Chapter Fifteen

"I'm so sorry," I whispered fretfully to Eric, while we were dithering around in my small kitchen as Eric made his father one of those traditional fairy drinks. His father was sitting around in the living room, waiting for his return. I could almost sense a massive parental explosion heading his way, all because of what his father had so embarrassingly witnessed.

What a way to make a first impression to your man's father, sarcasm meant. I was in fight or flight mode; And my entire body was aching and leaning towards the flight part. I desired nothing more than to run for the hills, to bury my face and body away from sight. I couldn't think of anything more embarrassing than your father spotting you in a sexual act with another person of the opposite sex. Growing up as a conservative Christian woman, I had learned that sexual acts were always something meant to be going on behind closed doors, in privacy and without anybody else knowing. So to say I was feeling thoroughly ashamed of myself, it was an understatement of the century.

"Should I stay out here and let you two have some time to yourselves?" Even as I suggest it, it seems a completely wrong thing to do, as much as I would have loved to avoid looking Eric's fairy father directly in the eye. We had gotten into this mess together, after all. It takes two to tango, and both of us were just as guilty as each other. It wasn't fair of me to simply just let Eric take all the blame. No, I would have to suck it up and deal with the condemnation with him, as is only fair. Eric gave me a silent look of pleading, which just only confirmed what I had to do: I had to slip on my big girl panties, and face the problem along with it. So, slip on my big girl panties, I would. "All right, all right," I muttered underneath his look. "I'm coming."

Facing our problem head-on, we entered into the small living room together. Eric's father looked restless as he sat there on the couch, while grasping onto his walking stick; He obviously didn't know what to do with himself. He looked unsure of his surroundings and as if he didn't particularly like my modest living quarters one bit. Eric placed his cup of tea on the coffee table and his father didn't say a single word of gratitude. He simply looked at me, scrutinizing me with hard, critical blue eyes that were so weirdly like Eric's. It was like looking in a mirror, for all the similarities their appearances had. When Eric sat near him, I felt spooked. I could hardly have known which one was Eric, had his father not had grey streaks in his hair.

"Well," I breathed very nervously, as I sat down across from the pair, "This is very strange. I hope you don't mind the state of the house. I wasn't aware we would be having visitors anytime soon."

"The state of your dwelling is really not an issue here," Eric's father said, with just the hint of a bite in his voice that told me he was not at all a happy camper. "Godric has sent me word of your progress. This was the least of what I was expecting from my son."

At his father's words, Eric looked about ready to puke. Poor thing.

"I apologize for what just happened," I said, as calmly as I could, hoping to come to Eric's defence. "But it would have been nice to know in advance just that you were intending to make a house visit. I'm sure we all could have prevented all this awkwardness."

"My dear, I know my son well," Eric's father said, in a cold voice that could have melted an ice-block. "It is not surprising in the slightest that I find him in this... position with you. I am more so surprised by the nerve he has to go against my wishes."

Eric looked about ready to explode at that. His jaw tightened. "Father, I-"

"Silence," his father commanded, without even having to raise his voice. Eric fell into a simpering silence, nursing his head in his hands. I could hear him panting desperately from where I sat across from him. "I bring you here into this realm, I sentence you here, praying it would educate you on how to hold yourself later on as a respectable leader, and yet you go against me in such a disgraceful way as this!"

Disgraceful? Well, now. How rude.

I opened my mouth to say something in argument, but not a single word would come out. I guess Eric's father used it to his advantage.

"How can you be a leader when you comport yourself in such a manner? Have you little to no self-restraint, my son?"

"Father, please," Eric whispered. His voice was despairing.

"What do you have to say for yourself? The terms were very simple. I sentenced you here so that you could learn, and yet... you have learned next to nothing. You have not changed your ways! I find you here, with this... this..." Eric's father looked me over, seemingly speechless with words on how to describe me. I thought he was almost about to go so far as to call me a whore or something. "...this woman from the very realm I banished you to, and yet you show exactly the same disregard as you do in your true place!"

Eric was twitching in all his pent-up frustration to explain himself. "But father, it is different with her!"

"How so?" His father yelled in disbelief. I almost cowered in my seat, because his voice went so deep and thunderous. I'm certain the walls shook. "How is this any different, my son?"

"I love her, father! This is love!"

"Love?" His father laughed out loud in outrage. "You do not understand what that means! It is mere words to you!"

Startling me, his father got to his feet in one quick movement.

"I wish to hear no more of it! Come! We will speak more of this later, in privacy without this woman in the way! She quite clearly clouds your judgment!"

He didn't need to expand on that for me to understand just what he was saying.

"Your mother will be beside herself, much as I am. Regardless, she wishes to see you. It has been days, and days."

His father crossed out of the house without so much as a single word of pleasantries to me, and Eric was obviously obliged to follow him. Eric got to his feet slowly, and I tried my very hardest not to glance up at his face. I kept my eyes planted on my folded hands that were sitting in my lap. I knew one glance up at him, and I would have lost it completely.

So, here it was. The end of whatever we had began to be. I wasn't so sure why I was so surprised by it coming. After all, I knew it would have sooner or later. Wasn't this exactly what I had always been fearing? This was ultimately why I was so reluctant to everything. I knew in the end I would end up falling for him, when I shouldn't have. But it was beyond all help. I couldn't help it, despite knowing it was in my best interests to try to shut it off.

You can't shut off feelings like a tap. It just wasn't that easy. So what was I meant to do? How could I have stopped it in time enough? There was a simple answer to that: I couldn't have. I couldn't have done a single goddamn thing to stop myself from developing feelings for Eric. And it was already far too late.

I slid off the couch but kept my eyes to my hands. To look up at his face would have risked me breaking down and losing it completely. I could not risk that, I just couldn't.

"Sookie," he breathed, his voice achingly sad, and then his arms went around me. I didn't even notice them moving to touch me. I wanted to pull away from him, to move out of range, because he was only make it all the more difficult to keep firm grasp on my emotions. I just let him have his moment, maybe silently enjoying the way his arms felt around me, the warmth and strength in them, as he held me close. But I did not respond to the hug in any shape or form. I simply stood there passively, letting him have his moment.

"Goodbye, Eric," I said, gentle as a whisper.

By mistake, I allowed myself one last look at him, before he turned and followed after his father in quick, hasty strides. All I saw was violent, thunderous rage in his expression at having been forced into something he wasn't wanting to do. He said not a single word as he exited my house. Not even a "Thanks for a great time," or a "It's been wonderful knowing you." There was absolutely nothing he could say.

When quietness settled into the house, my emotions took over then like an uncontrollable, ruthless wave. I sank down into the sofa, and all the feelings I had suppressed suddenly bubbled up, and cracked open. I clutched a hand over my chest, breathing in desperately for air. It felt as though something was clenching tightly over my chest, pinching at my heart. Before I even had so much as time to begin crying, I heard footsteps shuffling outside on the porch. I went over to the door, feeling next to nothing, feeling empty for reasons I couldn't place.

And then I noticed Eric was standing there. His father was nowhere in sight.

"What are you still doing here? I thought you just left with your father?"

"I told you I would fight for you, defend you," he said. He took a slow, uncertain step closer to me.

"And I told you, I don't want there to be any fighting. Just go home, please. Just go with your father, back to your fairy world, like you ought to. You can go home now, and that's great."

"I want to stay with you," he whispered bleakly.

"Well, you can't. Just go already."

"Every week then," he said, and it sounded like an undying promise. "I will come here, I will return for you, every week."

"Just go."

He reached up with a hand to touch my cheek, and I hadn't realized I was crying until I felt his thumb brush away wet tears. In the only way I knew how to ease the pain and heartache somehow, I stepped back and closed the door on him, watching his silhouette as he stood there for a very long time. And after what felt like years had passed, he finally brought himself to leave.