When Eliot returned to their chambers, Claire was actually the one who was looking more distraught. He narrowed his eyes worriedly as he kept them on her while shutting the door slowly behind him.

“You’re... packing?” he asked with obvious confusion.

“Almost done” she managed, though couldn’t look back at him as she continued her task.

“Should I be expecting a note soon?” he had to make himself ask as he took a few steps closer to her.

Claire sighed sadly as she finally turned her eyes back to him, “Hollister isn’t very happy with us. With me, really” she corrected, “it’s better that I leave.”

“Better?” Eliot repeated, trying not to let the word come out too sharply, though it still had a slight edge to it.

“I started packing your things too, because I didn’t think you’d want to stay here with...” she looked down again, “but then I thought maybe you would want to stay with Aidan, so I stopped, and...” her voice just trailed off into a sniffle.

“Aidan?” he blinked at that.

“You know, after last night” she added.

Eliot just shook his head, “Aidan is quite a beautiful man, who is quite adept at making me have orgasms. Making both of us have them, really” he added under his breath, “but, really Claire?”

“So, you don’t want to stay here then?”

Eliot scoffed, “I traveled from the Black Forest to London, and even endured speaking with my very unhappy father, just to get back to you. What do you think?”

“But that was before... you knew” she said quietly.

“Exactly, and you think I’d rather stay behind with three other vampires who I barely even know? One who can read my thoughts, and another who owns this entire castle, and is apparently ‘unhappy’ with us? Really, Claire?” he repeated.

“Actually Hollister can do that too” she mumbled, only causing him to cast her another look of disbelief. She then quickly moved on, “So... you’ll be going back to France then?”

“With my father?” he nearly laughed, “I think I prefer the vampires.”

Claire almost smiled at that, but didn’t quite manage it, “so, where will you go then?”

“Well, where are you even planning to go?” he directed the question back to her.

“On a really long boat ride, followed by a pretty long train ride?” she offered warily.

“To...?” he pressed.

“Home” she said softly.

“Home?” he repeated, “America? Los Angeles?”

“That’d be the place” she said, sounding less than happy about the prospect herself. She did miss Sean madly. But there was nothing about the place itself, or Sean being forced to rule it that she missed at all.

“Huh” he stated thoughtfully as he turned away. A moment later, he quietly added, “I’ve never actually even seen the new world.”

Claire blinked then, “you aren’t saying you’d actually want to go there... with me? Are you?” she added in a whisper, her eyes glued to him then.

----------------------------------------

When they entered their private cabin on the westward bound ship that night, it was hard to tell which of them looked more nervous as they tucked their belongings into the closet. Claire was always a little uneasy about ship travel, as any number of catastrophes might happen throughout the journey, exposing her to that very deadly sun. And Eliot was making his first ever trans-Atlantic voyage, and with a female... and a vampire to boot.

As they finished placing their bags into the closet, Claire quietly moved to a seat on the large bed that took up most of the cabin. He smiled a little awkwardly before speaking, “looks like you and I are going to be each other’s main company for the next two weeks to three months?” he shrugged, repeating the answer he was given when he asked a crew member how long the trip would take.

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“And then probably a month after that, for the train to make it from the east coast to the west” she reminded quietly, as she watched him warily.

“Oh yes, there’s that too” he stated as he distracted himself by looking around the cabin instead of directly at her.

“We haven’t started moving yet. This could be your last chance to change your mind” she told him softly.

“And go back to what, Claire? I think the very circumstances of how we even met, they prove exactly how badly I wanted to escape my life.”

“Bad enough to sail away with a vampire girl you’ve not even known for a month?” she attempted a smile back at him.

“Apparently” he couldn’t help laughing at the sheer absurdity of hearing that spoken out loud.

Then Claire adopted a more thoughtful expression before speaking, “let’s ignore, for a moment, the vampire thing...” she began.

He chuckled again as he moved to stand next to where she sat at the edge of the bed, “yes, it’s such a little thing and all” he teased.

“Go with me here” she smiled, “but ignoring that... little thing, what happens if you and I do actually...” she looked up at him again, seeming afraid to finish her own sentence.

“Actually what?” he made himself ask.

“What if we actually do, eventually, I mean...”

“I thought I was the non-native speaker of your language. You seem to be having a bit of trouble with it tonight, though” he hid behind his humor once more.

Claire shook her head with another small smile, “I mean, what I’m supposed to be helping you with... Finally being comfortable being with a woman, like that. I mean, what if you do actually find yourself, eventually, being ok with that? What then?” She immediately turned her eyes to him, watching his aura closely.

Eliot blushed slightly before speaking, “then I imagine we at least won’t get bored on the trip” he allowed a little smirk.

Claire couldn’t help another sound of laughter escaping her lips, before trying to adopt a serious expression again, “but you’re only running away from your life because you were afraid to be forced into marrying some woman; mainly because you convinced yourself you had no interest in women, that way” she took another moment, “so, if being with me makes you more comfortable being with women in general, then... then what’s there left to run away from?”

“Everything else about my life?” he offered with a sad shrug, “I mean, I don’t love my father. I don’t want his crown. There’s nothing back there that I want, not really.”

“So, not your old life, all right, but what then? If you could have anything in the world, what would you want?”

Eliot shook his head again as he moved to finally take a seat next to her, “does anyone really know the answer to that question? What do I want for my whole life? I have no idea. What do you want for your whole life? I imagine you’ve had quite a long time to think about that.”

Claire looked down then, “I want the same thing I’ve always wanted.”

“And what is that?” he asked as he moved a long black strand from her cheek.

“To be happy” she stated simply.

“And what would make you happy?” he asked, to which she only continued casting her eyes downwards. “See, not that easy of a question, is it? Even after as long as you must have had to try to answer it yourself, already.”

When the ship pulled into motion a few minutes later, just after midnight, it interrupted their latest bout of nervous silence. Claire smiled over at him again, gently squeezing his knee before pushing herself up to go and begin actually unpacking those bags they had just placed inside the closet earlier.

Eliot let out another breath he hadn’t even realized he had been holding then. He gave her another glance before moving back to a seat against the headboard, absently twirling a long curl in his fingers. After she had finished getting all their clothing hung and other smaller belongings into the drawers nearby, she glanced back to find him still sitting there upon the bed. He appeared to be in deep thought as he had watched her. He then made himself pull his eyes away from her with a still unsure smile before stifling a yawn.

“You don’t have to stay up all night, just for me” she offered as she took a few steps back toward the bed.

“I’m sure Aidan would have a colorful joke there” he smirked.

“We could have invited him along, if you wanted to” she offered as she slowly moved around to the other side of the bed.

“Eventually I’m going to have to... not have a crutch, you know” he told her with another shy smile.

“Meaning?” she asked as she took a seat next to him.

Backpedaling, he offered another smile, “I’m actually not that tired though. I didn’t go to bed til the sun was up today, after all.”

“Trying to adopt my strange sleep pattern, are you?”

“Well, it would make things a bit easier if you and I were actually conscious during the same hours, wouldn’t it?”

“I know this has gotta be hard for you, Eliot. Me being what I am” she said softly as she laid her head upon his shoulder.

“Meaning a vampire, or meaning, a woman?”

“Both” she managed with another sad smile.

“Well, I am getting a tad more used to the second bit, at least.”

“You are?” she smiled as she looked back up at him.

“I did watch you and Aidan make love last night, didn’t I? Didn’t turn away once” he smiled with another blush.

“But was that actually because you were aroused by it, or...?” her voice trailed off.

“Or what? That I was trying to see how it was done?” he smirked with a shake of his head.

“I’m sure you know how it’s done” she replied, swallowing her own small laugh.

“Well, I obviously do now” he teased back.

To that, Claire allowed that giggle to leave her lips at last, “you’re funny. And you’re sweet, and you’re quite easy on the eyes. How on earth did you keep women away from you for two decades?”

He looked down at her with another smile, “by keeping some pretty man or another between me and them?” he offered with another slight shrug.

“Oh, like last night, you mean?”

Eliot laughed then, “see, you’re funny too, and sweet, and gorgeous. How did we ever strike up a friendship anyway?” he teased.