The Angel,The Devil,The Nerd

Chapter 63 - Fair Enough

a/n: sooo...I don't know how many chapters are left,but the end is near,hehe :D

let me know what you think :)

p.s. there's an...inedited POV here :P

CHAPTER 63 - FAIR ENOUGH

ERIC'S POV

I'd just convinced Natalie to go have some rest, so she'd just left, well, after we'd lingered in a few more of our moments, almost unable to part our lips, needing the contact with each other as much as we could, with view to such an empty future, which had her also complain that she'd been remaining on the chair beside me till now, she may as well do the same, so that we could exploit every single moment available, but I argued that she couldn't leave Noah alone tonight too, she retorted she didn't want to leave me alone either, to which I half chuckled, pointing out that I'm a grown man, I can remain alone, she didn't reply, just ogled my injuries, so I added that, if anything, I had nurses to call if I didn't feel well, there was no need for her to stress that much.

In the end, she agreed, but promising to be back in the early morning, after all, she said, Noah wakes up early too and she was certain he'd first of all want to come here. I retained myself from asking if she was changing her mind about telling him the truth about me, conscious that she might do exactly that, which could only be hurtful for the kid, so I resorted to simply giving her a small smile and we parted, me watching her walk through the hall, at least till I heard a knock on my door.

Confused, I welcomed whoever it was, part of my trained senses already in alarm, though a hitman wouldn't knock, informing me about his presence, would he? In fact, the sight that welcomed me was completely different, though I can't say I wasn't expecting this visit.

"Hello." The dark blonde man in his thirties greeted as he came in, closing the door behind him. Now that I took a better look at him, he seemed more than fit, actually, I'd dare say that if he wasn't in any military force, he's surely used to fighting. You see, in my line of work, you learn to spot the right person in the middle of a crowd, to read someone and presume his nature just by perusing him for a few seconds.

It's kind of like Sherlock Holmes' deduction theory, though much less romanced. I mean, knowing your enemy is the first step to winning the war, so every operative needs to have a very careful eye that would allow him to spot a killer among white collars, so I've been taught to spot the poisonous flower among roses, to perceive people's characters from afar, nothing too deep, but enough to let me have the upper hand.

Hence, I could clearly see that the man in front of me wasn't exactly common. Actually, he struck me as someone with a past that might be just as dark as mine. To a distracted eye, his commonly North-American features, only slightly harsher and definitely more aged than mine, being, as I suppose he is, at least 10 years older than I, the only peculiar aspect being the hazel-green of his eyes, not truly common around here, especially not that shade, all of this wouldn't really catch attention, well, except for the female one, I guess, but to a trained eye like mine ... the man hid something, maybe something buried in his past that doesn't hinder his present, not much anyway, but he did give me the idea of being more than what the eye met. There was something in his stance, something that might have not reeked of military service, but certainly he wasn't ordinary.

Anyway, I was sitting up as he came closer to the bed, perusing me with a careful eye just as much as I was to him. Natalie once mentioned that me and him might have some traits in common, apart from being both blonde, tall and well-built, that is, though she told me this when she first told me about him years ago, so she didn't know details, just that there was something in his past that wasn't all too cheery.