Author's Note:

First of all, it seems like my chapters are getting progressively longer. I'm not sure how I feel about this as of yet.

This chapter is slightly different from the previous ones as it is a combination of present time and a past event. I wanted the flashback to be a separate chapter at first, but I didn't have enough content to fill it with. So I weighed my options and came up with the idea of making it a part of the conversation between Eric and his sister. I think it fits in there well.

Also, I have to give one of my best friends in real life credit for giving me the idea for the backstory revealed in this particular flashback. I had kind of worked myself into a corner before writing this chapter. A ten year-old boy couldn't possibly read the signs of Alzheimer's disease unless he saw them before and since that is not the case in my story I needed the information to come from somewhere else. So my friend and I bounced off ideas and Katherine is what we came up with. See for yourself, if this works out for you as well. It does for me.

Present

Thanks to LA's lunch time traffic conditions it took Eric a bit longer than the predicted twenty minutes. He'd left OSP at 12:25 p.m. and now the digital clock in his car showed 12:59 p.m. Eric cursed his bad luck. Emma wouldn't be happy with him for arriving late. She was a very punctual person. He wasn't surprised that by the time he rounded the corner to his apartment building Emma was pacing the length of the pavement already. He looked around for a parking space close to the entrance and luckily found one only a few yards away.

"You are late!" she stated as she came to a halt next to his car and crossed her arms in front of her.

"Yeah, obviously," he answered wearily as he put the car into park and climbed out of the vehicle.

"You know what they say about having a girl waiting," she said with a pointed look, head cocked and jaw squared.

"Um, no. I don't. What are they saying?" Eric asked in return as he rounded to car and came to a stop a couple feet away from her on the pavement.

"That it's impolite," she offered and raised her eyebrows.

"Oh", was his only reply, but it didn't sound very apologetic. He knew his sister didn't like being dismissed when she was agitated, but it was so much fun to yank her chain with reinforced indifference. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, lowered his head and smirked to himself.

Emma pursed her lips in exasperation. "So what took you so long?"

He gave her an incredulous look, the small smile still in place. "You seriously have to ask? Do I have to remind you that we are in LA and that traffic at this time of day is a bitch?"

"Oh, feisty today, aren't we?" she teased, finally releasing her defensive stance. "I like it. Haven't really seen that side of you in a long time."

Eric didn't answer, just looked at her and after a while he closed the distance between them and pulled her into a tight embrace. She returned the crushing hug without hesitation. "I know it's been a while, sister." He tightened his hold and whispered in her ear, "It's really good to see you."

"It's good to see you, too," Emma replied with a sigh. "Honestly, I can't even remember the last time we got together."

"Seventy-four days", he blurted out as he released her from his arms. She regarded him with a mix of awe and confusion. "Saturday, April 3, the day before Easter Sunday. I originally had the holidays off, but we got a case Saturday afternoon and our plans were crushed." Eric started walking over to the entrance of his apartment building.

"Seriously? You have to throw that into my face?" she exclaimed incredulous while remaining rooted to her spot. "You're such a show-off sometimes."

Eric turned around and answered defensively, "What? I thought you remembered that."

Emma finally followed him at a slower pace. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not the genius in the family. You got all the genes," she teased playfully.

Eric shrugged the statement of with a loud sigh. "I'm not a genius, either. Besides, you have brilliant mind yourself, Emma. Graduating top of your class and being offered a job with one of the top medical research facilities on the West Coast? That's something to be proud of!" He raised his eyebrows at her, then opened the door to the building lobby. He held the door open for her to enter.

"Yeah, because it's something to be proud of if your brother helps you out during college, " she countered sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him.

"I only guided you from time to time. Helped you get your mind back on track. You did the rest all by yourself," Eric corrected her.

"If you say so." Emma walked over to the elevator and pressed the button, but Eric headed straight for the stairs. He usually dismissed the small cabin, knowing it was out of order the better part of the year.

"Good luck with the elevator, " he called to her with a small smile and waited for her to follow him. She blew out a breath and once she ensured herself that the car indeed wasn't moving she followed him. "Don't sell yourself short," Eric resumed their conversation as soon as she was next to him.

"I'm not. But you obviously do," she remarked and gave him a little nudge with her elbow. She raised one eyebrow challenging him.

Eric sighed and halted his step for a brief moment. They had had this discussion a few times over the past years and they never found common ground on the topic. "Don't even start," he warned with a finger pointed at her. He resumed walking, checking the floor number and kept ascending the stairs.

Emma stopped to catch her breath on the small landing between floors. "Why not? Someone's got to remind you of what you did over the course of the years."

"I did what needed to be done. I had no real choice in this," he tried to downplay his achievements. He hated it when Emma tried to force him to brag about this. In his opinion very little of the things he had done were something to be proud of. But she seemed to think that way.

"You did. Nobody forced you to take it upon yourself to care for both mom and me. You were just a kid yourself and yet you covered for mom's slip-up's, made sure that the bills were paid in time and the fridge was filled with food. You picked me up from school when mom forgot, took care of the household, even put yourself in harm's way when mom way aggressive, just to make sure I wasn't on the receiving end of one of her episodes." Eric grimaced at the reminder. Those were times he wanted to erase from his memory and here Emma kept talking about them. "And on top of that you still managed top grades in high school, even skipped two grades and graduated early. I sometimes wonder how you did all that and I wonder who was actually there for you during that time. But every time I bring this up you just shut me out." She faded off. She sounded sad towards the end of her speech.

Eric, who had reached the right floor and waited for her to join him at the door, hunched his shoulders in defeat. When she came to stand beside him he touched her shoulder in a comforting gesture, but she just looked at him incredulously. "See? You're doing it again. You comfort me while it should be me comforting you!"

He smiled briefly, let his hand fall and turned towards his apartment door instead, juggling the key in the lock. He let her in first and followed right after her. Once inside he faced her and put his hands on her shoulder, looking her square in the eyes when he spoke. "Emma, I was never alone in all that time. Patricia was there for me. A lot. She always took it upon herself to make sure I ate regularly and she made sure I didn't lose myself in my schoolwork at night. And she always knew when I was close to a breaking point. She always lent me an ear when it got to be too much."

Emma lowered her head slightly. "But Patricia wasn't there from the beginning."

"No she wasn't, but do you remember Katherine?"

Emma nodded. "She was mom's best friend."

"Yeah, she was. She was at the house all the time when we were kids. Mom was devastated when dad left us and she was overwhelmed with raising the two of us on her own. Katherine knew this and since she didn't have a family of her own, she took it upon herself to help mom where she could. You probably can't remember any of this, but right after you were born she was at our house almost every day. She basically moved and lived with us for almost a year."

"I didn't know. That's really nice. I'm glad mom had this support," Emma said genuinely surprised to learn something new for once. Eric had never mentioned it before. He usually kept all these things to himself.

"Yeah, me too," Eric agreed. "So she came by our house one afternoon and asked me straight out if I had noticed anything wrong with mom in the weeks prior to that – it must've been about a year after mom set the kitchen on fire."

July1996

Rain pelted heavily against the window panes as Eric sat at the kitchen table, books and papers spread out in front of him. The new school year was only a few weeks away and he had still a lot of assignments to finish for summer school. He originally hadn't wanted to go, but his teachers had asked Mrs. Beale in for a consult on his school performance. He had done exceptionally well and they had considered him to skip a grade if he took on a few extra classes during the summer. He'd jump from fourth to sixth grade, which was quite a significant step, but his teachers and his mother had been confident that he would rise to the challenge. He was a smart kid and learning new things came naturally to him. Still he didn't really want to leave his comfort zone and especially his friends.

Running a hand through his hair in frustration he threw the pen on the table and sighed. Why did he have to study while his classmates were able to actually enjoy the time off of school? This was just not fair.

A knock came from the backdoor leading from the kitchen to the small backyard and interrupted Eric from his school work. He stood from the table and opened the door only to reveal the sight of Katherine. She was a stout middle-aged woman, about ten years older than his mother, but Eric wasn't quite sure. He had never outright asked her. Katherine had light-brown hair with a few grey streaks here and there and there were a few wrinkles around her eyes and mouth that showed her age but also indicated that she liked to laugh a lot. Eric loved that about her. There was just a natural friendly aura surrounding the woman and she always found a way to enjoy life to the fullest.

"Hey Kathy," Eric greeted her, elated by her visit. Katherine was a close family-friend and she was something akin to an aunt to him. Since they didn't have any family in the States and weren't close to the one that still lived in Europe, or more specifically in Germany, Katherine was all the more family to them. Besides, she didn't have any family herself so they were a surrogate family to her as well.

"Hey Eric, you have grown a lot since the last time I was here," Katherine greeted him and gave him a crushing hug.

"Yeah, I had a growth spurt recently," he answered less enthusiastically. He was taller than most in his class. Former class he reminded himself. He strolled back to the table and reclaimed his earlier spot.

Katherine watched him closely. "You don't seem too happy about it?" she stated the obvious.

"I'm the tallest in class already. I'm starting to feel like Rübezahl."

The woman laughed good-heartedly. "You're way too young to be looking like Rübezahl. Most importantly you are missing the beard," she chuckled and winked at him.

"Whatever. It's not like it matters anymore anyway," Eric replied sourly.

Katherine sobered up at the bitterness in his voice. "Yes, your mother told me that you would be skipping straight to sixth grade after the summer. Congratulations, young man."

"Thanks, I guess," he replied to be polite. He propped his elbows up on the tabletop and rested his head in his hands.

"What, you're not excited about that either?" Now Katherine was genuinely surprised. She knew Eric to be an excited kid who loved to rise to a challenge anytime as long as it was of an intellectual nature. The physical challenges were less appealing to him.

"No, yes… I mean, I am, but…" Eric stopped himself and gathered his thoughts which proved to be not an easy task since they were running a mile a minute right now. "I guess I'm just a little scared, if I'll be able to keep up with the workload. My new classmates all had more time to prepare. I only had eight weeks of summer holidays to catch up on a whole year and then I'm thrown right in the middle of that. This is the last year before middle school, after all."

Katherine came to stand next to him and clapped him on the shoulder in a gesture of encouragement. "I'm pretty sure you'll do just fine, Eric. You are a fast learner after all and you have a brilliant mind."

Eric glanced up at her over the rim of his glasses. "I hope you're right. Thanks, Kathy."

"You're welcome, Eric," she smiled at him.

Eric stood up from his chair again and headed over to the fridge. He pulled out a bottle of orange juice and fished two glasses from the one of the hanging cupboards. He brought all back to the table and poured them each a glass, handing one to Katherine. "So, what are you doing here, Kathy? Mom's not here, she drove over to Westwood to pick Emma up from her art summer camp."

Katherine took the offered glass and took a sip before answering, "I know that. I've actually come to talk to you about something."

Eric frowned in confusion as he gulped the whole glass at once. "About what?"

"About your mom."

"Oh, okay." Eric sat down on the stool again and shifted nervously. He had a wild guess what this was going to be about and he already didn't like it.

Katherine noticed his unease immediately and commented on it. "By your reaction I assume you already know what this is going to be about." Katherine drew another stool closer to the table and sat down as well. Eric squirmed at her inquisition. "I'll just ask straight away. Have you noticed some changes in your mother's behavior recently?"

Eric lowered his gaze on the papers littered about the table and took the pen in his hand, fiddling with it. "What do you mean?" he asked, playing dumb on purpose.

"You know what I mean." Katherine stated and looked at him with gentle encouragement.

"No I don't," Eric repudiated, eyes still down-cast, but there was an edge to his tone of voice that belied his words.

Katherine sighed inwardly and leaned forward, laying her arms on the table while clasping her hands. "Your mom seemed preoccupied at work lately. She has missed the occasional deadline, mixed up appointments, filed documents in the wrong folders and such. At first it happened only sporadically. She would notice it on her own later in the day and correct her mistakes, but for the last two months maybe even longer it's happened more and more often, almost on a regular basis." She paused for a moment, waiting for a reaction from the Eric, but none was forthcoming. His lack of a twitch in his mimic told her that he wasn't surprised by what she told him. It unsettled her. "I wondered if something like this has happened here at home as well?"

Eric gulped, his Adam's apple bopping up and down. He laid the pen he'd been fiddling with back down on the table and wrenched his wrists on his lap instead. He sighed. "She seems distracted sometimes. As if her mind isn't really set on what she's doing." Eric blew out a laugh at a sudden memory. "She put books that were lying around here in the fridge a while ago. And I found socks in the freezer. It did seem a little odd, but I thought she must have been tired or maybe stressed out from work or something, you know?"

Katherine just nodded encouraging him to continue.

"But she forgot a lot of things, too. She was meant to take Emma to a doctor's appointment a few weeks back and she missed it. She forgot about the consultation with my teacher's as well and they had to reschedule twice. And sometimes she forgets to pick us up from school, so we were taking the bus a lot more often lately. She leaves stuff undone in the house as well. Like starting the washing machine and then forgets to take it out or hang it up to dry." Eric raised his head and gave Katherine a questioning look. "That's not normal, is it?"

The older woman smiled sadly and shook her head. "No, it's not. Eric, I have my suspicions as to what is going on with your mom." Eric looked at her, waiting. "It's a condition called Alzheimer's disease. My mother had the same illness and it started pretty much the same way."

"Alzheimer's?" Eric asked confused. He had heard about the disease before, but as far as he remembered it was a disease of elder people. "But isn't that something that old people get? Mom isn't that old. She's younger than you."

"Usually, yes. But there are exceptions with almost everything. And I'm not really sure, if your mom really has it. It could be something else entirely", Katherine tried to reassure the blonde boy.

"Okay, but how are we going to find out, what it is?" Eric asked.

"I wanted to talk to your mom about this first, but if she agrees to it I'd like to make an appointment with a specialized doctor, so they could do the necessary tests," Katherine explained to him.

Eric bit his upper lip nervously. "What if they find out it's really Alzheimer's?"

"Don't hurt your brain thinking about that now. We can worry about it, if it comes to that, okay? Like I said, I might be wrong." Katherine gave him a reassuring smile, hoping to ease his mind a bit.

Eric wasn't quite convinced, but he nodded anyway. "Okay." He twiddled with the pen again. Katherine studied him closely for a while and then decided to distract him from whatever was running through his mind right now. A ten-year old boy shouldn't have to worry about subjects like Alzheimer's, anyway. So she drew his attention back to the assignments in front of him, leaning over to inspect the papers a little more closely.

"So, what are you working on, right now, Einstein?"

Present

"She took mom to the doctor a few months later and that was when they actually diagnosed Alzheimer's", Eric added still a little lost in the memory. "Katherine helped a lot with things around the house. She went grocery shopping for us twice a week and she helped with the household as well for two years. She always did it during the day when we were at school or had our afterschool activities, so we wouldn't notice. She kept me in the loop, though and she was also my sounding board when things weren't so pretty with mom. But eventually she moved away," he concluded with a sad smile.

"Do you know why she moved?" Emma asked.

Eric moved over to the couch in his living room and sat down. Emma followed suit.

"She had gotten a job offer in San Diego, something well-paid and something she had been working towards for a long time. It was a dream come true for her and she just couldn't and didn't want to turn it down. She didn't want to leave us fending for our own, but with the distance she just couldn't check on us on a regular basis. She came on every other weekend at first, but it fizzled out over time. It took a lot out of her."

"Yeah, tell me about it", Emma agreed. During her college time in San Diego they had sometimes not seen each other in months and especially the first year had been hard, because she rarely got to see their mother. She still regretted leaving the city, since she basically missed out on the opportunity to spent time with her in the last months before her passing.

Eric, noticing her discomfort at the sudden turn in their conversation, moved closer to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "You should have no regrets for living your life, Emma."

"I know," she said and her breath hitched once. "But that's easy for you to say. You've been there with her every single day. Up until the end. You got to spent time with her," she stated ruefully and Eric wasn't sure if he even heard a little jealousy in her voice.

He barked out a bitter laugh. "Yeah. But most of the time she barely recognized me. And in the rare moments that she did, she only ever asked about you."

Emma raised her eyebrows in surprise. "She did?" She felt a tinge of happiness, followed by a feeling of regret.

Eric nodded. "Yeah. And I read her every single letter you wrote to her. Sometimes they were the only things that put a smile on her face." He offered her a smile. "She knew you cared about her. She knew."

Emma smiled sadly in response, not trusting herself to speak. A tear rolled down her cheek and Eric wiped it away carefully.

"I really hate to change the subject…" Eric started hesitantly after a few minutes of silent reminiscing. "But if we want to actually head to the cemetery we really should get a move on."

Emma cleared her throat and glanced at her watch. "Yeah, you're right." She turned her eyes on him and looked him up and down. "But I really hope, you didn't plan on wearing that to the cemetery!" she exclaimed with a laugh and a wave towards his bottoms.

Eric looked down on his shorts with the Hawaiian floral print on them and started laughing as well. "I honestly don't know why people think something's wrong with my shorts," he paused dramatically. "But I'm gonna change into something more… suitable if I must."

Emma laughed. "You must."

He gave her a fake pout and wandered in the direction of his bedroom. "Don't get too comfortable on the couch while I change," he called over his shoulder.

"Depends on how long it takes", she countered.

"I'm not a girl, I won't take long," came his muffled reply from behind the partially closed bedroom door. And he was right, it didn't take long. A few minutes later he emerged from his bedroom in a dark grey t-shirt topped off with a white long-sleeve dress shirt with a subtle black pattern on it and a midnight-blue jeans – the only long bottoms he possessed. He looked sharp. Emma whistled despite having seen him in this attire a multitude of times.

"This looks much better", she praised mockingly.

"Yeah and it's the only time of the year in which I'm willingly wearing these." He stretched his legs to emphasize his discomfort in the jeans.

She giggled. "So are you ready to go?"

"Ready when you are, sister." Eric walked ahead into the small hallway and stopped at the counter, where he'd left his valuables upon entering. He put his wallet in one of the back pockets of his jeans and then hovered over his phone with his hand, waiting for Emma to join him in the hall. "I know, we usually go unplugged this day, but I'm not officially off-duty this time…" He trailed off and glanced uncertainly at his sister.

"So you have to take it with you." It was a statement more than a question and there was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I'm sorry. I promised my boss, that I would be reachable in case something urgent came up. She told me not to worry about it, but I just want to make sure. In case they need my skills to avert a crisis of technical nature."

She nodded. "It's okay. But I will be pissed if you do get called into work," she warned with a finger pointed at him.

"I won't," he assured her while putting the phone in his jeans pocket and then grabbing the keys off the counter. Then he headed out, Emma close on his heels.

"So, how are we gonna tackle this?" she asked while they descended the stairs.

"I don't know about you, but I skipped breakfast this morning and the only thing I stomached so far was half a cup of coffee before my boss had me discard it in the trash…" His stomached growled audibly to back his story up.

Emma barked out an amused laugh. "Why would she do that?"

"I'm pretty sure I told you this before, but she really doesn't like it if any kind of food or beverage is brought near our sensitive equipment, namely the computers and stuff," he elaborated.

"No, you didn't."

Eric cocked his head first left then right. "Okay, maybe I didn't. Anyway", he drew out the word. "I suggest we change our typical breakfast meeting into a late lunch and head to the cemetery afterwards. We can stop at the flower shop on our way there."

They reached the lobby and headed out on the street and over to his car.

"Sounds like a plan. Lead the way." He got into the driver's seat with her in the passenger seat and they drove off.

As always I would love to read your thoughts on this. Constructive criticism is highly appreciated.

-S.