Chapter 1: FINN
Echo’s dad was alive. I read and reread the information that Director Mac assured me he checked. All these years she’d spent looking for her dad and he was right under our noses the whole time. I was having a hard time believing the information right in front of me. Did the director check the paperwork himself? Did I trust him? I don’t know was all I could think. I needed to ask him, but I didn’t want him to believe I didn’t trust him. Echo trusted the director. He saved her life. He saved all our lives.
My next problem was how was I going to tell Echo? How was I going to tell her that she’d been lied to her whole life? I set the folder on the table in front of me and sat back on the couch. The last seventy-two hours had been exhausting. People alive who should be dead, people dead who ran federal agencies, bombs, guns and Echo. She was the only reason I still held onto my sanity, but this new information might just be too much for her. The thought crossed my mind that it might be a good idea to keep this from her until I was sure there weren’t any lasting effects form the drugs she’d been given, but I quickly dismissed that idea. I couldn’t keep this from her. She deserved to know the truth, no matter how difficult it was to hear.
My conversation with Director Mac didn’t help much. He assured me he’d screened the documents contained in the folder and vouched for their authenticity. Owen had made the request months ago and when we didn’t receive the information I just figured we were being stonewalled because we weren’t supposed to have access to the information. It never occurred to me that the director had intercepted the request. My head was spinning from the overload of information already and then the director dropped one more bombshell on me. He gave me his blessing to start a real relationship with Echo. He gave me the one thing I wanted more than anything else.
As happy as I was that Echo and I could be together that had to be put on the back burner for now. I had to find a way to tell her that I had found her dad and that he was alive. She was going to be furious when she found out. She had been lied to her whole life and now when the truth finally comes out the people closest to her were the ones who would take the brunt of her anger. I had seen Echo angry before, but this was going to be a whole new level. Betrayal was not something she handled well. In our world you must have trust and once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. This would be unforgiveable in her eyes and I just had to make sure she didn’t shoot the messenger.
I sat alone in my safe house thinking about Echo. Her long brown hair that she twirled around her finger when she was thinking, her beautiful green eyes. The eyes I had seen so much sadness envelope. The eyes that cried for a man she never knew. Her finger deadly enough to pull the trigger of a gun and soft enough to touch my soul.
It had only been a couple of days since I had seen her, but I missed her already. I wanted Echo here with me. I promised myself I would bring her here when our last mission was over. I wanted her to think of this place as a safe haven and not a place where she received life changing information. I sat reflecting on my conversation with the director when my phone rang. The caller id showed Owens name.
“What’s up man?” I said as I answered the phone.
“I just wanted to check on you.” was his response.
“I’m fine,” I told Owen.
“You are such a terrible liar,” Owen replied.
“Fine, I’m about to lose my damn mind,” I admitted. “That what you wanted to hear.”
“It’s better than telling me everything is fine,” Owen stated. “Did you open the file yet?”
“Shit man, you just can’t wait to find out what is in the file can you?” I started to laugh.
“Is it what you’re looking for?” He asked.
“And so much more,” I suggested.
“What more?” He asked.
“Owen, I can’t tell you before I tell her. She may kill me anyways, but I don’t want to assure my death.” I confessed.
“Is it that bad?” Owen questioned.
“Depends on how you look at it,” I said.
“Damn you Stone, tell her so you can tell me.” Owen laughed.
“I’ll tell you once we are back at the E.T.C,” I said.
“Fine,” Owen said and hung up on me.
I knew he didn’t like the answer, but joking or not I was not about to tell anyone before I told Echo. This was too sensitive a subject. There was nothing I could do tonight. With the week the three of us had we all needed some rest, especially Echo. I didn’t know how long she went without a good night’s sleep. Most, if not all her nights were drug-induced for the last month. I was going on at least a week without a decent night’s sleep and it was already affecting me.
I didn’t have the strength to keep fighting sleep. When it was finally time to tell Echo about her dad I would need to be in top shape to be there for her. I decided that everything else could wait until I’d had a decent amount of sleep. I was no good to anyone in the state I was in right now.
I was sitting in the back of my parent’s car. My mom was singing Christmas carols along with the radio. Her voice was angelic, like angels had kissed her vocal chords. I could listen to her sing forever. My dad was humming along with her. I watched him reach across a grab her hand. The two of them were so in love and I wanted to find a love like that one day. The sound of a horn blaring interrupted the serene of our car ride. I saw the bright headlights coming at us and instinctively ducked down behind my mother’s seat. The car began spinning in circles and I could hear both of my parents screaming. There was a strong jolt and we were upside down, flipping over and over again. It seemed that it would never stop. My head slammed against the window and the next thing I knew there was glass everywhere. Something warm ran down my head and my arm was in pain. I cried out for my mom, but she didn’t answer. I tried to cry for my dad, but he wasn’t answering either. I was scared and I just wanted my mom and dad.
“Mommy,” I cried out.
“Finn, honey, I love you.” She responded.
“Mommy, my head hurts,” I cried, but this time there was no response.
I yelled for her again and again, but she never said anything. I could hear sirens and people talking, but it was all muffled. Everything sounded like it was getting father and farther away. I tried to move, but was stuck to my seat by the seatbelt. I couldn’t get out. I saw flames and could feel the heat from the fire, but I still couldn’t move. I wanted to get away from the heat, but there was nothing I could do.
I heard a loud cracking sound and a man in a dark suit pulled me from the car. As he carried me away I could see my parents and it looked like they were both sleeping. I wanted to go back for them, but the man kept telling me there was nothing we could do now. I didn’t know what he meant. We needed to get my parents out of the car. They were hurt and needed a doctor. The man wrapped me up in his jacket and we stood there waiting for the ambulance. I wanted to see what was going on with my parents, but I was so tired that I couldn’t stay awake. I laid my head on the mans chest and closed my eyes.
When I woke the sun shone bright through the curtains. It was all I could do to hold back the tears. I didn’t like dreaming about the night may parents died. I didn’t like to think about it at all. I rolled over and covered my head with a blanket. I didn’t want to crawl off the couch right now. I didn’t want to do much of anything right now. I just wanted to sleep. I closed my eyes and succumbed to sleep again. The next time I opened my eyes everything was dark. I thought I slept longer then I wanted until I realized the blanket still covered my head. Once the blanket was off my head I saw the sun was just rising. I had no idea how long I’d been asleep, but I felt so much better. It was time to eat, though.
I started making some breakfast when my phone rang. I picked it up thinking Owen and I were about to have a conversation about relaxing when Echo’s named showed up on the I.D.
“Is everything all right Stone? Where the hell have you been?” Echo voice sounded worried.
“I’m fine, Echo I’ve been sleeping. Some of us didn’t get to take a two-day nap.” I said trying to sound funny.
“Well, Owen seems to be the only one who didn’t take a two-day nap now. I was about to send Briggs after you.” She laughed.
“I’ve been asleep for two days?” I asked.
“You have.” She said.
“I save your life and you can’t even let me have a nap,” I said as I made fresh coffee.
“Back the truck the up, who saved who’s life?” Echo gloated. “I seem to remember saving your life”
“Well, you were drugged so your account can’t be trusted,” I said with a laugh.
“Wow, it’s been such a peaceful couple of days without you,” Echo said.
“You know you missed me,” I said.
“Every second.” Echo tone was serious now.
“I missed you too,” I admitted.
“We have a lot to talk about.” She said, but it sounded more like a question.
“We do,” I replied.
Echo didn’t know the half of it.
“How about tonight?” Echo asked. “Ann and Briggs are going out, so it’ll just be me and whoever Briggs hired to babysit me.”
” You need a babysitter?” I asked.
“Briggs seems to think so,” Echo said annoyed.
“He’s just trying to keep you safe.” I tried to say without laughing.
“Something like that,” Echo said.
“I’ll be by around six. Tell Briggs he can give the babysitter the night off.” I said as I did laugh this time.
I could hear Echo roll her eyes through the phone.
“Fine, but bring food. I’m not allowed to cook, or move, or even look outside.” Echo said although I don’t think the last part was for me.
“I’ll see you then,” I said, and she hung up.
Tonight, would be as good of time as any to tell her. The longer I waited the worse it would be for everyone.
I drank my cup of coffee and went in to take a shower. I wanted to stay in here all day, but I wanted to see Echo too. After my shower, I noticed my hair grew longer than I usually let it get. Echo is the one who cuts my hair. It’s not like the haircut is all that difficult. She ran the clippers over my head a couple of times so my hair didn’t grow too long. She didn’t want to cut my hair for me in the last few weeks so It got long.
My hair was a dark shade of brown. I never let my hair grow too long. I liked it short. There was less work when it was short. I didn’t need to brush my hair or put gel or anything else in it. I washed my head and was done. I pulled my clippers out of a drawer and went to work on the mop that appeared on my head. It only took a few minutes to cut all the hair back to a manageable length. I don’t know how Echo dealt with the beautiful flowing locks she had. I could not manage.
When I was done there was hair all over me and my bathroom. I brought out the broom and dustpan and cleaned up all the hair on the floor and counter top. I needed to take another shower to get all the hair off my body. I shaved too. I didn’t like to shave, but I had a serious five o’clock shadow problem. If I weren’t going to see Echo today I probably wouldn’t have shaved the whole three weeks. I was required to be clean shaven for work, but on my vacation, I didn’t care.
Echo did, though. After our first vacation, I came back looking like a woolly mammoth, Echo’s words, not mine. She told me how she had never been able to stand a man with a beard or even stubble. I kept my beard for two more days until Rita reminded me The Agency frowned on facial hair. Echo went so far as to tape a copy of the rule it’s self from the handbook in the bathroom. It irritated me at the time, but now it makes me smile. I wanted to believe she posted the page there because she was looking out for me, but convincing myself she wasn’t just gloating took more work. I told you so were Echo’s favorite words. To be more precise her favorite thing to say to me was
“If you would just read The Agency handbook we wouldn’t have to tell you repeatedly.”
To which I responded
“Why would I need to read the handbook when the audio version sleeps in the room next door.”
Echo’s response couldn’t have been more perfect. She spent the entire next day reading the handbook, out loud. It was a fitting punishment, but I never told her. I never told her many things. It took me six years of watching her form afar, six years of pretending I couldn’t stand her. It took watching her walk through the depths of hell alone to make me realized I couldn’t live, I didn’t want to live without her. It took me six years of a pretend romances. Six years of bitterness and fights. Six years of bottling my feeling up for her to finally kiss her. A kiss that lingered on my lips even days after it ended.
In that moment, I knew if I didn’t kiss her if I didn’t show emotion for her I would lose her forever. In our line of work, there is always another mission, always another bad guy, always another case. In our line of work, tomorrow is the only thing there isn’t an always for. I wasted too many tomorrows on worry and fear. I wasted too many tomorrows on everything else when the only thing the only person I wanted for tomorrow was Echo. I almost lost my tomorrow with Echo and I wasn’t going to let it happen again.
When I kissed Echo, I wasn’t thinking about what it meant for our partnership. I didn’t want to break up our team, but I would have gone back to the FBI or even to work for Briggs if it meant Echo and I could be together. Now, with the permission of the director Echo and I could be together and she, Owen and I could still be a team. We made a great team. Echo and Owen were the closest people I had to a family. Echo was the only reason I wasn’t rotting in a jail cell or worse. I owed her everything and that was a debt I could never repay. I would spend the rest of my life trying, though. There was no turning back now.
