Authors Notes: Yeah this one was a feels chapter. Percy does a whole lot a wah wah in it. Poor guy.

Which is Colder?

Drabble 3

Part 2

Percy looked up when he heard the double doors open. He didn't move; much less speak which allowed for the boy to speak. Peter looked at his Lord and sighed. "You stepped into it today didn't you Sir?" He asked.

"What do you mean Peter? Speak quickly; I am not in the mood for riddles." Percy looked back down at his daughters hand writing. By the end of the night Robert was crying his eyes out apologizing to his father for his sister's disappearance.

"Eve sir. She's at my house crying her eyes out saying you don't love her. Didn't even give her a chance she said sir." He said and walked forward to look at Percy squarely. "If I weren't a proper servant to her, I would have popped you full on the mouth sir!" He said. Percy stood up to his full height looking down at the boy. Peter instantly thought he was about to be struck. But what he actually got was a soft smile.

"I'd expect no less of you Peter. I'd deserve it." Percy put his head against the glass of the French doors. The snow still fell down on the other side.

"Then her fingers sir…they were purple and green. I had to fetch a bucket of snow so she could soak her poor fingers in it. They was bleeding a bit too sir." He looked at the man he respected. He never thought Percy would have ever hit his daughter…ever. As a matter of fact he had never heard of Percy ever hitting her ever. He knew Percy had sat her down and talked things out with her. But since Percy got back from Paris a few weeks ago, he had lost one of his rescues. He meant to save 58 people from a caravan bound from Golden to Paris…and only 32 people made it. How was he to know they had orders to shoot the people…rather then he and his men.

Percy looked at his daughters Man servant and was about to speak when Peter put up his hands.

"No…she's asleep and she'll stay that way till she wakes up. She'll wake up and start to cry again. I know her…she's got a soft heart, and you're her hero sir. If she thinks your angry with her, she'll cry for days." Peter said and looked up when his father brought in some tea. Viktor looked amazed that his son was there at all. He was off today it was Tuesday. Eve always let him off on Tuesdays.

"I need to see her…please. Tomorrow then?" Percy asked. Peter wanted to say yes to the man in front of him. He really wanted them to get along again. There was nothing better than seeing Eve and Percy joking around, and on occasions horse playing in the garden. He had to wash out grass stains at least five times a week because of it. Especially now that Robert was joining in on the fray.

"Sir…if she feels well enough to, then I'll allow it, but…right now she needs to work things out." Peter said and looked at Viktor who walked over to his son. "But just so you know…and this is to tell you the full extent of the injuries she's sustained to her fingers." Peter said, this caused Percy's heart to leap from its place and get stuck in his throat. "I had to relocate her ring finger." He said.

"Yes…I think brandy will be needed tonight…I don't think tea is going to cut it. Maybe whiskey…" Viktor said. Percy seemed rooted to the spot, he wasn't able to move, he couldn't catch his breath, his heart was beating so fast. He didn't realize he had been standing in that same spot for nearly an hour.

"Might want to move from that spot…before I have to call out the long boats to save you from that ocean your creating." Viktor said. He thrust the whiskey into Percy's hand as he noticed he was crying so much that his face was wet, and his cravat was drenched.

"Sir…its natural to get angry every so often. Even the Prince of control can't keep it together forever." Viktor said and pulled off Percy's cravat and rung it out. It wasn't as drenched as he had thought.

Percy made a strangled noise he dropped the glass which shattered to the ground as he walked forward and put his forehead against the glass. Viktor patted the man's back as a fresh bout of tears took the formers place.

"Come on man pull yourself together. She's a child, and a woman. They can take a pain worse then death, then they can take a bit of a spanking sir." Viktor said and jumped when Percy opened the French doors and looked out over the white garden.

"I hurt her…without any reason. No reason…my son lied, and I believed him over her. No reason…and I broke her finger." He said running his fingers over his face and sat down in the cold wet snow.

A few hours into the morning.

Percy had fallen asleep on the sofa next to the fire. He had cried himself to sleep, and Viktor had covered him up with a soft blanket. He jumped out of his sleep when he heard the French doors open softly. He heard soft bare feet on the floor. He slowly raised himself off the sofa to see who it was. He was actually expecting it to be Marguerite, but he saw hay colored hair rather then brown hair that was his wives hair. It drifted down her back in a soft wave. Which was different in itself. He hardly ever seen it down. She normally kept it in a braid around her head. Almost like a golden halo.

The dress she was wearing was dirty, and soaked. He jumped up and ran over to her. She gasped and backed away from the man who seemed over energetic for someone whom just woke up.

"Eve?" Percy asked and held out his hands. Her eyes swiveled to that of the leather strap still on his belt. She looked away and hid her hands behind her back. "I'm not going to hurt you. Please…" He said stepping forward.

"You hurt me…" She said swallowing back the new bout of tears. She actually had came back home to grab some clothing cause she didn't have any time to do so with the fear coursing through her the night before.

Percy looked down at his own hands and then seen the leather strap on his belt. He pulled the strap loose. He caught onto Eves cringe; he threw it into the fire which was maintained all night because he was in the room.

Eve opened her eyes to see him throw the strap in. She felt the gentle embrace before she saw her father's arms in circle her and hold her tightly. She buried her face in her father's shirt which was mostly unbuttoned and hung loosely also half out of his pants. Probably all done in his sleep.

"I'm sorry Eve…I really really am."

"He is…the poor bastard was crying all night and fell asleep crying too. I'm sure the bastard was crying in his sleep too." Viktor said bringing in breakfast.

"Crying…Papa was crying?" She asked looking up into her fathers eyes. She could see the heart ache in them, from how red they were.

"I thought you didn't love me anymore…I thought you had stopped after you said you didn't trust me anymore. Because you can't have love if you don't trust…right?" She asked having heard such a thing told to Robert after a few lectures to the young man after he blurted a few things out before.

"Yes…yes your right. I can't love if I don't trust. I think I let my anger get the better of me because I was scared. If something were to happen to either you or your brother…Id be lost." Percy said and sat down on the sofa. He patted the place beside him. He looked up expecting Eve to start eating first. It was after all the more polite of the things. Eve however didn't move, as a matter of fact…her hands were still behind her back.

"Eve?" Percy asked and looked up with Viktor stepped forward and held out his hands.

"Lets see then." He said pulling the girls hands from behind her back without her permission. Percy's eyes grew wide as he saw the damage to them.

"Percy you did do a number on them didn't you. What did you use? A switch?" He asked. Percy looked at Eve who quietly pulled her hands from Viktors old ones.

"I'm fine…it'll heal." She said and looked up at her father whose hands were covering his face.

This was her father, the one who hides his emotions so well, so much better then anyone she had ever known. The man in tears before her was a man full of despair. This man that had such control over himself, the man who lost control over his love and fear…was loosing control over her soft little hands. He leaned forward picking her fingers up from her lap and pressed his lips to each finger, each scratch, each bruise before turning them over and doing it again.

"Eve I'm so sorry." He said running his fingers over his tear stained face.

"Don't…don't cry Papa." She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. She never wanted to see him like this, never again. "You love me right?" She asked kissing the tears from his cheeks before looking into those baby blue eyes.

"Yes…I never stopped. I was just angry." He said and jumped when he heard the doors open and Peter came in.

"Good now that you got that taken care of…go to bed. She didn't sleep at all last night." Peter said shooing Eve and Percy out of the lobby.

When Lady Blakeney woke up herself she walked into Eves room to see Eve asleep in her bed and Percy stretched out over her, his hands surrounding the small wounded fingers of his daughter.