Erik bolted out the door, chasing Ayesha. I could hear the cat hiss and meow as Erik tried to catch her. Meanwhile, tears were prickling down my cheeks and I was trying my best not to cry. But it hurt so badly! I looked down at my wrist and noticed bite marks there, and marks from her claws.

I wiped away my tears with my arm that wasn't sprained. I heard screaming and swearing outside, and I knew that was Erik. A few moments later he came in the room with a wiggling Ayesha in his arms.

"Ayesha, you naughty cat!" Erik scolded. "You know what you have done, don't you? You have hurt Christine! I hope you know that Christine has two sprained bones! I want you to stay away from her, understand? Now get out of here!"

Erik went towards the door and threw Ayesha out, but not literally, into the other room. Erik slammed the door behind him and looked down at me with great concern.

"Oh Christine!" He moaned. "I am so, terribly sorry for what Ayesha has done! Tell me, did she hurt you?"

"A little," I mumbled. Although it hurt a lot.

He looked at the scar and bite marks on my wrist. He sighed and lifted up my blankets that were covering my sprained ankle. He stroked a scar that Ayesha had left when she dug her nails into me. I winced a bit, but he didn't notice.

"Let me clean these," He said. "I'll be right back."

Erik came back a few moments later with a bucket of hot water and a velvet cloth. He set the bucket down next to my bed, dipped the cloth in, and dabbed it very gently at my wrist.

The water on my scar stung a bit, but I managed to get it over with without wincing or crying in pain. Erik cleaned it off so very gently, and then he went to clean my ankle. The water stung less on my ankle for some reason, but I don't know why. Actaully, the warm water felt quite good.

When Erik was finished, he left the room to put the bucket and cloth away. I waited patiently and quietly. After the incident with Ayesha I didn't feel too excited and nor did I feel like talking.

Erik came back and smiled at me lovingly. I tried to suppress a smile, and I managed. Erik came over to me and sat on the side of the bed.

After a few moments of silence, he said to me:

"You need rest, Christine. Your birthday is tomorrow. You'll be eighteen!"

This made me smile. Tomorrow would be a nice day with no cat scratching or biting. Tomorrow would be a happy day with joy and laughter. Or at least I hoped.

Erik saw my smile and he smiled back. He stroked my hair and said:

"Rest, my child. You'll need it."

He kissed my right wrist and went out of the room silently, letting me fall asleep and await the next day, my birthday.

x x x

I woke up silently the next morning. I looked around, my eyes drooping, until I realized what day it was.

My birthday. Eighteen years old.

My eyes immediatley shot open and I squealed in happiness. I wanted to do a little happy dance but I remembered I couldn't move. The only time I had been out of this bed was when I had to go to the restroom. I felt like I almost forgot what the house looked like.

I squealed again in happiness, trying to forget about all the downs and trying to concentrate on the up's.

I sang a little song of glee,

"It's my birthday!

Yippe yippe yay!

It's my birthday!

What a fun day!

It's my birthday!

Yippe Yip - "

To my shock, and complete embarrasment, Erik came into the room without knocking. And in the middle of my song! How embarrasing, I thought. He probably heard the whole thing. I could feel my cheeks flush.

Erik flashed a sweet smile at me.

"Happy Birthday, sweetie."

I beamed. "Thank you!"

"I heard the birthday girl singing a song. Was it your birthday song, perhaps?"

I blushed. I would of been fine if he never mentioned it, even if he had heard it.

"I suppose so. It just came out from the top of my head."

Erik chuckled and asked,

"You're hungry, aren't you? Well, I've prepared for you a Birthday breakfast."

I beamed, more happily. "Oh, Erik! You shouldn't have! That's too sweet of you! Really, you didn't have to go through all the trouble - "

Erik rested his index finger on my lips, making me go silent. I blushed. He only smiled.

"I'm going to pick you up now and take you to the kitchen. Ready?"

"Yes."

"Alright, then." Erik slipped his right arm under my legs, and his left arm under my neck. He scooped me up, being very careful with my ankle. He was so strong, too! Of course I already knew that, for he picked me up before, but somehow he felt stronger.

He walked me carefully over to the kitchen and placed me very gently down on a wooden chair in front of the dining table.

"Would you like a pillow for your ankle?" He asked.

"That would be nice. Thank you."

Erik pulled up a chair beside me and went into another room, came out quickly with a pillow and placed it on the chair. He carefully lifted my sprained ankle and set it on the pillow. I thanked him.

"Now, madmoiselle, breakfast is served." He said casually. He went over to the counter and placed a tray in front of me.

It looked delicious!

In front of me were two muffins, they looked like Banana muffins. I hadn't had a muffin in so long! There was also a Strawberry tart, pancakes, and so much more delicious food. Surely, when I was done eating all of this, I would burst.

"Oh Erik! This looks so tasty! Did you make this yourself?"

Erik shifted his weight to his right and then back to his left. He said nervously,

"Well, no. As you see, I'm not the best cook around. Surely I knew you wouldn't want to eat my food for your Birthday breakfast, so I had Nadir go to the bakery."

I giggled. "Erik, you know I wouldn't mind eating your food! You never know, it might even taste better then this." I raised an eyebrow, giggled, and took a bite of the banana muffin.

Erik smiled at me, but then frowned when Ayesha strolled into the room. When I saw her, my eyes widened and I tried to ignore her. This cat I was immediatley afraid of.

Erik watched as Ayesha strolled threw the kitchen, looking for some place to lie down. Or just smell the food. Nobody could resist the sweet smell of strawberry tarts or banana muffins.

When Ayesha came next to my chair, Erik's full attention was on her. Nervously, I took another bite of my banana muffin. Maybe she would go away.

But instead she stayed there and purred. She looked up at me with her adorable kitten eyes and meowed.

"What does she want?" I asked Erik worriedly. "My muffin?"

Ayesha was looking at my muffin.

"Perhaps," Erik said. "But you don't have to give it to her. She has plenty of food."

I nodded and bit my lip. Ayesha would never go away unless I gave her a piece of my muffin. I sighed and took a little piece off my muffin off. I gave it to her and she immediatley snatched it from my hand and started to chew on it.

I looked up at Erik. He watched the cat chew on the muffin and once she was satisfied, she strolled into the other room.

I finished my breakfast and Erik and I chatted about what the day would be like today. Nadir would be coming over at noon. And then a little after that Erik said I could open presents! I flashed him a big smile once he said that. He only rolled his eyes.

"What about cake?" I asked.

"Cake?"

"Yes, silly! Every birthday party has cake!"

"Oh yes, the cake. Oh, of course! The cake!"

I giggled and nodded. "Yes, the cake!"

"How can you eat that substance, anyway?"

"Cake?"

"Yes, that! It's spongy and fattening and..."

I finished the sentence for him. "Delicious and sweet and mouth watering and gooey and - "

"Alright! Alright! I understand. But what I don't understand is why you like it so much."

"Erik, I am going to make you try the cake!"

"No thanks."

"Yes."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it is disgusting."

"How do you know? You've never tried it!"

Got him there. He rolled his eyes, looking for an excuse. Eventually he gave up and said:

"I'm not trying it."

Time to use the puppy face. I gave him my sweet, innocent puppy face and he sighed.

"Try the cake? Please? For me?" I asked sweetly, in my four year old tone.

Erik looked at me, then looked away. Then he looked at me again, saw my puppy face, sighed, rolled his eyes, and gave up.

"Fine! I'll try it!"

"Yipee!"

"Don't blow it."

x x x x x

Nadir came over around 2:30. The whole day Erik and I were singing songs and chatting. Even though I was here for only a little over a month I was getting to know Erik so well. He was always so kind to me!

But as we were talking in the drawing room when we both heard a large splash. Erik and I exchanged glances and he eventually got up to see what the problem was.

"Nadir! Why do you always fall into the lake?" I heard him yell after disappearing behind the wall.

I giggled and waited for them to come into the room.

I heard Erik yell, "No! You're getting water all over my carpets! Argh, wait here."

I heard footsteps go away and come back again.

"Now dry off before you come into the drawing room!"

Erik walked into the room and sat down next to me on the couch. I looked at him and smiled.

"How's Nadir?" I asked.

"Soaking."

Nadir came into the room a few minutes later, dry (well, almost dry, his clothes were still a little wet). He saw me and grinned, and I grinned back.

"How is the birthday girl?"

"I'm fine. And you?"

"I'm doing well. I managed to save the presents before I fell into the lake." He smiled and set the presents on the table in front of us. Nadir sat on the couch across from us.

They both stared at me for a while. Nobody said anything. I eventually spoke up,

"Why are you both staring at me? Do I have something in my hair?"

Erik chuckled and replied,

"No. We're waiting for you to open presents. You do want to open presents, don't you?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Because I was going to take them away if you didn't - "

"Don't you dare!" I glared at him. He only smiled.

I opened Nadir's present first. It was a bit difficult for me to open, since I only had one good hand to use, but I managed.

Nadir had gotten me a white dress with a gold hem and silver lining all around. The dress had sparkles and it glittered all the time. It was such a beautiful dress, too! I thanked him and wanted to give him a hug, since it would be a friendly thing to do, but I remembered that I couldn't get up.

Next, I opened Erik's present. Or presents I should say. In one bag there were four different things. One was a gold bracelet, which fit around my wrist perfectly. The second was a necklace with an emerald gem in the center of it. I asked Erik if he would put it on me, and he said yes. He put the necklace on me and I never took it off for the rest of the day.

The third gift was a brush with my name carved on the back of it. It was in elegant cursive, very beautiful handwriting. I smiled at Erik and thanked him.

The last gift was a stone. I studied it carefully. The stone was green, very smooth. It had dark green, light green, bright green all over it. It was very beautiful. I thanked Erik, and since he was so close to me, I leaned over and hugged him.

Erik was surprised by the hug, but I was glad he returned it. It was a sweet hug, too. Erik smelled of citrus and I felt lost in the sweet smell of him. Only when Nadir coughed did we break apart.

"Excuse me." Nadir said, grinning. Erik was glaring at him. It was the kind of look that said, "And you had to ruin the moment because...?"

The rest of the day passed slowly, but it was so much fun. I listened to Nadir and Erik argue in the drawing room, which didn't bother me a bit. It was very amusing. Some of their arguments were about the strangest things, too.

I watched them play chess too. They didn't do this because they were ignoring me, I asked if they could. They agreed and I watched them, studying their every move.

Next we had dinner, after the long game of chess on which Nadir one. Erik was disappointed that he had lost and decided to try and break Nadir's arm, but I only glared at him. He didn't do it, thank the lord.

Then yes, we had cake! Erik tried it, almost spit it out, but I made him swallow it. Afterwards he sprinted to the kitchen to get some water (Yes, Erik let us eat in the drawing room).

After Nadir left, I smiled at Erik, who sat back down next to me in the drawing room.

"Did you like the party?" He asked.

"Oh yes! Thank you so much Erik, I loved it."

"I'm very glad you did." He said. "But I have something else to give to you."

He fiddled through his pocket and emerged with a simple gold ring with an emerald in the center. I didn't know what it was for, but I gasped anyway.

"Christine, this is for you."

"What is it?"

"It's a promise ring. You shall wear it forever, and never take it off. If it is still on your finger, that means you trust Erik and Erik is always your friend. It means you love Erik, and you will always belong to him. But if the ring is off, my dear, then bad misfortunes may happen. It means you are no longer a friend of Erik, that you despise him, loathe him. That you never wish to see his face again."

Erik carefully slipped the ring onto my index finger. I stared at it for a long time.

The ring looked so powerful to me. Was it, perhaps?

x x x x x x x

Wanted to stop there. So, what do you think? Please R&R! I won't be able to update for a while because I am going up to Gaylord tomorrow for two days. Then a few days after that I am going somewhere else for a six day vacation. So yes, I won't be able to update for a little bit. I won't be able to answer some questions by reviewers right now because I am getting ready to leave.

To everyone who got the answer right for Chap. 11: I didn't recieve the e-mail you sent me. Be sure to send me your ideas. If that didn't work, just put what you want to happen in your review.

Once again, thank you to all of my reviewers! I love you all!