A/N: This is just another quick story. I'm about to start working on one when Ginger finds out Pam and Eric are vampires so that should be fun! This also references one of my other fics, Touched, but only barely.
"I don't really need to know this," Pam tried to stall.
"Of course you do," Eric responded, swimming around in their pool.
"Why? I can't drown."
"You can sink," he pointed out. "Then I'll have to swim all the way to the bottom to fish you out."
"The bottom is 7 feet, Eric," she rolled her eyes. "It's no great effort."
Eric finally came to a stop in front of her. "You could sink in another body of water, Pam."
"I'll take my chances," she decided, backing away from the menacing water.
"Get back here," he said as he noticed her about to make her escape.
"You can't command me," she pointed out.
"I can chase you down. Or burn your closet." He looked up at her as she made her way back toward the steps, playing nervously with one of the ties on her bathing suit. One great thing about the pool was her skimpy attire.
"I promise it won't be horrible," he said. "I won't let you sink to the bottom and leave you there all night."
She looked up at him quickly as though she hadn't even thought of that yet and didn't believe him.
"Put on your floaties," he suggested.
She wavered for a minute and then finally decided that it wasn't worth the humiliation. He tried not to laugh at the ridiculous devices that he'd brought her, though she refused to wear them.
She glared at him in response to his suggestion. "Laugh it up."
"Come on, now, Pam. The water is fun."
She doubted it but made her first couple of steps into the pool, the water being at about thigh height. She took another tentative step, which brought the level to waist height.
"I really, really don't want to do this, Eric," she admitted. "Please."
Eric frowned and swam over to where his progeny was near shaking from nerves. He stayed on the pool bottom so that his face was level with hers, the two step difference evening their heights.
He rubbed his hands up and down her arms to soothe her.
"What is so frightening about the pool?" he asked.
"I'm not afraid of it," she denied. "But do you know what chlorine does to blonde hair? It's not pretty."
"Good, since you're not scared then you must be ready to get in," he said and plucked her right off the steps by placing his hands on her waist.
"No! Eric!" she panicked, but he ignored her and pulled her in. She threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist.
Plastered to her as he was, he put his arms around her and walked them to a deeper section of the pool, though he could still touch the bottom.
"You okay?" he asked. He could feel her shaking against him and rubbed her back.
"I want to get out," she said, her voice on the edge of panicky.
"You're fine."
"Eric," she insisted, and he knew that tone to mean she was serious. "I want out."
"Alright," he said. He walked back to a slightly shallower section and moved to pull away so that he could place her on the edge of the pool. She held onto him tighter in response and he marveled at how freaked out she really was by this.
"I'm just gonna put you up on the ledge," he told her, looking at her scared face. "Trust me, okay?"
She hesitated but eventually whispered, "Okay." She loosened her death grip on him and he placed her on the pool edge in one smooth motion so that her legs were still dangling in the water.
Her nerves were frazzled and she closed her eyes to try to regain some of her usual composure. Eric put a hand on her thigh and she jumped in response.
"I'm sorry," he said seriously. "I didn't know you were really that afraid." He felt like an ass. He'd only meant to tease her and he had probably just traumatized her more.
She shook her head in response. He moved closer so that he was directly in front of her, nose to chest with her sitting as she was. She spread her legs so that he could stand between them and he put both his hands on her hips.
"Why are you so afraid of the pool?" he asked again.
Knowing there was no denying it this time after her reaction, she fessed up. "My cousin drowned when we were young."
"Were you there?"
She nodded. "We had all gone to the beach for the first time- my family and my uncle and his son. My parents, my brother, and his wife were off hiking or something, I can't remember. My uncle was watching my sister as she played in the sand while my cousin and I went in the water. We got caught in a strong tide and my uncle had to try to get us out."
"He pulled you out?" Eric asked.
She nodded. "He could only hold onto one of us so he grabbed me. By the time he went back my cousin had died."
"He saved you instead of his own child?" he asked. Although it did make sense for him to try to save the girl first, he supposed, especially at that time.
Pam looked away before she met his gaze. "I was 8 then," she explained. "And I was his favorite." He knew what that tone was implying. Though her uncle's taste for little girls had clearly shaped her negatively in the future, it had saved her life that day. It was kind of a disturbing thought.
"So you haven't gone swimming again?" he asked instead.
"Well, after my cousin drowned there weren't any more family outings for swimming. And then I had avoided the water for so long that it just got scarier."
"Do you want to try?" Eric asked. Sensing her hesitation he added, "You can stand in the shallow end if you would prefer."
She wasn't completely sold, but it's not like she could drown anyway. She was being totally irrational about this and she couldn't let this pathetic little phobia continue. Plus, she would never get a safer opportunity than with Eric present.
"Okay," she said. She put her hands on his shoulders and he lifted her off the edge and back into his arms. He walked them back a bit and when the water got to his ribcage he told her it would be shallow enough for her to stand comfortably.
She untangled herself from him and let her legs drop. Their height difference meant that she had to sink a bit into the water but Eric held onto her until she was standing.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," she said honestly. He allowed his hands to drop away and she smiled up at him.
"You know, once I re-learn how to swim I could think of another use for this pool," she added, looking up at him from beneath her lashes.
"Oh, could you?" he played along.
"Yep," she said and reached behind her to untie her top. She pulled it off of her completely and flung it so that it landed somewhere on the deck. He admired the way her breasts floated for a moment.
"Have you had enough of the pool?" he asked eagerly. Getting in surely had to be a good first step, right?
"I could be persuaded," she said before Eric scooped her up and sped her out of the pool and into the house.
There was time for pool lessons later.