A/N: Hi everyone! So, I've decided to try my hand at another True Blood one-shot that I've been putting together on-and-off this past week or so. Unfortunately, I didn't get to proof-read it as much as I would have liked, so I'm sorry if it's kind of ehh. It's just that now that school has started again, I don't have the time or will-power to pick this fic apart until I'm satisfied, so I'm publishing it now.

As for what this fic is about, it's basically what I would've liked to have seen happen during the Sookie/Eric conversation outside Bellefleur's in 7x09. I know I'm not the only one who was disappointed with how that scene panned out (or what it meant for Sookie and Eric in the finale, but that's a whole other can of worms), so here's my version. There will be a lot of Sookie dialogue here because for this story to work, that girl has got a lot of explaining to do.

Thanks for checking out my story!

"Well, I care about very few people in this world – a small handful of vampires and you."

Eric's eyes leveled with Sookie's at his admission, trying to gauge her reaction. Sure, he cared enough about Bill to feel bad as he lay on his deathbed – especially considering the former king was currently dying of Hep-V, the very disease that had taken Eric's sister and, until a few nights ago, had been coursing through his own veins as well. Thanks to his own careless behavior, Eric knew all too well the effects the disease could have on the body and spirit, thus understanding completely what Bill was going through. But that ounce of sympathy he felt for Bill was not what had brought Eric here tonight. No, that was all on the fairy sitting opposite him.

As he watched and waited, Eric wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting Sookie to say. Her expression right now was proving to be near impossible to read which for him, was saying something. All he could gather was that whatever she was feeling she felt intensely, if her watery eyes were anything to go by.

"Do you still love me?" she finally asked him in a hushed tone.

Of all the questions she could ask, and she'd picked that one.

Now it was Eric's turn to pause. Should he tell her the truth? Or would doing so be too selfish, even for him? Bill's words were still fresh in his mind, warning him of the darkness he and Bill brought to Sookie. "It is her light that pulls us in, just as she is pulled to our darkness." Did Bill have a point? Were they essentially nothing more than a pair of black holes, swallowing all of her light? Would she really be better off without them? A part of him was honestly inclined to say yes. Sookie had said herself that her life was not what she'd imagined it would be, and they both knew that change in course had occurred the nights he and Bill had entered her life. Up until today, Eric would have argued that despite the heartaches her involvement with vampires had caused her, the change had been for the better. But now he wasn't so sure.

Bill was already on his way out and if Eric wished to do the same, all he'd have to do was say 'No' and Sookie would be free of the both of them.

But then, was that really his decision to make? Sookie was not some naïve little girl. She could determine for herself who and what she wanted in her life understanding full well the consequences her choices would have. And if memory served, she certainly had no problems when it came to letting him know that he was not one of those lucky people.

Eric's gaze fixed on Sookie, finally reaching a decision. Fucking hell, he was no better than she was, never able to close the door on the one person who continually turned him away. "Of course. Sookie, I've been alive for over a thousand years and not once in those thousand years have I ever felt for a human what I feel for you. I don't think something that strong, that remarkable, ever goes away – and believe me, I've tried to make it."

Best to lay all the cards on the table and let her do with the information what she may, he figured. That was until he saw her expression. Her eyes were cast downward, refusing to look at him and only occasionally darting up to glance to either side as if searching for someone to rescue her from their little picnic table. Her fingers were shakily pulling and twisting one another and he could hear her heart racing, could practically feel her blood rushing through her body even without the skin-to-skin contact. Fuck.

Turns out he should have lied after all. His words had clearly upset her. She'd probably wanted him to say "no" when not only had he said "yes", he'd also given her a few intense statements to back that "yes" up, unintentionally pressuring her to return the sentiment in the process. He was supposed to be here to make her life less complicated, not more so.

"I know you love Bill," he hurriedly added, hoping to make his intentions clear and put Sookie at ease again. "I'm not expecting anything from you, that's not why I told you what I did. You asked and I just thought you had the right to know the truth."

She was still tense, still refusing to look him in the eye. He needed to bring things back to safer territory, to the whole reason he was here to begin with. Leaning forward slightly in his seat, Eric spoke gently, directing the conversation to the one topic he believed Sookie actually wanted to discuss. "Which is also why you should talk to Bill. You have a right to know about him too and if you let him expl-"

"I'm done with Bill," she interrupted, her tone decisive and her eyes finally finding his again, staring him down with a gaze full of anger, determination and what looked to be a hint of relief.

Eric blinked. "Sookie –"

"No, listen to me," she cut him off again firmly. He relaxed a bit in his seat, telling her without words that he was indeed going to listen. "I'm sick of feeling guilty. I've been feeling that way for the better part of this past year and I'm done. I mean first there was my parents who I learned were killed because of me and what I am. Then there was Warlow who, with Bill's assistance, almost managed to guilt me into marriage and un-death. Then there was my relationship with Alcide which was basically just one giant guilt-fest; I felt guilty for not loving him enough, guilty for not being happy with him, guilty for not being able to let go of the past the entire time I was with him. Then he went and fucking died because of me and now Bill is dying because of me too. I can't take it anymore!

"So unless you can tell me that whatever Bill has to say will somehow make all the guilt I feel magically disappear, then I don't want to hear a single word out of that man's mouth ever again," Sookie finished, fixing him with a hard look, challenging him to contradict her.

Eric was at a loss. He had promised Bill he'd talk to Sookie, and while he normally wouldn't be too bothered about keeping his word to Bill Compton, the man was dying. And call him crazy, but he was finding it a little difficult to believe Sookie truly meant it when she said she was done with Bill Compton. It's not like he hadn't heard that one before…

Bill probably had mere hours left, a day at most if he were really lucky, so he didn't have the time to wait for Sookie to cool down and inevitably return to him. If she was going to hear Bill out, it needed to be now.

But on the other hand, Eric also knew that while Bill seemed to think his reasons for essentially committing suicide were noble, in actuality they would only make Sookie feel worse. If she were to talk to Bill, not only would she blame herself for giving Bill the disease that would kill him, she'd also come away blaming herself for driving him to suicide. Bill was, after all, claiming to die to protect her from him.

Eric didn't need to tell her any of this however. His silence alone seemed to confirm Sookie's suspicions for her.

She turned away from him again and with a sigh that seemed to expel a lot more than just air from Sookie's system, she spoke, her body calmer and more resigned. "The truth is, I'm a fucking mess. Alcide died days ago and I still haven't properly dealt with that yet. I slept with Bill again just forty-eight hours ago and I'm already realizing what a mistake that was." Eric fought to keep the annoyance from showing on his face. She wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know and now was not the time for him to deal with that web of emotions. "I don't know where my head's been at lately." She looked at him steadily, her face practically glowing in the yellow light of the tacky neon "Bellefleur's" sign.

"But I do know one thing. I never loved Alcide the way he loved me, even when I was with him. I know I should have, I know I wanted to, but I couldn't. Alcide was kind, he loved me and he was as normal a guy as I was ever going to get, which was everything I thought I wanted. But there was always something missing. For whatever reason, he wasn't enough. He wasn't the one."

Eric's teeth ground together in agitation; he had a nasty feeling he knew where this was going. He'd been trying to put Sookie first: he'd reached out to Bill, he'd agreed to speak with Sookie for Bill, he was currently here talking to Sookie on the pretense of persuading her to give Bill a chance before it was too late. All because he thought that was what Sookie would want in the end. But Eric swore if she was about to follow her monologue with yet another "Bill is the one and I love him, but he took it too far this time" speech and then expect him to push her to go to Bill after everything the two of them had just said, he was going to lose it. His patience could only be stretched so far, and this latest installment in the Bill and Sookie Soap Opera was dangerously testing those limits.

"Sookie, what exactly are you getting at?" he asked, exasperated and honestly dreading her answer.

"You were wrong." Despite his mood, Eric couldn't stop his lips from automatically twisting into a smirk. Not very likely, but go on. "Before, when you said I don't feel the same way, that I love Bill? I told you already: it wasn't just the goofy, innocent Eric I fell for all those months ago. Even when you're at your most vicious, your most cruel, I still see a goodness in you and it's that goodness that draws me to you. It's that goodness that allows me to love even the worst parts of you. I fell in love with all of you Eric, and that never stopped being true."

If Eric had been listening closely before, not even the resurrection of Russell Edgington could tear his attention away from Sookie now. He wasn't stupid, he knew better than to let her words get his hopes up just yet. After all, this wasn't the first time Sookie had proclaimed her love for him and the fact that Eric was still romantically unattached said enough about how her last declaration of love had ended. As it was, he was half convinced he'd daydreamed that last bit Sookie had said.

"When I'm with you, it's like everything else just goes away," she continued. Her eyes had returned to her fidgety hands, but Eric could discern a small smile creeping across her face nonetheless. "All my outside problems no longer seem as big or as impossible as they did before. Even Bill. Even he goes away. Assuming of course that I don't start scarfing down more of his blood," Sookie added bitterly. Well at least she'd finally wised up to that trick.

Her face relaxing back to its previous state of contentment, Sookie raised her eyes to his. "When I'm with you, I feel safe. And not because being with you is the safe option. Actually, that's kind of the thing: it's probably the riskiest."

Eric lifted his eyebrow questioningly in response. Nope, this was definitely real. And here it was, number 47 on the list of reasons why she loved him but it wasn't enough.

He couldn't stop himself from asking, "And why is that?" She was turning him into such a fucking masochist.

But far from disappointing or hurting him, Sookie's answer actually surprised him, making something inside him ignite, something that he hadn't felt for centuries.

"Because for better or for worse, I trust you completely. Maybe I shouldn't, but I do. I trust you with my safety, I trust you with my fears and I trust you to see every side of me, even the ugliest and most vulnerable ones. Turns out I've been doing that for years without even realizing it.

"And for a while, that scared me because to be perfectly honest, I didn't want you to be the person that made me feel that way. You weren't supposed to be 'the one'. That was supposed to be someone like Alcide or Sam. I was supposed to feel happy in the safe relationship, not safe in the unpredictable one. It took a relationship with Alcide for me to realize it, but I would never have been truly happy with the type of guy eight-year-old-Sookie had imagined for herself. "

She was watching him closely, having apparently finished her own confession and now waiting for his reaction. Eric however didn't know what to think. Wasn't this the very thing he had been waiting to hear for years now? She was choosing him.

But that was just the problem. Was she really?

He began speaking slowly, watching her carefully and wary of what her reaction would tell him. "If this is because you're angry at Bill or hurt because everyone else around here seems to be either dead or dying, then –"

"It's not," she cut him off.

Eric lifted an eyebrow doubtfully at her quick response.

"Eric, I swear it's not," Sookie reiterated, steadier and more firmly this time. "Grandpa Niall could be standing here right now offering me a second chance with Bill or Alcide, and I'd turn him down. Because I know in my heart, neither of them were the ones I was meant to be with."

Maybe it was wishful thinking, but as she spoke, Eric could see the sincerity in her eyes, could hear it in her voice. He may well be a damn fool for doing so, but he believed her.

"For the longest time, I kept pushing you away. I know that was a shitty thing to do and I'm sorry. But I just wasn't ready to accept the fact that I'm not normal and was never meant to be. And I think that's why I was so drawn to Bill when we first met; even though he wasn't human, he was a vampire that was trying so desperately to be one. Of course, the whole 'I can't read vampires' minds' thing helped too, but there was a reason I wanted to date Bill and that was because I believed him to be the most 'normal' vampire there was, or at least the most 'normal' vampire I was ever going to meet," she reflected, gazing sadly off into the distance at something Eric could not see.

"But I know better now." Her eyes snapped quickly back to him. "Not just about who Bill is but about what I want as well. I don't want normal." Sookie tentatively reached for his hand and leaned in, allowing her scent to practically overwhelm him.

He'd said before that she smelled like sunshine in a pretty blonde bottle, and he had been right. But something in her scent had changed since then. Not by much – in fact, the change was almost unnoticeable. But it was there. She didn't just smell like sunshine and honey and all the sweet, golden things vampires were forced to live without for an eternity. She smelled… warm. That was the only way he could describe it. He didn't just smell the sun anymore, he smelled its warmth. And when she touched him, he could actually feel it spreading throughout his body, both inside and out. The sensation was unlike anything he'd ever experienced and it both made his blood race and his head calm. It was an impossible sensation, a sensation he never wished to leave him.

"A year ago, I wasn't ready to accept the way I felt about you or what that meant for me. And by the time I was, you were gone and I was with Alcide."

Eric stared, that hopeful feeling he'd been trying to contain moments ago now pushing against its lid, desperate to get out. He swallowed.

"I'm here now," he stated simply.

Sookie stared right back at him, a longing in her eyes that he wasn't used to seeing there, at least not directed at him.

"You are," she agreed softly, taking a deep breath before continuing. "And of course, the timing couldn't be worse. I mean, Alcide just died. I may not have loved him the way I was supposed to, but I did love him and we were together for five, six months. It wouldn't be right for me to start something new so soon."

Eric's thumb moved to rest on top of Sookie's hand and started to stroke it while he studied her, contemplating his options. How serious was she when she said she wanted him? Had she meant it as much as he thought she did? Looking at her, observing her body language and listening to her words, Eric knew the answer to both questions was yes. So there was only one thing to do.

"Then we'll wait," he concluded, not missing the way Sookie's eyes lit up and her heartbeat quickened at his promise. If he could wait this long for Sookie to reciprocate his feelings, he could wait a while longer for her to heal from the deaths of Alcide and Bill. "It's probably for the best anyway," he added. "I've yet to deal with Gus and until I manage to shake him off, you should keep your distance. The less he knows about you, the better for both of us."

At this, Sookie smiled ruefully.

"It makes you wonder, doesn't it? If the universe is just determined to keep us apart."

At her words, Eric felt the corners of his mouth twitch up into a bitter smile of his own. He wasn't one to put much stock in the belief in higher power(s) or fate or 'the will of the universe'. But he'd be lying if he said that right now, it didn't feel as if all those things were working against them.

Holding his gaze for a second longer than was necessary, Sookie ended the moment with a decisive nod.

"Okay then. After this mess with Gus settles down and I've had time to properly grieve Alcide, we'll find each other again. And maybe then, everything will finally turn out right."

His smile morphed from one of bitter agreement to one of hesitant optimism. Flipping his hand on the table so it was now palm-up and Sookie's own hand was in his grasp, he asked, "Can I offer you a ride, Miss. Stackhouse?"

Eric knew there were a thousand things that could go wrong before then. Taking down Gus could prove to be even more of a challenge than he'd originally planned. Worse yet, Gus could find out the truth about Sookie. Not to mention there was always the very real possibility that any number of supernaturals could get a hold of Sookie first, taking her from him in more ways than one.

"But you don't have a car," Sookie commented innocently.

He cocked an eyebrow, the beginnings of a smirk forming on his face. "I am well aware," Eric gently led her to her feet and outside into the open.

But despite all the reasons that he shouldn't, apparently tonight was the night he started believing in happy endings.