So, it goes on. And with the morning after. I have to say that it's actually going quite well at the moment. And soon there will be some surprises but I don't want to spoil. You have to be patient a little bit. I have to see if I can update because I'm moving and so I'm stressed. But don't worry. New chapters are already in the works. I wish you a lot of fun reading.

Greetings Petit Erik

Erik POV

I woke up with a smile. In front of me I saw the most beautiful sight. Louise was lying on her pillow, her eyes still closed. Her bare shoulders indicated what we had done the previous night. I grinned to myself and reached out a hand to stroke Louise's cheek. She sighed softly and her eyelids began to flutter. She yawned and opened her eyes. As soon as they fell on me, she smiled.

"Good morning, Erik," she said softly to me.

I pulled her close to me and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Good morning, my angel. How are you?"

"I'm doing very well," she said, but didn't look at me.

"Lou...", I started but she already interrupted me.

"Okay. I'm a little sore but otherwise I'm fine. Really."

"Okay," I said, "if you're sure."

"I am. And I don't think it will be our only time."

At that sentence, she threw me a seductive grin. I looked at her with wide eyes.

"Would you really want to do that again?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't you?"

"I just thought that this one time had been enough for you."

"For that night yes but definitely not later."

At my shocked look she started laughing and hugged me.

"Oh Erik, we'll be fine. We'll take all the time in the world."

I smiled at her and kissed her again. Louise kissed me back and then swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She stretched and her naked body looked like ivory in the sunlight. Then she went into the bathroom and came back about 5 minutes later.

"I just forgot something," she explained with a slight blush on her cheeks.

I grinned, rose as well, pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and disappeared into the bathroom as well. About 5 minutes later Louise came back.

She had a stack of towels in her arms and placed them on the washing machine. Then she walked into the shower and, to my complete surprise, held out her hand to me. With slow steps I went to her.

"Come on, Erik. I'm not going to bite you," she said with a giggle.

"No, but I thought you'd want your privacy."

"After what we did yesterday?"

I felt myself blush and looked at her with a knowing smile. Louise returned it and pulled me to her. She opened the faucet and a moment later I felt the water trickle down my body. I looked at Louise and saw the water running through her long hair. Her hair was pitch black and when the water flowed through it looked like it was shining. Then, as she turned off water, she reached into a shelf and pulled out a bottle of shampoo. She put little of it in her hand and I was surprised when she stepped up to me and gently massaged it into my few strands of hair. I closed my eyes and sighed to myself. She gently massaged my scalp and when I felt her hands were gone, I opened my eyes again. There I saw her putting some shampoo in her hand as well. It was much more than it was on me. Of course; she had longer hair than me and much more of it. Before Louise soaped up her hair, she handed me the bottle.

"Here, Erik," she said, pressing it into my hand.

"This is 2-in-1, which means it's both shower gel and shampoo. Feel free to use it."

I took the bottle from her and as I covered my body with soap, I watched Louise massage the soap into her hair. She ended up twisting her hair into a style so it looked like it had been pinned up. Then she took the shower gel from me and soaped her body as well. After a short while, she turned the water back on and I rinsed the lather from my body and strands of hair. Louise turned her back to me and I watched the water hit her hair, loosening her hairstyle and snaking down her back in black waves. She ran her fingers through to wash out the last of the lather. When there was really only water left in her hair, she turned off the faucet, got out of the shower, and grabbed a towel while holding one out to me with a smile. I took it from her with a grateful smile and I saw her grab a second one. At first I was puzzled until I saw that she had wrapped her hair in the first one. She wrapped the second one around her body and then came to me.

"Well, refreshed?" she asked with a smile.

I nodded and kissed her lightly.

"And hungry for coffee," I said with a grin.

She looked at me with wide eyes and then laughed.

"You and your never ending thirst for coffee," she said and giggled.

"Hmm, I'm hungry for something else too," I explained with a grin.

Louise looked at me with wide eyes.

"And for what?"

"For you!"

And already I was grabbing her and lifting her bridal style into my arms. She first shrieked and then laughed as I carried her from the bathroom to her bedroom. Once she was in my arms, she smiled and kissed me on my distorted cheek. I hummed and she grinned at that. It seemed that she really liked that sound of me. So another thing she liked about me.

When we were in the bedroom, I put her on the bed and sat down next to her. She grinned at me and hugged me.

"Hmm. You smell wonderful."

"What do I smell like?"

"Like a piña colada."

"Like what?"

"Like a drink. That's exactly what you smell like. There's coconut in there. And pineapple."

"But I don't smell like pineapple," I replied.

"Yes you do. There was pineapple in the shampoo."

Then she crawled behind me and hugged me from behind. I almost jumped when I felt her nose against my head.

"Hmm."

I felt her stick her nose into my sparse hair. She seemed to almost inhale me. I closed my eyes and leaned into her touch. She ran her hands through my strands of hair and then gently traced my exposed section of bone. Her hand gently caressed my disfigured cheek and then slid to my misshapen lips. Then she clasped my chin and turned my head toward her. A short time later I felt her lips on mine. It was a wonderful kiss. Not passionate, but just full of love. Louise pulled back and looked at me. As she did so, she caressed my cheek.

"I love you, Erik," she whispered.

"I love you too, Louise," I replied just as softly.

She smiled, kissed me again, then got up and went to her closet and got out some clothes.

"I'm going to get some clothes too, dear," I said, walking over to my bag.

While we were both changing, I was already putting the things I didn't need anymore into my bag. It was hard for me but today I would have to leave my angel again. But we still had a few hours together. So we got dressed, hung up our bath towels, of which Louise still wore hers around her head, and then made breakfast together. I was almost jittery because I finally got my coffee. When it was ready, we sat down at the table and enjoyed our penultimate meal together before I would drive back this afternoon.

Louise POV

My God, Erik smelled good! His "hair" now had the scent of pineapple and coconut and it suited him beautifully.

"Man, I'd love to eat you up," I confessed to him as we cuddled on the sofa and I sniffed his neck.

"But then I wouldn't be here," he replied.

"True. I don't want that either. So I'll let you live. Rest assured, though, that I'll be on you like a limpet all day."

He raised his nonexistent eyebrow.

"Like that, but you'd have to come back with me."

"I'm afraid that's something I can't do," I admitted dejectedly.

Erik gently lifted my head with his finger.

"We'll get through this, dear. Someday we'll be together. Then we won't have to be apart."

"That would be nice."

"Believe me," Erik said in his soft voice.

I nodded, snuggling up to his neck and nibbling on it a little.

"Lou..." he growled and I grinned, nibbling my way up to his earlobe.

Suddenly he turned around with a jerk and pinned me to the couch with his hands.

"Although I'd love to jump you right now, dear, I'm afraid your parents would resent us for it later when the couch is out of place."

I burst out laughing.

"How badly do you want to rock me, angel?"

With a dangerous grin, Erik slowly approached my face.

"Oh, if you only knew, love," he growled, then kissed me stormily.

I pulled him to me on the sofa and we continued kissing. When we finally ran out of air, we separated. We were both red in the face, but smiling.

"I'm afraid I won't last much longer with you," Erik said, looking at me with hungry eyes.

"I feel the same way, love," I admitted with a grin.

We sat back up and straightened our clothes. I put my hair back in order and also tidied Erik's disheveled strands.

"Do you think that's the only thing that doesn't look good on me?" he asked me.

"Yes, I think so," I said, pressing a kiss to his right cheek.

He hummed and smiled at that.

"I swear to you Erik, if you were a cat, you'd be purring all the way through."

He grinned and kissed me on the lips.

"Tell that to Ayesha."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my cat that Nadir takes care of when I'm not around."

"Are you telling me that Ayesha came with you from your world too?!", I asked him, getting louder and closer to his face.

"Yes, of course she did."

"Awww!", I squealed loudly.

"Could I meet her sometime too?"

Erik nodded and said: "Of course you can, angel. If you have time, you're always welcome to come."

I hugged him and said: "I will."

By now it had become noon. We sat together for so long that we didn't even hear the door open. My parents came back and then stood in the living room door. At first I didn't even notice them but my mom knocked on the door.

"Hello, you two lovebirds! We're back!"

I lifted my head and looked at my parents. I waved at them but made no move to get up. Erik acknowledged that with a grin. I just saw him roll his eyes and I was lifted into his arms again.

"Erik!", I screeched.

He just laughed and carried me out into the hallway. There I then greeted my parents while still in Erik's arms. My parents laughed heartily at this image and greeted Erik as well. It seemed like they didn't react to his face at all. They treated him as if he were perfectly normal. I loved them even more for that. Erik also seemed to have noticed that my parents didn't flinch away or scream or do God-knows-what. I could literally see how a stone fell from his heart. Together we went back into the living room and plopped down on the couch and my dad in the armchair. I immediately climbed back onto Erik's lap and he put his arms around me.

"So, how was it?", I asked my parents.

"Oh, it was wonderful. We rode the cable car, visited your aunt, of course; by the way, hello, and yesterday we went to the Selke Valley with the steam locomotive. It was really beautiful," my mother gushed.

I smiled and looked at Erik. He knew this expression and leaned forward so I could whisper in his ear.

"That's where we could go on vacation one day. Just the two of us, just imagine how romantic that would be."

Erik grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. I giggled and hid my red face against his neck. After my mom was done telling me, my dad spoke up.

"So what all did you guys do?"

"Well, we had coffee first thing on Friday when Erik arrived. And on the side, we watched 'Sissi'."

My mom immediately looked at Erik.

"Do you like it?"

"Oh yes," he replied, "it may seem a bit cheesy to others but I like it very much."

My parents' eyes got big.

Then my dad asked: "Tell me, Erik. Do you sing by any chance?"

I saw my angel's cheeks turn slightly pink.

"Yes, why?"

"Your voice sounds wonderful. We wouldn't be surprised if you worked in an opera or some other musical institution," my mother said.

"That's right. I work at an opera," Erik replied with a smirk.

"Really? Where?" my dad asked again.

"At the Semper Opera House in Dresden. I'm the artistic director there."

"What?!" echoed two times.

"Yes, it's true. Erik really does work at the Semper Opera as artistic director. And he makes really good money," I explained to my parents.

I saw out of the corner of my eye how Erik became even redder and buried his face in my hair. I heard my parents laugh.

"Oh, kids. This isn't so bad after all. I suppose we'll have to split up again soon though, right?" my mom asked.

Erik nodded and took his face out of my hair.

"Yes. I'm going back to Chemnitz later, and then back to Dresden again. But I'll try to come back soon. If I may, of course?"

"Of course you may. You're always welcome here," said my mother.

"Even like this?" asked Erik, pointing to his unmasked face.

"Even like this. No one should have to hide. Least of all you. We see how happy you make our daughter. And there's nothing more important to us," my dad replied.

Erik looked at her with a tearful smile and hugged me. My parents smiled at our obvious affection and love for each other. Suddenly, my mom stood up and walked out of the living room toward the kitchen.

Before we could wonder, the kitchen echoed: "Erik? You're staying for coffee though, right?"

I was grinning like crazy, Erik was too.

"I'd love to," he called back into the kitchen.

My mom, who had stuck her head out the door, smiled back at us. After about 10 minutes, she returned with the two huge cups. Erik sprang up from his lazy position and eyed the cups with bright eyes. My mother sat down again with us on the sofa and together she and Erik drank their beloved coffee. My dad and I sat and talked with them. After about 30 minutes, they were done and Erik relaxed a bit more. But at half past three he slowly got ready because he wanted to take the train to Chemnitz at four. So we all got up and went into the hallway. Erik got his bag from my room and put on his shoes and jacket. Then, unfortunately, he had to put on his mask and wig, which made his wonderful face disappear again. He smiled slightly and knew exactly what I was thinking. He hugged me and for a long time we held each other until we unfortunately had to let go. We kissed again for a long time and then parted of necessity. He stroked my cheek, said goodbye to my parents, kissed me again, opened the door and then made his way back.

For a long time I stood in the doorway and waved to him. Shortly before he was no longer to be seen, he waved to me once again, to my surprise took off his mask once more, blew me a kiss, which I returned, put his mask back on and continued on his way. When he was finally out of sight, I closed the door and went to the window in the living room and waited until I could see him again. At last I saw him. He turned to me many times and waved. My parents stood with me and waved to him as well. Until Erik was out of sight, we waved to him. Then we walked away from the window again and sat down. I began to miss my angel already. But I was already looking forward to the next time we would meet again.

Note: there will be no new chapter next week because I'm on vacation. But in two weeks I'll be back!