OOM - Pam's room

[lazy_but_loyal]

[Continued from here.]

Pam has no qualms about simply taking what she wants from humans. The humans who don't matter to her. Which are 99% of them. But sometimes one or two stand out, like Yvetta back home, or even Ginger to a degree. She's learned to treat Jay a little better, because he has a connection to Eric.

And Jemma, well... It just wouldn't feel right to take her blood and not give something back, even if she offered to help.

(In the old days, they could just grab someone off the street, drain them to within an inch of their life, glamour them and leave them in an anemic heap. Good times.)

So it's with this in mind that Pam opens the door to her room. She lets Jemma in first, following her inside, and then closes the door behind Eric.

Her room is as it has always been since they were last here. Same warm lighting, same huge comfortable bed.

Eric has already had a small taste of Jemma from the wrist. Pam figures he might want to go for the usual, less formal method via the throat. She's not overly concerned, no. But she will watch carefully. Eric is hungry, and just like herself, he can get carried away.

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[onceaviking]

He stands there as the water is turned on. Then it's turned off.

He can feel her just on the other side of the door.

And he sees what he feels mirrored when she finally does open the door. Not looking him in the eye. Her jaw telling of words she is keeping back.

He has failed her. By being rash. By being weak.

"Pamela."
He no longer sounds tired. Or sad. He sounds - neutral.
A little flat perhaps.

"Look at me."

It's not a suggestion.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Her eyes immediately flick upward to meet his own.

She would never disobey him even for the littlest things, and even as her jaw remains set, she looks at him without defiance.

But she does look to him for strength, for certainty, something to hold onto. Because if he can't give her at least that during a time like this, then she's as lost as he is.

[onceaviking]

"Edginton is weakened now," he tells her. "He loved his Consort to an absurd degree and with him gone, he will be pushed into madness. And a mad dog attacks without reason."

He holds her gaze.

"If he attacks first, I will glean why I need to know to defeat him. He will reveal himself, because he cannot hold back. And I will win."

He believes this. In theory.
It's a sound principle when it comes to conflict, be it a brawl or war.

And he sounds like he believes it.
And he does.

Apart from the last sentence.
But he pushes that down. She does not need his doubt.

"But I will need you at my back, Pamela. And I will not need questions."

[lazy_but_loyal]

With every word, a bit of her uncertainty is chipped away. She never really, truly doubted him. She was just afraid. And she still is, but this is the most decisive she's seen Eric since this whole thing began. And she needs to hear this from him. She needs to know that he is going to do something.

It's one thing for him to promise to protect her. But he has to find a way to save himself as well.

"I will always have your back, Eric."

He should have no doubts about this whatsoever.

[onceaviking]

He steps close and puts his arms around her.
"I know that," he whispers.

"But I will need you to be strong. He might try to get to me through you."

[lazy_but_loyal]

She slides her hands up onto his shoulders, her gaze unwavering.

"He has to try first."

She would die for him if it came to that.

[onceaviking]

He runs a finger down the side of her face.
He knows.

It weighs on him like the weight of the world.
he would have died for Godric - a thousand times over

The tears are gone.
He knows they were there.

"He'll be a fool to try."
Smiling at her. Just a little.

[lazy_but_loyal]

She tips her head lightly against his touch, but she doesn't smile.

In a soft but level voice she says, "I know at this point we can't make promises to each other that we can't keep, but I don't want to disappoint you."

[onceaviking]

He cradles her face gently.
"You have never," he says, quietly and intensely, "disappointed me. Never."

Things have happened over the years. But he has been to blame for them.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Hearing him say so is enough to restore her confidence. It's not necessarily an everything will be all right kind of feeling, but at least it gives her something to aim for.

"Whatever happens, I am not going to let you down."

[onceaviking]

"I know," he says, pulling her close again.
"I know."

Not making promises on his own behalf. But trusting hers.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam leans into his embrace, her arms sliding loosely around his waist. When she blinks, her eyelashes brush feather-like against the pit of his throat.

She's silent for a while, feeling a little more certain about where they stand.

"You should get some rest."

[onceaviking]

"I should find some more to eat," he murmurs. And then he adds, a slight smile in his voice because this will assure her, more than anything, that he's got this, "and some tail."

He gives her a parting squeeze and steps away. "I will leave something for Jemma too."

[lazy_but_loyal]

She smirks against his chest. When in doubt, find someone to fuck.

As he slips his arms from around her, she regards him with a skeptical but teasing look.

"Can I trust you to get her something nice without my help?"

[onceaviking]

"I have taste," he says, mock-offended.
Mostly mock, anyway.

And he does.
Sometimes, it's just rather bad.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Says he who wears flip flops with the expensive designer jeans she buys him. Flip flops.

But she loves him all the same for it.

"You have taste because I put it there," she says, still smirking, still teasing, as she leans in and delicately pokes his chest with a finger.

[onceaviking]

Flip flops are comfy.

"You do," he relents. "You do." Reaching over to tuck at a lock of her hair.

[lazy_but_loyal]

She likes it when he touches her hair. Always had, always will.

She pats his chest.

"Well, I'll be around," she says quietly, all teasing gone. "Maybe I'll catch up with you later."

[onceaviking]

He nods.
"Yes," he says.
" Do that. "

[lazy_but_loyal]

She nods as well.

And she turns to head for her vanity table and her makeup, where she settles down in front of the mirror and sorts out how she wants to look today.

She'll be strong for Eric. She'll be everything he wants her to be. And she won't let him down. She will promise him this, even if he can't promise her anything in return.