Chapter 25
AN: This is the final chapter of the story; I hope you like it, please read and review.
Eric and Nell finally arrived at the house of Eric's parents, she got out of the car first, got his crutches from the backseat of her Mini Cooper and handed them to him as she had closed the door behind him. He was really happy about the fact to get back to work by next Tuesday; he hated it to have to walk around with the crutches because it took so much energy out of him.
Eric gave her a one last pep talk, before Nell finally hit the door bell and the two then anxiously waited for someone in the inside to answer it. Eric's father finally opened the door, with a smile on his face he first hugged his son and said: "Nice to see you back home, I and your mom have been really missing you." He then turned to Nell and said: "So you've to be the wonderful girl that my son has told me so much about in our last phone calls, it's nice to finally meet you Nell."
Nell was at first a little reluctant but then she finally accepted the extended arms of Eric's dad and then the two finally went inside into the living room to sit down on the couch. At first there was a longer silence between them before Eric's Dad finally asked: "So since when are you two together as a couple officially?"
Eric and Nell looked at each, both of them thinking who could answer this question the best when Nell finally said: "It's been two happy years now Mister Beale and I've never ever been happier than with your son." As a father it really made him happy, to see that his son had finally found the right woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. "Since you are practically now a part of the big Beale family, there's no need for any formalities anymore, so please just call me Patrick because "Mister Beale" is making feel so old." Eric's father replied with little grin on his face, Nell on the other hand was a little bit flattered by all niceness from Eric's dad but figured that she would probably get used to it very soon. Each other's presents were still hidden in the car, Eric of course had been really curious what he would get as a Christmas present but as hard as he tried to get the information out of her, Nell wouldn't budge because she wanted him to be surprised.
The three kept on talking for a while, till Eric's mom, Stephanie entered the room and said: "Eric can please help me in the kitchen for a minute?" Then she looked at Nell with a big smile on her face, Nell stood up and then said:" You must be Nell, I've heard so much about you already, it's nice to finally meet you in person and welcome to our little modest home." Nell was a little flattered by this warm welcome but then finally answered: "Thank you Miss Beale, I really appreciate the warm welcome."
Stephanie Beale smiled back warmly at the young intelligence analyst and responded: "There's absolutely no need to be so formal, please call me Stephanie and you're welcome Nell." Nell was totally okay with that and thought to herself: *Eric's parents are just so nice, even if they don't know me that good, I think that I'm not as scared as much anymore of the thought of marrying him in the future.* Eric and his mom finally disappeared into the kitchen and as the two finally were alone in the room Miss Beale said to her son: "She's such a sweetheart Eric, I'm so much happy that you found it each other. Maybe this sounds a little cliché and I've never ever said that before when it came to rating your girlfriends but: You two are really meant for each other." Then she tightly hugged him for some minutes, till they finally got the meal for the four of them ready because they didn't want to keep his dad and Nell waiting longer than necessary.
Later the four finally sat down at the table, Eric's mom of course wanting to hear the story of their first again from Nell because she thought that it was so romantic and it reminded her of her first kiss with her first boyfriend and now husband. Nell complimented Stephanie Beale on the wonderful meal that she had made for all of them, Miss Beale then replied: "I'm glad you like it and of course you and Eric are more than welcome to eat with us anytime you two have the time for it." Eric and Nell both agreed to do that again some other time even if the job had OSP was totally time consuming. Briefly Eric gently stroke Nell's left hand, she totally loved that when he did that and it certainly made her feel like a freshly fallen in love teenager all over again. She felt so safe when Eric was holding her in his strong arms, then to her it felt like nobody and nothing was able to hurt her and this was a total new feeling for her because she had never ever felt like this before with one of her former boyfriends.