The month passed quickly and soon came the time for Eros to arrive in town. Erik had been dreading the moment that he would no doubt meet the man, for there was no doubt that he would. Perhaps in the past he was able to hide himself, but now he had Love and Love had a way about her. He found himself following her, and he wondered if she asked it if he would follow her anywhere.

They were stepping around the corner and passing the restaurant's windows when Erik felt Love grow stiff.

"Please let it not be." She whispered. Looking up at him, "My brother might have done something really stupid. So we are just going to peek inside the restaurant if my suspicions are confirmed we will leave."

Erik had never seen Love so tightly strung as when she stepped into the restaurant and ducked behind a plant.

She let out a long sigh, "I should have known something was up. I'm sorry about this Erik. We should go."

Half the restaurant was occupied but starlight blondes. It was packed with them. Men, women and children. Love tugged on Erik's hand even as she heard a call from behind her of her name.

"The whole Beir clan. I can't believe him!"

In the days he'd gotten to know the dreamy young woman Erik had seen her in many states. He'd seen her exhausted, sleepy with a little drool as she slumped over old manuscripts, her concentrated knitting face, her cheerful whistling in the kitchen, her intense pouring over old text, her excited exuberance over a new piece of Paris and his favorite her bright genuine smile whenever he came for their regular breakfast. He had yet to see her angry and he found he was grateful it was not towards him while at the same time he found her absolutely stunning with her flushed cheeks and wisps of starlight hair framing her face.

"I understand if it's too soon." The words slipped out before he could stop them in a moment of insecurity and he found her headlight stare focused on him and he felt himself tremble inside just a bit.

"Oh Erik. Please don't think I'm ashamed, embarrassed or whatever it is your thinking right now. It's not that. It's the Beirs. I love them but they are too much. I was worried about you meeting just my brother. Just the one, but the whole clan?" She threw her hands in the air. "It would be far too overwhelming. I love them to bits and I find them overwhelming on a good day."

She stepped forward and reached for his mittened hands, a smile on her lips as she gazed at them. The smile dropped however when a sugary cutesy voice chimed behind them.

"Cuddle bear! Where are you going?"

Both Erik and Love tensed, she didn't protest as he wrapped his arm protectively around her shoulder. She looked up at him and he looked at her.

A little sigh slipped from her, "I don't usually advocate for violence. However, please understand this is something that as a twin I must do in order teach him a lesson."

L slipped from Erik's embrace. He held back just barely his impulse to drag her back into his arms as a tall man with blonde hair and eyes that sparkled in a familiar mischievous manner approached. The man spread his arms out wide as if expecting a hug as Love approached even as the lady who had once stood by his side vacated it as if in anticipation of what was to come.

"Hello brother."

The woman with a midnight pixie haircut leaned down to speak in an undertone, "Don't maim him too badly. He does need to present his exhibition."

She patted L's shoulder before striding over to where Erik stood and gave him a respectful nod and turned back to view the two twins with an expectant grin.

"Hello cuddle…"

Before the brother could get out the rest of the endearment, L had pulled him down by his ear, kicked his shin so he was hopping on one foot and pulled his arms behind his back.

Erik must have had a shocked air about him because the woman spoke at his side, "She may be small but she is fierce." She turned and stuck her hand out, "Annaleise Beir, nice to meet you."

He took her hand in his but before he could even raise it she shook it strongly before letting go.

She nodded over to her husband, "I'm sorry about him. I told him it was a bad idea. The family decided since Love was here now and his exhibition show was happening why not have a family vacation here as well." She shook her head. "The Beirs are the most tight knit family I've seen, especially for one that is so large and that keeps expanding. Eros heard about you. Our girl doesn't talk about friends like she did about you, so he knew you were special. The whole fam is going to want to meet you at some point but it should be on your terms and not be a surprise assault like this monstrosity was going to be."

Erik didn't process much after that as his mind was awhirl. He was special to Love. To hear that from her family, to know it for sure when he had only started to suspect and hope and dream. He shook his head minutely, he had to be patient.

~Time Skip~

They were walking along the Seine when L turned toward him, "What would you have liked to have done if you hadn't had to meet my brother?"

He showed her a little eatery off the Seine that had been passed down through the generations and had been around since the days he haunted the Opera. It was a tiny little hole in the wall place, with tiny little bistro tables and twinkle lights illuminating the vines that draped over the pergola for the outdoor dining. A small gurgling fountain could be heard nearby and cobblestone was beneath their feet.

Their knees brushed against each other beneath their little table and their faces were close for more intimate conversations.

Erik took a sip of his wine, rolling it around upon his tongue. It was a good vintage.

"Thank you for choosing this little place. They seem to know you, as well."

He set down his glass, eyeing how the candlelight played against the curve of it.

"The family has been able to keep the restaurant open throughout the generations thanks to my patronage."

He didn't have to look up in order to know her eyes roamed over him.

"They are fortunate then." A hand came in his line of sight as L lifted her wine glass.

"Why do you never…" Erik stopped. He glanced around them and knew he could ruin their lovely evening with his question.

"Have you finished reading my thesis?"

Erik's golden eyes flickered and he raised his gaze to meet hers before nodding.

She smiled, "Then you know what the Medjai believe. What the Medjai have already done in the past."

"You believe in their stories, their legends?"

"I believe that the Medjai of that time saw what they saw. I believe that something happened in that ancient land of the dead. I believe that the Medjai's whole culture of protecting ancient burial sites could not have been created over nothing."

L smiled over at him.

"You were going to ask me why I never question you. Why when you mention supporting an eatery throughout numerous generations I don't ask how that's probable. Why when I met you you looked like a legend of long ago and every single thing about you from your name to the way you act, to our dear mutual friend Nadir points to the fact that you don't just look like him you are him; and why I haven't questioned this."

She tilted her head to the side, "There are many things that cannot be understood. That is why I'm an archeologist instead of a scientist. I don't really care about the whys, I more like looking into the whens and whos."

Erik's eyes roamed over her features taking in her bright eyes sparkling in the candlelight and he found his own lips tilted up to match her smile.

"You are a strange and wonderful woman, Love Beir."

Her smile was slightly painful as she whispered, "Thank you."

"Why do you do that?"

Forest green clashed with golden.

He reached forward, his fingers a hair's breadth from the pained corners of her mouth.

"Why does it hurt when someone speaks your name?"

She kept her gaze locked with his, but her lips tightened and pursed before she raised her hands and took his own into hers. She started to caress each long finger and he had to fight every instinct not to pull it from her grasp.

"I suppose it's because as a woman I have to try hard enough to be heard in any professional field I find myself in. With the name Love I was never taken seriously. It felt as if…" Her fingers had paused in their path down his hand.

"Please continue."

She nodded but her eyes had fallen to where she continued running her finger down the length of each of his fingers.

"It felt as if something was always expected of me, I had to give something more in relationships than others. In friendships, the few times I tried to date.." she looked up, "court." He nodded but tensed, and she continued. "My name was just one more thing people used to make me too weak to be what I needed to be professionally. So I started going by L, only put my full name on applications and the like when absolutely necessary."

An ache started in his chest, something Erik hadn't felt for some time. After all wasn't he just one more person expecting something from her. Something more because of her name.

He glanced up to find her semi-silhouetted in the light and was struck dumb for a moment by her essence. He had forgotten for a moment, how silly of him; he had already felt a pull toward her when he knew her only as L.