Sorry I neglected this story for so long. I was busy working on Little Lotte's Guardian of Music. I do want to work on this one some more, so I will start up with it again. In this chapter Erik looks back on a past memory and we meet Brittney's mother and grandparents.

Chapter 10: Mother Comes to Call

Erik wanted so bad to hold her, but right now she was so fragile and it was time for him to leave. The nurse had come into the room and announced that visiting hours were over. Erik grabbed Brittney's hand. She smiled weakly up at him.

"I will come back in the morning. Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you." He looked down upon her. "Don't worry my love I won't go anywhere."

Erik smiled and pulled off his class ring. Then he put it on a gold chain he carried in his pocket and fastened the chain around her neck. "There so you have a piece of me here with you tonight," he said kissing her forehead.

"I love you still," she said sweetly.

"I know you do."

"Excuse me, but you to leave for tonight. You are welcome to come back tomorrow morning," the nurse said to him.

Erik gave Brittney one last kiss before turning and leaving the room. And he smiled when he heard one small word escape from her lips; "Erik."

xxxxx

Erik went into the waiting room and saw that Phil was the only one left waiting with Brittney's purse in his hands. "Where did everyone else go?" he asked.

"They all went back to the dorms. It's getting late and they said you didn't drive here so I offered to give you a ride back to campus. RaeAnna also wanted me to give you Britt's purse, because we all knew you would come back tomorrow."

Erik took the purse and held it close to him under his jacket. Phil led him outside to the parking lot and too a small red car. Driving back to the dorms Erik felt miserable and hated that he hadn't been able to give into Brittney's simple request. He hadn't been able to hold her.

As soon as they got back he hurried up the stairs and the floor shook violently with the force he used to slam the door. If anyone at all cared about him they would know how he felt now. He threw his jacket on the bed and then gently lifted the piano off the desk and placed it on the bed with the outmost care.

A framed picture sitting upon his desk made him hesitate as he climbed onto the desk into the spot the piano had occupied. In the picture Brittney was climbing into a tree while he stood on the ground gazing up at her. Vera had taken the picture for them with Brittney's digital camera and they both had the shot in a frame on their desks. He picked it up and looked lovingly upon the big smile on his girlfriend's face.

xxxxx

She had been so happy the day the picture was taken. Waking up beside him she had gone to the window and was amazed at how bright and sunny it was on that particular Saturday. "Come on Erik let's go outside. It's beautiful out," she had exclaimed as she came over and pushed his arm a bit.

He rolled over and shrugged. "You know I don't go outside except for class or food," he said with a groan.

"Nice try," she warned as she pounced over him and went to wrestle him off the bed. "Come on please. I owe you one I promise," she begged.

He groaned again and tried to roll into her playfully. "I don't want to go outside. I'm fine right here," he said his head resting comfortably against her knee.

She moved away causing his head to fall back into the comforter. "Well too bad, I'm going outside. It's too nice to be cooped up in her all day as much as I love you." She pulled on her shoes and disappeared out into the hallway. Grabbing her camera from her room she finally headed outside.

Erik finally pulled himself out of bed and went out after her surprised to see her sitting in a tree. "How did you get up there?" he asked unaware of how stupid a question it was.

"I climbed into the tree of course silly." She said throwing her leg up and moving into another branch.

"How about you come down? I'm not that good at climbing trees," he lied.

"Erik it's not that high. It's only two branches. You could come up here if you really wanted to," she giggled as she leaned back against a long stretch of branch.

"Well I don't want to and you can't make me," he growled a bit.

"Fine be that way, but I'll just sit up here slightly out of your reach."

"I know you'll come back down when you're lonely and want some love." She started meowing like a kitten. "Or you get stuck and have me come rescue you."

"Would you really do that for me?"

"You know I would. Do you really think I would just leave you up there all night? I'd get awful lonely."

Vera had wondered past and Brittney asked if she would take a picture for them. Erik wasn't about to complain and Brittney threw her camera down to him. He handed it to Vera, who snapped the pic for them.

"Thanks Vera," Brittney called down as Vera handed Erik the camera.

"You're welcome. Oh and don't get stuck up there for our sakes," Vera called back up to her.

"Mew?" Brittney responded cocking her head to one side.

xxxxx

Erik stared at the picture for a long time. Right now he hated Christine for her stupidity. Leaning against the window his mind continued to play games with him making him think that Brittney was walking up to the complex, but it always ended up being some other student.

"Why does she intoxicate me so?" he groaned.

xxxxx

Class seemed to take forever the next morning. Erik tried his best to take notes and his professor was even surprised that Erik wasn't raising his hand at every question like he usually did. A couple times Erik scribbled Brittney's name into his notebook margin and sighed. Then he would look at his watch grumbling at how slow it was.

Finally the professor closed up class and Erik was the first one out of his seat, which was quite unusual, because he would always seem to linger for awhile until shop started for the day.

He went to Randy's office and dropped a note into the mailbox. It just simply stated that he wouldn't be in shop that day and that he would make up the time later. Then he hurried outside and jumped into his car.

When he finally arrived he grabbed his backpack and walked inside. "Excuse me, but what room is Brittney Peters staying in?"

"Room 318. Go straight down that hall and then turn right and it's the second one on the left."

"Thank you," he said going off down the hall. Following the directions he finally came upon Brittney's room and knocked at the door.

"Come in," he heard her call from the other side of the door. He pushed the door open and instead of seeing just Brittney sitting there he was also greeted by three adults sitting by the bedside. He gulped, but when he looked over at Brittney she was smiling at him and he strolled into the room.

"Hi," he said timidly.

"So, you must be Erik, the one I've heard so much about this last two months," the woman sitting in a chair by Brittney's side said with a smile. "I'm Tana, her mother. And this is my mom, Darlene, and my dad, Richard."

"It's an honor to finally meet you," Darlene said sweetly.

Erik felt shy and only nodded. He fished Brittney's purse out of his backpack and handed it to Tana. "Um…yeah some here. But don't you live 6 hours away in Wisconsin?" he asked trying to be polite.

"As soon as we got the call we headed out. We wanted to make sure she was okay. I guess I was just really worried."

Brittney motioned for him to come over and took his hand. "It's okay they don't bite," she whispered.

"I don't do so well around adults," he whispered back.

"That's okay. They'll accept you just as well as I do. Just relax."

He placed his backpack against the bed and kissed her forehead gently. She responded by caressing his exposed cheek trying her best to calm him.

"So Erik where are you from?" Darlene asked.

Erik looked up and Brittney noted just how terrified he was. "I from Minneapolis, but I didn't want to stay there anymore. I wanted to get out and see what else the state had in store for me and I guess I found it."

"So are you going home for Thanksgiving or Christmas?" Tana asked.

"I wasn't planning on it seeing as I technically no longer live there. Once I was 18 I said I would never go back to my parent's house."

"Why not?"

"They not my real parents. Just one's that adopted me out of pity, so I could go to school and possibly make something of my life. I give them at least enough thanks for that and my electric keyboard."

"Brittney told us about your music. I would love to hear you play sometime even. But it's no fun spending break alone in a dorm. Would you like to stay with us in Wisconsin over break? That way we know someone is bringing her home and back to school safely."

"Are you sure it's no problem?" he asked looking at Brittney for reassurance.

"It would be no trouble at all and in all honesty I don't want Brittney moping around the house, because she misses you."

Brittney sighed. "Mom you just don't know when to be quiet don't you?"

Tana smiled. Erik brushed his fingers against Brittney's cheek. "I would be honored to join your family over break that is if you want me to?"

"How could I say no?" she teased.

He placed his forehead against hers and they shared a kiss. "When will you be better enough to come back to school?" he asked after breaking away.

"They want to keep me one more day. But I'll be released tomorrow."

"Then I'll come pick you up. I'll be here waiting when they let you out of this horrible place. It's too white for me," he said glancing around the room for a second.

"Something tells me Brittney wouldn't take no for an answer on the whole thing," Richard said with a laugh. "This looks like true love to me."

"I'm just glad she's still alive. I would hate to hear that the accident killed her," Tana said sadly. "I'd hate to lose my baby."

Erik felt Brittney tense under him and she let out a frustrated sigh. "Mom, can you not call me baby in front of my boyfriend please?"

"Oh, sorry. I guess I got carried away. But I am truly grateful to know that you are all right. But you never did tell us how you came to be hit by the car. We are quite curious to know about that."

Erik and Brittney exchanged terrified glances, but Brittney proceeded to have Erik came over to the side her mom was sitting on and sit down on the hospital bed. She sat up, so he could sit behind her and then she lay back resting in his arms.

Taking a few deep breaths they explained what had happened and the three adults looked on in shock, especially at how Brittney had reacted to the situation.

"I was so shocked at what I saw I didn't want an explanation. All I wanted was to be away from him and take some time to think. I didn't care that it was raining or anything else, except how hurt I was."

Gently Erik cradled her and she gazed up at him her eyes beginning to glaze over with tears. Suddenly for the first time she saw the dark circle under his eye.

"Erik, did you get any sleep last night?" she asked concern clearly visible in her tone.

"No, I was too worried to even think about going to sleep. I spent all night at the window thinking you would return and looking at the picture we had taken. The one where you were sitting in that tree."

"I remember that. You were being such a pain that day acting as if you didn't want to do anything. But I got to pester you instead and to me that's always fun."

The five of them sat around for quite awhile talking until Tana decided it best that she and her parents get the insurance taken care of at the front desk and got a hotel room for the night and they would be back tomorrow. Erik had stayed just a bit longer after they left and gave a sigh of relief.

"I can't wait for you to be back at school. The others are also very worried about you."

"I'd bet. But I have to stop with theatre for awhile. I won't be doing much heavy lifting thanks to my broken arm and the pain on my chest."

"I can talk to Randy and see about you painting things. You can't give up on theatre completely just, because of a broken arm. You're tougher than that I know you better than that."

She smiled and rested against him. "You're right. But it was you that helped make this toughness surface."

Brittney's not dead and Erik will be coming home with her for holiday breaks. He'll meet the wonderful Chester and see just how she goes about her life at home. But there may be a filler chapter between that so be patient and seeing as I have theatre coming up this story and Little Lotte may be on hold for awhile. Just to let you know.

As a side note I posted this as is because I wanted it up before I went to work so if there are typos I promise to fix them later.