Memento Mori

54

"That bad?" Erik was hesitant to ask, he was close to not going to. But the almost sad groan which came from Liesel, even being collapsed and face burrowed against a pillow had him changing his mind. He was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and just looking at her sympathetically, not that she could see the expression. He had no doubt that Liesel would find it easy to tell her sister to calm down if she was going overboard, but travelling to and from the city with the girls, or sometimes just on her own was starting to clearly catch up.

Liesel was driving herself down a oneway street of exhaustion, one which will no doubt end in her sleeping for copious amounts of hours, ignorant to the world around her. Perhaps that's what she actually needed? Erik was unsure, but he ventured in and sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her hand lifelessly flap in the air. He guessed she was trying to sway him away, or wave and agree, Erik didn't know.

Tilting her head, Liesel's one visible eye cracked open and flicked sidelong to look at him. "Makeup." Erik raised an eyebrow, that wasn't to say he hadn't ever seen Liesel wear some before, minimalistic makeup, yes. But somehow he felt Gretchen may have ideas because it was her wedding. "Hair styling..." Liesel actually trailed off with a shudder, that was todays wedding preparations, it seemed. She placed her hands underneath herself and pushed herself up. Coming to kneel, she ended up beside him with a sigh.

"I bet the girls loved every moment." Erik said while moving and taking the spot she once resided in. He did turn and push the pillows up against the headboard before leaning back, managing to stretch his legs out but got deterred from crossing them at the ankles by Liesel. She wasted very little time coming to sit and lean her back against his chest with another sigh. There was no way Erik could foresee their daughters not liking the whole experience, well, maybe not Edie. She was quite content at the moment running about getting muddy, leaves no doubt in her hair and just being a wild child. Yuliya would love all of this planning, that much he did know.

"It's one big adventure to them, isn't it?" Liesel leaned her head against his shoulder and tilted it to look at him. "This is out of their usual routine, so it's all fun and games. Once the wedding is over with and life goes back to normal, I do worry they'll just find everything so lacklustre."

Erik wrapped his arms around her, leaning his head down to rest his chin against her shoulder with a thoughtful frown. "They're attending school. Everything will continue to be an adventure."

"Still a sore subject, I see." Liesel winced a little, school and Erik, he wasn't sure how he felt now Charles was here, and Liesel understood that. However, despite of the recent past, Liesel had no doubts that Hank was a good protector of the school.

Erik's eyes flicked to hers, "Perhaps a little."

Liesel nodded slowly, it was rude to say but she wasn't going to ask him to elaborate. They'd had this conversation, and Liesel stuck by her statements: the girls needed more of an education than what they could provide for them. With or without Charles and all the knowledge that he knew, they needed to be around people their own age, even their older brother. Peter would no doubt keep an eye out for them, that much Liesel was sure of. And really, like Liesel didn't believe any other friends she had made within the school wouldn't do the same.

"That's not yet," Liesel pointed out, they weren't being rushed off to school just yet. "And they'll probably visit."

"They will visit."

Liesel laughed and slapped a hand to her eyes, shaking her head slowly she patted one of his hands with her other one. "Erik, you can't force them. You of all people should know by now that forcing people to do things, doesn't usually end well. We'll visit them if needs be, but we shouldn't deter them from having fun and enjoying their time there." Liesel smiled as she leaned back against him, her hand now resting with her other one over his linked hands. She didn't want to be overbearing. She registered they were still young, too young to freely go do whatever, but they deserved to enjoy their childhood; they deserved to do all the things she couldn't really do as a child.