[for Eric] taking responsibility

[vampireevolved]

The night after the fae incursion, Godric woke to a phone full of increasingly frantic text and voicemail messages from Isabel, starting at asking where he was and if he was all right, followed by the news the nest had been attacked by human hunters with silver-shrapnel bombs, with pictures of the devastation, and finally back around to asking where Godric was and if he was all right, this time in all caps or enough tension in her voice Godric could infer the swears she was self-censoring.

With only a quiet "I must go," to Eric, who could've heard the voice messages if he chose to listen, Godric began making arrangements for the flight to Dallas. Once that was settled, a message to Isabel for when she woke, letting her know he was well, leaving London on the first available flight, and would be arriving in Dallas several hours before dawn.

The bombs had done their job well. Everyone in the nest had sustained some level of injury, and there were many dead, both vampire and human, including Stan whom the hunters seemed to have targeted specifically. The injured had recovered, thanks to vampiric healing, by the time Godric arrived, but the nest was a disaster. Godric spent the next few nights offering support and leadership to the survivors as they all worked to rebuild. And he waited.

He was surprised how long it took for the Authority's representatives to arrive, almost as though they'd been waiting to see how the Dallas community responded, or how their sheriff did. When they did arrive, Godric was quick to take full responsibility for the incident and for his absence at the time. Members of the nest were questioned and exonerated. Godric's questioning took nights longer.

In the end, it was simple. Some papers were signed. Some belongings were packed up. This time, when Godric landed at Heathrow, he flew to Eric's house before calling for his progeny. This was not a story to share at the Blood Diamond.

Comments

[thenorthman]

Eric had fortunately not been in the middle of anything when the call came. It wasn't anything it was easy to put words on, but a demanding tug that would not take no for an answer. He barely had time to tell his manager to call if he needed him, and then he had had to go, taking to the skies and flying over to his house as quickly as he was able.

The tugging didn't stop until he was kneeling at Godric's feet, and after bowing his head, he raised it to look up at his Maker, questions in his eyes.

[vampireevolved]

"No fairies this time," Godric said first as he motioned for Eric to stand, "and I should not, perhaps, have called you to me, when I could have gone looking for you instead. I did not think, and I apologize if I pulled you from anything pressing." It had been a long, stressful week or so. Although strangely, Godric realized he felt lighter now than he had before.

[thenorthman]

When Eric stood, it was straight inside Godric's personal space. "Nothing, no. What's going on?" For Godric to be here, now, and calling for him. Something had to be going on.

[vampireevolved]

"It's simple courtesy for an elder vampire to tell the local sheriff of his intention to move into the sheriff's territory." Start with the good news, and in a dryly humorous way. Eyes bright and corners of his mouth curving up slightly, "Sheriff Northman, I intend to move to London. Effectively immediately."

Then he grew more serious. "A representative of the Authority may have some questions for you, about the last time I was here. Their need for further investigation was still under debate once they were done with me."

[thenorthman]

A beginning of a smile ticked up Eric's lips, lighting up his eyes, before Godric went on, and gravity stole over him, too. "What happened?"

[vampireevolved]

"While I was here," during the day London time, so while Godric slept, "there was an attack on the Dallas nest. Several people died." And it was Godric's fault. Not that he'd been in London at the time of the attack, but that he hadn't done more to prevent it from happening at all. That he hadn't been there for his people afterwards.

[thenorthman]

Eric's frown deepened. "Who was responsible?"

[vampireevolved]

"Human hunters. Stan got sloppy; they tracked him back to the nest. They've since been found and..." from a vampire perspective, "dealt with, on Isabel's orders." Two more deaths on Godric's account, which already had so many.

[thenorthman]

"Good," Eric said. Human hunters deserved nothing less. "And the Authority held you accountable, because you were here?"

[vampireevolved]

"The Authority held me accountable because it was my responsibility as sheriff." Godric was responsible, in the end, no matter who else had been involved.

"That I was here and would not tell them why I got involved in preventing a fae-vampire incident so far from my territory did not help, but even if I'd been in Dallas at the time, they should've held me accountable."

[thenorthman]

"Stan led them to your nest," Eric pointed out. He didn't know the vampire, but he didn't fucking care to.

[vampireevolved]

"Stan was my underling, my responsibility," Godric countered. "I should've seen how out of control he could be, and kept him in line. Instead, he and others met the True Death, and humans are dead at his hands, as innocent victims of the hunters' retribution, and in revenge for it.

[thenorthman]

"If they think you unworthy of your position, they're fucking idiots," Eric replied without doubt. But his tone softened, then. "But if it means you're moving here... I'll take it."

[vampireevolved]

"I cannot say I am disappointed in the Authority's decision. I resigned without argument. But that does not absolve me of my failings as sheriff." Eric could be too forgiving of Godric's faults, to the point of denying at times that he had any.

"Happily, it gives me the opportunity to move here, and I must admit, I had grown weary of Dallas and my position."

[thenorthman]

Godric's only failing had been trusting an idiot, apparently. Whoever Stan was, or had been. But there were more important things to say, right then.

"Are you moving in here?" Eric asked, not bothering to hide his hope.

[vampireevolved]

"I would like that." Godric would not have imposed, if Eric preferred the home to stay his own, but he had hoped to live with Eric. A hope Eric obviously shared. It had been too long, other than too short recent visits, and it would've felt odd both being in London, yet living apart.

[thenorthman]

"My home is always yours," Eric confirmed, without an instant's hesitation. There was nothing he would like more than this. Being with Godric again... there were no words for it.

[vampireevolved]

"I did not want to presume." But it was probably as accurate to say the bond between Maker and Progeny was home, more than any shelter could be. Sharing that shelter only made things simpler.

"I will make arrangements for my things to be delivered." It wasn't much, some clothes and mementos of millennia he found worth not only keeping, but having at hand.

[thenorthman]

Eric smiled, a small but completely genuine smile. He was nothing but happy to be reunited with his Maker, this time without an end in sight. "Don't presume, then. Know that you are always welcome to everything of mine."

[vampireevolved]

"Then I will make myself at home once more." This time without the looming awareness he'd have to leave again far too soon.

"What of your time tonight? Is that to be mine as well?"

[thenorthman]

"I'll call in while you unpack," Eric replied easily. He had nothing planned he wouldn't reschedule to spend tonight with Godric.

But first, he leaned in more closely, hunching his shoulders so he could kiss Godric gently, with all of the love he bore him. Love felt like such a poor word for the wealth of emotions between them.

[vampireevolved]

That same love reflected in Godric's eyes and flowed through the kiss. Godric cupped Eric's jaw, simply gazing at him a moment longer, a soft smile on his lips.

"I will let you make your phone calls. Then the night can be ours."

[thenorthman]

"I imagine you won't need to feed?" Eric asked, just to make sure. He would have liked to, himself, but he didn't need to tonight, and he would rather spend the night with Godric, if his Maker wasn't going to partake.

[vampireevolved]

A few nights into Godric's first visit, Eric had stopped asking about his plans to feed, accepting Godric's explanation that he rarely had need at his age. He seemed equally resigned now, and Godric didn't blame him for asking. It had been some time, after all.

"No. I have no need to tonight. Although if you haven't, I would understand if you wanted to."

[thenorthman]

"It can wait until tomorrow," Eric assured him, already turning away and sliding his phone out of his pocket to make the necessary calls.

[vampireevolved]

Unpacking the few things Godric had brought with him personally took very little time at all, and he was on the phone seeing to the delivery of the rest of his belongings when Eric finished his own calls.

[thenorthman]

Eric turned back to Godric once he was done, now free to focus on nothing but his Maker. "Will you miss Texas?"

[vampireevolved]

In no hurry to answer, Godric considered the question as he hadn't really up to now. "Not as much as I perhaps should, and yet probably more than I expect. I was sheriff there long enough, even for us. I'm sure there will be things I notice lacking. But it was time for me to move on. Past time." Otherwise things would never have gotten as bad as they had without him stepping in to solve the problem. "I had grown weary with my life there."

[thenorthman]

"Will you tell me, when you grow weary of your life here?" Eric requested, walking slowly over to Godric, as if he couldn't quite stay away. And why would he try?

[vampireevolved]

Godric rested a hand on Eric's arm, because he could and to savor the closeness.

"We have decades before you need concern yourself with that, my child." London had more opportunities than Dallas ever had or could. More importantly, Godric was reunited with Eric, who lived so strongly and loved so deeply it could keep the weltschmerz at bay.

[thenorthman]

"Still," Eric requested, focusing on the touch of Godric's hand on his arm. He turned his hand up, to offer it to his Maker, if he wanted it. "I'd appreciate it."

[vampireevolved]

Taking Eric's hand, Godric gave a tiny nod. "You will know, when the time comes." That much Godric could promise him. Because it would come, as it did for all of them eventually, the need to leave one life behind and find something new.

[thenorthman]

Eric stepped in closer, wrapping his other arm loosely around Godric's shoulders, his own hunched so he could rest the side of his face against Godric's head. It was so sudden that it all seemed surreal, and he had to assure himself, all over again, that this was real. That Godric was staying.

[vampireevolved]

Godric's arm went around Eric's waist, the way it belonged there in the moment. "I'm here, my child." And would be, for years or decades, if given the choice.

[thenorthman]

"Thank you," Eric told him quietly, switching to his mother tongue.

[vampireevolved]

"Of course." So much loneliness, a vulnerability Eric hid from the world, but never from Godric.

Godric had chosen London because he desired the opportunities of the city and to live with his progeny again after so long. But easing Eric's loneliness was equally important to him, especially with Eric separated from Pam, and Nora occupied with her work.

Tilting his head up to find Eric's mouth, Godric kissed him softly in wordless assurance he was really here and not going anywhere soon.