Forever
By Tiger

                        XI

The time together was spend in relative quiet, for the 
first part of the day.. both were sound asleep, after 
Eric got checked out, at Tiger's insistance. "Stubborn 
woman!" Eric growled a little heatedly at her for 
insisting..."Call me stubborn all you want" she said 
quietly. After they got to where they were 
going...Eric pulled her close. "Sorry about that...I 
know you're worried..." She just smiled and let it 
go.. Later, before they returned home... Eric told her 
exactly what happened. She nodded, swallowing her own 
anger at that, but not before Eric saw the fire rise 
in her eyes...He just chuckled.. "little spitfire!" 
She just grinned. "that's me!" A couple of weeks 
later.. the two were homebound due to snow... Tiger 
loved it! Eric cracked up at her making a snowman. 
Mischieviously, he made a snowball, then sneaking up 
on Tiger, he proceeded to dump it down her back. She 
yelped and chased after him...Soon both loked like 
minature snowmen. Tiger miscalculated and landed over 
Eric's head into a snowdrift. Pulling her self out she 
looked around for the little mischief maker....where 
was he?! All of a sudden snow poured over her head. 
She yelled and dove right at Eric, knocking him back 
into the same snowdrift. That precipitated a fierce 
wrestling match. "GOTCHA!" Eric laughed as he pinned 
her to the ground. "You cook supper tonight and hmpt" 
Tiger shut him up by giving him a kiss. "Fire 
breather.." he teased. She laughed at that... "I can't 
help it I have fire in my blood! A certain male I know 
keeps my blood hot.." "Oh yeah?" Eric cracked up 
laughing.."yeah, you little devil you..." Tiger 
retorted "Lets just SEE how hot your blood can get!" 
was the only reply. Tiger stopped feeling the cold and 
wet instantly. For a long time, all she felt was heat 
and warmth. Finally Eric broke away from her 
reluctantly.."We'd better get inside... before we both 
go too far.." Tiger nodded, holding on with all her 
might.


                      XII

The mood hadn't broken by going inside. Both were
completely soaked to the skin, but neither one felt
the soaking at all. Finally getting inside the den,
she felt like she was flying as he laid her down on
the couch. Her hands trembled with desire as she slid
his shirt up. He groaned,as he lifted her face up to
his..desire making him hotter. A touch of lips, his
hands tangled softly into her hair. A soft moan
escaped into the air..then the touch of skin on skin.
Fire screamed through both of them. Again and again,
they loved. Two creatures of fire and night burning as
one. Both lay exhausted afterwards...The fire not
gone, only banked. Neither spoke...just laying content
in afterglow. Bonding. Later, as they talked, they
both laughed at the pranks they had pulled on each
other, plus the times when one stood up for the other.
They were becoming quite a team. What the future held
was pure and bright!
 

                    XIII

Eric walked in with Tiger, and Bruce cracked up 
laughing at the two of them. Both were wearing 
devilish grins. Paul cracked up laughing.. He knew 
they had been up to something. "What is up with you 
two... you two are beginning to act like twins!" "Oh 
nothing" Tiger chuckled. Eric shot her an evil grin 
and hugged her close. "just call us Masters Of 
Disaster!" he laughed. Gene groaned "Pranksters" ... 
"More like "Double Trouble" both said at the same 
time. Eric escorted Tiger to a room where they could 
be alone for a few minutes. Giving her a kiss and a 
warm hug, he finally left her for a while. She busied 
herself to writing again. but This time, she was alert 
to sounds... she had learned from the last go round 
about Eric's jokes. She enjoyed hearing the band 
play.. She got the image right again and started 
writing until she was immersed in the images.. 
Beautiful and bright images flowed like water. She 
heard the drumming finally stop for quite a while. Her 
head jerked up at that...While she had been writing, 
the guys ...disappeared....She cautiously looked 
out...being aware of everything... No Eric... huh... 
Another Eric popped in.. "Hey you!" Hey yourself!" 
Tiger retorted..."I'm Eric" "Nice to meet ya!" Tiger 
grinned...Now she heard snickering...She knew 
something was up...After chatting with Eric Singer for 
a few minutes, Tiger braced herself... She heard the 
door open.. this time SHE was ready. Eric Carr dove at 
her again yelling "BANZAI". She yelled "GERONIMO!" and 
dove at him. The resulting collision could be heard 
outside. Tiger grabbed a pillow and bopped Eric Carr 
with it. Squeals and raucous laughter filled the 
area...A major pillowfight erupted.. The rest just 
stood there laughing..."Does this happen often with 
those two?" Eric Singer asked... "Always!" Paul roared 
with laughter as it turned into a major wrestling 
match. "Those two are like kids in a candy 
store...They both are well matched!" Tiger had eEric 
pinned to the floor... With an evil laugh she cried 
"GOTCHA". "Heh YOU THINK SO?!" he roared..."You bet I 
do!!! Tiger yelped with suppresed laughter. "I'll make 
sure of that!!" She leaned down and kissed him silly.

He repaid the favor... finally, they broke it up. Both
were laughing and joking around. Finally both calmed 
down. Eric helped Tiger to her feet. They dusted each
other off.. "NEXT?!" Eric laughed happily. A thrown
pillow got BOTH their attentions, quick! Both turned
to see Paul laughing at them... "Don't think you two
are the ONLY jokers around here." Tiger let fly with a
pillow she had grabbed. "TAG TEAM!!!" Eric crowed..
joining Paul and looking at Tiger with devilishment in
his eyes. "RUT ROH!!!" Tiger chuckled... then realized
both of them were after her! She scrammed quick,
trying to out dodge both of them. Agilely, she climbed
up to the rafters, and stayed put... grinning like a
Cheshire Cat! "THAT won't save you.." Eric chuckled
wickedly..."IT may not... but I'm not about to fight
the both of you...err three of you.." she amended
hastily as Eric Singer joined the group. "Besides" she
grinned evilly... "anything that does get tossed up
here WILL get tossed back down!" "Heh! We'll just SEE
about that one!" Eric retorted. "You've got to come
down sometime!!!' Eric Singer laughed at her..."Sure
you don't want to surrender now, Tiger-Girl?" Wicked
laughter met that statement. "I take it that is a NO!"
Paul grinned. Eric Carr grinned evilly..."Here's what
we do..." There was no shortage of wicked smiles at
his proposition. Tiger was making her own plans.. She
knew she was outnumbered, out gunned and
outmanned..suddenly... all sorts of  non hurtful
things were thrown at her. She returned fire with
amazing accuracy. She saw Eric Carr climbing the
rafters ater her. She carefully slid her back against
the wall. A pillow that had been thrown at her... HEH!
She bopped Eric Singer on the head with that one!.What
in the hell...Now she was surounded. She moved to the
middle carefully. Eric Singer on her right, Eric Carr
on her left. She had to move carefully. Slipping down
to a crawling position, she moved her hands and
slipped over the rafter, fully intending to drop to
the floor.. It wasnt that big of a height to go...
CRAP!!! Gene grinned up evilly at her... "You've go 
NOWHERE to hide and NOWHERE to go"  HORSEFEATHERS!!!!
A hand yanked her back up onto the rafters. She knew
she was good and caught. She looked up at Eric Carr,
who grinned from ear to ear..."This isn't over yet!"
she laughed. "WANNA BET?!" He roared.."Beautiful.. you
can't take on all of us." Damn...She threw her hands
up in surrender... "WHITE FLAG!!!!TRUCE!!!" A roar of
laughter met those words. After all three had climbed
down, Gene remarked... "Good strategy.. while it
lasted.." She nodded at that one. "OK Carr, what is
her "punishment"?" Paul  laughed...Eric named off
several ideas... which were rejected out of hand.
Her "punishment" assigned...she went about it with
good grace...despite Eric's words to the contrary..
she knew this round of joking wasn't up yet...

Tiger wasn't feeling right.. The prank games had been
declared closed. Eric noticed she wasn't feeling well
and made her lay down and rest. Later, he took her to
the doctor... "Bronchitis" The Dr. told him
succinctly. "she needs to rest and limit her
activities." When they got home, Tiger was worn out.
She fell asleep in his arms as he carried her to the
bed. She didn't know when she had felt so tired. Eric
watched her as she slept. During her time of illness,
he proceeded to spoil her completely rotten!Soon, she
was back on  her feet again, when he got sick with the
same thing... so as he had done for her.. she
proceeded to spoil HIM rotten! Finally both were well
enough to be out in the sunshine again.


                       XIV


Tiger kept her senses...her guard up... She knew her
particular joker was still wild...She had finished her
day of service in relative quiet. She knew he was
plotting an all out jokefest! What she really wanted
to do was get him alone and love the stuffings out of
him! The heated look she shot him gave him the
message. He cornered her and gave her a kiss. Which
was returned enthusiastically. "I know what you want
and need." his voice lowered and purred. She could
feel the storm coming and shivered with desire. His
dark eyes turned velvet, as hers changed to the
emerald that he knew so well. "Time for us to
...disappear".. With that...they did just that! Hidden
away, he reached for her and she came eagerly into his
arms. His mouth fusing with hers as he pulled her down
onto the bed. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her
closer.Her hands tangled into his hair, sweet fire
burning thru their blood. Wordlessly,he showed her
what would please him. He groaned as heat and desire
shot through him, as she responded to him. Moving her
up to him, he proceeded to pleasure her. Her body
trembled as he traced a pleasure trail, knowing that
she would shatter this time. She didn't hold back
anything. The taste of warm, sweet skin heated with
desire, made her crazy. She told him wordlessly what
made her feel good. Fever burned through both of them and 
the climb to paradise began, as the storm grew in strength. 
The resultant explosion filled both with light. She 
screamed as she shattered into a million pieces. She 
couldn't breathe and couldn't see. Darkness. The hours 
blended one into another. Finally she collapsed into his 
arms totally spent. His arms tightened around her. Pulling
her closer... they snuggled and fell asleep ,
oblivious to anything else. On awakening, they stayed
close and by agreement, neither one moved.


                    XV

Tiger just snuggled against Eric and fell back
asleep..Odd she should not have been this tired.When
she did wake up, her favorite joker was at it again!
She smiled and proceeded to watch the pranks as they
happened. She chuckled at him, watching the
devilishment gleam in his eyes...For once, he wasn't
pranking with her. Not that she minded in the least.
Finally he wound down. The guys decided to go out
somewhere, so Tiger busied herself with her writing.
She didn't like to intrude too much upon Eric and the
guys when they were together. He knew it, but insisted
that she wasn't intruding. She had fallen asleep on
the couch, when the phone rang...Her grogginess
suprised her. She talked with Eric for a long time,
then went back to sleep, the phone still in her hands.
A movement on the couch, was all she felt. She
couldn't wake up enough to talk. Eyes fluttering open,
she felt Eric shaking her awake. "Just tired..." she
whispered to him. It was dark inside the room. Concern
lit his features. She was totally wiped out! She
shouldn't have been. Without another word, he picked
her up into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
He was beginning to get worried. This wasn't normal
for his Tiger...her complete limpness worried the hell
out of him...If she wasn't better in the morning...But
by morning, the exhaustion had disappeared! She was
back to normal.