FlyAway *20*

-20-

    “Excuse me if I’m interrupting, Mr. Dawson,” she said, her voice thick with annoyance and distaste.
    Anna Gentry was a businesslike African-American woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun at the back of her head. She wore a pair of rimless glasses, a gray knee-length skirt, and a matching gray suit coat over a white blouse. Her height was, at first, rather intimidating, until Chris noticed that she wore three-inch black heels. She was a rather pretty woman, and she carried a clipboard in front of her slightly large stomach. He hadn’t known she was pregnant.
    “Uh…” Aaron swallowed hard and stood up straight, his arm slung around Chris’ waist. “Mrs. Gentry. It’s… so nice to see you, after all this time. How… how are you?”
    “Fine, Mr. Dawson. Do you know why I’m here?”
    “N-no.” He glanced apologetically at Crystal and leaned forward to whisper, “Is she alright? I mean…”
    “She’s as fine as she was when last you saw her, Aaron. But of course, you know that there must be a reason that I’m here.”
    “My…?” Aaron slipped his hand into Chris’ and squeezed gently. She was beginning to get annoyed; he could tell.
    “Indeed,” Mrs. Gentry replied, smiling slightly. “I managed to track you down through your superior officers. I’ve flown all the way from Vermont to see you, Aaron. And to bring you your responsibilities.”
    “So… So, she can’t… She can’t, anymore. She finally decided that it’s time for me to… uh… to take care of things. She’s not being stubborn anymore.”
    “She can’t be. Aaron, she’s paralyzed. What can she do for Kye anymore? She’s finally come to terms with it. She can hardly take care of herself.”
    “Anna, I don’t know how I’m going to…” He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “With work, and school… I travel so much… I want to, I really do. I have for years. But I don’t know how-”
    “I’ve spoken with your superiors, remember? You’re being given leave until you can sort all of this out. Kye wants to see you, you know. It has been six years.” Anna Gentry took one look at Chris’ confused and frustrated expression and smiled broadly, showing large white teeth. “I understand you must be a little annoyed with us. My apologies. I’ll tell you what-” she looked back to Aaron, “-I’ll go get Kye, and you can fill your wife in on what’s going on, alright?”
    “Oh! Uh, Anna, we’re not married.”
    Anna sighed and nodded. “Of course not. I’m sorry, it was just an assumption. I’ll just go get Kye. It should only take a few minutes.”
    “Ann… Anna! Crystal and I were going to go to breakfast. She… she has class in a few hours. Can’t this… I don’t know… wait?”
    “Do you really want it to wait, Aaron? It’s been six years! I don’t think it can wait any longer.”
    “I…” His eyes found Chris’, and then he sighed. “Alright.”
    Anna nodded curtly and spun around toward the elevators. Aaron’s eyes were closed, and he was gripping Crystal’s hand between shaking fingers. She peered up at him and reached up to move his hair out of his face.
    “Aaron? What’s going on?”
    He opened his eyes and licked his lips in agitation. “Do you, ah… do you remember when I told you that… Uh… Okay… When I was seventeen, you know I tried to do something pretty bad to a pretty bad guy, right?”
    “Y-yes…”
    “Well, the reason I… The reason I did that was because he almost killed my girlfriend, Tanya. She was pregnant with my child, you know that.” He bowed his head. “Most people… I mean, we told people that Tanya moved out of state because the baby was killed. I thought so, too, for a long time. But… When he was… hurting her, he kind of… He hurt her a lot, Chris. She was paralyzed from the waist down. The baby almost died; they had to do an emergency C-section.”
    “The baby almost died?”
    “I found out about three years ago that Tanya had moved to Vermont to live with her parents, and that our baby, beautiful baby girl, was still alive. Mrs. Gentry, Anna, she came to me because Tanya wanted Kye to know who her father was. She’s a case worker. Kye was in foster care for awhile, because Tanya suffered a horrible case of post-partum depression and… Well, it was dangerous for Kye to be in the home for a few months. She’s been reviewing Tanya’s case ever since, to be sure that she’s a fit mother in her, you know… physical condition.” He took a shaky breath. “I talked to Kye on the phone for the first time just that same month.”
    “Aaron, you… have a daughter?”
    “I was going to tell you, Chris! I promise you I was. I didn’t expect that Tanya would decide that she couldn’t take care of Kye anymore. Of course, she doesn’t want her in foster care… I told her if she ever felt like she just couldn’t do it anymore, she could send Kye to me and I’d take care of her.” He met Chris’ eyes with a fierce, determined glare. “I love my daughter very much, Chris. I’ve never had a chance to see her face-to-face, but I’ve seen her pictures, and heard her voice hundreds of times over the last few years. I know her very well. I know that you’re surprised, and I… I understand, if you want to leave to think about things now, but-”
    “Aaron,” she whispered, reaching up to cup his cheek, “I don’t need to think about anything. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I’m never going to leave you. Ever. If we get to take in your daughter, I’m happy to help you raise her to be just as beautiful of a person as you are. More beautiful, if that’s possible.”
    His eyes shone, and he leaned down to kiss her. She could feel him smiling, and when they broke apart the grin was still etched across his face. His eyes snapped up to the elevator when the doors dinged open. A young girl, no older than seven, very petite and small for her age, came bounding out followed closely by Anna Gentry, the case worker. The young girl had thick, golden curls and familiar dark blue eyes. She saw Aaron and seemed to recognize him immediately.
    “Daddy!” she shrieked, dropped the bag she carried--though she kept hold of the small brown teddy bear--and dashed down the hallway, jumping into her father’s arms with the enthusiasm that only a child can manage.
    He hugged her fiercely, small tears popping from his eyes. “Kye, baby,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. “Hey, honey. Have you been good for Mrs. Gentry?”
    “Extra super good! She got me a teddy, Daddy! See?” the little girl shoved the bear in his face, grinning the wide, toothy grin of the young. She suddenly yawned hugely.
    “She’s probably tired. She’s been up since four o’clock or so. Long flight. The only thing keeping her awake was her excitement.” Anna smiled crookedly, then shook her head. “I’m going to need you to sign some custody papers, Aaron, and then I’ll be on my way.”
---
    Chris blinked in the bright, two o’clock sunlight. She pulled the clip out of her hair and let it fall down around her face, fluffing it lightly with her left hand. She’d left Aaron and Kye in Aaron’s hotel room at about nine o’clock, after a long morning of sitting around talking about the past, the present, and the future.
    She’d just finished with her finals, and she felt confident that she’d done well on them. No; better than well. Excellent. Her bright teal eyes roved across the grounds, looking for the figure that had promised to be there when her last class let out. She finally saw him, the tall man with the short black hair leaning against a tree,  talking to a little blonde girl sitting on the hood of a silver rental car.
    “Aaron!” she called, sprinting over and throwing her arms about his neck. She kissed him lightly and drew back, blushing.
    “Hey, Miss Enthusiastic,” he greeted, brightly. “You ready to go celebrate… everything?”
    She didn’t get to answer, because a smooth voice floated over from the doors of one of the college buildings.
    “Chris! Where’ve you been?” Zach jogged over from where he’d been waiting. “I’ve been looking all over for you! I tried to text you back after I got your message this morning, but you never replied. I started to get worried about you.” He glanced up to see Aaron, and he blanched slightly before recovering. “Hey, man. I’m sorry about last night… Uh, you know, we haven’t been formally introduced. My name is Zach Triton. I’m a friend of Chris’.” He stuck out his hand, a charming smile spreading across his face.
    Aaron cocked his head to the side and shook Zach’s hand, chuckling a little at the younger man’s embarrassment. “I’m Lieutenant Aaron Dawson. I’m uh…” he looked at Chris, who smirked and gave a slight nod. “I’m Crystal’s boyfriend.”
    “Boyf…!” Zach’s face fell and his head snapped so that he could see Chris. “You didn’t say that he was your boyfriend!”
    “Well, he… wasn’t, I guess,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck. “It’s a really, really long story, Z. But… yeah. He’s my boyfriend.”
    “So he’s why you wouldn’t respond to my advances! Can’t say I blame you,” Zach muttered, looking Aaron up and down. Chris laughed out loud, and he grinned. “But seriously, though. Are you guys going to do something nice?”
    “I’m not really sure,” Chris began, but she was cut off by the slam of a car door.
    She turned to see her brother getting out of his car. His words were strangled, and he seemed flustered by something. This worried her immensely, and so she turned to Aaron to see if he would take Kye and sit in his car to wait for her.
    “Alright… Probably not a good idea to kiss you, huh?”
    “Probably not.” He nodded and took Kye into the car to sit and wait. Zach stayed by her side, and she greeted her brother. “Hey, Kyle. What’s going on?”
    “I, uh… I have some good news, and some shocking news.” He smiled tightly. “Good news is, Mom and Dad came to visit from back home. They’ll be here for a week or so. Unfortunately, they aren’t alone.”
    As he spoke, another man got out of the passenger seat and smiled brightly at her, tipping an imaginary hat. His dirty blond hair blew around in the wind a bit, and his caramel eyes were merry and bright. He hadn’t changed a bit.
    “Hey, darlin’,” he said, happily. His voice sent chills down her spine. It was Matt.