FSE

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Chapter Nineteen

Joseph parked on the street as he arrived at Tracey's home and exited his vehicle. Her home was a tri story one that was painted an eggshell white color. The frames around her windows were grey and they really stood out to look at it. Her front door looked unpainted and seemed plain but the simple design matched because it allowed the natural beauty of the windows and the columns supporting the roofs to draw the eyes instead of the door.

The grass seemed like it needed to be mowed and probably hadn't been cut all winter but now that the warmer weather was here it was definitely time for it to be trimmed. Even her bushes were a bit scraggly but then he remembered her husband had died so there was probably no one to really tend to the pl;ace like it deserved.

He pressed the doorbell and a few moments later a little boy answered wearing nothing but white briefs. His face was dirty and Joseph guessed he had been eating something with chocolate judging by the color of what was smeared on his face. He squinted his eyes at Joseph and looked angry as Joseph turned his gaze and looked down at him. The boy was silent and Joseph was unsure of what to say exactly so he just said the first thing that popped into his head.

"Hi," Joseph said blandly and the kid just stared at him. An older boy appeared and grabbed the younger pulling him inside as he stepped out to stare at Joseph. Joseph was wondering what they were staring at and he started to really feel self conscience by their looks. He guessed this was how children behaved but never having kids of his own he only guessed.

The older boy at least was dressed, unlike his brother, and he wore a Pokemon pajama shirt that had a picture of an orange dragon that was breathing fire but his pants had pictures of Batman and the Joker with the Joker laughing 'ha ha ha' on them. The younger must have been around 4 or 5 years old but the older looked 8.

"Yeah?" the kid said and Joseph raised his eyebrows as he stared at him.

"I'm here to see your mother." he replied but the kid seemed unimpressed. He started to push back his brother as he was trying to force his way outside by trying to get around his brother. The older had dark brown hair while the younger was considerably lighter in color. The older brother had hazel eyes and the younger had green eyes which were easy to see as they stared at him.

"She's busy," the older brother said as he fought to push his brother back into the house. The little one started to swing his arms to get his brother to leave him alone. Joseph could not help but watch in amusement and wondered who was going to be the victor.

"Ryan and Samuel White! What in the blazes are you two up to?" Tracey yelled and both boys stopped and both stood completely still. She walked over and glared at her boys but the way she was dressed made Joseph stare, because normally he was used to her in an officers uniform.

"Sam! Where are your clothes?" Tracey demanded as she looked at the youngest.

"Yeah fart sniffer, where are they?" Ryan said and he giggled which made his brother try and push him. Ryan called out in protest to his mother but she grabbed both of them and pulled them at arms length apart.

"Sam you put your clothes on this minute or I'll tan your hide." She said to him then turned to the other brother. "Ryan if he's not dressed in 10 seconds I'll tan voth your hides and no TV or video games for a week!" She said sternly and both boys looked shocked.

"Ah man," the oldest complained and we went inside to find where the little one had thrown his clothes. Ryan meanwhile went up to Joseph and tugged on the edge of his suit coat and this prompted him to look down at the lad. The boy motioned for him to come down to his level and Joseph struggled to squat down. He had lost weight while being in the coma but not enough that he could be more limber in his actions.

"I farted," Sam whispered and went off to find where he had thrown his clothes. Joseph sighed and struggled to stand erect.

"Sorry about that," Tracey said and Joseph now had the opportunity to admire how she looked. Her slender body, despite giving birth to two children, was in a black strapless dress that was close fitting. It sparkled with sequins and even her black high heeled shoes had sequins. She wore a pearl necklace but it looked like costume jewelry because the color seemed faded and the side of one of the pearls was peeling.

"I was a kid the same age about a week ago, so I understand. I'd pull the same thing if some guy was meeting my mother too." Joseph replied.

"About a week ago, huh." she said and gave him a look. Her cell phone rang and she excused herself to answer it. She gripped his hand and pulled him inside only to release where her phone was sitting plugged into the wall charging.

He looked around and as expected the house was cluttered with toys that must belong to the boys. He realized that no matter how many times you tell them to clean up after they're finished playing they just forget. He looked around at the pictures on the walls and saw her family as well as pictures of her husband. The house had a military theme to it with flags and war objects. He looked around but did not see the flag that must have covered her husband's coffin so he guessed it must be hidden in a safe place.

"What? You're kidding me! How can you do this to me now." she screamed into the phone and now he turned to face her since she had just caught his attention.

"No, yes I understand... goodbye." She said and hung up her cell phone with a look of panic and answer displayed on her face.

"Everything alright?" he asked gently.

"The babysitter canceled last minute. Now I've got no one to watch my kids." she replied and he sighed. He had planned to take her to a fancy restaurant and was just barely able to get reservations. The place was too fancy to bring two small boys to because they would end up fidgeting and crawling under the tables.

"Maybe we can go to a movie or something... unless you want to cancel?" he was starting to really get disappointed after he saw the way she was dressed. He now wanted the date but had this been a few hours ago he would have thanked anyone or everything for the easy way out of this mess. However he no longer felt that way and tried to think of a way to save this situation.

"God no, I wanted to get away from doing kiddy things like kid movies. If I brought them to an action movie they'd be bouncing off the walls then once bedtime comes so do the nightmares. If we did a love movie we'd have to listen to them gagged and making fun." Tracey replied.

"So what do you suggest?" he asked hoping she would come up with an idea instead of cancelling.

"I really hate to say it but I know a kids place that has video games and pizza. It will give us a few moments to relax while they're off playing." Tracey said and looked at him pleading with her eyes. At least that is what it looked like to him he found his mind wandering as he looked at her.

"Sounds like... fun." He said and she left to go change while he went into the living room and sat watching television as the two boys were arguing and playing with their toys. He was mostly ignored and he was fine with that because he was never very good with children anyway.

He watched the cartoons they had playing on the television but ignored it as they continued arguing over their army men. Ryan called one of them 'dad' and was telling Sam that the dad figure was unbeatable. Sam wanted that figure but Ryan refused to share and this sparked them fighting. Joseph just remained silent and chose not to get involved so he would not have to pick sides between them.

He also felt uncomfortable with them talking about their father and then he steps in as if trying to act like their father. He would instead wait to see if they involved him before he stepped in the situation. Last thing he wanted was them telling him that he was not their father and blowing up the situation. He also did not know if there would be a second or third date so why get involved and have them form an attachment only to break it.

Joseph felt overdressed when they arrived at this kids place called Chunkey And Cheese. Entrance inside was extremely tight and it seemed harder to get inside than getting into a nightclub. His ID was checked and he was cross examined before being allowed to enter with Tracey and her boys. He was able to understand why after he observed a few of the adults hanging around outside the place.

He recognized several registered sex offenders kept walking by trying to look inside to see the children playing. Many held alcoholic bottles they bought from a liquor store that was three stores down from Chunkey And Cheese. The set up was a small strip mall with different small stores crammed together. It always amazed him that they could allow liquor stores near children's shops.

The store made good cover for the pedophiles who would pretend to buy booze while in secret they were looking for children to peep at. He was tempted to call for an officer to arrive but technically unless they got near there was not much that could be done. They were keeping the allowable distance the law required.

When they finally entered Joseph ticked a table to sit at near the front entrance so he could watch to make sure none of those perverts tried to sneak inside. Ryan and Sam ran off to ply in a ball pit where they could jump around in plastic balls made to feel like it was a swimming pool yet they did not need a lifeguard present.

Every half hour they made some animatronic robots, that looked like giant furries, would sing and wave their arms as if they were dancing. Most of the kids ignored them but a couple of kids were having birthday parties and the children were dancing as they sang happy birthday to the birthday children.

"Thanks so much for doing this." Tracey said and Joseph blushed slightly. He definitely felt overdressed because she and the boys had dressed into casual clothes while he was still in his suit. He definitely got a kick out of seeing her wear a Pink Flamingo shirt and jeans. No matter how many times she wore something else it just seemed strange she was not in uniform. It almost felt like she was trying to tease him.

Ryan had another pokemon shirt on while Sam had a dinosaur shirt. He was surprised at how easy it was to dress them once they knew they were going to Chunkey And Cheese. They were actually eager to get dressed and watching them run around with the other kids he could see why.

"My pleasure. I gotta say I never thought I'd see us out on a date together." Joseph replied.

"What's wrong with a couple of friends hanging out together?!" she said, smirking.

"Is that what we are? I'm friend zoned?" he said trying to not display his disappointment.

"Why are you expecting more? You know I could with 2 kids and lots of baggage." she stared at him and it was a look a mother gave to her kids. He was getting unnerved and she was not even his mother.

"Boy is it getting hot in here or what? Maybe I should refill our pitcher of soda." She said dodging and she mumbled something but let the conversation end.

"Mom! Ryan won't let me play the turtle game with him!" Sam came running up whining. Joseph smiled and looked at Tracey then leaned over to Sam.

"Well why don't we play a game of our own and we won't let Ryan play, OK?" Joseph said and extended his hand and Sam grabbed it. "Come on mom." he said to Tracey and she laughed then grabbed his other hand and the three went off to find a game Sam would like to play. Eventually Sam got bored playing with the adults and found a friend his own age to play with.

Tracey and Joseph were fine being abandoned by Sam because they started to play a Dance Craze game. The game played music and the player danced by stepping on pressure pads on the floor. As the song played the 4 symbols would rise up on the screen and when they got to the center you had to step on the right ones to get points. The more points the tougher the game became. There were a variety of songs to dance to that spanned different types as well as ages to the songs. It had everything from the Beatles and Elvis to many modern singers and bands.

Joseph felt like he had two left feet but Tracey soon started to compete against some older teens as he stood there dumbfounded at how good they were. He long since quit playing and just enjoyed himself watching. When she finally quit he caught the high scores to the game and saw Tracey's initials listed. Turns out she was a ringer and no one had been able to beat her score yet.

They finally rounded Ryan and Sam up and they ordered pizza to eat. The kids were too hyped up to eat and kept trying to sneak back to playing the video games. Joseph sat there eating and watched Tracey fighting with them to eat. He wanted to help but was still unsure if he should overstep his bounds. Judging by their brief conversation their relationship was destined to remain as friends.

He was actually fine with that because it just reminded him about how he never wanted to get married or have kids. This was probably the closest he had ever come to being a father and all he knew was that he had no idea what to do. It is true they never give you a manual with instructions on how to be a father but he wished he had some clue on how he was supposed to respond.

The ride back to their place was uneventful and they rode in silence. Tracey was playing with the radio to find a station she liked and both boys had fallen asleep in the backseat. Time seemed to stretch on as he tried to think of something to say but nothing was coming to mind. He just had a nagging feeling that the whole affair had been a disaster and hoped it would not strain their working relationship. The more he replayed their conversation in his mind the more of a disaster it felt like.

When they arrived at Tracey's home she held Ryan as he was yawning and rubbing sleep in his eyes and brought him inside. Joseph carried Sam and he never woke up once as they brought them to their beds. He watched her kiss both of them and wish them goodnight before they left the room. She then led him to the front door and finally spoke after she hesitated a bit.

"I want to thank you. I had a lovely evening and they loved you. It's been a while since we had a man in the household. It certainly has been missing." she said.

"Really? Because I really did nothing just... stood there not knowing what to do." Joseph replied trying to hide his embarrassment.

"You were there! That's more than any other guy would do. Did you see the look on Sam's face when you grabbed his hand and offered to play video games with him? When the boys were getting cranky you never once yelled or raised your voice. By doing that it showed you were not looking down at them or judging them." she said.

"But that was because I felt so useless and didn't know what to do." he replied but she chuckled before continuing.

"One thing I learned is that sometimes just being there is enough. There was more to you than you realize Joseph Namer. I watched you keep an eye on those drunks outside, watch you trying to protect us and keep us safe."

"Well," Joseph started to protest but she put her finger to his lips silencing him.

"Enough with the excuses or we won't go out a second time." she said with her eyes shining and the evening breeze suddenly gave him a chill as he realized what she had just said. Before he could say another word she went inside and closed the door leaving him feeling dumbfounded... again.

He started walking to his new car when his silenced cell phone began vibrating with a text message. He read it quickly and was confused since he did not recognize the phone number.

Hey Buddy

Have fun on your date?

Who is this?

Sorry I killed that dr friend of yours

But hey orders are orders

I think it's time we meet

Where?

I'll send you the address

Oh and come alone

I tapped your phone and I'm watching

No funny business just you and me

We have a lot to discuss

Joseph received one last text giving him the address and time to meet the mysterious stranger. He debated calling George or somehow getting him a message but the sniper had already killed Dr. Ami before he even knew he was there. He knew it was a stupid risk but he could not think of any other way to flush the sniper out.

He would go alone but he would bring a few precautions just in case...