Secret Deception (Jonathan Black's Love Story)

Chapter 7: Hello

I woke to a firm thud on my back. Jonathan's scream shot through me as he threw himself away from me towards the edge of our bed. I reached towards him somewhat cautiously. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he'd never hurt me but he was in the throes of one of the worst nightmares I'd seen him in and I'd just entered my 24th week of my pregnancy. Any kind of stress could trigger labor and our boys weren't ready.
I caught ahold of his wrist and managed to link my fingers with his. Once he'd stopped thrashing around our bed I laid my free hand on his chest.
"Jonny? Jonathan? Wake up baby." I whispered.
"I'm awake." He sighed not looking at me.
"Will you tell me what you dreamt?" I asked.
"Lately my nightmares are about you or the boys or all of you getting hurt or dying and I can't help you or save you. Since Haley was murdered I can't help but wonder if that's our future." His eyes finally found mine.
"My... Now our jobs are very difficult and dangerous. But what happened to Aaron's family isn't unavoidable. In his case it was because an UNSUB made it personal. Typically if someone wants to hurt an FBI Agent they'll come for us. We don't even keep family details on computer files. Only I have access to that information. George Foyet found Haley and Jack through Aaron. Not through the FBI. I will never say he did the wrong thing or that he didn't take precautions to protect them. It was the right thing and he did everything he could to keep them safe. There's no class to take at the academy or rule book on how to have a family and a career in the FBI. There's no textbook on how to protect the people you love from deranged psychopaths. We do the best we can. We lean on each other. It's all we can do...
"I guess what I'm saying is that the future is always uncertain. For everyone. Even someone working the most boring desk job can get hit by a car when they go to cross the street. At least we're trained to protect them." I answered as well as I could.
"That makes me feel better." He replied sarcastically.
"Anxiety is normal. We're going through a major shift right now."
"What if I hurt them?" He asked.
"I figured that might be what this is about.
"Jonathan. You are not your father. You spent our childhood protecting me and Cameron. You've grown into an incredible man. You're so much stronger than he ever was. You'd never hurt me and you've never hurt our children. I saw you helping Cameron with Jack after his mom died. I saw you with him at the wake after the funeral. I don't have a doubt in my mind that you are going to be an amazing father to our boys." I stated firmly.
He pulled me closer to his chest. One of our twins kicked him through my stomach.
"See? Even our son thinks you're being ridiculous." I teased.
He urged me onto my back and pressed his left hand against my stomach. One of our sons kicked him again. I smiled at him.
He laid his head on my stomach.
"I'll raise you right... we'll raise you right. I promise to love you both every day of your lives. We already love you both so much. We're going to be the best parents we can. We're going to give you both our all. We won't be perfect but we're going to try." He whispered to them as I ran my fingers through his hair.
The next morning I woke up cursing myself for telling President Cole that I'd be at his birthday party that night. He wanted to introduce me to the Democrats nominee Patrica Christensen and the Republican nominee Cameron Hunter since one of them was going to be voted into office in November.
"I haven't done any of the research I said I would on their campaign promises or anything." I complained to Jonathan while I got dressed late in the afternoon.
I wore a deep blue knee length elegant maternity dress with plain silver leather flats.
Jasmine agreed to help me style my hair into an elegant updo. I also wore the sapphire necklace and earrings from our wedding and carried my silver cross body purse.
Jonathan wore a pale blue button down shirt and black jacket and slacks. He parted his hair on the right and every strand was in place.
"You didn't look like that at our wedding." I teased.
"I dressed for you at our wedding. Not for the President of the United States." He reminded me.
"I did adore how you looked on our wedding day." I smiled up at him.
"And look where that got us." He winked at me touching my stomach.
"Oh? And how I looked that day had nothing to do with it?" I laughed.
"Oh no. It had everything to do with it." He leaned down to kiss me.
"Can we get this over with? I already want to come home and cuddle up with a movie." I sighed.
"Why aren't we just doing that?" He asked.
"Because I'm the Director of the FBI and Justin wants me to meet the candidates before the election." I sighed again.
"I'm too pregnant for this."
He laughed and helped me down our three flights of stairs and out to the garage to my Lexus.
Justin met Jonny and I on the red carpet to take pictures with us.
"Come on, Alex. I want to do the introductions before you get too tired. I remember how tired Anne was when she was pregnant with Danny and that was only one.
"Why don't you and Jonathan sit here and I'll get you some cider or something?" He ushered us over to the head table.
"Sure, Justin. Happy birthday." I chuckled.
"I just love that you're here. It is my last birthday as the President." He hurried off before I could say anything else.
"Is he okay?" Jonathan asked me.
"No. I think it's finally hitting him that his presidency is nearly over."
"He's done a lot of good."
"Yes. He has. He's going through a shift too. He'll be trying to figure out how to be a former president."
"Director Carter!" A female voice called.
I turned to find a small woman with shoulder length light brown hair. She wore a one shoulder red knee length dress. Her hazel eyes sat behind red rimmed glasses.
"It's actually Director Black now." I responded shaking her hand.
"I'd stand but these kids are heavy." I chuckled.
"I'm Patty Christensen." She introduced herself.
"It's a pleasure." I smiled.
"I was wondering if you've met Mr. Hunter yet." She motioned to sit.
"Of course, sit. Jonathan and I just got here. We've barely seen President Cole."
"May I sit with you a moment and discuss my campaign?"
"Sure. Of course."
An hour later I was leaning against Jonathan as Ms. Christensen rambled on. I'd stopped listening 20 minutes after she started speaking.
"What do you think Director?" She asked abruptly.
"I know President Cole wanted me to meet with both of the candidates tonight so I'll reserve my judgement until I've spoken to Mr. Hunter." I answered.
"Justin is right. You are so objective. It's wonderful." She stood up and walked off.
"If the other one is like that I'm faking contractions and we're going home." I muttered to my husband.
Justin Cole walked back up to us handing us our drinks.
"You left us alone with her on purpose." I glared at him.
"She does talk a lot..." He smiled at me.
"Where's Mr. Hunter? Justin. I'm tired. I want to go home and watch a scary movie and fall asleep with my husband."
"I'll find him." He rushed off again.
I pulled out my cellphone.
"Garcia. I will give you an enormous bonus if you have someone, anyone, deliver the cliff notes of the two presidential candidates campaigns to my home whenever between now and November." I begged.
"Consider it done boss." She chuckled at me.
"You are my lifesaver." I sighed.
"Mrs. Black?" A man's voice asked.
"I'm Cameron Hunter." He was a tall muscular man with piercing green eyes and black hair.
"Director Dr. Alexia Black." I replied shaking his hand.
"My apologies Dr. Black. How can I make it up to you?" He touched my arm.
"To start, you can take your hand off my pregnant wife." Jonathan hissed over my shoulder.
"Your lack of respect for me is alarming but your lack of respect for my husband is insulting. I'm a 26 year old Director of the FBI with five doctorates and various other degrees but when people look at me they still see a young woman.
"I'm entirely too exhausted and pregnant to deal with you tonight. When you're prepared to show both myself and my husband some respect, President Cole has my number.
"Jonathan. I'm ready to go home."
"Good. Me too."
Jonathan and I found Justin and relayed our experience before we left. We were both asleep on the couch before the first kill in our movie.