Driving home after a splendid second date with Rosaline made Erik feel relieved in more ways than one. Not only were his feelings being reciprocated but he finally felt as if he had made some significant headway with Rosaline, considering he was able to end the date with a memorable kiss or two. Erik was almost certain that nothing could dampen his bright mood, until of course he drove into the gates of his home and saw the sight of Bianca leaning against the hood of what he assumed was her car. Expelling a few profanities under his breath, Erik parks his car in the garage and exits out of his vehicle. He is reluctant to want to speak with Bianca again, particularly when taking into account the seriousness of their last conversation, but thinks better of it knowing that he has had enough time to come to terms with the fact that he must put his past behind him once and for all.

"Bianca." Erik acknowledges her from a distance.

"Hi Erik." She almost sadly responds with.

Erik is partly startled by the glum tone, as per her usual behaviour is quite open and forthrightly flirty or direct. Erik takes a minute to assess Bianca from afar, before moving to approach her trembling body with clear caution.

"Is everything alright?" Erik asks her, still feeling rather confused by the whole encounter.

"No." She practically bawls before hastily leaping into Erik's unprepared arms and securing her frail arms around and over his neck.

Stunned by her abrupt emotional breakdown, Erik quickly recovers and pats her back in instinctive understanding before gently removing her arms from around him. He holds each of her bony wrists in his hand and watches as she continues to wail in front of him. Unsure of what to do, as in all their time together Erik had never witnessed Bianca quite like this, he patiently waits for her to say or do something instead.

"I'm sorry." She eventually croaks out.

Distracted by the blubbering of her tears, runny nose and incoherent words, Erik asks that she repeat herself.

"I said I'm sorry goddamit!"

It takes Erik another minute to compose himself, as he never did think he would receive this long awaited apology from Bianca. Unfortunately, over the years Erik had waited far too long and eventually formed the conclusion that he would never hear those two haunting words leave her mouth. Instead, he had simply accepted the fact that life had thrown him one of the deepest curveballs he had ever known and had to quickly learn from his mistakes and move on. Still, finally hearing an apology from Bianca after all this time did spike his interest.

"For what exactly?"

"For everything!" She blurted out in an almost sarcastic manner, before lowering her voice and answering him again.

"For using you when you were the only source of goodness in my life, for not treating you with the respect you deserve and for not telling you I was pregnant with your child when I had the chance to."

Erik continued to stare at Bianca in utter bewilderment. He wasn't entirely sure what possessed her to suddenly proclaim her abominable acts to him, but something from deep within him told him that she was being sincere about it. He still didn't trust her, but even someone like Erik could see that she had probably suffered enough over the years by herself and in the way she clearly still felt guilty over the loss of her unborn child. Fuelled by the kindness from within him, Erik gently places an arm over Bianca's shoulder and ushers her into his home.

"Sit down while I go make you some tea." Erik instructs her, once they have both moved into the lounge area.

Offering her a simple look of reassurance, Erik escapes in the kitchen to boil some water for Bianca's tea and also to spare himself a much needed break from the sudden turn of events. Although it is difficult for Erik to accept Bianca's apology and move forward, he can't help but feel a sense of guilt himself. Although he never did anything to hurt or harm Bianca in the way she did to him, he can't deny that he didn't help their relationship by arguing as often as they did, particularly towards the end of it. For this reason, Erik feels partly at fault for the loss of their child and also for Bianca showing up this evening in a ball of tears. Still, given the length of time that has passed and how Erik has evidently moved on from Bianca and everything they once shared, he knows it's only right to show her some respect and allow her to cry on his shoulder, if that is what she needs to be able to move on from the past as well. After pouring some boiling water into a flowered mug, Erik leaves the kitchen and returns into the lounge where he finds Bianca has curled up against a corner and is using a pillow to hold against herself.

"It's chamomile." Erik informs her, before taking a seat nearby.

"Thank you." She quietly accepts.

After sitting in silence for far too long, Erik finally chooses to break it with a question he hopes Bianca might have an answer for.

"So, what now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I've heard what you have to say and I appreciate you telling me this but what is it you want exactly?" He asks, careful not to further upset her.

"I just want your company for now Erik."

"My company?" Erik questions in a confused voice.

"Yeah, we could start over." Bianca casually suggests.

Hoping Bianca hasn't read into any of his signs as anything more than kindness, Erik is quick to explain himself and his intentions.

"Bianca, like I said, I can understand it wasn't easy coming here tonight and admitting your wrongs but I don't see how you and I can truly move on from this. There's just too much history between us." Erik dejectedly responds.

"But I said I was sorry, didn't I? I know what I did was wrong!" She huffs out, almost frustratedly.

"It's more than that though, it's about you and I doing what is best for ourselves and right now, staying apart from each other is what we need."

"Maybe it's what you alone need." Bianca whispers to herself, despite Erik catching it.

Scratching his forehead in uncertainty, Erik releases a deep sigh before averting his gaze from Bianca. Suddenly feeling overwhelmed by Bianca's words and the entire evening as a whole, Erik feels that he doesn't have much choice but to offer her a place to stay for the evening. He doesn't want her to have to walk away feeling anymore guilty than she already does and certainly doesn't want her feeling that she's misunderstood or wrong entirely. Erik isn't sure if what he's about to do is the right thing, but at this moment in time he isn't sure he has much of an alternative.

"How would you feel about staying the night?" He offers sometime later.

Bianca's gaze is quick to look intrigued, but before she can get ahead of herself Erik immediately squashes all potential wondering thoughts of hers.

"In a separate room of course and just for tonight. It might be best that you get a good nights sleep and maybe in the morning we can talk some more about this." He explains with an assertive expression, hoping to emphasise the seriousness of the situation.

"I would love too, thank you Erik." She kindly smiles.

"No need to thank me. I'm just doing what I think anyone in our situation would do. I'm trying to be understanding about our unusual ordeal."

After enjoying some takeout as a means of dinner, Erik shows Bianca to her room. He reminds her that her stay is for one night only and that should she attempt any funny busy, he'll kick her to the curb faster than she can say sorry again. Having noticed a look of genuine understanding in her eyes, Erik closes her door and retries to his own room for the night. After going through his nightly routine, Erik finally collapses onto his bed and makes a silent prayer hoping that he's made the right decision to allow Bianca to stay the night. He wasn't entirely certain as to what persuaded him to make the choice other than the feeling of not wanting Bianca to think that she alone was to blame for the loss of their unborn child. Erik supposed it was out of the goodness in his heart and the love her held in his heart somewhere for the child he never once knew of, that he felt inclined to support and help Bianca in the only way he knew how to. His only hope for the morning was that he would be successful in talking some more sense into her and in coming up with a convincing enough apology for why he wouldn't be able to see Rosaline after all.