Chapter 6 – Dry My Tears

You close my eyes
And soothe my ears
You heal my wounds
And dry my tears
On the inside of this marble house I grow
And the seeds I slow
Grow persistent too
[The Knife – Marble House]

After some time of excessive cleaning, Laura stood on one of the chairs around her dining table and surveyed the living room with her hands on her hips. She kept the apartment quite clean anyway, but it wasn't everyday routine, that a 1000++ year old vampire was visiting her. With his supernatural sight, he would certainly recognize every single speck of dust – so all she had to do was make sure there was none to see!

But that was easier said than done. With a mob in her hands, she had been running through the flat for nearly two hours now and it had brought her to one simple conclusion: a lot of space didn't only have advantages.

At first she had planned to just vacuum her place, but soon she realised that she just whirled the dust up and while she took care of the next room, the particles slowly started to trickle down to the floor in the previous one again. So basically she could have done her laps, vacuuming like a maniac throughout the day and still the dust would have won the upper hand.

But now, wiped spotlessly, the apartment looked pretty neat. In fact the floor was so speckless, that one could even have eaten off it – though she wouldn't recommend that, due to the cleaning agents she'd used …

Godric's True Blood, which she had bought in the afternoon as an 8-pack, was securely stowed in the fridge and a glance at the clock told her that the sun would be setting in about half an hour. So she had enough time to stack her stuff together for a last time (or rather to mold it into perfect shape) and even take a quick shower before he would show up.

Eric had decided to stay a few days longer than intended, to spend some more time with his maker. However, he would really be leaving today, because he needed to take care of his business again and that was why Godric would have plenty of time for her – now that he was released from his sheriff duties.

The Giant was severely worried about his maker – that was why she would be his eyes and ears while he was absent. He had called her two days ago and asked her to check on Godric and inform him about any deviation from his usual behaviour – whatever that may be – and he had actually requested her help this time and not demanded it, as he usually did. Needless to say, she had agreed to look out for his maker - after all she had planned to do so anyway.

Laura had spent the last couple of days mostly drawing a lot – but no matter which motive she actually originally had in mind, somehow Godric's face had always managed to creep onto the paper. From some of her sketches even Eric grinned up at her – but with the intense moments she had shared with the two vampires, she was not overly surprised about it.

It was just a bit embarrassing and that was the reason why she had shipped all the sketches of the past few days into a small binder. Said binder now built the foundation of one of her perfectly balanced stacks, where it was situated quite inaccessible and hence presumably safe.

Reassured by the fact that it would now be impossible for Godric to accidentally stumble upon one of her doodles, she made her way to the bathroom and hopped under the shower. Just as she creamed her body with shower gel, she heard a high-pitched noise, but shrugged it off as imagination. However, when she heard the same noise again, a few moments later, she realized that it had to be her bell.

If she would've only been a little more social, she'd already invited someone by now and recognized that it was her bell right away. Shit!

As if stung by an adder, she jumped out of the shower and quickly wrapped herself in the first towel she could grab. She didn't even take the time to rub herself dry, but stormed immediately into the hallway and tore the apartment door open in a rush. She stared at the spot in front of her entrance and where she found-... nothing.

Confused, she stuck her head out and looked left and right, but all she could see were the front doors of her neighbors and the staircase. The main entrance had to be still unlocked at this time of day, so where the hell was he?

"Godric?", her voice echoed questioningly through the building.

Damn it!

Had her ears really played tricks on her? Or was this even a new symptom of the tumor? The medics had told her that it could influence all her senses with time. Could she really no longer rely on her eyes and ears?

She was just about to slam the door shut behind her in an upset manner, as – in the last moment – Godric appeared out of nowhere, standing perfectly relaxed in front of her.

His skin was pale as ever and foolishly reminded her of porcelain, but this feature emphasised his attentive eyes all the more. The hint of a smile played around his mouth as he laid eyes on her and gave her an appreciative nod.

"Pardon me, if I am too early," his soothing voice reached her ears and she noticed that he examined her with a slightly irritated look, "I can come back later..."

Obviously her attire confused him. Welcoming a vampire soaking wet and clothed in just a towel had never been her plan, but Godric's delightfully puzzled face caused her to consider making it a habit.

"No, no, no! Please feel free to come in, Godric – I obviously lost track of time!"

She stepped aside to let the oldest person she would probably ever meet, enter her residence. He looked around carefully and seemed to memorize even the minutest detail. Good thing she had cleaned up...

"Very tidy..." he stated, as he stepped into the living room and looked around extensively. "May I?" He asked, pointing to the silk-covered sofa in the center. It was Biedermeier-style, as well as the chairs that stood beside it around the couch table. The fabric had a sunflower yellow color with light orange plants woven into it and the armrests and feet of each piece of furniture were of dark wood and carved skillfully.

Laura just nodded wordlessly and padded, still wet, to the fridge. The open kitchen-area was integrated into the living room and just separated through a bar-like unit. Also made of dark wood, but quite new and kept in a modern style, it contrasted with the couch area. This new-beside-old pattern ran like a red thread throughout the apartment – new bright wooded, extendable dining table, surrounded by old, cushioned chairs – old and heavy writing desk but a new quite filigree looking bookshelf beside it -...

"What blood type would you like to drink?", she asked, as she inspected the 8-pack she had withdrawn from the fridge in more detail, "I have bought a various-pack, because I forgot to ask you, which one you prefer."

She glanced over the bottleneck in her hand into his direction and spotted the usual, inscrutable look on Godric's face. „You would not have needed to do that", he told her in a low voice, as he averted his gaze and seemed to survey the pile of books and magazines on the table before him, „I do not require much blood any more."

„I know that I didn't have to, but it's the right thing to do as your host", she replied stubbornly, but continued in a softer voice, looking him over with a slightly concerned expression, „And even if you don't need it, it wouldn't hurt to drink some, would it? We humans wouldn't need to eat every day either, still we usually enjoy at least two meals a day, most of the ones who can afford it, even three or more."

His eyes darted into her direction again and examined her blatantly. "Have you already had your two meals today?"

The dryness of his voice almost made her gulp, but she resisted the urge to moisten her throat and coughed slightly instead. "Just breakfast", she confessed honestly and withstood his piercing glare, "My headache got worse in the late afternoon so I took some analgesics, which work faster on an empty stomach but unfortunately make me queasy. "

His attention roamed back to the pile in front of him and he seemed deep in thought as his hand wiped carefully over the leather cover of the book on top. It was the tickler with blank sheets, she used to write her favorite song texts into. Each double page held neatly written lyrics and some doodles based on the content of the song.

She sighed, a bit frustrated about the lack of attention he paid to her. „If you don't tell me which one you'd like to have near-term, I'll just take the next best", she informed him dryly and turned around to open the microwave, emphasizing her intention, „And I'm surely not going to drink it – mind you!"

She first heard him chuckle and next the distinct sound, the springs of the old sofa caused whenever someone stood up, caught her attention. But before she could turn her head to look what Godric was up to, he was standing beside her and inspected the True Bloods. His finger tipped onto each crown cap, as if he'd dither between them.

„0+ it is then", he sighed, grabbed said bottle, opened it and put it into the microwave. After he had pressed the ‚Start'-button, he leant back against the kitchen unit beside her, with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

„Huh", was all she said about it and her voice probably sounded a bit surprised.

„What?", the young looking vampire inquired with an amused but questioning gaze, while he waited for his drink to warm up.

„It's nothing. Patrick just told me once, that one of these silly vampire-knowing magazines wrote, that you'd favor rare blood types, such as B- or AB-", she explained with a huge grin on her face, „I'll really enjoy rubbing it in that all this info was crap!"

Godric just stood there like an ice statue and glanced wryly at her, as if he knew something she didn't. However, just as she wanted to ask him what it was about, the microwave peeped, informing them that his blood was ready.

She quickly bent forward to open the device and withdrew the body-warm bottle. Curious, she sniffed at the red liquid, but grimaced when the metallic odor hit her. She heard Godric chuckle slightly, while she closed the door of the microwave again and stretched for a glass in one of the upper shelves. Just as she turned to hand both – bottle and glass – to Godric, she felt the towel covering her body loosen!

She would have let everything drop to the floor, just to spare herself the embarrassment of standing completely bare before the vampire she adored so much.

But it wasn't necessary.

Before she could have even thought of dropping anything, a hand had dashed forward and grabbed the towel at the position, where one corner was about to slip out: directly above her breasts.

Needless to say, that this swift hand certainly hadn't been her own.

Shocked, she observed how his gaze slowly roamed upwards from her décolleté, until he met hers. While the fingers of one of his hands were still wrapped around the towel, holding it in the position it had so dutifully maintained until of late, the ones of the other closed tightly around the bottle in her right hand, casually brushing hers.

It took her a few moments to realize that she was able to grab the towel herself, now that one of her hands was free and she blushed deeply, while she took hold of it. Godric let go within the same second and divested the glass of her other hand too.

„Forgive me, if I have crossed a line", he whispered, still capturing her gaze and only now she became aware of how close he was. With still pretty hot cheeks she shook her head vigorously. „I'm glad you reacted! It would have been quite embarrassing otherwise …"

„I strongly doubt that", he muttered and she could have sworn, she had caught a glimpse of a smirk, before he turned to head towards the sofa again. Shrugging to herself, she followed him and watched as he took a seat in the exact same spot he had been in a few minutes ago. Carefully he placed the glass on the couch table and turned his head into her direction with a questioning expression on his face.

„Do you mind if I drink it directly from the bottle?", he asked politely and glanced at the glass in front of him again, „Most humans can not cope with the aspect of blood, even less with someone drinking it. Moreover, it would cool down much faster than in the heated flask."

„Feel free", she just laughed and approached his side. „Excuse me for a few moments – I'll just flit into the bathroom. It's high time I put some proper clothes on – to prevent another potential mishap. Make yourself at home", she informed him with a wink and without taking the time to wait for his reply, she darted out of the room and headed to the bath.

She was about to start shivering and she didn't intend to let Godric witness that. When she had closed the bathroom door behind her, she finally rubbed her freezing body dry, which fortunately also stimulated her blood circulation. It wasn't surprising, that she hadn't felt the cold until just a few moments ago, with the analgesics she had swallowed today. It was alarming how numb she still was, but she was glad that at least her mind was unclouded.

She was dry and dressed in her usual blouse & skirt outfit in no time and took the liberty of taming her unruly hair a bit. The damp of the shower had curled it irregularly, so she unceremoniously tied it to a Dutch braid with her practiced fingers.

After a short glance into the mirror, she decided to also apply a brown eyeliner. She wanted to be at least reasonably presentable when she returned to the living room, but she didn't mean to exaggerate it – and black eyeliner tended to do that.

When she returned to the living room, she stopped in the door frame for a few moments. Godric was flipping through her leather bound notebook, obviously intently studying its content.

"Do you plan to stand there for the rest of the night?", he asked her with a chuckle and lifted his head to look at her. The book in his hands was closed and sat on the pile again within the blink of an eye and while Laura approached him slowly, he politely stood up. As gentlemen were a scarce species in her age, she was not used to such a behavior and blushed lightly. If he had worn a hat, she assumed he would have removed it too.

"You look lovely, Laura", he remarked as she had reached his side. She just muttered an embarrassed "thanks" and blushed again, while they sat down beside each other.

„You didn't get very far", she noted, to draw his attention to something else and gestured to the still almost full bottle on the couch table, „Is it as disgusting as it smells?"

He smiled tiredly at her, grabbed the certainly already cold True Blood and choked a few gulps of the red liquid down halfheartedly. „It does not exactly taste like real blood, but it serves its purpose", he told her honestly, after he had placed the bottle on the table again. The poker face he wore didn't show the slightest hint of how much its taste really differed from the real thing, but she assumed it was much worse than he let her know.

„When was the last time you drank real blood – if it's not a too personal question to ask", she wanted to know and examined his reaction intently. He closed his eyes and leant his torso back against the orange cushions she had placed onto the couch for more comfort. Only when the silence in the room slowly started to make her feel uneasy, he began to talk.

„It is fine, Little One. Feel free to ask whatever you want to know about me", he told her in a smooth voice, with his eyes still closed, „But know, that I will require an answer in return, for each question I respond to."

She just nodded a bit baffled and managed to voice an „It's noted" when she realized that he couldn't see her. The hint of a smile played around the corners of his mouth, when he laid his head back against the backrest and opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling.

„The last time I tasted human blood, was before the 'Great Revelation'", he told her matter-of-factly, while he seemed to examine the stucco on the ceiling. Her mouth opened involuntarily at this statement, but as soon as she noticed it, she quickly shut it again. She must have looked awkward – good thing the plafond was more interesting than her face …

„That was more than four years ago!", she exclaimed and eyed him with a raised brow, „You're sure you didn't slip up?" She had placed her legs Indian style on the couch and was turned in his direction to better observe his sparse reactions.

The small smile he had worn on his face morphed into a smirk and while his eyes were still glued to the ceiling, his hand rose to show her two poised fingers.

„That would be your second question", he declared and turned his head to look into her face, „And therefore a second question you will have to answer me."

„So we're bargaining for answers now?", she asked in amusement and shook her head disbelievingly, „Well, so be it!"

He simply nodded and let his gaze roam to the True Blood bottle in front of him. „I am sure – in fact, it have been almost five years", he told her and leant forward to let his finger dance upon the glass of the bottle, „And to spare you another question: It has been at least twenty years, since I drank from the source the last time..."

„So you lived off canned food so to say", she stated dryly and watched as his fingers smoothly moved over the True Blood emblem. She wasn't really surprised by his statement. On the contrary – now it actually started to make sense. He really had to hate what he was for quite some time now, to live that way for so many years. She wondered if Eric knew...

„Well I'm all ears", she deadpanned to ease the atmosphere a bit, „What's your first question to me?"

She watched as he stopped his movements and leant back against the cushion once more, with his head slightly turned in her direction. He surveyed her intently before he put his question into words.

„Why did you choose to live here – all alone?"

His expression was stern and his quizzical eyes seemed to pierce themselves into her. She sighed heavily and averted her gaze.

„Mostly because my parents have a lot of practice making me do things I never wanted to do", she answered in a whisper and stood up after a few moments of silence had passed. She shortly glanced at Godric, whose expression was still the same and turned to walk to the kitchen area.

„I had dedicated most of my life to please them", she continued while she filled herself a glass of water and her voice cracked at her next words. „I miss them a lot since I decided to live here – but it's necessary to keep a distance between us. I fear I'll fall back into old patterns if I don't..."

She hastily rubbed the bothersome tear away, she hadn't been able to hold back, while she still stood in front of the kitchen sink. It wasn't polite of her to talk with her back turned towards her dialogue partner, but she wasn't sure if there weren't more tears waiting to escape her eyes.

And it was embarrassing and pathetic enough, while he couldn't directly see her crying. She had chosen to live here! But still it felt as if slowly etching acid was eating a hole into her chest, every time she thought about her parents.

Both of them refused to answer her calls, since she had decided to leave for Dallas. She hadn't talked to them for almost two months now …

„But as I already told you, my Gran supports me a lot", she continued to explain, after she had taken a gulp of water to calm her voice a bit, „She doesn't only provide this apartment, but also sponsors me..."

She tried to think of her Gran to distract her thoughts and improve her mood, but it didn't really work. They always turned back to pictures of her parents, eating dinner with her or playing board games...

„Your Grandmother seems to be a very generous person", she heard Godric say and immediately covered her face, when she realized he was standing right behind her. "Forgive me for reminding you of events that seem to hurt you …"

"You also talked about things, you didn't want to – we're even now", she muttered into her hands and nearly jumped as she felt his cool hand, stroking soothingly over her back in circular movements.

It had been such a long time since someone had touched her like that and it didn't help at all, that this particular person had been her mother. She bit on her bottom lip and shut her eyes tightly in order to hold the tears back that were about to slip over her cheeks, but it was in vain.

She silently stood there, grabbing a hold of the sink with one of her hands, as if it would keep her from drowning. Her other hand still covered her eyes while she silently cried until she had no tears left to spill.

All the while Godric hadn't left her side and continued to comfort her with his caring touches. Not a single word had left his lips, as if he exactly knew he wouldn't be able to ease her pain with anything he said.

When she'd finally calmed down, she excused herself for a few moments to freshen herself up. By the time she returned to the living room, her eyes were still a bit red, but almost back to normal. Godric was sitting in his spot on the couch again, but stood up once more, as soon as she entered the room. When she had reached his side, she recognized that he obviously had finished his True Blood.

„Thank you", she whispered, as she picked it up and strode to the waste bin in the kitchen, where she disposed of it. „What would you have to thank me for?", he asked in confusion and eyed her questioningly, while she returned back to the couch.

„For drinking it. It gives me the impression, that you at least try...", she answered in a low voice and smiled halfheartedly at him. „And for comforting this tear-stained mess I've been..."

„You are welcome", he simply stated with a slight smile and grazed over the back of the notebook on top of the pile again, before he lifted it up and carefully flipped through the pages. His face didn't give the slightest hint away of what was going on in this beautiful head of his, but the faint smile still playing around his lips eased her worries a bit.

„I have to acknowledge that you are gifted in many ways, Laura Freeman", he stated, as he stopped at a page and brushed tenderly over its surface. She blushed at his statement, but didn't bother to hide it and stretched to get a glimpse of the writings he was so particularly fond of. When she saw a sparrow resting on the earth near the root of an Oak Tree she knew exactly which song-text he was reading at the moment.

„I'm not that much of a writer – these are just a few of my favorite lyrics, I didn't compose them!", she explained while she closed in on him, to have a better look at the pages.

„I know", he told her patiently and turned his head to eye her with this much too familiar, inscrutable look on his face, „You sang it the night we met."

„You recognized it?", she asked in surprise and couldn't help but smile.

„If I remember correctly, the composers are named 'Simon & Garfunkel'?", he continued but the hint of a question was audible. She nodded in affirmation, still smiling brightly and gestured to the book in his hands. „May I?"

He wordlessly handed it to her and watched as she flitted to another page. „You remember this one too?", she asked and showed him a scene somewhere in the desert, with a rattlesnake and bones in the background and a flower in the front, slowly withering.

„Yes, 'Far from any road'", he answered and chuckled slightly, „You played it when you finally realized I was listening to you. I also recognized these -"

His subtle fingers flipped the pages and showed her one song after the other, until he stopped at a blank sheet. „- but I could not find 'Bowl of oranges'"

His voice had sounded a bit disappointed and his inquisitive eyes seemed to look for an answer. She closed the book carefully and put it back on top of the pile, before she turned to look at him again. „Well, I wasn't sure how to do justice to this great song. It's one of my all-time-favorites, but I just can't find any motives that would fit..."

„I understand", he replied with a knowing smile and leant back against the couch again, "A simple bowl with oranges would be insufficient."

„Did you already know these titles?", she asked curiously, as she couldn't hold it back any longer, after a few moments of complete silence had passed. A smile grew on her face, when he shook his head and an unforeseen warmth spread in her chest, as she pictured this gentle vampire beside her, looking up the songs she had sung.

„I still have a question left", he reminded her after they had sat next to each other for a few minutes, enjoying the comfortable silence between them and she simply nodded, a bit weary, thinking of how his last one ended.

„Which tasks are standing on your list?"

She blushed madly at the thought of exposing her whole list to him and shook her head frantically. „That one is too personal", she managed to voice and averted her face.

„Not even a few scores? I do not need to know about every single one, just the next few you plan to accomplish", he told her in a calm voice, as he bent forward to position his elbows on his knees, resting on them.

His head was turned in her direction and his eyes examined her every move as if he was a predator and she were his prey. Well, in some way that probably were their true roles.

How she wished he would inspect the ceiling again...

"OK. But just a few!", she relented and sighed about her inability to deny him anything. "I think the next few would be 'Take a hot-air-balloon ride' – preferably at sunset or sunrise, 'Attend a ball or something similar' – because I didn't have a prom. My parents decided to teach me at home after my operation and forbade me to accompany Pat to his.

"Then 'See a few places in Europe' would also be something I'd like to accomplish soon – actually my Gran and I plan to do that in a few weeks, but we haven't set any particular date yet. She'll also sponsor the trip."

His expression turned from unfathomable to disgruntled at these last few sentences and stared at her with slight disbelief.

"So it is legit for you to accept your grandmother's money, but if I suggest to offer you mine, you are offended?", he asked dryly, but it was more of a statement. He had raised one of his brows and showed her an unfazed expression. "Hypocrite."

"Well, that's a bit harsh", she replied and a worried line emerged on her forehead, "She is family – I am her grandchild – for crying out loud! Why would you want to spend money on me anyway?"

He averted his gaze and eyed the floor instead, rubbing his temples in slow circles. "You also accepted Eric's gifts", he reminded her with a rough voice, as if he was offended. Could that have been the case?

"I intend to give them back – and replace the tights I ruined", she defended herself stubbornly, "I've already boxed everything up – ready to ship, as he wasn't bent on collecting it himself. This stubborn Giant just refuses to come out with his address!"

She watched the vampire beside her shake his head, but still simultaneously massaged his temples. "And what would he do with a red dress and jewelry?", he asked her in a humorless tone, "It definitely is not Pamela's style and he will certainly not wear it himself – for various reasons. So why would you want to send it back to him? He obviously has no use for it."

"Who is Pamela?"

"Do not try to change the subject!", he demanded in a harsh tone and started to quicken his circling movements. "Your stubbornness causes me headaches. I did not have any since Eric finally fathomed what it connoted to stay unnoticed..."

"I'm not used to receiving gifts", she defended herself with a tiny voice and averted her gaze, biting down on her bottom lip, "And I don't really understand why it had to be such expensive ones. I mean, I'd understand it if he'd gifted me after the rooftop incident, but I received them beforehand! I don't-"

"I think you underestimate the bond between maker and progeny", Godric interrupted her and she turned to look at him again. His haunting eyes were directed at her face and the serious expression on his, nearly made her shudder.

"We have been companions for over a thousand years now. I have taught him how to survive, how to live. We have gone through the highs and lows of history together. We shared our meals and amusements. He has taught me how to trust, rely on and care for someone else.

"He knew, I had been... let's call it 'depressed' for the lack of a better fitting word – and he recognized that you had managed to lift my mood for once in decades. Eric and I had not been in touch for more than 60 years, but he appeared the night after I met you, demanding to know what or who had made me feel happy the night before. I told him your name, knowing – hoping – he would look for you sooner or later, because I knew I didn't have any right to. And I'm glad he did."

This time he would have witnessed how her mouth slightly fell open, awestruck by what he had told her of. He was right, she really had underestimated their relationship and once again, she was reminded of how little she knew about the two vampires. How little she understood them – especially the one beside her...

The unfathomable expression in his fern green eyes troubled her a bit, but she gulped her worries down. "I am sorry. I really didn't understand-"

"How could you have?", he interrupted her again, but a lot softer than before and closed his eyes tiredly, "Please do not reject his gifts, Laura. Like me, he is from another time and would not take it lightly. He just wishes to show you his gratitude, not just for what you did on this rooftop. And let me tell you – it does not occur very often, that my prideful Viking is inclined to show his thankfulness."

...so Eric was a Viking. Why she hadn't realised that herself was beyond her – his ancestry couldn't have been more obvious. She had expected a Scandinavian origin behind those blue eyes and blond hair, but though she knew his age, the thought he could indeed be a Viking had never crossed her ignorant mind.

Only when Godric started to massage his temples again, with his eyes still closed, her mind came back to reality. Hesitantly she approached him, which caused him to turn his head in her direction and open his eyes again, questioningly staring at her.

"I'm not able to stand by and watch you spur your headache on any longer", she told him with a gentle voice, grabbed his wrists carefully and lowered them slowly to his sides, "Let me help you. It's the least I can do, if I'm really the cause..."

He seemed to be slightly surprised by her actions, but nodded in agreement, curiosity shining in his eyes.

"Lean your head back and try to relax. Preferably, you should close your eyes as well."

After he had done what she'd requested him to, she stood up to round the couch and position herself behind the apparently calm vampire. His timelessly beautiful facial features seemed relaxed and not even his eyes moved under his lids – as hers often did, when she tried to fall asleep. The dark lashes laid absolutely motionless on his high cheekbones and she had to restrain herself from tracing his brows with one of her fingers.

Instead she put them on his temples, which caused him to tense up and look up at her for a few moments. But as he had adjusted to the feeling of her touch he relaxed and shut his eyes again.

She slowly started to draw the skin upwards under her fingers, parted and started anew from the same spot. "You should avoid circling movements if you have a headache", she explained in a low voice, "It just stirs the pain up."

She continued the procedure for a few minutes until he opened his eyes again and smiled at her. "The pain is gone. It seems you also have magic fingers", he chuckled while she started to round the couch to sit beside him again, "The list of your talents continues to grow."

"Don't mock me!", she exclaimed and hit him playfully on the shoulder, when she had fallen down on the couch beside him, but couldn't prevent blushing for the nth time that night. His face turned serious within the blink of an eye and she immediately wished she hadn't said that out loud.

"I am honestly stunned by your abilities", he told her gently and his mesmerizing eyes looked at her warmly, "Though I am not particularly fond of your stubbornness. I still wish to support your plans to travel the world – there are many places you should have seen..."

She eyed him intently, still feeling uncomfortable at the thought of him spending so much money on her, but suddenly a thought crossed her mind and a small smile spread on her face.

"Do you have any plans for the next two or three months?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Would you like to 'travel the world' with Gran and me?", she asked and wasn't able to mask her excitement even a bit. He surely had seen a lot in his over 1000 years on this earth and certainly would also know some of the most beautiful places. She would be bound to explore the world mostly at night, but that was a compromise she'd gladly accept.

Godric's eyes had widened slightly as he stared at her in surprise. Well, that was something worth standing on her list too: 'surprise a 1000++ year old vampire'.

"Are you sure your Grandmother would not mind if I joined you?", he asked carefully and a concerned line emerged between his eyebrows. He was obviously worried she had been too fast with her invitation, but what pleased her was the fact that he didn't seem to be disinclined.

"She talking about wanting to meet you all the time", she told him, laughing about the thought her Gran could have objections against Godric accompanying them, "I think she'll actually like the idea!"

The disbelieving look on his face hadn't vanished yet, but he nodded slowly. "Then I will gladly join your travel party", he chuckled but continued in a more serious tone, "If I have your permission to compensate for our whole trip."

Her thoughts were so clouded by the happiness his answer had caused, that she didn't think twice and nodded vigorously. She had already worried about the fact that nobody would have an eye on the young looking vampire while she'd be away. Actually she had already thought of canceling everything – but this development was much more to her liking...

AN: hey there :) I hope you're happy with this update, though I slowly but surely come to the conclusion, that I have to start keeping it shorter ...

I'm sorry it turned out to be a quite serious chapter, but there simply were a few things they had to sort out - there are obviously still a lot left, but I didn't want to pack them into this chapter as well, it's heavy enough as it is ...

Thanks again for the reviews - it's most appreciated!

I'll try to update soon, but will be quite busy during the next weeks, so it could take me some time.

Thanks for reading!

last update: 05/2021