Disclaimer: The Southern Vampire Series, and all characters from it, is owned by Charlaine Harris. The original characters and plot are mine. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

SPECIAL THANKS TO: My lovely beta Southernlady 23, without her skills and prompting my story would make no sense and it would have many grammatical errors! I love you and thank you for your support. And to Vikingfangtasies for pre-reading for me! You are so sweet to support me on my writing venture! *muah*

SUMMARY: This story takes place after DITF. Eric and Sookie take a long hard look at their relationship and make big decisions regarding their future. "If you love someone, let them go. If they return to you, it was meant to be. If they don't, their love was never yours to begin with..."

A/N: This is my first attempt at writing. Please review and let me know if you are interested and if I should continue…

Chapter 1: A kiss goodbye

Sookie's POV

"Tara, I sware I am gonna stake you if you do not put that eff'ing curling iron down! My hair is FINE!" I said with venom.

Placing the offending curling iron on the table, Tara replied, "Geeze, Sook, I'm just trying help you out on yo' big day."

I sighed, This has nothing to do with her."I'm sorry, Tara. There's just only so much 'primpin' one girl can take," I said, turning to grab my friend and hug her tightly.

"It's all right, I need to step out anyway and make sure everything is in its place." Tara gently released my shoulders as not to wrinkle my dress.

"Okay, thanks again for everything, I love you," I replied apprehensively. I turned and gazed at myself in the mirror for the thousandth time that day. Looking in the mirror, I saw Tara struggling to say something, as she was poised at the door to leave. I had heard her thoughts and wanted her to say them out loud.

"Yes?" I asked with my hands on my hips.

"He is here, like he said he would be." Tara closed her eyes, waiting for my response.

"Yeah, I saw him with his 'date'," I responded, hiding my emotions and putting the word date in those annoying quotations with my fingers.

"She sure is pretty," Tara added, looking into my eyes for some sort of reaction.

Crossing my arms over my chest and closing my eyes, I turned toward the bay window, and barked, "Don't you have something you need to take care of before–"

Tara interrupted my speech. "Yes, I know, I do."

The next thing I heard was a soft click of the door being closed. I sighed and started to pace the room.

I straightened my dress out, using my laced covered hands for the tenth time today as I attempted to calm down. After a few minutes, I paused, then glanced in the mirror and noticed my tiara was slumping to the side along with my very expensive hairdo. Oh Tara is gonna shit a brick when she sees my hair, I thought. Beads of sweat were pooling above my upper lip. This was so not a time to sweat. I decided to sit and calm myself down in a very luxurious over-priced chair. No one should be this nervous on their wedding day.

I let go of the breath I was holding onto and my thoughts began to scatter in my mind. Was my life supposed to end up this way? Am I marrying the man that I love or am I marrying a man that only loves me? I sat back to relax and gently placed my hand on my growing belly. "Oh, yes…" I said out loud, as I caressed my baby bump. "You're the reason I'm here." With a sigh, I thought back to that fateful night so long ago.

•O••O••O•

1 year ago:

•O••O••O•

In the middle of the night, I felt someone placing light gentle kisses on my cheek and forehead. I slowly opened my eyes to see my Viking who was naked as the day he was born.

With a big grin on his beautiful face he asked, "How is my lover doing this evening?"

I looked into his blue eyes. "Tired, it's very late you know. One would think after 1,000 years, one could learn to tell time." I fluffed my pillow and rolled back over, attempting to get comfortable again.

"Oh, Sookie, my love, time is a precious thing we have so little of, why not cherish it with you beneath me?" he whispered into my ear while suckling my lobe.

At that moment, I felt his very hardening length on my lower back as he began placing soft kisses along my neck.

"Oh, Eric, I'm so tired. Sam's been working me like a dog, no pun intended of course, but hey, we'll have at least another 40 years together. Give me a pass for a one night, okay?" I smirked with delight because I just loved to tease my Viking.

Then I felt nothing. No kisses, no hardness on my back seeking entrance – nothing. I rolled over to see Eric sitting in my chair in the corner of my room, with his face in his hands and his elbows on his knees.

Sitting upright in my bed I asked, "Eric, what did I say? You've never given up that easily."

He sighed and removed his hands from his face, and looked at me sternly. "Do you want to have children, Sookie?"

"Why are you asking me such a crazy question?" I rubbed my eyes, and wondered what had brought about his sudden change of mood.

"Just answer the question," he commanded.

I thought for a moment and then a vomit of words spewed out of my mouth before I truly had time to think about them.

"In a perfect world, yes I would. I would want to get married, have children, live a long life and die. But in my reality, it's not possible. Every day, I worry about who's going to attempt to take me next. Yes, I'm your bonded, but what will you do against a King who uses his power or money to get to me? You're just a Sheriff. And think about how much harder it would be if I had a child, since you'd have to protect the baby too. And you can't have children anyway." I mumbled toward the end, thinking my last comment was what I should've said to him to begin with.

Eric interrupted my mile a minute speech. "Sookie, I am over 1000s years old. I can take care of a threat to you or your child." At vampire speed, he was sitting next to me on the bed, inches from my face. His eyes were searching mine for answers.

Backing away from him to rest my back on the headboard of bed, I slammed my fists on the bed. "Eric there are kings out there who are older than you, and won't respect your station as Sheriff! If they really want to get to me or my baby, they will!"

Eric flinched and closed his eyes. I wished he hadn't made me say that.

As I scooted towards him, I clasped both of my hands on his face and lowered my forehead to touch his. "What if, God forbid, something happens to you, where does that leave me? Much less me, and a baby?"

Geeze, what was I doing opening this can of worms? I really did not want to talk about this so late at night. There was nothing we could do to fix it anyway.

"Sookie, I will always protect you," Eric replied solemnly in a whisper.

At that moment, I resigned to drop the topic. Enough was said for one night. "I know. I'm sorry, please lay beside me. Just hold me," I said, extending my hand to grab his.

Eric looked at our hands and shook his head. He stood, and then knelt before me on the floor next to my bed. "Sookie, will you ever let me turn you?"

His eyes were pleading. I had never seen him so vulnerable.

Tears were threatening to fall from me. This was the question I had been avoiding with Eric since we began our relationship. Should I tell him the truth? Would everything end now?

I bit my lower lip as the tears fell down both my cheeks while cupping his hands in mine. "I do not want to be turned, Eric, I never want to give up the sun, and I don't want to live forever. I want to die like I was put on this earth to do." I paused for a moment then whispered, "I'm so sorry." I let go of his hands to wipe my face.

Tears were falling so fast now, I could hardly see the beautiful Viking vampire kneeling before me. Minutes passed as I cried and watched Eric go into his downtime still on his knees naked beside my bed - stuck in the moment.

Suddenly, he broke the silence. "I will have to watch you grow old and die. I can not give you children. I can not go out into the sun you so love. And my 'station' as you called it, seems not to be sufficient enough for you to bring a child in the world for the protection it will need." He placed his head onto my lap and I slowly stroked his golden hair behind his ear.

I had nothing to say. I was honest with him. In retrospect, I guess I was too honest with him. In the next moment, my feisty Eric returned and I was on my back.

His mouth was mere inches from mine and he uttered, "I love you," then kissed me passionately.

I returned his kiss with fever. He then kissed both my eyelids while he reiterated that he loved me. He kissed my ears, my neck, my shoulders, my breasts, all the while chanting his feelings for me, as he removed my night clothes. After all my body parts were kissed and properly worshiped, he entered me swiftly.

He looked so deep into my eyes as he made love to me, I swear our souls touched that night. We moved as one entity, and connected like never before.

As we both reach our climax he yelled, "My min älskare, I will love you forever!" My body surrendered to his as he bit my neck and fed from me with such passion.

Our bodies lay entwined for what seemed like centuries – none of us seemed to want to let go. After some time passed, Eric held me close to him and began sliding his fingers through my hair.

I began to get very sleepy and it suddenly dawned on me that it felt like Eric was a million miles away from me. "Eric, why does it feel like you are saying goodbye to me?"

He did not respond, but laid still. He continued caressing my hair and face, giving me small kisses as I waited for him to answer. I gave up waiting for a response, and when I was almost asleep, I heard his voice drifting away towards me in the distance.

"Because…this is our goodbye..." he murmured.

My eyes strained to stay open, but the pull of sleep was too strong. I succumbed to slumber, knowing we could resolve everything tomorrow...yes...tomorrow...

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