such satisfaction."
Moving towards her, he took her hand and gently tugged her to him. "I don't want to say it" he told her.
"Leave me alone."
"No" he insisted as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I don't know what to do" she mumbled against his chest.
He pressed his lips to her cheek. "We're going to go to my office and we're going to talk to Jack."
"I can't."
"Yes you can and I'll help you."
#
She had been stonily silent on the short taxi ride, not even acknowledging him. As they rode the elevator to his penthouse apartment, Eric snuck a look at her and was secretly pleased to see the determined set to her jaw. She was angry and to his mind that was a good thing. If she still had fight left in her it meant the woman he had loved was in there, underneath all those layers of pain and fear.
He unlocked the door and she brushed past them. Standing back he watched her as she glanced around the living room. He wondered what she saw, what information about him she took from seeing his place. The large apartment with its high ceilings, hardwood floors and modern furniture was a long way from their tiny apartment in Chicago with its river view and hand me down furniture.
"I'm going to make some tea" he told her, depositing his keys on a side table and heading towards the kitchen.
"I'm not thirsty" she replied petulantly.
"Tough."
Nathalie walked over to the bookcase and a cold shiver ran through her body as she came across a collection of framed photos of Jack. There was one of him lying on the grass, holding a ball. He could not have been more than six months old. The next photo, he looked to be about three and was dressed in a Yankees shirt that hung to the floor and was sitting in between Andrew and Eric smiling happily. The third photo was clearly from his first day of school. The image of him with his Transformers backpack and his Yankees baseball cap took her breath away. The pain from all the moments she missed, from all she had given up threatened to crush her. She turned the photos face down.
Returning to the living room Eric made a beeline to the bookcase, he turned up the photos and shook his head. "The sight of your son is that disturbing to you that you have to hide him? You must have been glad to get rid of h-"
He had not finished his sentence before her open hand landed firmly on his cheek. Stunned by the first slap, he anticipated the second one and grabbed her hand.
"Shut up" she seethed, tears tumbling down her cheeks. "You have no idea...you just have no idea."
His face softened. "You're right. I don't and it's time for you to tell me."
"You don't know what you're asking me" she whispered.
"That's true but I promise I'll listen and I promise you are safe here. I'm not going to hurt you Nat."
She smiled sadly as she sank onto the couch. "But I did hurt you."
Eric nodded. "Yeah, you did." He swallowed thickly before voicing the question that had plagued him for seven years. "Did you really think so little of me - of us- that you had to leave rather than tell me you were pregnant?"
She shook her head vehemently in response. "The opposite actually. I knew you would stand by me and our child no matter what it cost you." Dragging the back of her hand across her face, she wiped her mouth. "It's ironic, you know? I left....I left because I was terrified of ruining your life. I loved you so much" she told him tearfully, "that I didn't want you to resent me for bringing something into your life that you didn't want. I thought I was protecting you, instead I have wrecked everything."
"You weren't wrong, you know" he admitted with a bit of difficulty. "I probably wouldn't have reacted well. I had told you over and over again that I couldn't think of anything worse than being a parent. But that was then and this is now and I love Jack. I love him and can't imagine my life without him."
"He was always very special" she whispered.
"Yes," he agreed. "Which is why I can't imagine you giving him up. What happened Nat? What happened in that fire?"
Her green eyes shimmered with tears as she pulled her legs to her chest. She made herself as compact and small