That same weekend, after Rosaline had agreed to meet Erik's family, he had called his mother and informed her that he and Rosaline would be arriving in time for lunch on Saturday afternoon. As he expected, his mother sounded delighted over the phone and was pleased to be finally meeting the woman who had in recent months completely captivated Erik's world. Whilst speaking to his mother, Erik also asked to invite his sister Lucy, her husband Oliver and their beautiful baby daughter Isabella along to the lunch. More than anything, Erik hoped that the gathering would help ease Rosaline's worries about their relationship and hopefully make her feel welcomed into his family. He didn't want Rose feeling anymore concerned or troubled by what other people thought of them and he especially didn't want her to feel guilty for how she felt. Judging by the look of distress currently displayed on Rosaline's face however, Erik was almost certain that he wouldn't be able to quash any nerves or fears she had, at least not until the day was officially over.

"Rose, if you continue to frown like that my parents might begin to think you didn't want to meet them in the first place." Erik comments.

Rosaline was numbly sitting on the lounge chair in Erik's bedroom instead of sorting through is wardrobe, trying to find something for him to wear. Almost as soon as Rosaline had arrived at Erik's house, she had seem preoccupied with her own thoughts. Only now however, did Erik blatantly notice just how distracted she was.

"Sorry, I didn't realise I was frowning." She glumly stated, whilst looking out the window.

Still shirtless, Erik walked across the room and sat beside Rosaline, taking note of the fact that his feet were evenly aligned with hers on the carpet. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he waited until she averted her gaze and met his bright blue eyes instead.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" He gently prompted, even though Erik was quietly confident he knew exactly what the issue was.

"Everything. Nothing. I don't know." She replied in an exasperated yet weak tone, before dropping her head onto Erik's shoulder.

Rather than attempting to overthrow her worries with positive affirmations as he had done in the past few days leading up today's lunch, Erik chose to hold and comfort her as she fought with the demons in her mind. Erik knew that no matter how many times he reached out to help Rosaline, accepting their relationship and who his family were was something she needed to figure out for herself. No amount of hugs or kisses were going to erase the long list of troubles that Rosaline had unfortunately built up in her own head.

"You'll be alright Rose, I promise you." Erik told her, whilst placing a loving kiss against her forehead.

After spending a few minutes longer in the arms of each other, Rosaline had reluctantly pulled away from Erik and offered him a halfhearted smile. He brushed a few stray hairs away from her angelic face, before leaning in towards her and placing a delicate kiss against her mouth. Careful not to undo any of the makeup she worked hard in applying, Erik detached his lips from hers sooner than he would have liked.

"Will you help me get dressed now?" Erik asked in a hopeful voice, to which Rosaline accepted with a quick nod.

After allowing Rosaline to select a three piece suit of her choice that consisted of a blue shirt that complimented Erik's eyes and a matching navy waistcoat and blazer, Erik was just about finished getting dressed. He was in the middle of fastening the dark tie around his neck, when he caught a solemn expression in the eyes of Rosaline through the reflection of his mirror. He turned his head and sadly noted the way her hands were unusually clasped together in order to dispel any nervous shaking. Moving so that he was crouched in front of her, Erik took Rosaline's quaking hands into his own and squeezed tightly. One by one, he brought her elongated fingers up to his mouth and pressed a dainty kiss against each of her knuckles. It pleased Erik to see that her hands began to shake less with each kiss he placed upon her. With a final kiss pressed to each of the pulse points on her wrists, Erik upturned his face and met Rosaline's gaze.

"If the potential of meeting my family is causing you too much stress..." Erik softly began, before being interrupted.

"No, that's not it. I want to meet them, I do!" Rosaline just about exclaimed.

"I don't know how to explain it anymore, I just...I'm afraid of so many things Erik." She quietly whispers.

"We don't have to do this today though. I can call my parents and tell them that we won't be able to make it this afternoon. It's fine Rose, they will understand." Erik sympathetically explains.

Before Erik has even had an opportunity to finish his explanation, he watches as Rosaline is shaking her head, clearly at a disagreement with him.

"No, I won't let you do that. I'm sure your mother has already spent countless hours in the kitchen, cooking for us. Your family is expecting us and I won't let them down." Rosaline tells Erik with as much confidence as she can muster up, despite feeling uncharacteristically somber.

"Rose, you won't be letting anyone down. But I know for certain that I will be letting you down if I let you do this when you're not ready. I've promised you once before that I wouldn't push you to do anything you didn't want to do and right now seeing you look so anxious, I won't put you through something like that. I can't." Erik justifies with an intense look in his eyes.

Given the seriousness of the current situation, Erik was partly surprised when instead of challenging him on his remarks, Rosaline instead offered him a shy smile and leaned in close to capture his firm jaw in her hands. Whilst sweeping her thumbs over the coarse and prickly skin of his cheeks, Erik listened closely to the shallow breaths Rosaline was currently releasing. No longer than a few seconds later, had Erik closed his eyes and welcomed the brush of Rosaline's pink stained lips against his own. Careful not to disarm her sudden need to be physically close to him, Erik allowed her to take full control of where their intimate embrace was leading to. Sooner than he expected however, did Rosaline pull slightly away from him in order to confess something so deeply personal and affectionate.

"You have no idea how much I love it when you feel the need to fiercely protect me like that Erik. It means the world to me, which is why I've decided to try and put my doubts away for one afternoon and go and spend valuable time getting to know your family because you deserve that and more." Rosaline sincerely implores.

Stunned by her honestly, Erik doesn't waste any time before pushing up from his kneeled position on the floor and wrapping his arms closely around Rosaline's middle. Erik listens to the sound of her giggles, as he playfully kisses and nibbles against her neck and across either of her clavicles. Together, they release boisterous laughs and end up falling on the carpeted floor, both silently relieved to have put at least one obstacle behind them.

"You make me so incredibly happy, you know that?" Erik admits sometime later, when he and Rosaline had finally had enough fun laughing and rolling around on the floor of Erik's bedroom.

Instead of answering him with words as he expected her to, Rosaline blushed at his compliment before blowing him a kiss and running out the door of his bedroom. Smiling to himself at the door where Rosaline had just escaped from, Erik couldn't remember a time where he felt so content. His greatest hope for the afternoon was that Rosaline's mood would only continue to heighten, as she got to know and adore the beloved members of his family, just as much as he does.