Craving Forgiveness

45

*Two weeks later*

"Atarah. I am more than capable to walk by myself you know?"

"Yes Erik I am well aware. I'm just trying to be the caring, sweet, helpful fiancee that I've been for months." You smiled at him.

He laughed," oh well don't let me stop you."

At that moment the nurse came in," good morning you two. Mr. Lensherr," She handed him a clipboard," here is your paperwork. Fill this out and hand it to the lady at the desk right out here and you'll be ready to go." she exited the room and you smiled excitedly at Erik.

"That's amazing! We get to leave and go sleep in a real bed and eat real food."

"Of course the food is what really excites you." he joked.

"Well duh."

You handed Erik the clothes Charles brought over for and and waited for him to get dressed and fill out the paper work.

Then finally you were on your way back to the mansion.

When you arrived Charles and Hank were there to greet you.

"Atarah!" Hank shouted. "My self esteem was starting to drop. I've had no one here to obsess over my cooking." He hugged you.

"So I'm assuming you have food waiting for me?" You asked.

"It'll be done once you and Erik have settled in." He smiled and walked back into the kitchen.

You and Erik headed upstairs and began unpacking.

There was a knock at your door.

"Come in." You granted.

"Hey," Alex said smiling as he walked into the room.

You smiled back and hugged him. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good, my family has been in town so I wanted to come and apologize for not coming to the hospital to visit. Where's Erik?"

"Oh he's in the bathroom." You informed pointing with your thumb.

"I missed you." He said.

"I missed you too. We should hang out tonight. Just me and you, we can catch up. It'll be fun. I need to relax anyways. I've been on edge these past few months. Luckily it haven't been so bad since Erik woke up but I could use a break."

"Totally. That would be fun. By the way, you look great as always. Definitely better than the walking corpse you were before."

"Oh come on Alex. I wasn't that bad." You elbowed him.

"Please, you were down right scary."

You two laughed before being interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door opening and Erik walking out.

"Hey Erik!" Alex cheerily greeted.

"Hello Alex."

"How are you doing? You look good."

"I'm fine thanks."

"I um wanted to apologize for not visiting recently. I had family in town and I was a bit busy.." He trailed off looking confused at Erik who was looking at you despite the fact that Alex was talking to him.

"I completely understand." Erik flatly replied.

The room fell silent as you noticed Erik's gaze. You cocked your head to the side in confusion as the silence continued and became awkward.

"Well," Alex starting breaking the silence. "I should let you guys get settled in. Atarah. I'll see you later, how about nine?"

You looked away from Erik and smiled and nodded at Alex," sounds great, see you then."

Alex exited the room and you turned back you Erik.

You walked towards him and placed a hand on his cheek.
"Erik? Are you alright?"

He seemed to snap back into reality before nodding,"yes I'm fine."

You looked at him for a moment longer before shrugging and turning away.

You put the last of the clothes away and you and Erik headed downstairs to eat.

The table was set nicely with flowers and candles.

"What's all this?" You asked Erik.

"Well, you've given up your life to stay by my side these past few months and I really appreciate and I cannot thank you enough. So I wanted to do something nice for you. The girls helped of course. Do you like it?"

You walked over to him and gave him a soft hug,"I love it."

He pulled out your chair for you and you sat down.

Erik sat across from you and you began eating.

You and Erik talked and laughed the whole time. You were so glad he was almost back to his regular self.

"I love you so much." Erik said yawning.

You smiled," I love you too Mr. Sleepy pants. Let's get you to bed." You said standing up.

"Noo, I wanna stay up with you." He whined adorably.

"You're tired, you had a long day. The doctor said you need plenty of sleep to get better and be back to your normal self so it's off to bed you go Mr. Lensherr and I don't wanna hear another word about it."

He pouted as you pulled him out of his chair and followed him up the stairs and to the bedroom.

He laid in bed after his shower and you leaned over and kissed him.

"I'll be downstairs. If you need anything let me know." You kissed him again and went downstairs to find Alex.

He was in the living room watching tv.

You snuck up behind him and covered his eyes.

"Atarah, c'mon. I know it's you."

You gasped,"how'd you know?" You pulled your hands away and walked around the couch to sit next to him.

"Please. We lived together for a year. I know all your little tricks."

You frowned," you're no fun."

He shrugged nonchalantly causing you to laugh.

You and Alex talk and laughed for what seemed like forever.

It was hard trying to be quiet with all the laughing and jokes you two were saying.

You missed Alex so much and it felt really good to laugh like that again, you've been so busy and stressed out with Erik you forgot what laughing and fun felt like.

Time passed and you became verbally tired and you yawned every few minutes.

Alex insisted you go to bed and you were too tired to argue, you gave him a tight hug, said goodnight and you walked to your room.

You opened to door and changed into your pajamas then climbed in bed beside Erik and laid down.

"You still love him don't you?" He asked.