- - one of my kind *

[Marian Cora Flynn]

Mari hadn't been back in Walten for long but she was already feeling worlds better than she had in a long time. It wasn't that she hadn't been happy back home in Belfast. She had been. She'd gotten to take care of her father, she'd been with Rian, she'd gotten engaged. By all counts, her life in Belfast had been as happy as any life in Belfast could be. But city had always been so full of strife and hardship, especially for her family and their position, that she never felt like she was breathing easily there. Uncertainty had rested around ever corner and every day had been a new unknown. Rian had called each day an adventure but Mari wasn't sure what he found so positive about that. She didn't think of herself as boring but was it wrong to want a life with the man she loved where she wasn't terrified when he came home late or where she didn't dread raising children in the neighborhood she'd grown up in? None of that followed her hear to Walten. The good or the bad. She didn't have her father here or Rian but here she could breathe. And since she wouldn't have her father or Rian in Belfast anymore, she'd chosen to breathe.

The few days she'd been in town had been completely consumed with house hunting. Her choices were vast as money wasn't really an object. Thanks to her father and his estate, she could well afford to live anywhere she pleased, the question merely was where it was that she pleased. The obvious choice was Palace Rhodes but Mari had never pictured herself in a place like that. She felt perfectly comfortable int he open and airy modern day palaces in a place like that but that didn't mean it was where she wanted to start her life over. She'd been leaning towards a small place in Provincial Town Homes, she just didn't know which place, yet. And she was tired of looking. All the houses were starting to blend together for her, at this point. She'd had two or three appointments to keep looking when she'd woken up this morning but the first thing she'd done was cancel them. She was desperate to relax away from the decisions and that was her plan for the day.

Mari knew that she should get in touch with some of her friends from her college days, the people she'd left behind when she move back to Belfast. None of them knew she was here and none of them knew what had happened in her life since she'd left town. She wasn't the best at keeping in touch and much of what she'd had to tell was too depressing to write about. She also knew that she would have a lot of explaining to do when she finally did get back in touch with her friends and she wasn't sure she was ready for that just yet. She was still getting her legs firmly under her again. After all, it had only been two months since her world had completely fallen apart. One couldn't expect her to rebuild overnight. She was sure her friends would understand her delay. And with that thought in mind she'd headed out for a day on her own.

It had been easy to decide where she wanted to go. The beach. It was her favorite thing about Walten when she'd been here for school. There was no beach close to Belfast, not one like this. All the beaches in Great Britain were more a novelty than anything else. They were chilly all the time except a few hot weeks in the middle of summer. She hardly had a memory of going to the beach without a heavy sweatshirt and long pants. And though the weather was cooling here now, it was still more pleasant than the beaches at home. She could spend her entire day walking back and forth along the surf, just losing herself in her thoughts and the sound of the waves. When she'd been in school, she'd come here with her boyfriend at the time. She'd sat for hours in the sand, with a book in her hand, pretending to read as she watched him surf. In fact, as stepped barefoot on the sand playing absent minded with the engagement ring still on her finger, she realized that this was the first time she'd really thought about Erik since she'd been in Walten. Well, in a long time but especially since she'd moved back here. She'd kept herself so busy that she hadnt' spent much time dwelling on the past. Now as she walked it wasn't her life in Belfast she thought about. It was the life she'd left here in Walten. And it was the first time her thoughts had strayed from Belfast in a very long time.

And then it was almost as if the memory had summoned the man. She'd seen the figure on the surf board from the moment she'd stepped onto the beach but she hadn't let herself imagine it was Erik out on the water. But as she drew closer to where he surfed, her came into the shore, carrying his board with ease. Strangely she felt like she'd gone back in time, so perfect was the circumstance. Without thinking much about the awkwardness that could ensue here, she sped her walking to meet him at the surf. Well well, look what the tide dragged in." An easy smile graced her lips as she approached and her Irish accent was filled with a light ease that she hadn't felt in a long while.

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TAG: Erik!
STATUS: bam. done.
OUTFIT: here
NOTES: damn. when i have muse. haha. sorry if it's all rambly.

[Erik Gregory Evans]

you're automatic !

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AND YOUR HEART'S LIKE AN ENGINE
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tagged for mari with 987 words. wearing this[/i][/center]

No one would call Erik easy going, or comfortable, or pleasant. It wasn't that he was an ass or mean, it was just that he had a hard shell to crack. Throughtout his twenty eight years he had so many things that piled another layer of concrete on top of him that it was extremely hard for someone to get through. Not even his own sister knew how vulnerable he was on the inside, he wouldn't let her see, and he sometimes wondered if even Jesse, his own flesh and blood knew the man beneth all the armor. He doubted it sometimes and of course regretted it, but he wasn't about to shed it just so that he could have a bunch of people poking at his open wounds. Oh no, he would would keep them at arms length and just let it stay that way, hoping beyond hope that it would be enough to keep any more damage away. Perhaps that was the reason for his choice in career? Perhaps he just needed that sense of control and law abiding rules? Who knew really, he certainly didn't. When he was a child that was nothing like what he wanted to be, he wanted to travel the world and see new things, perhaps go to Australia and enter into some surfing competitions? That had never happened, he had gone to college in the town that he was born into, and started to work right after that. He was content with life, but how long would contentment last before you exploded?

Erik wasn't sure and with his good friend telling him that he needed a break and needed to get out of that cop uniform before his brain pretty much exploded he decided, while not being able to actually get away, he would at least take a mini break. His four day work week was over and he was on the second off day, the first being spent, shopping, and cleaning is single bedroom apartment. That had been a bundle of fun, sure, but while doing all of that he had found his surf board and realized that winter was slowly creeping up on him and the days would no longer be warm enough to bare the freezing water. So, he had made plans to spend the entire day surfing, and that's exactly what he had did. Waking up at the butt crack of dawn, he made his way to the beach, surf board attached to his car, not caring about sunscreen, or anything along those lines. He rarely got sunburned, his skin seemed to just absorb the color, making him sometimes look like a nut. Laughing at his own stupid humor, he hadn't even bothered to really to remember where he had put his stuff.

Hours seemed to pass while he was on that board, he caught wave after wave, and he just let his mind go, not worrying about work, or Rachel's pregnancy, or Jesse's own problems, or anything along those lines, he just let it all go and it felt as if he was really starting to recooperate and be a bit happier again. He wasn't sure how many hours he had been in the water, but the waves were slowly dying down and his fingers were beyond the wrinkly prune state that they got when anybody stayed in water too long. Paddling on in, he picked up his surf board and shook the water from his rather long hair, which he probably should get cut. His feet landed was on dry sand when he saw her. He wasn't sure if it was his mind playing tricks on him or if he was offically loosing his mind, but whatever it was, he wasn't sure that he liked it all that much. Marian Flynn had been his college sweetheart and he would know that firey haired maiden anywhere.

His worst fears and the pit of his stomach had dropped out from under him when she spoke. It was Mari, that was for sure, but why was she here? Hadn't she moved back to Ireland? He was at a loss for words for a moment, before he was able to regain some control of his body and dug the correct end of his surf board in the sand. He wanted to pull her into a hug, but he just couldn't do that, he couldn't let that happen until he knew what she was here. Grabbing his towel, with some stupid silly phrase on it, he quickly rubbed the water off his chest and arms. "Well, Mari, aren't you a sight for sore eyes. I must say that you were not what I had expected when I came to the beach today." What was he supposed to say, he could feel his heard expand and feelings that he had buried way deep inside were starting to rumble and that was just not good.

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made by KLEPTOMANIA FTW! at caution 2.0 !

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