Chapter 13

One day as Erik got ready to go do some errands, Cat came from the kitchen. "Going out?"

"Yes. I have some errands to do. Would you like to come?"

Cats eyes lit up. "Yes! Love to. Some fresh air."

Erik nodded, "Then get a cloak, and we'll go."

Cat nodded and ran to get it, when she came back she also had a small sketch pad. He nodded and led her out the door. As he helped her in the boat, she let out a breath of air. It was so cold that they could see the white vapor of their breath in the air, but the water and the air were absolutely still. "Is it always this cold down here?" she asked, as she watch her breath in the air.

"Yes. We are 5 cellars under ground." He told her as he rowed the boat across the black water.

"Erik, do you ever just stop and think about it?"

Erik looked back at her," Think about what?"

She spread her arms wide, " This. Being under ground. Don't you ever reflect upon the many floors above? Some some seventeen or eighteen stories, those tons of steel, marble, stone, brick, and mortar. That if the Opera were to collapse, we would be crushed like insects?" She said a bit too cheerfully.

Erik looked back at her. She was grinning, as she watched the black water swill around the boat. He shook his head at her, "Are you always so morbid?"

She looked up at him with a straight face, "Yes."

Erik sighed, and continued to row. When they got to the other side, Erik led her up and around to a door that would led into an alley a few blocks from the market. Erik took the scenic route to the specialty market to get his so-called need supplies. In actuality, he had plenty, but it gave him an excuse to get the little spitfire in a situation which didn't involve arguing about something.

She was enjoying herself. It was almost dark, the sun just touching the horizon. She had pulled out the pad and was stretching almost everything. She smiled as she saw some children run past them, laughing and shouting.

This was all very new to him and totally unexpected. Between Christine's betrayal and his self imposed solitude, Erik had little information to go on about relationships. Christine hadn't been a relationship in the strict sense of the word. He'd known her so well from years of observation and study and she hadn't known him equally as well that there had been no true challenges. With Cat he was completely out of his element. She knew about him, and that made him predicable. All his life he'd gained his knowledge and information from books and from watching adult interaction in the theatre. Now he was at a loss as to how to handle her, himself, and the entire situation. Her fiery attitude he could handle by remembering his own level of volatility. Erik wasn't proud of his mercurial moods, but knew it was unlikely that he would suddenly change overnight. Cat seemed more stable than himself, slower to anger but it burned just as hot once she was mad.

Cat wasn't thinking about Erik or drawing at the moment. Her years as an intuned Karate teacher had taught her to be very aware of her surroundings at all times. Right now, she was very conscious of the fact that two men had been following them for the past ten minutes. They had just fallen into step behind them as they left the Opera House block and had been tailing them.

Not wanting to alarm him, she had kept quiet, trying to determine what they wanted and who the hell they were. As she casually glanced behind she saw them pull out knifes. Inexplicably, she felt raw fury boil up in her gut. Muggers.

As Erik started to turn into the market area, her hand clamped down on his arm with astonishing strength, "Wait a minuet, Erik. Don't leave. Just trust me."

She turned and looked though some cloth on a stand. As she expected, Erik started to walk back, so she sidled around back to him and whispered to him, "Dammit, will you just please do what I ask you?", she hissed, moving so that he either had to shove her out of the way or stay put.

"What is going on, Cat?" Erik rightfully wanted to know.

"Just be quiet and stay here," she ordered him, moving toward the back of a stand and the two men sneaking up on the other side.

The moment the point of the knife at the first man had, cleared the front of the stand behind them, Cat whipped around the back of it and kicked the knife out of his hand. He rose, yelling at her so she spun, chambered her leg and high kicked him in the chin. There was a tearing sound and he went down screaming, clutching his face.

She turned just in time to see the other one swing a fist at her. Deftly, she caught it and pushed it away from her, throwing the man off balance and straight into the stand. He went down clutching his ass.

Erik rounded the back of the stand in time to see the brutalities which Cat was inflicting on two large, scruffy looking men.

"Merde!" He was astounded.

He went from astounded to terror within seconds.

Cat had the knife and slipped it into a crack in the wood, snapped the blade. She then tossed the handle back to bounce it off the man whose cartilage she'd just torn. Looking down at the handle, then being distracted by the fact that Erik hadn't listened to a damn thing she'd said, she missed the man with the brused bum who had staggered to his feet as he took a swipe at her.

He caught her wast and part of her back in a glancing blow but it was enough to spin her out from between the stands, into traffic and straight into the path of an oncoming carriage.

Erik was less than five feet away when he saw the danger and tried to get to her to pull her back.

"Cat!" He tried to warn her of the danger, was desperate to get to her but knew he'd never make it in time.

Fortunately, Cat was already aware of her situation and acted on pure instinct. She droped to the road and rolled toward the stands as hard as she could. The carriage missed her by inches, passing harmlessly by.

"Mon Dieu, are you hurt? Cat, tell me you are all right," Erik was shaking.

He helped her to her feet. Bright green eyes met his own and she gripped the front of his shirt tightly in her fist, grinning up at him, "Well that was exciting!"

She laughed into his chest then struggled to get him to let go. Erik loosened his hold up did not let go of her.

"Ass wipes," she snarled at the two thugs still draped over and cursing at her. "Shouldn't have pushedthe son of a bitch, I should have just kicked HIS ass out in front of the carriage. Oh well."

Raising up on her toes she kissed Erik's cheek, "Thanks, for once again scraping me off the ground. It's all good. Let's go."

Erik was trying to recover his reasoning skills. He didn't know whether to laugh, cry, kiss her, or strangle her there in the street for scaring the life out of him. He shifted her in his arms and gripped her shoulders, yanking her against him and shook her jarringly.

"You will NEVER and I mean NEVER, do such a thing again, ma fille, do you understand me? NEVER!" He roared at her, furious.

His eyes were literally blazing. Relief that she was all right was flooding through him battling with the heart stopping fear of seeing her nearly killed before his eyes.

"Erik, I'm fine. Really. I saw those guys and knew they had us as a target. So I put a stop to them. Everything's all right and that's two thugs who won't be following us or anyone anymore," she could see that Erik was mad and wanted to reassure him that this was just part of her normal defense. Two of them pissed off right now would be disastrous. Probably for her.

"Christ, you were nearly killed. You will NEVER do that again, under ANY circumstances, is that clear?" His voice was beautiful, warm with anger and carried a wealth of reprimand.

"I'm sorry, Erik, really. I didn't mean to scare you, but I'm a big girl." she took his hand and lightly kissed it, warmed by his concern. "But you have to admit, it was kind of funny. The look on their faces...!" She started giggling, which upped his annoyance factor to a new level.

He held her away from him, struggling with his fury, his eyes drilling into her. Her laughter proved contagious and was a release of tension for her, he realized. After a moment, he shook his head and had to smile down at her. An hand caressed her cheek and cupped her chin gently, "I ought punish you, for scaring me."
She broke the kiss first, whispering so softly that he could barely hear her, "I'm sorry."

"I know, ma petite," Erik assured her. "And I will be just as sorry if I have to make sure that you will not do it again."

Her eyes flashed, "You wouldn't dare," the next thing he knew, she pulled away and was walking into the market area, seemingly without a care in the world. Squaring his shoulders and gathering his scattered wits, Erik followed her little figure and took her hand, kissing it. He was rewarded by a brilliant smile.

"Well? What did you want?"

Erik sighed, and smiled despite his earlier fury, and got the needed items. as he did, both he and Cat saw people watching them. It made Erik uncomfortable and he hurried. Cat saw this and anger rose up inside her again. " What the hell are you people looking at! Can't people shop?"

Erik saw people flinch under her glares." Cat. Come on, so I can keep an eye on you."

"Oh for the love of god, Erik, I don't need a baby sitter," Cat glared at him in exasperation.

"No, you need a keeper and to be discipline properly."

"ERIK! That's not funny!"

"Do you see me laughing, angel?"

"Men." Rolling her eyes

"Stubborn troublemaker."

"Stop it."

"You first."

"My line, Ghost, mine."

Erik grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards the Opera house.

"ERIK for god's sake we're in public."

"I will wait until we are home then."

"NO!"

"No? You want me to discipline you here, in the market?"

"NO! I don't want you to at all!"

"Too bad. Sooner or later, that is exactly what I am going to do."

"Shit."

"Language, Cat. You are a lady."

"Fine."

"Cat..."

"ERIK. Cut. It. Out!"

"Behave yourself."

"You first."