#in my mind Asa is of mixed nordic heritage so Edda is nordic for Grandma

[queeniecook]

February 6 - Part 2

Lurch had left. He told Annalise he needed a few days to think. She thought he may go stay with Jackson and Lilith but she was wrong. He said he was going to go rent himself a hotel room in another town. Annalise wanted to beg him not to go but she held herself back. He needs this time and she's going to give it to him, even if it breaks her heart to do it.

Her doorbell rings.

She stops in her tracks when she sees the spattering of blood coming from Asa's nose. She pulls him inside and cleans him up before giving him a bag of blood she keeps in the house in case of emergencies. A nose bleed. Something so very human and yet Asa is still a vampire. He has no pulse. His heart does not beat. What does this mean?

Asa starts feeling a bit more normal after consuming the blood bag and he sits down by his ex-wife, seeing the concern on her face. "I'm fine."

Annalise scoffs at that but she still seems troubled.

"Where's Lurch?" Asa asks, surprised the looming butler didn't answer the door. He notices Annalise's expression change even more and draws some conclusions. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Frances wants me to turn him." Annalise admits. Asa blinks at her admission and lets out a low whistle. 

"That's heavy." He comments, looking at his ex-wife and thinking back to when she asked him to change her into a vampire so they could be together forever. Then Asa ruined things between them. "You did the right thing, you know...I should have told you no but I was selfish. I wanted to keep you forever and I still lost you."

Annalise stares at him, the regret is rolling off him in waves. She swallows feeling a twinge of sadness for him. "I was pretty adamant about my choice."

Asa shakes his head slightly "Yeah but you didn't force me into it. I did it all on my own."

Things grow quiet for a bit and the silence stretches. The only sounds heard in the house is the crackling of the fireplaces and the ticking of the grandfather clock in the foyer.

"Why does doing the right thing have to be so hard sometimes?" Annalise asks, not really asking Asa but herself. 

"My Edda always told me that you're never wrong for doing the right thing. I didn't really get it when I was young...but I think it kind of means that things will work out in the end because you did what was right." Asa says, thinking briefly of the Grandmother who raised him. "Lurch will come around. He loves you."

Annalise nods briefly with a sad smile. She could finally feel the tears starting to prick at her eyes that had wanted to come out earlier but she had held them in to try to be strong for her suitor. She watches Asa rise slowly from the couch and offer her his hand.

To both their surprises, she actually lets him comfort her. "It'll work out." Asa whispers. He knows this is probably the only time he will ever hold Annalise again and while a small part of him enjoys it - he can't fully while she's upset. Maybe if James actually gets somewhere with the cure, he can help not only himself but Annalise as well. 

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