A rather stormy sea was grinding against the large dome, splintering its waves into foam. Erik had just finished an afternoon lecture and was now sitting at a balcony, refreshing himself with a cup of tea and the view outside. It had been about a bit over three months since he and Doreen moved together at his place. His home at the Estate was, luckily, large enough for it, so it was a smooth transition. Even though the main reason for the move was keeping the boys together and making life easier, the new-found couple was enjoying it without hesitation. In fact, he felt like teenager again, discovering all about love once more. Sharing his bed with someone was, after so long, a welcome change in Erik's life - considering the stress of a nation at war. But it was those moments after a long day, when he came home to Doreen and the two boys, that topped everything. Those moments made him feel at peace.
More than that, Peter seemed to truly take to Doreen. Even though the boy was, at first, a bit confused about how things work, as well as reluctant to accept her as part of the family, he eventually grew to love her. This gave Erik all the more reason to see her and Benjen as part of their future, for good.
On the side of research, the nanite project proved a success and Erik's team deployed specialised equipment in all hospitals of Yuma, with Doreen's help. By the end of January, it was all done. At first, Erik imagined he'd have some extra free time and wouldn't know what to do with it - but he was quickly proven wrong. As the Republic formed a federation with the Natio Octavarium, the Corvin family became a lot more politically active, especially due to Erik's brother, Henry, involvement in the government. As such, Erik ended up being part of his brother's advisors.
Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect happy couple. Since they started living together, Erik had no choice but to allow Doreen to see some of his less graceful habits or traits, such as how often he left his home office in a complete mess. Once or twice a month, they also had some chances of going on dates. While most of them were as lovely as the first, last week's night out was not as Erik had hoped. Due to a long bureaucratic meeting related to the latest federal policy developments, Erik was quite tired that day. To his shame, this led to a rather bad mood during what was supposed to be a happy evening with Doreen.
However, over the past few days, Erik has come to the blissful realisation that things are, truly, going great (even with the occasional imperfections of life). As such, he had no reason right then to do anything but relax on that balcony. With a smiling sigh, he touched his wrist-comm. and called Doreen.
![[Image: JNC-sig2.png]](https://discoverygc.com/wiki/images/7/7c/JNC-sig2.png)