Et Velle Et Perficere

Disclaimer: Don't own POTO… but I do own Jeremy, Laura and Croft Manor.

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Chapter 12: It is Amazing What One Can Bring Oneself to Do…

Time seemed to pass by without much ado now that Erik and Christine had gotten into somewhat of a routine and suddenly it was the last week in October and, therefore, the Halloween holidays… They had a week and a half at home in Croft Manor to enjoy before going back to school at the start of November and they couldn't wait. Presently, they were waiting at the end of the short queue to load their suitcases into the side compartment of the coach when Jeremy came running up to them.

"Your father phoned me," he said – Michael and Jeremy had gotten on so well that they'd swapped their private numbers and often spoke several times a week… "I'm joining you towards the end of the week… for the Halloween weekend. So, I am returning the favour… instead of sitting for the next half day in a stuffy coach with a bunch of noisy teenagers… no offence… stopping at all of their houses and listening to some rubbish on the radio… you can sit in my air-conditioned BMW and I'll even let you pick the CD we listen to. Here…" he said, handing Christine his car keys, "you know which one it is… go put your suitcases in the boot and I'll sign you off of the register in the office so people know where you are."

Erik and Christine waited in the car for Jeremy to return, finding this little twist of fate to be very beneficial indeed. They had put their suitcases away and sat together in the back, Christine leaning forward to change the CD track to the Pearl Fishers Duet. It wasn't long thereafter that Jeremy returned and they headed off away from the school as an angry young man watched them go…

On the bus Christine and Erik had just given up in favour of Jeremy's car, Raoul sat stewing in one of the window-seats. He couldn't believe that Christine was spending so much time with that plonker willingly and so little time with him. Before the summer holidays, they had been so close and he mourned their lost contact… but, more than that, he was fuming at the pair of them – Erik, because he had taken Christine's attention away from him, and Christine, because she had allowed it to happen without even caring…

He was still seething when Carlotta, who had seen his mood and who it was directed at, slid into the seat next to him. She smiled wickedly as she now knew she could persuade Raoul, in his anger, to help her get revenge upon Christine… of course, he would think he was getting it upon Erik and that would make it all the sweeter…

Carlotta was used to getting her own way and had not been best pleased when Erik had, without fail, turned her down at every chance. She would not let him do it again…

"I'll cut right to the chase, Raoul," she said. "I don't like all the attention Erik gives Christine and I know that you don't either… so it's in our favour if we work together to get them apart."

"What were you planning?" Raoul asked sceptically as he stared out of the window in boredom.

"Well, there's not much we can do until after we get back here when the holidays are over… but then… there's Guy Fawkes Night," she said excitedly. "With all the fireworks and commotion going on, it'll be quite easy to get them apart… and then, I'll take care of Erik and you can take care of Christine." She discretely handed him a small bag with some kind of white powder in it.

He was horrified… "What the hell is this?" he hissed. "What do you take me for?"

"Don't get all self-righteous on me now… it isn't for that… it won't knock her out – it'll just make her a little more pliant so that you can get her away from Erik without complaint. I'll put some in Erik's drink and you can put some in Christine's… one or the other of them will end up in a rather misconstruing position with one or the other of us and then… we'll make bloody sure the other sees it. That'll split them up… After that… it's up to you what you do with Christine…" She smiled as she thought about that.

Just under four hours later, Erik was sitting in Heaven… well, what passed for Heaven, anyway…

Christine was asleep, her head resting on his shoulder with her arms unintentionally wrapped around his waist. He was leaning his head against hers and was revelling in the smell of her beautiful hair.

Every few minutes, Jeremy looked at them in the rear-view mirror… he thought they made a very good couple and he wondered when they would realise that themselves. Erik always took such care of Christine and it was obvious that he was attracted to her… she was also the only one who could calm him down and who he treated with extreme tenderness compared to the unguarded hostility everyone else got. And Christine spent all her free time with him… obviously she cared a great deal for him too.

Eventually, they reached Christine's home and Erik had the – he felt – enviable task of lifting the delicate angel sleeping against him into his arms and inside the house. She was still incredibly light and he could feel the slight worry at the back of his mind start to worm its way into his conscious thoughts. But he decided he was just fussing and so, refused to think further on it.

He bypassed Michael and Sarah without a word and proceeded to Christine's room with his precious burden cradled in his arms, laying her down upon her bed. He stroked his hand tenderly across her forehead as he thought about the week ahead he could look forward to them having together.

In fact, Erik rather liked Halloween… it was the one time of year he didn't feel like he was a completely hideous beast – he could be normal for that one day and nobody would ever know that the mask was not a costume. He had a few things he had planned to do with Christine over that holiday and he hoped she would like them. Firstly, he would ask her to go to the fireworks with him on Guy Fawkes Night and then – if she accepted – he would give her the dress he had bought her as a present. He didn't know what he'd do if she were to turn him down… the thought made himpositively sick and tense with nerves.

Christine was pleasantly surprised when swiftly, in the early evening of the 31st, she found herself with something to do. As her parents had gone out for the evening, she had been asked to take out the young childof one of their colleagues.Currently, in fact, she wasjust puttingthe finishing touches onto her costume. She was going as a vampire and she thought she looked rather suited to it withthe long flowing black dress, sharp fangs,white skin, blood-red lips and big dark eyes. Her lovely, curly hair was dark enough in the night to look black so she did not have to use dye… and if she did think so herself, she thought she had done a rather good job of it.

Erik was stunned… he so badly wanted to kiss those red lips and he found himself disturbingly jealous of the little girl dressed as a pixie that she so easily lifted into her arms and bestowed upon her forehead a delicate kiss. He made a sudden decision as she said her goodbyes to him and left through the front door that he would not be parted from her tonight…

He rushed up to her and turned her around so that he could spend just a moment looking at her. She was so beautiful and he had never craved anything more than he did her… especially this night. She looked at him as though he were some kind of seasoned nutter and watched warily as he placed one of his large hands on the skin between her neck and the tops of her breasts, wanting to feel her heartbeat pulsing gently against his palm. She didn't move either as he slid his hand gently over all of her soft exposed flesh, bringing a hand up to her face to tilt her head back so that he could look into her striking kohl-rimmed eyes. He leaned forward to bring their lips together but was interrupted at once when he finally noticed the little pixie Christine was still clutching in her arms. He immediately withdrew from her…

"I'm coming with you," he stated.

"What?"

"It is far too dark and too late for a little girl and a beautiful young woman to be out alone… remember, this is the night freaks can wander amongst the good. I'm coming with you," he said again, taking her free arm and walking down the drive with her, leaving no room for complaint.

After a while, Christine put Laura down so that she could walk by herself but kept their hands joined… just as her other was joined with Erik's. Erik felt oddly like he and Christine were father and mother to the child walking with them – it was a strange thought to him… but not an entirely unwelcome one. Whenever they went to the houses to get sweets, Erik hung back to watch as people gave the darling young woman and the little child such sincere smiles and then bestowed upon them that for which they had come.

He was fascinated by how motherly Christine acted towards her young charge… she was so loving and caring towards the child even though she was not her own. He found himself thinking that she would make a wonderful mother one day and that he would like to be around when she became one… hopefully playing an active role in making her one rather than just watching from a distance…

Christine and Laura seemed to be doing well… both of them had almost filled their bags as all of the people in the street seemed to be very generous and liked the children coming around…

Most of them anyway…

"Trick or treat?" Laura squealed happily to the man who opened the door.

He, however, was more interested in the young beauty holding her hand…

"Tell me, darling, how much would I have to pay for one of your tricks… that would certainly be a treat, I can tell you… and I'd enjoy it too," he said to Christine, laughing at his own joke.

She was appalled and pulled Laura back, moving quickly down his drive towards the pavement and the large row of trees which she knew Erik would be standing on the other side of. However, the man would not be turned down so easily and he caught hold of her shoulder, turning her back towards him. That did not go down well with Erik…

"Hey, not so fast… what's the rush, hmm? I can show you a good time, doll," the man said, unaware that a livid Erik was approaching him silently from behind. The man was only vaguely more aware as Erik's hands turned him around and grasped tightly to his neck.

Christine immediately spun away from them with Laura and held her so that she could not see what was happening as Erik gradually tightened his hands in anger, lowering the man to the ground as he choked him. "The minute you developed your sick intentions towards my angel, you made a bloody grave mistake," Erik spat. "And now… you are going to find out what it means to regret…"

It was many minutes later when Erik had potentially done the man a great deal of damage that Christine finally recovered herself enough to plead with Erik to stop. "Please, Erik, let's just go… I can't let Laura see this."

"He had every intention of using you for his own pleasure… whether or not you agreed to that was purely trivial to him. And you were never his to touch… you are mine and no one else's!" Erik hissed.

Christine could see that he seemed to be in some sort of fury-induced trance as he hurt the man more and so she moved over to him warily, kneeling down uneasily next to them. She placed her free hand against his lower chest andstroked soothingly. "Yes, I'm yours," she whispered, getting his attention. "And I want you to take me back home where we can be together…" She moved her hand up and grasped his chin, pulling him into a desperate kiss to try to convince him. When she pulled back, he looked into her eyes briefly before moving to taste her again as he let go of the now unconscious bastard lying in front of them in his own front garden. When Christine was satisfied that she had persuaded him enough to take them home, she pulled back again and stood up with him.

Thankfully, it did not take them long to get home and Christine stopped them just before they went back in. "How could you do that, Erik?" she asked. "You were practically unaware of what you were doing…"

"It is amazing what one can do when one could never look at their face in the mirror, anyway…" he sighed. "I would do anything to protect my angel… never underestimate me." And he walked passed her into the house, pulling her along by the hand behind him.

Much later as Erik and Christine sat in the lounge quietly, thinking about having to go back to school the next day, Erik remembered what he had been meaning to ask Christine… the whole fiasco with the man who had gotten too friendly with his angel had made it slip his mind.

"Christine?" he said as he hesitantly moved towards her. "Guy Fawkes Night is on Saturday… I know that the school will be having fireworks and things… If you are not going with anyone else… perhaps you would go with me…"

Christine looked up at him from the chair she was sitting in… he was positively the opposite of the person he'd been when that man had grabbed her… he was no less than timid now. "I would love to go with you, Erik," she said honestly.

He seemed relieved as he rushed away for no apparent reason, returning moments later with a box in hand. "This is for you," he said, placing it in her lap as he knelt at her feet.

She opened the box unhurriedly and removed the top layer of tissue paper to find a beautiful dress beneath. It was a wonderful shade of blue that he had instantly thought she would look marvellous in and she, herself, thought it was stunning as she stood up with it, the box falling unheeded to the floor as she pressed it against herself. "Oh, Erik, it's gorgeous…"

He was pleased that she liked it and even more pleased that she would be wearing it for him in less than a week. Hopefully, he thought, it would be the right time to initiate a kiss with her then…

© Copyright of CrawfordsBiscuits, October 2005

So, an in-between chapter then which I'm not terribly happy with… but do not worry for there is more plot in the next one.