Chapter 25
"Papa?"
"Yes?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm reading a deposition."
"Oh."
"Is everything okay?"
Nina shrugged and looked down at the jumbo coloring book she was working on. He hid a frown and set his paperwork aside before moving out of his chair to sit beside her on the floor.
"What are you doing?"
"Coloring horses," she gave a small smile and tilted the book to show him her handy work.
"That looks great! We'll hang your favorite on the wall, okay?"
"Okay," she said with another smile but with far less enthusiasm than usual. He pursed his lips, wanting to go after answers like he would with a defendant, but holding back to let her speak in her own time. She'd been just a bit off since the night before but hadn't been ready to talk.
He watched her color for a few minutes, the room silent except for the scribbling of her crayons across the pages. He was debating getting back to his reading to let her work out what she wanted to say without him hovering when she said. "Papa?"
"Yes?"
"Why are we moving again?"
His heart leapt into his throat, how did she know that they were moving?
"We-what makes you ask that?" he asked, startled.
"I heard you talking on the phone and you were talking about houses and neighborshoods and privatecy stuff," she mumbled, attention still on her artwork.
He sighed; she must have overheard him on the phone with Logan. The other man was walking him through becoming legally invisible and as protected as possible. He and his family were even more locked down than Erik and Nina and that was saying something. Of course the other man was a judge, and they got even more threats than police and prosecutors combined.
"I was going to tell you once it was all sorted, but I'm looking at houses to buy."
She frowned, "Why can't you buy this house?"
"Well, it's nice and all but I don't want to live here forever," he began when her lower lip trembled and her wide eyes filled with tears. "Oh honey, what's wrong?" he held out his arms and let her crawl into his lap and press her wet face against his neck. He patted her on the back, just how she liked and let her cry all her feelings out.
His mind was racing a mile a minute, he hated to see her sad, but this neighborhood was nowhere near secure enough for their needs. Not that he was willing to burden her with that. He hated to see her sad, but hadn't planned on her being so attached to a house.
Her sniffling had subsided at bit and she lifted her head, eyes red and puffy. She looked miserable.
"I didn't know you liked the house that much," he said honestly. "I'm sure we can find one you like even better. You can help us look, okay?" he asked softly. She gave him a look of such censure that he caught his breath at how much she looked like her mother.
"I don't wanna move!" she pouted defiantly.
He was clearly missing something, "Why not?"
"I like living here!" she reiterated. He was about to argue specifics when she looked away again and said. "If we go away Charles will miss us," her voice broke at the end of the sentence and her eyes pooled up again.
Bingo. He felt like a fool for not considering her attachment to the other man. Moving, even just across town, would seem like the end of the world to her. He hadn't wanted to broach the subject this way. He and Charles had planned to do it together, but sometimes things fell out differently than planned.
"Hey, hey, little one. What if we took Charles with us?" he asked softly.
She sucked in a shaky breath and stared at him wide eyed, "Really?!"
"Really. Would that help?"
She nodded, tiny face breaking into a wide smile for the first time in hours, "Yes! I get to keep my Charles?"
He nodded, "Sure do."
"Do you think he'll want to come?" she asked with a small frown.
"Oh, I think he can be convinced," Erik grinned and let her scramble out of his lap and rush to the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" he called after her, following more slowly.
"I want to go ask him to come with us!" she sniffled, eyes and nose still red from crying.
"Let's get cleaned up first and I'll ask him if he has a moment, okay?"
"Okay, Papa," she wrapped her arms around his legs and looked up at him with a bright smile. "You're the best Papa in the world," she announced proudly.
"And you're the best Nina," he said solemnly which always made her laugh, this time was no exception.
She let go and dashed up the stairs, possibly to get cleaned up, possibly to go play-he could never be sure with her.
He headed back to his study to text his busy boyfriend for what would hopefully be a quick meet up in a few hours.
~~
"Thank you for meeting with us tonight, Charles." Erik said with a sparkle of humor in his eyes.
Charles glanced between his two dining companions, wondering what the hell was going on. They looked mischievous to a fault and Nina was practically bouncing out of her seat. Erik had had to remind her to remain seated twice already. Once when she perched on her knees to watch the family at the booth behind them and then again when she tried to scramble under the table after knocking the salt shaker over and having it roll underneath.
Thank goodness they were in a kid friendly pizza place or her behavior likely would have gotten them thrown out already. As it was, she was arguably the best behaved child present with the exception of a sleeping infant two tables over.
"I'm happy to have made it, may I ask the occasion?" he played along, knowing something was up.
Erik nudged Nina who straightened up and folded her hands demurely on the sticky table top, giving Charles a wide smile.
"We asked you here today-"
"Will you come move with us?!" Nina blurted out in the middle of his sentence.
"What?" Charles asked, caught off guard by her blunt question. Of course he and Erik had already discussed this in great detail, but he hadn't expected Nina to be aware of it just yet.
"Papa is looking for a new house to buy and he said we can take you with us and maybe you can still live next door," she nodded along to her own words like she was agreeing with herself.
Erik blushed and coughed into his hand to fight back a laugh, "Actually the offer is for you to live with us. In the same house," he clarified, looking at Nina as he said it.
Her eyes widened like saucers. "REALLY?!" she slapped both hands on the table top and made to scramble across to Charles, Erik caught her by her belt loop to stop her mid crawl. "Pleasesayespleasesayespleasesayes!" she fell back against her father like nothing untoward had happened.
Charles gave up his battle to hold in his laughter at their antics and agreed, "I'd love to," he gasped when he'd caught his breath, tears in his eyes from laughing so hard.
"PAPA!" Nina squealed, face pink with excitement.
"I heard him," he laughed and finally obliged Nina by sliding out of the booth and letting her climb up next to Charles to give him a big hug. At her insistence he sat down next to her again, all of them taking up one side of the booth.
He'd have felt ridiculous if there weren't three screaming tantrums occurring at that very moment in various places in the dining room and play area.
Their eyes met over Nina's head as their waitress returned with their drinks and complimentary breadsticks. Charles smiled, loving his surprise, he'd never felt more loved or welcomed as he did at that very moment.
"...says we get to pick a new house and now you can help!" Nina cheered.
"That does sound fun!" he replied, only half listening to her excited chatter. She was speaking so quickly she was hard to understand.
He sat back, sipping his drink and letting her hug him periodically as she went on and on and on. Erik draped his arm across the back of the booth and let his fingers tease the nape of Charles' neck.
This was as close to perfect as he could imagine and he decided bask in the moment and enjoy. Erik was a man who loved plans, so something had clearly happened to up their timetable. He didn't mind. Erik and Nina seemed happy, worry free, and content. He couldn't ask for anything more.
"Pizza!" their waitress said with a smile, setting it down and slicing it theatrically. "Let me know if you all need anything else," she practically purred at Erik before sauntering away. Charles rolled his eyes at her obtuse overtures.
"Yummy!" Nina grabbed a slice and tucked in, getting sauce everywhere as expected.
Charles grabbed a small plate to catch the falling toppings just as Erik caught her drink as she nearly knocked it over.
Their eyes met over her head and they shared a smile. "Teamwork," he chuckled. He was happy to be on Erik's team for as long as he'd have him. Besides, he had a feeling it would take both of them to get her out of the ball pit and head home when all was said and done.