Burning Ring of Fire

Eric walked down the stairs feeling anything but cheery anymore, as memory after memory shot through his head of that night a year ago when his entire world burned.

He sat down and looked across the small coffee table into the waiting eyes of the Stackhouse ladies. It was time to tell the tale; and so he did. He told them of Maryanne and how they met. It goes without saying that Adele and Sookie were obviously somewhat shocked at his 'chequered' past.

And needless to say, he did play the coward and left out the fact that he was very much back in that way of life, under the possessive and repulsive thumb of Edgington. They didn't need to know that.

He told them of the night he found out that Maryanne was pregnant; he went into great detail about how happy he was. He told them of Maryanne's abandonment of Pam when she was just 6 months and how he brought her up alone. And then he told them of what they really wanted to know, of the night Pam got her scars and the events that led up to that fateful accident.

One year ago...

Eric was rudely awoken to a loud knocking on his small home, on a lonely block in a rundown back shanty town.

He stumbled out of bed and blindly made his way to the door, noticing in the semi-conscious part of his mind that it was only 6 in the morning. He slid the lock across, unlatched the latch and opened the door.

Maryanne instantly burst her way through, shoving past Eric with a frantic array of arms and hands and a large duffle bag. 'Maryanne? What the fuck?' Eric stammered out, his voice gruff with sleep.

He looked angrily over at her, eyes wide and disbelieving at the sight before him. 'What the fuck are you doing here! Get out!' Eric growled, reaching forward with his muscular arm and, grabbing hold, propelling her towards the door once more.

'No., no no no Eric, I need to stay here. Please!' She rambled frantically, grounding her feet as much as she could, defiantly staying put.

'What?' Eric asked less threateningly, letting go off her arm. He suddenly noticed the sheen of sweat covering the woman's face. The dishevelled appearance of the normal well kept Maryanne; and something in him shifted and he found himself feeling concerned for the runaway mother of his child.

'Sit down, I'll explain everything, just let me stay...' Maryanne said softly, looking directly into Eric's icy coloured eyes and Eric simply nodded, completely at a loss for words.

Adele and Sookie seemed to understand why Eric let Maryanne stay after she had explained to him her story. After all, the woman was seeking help, escape, or at least Eric thought that at the time. She had ran to him, pledging that she was out of the game and away from Russell's sick games and wanted to be with him once more. And like a complete and utter fool Eric believed her. Perhaps it was because he wanted to believe her so much, in the hope that Pam would get her mother back. But if Eric knew then what he knows now, he would have turned her away right there and then, never letting her back into Pam's life.

Sookie noticed that Eric seemed to shrink into himself as he told the story, and so she moved across the sofa to sit with him, taking his hand in hers for comfort, the least she could do.

'And do, Maryanne stayed with me for a little while, and Pam began to adjust back to having a mother, learning what it meant to have a mother in the first place.' Eric said smiling at the mention of Pam.

'That must have been nice for her.' Sookie said softly, and Eric smiled at her in return, wanting inwardly to express how she was more of a mother to Pam now then that Maryanne had ever been, but it wasn't the time yet for such stark truths.

'Then, I had to work late one night, I was in the middle of working out negotiations for my new club and management of the old place I worked and so I decided it would be fine to leave Pam with her mother. Maryanne all but insisted anyway and at the time...I didn't see anything wrong with it.' He said in a low gruff voice, before falling silent in thought for a long time.

'So I went to work...that's when it started...the fire.'

One year ago...

Eric drove home through the dark and winding lanes, wanting nothing more than to crawl into his bed and fall asleep.

He drove down the last road before the turning into his off-road, when he noticed the smoke fogging the night sky and turning it orange. There was a fire.

Eric thought for a second that it was simply some kids in the woods making mischief, but then, as he continued to drive he noticed the sky thickening in smoke and the orange hue becoming more and more prominent in the dark. That wasn't a campfire.

Eric's heart plummeted at the same speed he pushed the pedal down and sped towards his home.

His heart shattered painfully as he came into view of his home, ablaze and burning with furious flames. It was as if the devil himself had come to the surface to engulf his home in a fiery grip.

Eric launched himself out the car and over to where Maryanne sat, almost tranquil on the ground, smoking a cigarette.

'Mary! Mary! What? Pam! Pam!' Eric shouted in broken words, unable to form an actual coherent sentence, unable to fight the burning engulf his heart faster then it engulfed his house as he realised his daughter wasn't next to Maryanne.

'She's inside...' Maryanne said quietly, taking a long drag from her cigarette and turned her eyes up to watch the smoke join the plumes of the black smoke above.

'Why didn't you get her? Why haven't you phoned the emergencies!' He shouted, tears welling his eyes, stinging and burning all at once. His hand was already blindly thumping the number in.

'I didn't see the point. It was hot so I came out here. Just relax Eric, in a short while she'll be in a better place and we can start a new life. This is good.' Maryanne said ethereally, nodding towards the flames.

'We needed this to happen, in order to start again.' She added as Eric stared at her horrified and in shock. Then wordlessly, shoved the phone into her hands and ran; ran towards the building that would mean nothing but death for his beautiful baby if he didn't get her out.

'It was horrible.' Eric choked, running a large hand through his blond locks. 'I remember the sheer feeling of...of dread and mourning.' He let out a bitter, almost terrifying laugh. 'I was mourning her before I even knew whether or not she was dead.' He said and Sookie felt a rather large, rather horrible shiver run through her body. Across from her she noticed her Gran shiver in just the same response, looking kindly towards Eric, and inwardly praying God for the happy outcome that they knew would come, as the little girl in the horrible story was sound asleep upstairs.

'Pam?' Eric shouted hoarsely, inhaling a lungful of smoke and debris. He stumbled blindly through his apartment, his arms out wide to guide his way and his eyes, streaming, were straining for sight.

As he reached Pam's bedroom, he frantically ran towards her bed and threw the blankets around looking for her, before realizing she wasn't. 'Pam!'

He turned and looked desperately around the room. Then his eyes landed on her small white 'princess' style wardrobe. He yanked the little doors open instantly, and burst into fresh tears that made his eyes stream even more as he saw his little girl; curled up, in a tight ball inside the wardrobe.

'Oh Pam...' He whispered into the blaze as he bent and pulled his lifeless and limp little girl into his arms, his heart beating ten a second as he realised she wasn't conscious. Bending down swiftly once again, he swiped up the damned purple rabbit and turned to leave the burning house.

Later, after the event, Eric would curse himself for not throwing a blanket over her as he walked through the blazing house fire. But at the time, the only thing running through his mind was to get her out.

As he stumbled out into the cold harsh and beautiful outside, he faintly heard the sounds of the emergency services pulling up around his house of ruin. He wordlessly thanked the Gods as he collapsed on the damp grass and patted the fire out on Pam and himself with shaky hands. Tears and sweat dropped on to Pam's ash streaked pace as Eric lent over her, clearing her mouth and tilting her head back, thumping her chest trying desperately to get her to breathe!

The rest of that night was a blur of grey and red as they rushed Pam away and stuck tubes down her throat and nose. He doesn't remember them peeling his shirt fabric from his back and revealing his own terrible burns, because all he could see or hear or remember was Pam, lying motionless on a stretcher, tiny as a doll.

He remembers feeling his heart beat for the first time in a long time as she finally gasped to life and her tiny chest rose up and down in proof. That's when his other senses came shooting back and he was suddenly blind red and furious. It took three police and fire-fighters to pull him off Maryanne, sitting as calm as day. He wanted to drag her into that terrible blaze and make her feel what Pam had, and he would have done it too, if he wasn't dragged away and bundled into the ambulance with his daughter.

'She's a heartless bitch.' Sookie suddenly said, as tears made slowly fell from her eyes. Eric chuckled softly in full agreement. 'Yes, she is.' He said before his face fell grim once more.

'They rushed her to the hospital and she was in intensive care for days whilst her lungs healed. They kept her sedated for the entire time. I suffered the same burns on my arms and upper back, but Pam got the brunt of it.' Eric said in a low, low voice. 'I should have covered her.'

'Oh Eric...don't think like that. There was nothing you could do. You saved her, you got her out of there!' Sookie said the exact same time Gran said 'You saved her, that is the best you could have done you lovely man.'

'Well, she's my little girl.' He said as plain as day, his entire soul and being laid out before them in that one sentence.

'The next few weeks were the hardest as she came round, and the pain she was in...she cried so much, so, so much and I couldn't do anything but watch. She screamed when they changed her bandages and cried hell fury when she finally saw them, the scars, cursing for the first time in her life.' Eric said with, surprisingly, a faint smile.

'But we made a game of it; we made it a special thing, our burns; something only us two had and shared. And slowly she grew used to them and eventual could look at them without crying. I made a point of never being embarrassed of mine so she would do the same with hers.

The doctors told us that as she grew up they would fade and become smaller, and eventually, in her teens, they'll pass as an unusual birthmark. And she's ok. That's the main thing. She was strong and determined and she healed faster than any of us thought she would. She is a gift, pure and simple.' He finished with a true smile. One the others returned.

They all went to bed that night with the overwhelming urge to spoil Pam the next day, each checking in on the little girl when they went to the loo in the middle of the night.

...

'Daddy?' Pam's happy squeal broke through the content Sunday silence, jolting the three sleepy adults to life.

'Down here little one' Eric lazily called from the Stackhouse sofa, watching telly with Adele and Sookie, having just woke up.

A few seconds later a light skipping Pam came into the room, jumping into Eric's lap instantly, and snuggling down. 'Morning.' She said, smiling around at the three adults before instantly shutting her eyes and contently falling back into a dose once more.

All three were silent for a moment before laughing in quiet whispers too each other. Today was going to be one hell of a day.

Chapter twelve coming soon...

Hope you like, this chapter felt really weak, but hey ho, please review if you did like it and thank you to those that have!

Frailly :)