Safe House

Chapter 15

"I didn't mean to-" He starts; expecting it to be Nat or Will, but he stops when he sees its not them. She's looking down at the ground; her hair covering the majority of her face, and then she looks up, her hazel eyes peeking through her honey blonde strands.

XXXXXX

She goes back and forth with herself on whether or not she should go to the cabin or straight to the hotel, the entire drive to Hayfield.

The old brown and white wooden 'Welcome to Hayfield' sign has her pulling over to the side of the road, and changing the address in the GPS. She takes a deep breath, as she hears the GPS tell her to take a right in a half a mile. She looks over at Chance sitting comfortably in the passenger seat, and he tilts his head at her.

"We should go see him right?" She asks him, and he barks, as if he understood her.

"You just want to see Carly." Erin says; reaching over to scratch behind his ear. She replaces her hands on the wheel, and puts the car into drive.

Ten minutes later she's pulling onto his driveway slowly; she parks, and turns the car off. She looks at the keys in her hands, and can't stop them from trembling. She rolls the windows down half way, before getting out of the car. She closes her eyes; inhaling, and exhaling several times before she lifts her hand and knocks on the door.

She looks down at her feet, as the door opens slowly, her heart is pounding in her chest, as she lifts her gaze, and looks at him with her hair covering her face. His eyes are wide, and she can hear how surprised his when he says

"Erin?"

Kenzie squirms out of her grandmother's arms, and runs to the door after hearing her uncle.

"Erin!" She says loudly; tears still running down her face as she runs into Erin's legs. Erin squats down to envelope the little girl in a hug.

"Hi Kenz." She says to her, with a weak smile.

"Uncle Jay said you had to go home."

"I did have to go home Kenz."

"Why?"

"I had to go see my friends, and family" She says, and Kenzie looks back at her uncle.

"Do you have to go back home again?" Kenzie asks next, and Erin looks up at Jay briefly before looking back at Kenzie.

"I don't know Kenz." She says, and Kenzie seems like she's going to start to cry again, but she just sniffles.

"Did you bring Chance with you so he can see Carly's babies?" Owen asks; causing Erin to look over at him then to Jay, and back again.

"He's in my car, but he's going to stay there for now, ok?"

"Ok."

"Mom, I'm-" Jay starts, but she cuts him off.

"I can take them to my house, and have Will pick them up from there."

"No I'm sure they're already on their way, I was just going to ask if you could just stay with them until they get here? We're just going to go for a walk."

"Of course."

"Thanks, bye Kenz, bye Owen."

"Bye uncle Jay." They say in unison as he closes the door behind him.

XXXXXX

They walk along the river for a while, before stopping, and walking onto a dock. Erin looks out at the water, and Jay takes her in. He's worried about where this conversation is going to go. His palms are beginning to sweat, and his heart rate accelerates. He thinks back to his grandpa's words from earlier. 'Don't overthink it Jay, just go to her, and tell her how you feel.' He repeats that to himself as he takes a deep breath before he starts.

"I'm sorry." He says with a sigh.

"When you were in the hospital I told you how I was afraid, and I was. After thinking I'd lost you twice, I was terrified actually. I thought that I'd be relieved when they got Charlie, but that fear intensified when Antonio told me that they'd caught him." He says; looking down at the ground, and she looks over at him but doesn't say anything; just letting him continue.

"And I let the fear of losing you, keep me from telling you about it, and I ended up losing you anyway."

"You didn't lose me Jay."

"Well it sure as hell felt like I have the last two weeks." He says a little harsher as he looks up at her.

"You left with nothing but a text letting me know you got home."

"I was upset Jay." She says defensively. "You had no right keeping that from me." She adds as she turns to walk back to the path.

"What do you want me to say Erin? I fucked up, and I've spent the last two weeks telling myself that." He shouts as he goes to stop her by grabbing her arm a little rougher than he'd like to admit. "I'm sorry. If I could go back and tell you I would, but I can't." He adds a little more calmly. There's a few minutes where neither of them says anything; letting the sound of the wind blowing through the trees, and the chirping of the crickets calm them down a little before she says

"I also overreacted, and I know I shouldn't have left like I did, no matter how I felt." She says as she turns to face him.

"Once the threat of Charlie was gone, I was still scared, just for a different reason." She says, and his expression softens even more. "I'm still scared because I'm falling in love with you Jay and it scares the hell out of me. It's new, and exciting, but it's also terrifying." She admits, and he loosens his grip on her arm, and closes the small distance between them, so they're flush against each other. She looks at her hands as she gently places them on his chest, before looking up at him.

"So I'm sorry too." She says to him, and he nods. Their gaze flits between the others eyes, and lips as they both lean in. The kiss is slow, and gentle, and full of the yearning they've felt over the last two weeks.

"I'm falling for you too." He says against her lips; giving her another peck.

"Just promise me one thing?" He says, and she nods.

"No more running." He says

"As long as you promise not to keep things from me."

"Promise."

"Then I promise not to run anymore." She says and he smiles just as he goes in for another kiss.

XXXXXX

They walk back before it gets too dark. Their hands clasped together. When they get inside they find that no one else is there. She walks over to where she sees Carly laying on her bed by fireplace.

"They're so little, and cute. That one looks like Chance." She says quietly; bending down to pet Carly, and he smiles down at her.

"Kenz said that too."

"I should probably go get him."

When she gets back inside, she decides to keep him on his leash; not knowing how Carly will react to him being by the puppies. Jay goes to preheat the oven for a pizza before coming back the living room.

Erin slowly walks Chance over to Carly, who lifts her head, and wags her tail a little. Chance's ears perk up a little more when one of the puppies grunts. The two dogs come face to face, and Chance licks her nose, and wags his tail, and then she lays her head back down, and closes her eyes. Erin and Jay both smile at the interaction. Chance licks Carly's face a couple more times, and then one of the puppies makes a noise, and he moves to sniff them, but Carly lifts her head again; this time growling lightly, causing Chance to back off. Erin lets him off his leash; deciding that Carly's just warning him.

"I'm going to get my things, I'll be right back." She says; poking her head in the kitchen just as the oven beeps, signaling that it's heated, and he nods.

She goes out, grabs her bags, and brings them to the front door. She drops them just inside when she remembers to get her dress that's laid out on the back seat. She opens one of the back doors, and then she gets hit in the back of the head with something. She tries to yell for Jay, but his name comes out as more of a whisper. Her vision becomes blurred as she struggles to stay standing, and she soon falls back. The light from inside the car shows the hooded figure just before everything goes black.