...
And I know all about those things we cannot speak
And just so you know, well
They don't bother me
So you don't have to be worried
[Bright Eyes – Messenger Bird]
...
When Laura slowly awoke at night, the only thing she heard every once in a while, was the faint sound of paper being turned, as if someone near her was reading a book. She didn't think much about the oddity of someone being in the same room with her, or that there was no traffic noise at all, as she was still more asleep than awake.
Only when she finally blinked the first time, she immediately realized that this weren't her usual surroundings and shot up to a sitting position in alarm. The room started to spin around her the same moment, but she couldn't have cared less at that moment.
Where the hell was she?!
"Did you sleep well, Little One?", a familiar voice reached her ears and instantly caused her to calm down again. A small smile spread on her lips, before she turned her head towards its source, facing the vampire she had desperately wanted to find for the last six days.
"Yes, the bed is quite comfortable...", she admitted with a faint blush, "Which begs a question: Where exactly are we, if I may ask?"
Godric chuckled softly before he closed the book he had occupied himself with. It was a rather comprehensive one, bound in leather that seemed as if it had already seen much more, than Laura ever would.
When he put it on the bedside-table beside him, Laura's eyes broke away from it to roam curiously about the room instead.
Everything a good bedroom should contain, was there – from a massive wardrobe, over a commode to even a little couch in one corner. Like in Godric's house, everything fit perfectly together but the furnishings were held in much darker tones and looked more modern than cozy, while – whoever had decorated the aloof vampire's home – had succeeded in finding the perfect balance between these two qualities.
"This is one of the guest rooms of Eric's safe house", Godric explained patiently, which caused Laura to face him again. Only now she realized, that he seemed pale again, as if he hadn't fed in the last few days – and she knew him well enough to be quite sure, that he probably hadn't actually...
"'Safe house' sounds rather ominous", she noted jokingly, before she interlaced her fingers to stretch her arms over her head. She still wore the clothes she had come to Fangtasia with – her usual outfit consisting of skirt and blouse. Due to this process, her top pinched her chest area uncomfortably in its ampler places, but as soon as she had readjusted it, everything was fine again – and fortunately every button was still in its place...
When she faced Godric again, he looked rather puzzled. His mouth was slightly open and he stared at her as if she had just grown another head. Only when she responded to his glare with a confused expression, he blinked a few times and forced the usual emotionless mask upon his face.
"It is common for vampires to have various safe houses", Godric explained after he had cleared his throat, "We are extremely vulnerable during day-time, therefore it is crucial to keep the location we spend your day rest in, a secret."
"Oh my God! I'm such an idiot!", Laura exclaimed and hid her face in her hands, shaking her head disbelievingly, "I told James were you live!"
"You did not only tell him – you brought him there", he reminded her dryly, making it unmistakably plain, that he wasn't exactly happy about that fact.
"He didn't even realize it was yours – he thought it was my parent's!", she whined while she peeked at the vampire beside her through her fingers, "But I was foolish enough to tell him the truth – which resulted in quite an argument by the way – I am so sorry, Godric! How can I fix this?"
"There is not need to fix this – I already glamoured him to forget the exact location", he noted casually, before he claimed get more information about what really seemed to intrigued him, "Why did you argue with Mr. McCarthy?"
Slowly she lowered her hands again, but regretted it as soon as she became aware of Godric's inquisitive glare. This issue interested him keenly, as it seemed...
"We have different opinions when it comes to vampires – when I realized that, I took my leave", she told him as nonchalantly as she could manage and shrugged, "He called me a few days ago though – said he was sorry."
Laura had trouble to suppress a grin, when she caught the curiosity shining in Godric's eyes. She hadn't seen him like that before, but although she could imagine why he wanted to know if she and James still had contact – he didn't seem to like James overly much after all – she had to admit that she liked this sort of interest. It showed that there was still something that managed to attracted his attention – and she was glad that she had to do with it!
"And?", he inquired, encouraging her to tell him more with a spurring gesture of his hand. This time she wasn't able to hold the chuckle back, that escaped her mouth and gently shook her head in slight disbelief. She hadn't thought, that he could be that bold!
"I told him that we could still be friends, but not more!", was all she was willing to share with him and grinned when he seemed to be a tad disappointed. When she suddenly felt particularly spunky, she even added jokingly "Now you at least won't have to witness any more kisses!" and poked her tongue out at him.
He seemed taken aback by this statement – or maybe even caught? – as he averted his head immediately after it had left of her mouth.
"Good", was all he had to add and a faint smile spread on Laura's lips when she examined him like that. His gaze was still stubbornly facing the wall in front of them and his strong jawline seemed quite tense. Most of the time he conveyed the impression as if he was not from this world – as aloof, graceful and beautiful, as he appeared and behaved – but now he really looked like the teenage boy he seemed to be. It was refreshing!
"Would you like to explain what shit Eric exactly had been in?", Laura asked him, to take his mind off the topic beforehand, "He told me that there was something – or rather had been – going on, but not what..."
When the vampire beside her turned his head again to face her, his expression seemed uncertain – which was again something, she wasn't familiar with when it came to him.
"This is not my story to tell, Little One", he simply informed her and stood up.
Just when she wanted to object, the door opened to reveal Eric, standing in its frame. He was totally dressed in black, like he had always been up to now, and looked expectantly at the calm vampire approaching him slowly.
"You called me Master?"
"You wanted to tell Laura what happened", Godric reminded him and looked up to his progeny when he had reached his side, "I think now is the perfect time. I will be upstairs if you need me."
He looked a last time over his shoulder to Laura and lifted his hand in a suggested wave before he was gone within the blink of an eye.
"I see you're finally awake Tiny!", the Huge One stated with a smirk and approached the bed to make himself comfortable at her feet.
"If you don't want guests to sleep long, you shouldn't have invested in such comfortable beds...", she grumbled and cast the blanket back to at least sit on top of it. That she hadn't stood up till now, made her feel lazy, but as her head spun since she'd awoken, she didn't intend to push her luck.
"You have a point there!", he admitted and chuckled before he rested his elbows on his knees, leaning his torso on them in the same motion, "Well – where should I begin..."
He seemed immersed in his thoughts as his blue eyes stared blankly at his interlaced fingers. Laura took the time to close in and crossed her legs to make herself comfortable beside him.
"I think it's always best to start a story at the beginning, don't you think?", she teased and nudged his shoulder softly. That seemed to rip him out of his reverie and he turned his head to look intently at her for a moment, as if he searched for the answer to an unspoken question only he knew.
"You're right – the beginning it is then...", he sighed and let his body fall back onto the bed. He stared at the ceiling for a few moments, before he finally started to talk.
"I was still human, when my family was murdered in an attack on our village. Almost all of my people died that night, but it weren't just men that caused their deaths – we could have defended us against men – it had been wolves that turned into humans as soon as they died. Back then I thought it was some sort of witchcraft, today I know it had been Werewolves."
"Are you serious? You don't have to tell fairy tales now!", Laura interrupted disbelievingly, while she leant on one of her arms and was looking down at the blond vampire accusingly.
"I would never make fun of this night, Laura – and I certainly never tell fairy tales!", he clarified in a harsh tone that immediately educed a "sorry!" from her, before he returned to his story.
"I won't go into detail here, but what's important is, that I promised my father to take revenge in his last moments. All I had as lead, was a branding every single one of the dead wolf-men wore on his neck – but that didn't discourage me.
"My chase after them would have killed me soon afterwards, if Godric hadn't turned me in the last moment. He helped me with my quest and whenever we picked up a clue, we followed it until it finally came to nothing and we had to start anew. This was also the reason why we had been in Augsburg by the way – but that's not important for the story now.
"I looked for this Werewolf-pack for more than 1000 years, but just when I was occupied with a much more urgent matter and turned to the King of Mississippi for support, I found the best lead I have in all those years: the crown of my father."
"Wait a moment there!", Laura interrupted him again and waved with her hand, gesturing him to stop. He just quirked his eyebrow as if he wanted to say 'Human – you're a real test of my patience!' but she deliberately ignored it. "There is a Vampire-king – here in the United States? And your father was a king too?"
"Yes and yes Tiny. Would you please be so kind now, as to shut up and let me tell my story?", he asked dryly, which caused Laura to bite onto her bottom lip in embarrassment and nod vigorously. She slowly leant her upper body back until she lay beside him and turned to face him fully, pulling up her legs in that process.
"I'm ready now – no more interruptions. I promise!"
"Good. So I found the crown of my father and with it the evidence, that Russell Edgington-", he darted her a dark glare when he heard her open her mouth, which made her close it again without the slightest peep, "– who was the King of Mississippi – had been the one responsible for my family's death. So I took, what was most precious to him: his lover.
"I suppose that's why he murdered that newscaster – he was out of his mind from that moment on – and: after me. Thats when I decided to finally call Godric, as only a progeny can, and fortunately he immediately came and we planned how we could manage to end a vampire who had lived for about both our lifetimes."
Laura had just taken a breath to ask something, when she caught Eric's unyielding glare again and decided it would be healthier to stay silent for a few more minutes. The vampire beside her shifted his body now, to face her and rested his head on his forearm in a casual manner.
"We figured that Sookie would have to be our bait – as her blood is quite special and has certain abilities – and it worked: Russell came here without much persuasion, all I had to do was tell him how good it would feel to finally be able to enjoy the warmth of the sun on his skin again.
"But naturally he didn't trust my words and required me to go first. We had expected as much, so I took a few gulps of Sookie's blood and went outside, waving into the front camera as a proof, while the effect still persisted. He took the bait and followed me, but when he finally realized that his joy was impermanent, it was already too late. I had chained him to me, hindering him from crawling back into the safety of the club. You know the rest. – You may ask your questions now."
"Edgington said on TV, that he was over 3000 years old", Laura immediately rattled on, not waisting even a second as she had already kept herself from asking this for too long. She only waited for a short moment, to see if he'd object, before she continued, "Does this mean- … Well if you're roughly 1000 years old, then Godric has to be-"
"Well over 2000 years old, yes indeed he is", Eric confirmed and smirked deviously at her, before he asked innocently, "Does this change anything?"
Laura's eyes widened in surprise and she couldn't suppress a baffled "Oh" before she bit on her lip in embarrassment. Her gaze traveled to the black satin bedding beneath them, while her thoughts wandered to the gentle vampire currently lingering at least one floor above them.
Did this change anything? She already knew that he was old – older than Eric even, who was a Viking, for Gods sake! It would have been ridiculous to state, that she had just the faintest idea of what it meant to be that old. What did it matter if he was 1000 or 2000 years old – he had way much more life experience than her anyway...
"No, I don't think it makes a difference", she finally stated while her eyes scurried back to the Viking's face. His gaze was calm but inquiringly as if he looked for any hint of a little lie or something.
"Does it make a difference for you?", she asked him carefully in return and bent her arm to rest her head on the forearm, like Eric did. His expression changed to a slightly confused one before he plainly asked her: "What?"
She chuckled softly and reached with her spare hand to her mouth, to at least cover it a bit. When she looked at him again, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, showing her that she tried his patience – again.
"I'm sorry Eric", she told him gently and lowered her hand again, resting it flatly on the blanket between them, "I would like to know, if the fact that you finally managed to revenge your family's murder, changed anything for you. After all, you spent most of your life looking for the responsible one, I suppose..."
Eric's expression immediately softened a bit, while he slowly lowered his gaze to the blanket, where it to stuck to her resting hand. He seemed to consider her words and judging from the troubled look on his face he hadn't thought about it till now.
"It deeply satisfies me to know that he is dead now", he stated after a while and his eyes sought hers questioningly, as if he wanted to know, if that answered her question.
"That's quite obvious – I think everyone would feel that way", she told him softly and smiled at him, but shook her head before she continued, "Though it's not what I wanted to know. This was surely one of your mayor goals in the past – will it's accomplishment effect your future-life? Does it change anything for you – are you generally happier now?"
His eyebrows furrowed and his gaze drifted off again. He seemed as if he was in trance, while he stared at her hand, which still rested on the blanket. To ease the tension between them she tried to distract him a bit and lifted it to wave at him and finally form a 'peace'-gesture.
"You don't have to answer now – I know it's a tough question", she told him easily and nudged him with the same hand playfully in the shoulder, "And you're over 1000 years old – surely your brain-cells work a bit slower these days..."
She chuckled softly and winked at him. It hadn't been her intention to cause him to question his former life and she surely hadn't meant to depress him...
"You will get your answer", he stated stubbornly and she couldn't suppress a smile at that statement. He sighed defeated and averted his gaze before he shot up to a sitting position within the blink of an eye. "But you're right – it will take me a while to figure it out."
"I'm sorry if this question stirs you up", she admitted softly and got up as well, putting a hand on his shoulder in a calming gesture, "I didn't mean to. It's just that this is something that concerns me as well, you know."
He quickly turned his head in her direction and darted her a surprised look. "In what way does this concern you?", he asked baffled, while his eyebrows slightly rose.
"I'm curious to know, if I will be content, should I be able to execute all of the scores on my list", she answered honestly and let go of his shoulders to play with the hem of her skirt, averting her gaze and focusing her attention on her fingers. "I want to know if it will help me to let go, when I have to – or if it will only make things worse...", she muttered almost inaudibly and bit on her bottom lip.
"Look at me Laura!", she heard the vampire beside her command and had to chuckle when she thought about how often she had already heard that exact same words out of his makers mouth. Like him, the Viking gently grabbed her chin and tilted her head upwards, forcing her to face him.
"I will find a way to prevent your death", he told her and the sincere tone in his voice caused shivers to run down her spine, "I'm already looking for a specialist – someone who is good enough in his field to give you a better chance than the morons that examined you the last time!"
"I think I made plainly clear, that I won't agree to any further surgeries!", she hissed harshly and furrowed her brows in anger. Why did he start with that now? Just when her parent's had finally accepted her decision, Eric came up with the topic again!
"I already thought you'd say that", he sighed and let go of her chin, "But I wouldn't be such an old vampire, if I hadn't always a plan B up my sleeve. Godric already offered you his blood, which could be very well the cure to your problem. But you refused – because you don't want him to know about certain feelings you have."
She rapidly inhaled in shock and looked startled at him. "Was it that obvious?"
"Not for him I suppose", he muttered and gripped the bridge of his nose with two of his fingers in a slightly frustrated manner, before he lowered his hand to grab one of hers. Laura looked up at him in surprise, as he usually didn't touch her if he hadn't a pretty good reason (such as dragging her along). His expression was soft and knowing – she had never seen him like that before and to be honest: it gave her the creeps – he had to be up to something...
"You don't have to hide anything from me – we are on the same side after all", he told her gently and started to caress the back of her hand with his thumb. Laura stared baffled down at his slowly moving finger before she faced the vampire beside her again. "We both want him to live – and I'm certain he will finish what he started on the rooftop of hotel Carmilla, as soon as you die. I can't have that. And you surely wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"
She vigorously shook her head, not able to form a coherent sentence at the moment. Was he really implying that- …
"I will give you my blood. You don't have to accept it now – but sooner or later you will accept it", he told her, with confidence in his voice and let go of her hand before he stood up. "Maybe it won't heal you, but it will certainly delay the progression of your disease long enough to find another solution."
Laura just stared at the Viking towering over her, for a few moments. He looked expectantly down at her as if he'd await a response or something.
"Thanks for this offer, Eric! I know it's a big deal and I really appreciate it, but I'll need time to think it over...", she finally muttered and stood up as well. When this – obviously too hasty – change of position resulted in another wave of vertigo, she gripped the first thing she was able to catch and clung to it to keep her balance. Only when the room slowly stopped spinning around her, she realized, that it had been the front of Eric's shirt.
"Sorry", she muttered and immediately let go of him, as if she had burned her fingers. When she dared to look up at his face again, she could have sworn she had glimpsed an almost concerned expression, before it changed to one of his trademark looks: the one she would refer to as 'proud to be an arrogant Viking-Prince' from now on. He had told her his father had been a king after all – honor to whom honor is due...
"If you try to get at me, I expect a bit more dedication", he purred and smirked deviously at her, when she felt her cheeks blush. Moron. He was very well aware that this hadn't anything to do with her being attracted by him or something...
"I'll take a shower", she just muttered and turned to head to the bathroom, to escape his annoying presence. But obviously the Viking didn't get the hint – or ignored it – and linked arms with her, apparently to support her if she'd get dizzy again.
"I think a bath would be more appropriate in your state", he suggested and unceremoniously prepared the tub for exactly that. He zipped out of the room and Laura was just about to sigh in relief, when he suddenly appeared again – with her purse in one, and fresh clothes in the other hand.
"I'll leave for Fangtasia soon, but you have my number – call me if you need anything", he stated while he laid her purse on top of her clothes on the stool beside the tub, "And try not to drown..."
"I will give my best", she retorted dryly and gestured him to finally get out of the room, with a shooing hand-movement.
"It's delicious Godric!", she almost moaned between two bites of the veggie-burger, he had created for her. He was a God when it came to culinary art – well, in 2000 years he had surely mastered a few other skills as well, but that was one of the few she had fortunately had the opportunity to witness first-hand.
"I am glad it is to your liking", he noted gently and sat down beside her with the hint of a smile. After the fist course – which had been a fruity salad by the way – he had agreed to warm himself a True Blood as well, though it had required some begging and his consent hadn't exactly been enthusiastic...
She was glad to see, that at least some color returned to his face, now that he finally had taken a few sips. Which brought her thoughts back to someone, who had suffered a quite severe blood-loss the day before...
"Sookie called me, while I took a bath", Laura mentioned casually and took another bite of the delicious burger. Godric looked at her with a rather blank expression and seemed not a bit surprised.
"She asked Eric for your number. I hope it was not inappropriate to share it?", he asked and sounded genuinely worried, which caused Laura to put her meal down and face him sourly.
"No, it was not inappropriate. But what was inappropriate, is how you two treated her!", she clarified in a harsh tone, while her eyebrows furrowed, "She told me that Eric chained her to a wall in his basement, or dungeon, or whatever... – I suppose you were aware of that?!"
The ancient vampire beside her averted his gaze – obviously in shame, and if you asked Laura, he had every right to be in that case – and licked his bottom lip distracted. If those lips just hadn't been so very distracting, it would've been much easier to stay angry at him...
"I admit, I was indeed aware – but we had no other choice!", he tried to explain, but all he received in response, was a raised eyebrow. "Without Ms. Stackhouse, our plan would have been for naught – and it was the only scheme we came up with, that did not involve a high risk of being killed as well!"
"So much to always having a plan B...", she muttered under her breath and turned her attention to the plate again.
"What?"
"Nothing", she just answered and bit in her already quite cold burger again. "You could have simply asked her, you know?"
"Eric was not entirely certain, if she would help us willingly...", he noted with a sigh and examined her intently as if he wasn't sure if he just added fuel to the flames.
"Did you know, that he tricked her?", Laura asked after she had gulped down another bite, obviously ignoring his previous statement, "He kissed her, just to distract her – what a hideous way to make her submit to his will, is that?"
Godric sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose in a frustrated manner, shaking his head simultaneously. "I did not know that – but I have to admit: I am not exactly surprised. He has already taken advantage of his effect on women, when he was still human..."
"What a surprise", she just muttered and rolled her eyes, before she devoured the last few bites of her meal. Without thinking about it, she licked her fingers deliciously, but when she looked up again, she realized that it had probably not been very appropriate to do that.
Godric's gaze stuck to her hands, his face looking somewhat tense, effectively suppressing every emotion like he usually did. But his eyes betrayed him. The almost hungry expression they showed, caused a shiver to run down Laura's spine, she had trouble to hide.
"Did she mention anything else", his suddenly raspy voice reached her ears and ripped her out of her thoughts. Why did he have to look so very attractive? He even sounded attractive! – Was that even possible?!
"What?"
"Did Ms. Stackhouse mention anything else", he clarified, while his gaze slowly wandered up her arm to look at her face again. She gulped and tried to collect her thoughts before she replied.
"She warned me not to trust Eric too easily", Laura told him truthfully and looked down at her hands to escape his piercing glare, "She told me that he kept one of her friends in his dungeon for two weeks – left him in his own filth and didn't really care to give him enough to eat, or something..."
Only when she heard him sigh again, she dared to lift her gaze and spotted him staring blankly at the table before them. "And how this information affects you?", he asked softly, still refusing to look at her.
"Not at all", she immediately told him nonchalantly and reached for his hand before she really knew what she did. She had a feeling that he was about to drift off into one of his depressive states again and she wouldn't let that happen now!
When he looked up at her then, he still showed barely any emotion on his face. But again his questioning eyes betrayed, that he would've liked her to explain her statement in more detail.
"I suppose he had his reasons to do that", she expressed her thoughts carefully, "And from what she told me, this friend of hers had been selling V – so he probably sort of deserved a rough treatment..."
Due to his hardly raised brows, his expression seemed almost surprised – though he could also be angry for all she knew (damn his annoying habit to mask his emotions!), but still she couldn't resist to smile at him.
"I have to admit, I did not expect such a reaction", he muttered and lowered his gaze to their hands. Had he thought she'd abandon him because of Eric's behavior? That was simply ridiculous...
"I know that you don't think very highly of yourself and though I would love to know why – to get a better idea of how I can make you see yourself as I see you – I won't ask you to tell me", she told him in a soft voice and tried to return his piercing glare with the gentlest expression she could manage, "Nothing Eric has done or will do, will cause me to leave you. Nothing you have done or will do, will cause me to leave you."
She squeezed his hand to emphasize her statement and to make sure he really listened to her. When he lifted his gaze to look into her eyes with a blend of surprise and disbelief, it was reaction enough for her and she continued.
"I trust you both, which also means that I trust you not to do anything, that would harm anyone without a very good reason. For me it does not matter what you did in the past – if you caused wars, or sucked entire families dry – all that matters for me, is who you are now, Godric."
Though she wouldn't have thought it possible, the intensity of his stare had even increased with every word she said. The pointed silence between them caused his look to be even more significant and she almost started to feel naked under it.
"Who am I?", he whispered softly and abruptly leant forward, gently squeezing her hand in return now, which still was wrapped around his. She inhaled sharply, a bit shocked about his sudden approach and bit onto her bottom lip, carefully considering her next words.
"You are a very powerful vampire, as you are very old – your own words!", she started hesitantly and ginned at him slyly, before she shifted in her seat and continued, "– but you don't show it unless you need to put somebody in their place. Your eyes tell me, that you've seen and experienced more than you've asked for – but you're still gentle and caring."
"That is what I do and how I behave – but not who I am", he clarified and eyed her expectantly, implying that she should try again. She looked down at their interlaced fingers for a moment and pondered how she could approach this topic without going to far...
"You are someone who means a lot to Eric", she started again, looking at him to make sure if this take was better than the last, but as she had feared, his expression had changed back to the blank mask he preferred to wear. "From what I've heard, you are a brother, a father and a son. From what I know, you are a very caring and supportive friend. I wouldn't want to miss you, Godric..."
He stared at her for a few moments, before he slowly nodded and averted his gaze. She had thought this try had turned out quite well, but obviously the vampire beside her was of a different opinion. The longer she examined his emotionless profile, the lesser she could escape the feeling, that she'd said something wrong...
"Would you like to eat your dessert now?", he asked, ripping her out of her thoughts abruptly, "There are several flavors of ice cream in the fridge."
"Sure", she just muttered a bit crestfallen and nodded halfheartedly.
Would she ever be able to understand this vampire?
They had been planning their trip to Europe that night and even booked their flights. She and Godric would return to Dallas in a few days and in exactly ten days they'd depart to Istanbul.
Istanbul – she was so excited, she would've liked to jump around like a little kid, but the rather chilly demeanor of her vampire friend rubbed enough off on her, that she was able to suppress the urge. Though she couldn't help to at least bob up and down on her seat, whenever she thought of the spices, flavors and scents, she'd be able to witness. And not to forget the mosques!
Their next destination would be Greece then, where Godric had promised to show her the most important monuments and where they'd spend the last warm days island-hopping.
From there they'd fly to Odessa, where he wanted to visit an old friend. He thought it would be the best, if they decided when and where to go next before long from there, as she'd probably make new acquaintances too and he didn't want to force her to hurry if she'd found a place where she'd like to stay.
That plan sounded good to her, even if it could also have been due to the fact, that it was almost sunrise and she wasn't very interested in planning anymore, as she already had troubles to keep her eyes open.
Laura couldn't suppress a yawn, when she entered the guest-room, she'd already spent the last half day in and only stopped, when she realized that Godric didn't follow her.
"Have a good rest Laura", he told her with this annoying blank expression he had worn most of the night and was already about to close the door – from the outside! - when she grabbed the handle in the last second and stopped him.
"Don't you sleep here too?", she asked baffled and only when she'd already voiced it, she became aware of how childish she sounded.
"There are plenty of guest-rooms in this house Laura. There is no need for us to share a room – even less to share a bed", he told her nonchalantly and wanted to close the door again, but Laura put her food into the gap and pulled it back open.
"There were plenty other guest-rooms in your house as well!", she pointed out and positioned herself beside the door, to hinder him from closing it again, "Still we slept beside each other in your bed!"
His jawline tightened and she could see the muscles around it tense up, indicating that he seemed to have trouble containing his uninterested demeanor.
Good! This would finally become interesting!
"I think it is high time we change this habit", he told her through gritted teeth and reached past her to the doorknob. When he put his other hand on her shoulder, she knew exactly that he'd push her inside to finally close the door. But just as he applied a little pressure, a bewildered "why?" escaped her mouth.
He stopped in his movements and examined her with these wise eyes, that where still blind to the most obvious things – or ignoring them, which was what she deemed more likely...
"We are friends, Laura", he clarified and she couldn't help but feel like this wasn't meant to encourage her, as one usually used this word to describe a relationship, but rather to put her in her place. A shudder ran down her spine when she met his serious glare. "Did you ever share a bed with Patrick?"
"Not since we were children...", she muttered and slowly started to realize what he was driving at.
"Exactly", he simply stated and nodded in approval, "We both are adults – and you don't need me to console you anymore. I think it is time to sleep in separate rooms again."
When she couldn't stand his hard glance anymore, she dropped her gaze to the floor and nodded reluctantly. Without another word, Laura stepped back and closed the door in his face, lingering directly behind it for a few moments, before she turned and went to the bathroom.
All she wanted to do now, was getting the hell out of her clothes, into this much too comfortable bed and to leave this lousy night in the dust...
AN: hey there - I hope you're ready for this unexpected early update :D
I hope you didn't think it was to melodramatic again - I have the feeling I tend to overdo it lately -_- ...
thanks again to galwidanatitud, WinchesterGirl2975, erythra-selena, JamesNorthman96, danathakettu, downbelowgirl, TheGirlWhoWaited and of course Arenola for their lovely reviews! you're the best! :-*
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those, who follow this story and added it to their favorites as well! Thank you guys! I'd never thought this story would receive almost 100 favorites and even over 100 follows o.O
regarding the lyrics of this chapter: though the song is generally a very beautiful lovesong about a quite imbalanced relationship, I still think these specific lines fit perfectly to Godric's inability to speak about his past respectively Laura's understanding for exactly that, which is - as you've read - part of this chapter :)
I'd be happy if some of you'd leave me a few words again ;)
Thanks for reading! :)