One Day Closer // SRU

Chapter 14: Meeting the Slades

  There was something about the smell of gun power and the sound of pulling he pin back on a gun and the thrill of pulling he trigger that calmed me. I was destined to save lives.

  I fire 5 rounds before I heard Sargent Declan's voice.
"Dylan." I turned around and took off my earphones.
"Yeah?"
"It's 4am."
"And?"
"Why are you in the rang in the middle of the night?"
"I was stressed and I needed to get my mind of things."
"Go home."
"You always tell me that."
"Because you work so hard."
"I want this job more than anything and I'm willing to fight for it."
"I applaud that Faye but it's 4am, I think your pushing it."
"I just needed an hour."
"Go home and get some rest."
"No one is gonna stop me from getting on that team."

  I softly closed the door to Jenn and i's apartment.
"Where have you been?!" Jenn yells. I stopped in my tracks.
"The range."
"I've called every body!"
"I was gone for like an hour."
"It's been 3."
"I'm sorry." I set my things down.
"I called Kian, Tucker, Jane, Ethan, and Ted."
"Why?"
"I was worried." Ethan walked through the door behind me.
"She's not at the cemetery."
"She was at the rang." Jenn says.
"Oh my gosh." Ethan pulled me into a hug. I didn't expect that.
"Don't you ever do that again." He says.
"I won't I'm sorry."

  I was rush hour at the restaurant and Ethan asked me to wait tables. I set two plates on table 47.
"Here you go, have a nice meal." I say. Ethan spun me around.
"I need you to try this." He says.
"Oh ok." We walk into the kitchen. He sets me on the counter.
"Oh! Ok. That's not sanitary." He shoves a spoon in my mouth.
"It's missing something." He says.
"Tastes pretty good to me."
"No it's missing something." We thought for a minute.
"Adobo?" He laughed.
"Adobo? Are you kidding me?"
"Yeah. Fancy chef school didn't teach you about adobo?"
"Adobo is for stay at home dads." I put some soup in a bowl and add some adobo.
"It's a spice Ethan." I say.
"It's a blend of spices. And it's generic-" I shoved the spoon in his mouth.
"What did you put in it? It tastes perfect."
"Adobo." Everyone in the kitchen started laughing.
"Now if you don't mind I have tables to wait." I jumped off the counter.
"Thank you!" He kissed me.
"Don't underestimate the power of adobo." I say. He laughed.
"It's really good. Oh and Faye." I turned around.
"Yeah?"
"Chef special is Faye."
"You did not just name the soup Faye." I say.
"I did and it's the managers special."
"Damn you Ethan!" He laughed as I walked out with plates in my hands.

  I pushed a cart in Costco.
"I'm meeting his family tonight." I say.
"If it's bad text me and I'll come get you."Jenn says.
"Adam is gonna be there."
"Awkward." I looked at the wine.
"Yeah. I can't believe I even considered dating Him."
"How do you know Ashley wasn't his sister or cousin?"
"He confirmed it was a date."
"Ricky asked me out next Friday." I stopped he cart.
"What?"
"Ricky asked me out."
"He's over me?"
"I guess."
"Yessssss!" I yelled.
"Hush!" Jenn laughed.
"Are you freaking serious?"
"Yes." She showed me the text.
"That is so..."
"Weird?"
"Yes!"
"Get that one it's really good." She pointed to a nice bottle of wine. Jenn laughed.
"What?"
"Watch you show up with wine and they don't drink."
"Jenn!"

I picked Ethan up from the restaurant and we drive to his parents.
"If Adam makes you uncomfortable at all tell me and we are out of there."
"Let's not bring up the fact that I dated him."
"Yeah let's do that." It was silent the whole way there.
"Here we are." Ethan says as we arrive at a huge house.
"really?"
"Yeah."
"Well shit."
"What?"
"I didn't bring that expensive wine."
"Eh it'll be fine." We walked up to the house and Ethan rang the doorbell. It echoed.
"Oh Ethan it it so good to see you!" A young women answered the door.
"Hi Lauren. This is Faye my girlfriend." I held out my hand.
"Faye! What a lovely name! I'm Lauren, Ethan's mom. Come in, come in!" She hugged me.
"Not my mom." Ethan said under his breath. We walked inside.
"Thank you Hun for bringing some wine." Lauren took the bottle into the kitchen.
"Adam is upstairs." She says. That felt like a dart threw the chest. I haven't seen him since I saw the text message.
"What about Ann?" Ethan asks.
"She's in the bathroom."
"Your sister?" I ask.
"Yup." We sat on the couch. He took my wrist and just rubbed it. There was something about me that he always wanted my touch.
"Dinner is almost ready."
"Ethan." We turned around.
"Hey dad." He was a spitting image of his father. They hugged.
"And you are?" He held out his hand.
"Faya. But people call me Faye."
"It is very nice to meet you. Did you know Ethan has a twin?"
"No." Ethan coughed.
"Adam is not not so successful son."
"Dad." Ethan warned.
"What? He's not."
"Let's not start that." Ethan says.
"Lauren what's for dinner?" A girl walked around the hall.
"Annalise, this is-"
"Faye!" She yelled.
"Annalise!"
"Faye." Ethan finished his sentence but we were already hugging.
"It's been forever!" I say.
"How do you know each other?" Lauren asked.
"Pre school and kindergarten." She says.
"We were best friends right up until you moved."
"Daddy built a new hotel and business was taking off." She says.
"I missed you."
"I missed you too." She squeezed me.
"Ethan will you set the table?" Lauren asks.
"Yeah." He brushed my hand as he went into the dining room.
"Where's he bathroom?" I asked.
"Upstairs on the left."
"Thanks." I walked upstairs and Adam was looking at photos on the wall.
"That was when Ethan and I ruined the house with grape juice." He said. I walked over and looked at the photos.
"That's my mom." He pointed out a beautiful woman.
"What's her name?"
"Elizabeth Jane." He says.
"She's stunning."
"Unlike my father she didn't let the money get to her head."
"Where is she?" I asked.
"She lives with New York but since the hotel was their creation they work together on a daily basis but she couldn't stand living next to my father."
"So your 3 years older than Ann?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
"Dinners ready!" Lauren yelled. I walked toward the stairs but Adam grabbed my hand. I didn't turn around.
"Let go please." I said softly. He let go and I walked downstairs. We sat at the table and Ethan put an arm around me.
"Did you meet Adam?" Mr. Slade asks.
"Yes." I say.
"Good man." He says. Adam smiled as he sat down.
"Faye, what's your last name?" Lauren asked.
"Dylan." I say.
"What do you do?" Mr. Slade asked.
"I was a RN at Huntington hospital. Now I remember it Adam was one of my patients."
"So you have met?" Lauren asks.
"It was brief."
"Thank you." Adam says. Ethan glared at him with a straight face.
"How did you meet?" Ann asks. I laughed.
"Well I just got off my shift and went to target. Ethan approached me saying that his ex girlfriend was there and he didn't want to look like he hadn't moved on."
"She held my hand for a good 20 minutes before she realized."
"He didn't even give me his name just left after he wrote his number on my hand." They laughed except for Adam.
"Why did you wait til Christmas to tell us about her?"
"I don't know just busy was school and her career change." Ethan says. I sipped my wine.
"What career are you in now?" Lauren asks.
"I enrolled in police academy and graduated with honors."
"Top of the class." Ethan adds.
"Impressive." Mr. Slade says.
"Then I was offered a spot into a training to become a SRU rookie."
"What's the SRU?" Ann asks.
"Like the SWAT." Ethan says.
"That huge! I'm very happy for you." Lauren says. I smiled.
"Thank you."
"So what about your parents?" Mr Slade asks.
"Dad." Ethan shook his head.
"It's ok." I put. Hand in Ethan leg.
"My parents and my brother died in a Car accident. But my parents had a hard time convincing and so they had a surrogate baby and years later miraculously conceived my brother Teddy. My birth mom and her son are my family."
"I'm so sorry." Ann says.
"Sorry for your loss." Adam says.
"What happened to you when you were young?" Lauren asks.
"I went into foster care but I never got adopted."
"Your family didn't take you in?" Ann asks.
"I don't know why they didn't. I was never told and after the accident they just drifted away."
"Awe honey." Lauren says.
"But I'm happy now."
"She's really strong." Ethan says.
"That is quite a story." Mr. Slade says.
"Yes it is."

After dinner we sat in the couch and Lauren pulled out old photo albums from when Ethan and Adam were little.
"There was one time you both had a crush on the same girl in 4th grade. When you got home from school Adam took Ethan in the back yard and beat him up." Mr. Slade laughed. Ethan's hold on my tightened. He has no absolute clue.
"Well Faye has training in the morning I think we need to get back."
"Oh so you live together?" Adam perked up.
"No she has a roommate but we crash at each others one in a while. My place is closer to the center."
"Oh ok, have a night son." Lauren says.
"Not your son." He says under his breath.
"It was really nice meeting you." I hugged Lauren and mr. Slade.
"She's a keeper." Mr Slade says to Ethan.
"It was really good seeing you again!" Ann says.
"It was really nice seeing you. Call me and we can get lunch or something."
"Not on Fridays." Adam says.
"What?" Lauren asks.
"We need to go." Ethan says.
"Nothing." Adam says.
"Ok well bye." I awkwardly hugged Adam and we left.

Ethan's hands gripped the steering wheel.
"Are you ok?" I asked. He took my hand.
"Not in Friday's?!" He slightly yelled.
"I know."
"I don't want him around you at all. He's gonna try and win you back."
"He's not because I'm not gonna budge."
"Good, because you're all I need. I'd give up Providence for you." He looked my dead in the eyes.
"I'd give up police academy for you."
"What about SRU?"
"Do you know how hard it is to get in there?"
"Faye Marie!" I laughed.
"It's hard to get into."
"I just said I would give up my life for you and you like: yeah police academy." He talked all snotty.
"I didn't say it like that."
"Pretty much!"'we laughed. He looked at me.
"What?" I ask.
"I love your laugh. And you smile."
"I love your laugh and your smile." I poked his nose. He leaned in to kiss me.
"SRU?" He asked.
"Not a chance."
"Faye!"