AN: I don't know if I can ever sufficiently acknowledge and thank Charlaine Harris for her lovely stories. These characters belong to her. I won't say it again.

This chapter is finally EPOV. The Viking.

Reykjavik, Iceland c. 1974

Part 1 Reflections

The flight on Icelandair has been very bumpy over the Atlantic. Eric does not want to think too closely about the contents of his stomach. The flight attendant is dressed warmly and very conservatively. She stops the cart in consternation by his first-class seat after collecting bottles and cups. The beautiful young man with the long ice-blond hair dressed in a dark plaid work shirt and jeans looks very pale. She offers him a beverage of his choice and some aspirin.

"Just a ginger ale will serve."

Eric's face is devoid of expression as the drink is placed on his tray table. The ginger ale might help. Redirecting his thoughts to the details of the expedition might help as well.

The main arm of the team studying the glaciers had arrived earlier in the month and set up camp outside the small town of Hohn in south-east Iceland. It would provide the support needed for the joint Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NAU teams studying the geology of the area and the presence of volcanoes under the glaciers.

Eric had been interested in glaciers at a very early age. It is a realization of his life-long dream to be working on a geological survey team mapping volcanic activity effects on movement of the several glacier tongue equilibrium lines for Vatnajokull. It is the second largest glacier on Planet Earth. Changes in the glacier not only affected the power that supplied electricity to Iceland, but reflected climatic changes of a global nature. It is an important survey that has been in progress for more than a decade and appeared to be well-funded into the next decade.

Eric feels again deep satisfaction that he had been only one of three graduate students offered a position that year. That satisfaction evaporates when he reminds himself that Selah Thieriot will also be part of the team. 'Am I never to shake her?' .

He had met Selah when he and Sven started freshman year at Stanford. She was a heartbreakingly beautiful girl with rich brown hair and an implausible figure for one so slight. She sported a larger-than-life personality to match the physical assets. But it was her obvious academic talents that immediately made her a campus leader. She was impossible to miss in any setting.

Eric was not surprised when she finally noticed Sven midway through their second year. She pursued Sven for three months before he capitulated to her advances. Sven himself was a high profile student, admired not only for his sports acumen, particularly on the tennis courts, but also for his exceptional oratorical skill and physical presence. He was destined to be a leader.

College was the culmination of several decades of careful cultivation of their bloodlines. Eric and Sven had enjoyed a privileged childhood and attended premier educational institutions throughout their lives. Their paternal great-great-grandfather was a lower-ranking founding member of the Church. Much of their family wealth derived from original ownership of the Salt Lake and Phoenix areas' former farm-and-ranch lands now incorporated into cities and passed down the generations. Their mother's family was simply wealthy. Her grandparents had owned several ranches in Colorado and Utah that had been purchased by land developers for ski resorts. It was a recipe for money, and a lot of it.

Eric growls involuntarily. If only Sven had behaved himself, the golden pair could have remained the campus "it" couple. The two of them would be married by now and living in splendor in a house in Atherton. He would have been left alone to pursue his research plans. All of it was lost to Sven now. Selah had discovered that within ten months of taking up with her, he had begun regularly visiting a male stripper living in the Tenderloin district. Selah might have forgiven him in private, but the rival newspaper in San Jose had picked-up the story. It then had spread to regional papers all over the West, due to the profile of both families

The visibility of the Nordmons in the L.D.S. community just gave the story the 'legs' it needed. Selah not only dumped Sven, but in retaliation had attached herself like a leech to Eric. Sven professed not to care, but Eric was never sure if in fact Sven's heart might not have been broken by Selah's rejection and immediate pursuit of his twin. Whatever the truth might have been, Eric eventually had succumbed to Selah's attentions. He was flattered by her interest and seduced by her beauty. Sven had left Stanford the term after the break-up, transferring to UCLA to obtain a degree in business. Selah kept popping up in the same classes as Eric, even declaring a major in geology. It was impossible to avoid her.

In vivid detail, Eric replays the night he had slipped-up. It was a department party given by the Chair at his house in Menlo Park.

Selah had found him at the party, wandering through the barns and admiring the horses kept for the professor's daughters.

"Eric, let's climb up in the loft. I have some vodka and OJ I lifted from their pantry. I've been told the view is incredible over the coastal hills this time of year", she had said.

He had wanted to see the view, he told himself. He saw much more than that. He admitted later that Selah had set-out specially to win him that night. Before he could really protest, she had begun kissing him, eventually removing his jeans to begin her very talented ministrations to his member. She had gasped with pleasure when she found he was comparable in size to Sven.

"I always suspected you two were identical in every important respect." She had said with a salacious smile before taking him in her mouth. He thought fleetingly of Sven, but allowed her to continue.

After than evening, which went a lot further than just a little blowjob between friends, Selah assumed they were a couple. She informed everyone that she and Eric were involved in a long-term relationship and hinted around she expected Eric would propose before they graduated. It was difficult to continue protesting when he was being congratulated by all his friends. Eric reasoned with himself that he would break it off before they graduated. He had, believing himself free of her. Unexpectedly, she had applied and been accepted into the same graduate program at N.A.U. where he was headed. It seemed fated.

Unbidden, images of the delicious young blonde girl he had seen again last summer for a few day interrupt his thoughts. He still nourishes a wild hope that perhaps she has followed-through on her plan to study the wolf counts in Iceland this summer. If so, he might easily run into her. It was not a large country and the various research teams scattered around the glacier-rich countryside would congregate in Reykjavik when they needed down time. He remembers the feel of her generous naked breasts, her hot wet core, totally open to him as she abandoned herself to his tongue. He sees her writhing beneath him once again and relives the sweet moaning she made as he licked between her legs, tasting her unique earthy juices. That familiar ache deep in his bowels starts up again; it is an ache that Selah could never make go away. He hates that he still has feelings for Sookie. He isn't comfortable having feelings. Memories of her have continued to torment him throughout the year. It is affecting his concentration.

Once again, he asks himself, "Why had she surrendered to him and then rejected him?" He has gone back and forth on this question so many, many times. No one can help him. He'd once placed a call to her mom Pam's home phone. He had hung up before the phone was answered.

He reviews for the thousandth time the events that had led to Sven bursting into the room and Eric losing his temper. If only he had reacted rationally. If he had not goaded Sven into further liberties by his actions it could all have ended in some laughter and apologies. Instead, Eric had felt himself swept away in a massive explosion of possessive anger. She was his! The intensity of it had so startled him that he found himself beating on his brother over a girl.

But what a girl!

Eric is jostled by his fellow passenger. It is time to exit the plane. Reykjavik Airport is well illuminated with English signage. He is able to gather his luggage and pick up a car for the drive to Hohn and his lodgings with minimal effort.

Part 2 Summer

The next day dawns sunny and relatively warm. Eric is pulled from a deep sleep by an insistent knocking on his hotel door. It is Selah, come to welcome him. She walks over to him and wraps her arms around him. She looks as beautiful as ever in a dark red jacket and tight jeans with knee-length boots. They have not been intimate since he had broken it off last year, but she refuses to believe he isn't interested any longer.

"Hi boyfriend. Did you remember to bring the dope?" she asks.

Eric's growing dependence on getting stoned this last year has been threatening his ability to complete his course assignments. He has been very moody and knows Selah thinks it is because of her.

Before she left early with the main team, she warned him against taking too much dope on the plane if he doesn't want to be arrested like John Lennon. He had ignored her, and now happily pulls several bags of grass from one of his duffle bags.

"Let's light up." They quickly settle down on his bed, passing the joint back and forth in a comfortable silence. While Eric's thoughts are drifting, Selah unzips her jacket and is wearing nothing underneath.

"Your room is boiling, boyfriend, and you've see it all before." She grins and turns so he can get a better look at her breasts. He has always had a boob fixation, and he cannot pretend he doesn't enjoy the view.

He is about to insist she pull her top back on when she unexpectedly wraps her arms around his neck, pushing her breasts against the thin material of his gray-blue Henley so he can feel her pert little nipples. When he doesn't actually push her away, she begins lightly kissing his neck, and is soon running her lips over his, trailing her fingers inside his shirt. He had only pulled it on to answer the door. He knows she knows he sleeps naked as his temperature gauge seems to always run hot.

He feels the usual morning stirrings, but today he lacks the energy to continue to resist her when his body is betraying him, telling him 'yes'.

He makes love with Selah. They become a couple again, at least appearing so to all the researchers and some of the locals in Hohn. She moves her bags and equipment into his room. The two of them become a recognizable team, one dark and slight, the other fair and towering, heads together over equipment or reams of paper, bodies molded shoulder-to-shoulder.

Eric has had to admit that no one else in his experience can match her abilities at data collection, compilation and analysis. She lacks the vision for interpretation of results within the broader framework, but as a technician she makes for a great asset. She also seems to thrive on the grubbiness of the work in spite of her equally privileged background. He settles into a routine with Selah. Thoughts of Sookie, who does not appear in Iceland that summer, fade away. The summer passes quickly and they return to Flagstaff together.

Part 3 Autumn

Eric has been back in Flagstaff for about six weeks. It is cruel, but the convenience of having Selah around for both sex and companionship seems less necessary. He is working up the nerve to call off their relationship when he gets what he later would characterize as "The Call." The contraception methods they used that summer had failed. Selah is pregnant.

He's stunned. In desperation over what course of action is best, he leaves an urgent message at home for his dad to get in touch with him immediately. He needs to ask his advice; he does not love Selah but does have some affection for her. His dad, knowing it would be an advantageous marriage for his son both professionally and personally, gives him his blessing to proceed. Eric proposes to Selah, much to her delight and his chagrin. In doing so, he pulls the trigger on what will blow up into a grand social event propelled by her family. He isn't comfortable during the lead-up to the day, but is scheduled to return in the late fall to Hohn to confirm some results and keeps busy with his preparations. Selah will not be joining him as she has been having some minor physical problems with the pregnancy.

Sven declines to attend the wedding. He gives Eric an excuse about being in London for an important merger for his firm. Eric regrets the absence of his brother. Sitting in the church's ready room for the groom, he feels an irrational urge to review with Sven one last time that terse little note that had dashed his well-constructed plans more than a year ago. It was a handwritten note on pink paper stuck in the front door of his grandparent's house. He had opened the door, intent on heading out early to her parent's house so he could be there when she and her mom arose. He would apologize and reclaim what he felt was his, namely her affection and regard. Instead, that innocent-looking folded sheet of paper that had changed so much had dropped at his feet. He bent to collect it, taking it for a crush note she had left for him. After he had read it over several times in disbelief, he had woken Sven to read it to him, looking for all possible interpretations. In the end, he and Sven had agreed it could have only one meaning. They had packed up and left early for the return trip to Salt Lake, Eric silent and miserable in the front seat as Sven drove. But the note had been tucked in Eric's bag, later to be transferred to a favorite book he kept on a shelf in his childhood bedroom. It was the only thing he had from her.

The marriage proceeds as planned, with the understanding that a honeymoon is out of the question until after the birth. He leaves a week later and thus is not present when Selah ends up in the hospital, close to death. When she is released, his dad somehow manages to get a call through to the hotel. He learns he will not become a father after all. Quite possibly not ever. He feels only relief.

AN: What is going to happen when the now married Sookie sees Eric again? Well, confidentially, I can tell you it is going to be varrry interrresting.