(A.N. - THE PICTURE ABOVE IS LOUIS' MOM!)

ERIC P.O.V

Making my way to the Heyres household all I can think about is being in bed with Lindsey by my side; all cuddled up and wrapped in each others arms, with her warm vanilla scent intoxicating me.

Last night was by far the best night I've ever had. Cooking followed by watching a movie and drifting off to sleep? It's my dream date...Although we're not even dating.

Now that I'm about five minutes away, I'm realizing I don't exactly have to do this. My job is to provide Louis with the best second grade education he could ever earn. I'm not at all required to help Louis with his family problems, and I certainly don't know how to either.

But I want to.

What hurts me most is putting myself in his shoes, and remembering that the pain he has right now, is sadly the pain I once had to experience.

Growing up, my mom and dad didn't have quite a good relationship. My parent's relationship with each other was far worse than what they portray in the movies and books...it was way, way worse. I would constantly hear them bicker, get into arguments, tell each other how much they hate each other. My mom was the one who wanted to work things out. She wanted to have a perfect family, the kind where there's never any fights and everyone gets along perectly.

My dad on the other hand never saw the good in my mom or my siblings. He could never get along with my mom, which led to him leaving us and them getting divorced when I was just 7 years old.

With me being so young, I didn't really understand what was going on then. But the older I got, the more I started to understand and with every birthday the pain progressed.

When I finally get there, my heart starts to beat out of my chest as I hesitate to knock on the door. Just imagining the things going on beyond this door disturbs me.

Being inside the same house as an alcoholic adolescent father, a depressed young mother and a crying six year old is not my ideal place to be at 4 in the morning. I would much rather be snuggled up in bed with Lindsey...

After taking a deep breath in, I knock on the door and take a small step back. Within two seconds, the door opens and I get a tight hug at the bottom of my waist.

"Eric! I knew you would come!" Louis squeezes me tight. I smile at him and he pulls back. The tears in his eyes evident. He looks as if I've asked him to do a 20 page report on history. I've never seen him look so sad and tired. I bend down to him and ask "What's going on Louis?" Instead of telling me, he just leads me inside.

Surprisingly its quiet, no one is screaming, which makes me raise an eyebrow.

Louis taps my arm as we get inside the hallway leading to the living room. "My daddy is acting weird. My mommy was screaming. I don't know why she isn't anymore though. I didn't tell her you were coming." He says, and I look around for any empty bottles of beer.

After seeing two of them in the garbage can, I nod and make my way to find the parents. Coming to the end of the hall, I am once again faced with Brian, hovering over me as if he's about to punch me again.

Now, I know I'm tall, I get it from my dad, but this guy is at least a good two feet taller than me. Seeing him eye my bruise and smirk at it didn't help calm my nerves at all.

He closed the little distance between us, hovering above me intimidatingly. "Why are you here again?" He asks, his voice husky and raspy. The stench of the sour alcohol escaping his mouth almost makes me gag. He looks like he hasn't showered in weeks. His hair is long and shaggy. The stubble that was once on his face has now turned into a fully grown beard.

As I take a step back I ask "Can we talk somewhere?"

Brian nods then wobbly turns the corner to the living room, where I don't have such fond memories of being in. Lauren is sat on the couch, with her legs up to her chin, her head resting on her knees, crying her eyes out.  A box of tissues right next to her.

At the sight I rub my eyes and pinch myself, me being in this situation can't possibly be real life. It must be some sort of a crazy dream.

When Lauren sees me, she immediately stands up and puts herself together. She puts on a fake smile and straightens out her clothes.  "Eric, what bring you here again?"

I clear my throat and then I see Brian going to the kitchen for probably another beer from the corner of my eye. "Louis called me and said there were problems going on here at your home." I respond firmly.

Hearing Louis whimper from under me almost shattered my heart. He holds onto my leg like it's the last thing keeping him from falling off the face of the Earth.

Lauren nods her head embarrassingly, involuntarily turning 50 shades of red.

Brian comes out of the kitchen with a beer in hand, he passes Lauren a dangerously stern look and sits down on the couch opposite of Lauren.

I feel a tap on my leg and see that Louis' big brown eyes have now become slightly dryer. "What are you gonna do Eric?" he asks, and honestly, I don't have an answer for him so I just tell him to go to his room and get some sleep and that I'll take care of it from here.

After Louis leaves the room I take a deep breath in and prepare myself for the next couple of minutes with his parents.

Taking a seat in the last couch I start by asking "What seems to be the problem here?" At my words, Brian immediately begins to chug the beer.

"He's planning on leaving us by the morning." Lauren says shakily, giving Brian a look of disappointment

I know for sure it's not easy to be a dad at such a young age but although it's hard he shouldn't leave his family behind. "Are you really gonna leave your son? And your girlfriend?"

He was silent for a moment.

"She's not my girlfriend." He says lowly. I blink at him. Lauren once again has turned red.

"So she's just the mother of your child to you then?" I ask and he nods gruffly, downing his beer.

"Why exactly are you leaving?" I get comfortable into the couch, this is definitely not gonna be short.

Brian crushes the can of beer in his hand and scowls.

"I'm not meant to be a father. I can't take care of my family. I'm not ready. I've never been ready for this." His expression didn't lighten and his words were tense.

Lauren's eye's tear up, disappointment written all over her face.

Feeling a headache coming on, I collapse deeper into the couch. "Do you guys think you can work this out? You've been doing a great job so far. Louis is a really bright and special kid." Lauren looks hopefully at Brian and he completely ignores her.

The room was completely silent.

Brian shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair, his other hand on his knee and his head crouching down. He looks at Lauren and gives her a pitiful look.

"Goodbye Lauren. Tell Louis I love him and that I'm sorry."  He gets up and makes his way to the closet. He puts on his coat and slams the door shut without ever looking back.

Lauren's throaty sobs sound my ears, her sobs so loud I fear it may wake up Louis.

Oh no..

Louis.

This is going to be so hard on him. I can't believe Brian just left his family. He has no idea what destruction he's caused.

"How dare he!" Lauren screams through her tears. "He never really loved me." She says and I could almost hear her heart breaking from inside her body.

I can't help but to sit next to her and try to make her feel better. I pat her arm and hand her tissues. She notices my presence and lays her head on my shoulder, crying into my shirt. "I'm so sorry about all of this Lauren" I say, bringing my arm around her and holding her, my other hand drawing circles on her back reassuringly.

Everything about this feels wrong. Having another woman in my arms makes me feel incredibly guilty. Even though Lindsey and I aren't a couple I feel like I'm betraying her. But what else can I do? The father of her child just walked out on her. The least I could do is give her a hug and tell her everything's gonna be okay.

After feeling quite uncomfortable I get up, my shirt now soaking wet with tears.

Lauren pulls me back with her hand, not wanting me to leave. I sit back down, but farther away this time. She looks at me a bit too longingly for my liking. I clear my throat "If there's anything I can do to help..."

"Yes." She says. I raise an eyebrow at her. "Please, get Louis for now. I don't want him to see me like this. I don't want him asking where his father is, at least not right now anyway. I trust you with him. Take care of him please." Her tone of voice is stern and demanding.

"Of course" I told her. She wipes her tears, her eyes thanking me.

Before getting Louis from his room, I give Lauren one last hug. I hugged her tight but she hugged me twice as tight. When she lets go, she has a mischievous look in her eyes. She looks at me in a way she has never looked at me before.

She brings the tissue up to her nose again. "Thank you Eric"

I nod at her and then bring a sleepy Louis into my car. By the time I get back inside my car, it's already half past six. The sun has risen. The birds have begun to chirp.

Louis immediately falls asleep in the back seat.

Starting the car, I realize that with the traffic combined with how far away I am from the school the best possible thing for me right now to get to work on time is to drive straight there, without making a stop for Lindsey.

With that realization in mind, I can't imagine what Lindsey is going to think when she sees I'm not there next to her.

The thing I want most of her's right now is to earn her trust. With her being cheated on in such a long relationship, I know for sure she has lost all her trust in a man. For her to finally be with me, I need her to trust me completely.

It's not easy for her to trust me if she's a woman that's been cheated on.

How can I possibly earn her trust when I'm lying to her about everything going on in my life?

It physically pains me to have to keep secrets from her.

But if I tell her then I would be breaking my oath I took to have my job. My dream job. The job I've wanted since I was 17 years old.

My job could be taken away from me if I tell her. But if I don't tell her then I'll never earn her trust and she would never trust me enough to agree to date me.

How did my life get so complicated?

LINDSEY P.O.V

Waking up to find that Eric isn't next to me was definitely a surprise.

Waking up to find myself in his bed was even more of a surprise.

When we watched that movie last night I had no intention of falling asleep. I was tired but certainly not tired enough to fall asleep. My original plan was to go back home as soon as the movie was over.

Last night was quite possibly the best night I've had in a long time. Something about Eric really attracts me to him, and it's not just his dangerously attractive good looks. It's his personality. I've never met a man so caring, understanding, generous, sweet. I can go on and on about how much of a good guy he is.

Derek could never compete with Eric, they're two completely different people with two completely personalities.

I don't know what it is but when I'm with him I never want to leave. He makes me feel comfortable, he's so easy to talk to. He's like home to me.

When his deep brown eyes look at me, I can't help but melt. When he flashes that million dollar smile at me, I feel like the most special girl in the world. When I make him laugh, it's as if I've won the jackpot.

The bed smells of him. Eric has a very manly scent. It's almost indescribable. I guess the best way to describe it is like fresh mint and freshly washed linen.  Wherever he goes, his scent follows.

Getting up from bed, I walk down to the kitchen. He's such a good cook, maybe he's making breakfast or something.

After not finding him in the kitchen or any of the other rooms my panic mode has turned on high. Where is he? Did he seriously just leave me here? What am I to him? What does he expect me to do?

When I see the time is 7:30, I panic even more. I only have 40 minutes to get ready and get to work.

After showering and putting my hair into a messy braid I was out the door.

As I clock my name in at the office after finally getting to work, I make my way to the classroom with just five minutes to spare until first period starts.

"Lindsey" I feel his minty fresh breath hot against my neck. Hearing his voice immediately sends my heart into overdrive.

Turning around to find his intense brown eyes gazing into mine almost makes me fall into his arms.

He looks so tired and worn out. His hair is messy at the top and his eyes are puffy, the bruise on his face has somehow gotten more swollen. All I wanna do when I see him looking this distraught is to hug him. I want to hold him. I want to rake my hands through his soft hair. I want to lay against his rock hard chest.

How have I fallen in love with this man so fast? I'm not even ready for a relationship.

He holds my hands in front of us and begins "I am so sorry Lindsey." He looks straight into my eyes. " I'm sorry that you had to wake up without me there. I'm sorry for worrying you."

"Where were you?" I ask him and he sighs, looking down at the floor beneath us. It's almost as if he doesn't want to tell me. He usually looks me straight in the eyes when he's talking to me. But right now, he's avoiding eye contact at all costs.

He opens his mouth to say something but gets cut off when a small blonde haired boy runs over to him. "Eric!" the small boy yells out as he runs across the hallway.

When he runs into Eric's hands the boy couldn't possibly look any happier. He looks quite familiar actually, I'm sure I've seen him before having lunch with Eric a couple of weeks ago.

Eric shoots me a sorry expression as the small boy strikes up a conversation with him, taking all his attention away from me and onto him.

The small boy tugs Eric away into a classroom.

What just happened..?

Who is that small boy?

What is Eric not telling me?

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello and thank you for reading! I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter, it was one of my favorite's! Also, thank you so much for over 5 THOUSAND reads on this story..I never thought it would get past 10 reads...Anyways please vote on this chapter! Please comment who's point of view you like to read more! Tell me what you think is going to happen next in the comments!)