Where It All Started

You Don't Know Me:

Aaron's Pov: 

I wake up early in the morning, the smell of coffee reaching the brim of my nose, the sounds of pots and pans clattering together. I sit up in bed as a soft groan escapes my lip,  the right of the bed is made and untouched, Edythe slept on the couch. Edythe says we are together but I can't help but feel as if I'm betraying Haley in some way, I'm told she's dead and that Jack is the son I had with her before she died. Edythe has no reason to tell me lies but, it's like I'm living a scripted life, something that isn't mine. I'm completely and utterly unfamiliar with the new life I have. I feel and have no love for the people whom reside in the home I brought with her to build a life and I know that I should. It's damming to feel this way, it's damming not to remember, it's damming because it's hard to pretend like I know what's going on. I check my phone, no calls, no messages, Strauss doesn't want me to come into work today because she says if I have amnesia who knows what else I've forgotten. And Edythe..well it's clear they don't get along. They were on the phone for a very long time last night. Edythe came to rant to me about it, it's normal for her to do this apparently, and I always have a listening ear according to her. People higher than Strauss are trying to challenge Edythe's position at work, and if she should even still have that position. There's a lot of new information that I need to brush up on. 

I walk into the kitchen and Jack, Zero and Edythe are both already sitting down eating. My navy blue mug is sitting next to a plate of food at the head of the table. I slowly take my seat, feeling uncomfortable in a house that isn't mine. I hesitantly grab my mug, the one Haley used to fill for me. "Two sugars, the way you like it." Edythe speaks as if she has something to prove, I guess she could see the word on my face. My eggs scrambled with cheese metal over it, exactly house I like compared to her sunny side up one. "Thanks.." I trial sipping it, the coffee burns my tongue slightly but I ignore the pain. "What's going to happen if you lose your job?" Zero asks trying to ease up the tension at the table. "I'm not going to lose my job." She says as she drinks from her own cup of coffee. "You don't know that, you could-" She shakes her head at his response. "Don't worry, I'll handle it." She goes on to say that he's just a kid and shouldn't worry about adult problems, as long as everyone in the house is comfortable and safe that's all that matters. "I don't understand, what exactly happened anyway?" I ask after eating some bacon. "Um.." She looks up at me after she puts a piece of her egg in Jack's mouth. "It's kind of a long story." She says, she wants to avoid this topic, it seems to make her uneasy and tense. "Her Viktor technically kidnapped her took her to Russia, now she's back and your asshole boss thinks it's some kind of violation. Edythe's in the gray area of being a citizen and not." Zero shrugs as he tries to shorten the lengthy story but there's a lot that's still very unclear. "But your mother is a citizen?" I wonder aloud. "Yes, so are both of her parents, but the problem is I was born in Russia." I give her a face of realization, as she explains her situation. "Your half Russian, and half Puerto Rican?" She nods as she finishes the food on her plate. "It does seem like a gray area...Viktor, what's he to you?" 

"My father, Russian mafia leader, abuser, he's in jail now." She avoids my eyes as she tells me this, it also seemed to make Zero tense because he takes Jack from Edythe and leaves the room. "And Zero?" I ask, "He's Russian, lived with my dad since he was I don't know 14 at the youngest I think." She shrugs not sure of the full story herself, "He doesn't like to talk about it, all I know something happened with his parents, they owe Viktor a debt, Zero ended up with him until I adopted him and brought him back over with us. I've been working with Mason to try to get him full citizenship here, he's been pulling a lot of strings for my family." I frown at the unfamiliar name, but I pretend to be in the know. "How'd you get here anyway?" 

"Faked a few deaths, saved money booked flights." She shrugs, giving me a nonchalant persona, this feels familiar to me, it's foggy but familiar. "Ended up at the U.S. Embassy, practically begged for help, I was just a kid then. They turned me down but Mason saw me and took me under his wing. Thank God he was working that day." It sounds like she's had a tough life, a sticky one took. "And he never got you a Visa?" It seems to be the most logically move, would be to do what they're doing for Zero now, if she was here since a kid there's no way they didn't at least try. "Yeah, I was rejected. So, again, Mason pulled some strings for me. I didn't mind work, what they had me doing my father had me do more, or even worse. So I worked for the CIA, lived under aliases, fake IDs and so on. Lexie was easy to fake birth certificates for, she was so little then, Rhydian stayed off the grid and mom, she could've easily slipped back into her old life, she already had a social, citizenship and so on. She took all of that but uprooted her home elsewhere. When Lexie was old enough we all split so it was easier to stay off of Viktor's radar."