"You cannot keep thinking that this is okay."

He knew the usual conversation they had. They had it every time he came to visit her, but she never complained then. She would only complain the following morning when he started to dress again. He would have suspected that she had grown immune to what they did, but she never had done. She always moaned and he always placated her somehow. He didn't know how he did it, but he did.

"Why?" he asked back from her. "Unless you have some boyfriend I don't know about?"

She shifted in the bed uncomfortably, pulling the white sheet up to her neck as she hid underneath it. She shook her head slowly and pushed a free hand through her dark blonde hair whilst he pulled his trousers over his legs.

"You know I don't," she replied to him. "I tried dating but I never found anyone...and then you keep randomly showing up..."

"We agreed to what our relationship is," he reminded her, hunting around her small bedroom for his shirt. He finally found it by the side of the bed and he knelt on the floor to pick it up as she looked down to him and arched a condescending brow.

"And if I want more?" she demanded from him.

He pushed his arms into the purple shirt and nodded. "Then you can look for more, but I am not the man to give you more, Annalise."

"That's unfair," she wailed before lying back on the bed and staring to the ceiling. "How can you keep coming here and sleep with me but claim you don't want anything else."

"You let me keep coming," he reminded her. "And I told you that I have other priorities right now. Settling down does not interest me."

"Who says it interests me?" she demanded from him as he sat on the edge of the bed and buttoned his shirt up his chest. "I don't want to settle down with a family and a house, but I do want some stability. I can't keep going to work and coming home whilst thinking about you all the time. Do you know how needy I sound?"

He grinned down to his lap and she slapped him across the arm as he chuckled. He turned back to look at her as she glowered and pouted her thin lips.

"Do you take anything seriously, Erik?" she demanded from him. "I've known you for years now but I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this."

"Falling for me already?" he teased her and he watched as her cheeks flushed red. "Anna, if you want to move on then just say so. Tell me definitively and I will go."

She bit the inside of her cheek before sitting up and looking to him, her front pressing against his side as he moved his hand to her neck. His fingers danced across the pale skin there and she inhaled a sharp breath. She wrapped both of her arms around one of his and he wondered what he was doing. He should never be so close to a woman when he had things to do. Usually he upped and left without such sentiment, but he had a feeling today would be different.

"You know I don't want to tell you that," she whispered in a soft voice. "But I...I think it is for the best this time, Erik. Being with you isn't healthy for me and it isn't healthy for you either."

"You told me my entire lifestyle isn't healthy," Erik scoffed and she nodded sternly.

"Chasing after Nazis isn't healthy," she informed him. "I do worry about what will happen to you, especially if you do find him. After what he did, I know he isn't someone to trifle with."

"I have no intention of trifling with him," Erik said, his voice back to that serious tone she had grown accustomed to. "I intend to kill him, Anna."

"I imagine he has no intention of letting you," she contradicted. "I cannot stop you. I never have been able to, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life worrying about you when you have no intention of doing anything but sleep with me."

"You say this all the time," Erik reminded her and looked at her condescendingly.

He moved his nose against hers, tilting her head so that he could quickly kiss her. He moved his hand to her waist and held her steadily against his body as he deepened the kiss and she moaned against him. This was the usual way Erik placated her. He could keep her quiet so long as his lips worked against hers. It was a skill he had.

"No," Annalise suddenly declared as she forced her lips from his. "I'm serious this time, Erik."

Erik sighed and his head drooped, his gaze set on her chest as she stared at him, wondering if he would change his mind. She hoped he would. She longed for him to say something to her. She wanted him to promise her that he would stop; he would stop and he would stay with her. She was well aware that would never happen. Erik Lensherr was his own man.

But it would never happen.

He was hell bent on revenge and that was all there was to it.

She knew where she ranked. She always had known, but that didn't make it any easier. It made it much more difficult if she had to be honest.

"Do what you need to do and stay safe, but don't come back if you only want a one night stand," Annalise demanded from him. "You may be able to separate your feelings from sex, but I'm slowly struggling to do just that."

"I see."

"Do you?" Annalise continued to pressure him. "You walked into my life when I was twenty and look where we are five years later? We haven't moved on at all. I'm still a receptionist and you're still on your crazy mission."

"It feels like a breakup," Erik commented, "but we were never really together."

"Got it in one," Annalise whispered, "and that's where the issue lies."

Erik stood up and grabbed his tie from the chair it rested over. He draped it over his neck and tossed his suit jacket over his shoulder. He sat back down to place his shoes on and Annalise continued to stare at him with wide eyes. Would he look back to her and tell her he wanted more? Would he bother? Annalise continued to chew her bottom lip whilst Erik finished lacing his shoes up.

"I guess this a goodbye," Erik mused.

"It looks like it," Annalise whispered back and bent down to place her straight hair behind her shoulder, kissing her on the forehead.

"Look after yourself, Anna," he demanded from her.

"You too, Erik."

Annalise listened to the soft click of the door and she rested against the headboard, closing her eyes and feeling her eyes water. She moved her hands to her orbs to wipe away the moisture pooled there. Only then did she rest on her side and beg for sleep to find her again.

...

A/N: So I'm back with another Erik/OC! Please do let me know what you think so far!