I deeply apologize for having taken so damn long in updating. I really do feel awful and there's no excuse.

I think I ended up being a bit crass at times as the chapter got on. I blame it on having been tumblring right before I wrote it.

And, yes, we've got a time jump. There's probably going to be a lot of those in the story.

It's shorter than I'd like but I've taken too long to get it out anyway so I didn't want to wait another day or two while I filled it out some. You're kind of just getting the bare bones. Sorry 'bout that.


It had been less than a month since I'd come home with Erik in tow. When we last left off, dear reader, Erik and I were flying low through the country. Where we pick up is surprisingly similar, except instead of flying low we were pulling into a packed but deserted parking lot.

In the time that had passed Erik had gone through a drastic change in appearance and, aside from the mask, could blend in to a crowd. He'd been forced to accede to my demands when it came to fashion (namely, shorts and a t-shirt) once he'd moved into my Father's house. Mind you, my Father had no idea he was there. Erik was, after all, a professional ghost. When my Father was home he was forced to hide in either the basement or the attic, which could get upwards of 100 on a cooler day. Between the heat and scanty amount of food Erik was miserable. I knew it, but there wasn't any other option. Even though he'd been slowly hoarding spare change my Father left laying around the house (and then forgot about) there was no way either of us could afford to get him a place of his own.

"What are we doing here, Elizabeth? You hate early mornings."

"That I do, Erik. That I do." I said, pulling open the door and ushering him into the foyer. "However I thought you might like to see what I've spent a large portion of my life doing the past four years. Now, I want to warn you, this is going to be more familiar to you yet very foreign."

"How so?"

"Well, the attitudes of people have changed and technology changes too."

"Don't I know it." He muttered. Poor guy had been lost with something as simple as a bath. I had to explain again and again how the water came out of the wall.

"Anyway," I continued. "I know you and you're not going to be able to resist once you get in there. People will see you and assume you know what you're doing, which you do to an extent. My point is, try to remember you're supposed to be from this century."

"So what do I get if I manage to blend in, hmm?"

I grinned. "Depends on what your price is."

His response was drowned out by as a wave of sound washed over us through the open music department door. Instruments honking, drums banging, people singing, and laughter spilled from the bad room at the end of the short hall. People stood around, chatting idly about how band camp was too early in the morning and catching up on what had gone down over the summer. Some waved to me as we walked through while most stared curiously at Erik.

"Oh, remember something else, Erik." I said in the worst French possible. "No one here's ever heard me mention knowing anyone in a different country. As far as they know we haven't know each other long so we have to be careful how we act around each other."

I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye as I stepped into the band room. I wasn't more than two steps in before a short flying blonde attacked me. It was only due to Erik's quick reactions that both she and I didn't crash to the floor.

"Elizabeth! Oh my gosh, I missed you!"

I laughed. "Hullo Meg. It's only been two months!"

"That's just too long!" She cried, wrapping her arms around me.

I barely had time to brace myself before another girl flew at me. This one was taller than the first with light brown hair. Ah, Jo.

"Liz!"

"Hello dear." I looked around the room as the two girls clung to me. "Hmm, seems a bit empty here. Did a lot of people quit before they heard The Great Arsehole was leaving?"

"Yeah…" Meg's face fell. "Most of the gang left."

"That's the new guy over there." Jo said, pointing out the new director to me. Good thing, too; I would've mistaken him for a Freshman.

"Care to introduce me?"

Meg drug me - quite literally - over to the new director. After speaking to him for less than five minutes I had a very poor opinion of him. He'd snapped at me to keep my ass to the sidelines and not touch his band. Well pardon me for thinking he might want a bit of help. I realize he was probably stressed to no end, but still.

Once again I must reiterate a phrase that I foresee me saying a lot more in the future: Poor Erik. I'd thought he'd be fine just standing near the door while I was gone, but no. Jo had stuck around and annoyed him to the point that his eye was twitching. Really, I was shocked. It'd taken me hours to do what she'd done in ten minutes.

"Who's this?" Jo asked. "I can't get a word out of him."

"Be nice!" I chastised him before addressing her. "This is Erik, a guy I know from France. Just moved here."

Her eyebrows shot into her hairline. "He moved from France to here? Does he have a screw loose?"

"Nooo, he simply didn't know anyone in the country but me. I guess he figured he might as well move somewhere close to someone he already knew. Wait, why am I talking for you Erik? You've got a tongue."

"Oh, eloquent Elizabeth."

"Why thank you!" I beamed at him. "I thought so too."

I turned back to face Jo and burst out laughing at her face. She was staring at Erik, her mouth hanging open, and I swear she was drooling a bit. Erik looked between Jo and I, clearly confused as to why I was laughing and what was wrong with her. Myself I knew just why she was looking at him like that; I'd fought the same reaction every time he spoke for the first few months I'd been in Paris.

Meg, who'd been getting her piccolo ready, handed Jo's piccolo to her and pulled her out the door saying something about being late to the practice field. The inner band nerd in me started shouting that my lazy ass was going to be in deep shit if I didn't get moving and, with some difficulty, I managed to shut it up. I wasn't a member of this band anymore and didn't have to be on time anywhere.

"I feel as though I've missed something here. What was so funny?"

"Oh," I chuckled. "it was your accent. We Americans are very fond of accents because we don't have any interesting ones ourselves. Yours is particularly interesting because it's not just straight-up French. You've got a bit of everything in there."

He glanced around to make sure we were alone before murmuring in my ear. "Hmm, and do you find my accent attractive?"

A small shiver ran down my spine and I balled my fists to keep from reaching out and grabbing him. Dear god, he could make ovaries explode just by talking.

"God yes." I half-moaned, blushing madly. "Do you have no concept of how attractive you really are? You are, quite literally, sex on legs."

He froze. "I am?"

"Erik, if I was a looser woman I'd show you just how much so. As it is I'm tempted to anyway."

And I wasn't lying. I knew plenty of girls (and one guy) who'd throw him in a practice room and have their way with him if they were in my position right now. I had my morals but that didn't mean I wasn't tempted to do the same thing, through perhaps somewhere less public. No matter how you looked at it, I was still a young girl with raging hormones and a smexy man at my disposal.

Erik drew back slowly and stared at me with wide eyes. Perhaps I shouldn't have said that. Oops. As my aforementioned hormones cooled I felt stupider and stupider.

"Umm, we should, uh, go outside now before we get locked in."

As it turned out, we were locked in anyway. Not in the building, mind you, but in the small open area between the main building and the Ag Shop. The school had gotten into some serious trouble at the end of last school year and had to put in a lot of new security measures one of which was a fence inclosing the area between the two buildings. The instant we stepped out the door it locked behind us, trapping us in that area. Erik produced a hairpin from somewhere and had the lock on the gate picked in a short amount of time. I snapped the lock back shut behind us and wordlessly headed down the alley and across the bus parking lot to the smaller off-shoot one that served as the practice field.

I was almost to the end of the alley between the Ag Shop and another branch of the main building when Erik pulled me to a stop. He was trying to look me in the eyes, I suppose, but my gaze was locked firmly to the ground and it wasn't budging.

"Elizabeth? Something wrong?"

"Nothing." I said, trying to pull away.

"No, tell me what's wrong."

Somehow between my trying to get away and his trying to keep me from doing so my back hit the wall and I was lost. My vision went black and it seemed like I was having a nightmare in the middle of the day. Ghostly hands reached out, touching, violating, and I was so cold. Tears ran down my face as a shadowy figure loomed over me, giving the ghostly hands an owner. Please. Please don't. Stop, please. Clothing. My clothing was being torn away.

Someone was calling my name. It was distant and hard to hear but definitely there. Erik? Oh, Erik, please help me! Cool hands were on my jaw, tilting my head up to look in the golden eyes of my captor. Let me go. Let me go or I'll scream. A hand covered my mouth to keep me from doing just that and I bit down. Hard. The hand's owner yelped and pulled back, taking with them the sense of safety I hadn't even realized was there. I whimpered as the shadowy figure that still loomed over me continued its assault. Help me. Erik? Anybody? Please, someone help me.

A sharp slap brought me back to reality.

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I'm so sorry."

Erik reached forward and laid a cool hand on my cheek, covering the angry red mark I knew was already forming. It had to have taken a lot of nerve for him to overcome his Victorian upbringing and strike me, even if it was necessary. He was ashamed to have done it, I could tell, but I wasn't upset with him. If anything I was upset with myself. It takes talent to humiliate yourself twice in fifteen minutes.

Without a word I pulled away and continued my trek to the practice field. All I wanted now was to pretend nothing had happened until tonight when I could curl up in a ball of shame alone. And for a few hours I did a damn good job of just that. Pretending nothing happened, I mean.

We simply sat in silence watching the band march around the parking lot and sweat to death. The only shade in the area was right where Erik and I were, in the shadow of the Fine Art Center. Coincidentally it was also the location of the only grass by the practice field that wasn't occupied by the non-marching band members and the stand that the director and main drum major for whatever song they happened to be doing stood on. That being said, I was loathe to move from my spot. It was, quite literally, twenty degrees hotter outside the shade.

Erik had been studying the band intently, trying to make sense of the whole thing. Well, I should say he was pretending to be studying the band. In all reality he was watching me when he thought I wasn't looking. Either he wasn't trying all that hard to be inconspicuous or his ninja skills were slipping.

I sighed. "What, Erik?"

"You're upset with me, aren't you? You have every right to be."

"I'm not upset."

"I don't believe you."

"Look, I'm not upset with you! Okay?"

Silence descended between us again as the band took a water break and our shade was invaded. I did my best to joke around with them and not smack the know-it-all Freshmen. They were cocky little bastards, just like almost every other Freshmen I'd ever met. But, I digress.

Just like old times the five minute break was gone too soon and the band was back to work, sweating their asses off and turning into lobsters. I almost got up and joined them just to avoid the awkwardness between Erik and I. Almost. The instant we were alone again I regretted my choice to stay where I was because Erik started right back in.

"You claim to not be upset but you clearly are."

"Drop it, Erik."

"No." Clearly he knew nothing about women. Drop it meant drop it, damn it.

"Fine. Yes, I'm upset. No, I'm not upset with you."

"Will you tell me why you're upset?"

"Really rather not."

"Please, Elizabeth?" He asked, giving me the best puppy dog eyes I've ever seen.

"Jesus Christ, alright. For the record you are dragging this out of me."

He turned to face me fully and I considered backing out of telling him. It wasn't really necessary that he know. Plus I honestly didn't want to tell him. I leaned back against the brick wall, staring past the band and across the field to watch the cars going down the highway. They were just little dots, really, except for when a semi went by. Or a tractor. You can't really miss the tractors.

"I'm waiting, Elizabeth."

Crap, I'd hoped he'd get the hint. He was too persistent for his own good.

"Very well." I sighed. "I'm upset with myself. I just humiliated myself rather spectacularly in less than fifteen minutes. Now, if you please, drop the subject and pretend none of it happened."

"Do you mean what happened inside?"

"Well, that and whatever the hell that was in the alley."

"I've been expecting something like that since we arrived, you know. I was afraid you were avoiding dealing with what happened in Paris. It's not good to do that."

My brows furrowed. "What happened in Paris?"

"You don't remember? Oh, that's not good. That's not good at all."

"I've forgotten something important, haven't I?"

"Yes, you have. More important than you realize."

He looked almost crushed that I'd forgotten whatever it was.

"Look, Erik, I'm sure I'll remember eventually. It can't be nearly so important now that we're not in Paris anymore, right?"


HOLY CRAB CAKES, BATMAN! READ THIS RIGHT HERE! IT'S IMPORTANT!

Ahem. Now that I have your attention.

Elizabeth's forgotten (or, more likely, blocked out) the fact that she was attacked and nearly killed in Paris. This means she doesn't really remember how they got to the 21st century. Or that she told Erik she loved him. She is aware of her feels for him but can't remember what caused her to realize how she feels.

Yay for PTSD and retrograde amnesia!