Anote: Chapter 50 will be the last one and I already have most of it written, yay! It's very sappy and romantic.

Chapter 49- 'Tis the season part 3

Five minutes later

Automatically, Erik glanced at this phone before answering the call. 'Talk to me.'

'Caw caww, caw caww!'

Erik raised both eyebrows in concern, 'Matt!? What the hell is wrong with you?!'

'Erik, that's the secret signal!' the boy hissed in a scolding whisper. 'How could you forget?!'

Erik sighed and massaged his nose, 'Remind me what a terrible imitation for a bird call means again?'

'It means that people are on their way to interrupt the "conversation" that you are having with Professor Xavier.'

'Matt, you don't have to use his full title like that. He's just a regular guy like you and me.'

He heard the boy's unbelieving snort over the line. Erik had spoken to him several times about this, knowing that it made Charles mildly uncomfortable that Matt gaped at him like some sort of celebrity, while he was trying to read his morning newspaper. They were both waiting for the day when Matt would ask for his autograph.

'Charles isn't out here. Check the bathroom.''

'Alright,' Matt said unsurely before hanging up.

Erik climbed up on the bench, wanting to get another view of the ball room.

'John!'

Instantly the handyman was at his side as Erik fumbled for his ringing telephone again. 'Yes!'

The two valets looked on as Jean discreetly turned on the spot, seeking out her absent escort on the dance floor.

'Look Erik,' Matt replied without preamble, 'I don't care if the two of you are rolling around the bushes, but Prof…Charles has a speech in like seven minutes.'

'Did you check the bathroom?! He's not here with me!' Erik replied in alarm, mouthing Xavier's name to the man beside him. Logan quickly dialed the professor's number.

'Yeah right! I am not falling for that again. Make sure and tuck his shirt in this time.'

Erik watched as Logan shook his head at the lack of a response.

An hour later

'Erik!' Hank cried out as he waved an unmarked envelope towards the man. 'I found this outside.'

The little unofficial search party that was combing the mansion now huddled together, eager to hear some good news. Absently, several of the staff stretched out their hands to touch Erik's jacket, trying to give support while unconsciously seeking comfort in return for the unexplained absence of their master.

However, the man in the center of their group stood like one paralyzed, as Erik stared at his own name printed in bold letters on the plain white envelope.

It just wasn't the name he normally used.

Christmas day

Erik winced as he pulled off his shades. It might be cold but the glare of the sun as it reflected off the gleaming white paint of the yacht, was strong enough to put your eyes out. However, he hadn't been noticed as yet, and for a few moments he stared at Shaw, as the man fussed at the long counter of an outdoor kitchen station. The experience was a bit disorienting to put it mildly.

'Max!' the man yelled out jovially, as he looked up, 'or should I say Erik. You made it!'

The two men just looked at each other and Erik felt a queer sensation come over him, as terrible moments and memories washed over like an angry tidal wave. Shaw snapped his fingers and two identical looking guards from Thugs r'us, stepped out of the shadows. The men quickly searched him, relieving him of the knife at his back but completely missing the small one jammed into his left boot.

'Why draw attention to yourself by kidnapping the professor?' Erik had to know. 'Maybe I've been giving your intelligence too much credit over the years. For a chance to meet you, I would have come half way across the world.'

Shaw nodded in agreement as he yelled out Charles' name down a hatch. 'I used to think so but I have been hearing the strangest stories about you.'

Erik looked across as Xavier stumbled into view; having difficulties in keeping his balance with his hands tied infront of him. He wasn't wearing the same clothes from the party, but instead was decked out in a bright orange top that would stand out for a mile.

Shaw minutely studied Erik's reaction.

'Your friend has quite a mouth on him,' Shaw explained as he pointed to the spectacular bruise on the young man's cheek, 'I am afraid some of his guards lost patience.'

The professor looked once at Erik and then kept his eyes on the deck. The completely blank expression in his boyfriend's eyes had taken his breath away. Erik's body was on board but Charles wasn't sure where his mind was. He resolved to be as quiet and as unobtrusive as possible, taking it for granted that Erik had some plan for getting them out of this mess. Nevertheless, Charles could safely say, he had never been so happy to see anyone in his life. He flinched as Shaw put a gentle hand on his shoulders.

'You know, you almost had me in Prague, Erik. I crossed behind your car just as you were getting out. When I didn't hear from you these last two years, I was happily beginning to think that you had crawled under a rock and died, only to hear that all this time you were in prison. Now, I have been hearing stories that you've forgotten all about me Erik, but somehow, I don't think so because people like us…we never change. In any case, I am not interested in looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life, so let's talk.'

Erik only rolled his eyes in bored irritation, as Shaw suddenly pushed Charles off the deck and into the water below. The man smirked in triumphant at his lack of reaction.

'Xavier?' Erik called out, mimicking Charles' talent for keeping calm under intense pressure, a trait no doubt cultivated from his British upbringing. He was relieved to hear the professor call out in return.

'I'm fine,' the young man yelled, 'but fuck this water is cold! Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!'

It was good that he had braced himself in advance for Shaw's antics as Erik knew the man had a penchant for dramatics, in which he tried to provoke a telling emotional response from his adversaries. In the interim, Erik was quietly thanking the God he wasn't quite sure that he believed in, that the professor was now out of danger. It almost seemed too good to be true. Additionally, he felt a wave of warmth and strength fill his heart and limbs as Charles' endearing use of profanity continued to waft up the side of the deck as he swam away. He didn't dare make any further enquires, lest he bring further attention to his boyfriend treading the water.

However, the unexpected appearance of Emma dashing out from behind a post gave his stomach quite a turn.

'Are you crazy!' she bawled out at Shaw, looking over the side, 'You could have killed him!'

Sebastian narrowed his eyes at these overprotective sentiments.

'EMMA!' Charles shouted out, 'What the bloody hell are you doing?! JUMP woman!'

With a look of fear, she glanced back towards the two men who glared at her with the deepest loathing.

'Be a dear and get us out of the harbor, just in case Erik's brought friends,' Shaw instructed her in silky tones, even as Charles continued to beg her to give it all up and come over the side of the boat. Finally she backed away and scuttled hastily to the captain's chair to start the engine.

'People can really surprise you, can't they?' Shaw mused to his would be assassin, he himself a little taken aback by the odd behaviour of his usually unflappable, right hand woman.

Erik reached out one hand to steady himself on a rail, as the water began to chop beneath them. For a moment, while everyone was distracted, he had thought of jumping over the side himself, but stopped himself at the last moment. It was now on him to get this madman as far away from Charles as possible. Truly, it was hard to describe how guilty he felt that the person he cared for most in this world had been lured out of his home and assaulted.

Erik glared at Emma, wishing he could rip out the spine of the traitorous witch! He knew it wasn't her fault but it was just easier to blame her. Shaw might have cleverly sent a spy into their midst but it was Erik that had brought Shaw into Charles' life. He had been so captivatingly distracted playing house with Charles, that Erik began to forget how truly dangerous this cat and mouse game could really be. Erik had not always been the hunter in their little chase.

'My little Emma has been telling me, that you have given up your criminal endeavors in favor of a more domesticated life; which would be a terrible shame because that little money making scheme you dreamed up in Tokyo was a truly inspired piece of creative accounting!'

Erik took the seat that the man gestured to, crossing his right leg over his lap and casually dropping his hand to touch the top of his left boot, where his knife resided.

'Thank you,' he replied blandly, 'but what difference does it make. It's not like you are going to let me leave here alive.'

Shaw gestured to Emma to bring forth some drinks, as he took a seat a little away from Erik's reach.

'Is that fear I see in your eyes Erik?' Shaw remarked, 'I am actually a bit surprised that you haven't tried to rush me as yet.'

'Your guards would shoot me before I even got a chance,' he stated flatly, 'it's not fear, its annoyance. You will be and always have been a blasted thorn in my ass! Do you know how much money I could have gotten from Xavier? And now that you have inconveniently snatched me away, it's doubtful that I can regain the ground I have lost.'

As Shaw sampled his glass of scotch contemplatively, his companion came forward.

'He's lying Seba!' the platinum blonde shouted, 'Don't trust him! Why are you sitting there, talking to him?! This isn't a James Bond movie! He's been trying to kill you for years.'

'All of this I know,' her colleague remarked quietly, opening a fancy chest and pulling out a handgun from its depths, 'He's lying about something, I just don't know what.'

As you can imagine, Erik was carelessly making this shit up as he went along, stalling for time. Realising that Shaw's most current address was on the water had alerted Logan and his happy band of gun toting friends/mercenaries to the fact that potentially, their target could become a moving one. The handyman/ex-military weapons expert had promised him a distraction if this occurred. Erik's eyes flicked to the edge of the coast line, judging the distance of the boat from the designated marker.

There had really been only one objective in mind today and that was to get Charles to safety. As such, several permutations of the plan had been drawn up to cover every contingency but none had been needed as Shaw had thrown an unexpected spoke in the wheel, early in the game. Erik knew that his friends would come after him to try and affect some rescue, a novel idea which took awhile to wrap his brain around. He had been on his own for years, and then recently he and Charles had become a team and somehow, without him realizing it, that had somehow morphed into including a motley crew of friends, acquaintances and servants.

However, this simple plan to buy extra time was prematurely upset when Shaw unexpectedly turned his gun on Emma and shot her in the face. For a moment Erik stared stupidly as the woman collapsed unto the deck, like a puppet whose strings had been savagely cut. With a howl of anger, he dived towards her but it was of no use. Her glassy eyes stared unseeingly up into the brilliant blue sky and with a gentle caress of his hand, he closed her eyelids for the last time.

'Still shooting people in the head, you sadistic bastard?!' Erik cried out breathlessly, as Emma's face and that of his mum blurred into one searing image. He knew he was on the verge of a full blown panic attack as his lungs seized and spots of yellow danced before his eyes. Painfully struggling for breath, he crawled towards the edge of the boat trailing handprints of blood over the pristine floor, finally propping up his back against the side.

Shaw smirked gleefully, pleased that his attempt to tip Erik over the edge had worked, 'This way, death was instantaneous. No pain at all! Would a bastard be that merciful and generous? I don't think you ever appreciated that about me. You mother didn't suffer at all.'

Shaw rose to his feet and carefully approached the fallen man, 'Look at you Erik, you're a mess. You're not good for anything in this life and you know it. I am the only one that understands you because I made you into the man you are today. I have given your life purpose and meaning for decades. Erik listen to me, we don't have to be on opposite sides, you and I.'

'You killed my mother; we'll always be on opposite sides,' Erik gasped defiantly, even as his heart acknowledged the truth of the man's words. 'If it's alright with you, can we just skip to the part where you just shoot me in the head?'

Shaw stared down at the man before him, stunned at Erik's choice 'Are you sure? A bullet hole in the head is sort of a permanent proposition. How about you try on Emma's old job for a while and see if it suits? No need to be so hasty.'

Erik smiled a little as he surreptitiously reached into his boot for his knife. He remembered a lot of things about his life with the professor but strangely it was Logan's admonition that blared loudly in his ears now. It WAS time to put his own full stop on his past but he would have given anything to have kissed Charles one last time; especially today of all days.

A loud bang made every flinch and suddenly it was like the New Year had come early, as multiple caseloads of fireworks exploded, dotting the sky high over head with sparkles and smoke. Immediately every one on board literally hit the deck, believing themselves to be under fire from the army at the very least. In the noisy confusion of the moment Erik pulled himself up the rails, hand over hand. He was in no fit state to swim, but the way Shaw had brutally executed his lady, left him with no choice but to use this timely distraction. He had a feeling that it was now or never and if he was going to die today, then he would be damned if he was going to lay there like some victim and let Shaw gun him down.

Hitting the water strangely felt as though he was slamming into a concrete pavement but it was mercifully quiet here, and the water was cool.

Five months later

Matt walked through the silent house, switching on lights as he went, 'Erik, are you here?'

He looked in each room and then out a window and was relieved to see Erik outside. He was always afraid that one day he was going to come home, only to find out that Erik had decided to take a midday stroll, somewhere out in the miles of Arizona desert that made up their back yard.

'What's up?' he asked, opening the screen door, 'you missed work.' Erik grunted as he stared fixedly at the screen of his laptop, perched on a convenient boulder before him. With a sigh, Matt walked up behind the other man and peeked over his shoulder.

There were basically three things that now made up Erik's day; going to work, jogging at nights and staring at this television channel. At first, Matt had thought that Erik had taken a liking to the news announcer, but this person was replaced and still Erik watched the programme as if it held the meaning of life. Only later, when he worked up the nerve to ask him, did Erik explain that he was actually looking at the set of incomprehensible numbers that scrolled continuously at the bottom of the screen. He then reluctantly pointed out a group of squiggles and numbers that represented Charles' company. Matt had been flabbergasted by this information; distraught at this very visible piece of evidence that hinted how much Erik was thinking of Charles. Erik had smiled sadly at his dismay, assuring him that watching the numbers helped him to relax.

'Something's wrong,' Erik informed him in a worried voice.

THAT was the understatement of the century!

Of course he didn't mind that Erik had suddenly wanted to fly home to Arizona with him. It was a bit of a relief to not have to face his brothers all by himself. But what he had failed to realize in the whole kerfuffle of Charles' kidnapping and his safe return AND trying to reach home before the New Year AND worrying about his brothers' reaction to the news that he was in prison, was that Erik had quietly walked away from his life with the professor.

Matt had made anxious inquires, especially when he telephoned Charles to find out what the heck was going on! But Erik had just glared at him and told him to leave it alone. Subsequently a weekend stay had somehow evolved into an incredibly, depressing five months.

Erik unexpectedly wouldn't take the professor's calls and it had been on him to answer all of Xavier's questions and to try and transmit messages. He didn't know how to tell the young man that Erik walked away whenever he tried to say something. In the end, Charles had quietly told him thank you, and to call at anytime if there was an emergency or if he needed help. Matt thought he was going to go crazy that first month with not knowing what to do, and it was a relief to know that he wasn't the only one. He had almost peed himself, when he went to take out the garbage at 4'clock in the morning, only to find the professor standing in the middle of his postage sized weed filled garden, cat carrier in hand.

'I just want to see him,' Charles had mumbled out in anguish.

Matt had stood in a corner dancing on the spot, wanting to intervene and wake up Erik but the professor would not hear of it. The young academic just looked and looked and looked, as if trying to memorise every feature of the man's face and every breath that he quietly took as he slept. Matt hadn't seen Charles again, and the man hadn't called since.

Xavier had left a note for Erik on his side table as well as the cat. Matt had been forced to snoop, but he felt well rewarded for taking the risk of being scratched by Erik's vicious and overly protective feline guard, when he discovered that the seal of the envelope was broken. He hoped that this meant that his friend had at least read whatever his boyfriend had to say. Erik never said anything, or asked about Charles' visit but from that day his sprits seemed to rally a bit; as if knowing that Charles still cared enough to come all this way to see him, had warmed the icy chill that had settled over his person.

Erik pointed to the squiggle that was Charles' company on the stock exchange. 'These numbers aren't right.'

Matt made an indistinct noise, not knowing what to say, especially when he saw Erik fingering his cell phone. He cleared his throat nervously, torn between encouraging his friend to call the man he was once and perhaps still deeply in love with or just to keep quiet.

'Can you?' Erik whispered feebly, as Ashley jumped into his arms with an inquiring meow of concern. 'I wouldn't know what to say.'

Matt quietly nodded and with the minimum of fuss he dialed the professor's number, hoping that it wouldn't show on his face that he was just as terrified as Erik probably felt.

'Hello, Hi...' he stammered out nervously, 'May I speak to the professor?'

Erik breathed out a sigh that at least someone had answered the phone. He had kept his old number in case of emergency and it was a relief to know that Charles hadn't disconnected his.

'I don't know if you remember me Mrs. Summers, but I am Matt, a friend of Erik's.'

The young man quickly handed over the phone as Erik waved him over. He then listened in tense silence at his half of the conversation.

'Jean?'

'It's wonderful to hear your voice too.'

Erik pulled his laptop towards him, 'Yes, I am watching it now.'

'You can't be serious! Why would Xavier authorize something like that?'

Erik listened intently with a dark frown at the explanation. 'Let me talk to him.'

'HE'S WHERE?!' Erik roared so loudly that Ashley hissed and Matt tripped over his feet.