Spy School: Old Becomes New

Chapter 16

May 16th, 2029

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1200 hours

Erica's POV

I entered the Union station through one of several entrances. It was ridiculously overdone and, quite confusing. I started walking in one direction, hoping it would lead me to where I needed to go. I ended up heading towards a place called the Great Hall. I kept walking until I made it to someplace called a Skywalk.

It was like a bridge that was in the air. I decided to turn around and look again for the food court. This time, facing the other direction I saw the right way to go and headed there. I was on the upper part, so I stopped for a minute and looked around for Ben and Emma.

I saw them outside a little cafe. He had an espresso with him and he was feeding Emma pieces of a cookie, oatmeal raisin by the looks of it. I walked around him, trying to be as sneaky as possible.

I eventually made it behind him and walked up, him not knowing I was there.

I playfully placed my arms on his shoulders and said,

"Hey good looking."

He kept looking the other way and said

"Unfortunately, I'm taken by a girl already." I walked around in front of him and sat across.

He smiled at me. Though it was nothing compared to our daughter. She pushed herself up onto the table and ran across towards me.

"Hi Emma," I said.

"Momma came back," she said to me as I gave her a hug and held onto her.

"Of course I did." I looked over at Ben and he seemed happy as well.

"So what did you two get up to?" I asked Ben.

"Well, when I woke up from the nap you weren't there," he started. "We were planning to wait it out for you but ... "

"But ...?" I put Emma in the seat beside me and gave her some of the cookie that Ben had.

"Mike is here, Erica."

I just stared at him. I didn't know if I was trying to be icy but he looked distraught.

"Erica, he's my best friend. I've known him since I was a child."

"You know he's a mole, right? Did you just conveniently forget that part?"

"I know that, but you -"

"And you took our daughter to him with you?" I said. I could feel my voice getting louder.

"Erica I didn't have -"

"Don't you understand Ben? What if he had actually been a mole? What if both of you were gone and I had no idea where you were? What then?"

"Erica, please listen to me."

"Why should I? You went and made this decision behind my back involving our daughter. That's when you cross the line. If it was just you, I don't think I would care at all to be honest. I don't know if I even care about you right now."

I saw that I had cut him deep. There were tears forming in his eyes. The brown eyes that I remember seeing those years ago. The ones that I had looked into multiple times when we first met each other. The ones that I've looked into as I fell asleep the past few years.

"You know," he said, barely a whisper. "You haven't been that great either. Where even were you after I had woken up?"

"One thing's for sure, I wasn't conversing with the enemy."

"He's not the enemy Erica, why don't you see that."

"Why do you think Ben? Why do you think that I think he's a mole? You've seen the flash drive."

"Updated by the grandpa that doesn't seem to want to respond to you anymore."

"That-". I stopped. I looked at him and he held my gaze.

"Are you trying to say that I should listen to you over my grandpa?"

He just shook his head. 

"We got married a few years ago. I thought that meant that we would be making decisions together. But you've shown that you want to go out on your own as soon as I fall asleep it seems and do whatever the hell you want."

I could see he was getting angrier now. 

"It doesn't stop and end with the flash drive. After I made you pancakes a few days ago we talked and you said no more secrets. Well this doesn't look like no more secrets. This looks like you not taking responsibility for your family."

"This looks like the Ice Queen is back."

I looked over at Emma, who was just looking back and forth between us. 

"And the worst part is," he continued. "It didn't start and end with this mission or the flash drive."

"It started after the toilet clogged in our house and I went to fix it."

I instantly knew what he was talking about. The piece of paper. He's still out there. 

I didn't realize that it hadn't flushed properly.

"I couldn't make out the sentence of what it said, just a word. But I'm not mad about that. I'm mad that you didn't tell me. Seeing as it obviously has something to do with the way you have changed."

He had done all the talking for the past few minutes. I couldn't muster words. 

"All of these actions you have taken, it seems that you don't trust me anymore. That you don't love me anymore. That you don't love this family we made together, anymore."

"Don't bring Emma into this," I warned. 

"Why not?" he said. "WHY NOT? Because you were the one who decided to risk her life multiple times by insisting on the last mission? That you have left us twice now and she's been worried? WHY NOT?"

"BECAUSE SHE'S THE REASON I'M DOING ALL OF THIS," I yelled at him.

I didn't even feel close to tears right now. I was just angry, frustrated. 

He looked at me with sympathy. 

"Well if you're doing this for her, then leave me out of it." He stood up from his chair and pushed it into the table.

"Wait, Ben sit back down-" I started.

"No," he said. "Not after you wouldn't listen to me on the phone. Not after you wouldn't let me explain about Mike. No. Just no. Until you can tell me exactly what is going on with you and your identity crisis, don't. Don't text. Don't call. Don't. Just don't."

He started walking away and I felt the tears start to form. I looked over at Emma and picked her up, putting her on the table. For the first time in my life, I saw tears starting to come out of her eyes.

"Why can't mommy and daddy get along?" she asked me.