Rest and relaxation

[guideshapelead]

Charles had kept Erik to his word, when he had promised a trip away once Alex had left them for his life as a soldier. It's what they both needed, to have some time away from the house and the responsibilities of running a school. It had been difficult, the morning they set off, leaving Scott behind, but they were not going to be gone long. Their little boy (though, really, not that little any more) had been acting out a lot recently, having lost his brother and started school, and maybe a bit of distance would be good for him as well.

Oxford was just as Charles remembered, though he had never appreciated in his past life just how frustrating the narrow, cobbled streets could be for a man bound to a wheelchair. After a frustrating morning trying to show Erik the sights of his adolescence in the cold and the drizzle, he finds himself wanting nothing more than an afternoon somewhere warm, dry and easily accessible.

"Tea at the hotel?" he suggests, trying not to be too grumpy in front of his lover. They are, after all, meant to be having fun.

Comments

[diecastking]

Erik has also not appreciated this trip as much as he thought he would.

While he was eager to see Charles' life, every street they walk in Oxford reminds him of Charles' incredible privilege and wealth. His youth had been spent on streets fighting to survive. Charles' had been spent in scholarly luxury.

"Tea," he echoes, glad to be out of the miserable English rain.

[guideshapelead]

"Could you...?" Charles gestures at the arms of his chair, aching from the effort of moving over the old streets.

"This was not exactly what I'd hoped for in our getaway," he admits.

[diecastking]

Erik subtle raises his hands and propels the chair along the streets.

"At least the hotel has a feather bed," he muses. Small mercies.

[guideshapelead]

"Yes. And a good restaurant." If they can be comfortable and well-fed, then the holiday will not be a total disaster.

"You would get a much better idea of the place if the sun actually came out," he apologised as they moved through the tourist-crowded streets.

[diecastking]

Erik laughs.

"I have visited England before, Charles," he reminds him. "If we were chasing the sun, perhaps we should've looked to the Mediterranean."

[guideshapelead]

"My pale English skin burns quickly," Charles wrinkles his nose in distaste. "And the beach is such a boring place to be."

[diecastking]

Erik does not want to think about the last time they were together on a beach.

"Better for all concerned if you just stay in bed, liebe," he says quickly.

[guideshapelead]

Charles, too, realises what he's said a moment too late.

"Wait, Erik, here!" He quickly changes the topic as they turn onto a different street, and come face to face with yet another one of Oxford's fancy University buildings.

"This is where I was given my Professorship."

[diecastking]

Erik looks up at the magnificent building, trying not to be impressed yet overwhelmed with a sense of pride.

"The first time," he says gently.

[guideshapelead]

"You don't have to be a professor to teach our children," Charles shakes his head. He is not a professor these days, as far as he is concerned - that whole part of his life was something he left here, in this city. He looks at the stone steps up to the entrance to the college, and sighs.

"So much has changed since then," he muses aloud.

[diecastking]

Erik looks at Charles with concern.

"For the better?" he prompts, fearing the alternative.

[guideshapelead]

There are parts of his old life that Charles truly misses; the intellectual stimulation of academia, morning jogs along the river, the simplicity of work and the pub and Raven and little else. But he also knows that he would give all those things up, and more, for Erik's love, for Scott, and the school they have together.

"For the better," he agrees.

[diecastking]

Secure in Charles' answer, feeling the truth of it through their shared connection, Erik can also acknowledge that it's a bittersweet truth.

"You had everything here," he says softly.

[guideshapelead]

"No," Charles reaches for Erik's hands.

"I didn't have you."

[diecastking]

Erik looks around them for strangers, before squeezing Charles' fingers briefly.

//You were happy here//

[guideshapelead]

//They cannot see us// Charles reassures his lover.

//Yes. I was. But I am also happy in our home, now.//

[diecastking]

Erik bends down to kiss Charles on the lips.

//I am sorry, for what it has cost you, to love me//

[guideshapelead]

//Less of that// Charles brushes his fingers against Erik's cheek. //I would not change our life together for anything.//

Anything further he might have said or thought is cut off as an extreme spike of fear and panic hits his mind. He cannot read its origin, but he can tell that somebody is in serious trouble - somebody he cares about. The force of it leaves him gasping.

[diecastking]

Erik feels it too - the familiarity and the terror.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

[guideshapelead]

"I... I don't know..." The feeling is gone as quickly as it came, and Charles curses the distance that they are from Cerebro, and home.

"But something terrible has just happened."

[diecastking]

"I will telephone Hank," Erik says, propelling them both towards the house. "We will take the jet."

[guideshapelead]

"He will come for us," Charles hopes, voicing his thoughts. "If we're needed. It'll be the fastest way."

[diecastking]

"He will come," Erik says, determined that it will be the truth. "One of them will come for us. I will make sure of it."

[guideshapelead]

Charles is pale with anxiety as they make their quick way back to their hotel, and the telephone there. To feel such fear, over such a distance... something catastophic has had to have happened. He strains to try and get a sense of what that might be, but his mind is silence once again.

[diecastking]

Erik connects the call to Westchester, impatiently waiting as the phone rings endlessly without being answered.

Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong.

"I will book us on the next flight to New York," he says and bashes the receiver down in its cradle.