Page 60 of Watch Over Me

When nothing more followed, Eddie frowned. How the hell was he supposed to interpret that?

"What does that mean?" he asked, trying hard not to sound defensive, but failing at it even to his own ears.

James put the mug down without looking away from Eddie. "That means I'm acknowledging what you said."

"It's more than that and you know it. You have an opinion, I can tell."

"My opinion is that although I wish we did spend that weekend in bed, I also know that family is important to most people. I gathered, from the things you said or didn't say, that you don't have the easiest relationship with yours, so I hope it goes well for you. That's it."

As he was speaking, James straightened in his chair, and there was now a tense line of his back Eddie wanted to run his hand over.

So he did just that—both as a caress and as an apology.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"You have nothing to apologize for." James put a hand on the side of his neck and ran his thumb along Eddie's jaw. "My only worry is your family and how they can affect you, that's all."

Eddie leaned into James's touch with a sigh.

"They're not that bad. Whatever you're imagining isprobably way worse than it should be. They're not… awful or anything. They're all driven and ambitious, and I'm the black sheep of the family. The weak link."

"Hey, no." James brought up his other hand to put on the other side of Eddie's neck. "You're no one's weak link. You're a badass in front of the computer, and you're level-headed and capable even if someone kidnaps you, for fuck's sake. You basically rescued yourself on Monday." James's eyes were boring into his, as if he tried to push his words into Eddie's head, making him believe they were true. "You're strong, and resilient, and so fucking smart. If someone discounts you for whatever reason, they do it to their own detriment."

"You don't have to do this," Eddie muttered, glancing down.

"Oh, trust me, there's more where this came from." James pressed his thumbs under Eddie's jaw gently until he lifted his head again. "And I'm trying to be generous towards them, since they're your family. If anyone else made you feel like this, I'd be much less pleasant."

Eddie chuckled, and he found himself able to breathe a little easier. James's words didn't magically fix anything, but it still helped to know he had someone squarely in his corner. Up until now, whenever he was facing his family, it was always him, alone, against their united front.

Not anymore, though.

Not anymore.

* * *

To Eddie's relief, his mother kept her word. The dinner was indeed a family-only affair, and they all fit around the big table. As they ate, they stuck to safe topics, like Rebecca's early campaign efforts, but Eddie knew it was a matter of time beforethe conversation turned to what happened on Monday. Robert had briefed the family on the basics, but during her calls, his mother had stuck to asking Eddie how he was feeling without pushing for any details, which meant they were likely biding their time.

And indeed, the peace merely lasted until they moved to the living room after the meal and the kids ran down the hall towards the back porch, with Peter following slowly behind them.

"Now, Eddie, Robert told us what happened on Monday," his father started, balancing a glass of whiskey over his thigh. "While we're glad you were unharmed in the end, I, for one, can't imagine how your company allowed that to happen—"

"Stop right there," Eddie cut in, straightening in his chair. "My company didn't allow anything to happen, they are the ones who helped save me."

"You wouldn't be there if not for them!"

"I wouldn't be there if someone didn't decide to—"steal millions of dollars from the US government and extort my brother"—break the law!"

"Oh, please, I don't know the details, but I know enough." His father waved him off. "It was their client who did this. This is not the line of work we raised you to choose, and to think—"

Eddie's nostrils flared. "If you're implying what I think you're implying, you're dead wrong."

Of course even his own kidnapping was turned against him. Of course.

He put his own glass down and the soft click of glass on the wood seemed loud in an otherwise silent room.

"I've had enough of this," he said, to himself and to his entire family, looking from his father to his mother, Rebecca, then finally Robert before turning back to face his father, no longer caring about choosing his words carefully. "I'm not goingto sit here and take it any longer. All of you have repeatedly questioned my judgment and my choices, over and over, and it seems to be so natural to you that you don't even see any problem with that anymore. You either don't understand that you keep disrespecting me by doing that, or you simply don't care. I love what I do," he added, ignoring the way his mother scoffed. "I'm not going to change jobs to satisfy your ideas of what my life should be like. I've never told any of you to leave the Air Force or politics, and the least you could do is give me the same courtesy moving forward. What I'm not going to allow, under any circumstances, is for you to disparage my work and the people I work with. Several of them put their lives on the line for me on Monday without any hesitation and you should be grateful to them for that instead of disparaging them without cause." Eddie stood up. "And if you can't see that, then you need to think twice aboutyourjudgment andyourchoices. Because I'm happy with mine." He looked around the rest of the family again. "Now, excuse me, I've had enough of this for tonight."

And perhaps for the foreseeable future.

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