely, but I may be leaving lip marks all over those chubby cheeks of his. I may try to eat him too.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Leave the left arm, that’s my favorite, and I won’t have to wrestle you for it later.”
“Go shower, and I’ll keep him company on the floor.”
“I appreciate it. I can’t go to FBI West like this,” she added, moving to the stairs. “Ethan would have a damn stroke.”
Desdemona watched her walk away. Yeah, she’d start a riot. Ethan would go on the warpath killing all the agents checking out his wife. Part of her was glad Callen was away on assignment. Honestly, as much as she loved Elizabeth, she didn’t love her in running shorts and a t-shirt in front of him. Call it catty and silly, but it was the truth. Just the look on Callen’s face as Elizabeth stretched out was enough to put her over the edge. Yeah, she’d spied on them from the window. Come on! How could she not?
When her fiancé was home, he’d often go running in the morning with his brother and Elizabeth, and she’d watch CJ. After all, she didn’t run. Not unless someone was chasing her, or there was a big clothing sale somewhere up ahead. It was just one more thing that left her odd woman out.
The green eyed monster crawled back into her chest and ripped viciously at her heart. Not only because she was jealous of her friend’s hotness, but because now she was pissed that they were doing something as simple as a morning run as a family. FBI agents had to stay in shape, their lives depended on it. Maybe she’d buy Callen a treadmill and lure him inside, far away from the distraction of Elizabeth. Yeah, he would shit a proverbial brick if she even tried.
Taking her coffee to the floor with the baby, she kissed his toes and tickled his chubby little legs, trying to forget that she was irritated. As he smiled up at her, the cell phone in her purse began ringing, and he cooed and sucked on his fingers. Digging for it, she hoped it was Callen calling to talk to her, but surprise surprise. It wasn’t.
Damn it!
“Hi Grand'mere, how are you today?”
The older woman spoke into the phone, “Not good Desdemona. Your sister is missing.”
Her heart started pounding in her chest. “What do you mean she’s missing?”
“I left to go pick roots and my herbs for the season two weeks ago. I was staying out at the root shack in the deep woods while I was working. I just came back yesterday and there’s no sign of her.”
“Did you call the police?”
“I filed a report. I just wanted to tell you.”
“I’ll come home and help look for her,” she answered, quickly.
Morgana Adare refused. “You’ll do no such thing. You know how your sister is, and she may just be off with a man.”
Just like everyone said her mother had done.
Desdemona knew how that ended. Twenty five years of questions and never to see the woman again. “I’m coming, Grand'mere, and that’s the end of it. I’ll catch a plane and be there later today.”
“What about your job?”
“I’ll call in sick today and then I’m scheduled off this weekend. I worked last rotation in the lab. Doctor Leonard will be on call this time.”
There was hesitation. “Okay, I’ll be back and forth into the swamp. I have to harvest for the fall.”
Desdemona couldn’t believe her Grand'mere was so calm. It felt like her world was shifting and rotating upside down. The hairs on her neck were standing. The stalker tried to get her back to Cypress Grove in his last note, and now her sister disappears. This screamed bad all around. “See you in a few hours, grand'mere.”
She went online on
her phone and booked a flight and called work, telling them she wasn’t feeling well. It wasn’t exactly a lie, she felt sick to her stomach over all this. The other thing was how she was going to not tell Callen? She was intentionally going to disobey his direct order to not go home alone. He’d made her promise months ago when the stalker had left them the last vicious death threat. Desdemona pinky swore to him, and now she wished she hadn’t. Maybe in the back of her mind, she always knew she never intended to be bossed around into keeping the promise.
While he was on assignment as Liaison to the Native American Community for the FBI, the last thing he needed was to freak out and find out she was doing exactly what the stalker wanted. The nutjob demanded she come home or the people she loved would die, and here she was doing it. But she had a perfectly good reason…
Desdemona loved her sister; she and her grand’mere were all that she had left. Well, other than the surrogate family she now had because of her fiancé- a family she didn’t feel like she fit into at all. Her mind was made up, she wasn’t going to even tell Elizabeth, but sneak off like a thief in the night.
Elizabeth came back downstairs and was dressed.
“I have to get going,” Desdemona stated, calmly. Hopefully she could go and be back before Callen Whitefox returned next week, and she was due back into work. “Duty calls,” she added, cautiously. Here she just called in sick and was lying to the big boss right to her face. Yeah, she better not get caught. There was so much more on the line now.
“BBQ on Sunday?” Elizabeth inquired, scooping up her son and kissing him lovingly. “I’ll make you a killer veggie burger,” she offered, knowing her friend was a vegetarian and wouldn’t like the ribs they were planning on making.
“I can’t. I have some errands to run while Callen is away. But I promise the following weekend I’ll be here.”
Elizabeth found that odd. She had never missed a Sunday dinner. “Okay, well you come back and visit me and my new boyfriend,” she cooed.
“Back off! He’s mine,” Desdemona countered, smiling. “I will fight you for him!” She went to her friend and kissed her on the cheek, and then did the same for the baby. “I love you, CJ.”
Elizabeth watched her friend walk out the back door and across the yard to the fence. “Well darlin’, I may have been off duty for the last twelve weeks, but that just screamed suspicious to me. What’s wrong with Auntie Des? What did she tell you?”
CJ just played with a piece of her hair and tried to eat it.
“Okay, I get it. Breakfast time again, and then off to see daddy. Wait until he sees the outfit I found for you.” Elizabeth snickered wickedly at what she had found for her chubby little cherub.
Elizabeth tried to put the uneasiness on the back burner in her mind, but something was rubbing against her brain, warning her that something just wasn’t right.
Her bullshit detector was going off hard and fast, and rarely was it wrong.
Four Hours Later
Ethan Blackhawk sat in his office on the phone dealing with the mundane responsibilities as the director of FBI West. Normally, it wouldn’t be so tedious, because his partner in crime would carry half the load, but she was out on maternity leave until Monday. The second she was back, he was going to dump every meeting on her and run. For twelve weeks he’d been on his own, and he learned one huge thing.
Elizabeth was really good at multitasking and making all she did look easy. When he tried to do her job and his, he actually contemplated smoking again because of the stress. She ran her part of the office perfectly, and he suspected it was her administrative assistant, Jameson Crow, who made it run smoothly.
When she informed him that she’d hired a Native as her admin, he’d nearly had a stroke. Now he completely understood why she sang his praises. When Ginny, his personal admin was off duty, Jameson was a force to reckon with too. Ethan would walk into his office and coffee would magically be there, and it was still steaming. Beside it was the paper, his reports, and even all his messages, alphabetized, categorized and color coded by importance. Ginny was the best he’d ever seen, until he’d met Jameson. Even today, he had all of Elizabeth’s reports printed and he’d actually left little sticky notes with arrows, pointing to where he needed to sign, before he left for the day.
At this point, he just may steal the man away and give Elizabeth his administrative assistant in an even swap. The man was a dream, and he’d been very wrong to tell Elizabeth he was probably just going to be Native eye candy in the office. The man was finishing his Bachelors in Psychology, and working a full time job for them at night. It was admirable if anything. He remembered working just as hard to put himself through college to make it into the FBI.
From his desk, he heard a commotion and paused to look at his watch. Ethan couldn’t help but grin.
It was time to see the loves of his life.
Elizabeth parked in the garage in her reserved spot marked ‘Director’. One of the techs had written at the top ‘Beware of the’ in marker, and she couldn’t help but snicker at the idea. When it came to being the tougher of the two, she was it. The lab crew had the last twelve weeks free from her tyranny, and she was looking forward to breaking each and every one of them back in on Monday. It was going to be slow, painful, and she was going to love every damn second of it.
Their holiday was just about over, and she hoped they enjoyed it. She whistled at one of the techs walking across the parking lot, and giggled when he froze, looked around and then ran. Damn she missed her job.
Elizabeth was back on duty in three days, and she couldn’t wait. Then she looked down at the little man in her arms and her heart ached. They thought about putting him in daycare right in the facility for all the other FBI families, but they’d promised Wyler. They knew he was looking forward to every second of playing granddad. God, she was going to miss her child, and her eyes almost filled with tears. She’d pull through this; CJ was going to be safe on the Rez with his granddad and great granddad, learning to grow up just like his father. It would all be okay, if she could just get away from the separation anxiety she was feeling over leaving her child.
Every mother felt this way, Elizabeth was sure. And yet she didn’t want to be a stay at home mom. As much as she loved little Callen James Blackhawk, she loved being co-director of the FBI too. It was who she was, and she couldn’t erase it. There had to be a fine line between them that Elizabeth knew she could comfortably navigate.
Riding up in the elevator, she felt the excitement and anticipation of showing CJ where mommy and daddy worked. Maybe one day he’d follow the path of the family and become just like them.
Purveyors of justice.
Elizabeth kissed her son on the top of his mohawked hair and stepped out once the doors opened. The smells were all crashing back. There was the toner, paper and coffee. It was like coming home after a long vacation. You still loved the vacation, but it was time to get back to work.
The first person who saw her was Ginny, and she let out this girly screech and charged at Elizabeth. She was bouncing, hopping and doing this overly excited girl dance.
“Oh.My.God!” Ginny punctuated every word and pointed at the baby. “Where did you find that outfit for the little man?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Ginny, you like?”
Now there were people gathering. There stood their boss and they didn’t know what was more entertaining, the fact that the baby was in a little onesy with a tie printed on the front, black pants and shoes that mimicked how his daddy dressed at work, or that Elizabeth was wearing a dress and looked amazing.
“You’re wearing a dress!”
Ginny was passing around hand sanitizer and scolding everyone to not touch the baby without using it first.
Elizabeth found it funny that the child would probably be the safest in this room of people. They, after all, had on guns, worked for the government, and yet Ginny was acting like they were on the most wanted list.
“You look beautiful,” she said
to her boss, grinning.
“Thank you.” Elizabeth handed her son over to the woman, and accepted the hugs from her agents who weren’t scared shitless of approaching her.
God, it was good to be back.
“Want me to buzz Mr. B?” Ginny inquired, kissing the baby and not letting anyone else hold him.
Elizabeth knew that wasn’t going to be necessary. She could feel his eyes on her, and just knew the man that she loved more than life was nearby.
Ethan stood in the doorway of his office, and his heart skipped a beat at the sound of her laughter. The melodious sound always made his pulse race and blood pump faster through his body. Even though he saw her earlier before work, she looked completely different. That morning he swore her running shorts was his favorite attire, or at least that’s what he told himself as he peeled them off her body to have his way with his beautiful wife. Now she was breathtaking, captivating and the center of his world.
She was his sweet Elizabeth and mother of his child.
“I’m right here, Ginny,” he said, watching everyone turn to look over at him, and then back over at the baby and laughter ensued.
Elizabeth opened her arms to her son, stealing him back from her husband’s administrative assistant. “I’ll bring him right back,” she promised, wanting to show him CJ’s outfit.
Everyone watched as the two Blackhawks walked towards each other, and it was like watching two lovers reunite after years apart, not hours. His hand went to her cheek, her thumb caressed his lower lip, and then they both looked down at the miracle they made.
Blackhawk started laughing at the sight of his son dressed in all black and the faux tie.
“I wanted to get him his first tie, but he only wanted to chew on it.”
Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) Page 3