Feels Like a Sunday - Elderbrook

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"Tim, it's so great to see you!"

"It's so good to see you curating, Chelsea. When I'd heard you were at the head of this dig, I couldn't believe my ears." He said giving my empty hand a firm shake. "Well done, girly."

I smiled proudly at my old colleague and turned toward the newly broken soil and the ten other workers. It was my second week as managing director and I was even more excited now than last week, especially now that Tim was here. I'd finally fallen back to working on site and this time around it was Congo. We arrived a month ago to finalise all the plans but it'd been far longer since those notable months running to a from every mentionable continent on the planet.

It's been a year. Twelve months and thirteen days to be more exact. And that was counting since the day Christian had left.

I'd began a whole new routine, one so different to before. After the first few months of settling into Canada and visiting my parents for a few weeks, I started working again. But this time, I worked at home. I guest lectured at Simon Fraser for students that needed extra credit, worked at the geoscience labs with my superiors and started working my way back up the ladder.

And now here I was, my first exploration dig. I was the boss. And I was damn-right excited. I'd worked so hard to get to this point, too hard to drop everything and look for Christian like I'd wanted to do half a year ago.

Of course, the girls quickly steered me back on track – which was a lot easier to do than the first few months. Yes, things got easier. I'd kept myself so preoccupied, seeing my family, sorting out my living situation in Canada and staying in thorough contact with the girls and the kids that thinking about Christian's whereabouts slipped my mind.

The love however didn't dissipate one bit. Absence did make the heart grow fonder which made his absence even more painful.

But, like the strong woman that took on the Steinsson's – almost completely desiccated and lived to the tale – I soldiered on. I smiled to myself as I looked on at the geologists, all varying in age, height.

It was just amazing. And I was proud of myself.

**

Walking into my rented apartment, Kate was already stood there with a giant smile on her face and a very mischievous twinkle to her eye. "What?" I asked swapping my dirty boots for a pair of flats.

"Nothing," She shrugged the twinkle growing brighter. "Oh, nothing. You ready for dinner?"

"I'll be ready once you've told me why you're looking at me like a serial killer."

"What's so different to how I usually look then?" She brushed past me.

Katherine had only arrived yesterday. She jumped on the opportunity to visit and she loved traveling as much as I loved it; I was always happy to have her. Micah never minded Katherine's spontaneous trips, in fact, he encouraged it. And when it came to Kate's job she pretty much takes all her vacations days at once.

Plus, with what happened last year, I didn't mind having a clever witch for company.

We arrived at the restaurant down the street from us and was seated quickly. I ordered us a bottle of wine and ordered our main meals.

"How's home?" I asked, taking a sip from my wine glass.

"Same old. The girls can't wait to see you. And before I forget to mention, Vlad visited last week."

"He said he would." I grinned.

Oh, Vlad. The silent legend of a vampire. He wasn't with Christian for long, four months maybe. And he didn't stay away for too long either. He'd grown on John, Mike and the rest of the men. Evie and Amy loved having him around too, probably more so as a bodyguard to the kids if anything.

The girls were taken by him which I found cute. I was certain Anna had a crush on him – Vlad seemed completely unaware of it though. Evie only confirmed it when I asked a few months ago.

"Michael's beside himself," Evie had laughed. "He doesn't know how to deal with an 8-year-old crush on the most infamous man on earth."

From my point of view it looked like Vlad was more or less a lone wolf apart from when he travelled with Constance and Erinna.

Speaking of the two of them, they were complete enigma's. There but not really there. But nonetheless, it still looked like we had friends for life. They were completely and utterly enamoured by the kids, especially since the concept of them were even unheard of by the 'maker of all vampires.'

The family had accepted them as if they were eccentric aunts and the two of them were happy to have more friends in the world. "It's hard for us," Erinna had said one day. "But we know when someone is using us for who we are. And you and your family definitely aren't."

"What about you," Kate interrupted my thoughts. "How's being your own boss."

"A dream." I smiled. "It's bizarre to think that I'm the one telling everyone what to do."

"Not much different to usual then." Kate smirked and I rolled my eyes. "Have you received any new postcards?"

At the mention of Christian, my smile faltered. "Not since I was back home. I still can't believe it's been an entire year since he left."

"The year went extremely fast."

"How did you, Evie and the rest of you deal with the anniversary of the whole Florence-fight the first time?"

Kate looked down at the cutlery in thought, twisting the spine of her glass with a small frown. "I think it was harder on Evie than anyone the first time than the final time. She'd been bitten, almost died, she was having nightmares, as you did, insomnia and small bouts of depression. After Florence died, it wasn't so bad. I'll admit, during everything, she had constant anxiety and maybe a few months after that but honestly, she got over to it."

"What about for you?"

"It was a process but together we worked through it. Just as we did for you last year." She smiled. "Whether you want us or not Chels, even after you turned and didn't actually want us, we're always here for you."

A loving smile graced my lips as I lifted my glass. "To family and moving on?"

"Here, here," Clink.

**

The next morning at work, everybody seemed in high spirits whilst mine were slightly lower than usual. The talk with Katherine last night about Christian's whereabouts had me in one of my rare ruts. It'd been a few months since I'd fallen into one of these.

Kate had been quite odd this morning, the same glint from last night twinkled in her eye as she wished me a good day.

"What are you doing today?" I'd asked suspiciously.

"Not much. I might be out most of this evening though so don't wait up."

My eyes narrowed as I crossed my arms. "Doing what in a foreign country where you have no other friends."

"Don't underestimate me, Chelsea. I have friends in high places. Micah wants me to pick up some herbs that we can't grow in Canada."

"They better be legal."

"They're legal enough." She winked.

Then the woman flourished out of the house with a small witch like cackle – ironically – and slammed the door. If Kate wasn't already a little bit eccentric, I would have been a bit more suspicious, but for now I let it go.

"Chels!"

I shook my head out of my stupor and cracked a small smile at one of my colleagues. "Need to know where your station is? It's... 3A, by the cliffs. Ask Jeff if you get confused."

The girl nodded her head and twisted toward the other side of the site.

It was another scorcher of a day, the tanned dirt crunched beneath my feet as I started the morning off with a quick meeting. My team listened, took notes and went about their morning routines.

As the day progressed my thoughts turned to work and work only. It got easier to push him to the back of my mind. Everyone was breaking a small sweat. It was almost ninety degrees, and it had just passed three in the afternoon.

Tim, Jeff and I were discussing the marks on the map we hoped to complete by Friday when the rapid crunch of footsteps caught my attention a few hundred yards away. I turned my head to the side and expanded my hearing, blocking out the men in front of me to listen to their heartbeat and quick breaths.

I waited, my attention solely on the sharp footsteps growing closer.

"Chelsea?"

I blinked out of my alerted state just as the woman running came into view. She stopped a few feet away holding up a stack of papers to my colleague, her heartbeat slowing to a steady pace as she bent over to catch her breath.

I faced the both of them with an embarrassed smile and listened as they carried on. Call me crazy for always being on high alert, fine. But I had good reason.

Slowly everyone made their way to the tent on the east of the main site. Not one person wasn't sweating or smudged with dust. The wind was picking up slightly, little wind circles formed around people's feet as the stepped in and out of the tent.

"Any plans this evening?" Tim asked me as he grabbed his stuff from his locker.

I shook my head with a tired exhale. "Nope."

"You sure?"

I opened my locker and sent him a curious grin. "Yeah, why? You asking me out? I'm sure your wife wouldn't be too happy."

Tim smile was sweet. "No, dear not me. I thought maybe you'd be with that young man, the one that was in Cairo last year."

I shut my locker with an abrupt slam and stuttered, "What? What do you mean, what man?"

"I'm not sure of his name, I just remember seeing him with you in the tunnels-"

"Why would you assume I'd be with him?" My heart trembled in my chest as I eyed Tim's confused smile.

"I saw him earlier, I'm sure." The older man glanced around the tent as if for a way out. I didn't care how mad I looked, if Christian was here... "There he is, over there."

It was almost slow motion. I twisted my body and scanned the outside of the tent. I held my breath, hoping, no, praying it wasn't Tim's eyesight playing tricks on him. I knew he needed his glasses 60% of the time, and right now he was wearing them so I couldn't blame his poor-ish eyesight on that this time.

I followed Tim's lifting finger, squinting my eyes through the sun as I started walking out of the tent. In the distance, I could see a group of able bodies walking our way but none of them were him. Nobody looked remotely close to his appearance.

My heart sank a little. I shouldn't have even allowed myself to get excited. I didn't blame Tim, he only saw Christian once, someone with dark hair and cloudy eyes could resemble anyone, I guess.

I smiled weakly at the group walking toward me and started to turn with them.

"Oh, Chels," One of the women said. "That guy's been asking for you."

And at that moment, the group were behind me and there he stood, ten or so metres ahead of me. He didn't look real, stood there shielding his eyes from the sun as he scanned the tent behind me. His skin glowed in a healthy – for a vampire – russet tan, his hair short at the edges and long at the top, curling messily on his forehead. His jaw looked like it would be rough to touch...

Touch. He was here, what did that mean? Wait, why was I still thinking about it when I could ask him myself?

When his eyes clashed with mine it was almost as if my world had finally corrected itself. I smiled, he grinned crookedly. And suddenly I was running toward him. Vampire speed or not at this second I didn't care. I launched myself into his arms, with a small startled grunt from his end and wrapped my arms and legs around him.

Christian's scent filled my nose and I couldn't get enough of it, couldn't get enough of this contact. His hands gripped my thighs to steady us and if there was something I could compare bliss to, it would be his chuckle.

I leaned back, searched his face, then kissed him, poured every ounce of myself into him just as he did.

Then, when I leaned back and dropped my feet on the floor I smirked, wasted not one more second and said, "I love you."

Christian's smile was a thing of beauty. "I'm deeply in love with you, Kitten. And you'd think one year away from me, the first thing you'd do is slap me."

"I mean if you want me to," I smoothed my hands down his chest. "I can."

"I think I prefer the kiss and the sentiment one hundred times more. Shall we go? I have a lot to tell you."

Back in the tent, I voiced my apology to Tim and grabbed my bag. He only smiled at the two of us and wished us a good evening. The ride back to the city was a silent one but he held my hand as he drove. I felt like if I blinked, I'd wake up. He wouldn't be here; it'd be a bittersweet dream. He squeezed my hand every few mins, shining me his mischievous grin.

I didn't even question how he already knew where I lived, I knew what he was like.

As soon as we got into my empty apartment and I pulled him toward me, I realised why Kate was being so shady last night. "Kate saw you coming didn't she?"

"Of course she did, it's Katherine."

"True." Then I kissed him with a different type of urgency than earlier. My nerve endings awoke from their yearlong slumber with a triumphant spark as I pressed every part of me against him. Christian kissed back with just as much determination, a groan I'd yearned for filled my ears and another wave of happiness soared through me.

"Aren't you curious?" He murmured against my lips as he sat back on the couch.

I straddled his lap with a devious smile. "I'll be curious after."

His hands spread against the waist of my t-shirt before pulling it over my head. "You'll want to hear it," He started, unclipping my bra with hungry eyes. "Chels-"

"After." I stressed, moving my hips in such a way it shut him straight up.

I kissed his neck before pulling his shirt off, reaching my hand between us and brushing it against the straining bulge in his jeans. Words escaped us as hunger and need completely took over us. He lifted me and dropped me unceremoniously on the couch before unzipping his jeans and kicking them off.

"I've missed you," He grumbled in that voice that oozed raw arousal.

I shrugged my own jeans and underwear off without breaking his gaze and opened my arms as he fell carefully on top of me. There was no time for foreplay, besides I'd been ready for him the second we stepped into the room.

I could taste the need in the air as he kissed me, feel his impatient tremble through his muscles as he wrapped an arm underneath my back to join our bodies together. I moaned a satisfied sigh as I felt him nestle deep inside of me. Home was my first thought. But when he opened his mouth against my shoulder and started moving, my next was 'good God.'

His movements were slow, lingering, until his teeth grazed the surface of my skin that was when he wasted no time. I couldn't catch my breath, focus or think as he gripped my waist off the couch and moved like a man starved.

A burst of intense pleasure rocketed through me when his teeth broke the skin, my orgasm clutching onto him for dear life. I exhaled a sharp groan wrapping myself tighter around him as he shouted his own release. I didn't expect anything less explosive and it brought a brilliant grin to my face.

"I missed you too." I exhaled pecking his neck. "You can tell me all about what happened now."

Christian chuckle against my shoulder was nervous. Oh, no. If he ruined this moment so help me God...

"Have you sorted out all of the... problems or whatever it was you needed to do?" I questioned running my fingertips along the little hairs on his neck.

"Well..."

At his tone of voice my eyes narrowed. Well? Very slowly, I put his body at arm's length and clenched my jaw. "What do you mean, well? In this situation, 'well' isn't a good thing."

His smile was sheepish as he detangled himself from me to grab his boxers. "Well means I'm 3/4 of the way through. I've gotten all the hard bits out of the way, I've spoken to and, well, disposed of a lot of the argumentative ones." He said whilst handing me his t-shirt. "The vampires that were happy about me getting rid of the Steinsson's were easier to talk to whereas some were a bit... irked."

"Irked? So what does this mean, who have you seen or gotten rid of? And why'd it take an entire year?"

"I had to go through a lot to find the drug lord in Mexico, and he was none too happy about the Steinsson's disappearing so I had to kill him, took me three months but it worked out." Christian dropped next to me after I put his shirt on and lay my legs over his thighs. "Next was the wolf - the arms dealer. Now I didn't kill him because he's quite a respectable guy, kind of strange but nice nonetheless. Completely fine with Andreas being dead and gone."

"What about that guy in British Intelligence."

"Oh, well he's dead, not by my hand. I had to play a game of Chinese whispers that there was a mole. I couldn't directly handle that one, didn't want to risk getting exposed."

"And the witch in berlin?"

A tense smile graced his lips and my hackles rose. "Christian."

"Right, you might be mad."

"I'm getting there already."

"How attached are you to this new job promotion?"

"Christian." I slowly stood. "What did you do?"

"Okay calm down." He joined me. "After everything was checked off my list I didn't realise how hard it would be to find the king in Berlin considering how small the place is. I had to go through so many different vampires, it was a nightmare but two months ago he got into contact with me and we... talked."

"Get to the point, do you have to leave again? Are you in trouble?"

"No, no, I don't have to leave again... we do."

Fury burnt through me. I grabbed the first thing beside me – which lucky for him was the couch pillow – and throttled it at him. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"Only for a few days, I promise. The guy just wants to meet you then we can come back- stop it."

I picked up his shoe and pointed it at him. "I worked hard for this, Christian."

"And I'm so proud of where you are and who you are, I love you even more than when I left. It's Friday, it'll be a weekend away. A little side adventure, I'll have you back to work by Monday." He pried his shoe from my fingers and dropped it next to his feet. "We wouldn't be us without a little adventure, Kitten."

It would be two days away doing what we do best: getting into trouble. Just two days he said. This was literally what I said I wouldn't do a year ago; drop everything to follow Christian. I knew how to say no to him, I'd done it so many times before and the fact he'd released me made it ten times easier to utter the words: "No."

"Chelsea." 

"Hey, remember when you made it your mission not to get me into trouble?"

His eyes flashed with slight annoyance. "This isn't going to be dangerous."

"In a way I don't believe you."

Christian looked past me and shut his eyes. "Three days. Meet the king, show him you're a beautifully talented woman and then I shake his hand, easy as that."

I looked at his closed eyes, then glanced at his chest and sighed. I clearly didn't have a choice. whether in a few hours or a few minute's I'd eventually give in won't I? 

"I'll be back by Monday." I clarified.

"Scouts honour, you'll be back to work on Monday... Tuesday latest."

"This is important to me."

He rubbed his palms up and down my arms and smiled. "I know. I promise you, Chelsea. It'll be quick and easy."

And that, boys and girls, is how I found myself hiding in a closet in a hotel suite in Berlin, Germany on Sunday with a smirking Christian dressed in a tuxedo holding a stupid 18th century fabergé egg that the king wanted. Also, fun fact, the king did want to meet me, oh yeah but Christian needed me as a date to this damn vampire's fund raiser so he could steal this stupid egg.

I adjusted my dress and footing and exhaled, hiding my smile to the best of my ability. I could hear security passing the door, their frantic feet moving further and further away.

I lifted my gaze to meet Christian's and rolled my eyes. "Just another Sunday with Christian Beaumont."

"I may have to take back my promise to have you back by Monday," He grinned sheepishly. "You know I love you."

Sliding my hands between us to fix his tie, I patted his cheeks and replied, "And I wouldn't be here if I didn't love you too."

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SO the Epilogue will be a 'where are they now chap' which'll be uploaded tomorrow as its written already and its more like an open ending if I decide to write another story in the future... you'll understand once you read it *wink face*