!?Is it really?! {Eryk}

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen paced. She never paced. This was worth pacing. She shook her head. Minerva? She couldn't tell Minerva...of course she couldn't tell Minerva. And now on top of this he needed to talk to her. This...was not good. What was she going to tell him? What could she tell him? The truth? No...yes...well maybe. She honestly didn't have time for all of this and now on top of that he wanted to meet her at the cottage?

I need to see you. Wait until Minvera is asleep. Meet me at the cottage. Leave a note to tell your sister where you are. I can't promise you'll be safe. I love you. ~E


Why the hell do I have to wait till she's asleep? And...leave her a note? This wasn't making any sense to her, not at all. Cerridwen ran a hand through her hair one last time and looked at herself in the mirror. She had been pacing for half an hour in her room, trying to figure out what to do. It wasn't so much the letter that disturbed her. No it wasn't that it all. "Right..." She murmured to herself. Minerva was long since asleep, she had been going to bed earlier and earlier these days, without Cal around to keep her up, that was another thing that worried her. Her sister. With Cal gone she had been so....lost looking, so tired. It was a sad thing to watch. Though enough about Minerva, Cerridwen had her own problems, and with that she crept down the stairs and looked around before stealing out away into the bitter cold night.

Landing at the steps of their cottage she hurried into it and looked around. "Eryk..." She called cautiously narrowing her eyes, keeping herself alert, anything could be here, and she was not keen on the thought. Why couldn't he have met her at home or somewhere warm? She shivered and waited.

[eryk]

Curled up under a bush Eryk had stayed in his wolf form to stay warm in the cool night air. It had taken everything he had to get away from Xavier, and the small bit he had left to get to a source of paper then to the cottage. At least a week had passed since he'd last seen Cerri, or at least it felt like a week. Maybe more. Shivering he whimpered tucking in his tail closer to his body. Why did it always have to be the coldest when he had to be otuside?

At the sound of feet his ears perked then her scent drifted into his senses and his head lifted. Moving achingly slow he limped over to the steps of the cottage. She was calling for him and he yipped softly in response. It would take a lot of energy to change back to human form. He'd barely made it when he'd written the letter. Giving another small yip he limped his way over to Cerridwen. The shifting had helped heal a lot of his wounds along with time. But he'd only been away from Xavier for less than a day now. Bone were still broken, and he was pretty sure the monster had taken a piece of his ear off.

His amber eyes turned to her worried face with a soft whine his tail wagging pathetically. It was so good to see her again no matter if he was in pain or not. Not only had Xavier done a number on him, but Eryk had taken three of Xavier's fingers in the fight. Eryk had gone to kill Xavier would never kill him, and that gave him the advantage. So much blood has spilt, and both limped away exhausted and in agony. In Eryk's mind he'd won at least that fight. He'd come away with all his apendages save part of his ear, while Xavier had lost half a hand. If that wasn't a win he didn't know what one was.

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen looked around seeing nothing. What was this...she narrowed her eyes further and looked around. Gettting a note...like this one, the one she had gotten, wait till Minerva was asleep? What so she couldn't get help? But...it had also said leave a message for her...this just wasn't making a lot of sense to her. What was going on anyways. She had tried to get in contact with him. She had tried to see him, Minerva kept her away, his father would shoo her away, even Sylvia once told her to go...now that...for Sylvia to so was low. It was crap and it was low. No WAY would she listen to THAT thing's girlfriend. No matter how nice she seemed to be, it just wasn't going to happen. There was a greater chance of Minerva and Cerridwen disowning Mae before she actually listened to Sylvia. Ha.

When Sylvia closed the door, Cerridwen had flown around to the other side to check his window...where she was met with a close blind and an angry father. Yeahhh. She was sure now that his father would NEVER like her, and probably never let her marry his one and only son. Peachy. Just lovely.

Now though as she heard a yip, she wasn't sure she'd get the chance to marry him. Was this Xavier? Come to kill her? There was no way she could fight, she was still put out from the lovely last battle they had, had. She was not ready to fight again, and she was about to attack the thing that was yipping, until she saw it was a wolf, yes she would have been terrified if she had not known it was Eryk. Eryk...and the first thing she noticed was....the wounds. That ear especially. "Eryk..." She breathed feeling sick again. Oh god. Why...why couldn't Xavier just leave them alone?

"Eryk..." Cerridwen uttered her voice somewhat scolding, somewhat worried. "Why...you didn't need to do this..." She whispered her hand reaching out to touch the soft fur.. She let her nails scratch gently just behind his ears and looked into the amber eyes she once feared. "Really..." She whispered pushing some fallen hair behind her ears as she inspected the damage.

[eryk]

He nuzzled her hand his tail wagging a bit more enthusiastically. Sniffing at her to check how she was and not smelling anything bad like say blood he licked her hand. With a canine smile he trotted to the door and scratched at it glancing back at her. Whenever she came to open it he went inside his tail high and wagging slightly. He'd been so worried about her ever since he'd left that day. To see that she was alright made his spirits lift and almost had him forget about his wounds. They were nothing as long as his love was alright.

His paws trotted to the bathroom of the house and with a soft bark he gave her another doggie grin before going in. He kicked it shut then started to change. It hurt like hell and it took him a lot longer than normal. For a few minutes there he thought he might be stuck in his lycan form. Finally laying exhausted on the tiled bathroom floor he was human and sweating from the effort to change. After washing himself off a bit from water from the sink he peeked out. Then moved to a room across the hall in search of some clothes he'd hid there once. He dressed then went out to find her.

His ear tip was ragged but mostly healed and he still walked with a limp. Even though bruises littered his body, his knee screamed in pain, and his wrist had been crushed in Xavier's jaws he was smiling. She was okay and that meant the world to the young lycan.

"I'm so glad you're alright. I'm sorry I left Cerri, but I had to try to kill him once and for all." It hadn't worked but Xavier had gotten the message that Eryk wasn't just going to roll over for him anymore. "And I did have to do this. How else were you supposed to know I wasn't dead? Not even my family has seen me yet."

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen tried to smile...even for the slightest bit she tried to smile. There had been nothing more that simple grin, and normally to see him, alive like this, she would have smiled at his wolfish grin, but tonight...tonight was just, she couldn't do it. If he saw she wasn't smiling then maybe he would get the picture that maybe, just maybe something wasn't right. Sighing, he smiled at her, and he kept smiling. That was the thing, he kept smiling. Stop SMILING! She had wanted to scream at him, to tell him to stop, that there was NOT anything to smile about. He was alive, yeah, but they had other problems, their world was just filled with them right now. His dad hated her, her sister was in meltdown mode, she couldn't do anything right anymore it seemed, and this was Minerva who normally was okay when ANYTHING happened, she was basically losing it in her own little world, and then on top of that she was late.

That...was not a good thing. Taking a deep sigh, she watched him leave, he peaked behind the door, one last wolfish grin, and for him, she managed to make a false weak one. This...was going to be harder then she expected.

She had a few minutes to think this over. Well...she'd just say it. Let him know. And then quickly change subjects and that would be that. Then she could just ask him why the hell he had gone out on that wild wolf chase in the first place. He would have no time to question her, and she would just...keep the attention on him. She cared about him anyways, she was worried, was he seriously hurt did they need to call the healer YET again. She seriously needed to put him on speed dial.

When Eryk returned she looked up. He...walked over to her and she looked up to him. "Eryk I'm late" She said, as he began talking...clearly he hadn't heard her because he kept talking, and then paused and talked again. Well...what was she suppose to do? "Eryk...I'm not alright..." She said trying to stress this to him in anyway she could. "That's just it...I'm not...and this, this stunt!" She closed her eyes and shook her head. "This hasn't been my week alright?" She asked and sighed. "Eryk...listen to me." She snapped. "I'm. Late." She said slowly in short syllabus for him. And with that she looked down. "Why did you go on this chase anyways Eryk...why can't he just leave us alone?" She murmured and kept her eyes trained on the ground.

[eryk]

Blood loss, pain, missing a few pieces of his anatomy and her words was what was making him reach for the wall to steady himeself. Had she just said she was late? Yeah, he needed to sit down. Sliding to the floor he stared at her in absolute shock.

"It's only been a week! You, you can't be that late. It's probably just stress. Like you said, bad week." Probably not the reaction she wanted but that was the only thing he could think of to say. The other parts of her little speech didn't bother him too much. No the idea that he might, possibly, likely be a father that boggled him. Waving his hands to make her stop talking he found his feet again though it hurt like the dickens to do so.

"Cerri," whince while gaining his feet, "for one it wasn't just some stunt, some game for me. I did it to get rid of him."

Why didn't she understand that? He didn't know why Xavier insisted in bothering them, but it wasn't like he enjoyed getting the life beat out of him over and over again. Rubbing his face he flinched finding a new bruise. He hated fighting and he'd done more in the past three weeks than what felt like his whole life.

"Okay, back to the important thing. Cerridwen, how sure are you that you're late late? As in pregnant late." Eryk open his big blues to gaze at her wanting to go to her to hold her, but not sure he'd make it. His knee was really killing him. Too bad the house wasn't equiped with furniture yet. What was worse was after his meeting with her he'd have to go back out there. To find that monster again and try all over. Even in the state he was in he was sure Xavier was in a worse one. It might mean leaving her in a not so great of position, but he would not bring a child into this world if it was hunted.

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen shook her head waving a hand. "Your right...it's probably just...this entire situation getting to me." Cerridwen shook her head. "I've had a headache...all day today...and part of yesterday, it's probably just, because of stress your right. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" She uttered. Clearly they both wanted to talk about different things. She certainly didn't want to have this conversation, it was just one of those things you thought the other would like to know and then it was time to move on. This would be one of those things. Tell Eryk but not dwell on it. She was...now slightly half and half paranoid, though a big chunk of her was still positive there wasn't anything there, she was just getting worked up over nothing. She thought it would help to blame this all on Xavier. This was after all, all his fault they were in this situation anyways. That and it was just easier to blame this on that sorry b*stard. Just always easier.

Cerridwen looked to him getting to her feet and moving to him. He was in pain, and she was freaking out. Not a good combination. Cerridwen took a deep sigh and tried to smile for him, even if it was weak, and little. "I'm not...alright? look at me...my eyes." Cerridwen instructed as she took his hands. "Do you honestly think we..." She didn't finish the sentence. There was no need to. "We're not...I'm not...I flipped over something small, I've been flipping over a lot of things this week...we have bigger problems." She assured him. She leaned in and kissed his lips...they were chapped, and she wasn't certain or not if there was dried blood on them. It didn't matter. She loved him, and it just didn't matter.

"Eryk...we need to put together some sort of game plan...alright? We can't keep running into him randomly. We need to figure out something to do. Alright? We're going to stay here...tonight okay? And we're going to figure this out. Together. Because I refuse to keep living like this...letting him run our lives like he has been. Whether...we hurt him and call the authorities or if we..." She didn't finish once again. She didn't want to kill Xavier, even if she on the outside did, the inside, deep down just just...didn't want to.

Cerridwen took a deep breath and looked to him. "Alright? Yeah?" She asked letting her nails run over his cheek slowly. she stood with him, still holding his hands as she waited for a response. "I'm going to help you...we'll get him together..." She assured him.

[eryk]

She had dodged his question about being sure. Well, she had agreed that she was probably just being paranoid but it felt like she was dodging. Maybe that was just him being paranoid. Deciding to drop it for now he smiled back at her when she went to him as he stood. At her kiss he licked his lips not expecting her to kiss him so soon. Cringing he tasted blood and hoped that Cerridwen hadn't noticed.

"Do I honestly think what, Cerri? What are you trying to tell me? Love, I can't read minds." If only. He reached his hand up to lay it on top of hers to stop the nails. It was distracting and he couldn't be distracted right now. Not when he was about to lie to her for the first time since they'd been together. It hurt him to do it but he needed to, no had to protect her and his maybe unborn child. No matter what it cost him personally. If it meant he lost a hand, an arm, anything but her he'd do it.

"Yeah, we'll stay here tonight." Smiling he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "We'll discuss what do to and in the morning we'll talk to our families. Okay?"

His eyes were sad and pain filled but it was normal for someone in his condition, and he smiled softly as he touched her cheek. He needed for her to believe him. For when morning streaked across the sky his goal was to be long gone and after that white wolf. With her safe and sleeping in the confines of their home. Eryk stroked his thumb over her cheek his heart wrenching as he spoke.

"Yes, together, love. Together."

[©erridwen Corrigan]

She smiled when he said together. Together. They would do it together. She believed every word he was feeding her. It was really the last real thing in her life. She believed it was the last stable thing she had, and the mere fact that he would lie to her...well he wouldn't lie. She smiled a soft small smile. Big smiles were way out of her league right now, no way could she muster one of those. It was just...to hard. They stood there and together..what was starting to become her favorite word...'together', together, they would stay here, heyy the first time in their house, THEIR house, and they, sure would have to sleep on the floor, but it didn't honestly matter to her. It didn't at all to her. She was just with him, and they would figure things out. Why? Because they were a family. Only them. Them two. No other extra person...not yet. She didn't want to believe it. Just them...and maybe Mae on the weekends when she needed to get away from her crazy father.

Cerridwen looked up at him. "I was...going to say you don't honestly think I'm...er...pregnant..no. I mean. No." She said shaking her head. "And with that being said there needs to be no more worried about it. Right?" She asked. "Promise me...you won't worry about it. I'll take care of it." Cerridwen assured him.

"Now..." She said a bit more of a perk to her voice. "That we've got all of those things out of the way...I've missed you love." She whispered kissing his neck softly. As much as she loved him, she was afraid to kiss his lips again. Were they hurt? Tender? Did it hurt when she kissed him? She wasn't honestly sure, and she was going to try and be as gentle with him as possible. "I've missed you wayyy to much, don't leave me like that again okay?" She asked looking up to him, so unknowing, so innocent, she wouldn't believe for a second that he would leave her again. At least hopefully he wouldn't. "Because that would just not be fun" She said her voice going higher, more of a baby's voice now as she teased him. Another small smile, and she rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes for a minute. "What room do you want to sleep in..." She murmured. A random question...but one that was never the less important...at least to her it was.

[eryk]

He almost sighed in relief that she believed him, but what reason would she have not to? He'd never lied before so it only made sense that he wouldn't be lying now. Would she be able to trust him again after he did this? If she understood that he needed to do this she would, but he couldn't bet on her being rational when she woke up to find him gone.

"If you're sure I'll believe you're pregnant, but you don't sound all that sure." He was about to drop the subject but her last sentence sent warning bells off like mad. "Wait, take care of it? What do you mean take care of it?"

Eryk stepped back from her anger flashing over his features. She'd said she wouldn't abort the baby, was she changing her mind? He wouldn't feel guilty for lieing to her if she was planning on doing that horrid act. Her kiss wouldn't distract him from his question, and neither would the lovey dovey words or voice.

"Cerridwen, answer my question." Eryk's voice was low his eyes narrow as he looked at her. Her words pleading to not leave her like then again had stung but he shoved it away. He had to protect her, and end this once and for all. Eyes rolling he didn't care what room they slept in for he most likely wouldn't be sleeping. His hands lifted to grab her upper arms. "Cerridwen, I thought we talked about the baby thing."

This was really starting to bother him. If they couldn't get on base on this one very important thing how could they get married?

[©erridwen Corrigan]

She almost wanted to do a double take. She said one thing...one thing he took very wrong and what, now she was the bad guy? What the hell was this about? He was so...serious now, so...angery? She had seen anger. What was that about? She stepped back and she was to shocked to be angry. What...where? How? Where the hell had all of this come from? From when she said she'd take care of it? Yes, she would take care of it, if she was she would eat right and do what she needed to do, if she wasn't well there would nothing for her to take care of? What the hell was he talking about. For a minute she just stared at him. She honestly didn't know, and then he had gotten so worked up and what was going on? They were just...getting along fine, and she says a few simple words meant to assure him and he freaks out? Maybe he wasn't as okay as he claims he was because, this was not normal, not normal at all. In fact it worried her.

Then it hit her. He said it.

She reached up and slapped him clear across the face, not caring how wounded or hurt he was. She was...well insulted. "Eryk." She said glaring daggers at him now. "If I can't even kill...god for bid a bug...I can't kill a bee, I can't kill insects, plants...how the HELL DO YOU EXPECT ME TO KILL A BABY!" She shouted at him clearly upset. "LET ALONE OUR OWN!" She raised her hands, her fingers curling in frustration. He thought...he honestly thought she would so that? Kill their own baby?

He was clearly out of his mind. To think she would do something? She could have been considered mother freaking earth. She didn't kill plants, she didn't kill insects like most people would, and he thought she would kill her baby? What because she didn't want it? Hadn't they gone over this? A few weeks ago? Yes. They did. Why...why was he questionion her now? They HAD covered this...and now he was...no. This was not happening. She turned her back to him trying to get her frustration out. Why...would he think something like that?

Turning around and glaring more daggers at him she spoke. "I'm NOT...pregnant" She said through gritted teeth and with that went to the other side of the room to be away from him. She was just...angry. He had...suggested something like that. She took personal offense to that. That was just something that really made her blood boil. That he would even...assume. Think. Suggest.

[eryk]

He just stood there after the slap not knowing what to do or say. Head still turned from the force of the slap he listened to her scream and rant at him. At the corner of his eye he watched he walk away. It had been a very long time since she had slapped him. An extremely long time, as a matter of fact he remembered vaguely that she had promised never to hit him again. Blinking he guessed he'd deserved it. Though her wording was often used in the issue of killing a baby.

Standing there he was angry that she couldn't understand that she had worded it in a suspicious manner, and angry at himself for not believing in her. He couldn't handle this right now. If she wanted to be angry then fine, maybe she was pregnant.

"Fine, be angry." Eryk turned and limped toward the door. This actually fixed the whole lying problem. He'd leave with her knowledge then she couldn't get mad at him later. Might as well roll all the negative emotions in one go. "I'll see you later. Maybe..."

That last word was a whisper as his hand grasped the door handle. So much for coming to reassure her. He always managed to screw up everything in his life. More focused on screwing up everything in his Love life. Sometimes he wondered if it would be a lot less of a hassel to just give up and let Xavier wrap him in chains and pain again. Then Cerridwen could be happy.

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen was angry, and when people were angry, they did stupid, stupid things. Very stupid, this was among those stupid things. "Fine" She said wrapping her arms around herself more then she needed to and kept her back to him. "I don't. Care." She sniffed clearly upset. She kept her back to him for a long bit. Was she really going to let him go? Even after she heard his words? Was he really going to leave her? He had said he would stay. He had promised her...well he was about to...until she had stupidly said something stupid and screwed up everything. Damn and now he had her believing this was HER fault. This wasn't her fault. She hadn't...well she had common sense. She wouldn't talk about something one week and then change her mind. She didn't do that....er....often. Okay...well maybe she did it more then average but that was still no reason to believe she would do something. Even she wouldn't change her mind on that. Turning around glaring at him, he was leaving. Really...really leaving. Well if he was leaving she would leave too. She wasn't going home though.

SHe was going to go track down that sad*ss b*stard that had basically ruined her life. At least, was in the process of being ruined. This really just was killing her. Why did he do it? And she knew damn well this was what Eryk was doing. Why not make it a family affair eh? Yeah...plus maybe Eryk would see she really did love him...and she did want to be with him, and she didn't mean to do the things she did. Which by the way she was regretting slapping him. She really needed to learn to control her anger. She walked across the room and followed him out the door.

Once they were out though, she turned away, the opposite of home. She was going east, home was west. She would just have to track him the way she use to track other animals, if she wanted to play, or she use to track things as a game. She'd just have to see if she still had it. She hadn't...tried to find anything, not in years...a lot of years...century years...

Cerridwen kept her back to him. Her inky black hair blowing in the wind, just under the full moon. Explained why Eryk could be in his wolf form..that was for sure...she would find Xavier, and this time, she would show no mercy, opposed to last time. Not only like last time, she would have the element of surprise, that and they were in her element. Her playing field...hopefully things would go a lot smoother, a lot easier. The only hesitancy she had...was Eryk. He would get mad at her...that and she didn't want it to turn out like the last two times she had tried to go up against him. Then again last two times, Eryk had been there to distract her, this time he wouldn't be...maybe that played a key part. No distractions.

[eryk]

Seeing her come out of the house as he was starting to remove his shirt to change he froze. She was going in the wrong direction. She wouldn't possibly be going to his house there would be no point in going there. Where was she going in such a huff? Though a part of him just wanted to leave her be screw his conscious of being a good boy friend and all. But..growling he straightened his shirt and jogged over to her. Each step sent shocks up agony up his body. Stupid. Girls.

"Cerridwen, where in the heck are you going?" An idea came to him and he almost tackled her. "You better not be doing what I think you're doing. Dammit, Cerri, you're not going after him!"

Eryk moved in front of her arms spread trying to block her path. Sweat started beading on his forehead and upper lip even though it was freezing outside. Running on a possibly dislocated knee, and a sprained ankle, and a possibly broken something was not a good idea.

"Cerridwen, stop. Please. I'm sorry. Don't do this." Just a few feet and he was about to pass out. Curse you Xavier! Limping backwards he tried to stay in front of her in case she tried to get around him. "It's my job, not yours. I'm the boy friend. I'm supposed to protect you. Not the other way around."

That was extremely sexest but he didn't care. "He is after me Cerri, not you. It's my fault he's even in your life. Without me there is no him." Without me there is no him... Blinking he stopped to think on that tought. No me equals no him. No me...no him. She would be safe. No more problems. Not the brightest conclusion but it made sense to him. Maybe it was just the shadows of his past clawing at him in his weak state but the thought process made perfect sense.

"You're upset and not thinking clearly. Don't go after him like this. He won't kill me but he wouldn't think twice in killing you if given the chance." Eryk was beginning to feel light headed and he really didn't want to pass out. If he passed out she'd get that damned healer again. He was really starting to dislike that man. He looked at Cerridwen too intently for his liking.

[©erridwen Corrigan]

She kept walking. Cerridwen kept walking. She didn't want to hear his sorry excuses, or his words in attempt to stop her. She wasn't stopping. She could leave him here, she was going to end this. Something in her mind, in the back nagged at her to do this, something was there, and it just...was stronger tonight then usual. Call it instinct or maybe it was something else she didn't know, nor did she care. Where was all this coming from anyways? Just minutes ago he had been more then willing to leave her. Well then fine. Go. Go leave her. The knight blood within her was starting to boil, and it wasn't for the need to fight, he was really starting to piss her off. Honestly...he was starting to grate on her nerves. This was not good.

"Eryk! Stop!" she glared at him "Before you say another thing stop." She stopped herself looking at him. "One? This isn't the 19th century...I've been there...done that" She snapped "Two? I don't need you to protect me.." She snapped. "What I need is to take care of something that I should have taken care of...er at least finished a long time ago. I should have. I should have killed him when I had the chance and I didn't. Third? Who the hell are you to tell me if I'm in my right mind or not" She asked him "When your barely in your own right mind Eryk!" She felt like pulling her hair. "Maybe I am for once in my right mind...have you thought about that?" She asked "I'm doing what I damn well please whether you like it or not." She said.

When he warned her not to go, she arched a brow. "What are you going to do? Stop me?" She asked and as to prove her point in challenge, in two sharp distinct motions, one out her wings came, and then in another sharp motion, more meant sarcastically then anything else, prepped they became. She was going to have to fly around him, that was clear, and there was no way he would be able to keep up. Lead him towards his house, he would pass out eventually, if he didn't make it then she would help carry him the rest of the way, hand him over to his dad, and out she would go.

There was nothing on the earth...minus maybe one or two things that could stop her. He wasn't smart enough to say one of those two things, she was safe there. He would just fluster and rant and yell at her, and probably get angry at her, but it would be TOTALLY worth it after she turned in that...that wolf. That dog. That dirty dog...