Page 78 of Chaos has a Name
She was sitting in her chair, her fingers steepled as she stared out the window at the mountains not far from where they were.
Yep.
Elizabeth was definitely troubled.
“Hey, Baby.”
When she looked over, there were tears in her eyes, and he knew why.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know my father shouldn’t have done this. I just don’t know how to fix it. Maybe you should head home, and Callen and I will kick his ass a little, so he gets the point.”
Elizabeth wiped her eyes with a tissue that was on her desk.
“He’s going through enough,” she admitted. “We don’t want to make this harder, but I’m troubled, EJ. Seriously troubled.”
He moved closer and sat on the edge of his old desk, exactly like she once did.
Oh, how times had changed.
She was now driving the bus, and he was never more grateful that she was. Elizabeth was damn good at a job he’d simply managed to pull off. There was no doubt in his mind that they were all where they needed to be in their careers.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked, holding out his hand for her.
As the doctor there, he was always in if his wife needed him.
When she took his hand, Blackhawk knew that was exactly what she needed.
While he’d floundered in Philly, his wife had held him up. Between her and Gene, they were what had kept him afloat.
Add in Chris and Callen, and he’d gotten out alive.
Oh, he was still shattered inside over finding out about his assault, but now, at least, he could focus—somewhat.
That was better than the other option.
Now, he’d help her find her footing like they’d done for him when he’d needed it.
When he led her to the couch, she sat down, and he was next to her.
“What’s on your mind?”
She was honest.
“Do I just let him do what he wants and get us all back home? Or do I fight for him, and risk our family? We all know I’m in danger anywhere I go. We don’t have a fortress to keep the scary out. We can’t hide our kids at the White House if something happens. Do I just give up or do I stay and fight?”
He understood the dilemma she was facing, and it was the same one they were all facing. Only, they deferred to Elizabeth when it came to certain things.
The children…
That was one big area that they let her handle. If it wasn’t broken, why fix it?
Also, if he wasn’t falling apart in his own world, he’d be more focused on Wyler and this hide-and-seek game he was playing.
Honestly, he simply didn’t have the energy to parent his actual parent.
Wyler was a grown man, and if he didn’t want to have chemo, so be it. It hurt that he was going to be losing him, but what he’d learned long ago with Wyler was that if push came to shove, the man would bail.
Always.
