Chapter 35:

I couldn't help myself from posting this next chapter. I'm a chapter ahead of schedule so figured I may as well. Things are going to get a bit mature next chapter so, either to forewarn you or excite you! :) R&R if possible!

"Hey, Erin?" Brigid asked jumping to sit on the kitchen counter next to the sink as Erin rinsed dishes. It was getting late into the evening, the sun already setting as the winter days grew shorter.

"What?"

"So, about this new development between you and Larten, I- "

"Woah, wait! What new development?" Erin asked, turning her full attention on Brigid. She didn't know what she was talking about.

Brigid rolled her eyes.

"I have a whole page about it. Maybe you're blind to it and subconsciously sabotaging your own psychic ability in order to not know what's going to happen out of emotional self-preservation. You already deal with enough emotions and foresight that you end up neglecting your own. Which I always tell you not to do, but you're you, and it's frustrating."

"Gee, thanks, sis." Erin said frowning, turning back to the soapy dishes.

"Just hear me out. It's new. It's slow. It's unspoken. It's naturally progressing. Which is a good thing. I just don't want you to sabotage your own happiness because of future outcomes, if that makes sense." Brigid said seriously.

Erin looked at her furrowing her brow. She understood what Brigid was saying but, would Larten and she really get that far?

"Hey," Brigid said holding her hands up, "I'm just saying you never know. But I think the main thing we should be focusing on right now is Christmas. It's finally the beginning of December, it's time to decorate!"

Erin smiled and gave a small shake of her head, drying the last dish.

"You dump that on me and then now it's all about Christmas," Erin sighed, "Are you basically telling me to follow my heart and ignore some of the possible premonitions I may or may not have had or will have about our current situation?"

Brigid jumped off the kitchen counter.

"Basically. I've already told it to you before. You should really listen to me sometime! But I've said my piece and now I just want to get the boxes down from the attic. Can we please get started tomorrow evening? It's Friday and then we have the whole weekend to decorate." Brigid jumped up and down, her begging face on.

"Yes, yes, we'll start tomorrow. It is time to bring some Christmas cheer in here. I think that will do us some good."

"Christmas is the best. We have to watch constant Christmas themed movies, too, and bake cookies and hot cocoa. I wonder what Spider-Guy thinks of Christmas? Do vampires celebrate Christmas?" Brigid rambled.

"No idea. But if he doesn't, he'll just have to get used to it." Erin grinned.

Brigid and Erin shared a laugh. They typically put in a lot of effort to decorate for holidays, Halloween and Christmas being the highlights, because it made the atmosphere in the home exciting and anticipatory.

"I can't wait!" Brigid jumped and did a toe-touch. "Time for homework!"

Brigid bounded up the stairs, exuberant. Erin heard a muffled singing of "Jingle Bells" from upstairs. She was glad. After all they'd been through, it felt right that they should celebrate to the fullest and be as happy as they could. Inevitability was down the road, but until then, they would live to the fullest.

Larten came down just before midnight. He stretched and yawned. After a quick shower and double-checking his appearance, (black pants, red waistcoat, and a red shirt underneath with the top buttons undone), he descended the stairs entering the kitchen. He had been jerked awake for a short moment when he heard someone singing, which turned out to be Brigid. That was when he felt better about making the choice to sleep in the bed having pillows to stuff both of his ears with.

He scratched his scar as he gazed around for Erin.

"Erin?" He called out.

"In here!" Came her voice from the laundry room.

Larten entered the doorway to see her ironing his clothes. She glanced up at him and smiled.

"I hope you don't mind. Some were wrinkled and I know your attention to detail." She said as she spritzed the shirt with a final touch of starch and hung it up.

"Done. Do they meet your approval?"

Larten glanced at his clothes and his cloak, scratching his scar, before nodding.

"I approve."

Erin gave a bright laugh. He followed her out of the laundry room and into the kitchen. She was still in her scrubs from her shift. She would be off tomorrow unless she got called in, meaning she would be getting Christmas boxes down from the attic per Brigid's request.

"Larten, I'm going to shower and change now that you're awake, so you know the drill. Do whatever you like."

Larten bowed.

"I will make myself useful in some way."

Erin gave him a humorous side glance before ascending the stairs.

Once he heard the shower turn on, he poured himself a glass of water, and walked into the living room. The new coffee table was quite nice and he had been rather pleased when Erin gushed over it. Again, his ego stroked by his "impeccable taste."

He ended up in front of a bookshelf staring at the different color bindings, the thickness of the books, ones that were old, ones that were new. He would pull one off and flip through it. Some had sentences or passages highlighted or extra writing in the margins. He wondered if it was all Erin's doing, as if it were a secret insight into her mind that he couldn't deduce. He still felt like he didn't know enough about her. She knew him. Admittedly, maybe more than he would want anyone to know, but she never let on about the deeper things, most likely to respect his privacy. Maybe someday he could…talk to her. Perhaps small things at first. It was a give and take; he wanted to understand her mind. He wanted to know her. Perhaps once he allowed her to ask him a few simple questions it would be easier to open up small pockets of his life. However, he kept his cards close to his chest, but it was isolating to do so. That was his struggle.

"What are you looking at?" Came an inquisitive voice behind him.

He had heard her enter the room, but had been too wrapped up in his own thoughts that he paid no attention.

He turned his head away from the bookshelf. She was wearing a long-sleeve round-necked gray shirt with matching black and grey flannel pajama pants. Her collar bone and sternum were open and fresh looking, the necklace he had given her put back on. She was never without it, as if it were some type of talisman. Wet hair pulled into a bun, she walked over to stand next to him and look at the bookshelf as well. She smelled of spiced cherries. Larten could feel a heat rising in his chest as he had a flashback of a few particular dreams he had had the first time he stayed with them. He diverted his gaze back to the bookshelf quickly before she could see how his eyes had trailed down her neck to her delicate collar bone and down to the neckline of her shirt. Her body was supple and would be so warm and soft…

Larten coughed and cleared his throat begging the gods that she had not noticed the rising flush in his neck. In actuality, Erin had looked away to hide her own bare blush. She, too, looked back to the bookshelf.

"I-uh, I know you can't read, Larten," she began slowly, testing the water of admitting to something she knew about him that he had not volunteered to reveal.

"Yes. Times were different." He replied brusquely.

"Of course, but, I was just wondering if…"

He looked down at her, narrowing his eyes.

"If." He replied sternly.

There was a warm sparkle in her eye.

"Wondering if you would help me bring Christmas decoration boxes down from the attic and help Brigid and me decorate the house and in return, I will pamper you for a night and read to you anything you want."

Larten looked at her, thinking. He had enjoyed when she had read one of her favorite poems from a book Brigid had gotten her for her birthday. It had been a very open and vulnerable moment she had shared with him. He had rather liked it. But there was just one thing-

"Vampires do not celebrate Christmas, it is a ridiculous thing only humans do." He replied pompously.

"Oh, really?" Came Erin's teasing reply.

Larten looked down at her seriously.

"Really."

She poked him in the side causing him to jerk away as she laughed.

Larten was getting mad. He wasn't sure if he liked this teasing. Or was she mocking him?

She came too close to him, Larten now having no room to retreat, looking up into his face. He always realized just how tall he was in moments like these.

"You have plenty of time to not celebrate Christmases. So why not celebrate at least one? The best one you'll ever have. Even as a vampire, you only live once, you know, so what would it hurt?"

By the gods, those eyes. How could those eyes have such an effect on him?

He scratched his scar awkwardly.

"I suppose I could try." He replied gruffly.

Erin smiled and gave him a small punch on the chest, laughing.

"I can only tell you to be prepared because Brigid likes to go full-out on these types of things. We'll do our best to make it worth remembering fondly and not something silly we humans just do." She said, backing away from him, a humorous grin brightening her face.

She turned and disappeared into the kitchen leaving Larten standing somewhat breathless. He really did not have any sort of interest in trivial human matters such as holidays, but…there was something in his chest that seemed to have awakened. The thought of not being alone during the cold, dark winter. He would be somewhere warm, bright, with small, simple pleasures. The feeling in his chest grew even more as if in anticipation of that unknown time he would get to spend with Erin and savor in the lonely years inevitably ahead of him.