Author's Note: The characters in the following pages belong to Charlene Harris.

Chapter 1: Three Strikes you're out

SPOV

It had been over a month since the last time I laid eyes on Quinn. The bastard blazed through town on a layover from the east coast to the west coast. And boy did he get laid. It was basically a one night stand, he had been doing this for roughly a year and I hadn't really cared much, well until I started to feel crappy. At first I thought I had the flu, I was vomiting so often at the most inconvenient times. Then I thought maybe I had a urinary tract infection because I made water almost every hour; again at the most awkward times. The final clue which something more was medically different with me was my second missed period.

I thought, in retro spec, it was stupid for all the assumptions I had made over the last few years since I had started fooling around with the super-natural guys. I never had been on the pill because Bill was my first; he's a vampire and therefore couldn't knock me up. Eric couldn't knock me up because he too is a vampire. But I should've been responsible when it came to Quinn; he was human enough that I knew he could breed. He had always been all animal in bed too. I believe he always wore a condom but we when had sex, it had felt weird if I was being honest with myself. We never made love, it was always sex. Never did we face one another; he said it was just the way shifters mated. It was animalistic and I missed the face to face love making Eric or even Bill and I had.

So here I am sitting in the bathroom with a pregnancy test in each hand and one sitting on the back of the toilet. Funny how long five minutes seems while you're waiting for life changing information. I had to drive over to Monroe to buy the damn things. If anyone caught wind I was pregnant it wouldn't bode well for my already tattered reputation. It wasn't like I really cared what people said out loud; it was their personal thoughts which haunted me. Some of the things people thought at times would just take my breath away.

I looked at the watch on my wrist, it had been a present from my Grandfather Naill, the date on the lower left corner said September 31 and the minutes seemed to drag on. Four more minutes until the third pregnancy test was done. The one in my right hand had the lines which gave you your information, a minus for not pregnant and a plus if you were pregnant; mine had a plus on it. The one in my left hand also had lines on it indicating if I was pregnant, a minus if I wasn't and an equal sign if I was; it had an equal sign. I had saved the third test hoping the first one would say I wasn't pregnant, then when both of them were positive; I broke into the third. The last and the most easy to read would either say pregnant or not pregnant. Simple enough.

My phone vibrated in my purse, it scared the begezus out of me. Squeaking and tossing my hands up in the air, as if I was been caught doing something wrong; I dropped the two preggo tests on the floor and snatch my phone from the front pouch. It was Jason. We had spoken very little since he had married Crystal. Crystal Meth, the woman was like a bad drug.

"Hi Jason," I managed in a half way normal voice.

"Hey Sookie. Whatch up to tonight?" His voice was a little strained, my telepathic waves didn't work over long distances for most people but I had been tuned to his voice since he was a baby. So even though the distance was more than three miles from where he was, I could hear the anger in his mental dialogue.

"I have to go to Fangtasia for a meeting with Eric and some other Vampires in the area. Why did you want to hang out tonight?" I knew he did but it was rude to presume. I glanced at my watch one more minute to go until the last pregnancy test was done. Inwardly I groaned.

"Why are you going to hang out with the living dead? Aintcha still pissed at all of them?" He didn't like Bill; Eric he tolerated but barely. I hadn't put them all in the same room to see who would come out the winner or anything but I knew the feelings between the three of them ran deep and dark.

"I am being paid by Eric to attend a function in Rhodes; you know the one the fellowship of the sun has been going off on for the last three months. There have been rumors they are going to do harm at the conference. I am going to listen for the vampires." I paused and swallow a wave of nausea, every time I thought about the conference my stomach rolled and I don't think it could be completely blamed on my 'maybe' pregnancy. "Anyhow, we are finalizing our plans tonight for the flight times, hotel accommodations and stuff."

"Well I did but I don't think going to hang with a bunch of vamps is gonna help tonight. Can I come over and crash at your place tonight." Jason was a bit drunk; I could sense even without my special hearing.

"Sure but if you come over I need a few things done to winterize the house before it gets too cold." I missed having him around. There were things that I needed done, which Quinn didn't have time to help me with and I wasn't incline to ask Bill or Eric. They were still both on my short shit list.

"Just leave a list on the frig and I'll get to it." He sighed and I knew he had more to say but I doubted the words would pass his lips.

"Well, I gotta get ready. I'll leave the list on the frig for you. I made fried chicken this morning but I couldn't finish it, you're welcome to it." I checked my watch; it was pass time to check the test. I resisted the urge to grab it immediately. "If you are here in the morning I'll make you some pancakes. But just fair warning, I haven't been feeling too good in the mornings lately. I think I caught a stomach bug or something."

"Okay, so I won't give you any hugs or kisses. Just leave me the list, talk at ya later Sook." He hung up the phone before I could tell him I love him.

I sat staring at my reflection in the mirror; my face looked a little rounder than just a week ago. I had pink spots on my cheeks and a rosy glow to my whole face, the golden tan I was so accustom to having had become softer in the fading autumn sun. My chest, which didn't need to grow any larger, had definitely gone up a cup size. I stood up to look at the rest of my figure. My stomach although it had never been perfectly flat, no matter how many crunches I tried to do a day, it was distended more than normally. Without reading the last pregnancy test on the back of the toilet, I resigned to the fact I am indeed preggo.

I picked up the two tests off the floor, snatched the third from the back of the toilet and headed towards the kitchen. Glancing down at my hand the word "PREGNANT" glared accusingly up at me; I shrugged my shoulders as I threw all three into the trash can. If Gran were still alive, I know she would have some great advice about what a blessing this is but I was pretty sure this was a curse in the worst way. I mentally counted back to when my last period was it was near the end of July. I was close to eight weeks pregnant. Great, like Quinn has ever been really responsible and now I am going to have a part of him attached to me forever.

Another thing… I just realized, as I looked at my watch, what if this my Great-Grandfather Niall's doing? He had been sending fae to meet me for over a year now; some had even tried sneaking into my bed during the night. I began cleaning the house with lemon juice hoping to ward off any of the unwanted guests. What if one of them somehow impregnated me? I don't know, the baby had to be Quinn's, wouldn't it? Mentally I gave myself a quick shake, it wasn't like I lived in the Twilight Zone, but I was just very close neighbor to it.

Looking around the kitchen I longed for a cup of coffee but I hadn't been able to keep that down in over a week. The next best thing was hot tea; begrudgingly I took down the tin of tea and filled the pot, setting it on the stove. I sat thinking at the table about all the little kids I knew, there were Arlene's kid, Colby and Lisa; then there was Hadley's son Hunter. I had been meaning to call and talk with his dad but the time always seemed to slip away from me. Today wouldn't be the day to reach out and talk with him either. Hunter had just started school and I had warned him about making sure to answer only what people said out loud rather than listening and answering to mental thoughts.

Suddenly I put a hand protectively against my stomach, what if my child had my disabilities? It was Gran's voice that echoed in my thoughts, telling me I am a strong woman and can overcome any obstacle, if I can manage a life with my special powers then I can help my child to do the same. This is just one more thing to conquer. I will have and raise this baby by myself.

I sat thinking for such a long time and I was so focused half of the water had whistled right out of the pot. But I had put the time to good use; I had made the decision to raise her by myself. The sex of the baby had just come to me. Of course I would have a little girl, with my bright blond hair and brains, I couldn't vision in any of the features of the child.

The pitch of the tea kettle snapped me back to reality. Fixing my tea, I watched the leaves settle at the bottom of the cup. Gran had never put stock into reading tea leaves but I had encountered much odder things since she passed and it wouldn't have surprised me much if someone told me later my life could be read in oddly shaped sediment in the bottom of my cup. Afterwards I sat and sipped my tea slowly, willing it to stay down. I thought about the tales Sam had told me last summer right after Quinn and I had started dating. Fae and shifters always had babies in two or three's. Gingerly, I pressed my hand against my stomach, I didn't know if I was able to have more than one baby at a time but I was going to get along with anything that was in there.

I wasn't going to tell Quinn for a while yet. He hadn't even called me in four weeks. It wasn't like it was when we first started seeing one another. We had talked on the phone for hours at a time. I thought I could really spend the rest of my life with him. He talked with me asked my opinion on things and he wasn't in too much of a hurry to get hit the sack with me. When we did he made me feel awkward and top heavy.

The alarm on my phone went off pulling me from my thoughts of the past to the present. Eric would be expecting me shortly after sunset. I had about a half an hour until I needed to leave the house. Eric and Pam would definitely be there but I wasn't sure about who else would exactly be attending. I was trying to suppress the excitement of seeing Eric. We had little contact with one another since he had become 'Eric Northman, Sherriff', I had much preferred my amnesic Eric. But still he had his moments.

There was little in my wardrobe that would fit over my chest at this point and would still be acceptable for a professional meeting. I glanced at my Hooters shirt which I had slept in last night, it was nice and roomy. Yet I highly doubted I would have been able to get away with wearing it at Fangtasia without some rude comment being made. Sighing I pulled a light colored sun dress with pick flowers off a hanger, slipping it over my head, it was a little snug across the bust but nothing I couldn't handle. Taking a scarf I tried, unsuccessfully, draping it artfully across my bust to hide the worse part of the straining material.

The sun was setting in a crisp autumn afternoon when I left my little house by the cemetery. I saw lights flickering in Bill's place as I drove pass and I wondered if he was going to drive or run to Fangtasia. Either way, I would have to put up with his rude stares while there. I wasn't going to offer to drive him there. Passing through town I saw Jason's truck sitting in front of the flower shop, and I 'heard' his internal debate of tulips versus roses for a makeup present for Crystal. I shut down my hearing before I could 'hear' what the happy couple's latest turmoil was.

Getting up on the high was uneventful and within a few minutes I was cruising down the road be bopping to my favorite 80's/90's station. Cheryl Crow was singing about having fun; the lights in the car behind me flickered in my rear view mirror. I sped up to get the lights out of my eyes but they keep pace with me. I slowed down and moved into the other lane, they followed me. The highway wasn't too busy and I tried to put the annoying car out of my mind. Another song came on and they backed off a little. I didn't think of them again until I exited the highway for Fangtasia.

As I went around the curve my phone slid out of my purse on the seat next to me. Without much thought, I grabbed it and hit the speed dial to Eric's cell phone. His brisk tones flooded through the phone.

"Sookie, where are you? My instructions I relayed to Bobby was for you to be here at sunset. I am already here where are you?"

My voice croaked a little as I tried to get a word in edge wise. "I just turned off the highway and should be there in like five but-"

"Good. Hurry up." Then the phone went dead. The asshole hung up on me. I pressed my foot down to accelerate, it didn't do much good. My car was badly in need of an overhaul which I couldn't afford right then. I quickly hit the speed dial again. When he answered I didn't give him a chance to speak.

"Help!" I screeched into the phone. "There has been a car following me and when I say following I mean right on my ass pretty much the whole way from Bon Ton. I slowed down; they slowed down. I sped up; they sped up. I turned off for Fangtasia and now they are still following. Should I still come there or what? Crap."

"What? What is Crap?" Eric was muttering to Pam in the back ground whom I had heard cuss loudly when I yelled for help.

"The light is turning," I pressed my foot to the brake. There was only one actual stop light between the highway and Fangtasia, so it left little to the imagination as to where I was at exactly.

"Run it."

"Eric!"

"Run it. I will be in the parking lot waiting for you." He was issuing commands to someone and then I heard wind rushing past. Assumable he was running to my rescue. "You will stay on the line until you get into the parking lot. So make small talk."

The whine of my car was annoying to me I could only imagine what his super sensitive hearing was suffering from my accelerating. I really couldn't think about small talk right then, I had some person or persons following me and I was pregnant with Quinn's sperm. What the hell was I really supposed to talk about? I figured I would swallow my pride and what would be public knowledge once I started showing.

"I'm pregnant. How is that for small talk?" I was feeling a little snarky, must have been the hormones or as least I could now blame my mood on that.

"I know." He voice held no emotion.

"What," My voice rose an octave in frustration. "How could've you known, I have only known for like four hours." My mind had definitely switched from worrying about the car which had ran the light with me to how the heck he knew I was preggo.

"I smelled your hormones the last time I was at Bill's. He had been keeping your health a secret. I assume it is the tiger's." There was a bit more bite to his voice now.

"What's that supposed to mean, you assume? You have better tabs on me than my own brother. Of course it's Quinn's."

"I see you, continue to the bar. Just exit the car as you normally would." The phone went dead again.

I looked around the parking lot as I pulled into my normal spot. I didn't see Eric anywhere, nor did I see any other Vampires. I turned off the ignition, slid my keys and cell into my purse; my head turned of its own accord when the car which was following me slipped into a parking spot three spaces away. Thinking to myself maybe they were tourists. I grabbed the door handle pulling it out while simultaneously pushed against door with my shoulder. It was stuck. I threw my shoulder into it but nothing happened; I only managed to give myself a bruise. I slid over to the other door and tried opening it. It worked like a charm. My foot landed on the pavement but before I was able to stand upright a great whoosh of air knocked me to the pavement. I hit the ground with the force of a hurricane. Grasping for consciences I saw Eric standing over me with a feral look in his eyes, his fangs were barred against people unknown. He wasn't looking at me but across the parking spaces to where the other car had parked. I saw feet from where I laid on the cold pavement. Shivering from more than the cold, I heard a scream wrench the air before it was quickly and most likely lethally silenced. The feet that I had seen a moment ago disappear instantly. Did I pass out or did they move vampire fast? I wasn't sure of anything but the feeling of pebbles crushed under my cheek.

My eyes fluttered shut and I felt myself being lifted from the ground. The arms which held me were smooth, cool and infinitely strong. I laid my head against his chest to where a heart had long ago beaten. But I heard nothing; silence surrounded me as I fell into a dreamless sleep.