Promo for A New Chapter Contest

Title: Unexpected

Characters: Alcide, Sookie, Eric (cameos by Niall, Amelia, Tara, Claudine and Pam)

Word count: 6,282

Pen name: tvgirlSVM

Beta: seastarr08

Status: First time dipping my toes in the AH waters

(*scruffy Viking kisses* to seastarr08 and scribeninja for the major hand-holding through this story, as well as to lubadub, aka the Countess of Kink, for the encouragement and advice for my first lemon.)

A/N: So, unlike my lovely co-hosts, who are total AH h00rs, this is my first venture into AH. Hell, it's also my first lemon and only my third try at fic writing overall. I'm nearly a virgin several times over! So newbie writers, this one's for you. I'm in your shoes – I just can't actually enter the contest since I'm co-hosting. :)

Contest Profile: fanfiction(dot)net/u/2507718/A_New_Chapter_Contest

Disclaimer: Not mine.

UNEXPECTED

"Just a little bit higher, Alcide. Yes, right there," Sookie said breathlessly as Alcide adjusted a pillow under her raised hips.

It was July. Sookie had just turned twenty-five and this was her and Alcide's twelfth month of trying to get pregnant, the last try on their own before they would have to seek medical help.

Sookie and Alcide had been together since they met in their freshman year at LSU, and had married just after graduation three years earlier. On their second anniversary, after six years together, they had decided to start trying for a family. That was a year ago. And nothing had happened yet. Nada. Zip.

They had exhausted everything they could do on their own at this point. Ovulation kits, different sex positions, diet changes (for both of them), exercise, and yoga. The self-help fertility books said yoga was great for stress; because of course stress was bad when you were trying to get pregnant. Sookie still laughed at that one, which she figured was better than getting angry about it. There was no amount or type of yoga in the world that was going to maker her "not stress out" over this. She felt like a complete failure. You couldn't just yoga away those feelings. If acupuncture had been an option in tiny Bon Temps, she might have considered that, too.

Alcide laid down next to Sookie after handing her a book to read while she had to wait the appointed 20 minutes for his little swimmers to try and find their way to the golden egg.

"You ok, Alcide? I'm not wearing you out with all this trying am I?" Sookie asked, jokingly. Her husband had seemed worn out a lot lately. In the best possible way.

"Oh, I love all the trying, honey," he replied with a half-hearted smirk. "I've just felt run down lately. Probably just the new project I've got the crew working on," he said as he turned on his side and wrapped an arm around her before closing his eyes for a nap.

After graduation Alcide went to work for the family construction business, and Sookie took a job at the local library. They lived a simple, small town life in Bon Temps and enjoyed every minute of it. It was the perfect place to raise a family. They had bought a little old farmhouse the year before and were renovating it together bit by bit, Alcide the big projects like expanding the kitchen and master bathroom, and Sookie the redecorating. Everything was perfect, except for their inability to get pregnant.

Two weeks later Alcide returned home from work in the evening to find Sookie crying into a box of Kleenex, which was situated right next to a box of Tampax, one fork and a half-eaten pecan pie. Crumpled tissues were strewn across the kitchen table.

Through her tears Sookie sniffled out, "I guess I'll make that doctor's appointment tomorrow."

Alcide went to her, lifted her out of her seat and resettled them with her in his lap, arms around her, kisses placed strategically on her forehead, eyes, cheeks and nose. Most men didn't know what to do with a crying woman. Sookie loved that Alcide wasn't most men. He magically knew to just hold her and let her ride it out. No advice, no "hush, nows," no asking her to talk until she was ready. He was perfect and she loved him even more with each passing day.

Two days later Sookie found herself in the office of Dr. Niall Brigant, the best Reproductive Endocrinologist Shreveport had to offer. Alcide's newest construction project had kept him from joining her, but Sookie was okay with it. From what she'd read, the most that would happen that day was a blood test.

"So, Sookie," Dr. Brigant began, "I've looked over your files from your family doctor and your OB/GYN. Your general health looks great. What about Alcide? I don't see any paperwork for him."

"Oh, you know men and doctors," she laughed. "It takes a real emergency to get Alcide to a doctor." She thought about it. "Alcide hasn't had an actual physical since we were in college. We graduated three years ago."

Dr. Brigant chuckled. "Yes, yes, we see that a lot here with our patients," he said before he began outlining what their next steps would be. "First things first, we can do a Day 3 FSH blood test on you to check your hormones. After that, I suggest that Alcide get a physical as well as provide us with a sperm sample. It's easiest to check out the male when it comes to fertility, so we like to do that first."

And so it began.

Surprisingly, getting Alcide to give a sperm sample proved easy compared to getting him into a doctor's office for a physical. And the sample had come back just fine, which made Alcide puff out his chest and Sookie feel even more like a failure because it meant the problem was somewhere within her own body.

But finally, the night before Sookie's hysterosalpingogram, where they would inject dye into her fallopian tubes and take x-rays to check for blockages, Sookie's nerves about the procedure caused her emotions to bubble over and she exploded at Alcide.

"If I have to go get dye shot up my yahoo, the least you can do is go get a freaking physical! Lucky you, you're sperm is fine! It's all my fault. But for the love of God, can you please just go do this for me?" she screamed through sobs.

Fearing the wrath of his tiny little wife, Alcide finally relented and made an appointment with their family doctor.

A few weeks later found Sookie and Alcide sitting in front of Dr. Brigant's desk, clasping hands tightly waiting for his diagnosis.

"So," Dr. Brigant cleared his throat, "as far as the fertility is concerned, Sookie, your tubes are blocked due to Stage 4 Endometriosis. You'll need surgery first, and then we can reevaluate after the fact."

Tears were streaming down Sookie's face. She was devastated, yet strangely relieved to at least have an answer to their, well really her, infertility. Alcide gave her hand a squeeze before unclasping his from hers to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"It's okay, Sookie. See, maybe they can fix this. You can fix it, right doc?" Alcide asked.

Brigant took a deep breath before answering. It's never a good sign when a doctor does that.

"Alcide, while your sperm specimen was perfect, your physical turned up some other issues. Some non-fertility problems."

Alcide turned his head from looking at Sookie to face the doctor.

"And what was that, exactly," he asked, before taking in a huge breath of his own.

"Cancer," said Dr. Brigant.

Since cancer in the pancreas often grows without any symptoms at first, Alcide's was very advanced by the time it had been found. It had already metastasized to the liver when they started chemotherapy.

Alcide, always a strong, wolf of a man, became very sick very quickly. Within a few short months a devastated Sookie was planning Alcide's funeral, all thoughts of fertility, babies and endometriosis completely evaporated from her brain.

"Come on, Sook," whined Amelia. "It's your 30th birthday. You've got to let us take you out."

From her vantage point on the couch, in her comfy flannel PJ bottoms, hooded sweatshirt and fluffy slippers, Sookie looked up at her three best friends, Amelia, Claudine and Tara, all with pleading looks on their faces. She sighed and dragged herself off the couch and trudged to her room to change.

After about a year of mourning, Sookie's friends had become very concerned. She rarely left the house, other than for work. She had stopped taking care of herself. She was tired all the time from never really sleeping though the night, as she missed having Alcide next to her. She was a depressed hot mess.

Amelia eventually left New Orleans to move in with Sookie, hoping to help get her back on her feet. After a year of them prattling around the half-renovated farmhouse Amelia suggested they make a change.

"Sookie, I think you need a fresh start. You've got to start moving forward again. I know it's hard. But it's been two years. Alcide wouldn't want you wallowing in your pain like this. I know he spoke to you about this before he passed. He spoke to me, too. And one of the things he asked me to do was to make sure you didn't do what you're doing now. Which is nothing."

"I can't leave this house, Amelia. He's everywhere I turn here. He won't be anywhere else."

"Sookie, Alcide is in your heart."

Sookie didn't even have the energy to argue. And so she found herself living in Shreveport in a two bedroom apartment with Amelia, both of them making a fresh start together. They both managed to get jobs at one of the local middle schools, Amelia as an art teacher, Sookie as the school librarian.

Sookie was still depressed and lonely as hell, but she was, at least, beginning to move forward. And three years later she was being dragged out by her closest friends to celebrate a milestone birthday she'd always expected to spend with Alcide and their children.

"Look, Sookie, Claudine came all the way from Monroe and I drove all the way out here from Bon Temps. I'm free from JB and the kids for the night. You will not mope through your birthday," Tara lectured, as she flagged down a waitress for a round of shots.

"Get something sweet and fruity this time!" Claudine yelled at Tara across the table over the bar noise. "Straight tequila is NOT my friend."

They were at Thor's Hammer, their third and final stop in their mini pub crawl through Shreveport. By taxi, of course. If they had been walking in the heels they had all donned for the night, they really would have been crawling by that point. Plus, there were the drinks. Many, many drinks. Which had done their job and finally loosened up Sookie a bit.

"Let's dance!" squealed Sookie as The Killers came on over the bar's sound system.

Sookie grabbed Claudine's hand and they practically skipped to the small dance floor, while Tara and Amelia stayed behind to hold their table.

"Psst, Amelia, look over there," said Tara, nodding her head toward the bar and the tall, blonde Viking of a man tending it. "He's totally checking out our Sookie!"

Eric Northman, owner of Thor's Hammer, was having a craptastic night. His latest bartender, Chow, had up and quit without so much as a reason, let alone any notice. So Eric found himself tending his own bar on this muggy, crowded Saturday night.

That is, until a cool, fresh breeze waltzed in wrapped up in the beautiful package of long, wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, curves in all the right places and legs for days.

Eric had a rule about dating patrons of his bar. He didn't do it. It was not due to a lack of trying by the females who frequented Thor's Hammer. Single women (and married ones, too, for that matter) often felt safest hitting on the bartender and Eric often took a shift behind the bar when one of his staff needed a night off. But Eric didn't like to mix business with pleasure. That usually left him to online dating services to meet women.

But that had not exactly been working out well for him.

Dinner with recently divorced Cathy… who blathered on all night about how much men suck and just don't know how to listen. Eric never got a word in. He had no choice but to listen.

Dinner and a movie with single, recent college grad Julie… who gabbed in his ear through the entire film, then sulked silently through dinner because they didn't have the wine she liked, Strawberry Fields Boone's Farm.

Dinner with single mom Yvetta… who ordered the most expensive champagne available, drank almost the entire bottle, and vomited the priciest entrée on the menu all over the car mats in his Corvette.

Then Eric decided maybe drinks would be better than dinner. Short and sweet, and if they hit it off, they could always grab dinner afterward.

Drinks with former lesbian Pam…. who was really still a lesbian. Eric got a new best friend out of that date, at least. But he quit online dating. That was a year ago.

Eric tried to watch the gorgeous, blue-eyed breath of fresh air out of the corner of his eye every chance he got. She was dancing with her friend and had a beautiful smile on her face that made her eyes sparkle. Maybe he would break his own rule, just this once.

The night was drawing to a close and the bar was nearly empty. The blonde beauty was still here, though now looking half asleep at the table as the other girls continued to chat and drink. All three of her friends had checked him out at least twice over the course of the evening, but she never even looked his way once. This intrigued him.

Eric approached their table. "Anything else I can get you ladies tonight. It's last call. I'm getting ready to close up."

The three musketeers looked up at Eric with doe eyes, batting their eyelashes and practically cooing at him. Unfortunately, his blonde bombshell was more interested in the wood grain of the table top.

"Oh, I guess we should call a cab then," said Tara.

Eric couldn't let this opportunity go to waste.

"Why don't you ladies finish your drinks and keep chatting while I close up and I'll give you all a ride home."

"Ooooh, perfect! Our knight in shining armor!" said Claudine.

"Hmm, no, our Viking hero!" exclaimed Amelia in a fit of giggles.

Sookie took a sip of her drink and remained quiet, while Eric's brain buzzed. He always liked a challenge.

On the drive home they all made their introductions. Eric learned that Sookie and Amelia lived together and the other girls were visiting for Sookie's birthday. Of course, he heard none of this from Sookie herself. The three ladies chattered about, practically sitting on top of each other squished in the back of his 'Vet. By the time he got them to the apartment, Sookie was snoring away in the front passenger seat. Good thing they hadn't taken a cab. It was doubtful that the driver would have carried a fare up to her apartment, and there was no way the other three could have done it with their state of inebriation.

He placed Sookie on her bed and let himself out as her friends attended to her.

The next morning Sookie was woken up by a loud banging noise. She thought, at first, that it was just her head pounding. Then she realized it was the front door. She threw a robe on over her underwear, wondering how in the hell she ended up in just her underwear to begin with, and headed out to the front door, puzzled as to how Tara and Claudine were able to sleep through the banging when they were passed out in the living room right next to the offending noise.

The first thing Sookie noticed was the aroma of coffee and the sight of a beautiful Starbucks box. Then she looked up to see who was attached to the hand holding the thing of beauty and was surprised to see the bartender from last night. She had been secretly eyeing him all night, but felt awful about it every time she had looked at him. He was even more gorgeous this morning in worn jeans and a black t-shirt. She felt a wave of lust, followed by a sharp pang of guilt.

"'Morning, Sookie," Eric smiled brightly.

"Uh, hi, um," Sookie stumbled.

"Eric," he said.

"Eric," she laughed. "Hi. Um, were we expecting you? I'm a bit fuzzy on the end of the night."

"I gave you girls a ride home last night after I closed my bar. Based on the state I left you all in, I thought you could probably use some strong coffee and some carbs." He held up a bag of bagels in the non-coffee hand.

Sookie blushed. "Oh, God. How embarrassing. I'm sorry, and thank you. Please, come in."

Eric stepped into the apartment and headed for the kitchen.

"Is that coffee I smell?" grumbled Tara.

"Why, yes, Tara. The nice man who apparently brought us home last night was kind of enough to bring us breakfast. And how you can wake to the smell of coffee but not to someone knocking on the door boggles my mind," Sookie said jokingly.

"Stop yelling," whispered Claudine as she pulled a couch pillow over her head.

Sookie laughed and followed Eric into the kitchen. "You, um, seem to know your way around my apartment."

Eric chuckled. "Well, I had to carry you up here last night. You passed out on the way home."

Sookie didn't think it was possible, but she turned an even deeper shade of red. "You put me to bed?"

"Well, I left you on your bed. You friends tucked you in, so to speak."

"Oh, thank God," she replied, looking down at the robe she had pulled on over her undies. "Well, since you seem to know your way around a bit, I'm going to take a minute to make myself look a bit more decent."

When Sookie returned to the kitchen it was to find her three besties making googoo eyes at Eric as he told them funny stories about crazy things people had done in his bar. Sookie grabbed a bagel and a mug and poured herself some coffee, taking a seat at the far end of the island opposite Eric.

Eric immediately turned his attention to Sookie.

"By the way, happy belated birthday, Sookie."

She blushed. Again. "Thanks. I, uh, don't usually drink much, but," she gestured towards the girls, "they made me."

"Oh hush, we only made you drink at the first bar. After that, it was all you, baby girl," said Tara.

The four of them chatted away, Sookie pretty much only piping up whenever Eric addressed her with a direct question. What do you do, where do you work, are you from here, are you married or single, etc. Finally, Tara got up and said she needed to get back to her kids or she'd owe JB big time. Claudine followed suit, and they both went to freshen up and change in the bathrooms.

Amelia suspiciously said, "Oh, I've gotta talk to Claudine about something before she leaves," as she trotted off after them leaving Eric and Sookie alone in the kitchen. Sookie's mug of coffee suddenly became very interesting to her.

Eric cleared his throat and she looked up, and up, into his glacier blue eyes.

"To be totally honest, Sookie," he began.

"Yes?"

"As much as I knew your friends would need coffee and bagels, too, really, I just wanted to see you again this morning."

Sookie was stumped. She didn't know how to do this anymore. Flirt. Banter with a single man. And she was afraid to. Scared of disgracing Alcide. Scared of the feeling in the pit of her stomach when she looked into Eric's eyes. Terrified of the guilt she felt over Alcide. And finally, unworthy of Eric's attentions. She wasn't a complete woman. She was barren. No one would want her. Not once he found that out. And just how do you drop that into polite conversation? Hi, my name is Sookie, and I'm a barren widow?

Eric's nerves started going into overdrive as he waited out Sookie's silence.

"I'm sorry, that was too forward of me," Eric finally said in an attempt to recover his pride.

"No," Sookie finally replied, barely above a whisper. "I'm flattered." She hesitated. Could she really do this? She pushed Alcide into a corner of her broken heart. There was only one way her heart would ever mend. "I, I noticed you last night, at the bar. I'm glad you came by this morning."

Eric let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Plus, I'm a coffee whore," Sookie laughed.

Eric chuckled, too.

"A girl after my own heart," he replied as he took a big sip from his mug.

And just like that, the tension was broken.

To say Eric's courtship of Sookie went at a snail's pace would be the understatement of the year. Maybe even the century, based on what kids these days did with each other when they weren't even in a relationship. Three months of candlelit dinner dates, picnics in the park and romantic comedies that resulted in heavy petting at best finally had Eric resorting to asking Pam for advice.

"She's perfect, Pam," Eric said one night in his office at the bar. He was sitting at his desk while Pam leaned on it, listening to him. "She's witty, and bright, and gorgeous. I have a great time whenever we spend time together. But she's holding back something. And I don't even mean sex, although there's that, too. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong here."

"Ask her," stated Pam.

"That's it? That's your best advice? Ask her?"

"Yep. That. Is. All."

So that's what Eric did. And boy, was he not expecting what he got in return.

Sookie stared at Eric, waiting for him to say something. Anything. They were at his apartment, sitting on his bed. She was looking at him, expectantly, and he was studying his hands in his lap.

What had started as an intense make-out session had resulted in a very serious conversation. Sookie had once again tried to halt things before they got too far, physically. Hurt and frustrated, Eric had finally taken Pam's advice and asked Sookie what was going on in that beautiful head of hers.

He was now speechless following her tale of the last five years of her life.

"Eric?" she asked, hesitantly. "Please, look at me."

Eric looked up from his lap and fell into the warmth and caring in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sookie. That's a lot to take in. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that."

A few tears escaped from her eyes. She brushed them away.

"I know. I'm sorry. It is a lot. That's why I haven't told you sooner. I, I didn't know how."

Eric understood now why she had their relationship moving at a crawl. She was terrified of another broken heart and felt guilty for moving on. That would stunt anyone. But he thought they could move past that. He truly cared for her deeply. He thought he might even love her. Hell, who was he kidding? He knew he loved her.

But the no kids thing?

Eric had never really given much thought to having kids. He supposed he must have assumed he would have a family some day. But his dating life before Sookie left him just happy to have found someone like her at all.

He steeled himself. They had to get through this. The rest would simply fall into place. He was convinced of it. They were so right together. He just had to believe that everything would work out somehow.

Eric reached up to Sookie's face and thumbed away a few remaining tears. He took a breath, his decision made.

"Sookie, I think I'm in love with you. And I want this," he motioned between them, "to continue so I can find out if I'm right."

Sookie uncrossed her legs and crawled over and into Eric's lap, wrapping her legs around his waist as more tears fell down her cheeks.

"You're sure? Don't you want to think about it some more? I mean, I'm damaged goods."

"No, you're not. Don't ever think that way," he kissed away her tears. "All I know is that when I'm not with you, I miss you. When something happens in my day, you're the one I want to share it with. When I wake up in the morning, I always find myself wishing you were there with me, in my arms. I've never been in love before, but if that's not love, I don't know what is."

Sookie nuzzled herself into Eric's neck and whispered, "I think I love you, too, Eric."

He wrapped his arms around her tightly and leaned his own head down to her neck, kissing her from just behind her ear down to the curve where her neck met her shoulder. She shivered in his arms and lifted her face, causing him to lift his, as well.

They both just looked into each others' eyes for a moment before their lips met in the sweetest, gentlest kiss. It turned heated quickly, however, as they nipped at one another when their tongues weren't fighting for dominance over the other.

Eric's hands moved up her back and into Sookie's hair, using it to shift her head as his lips returned to her neck. Sookie moaned at the sensation and moved her own hands up his chest under his t-shirt. She wanted the offending piece of clothing off and out of her way. They pulled apart for a moment so she could remove his shirt. He took the opportunity to divest her of hers.

They resumed their embrace, lips and tongues and hands everywhere, trying to feel everything the other had to offer. Eric shifted their weight and repositioned them so that he was now lying on top of her, his hips settled between her legs. All either of them could think of was how much they wanted the other's jeans out of the way.

Eric reached under Sookie and unclasped her bra, then slowly trailed his lips down her body, pulling the bra off along the way. He unzipped her jeans and sat up to pull them off as well, but kept his eyes trained on hers, making sure she was okay with how far they were going.

But something had finally shifted for Sookie. She had released her burden, shared it with someone who loved her. Someone she loved, too. She felt lighter, freer than she had in years. She felt happy again.

Her jeans now fully removed, Eric was still sitting up, watching her, waiting for her to put a stop to things. She smiled at him and ghosted her own hands down her body, over her breasts, lower to her panties. She watched Eric as his heavy-lidded eyes now followed her fingers, going just under the top of the lace below her belly button and then grazing out to the edges at her hips. Hooking her fingers there, she slowly began to lower them before Eric seemed to realize what was happening and happily finished the job for her.

Looking down at her, seeing her fully naked for the first time, spread out on his bed, Eric thought he had arrived in Valhalla.

He ghosted his fingers up her inner thighs as he leaned down to feather kisses across her midsection, then lower, eventually meeting his hands at her center. Sookie moaned as she felt his breath on her in a place that had been ignored for too long. It had been over five years since Sookie had last felt this kind of pleasure, and Eric brought her to release quickly.

Sookie was still basking in the euphoria of her first orgasm while Eric removed his pants and slid up her body for a kiss.

"That was amazing," Sookie panted.

"I'm not done with you yet, lover."

"I certainly hope not," she whispered and she grabbed his lips with hers, tasting herself on him.

They built to a frenzy again quickly, the desire for skin to skin contact driving them to touch, grope and caress anywhere they could get their hands, lips or tongues.

Eric was at her breasts, circling one nipple with his tongue and tweaking the other with his thumb and forefinger. Sookie arched her back and ran a calf up and down the back of one of Eric's thighs in an attempt for more friction where she needed it most.

Sookie moaned Eric's name to get his attention. Their eyes met, and Sookie held his gaze, "Now. I need to feel you inside me now."

Eric obliged, tentatively at first so as not to hurt her. When he was all the way in he paused for a moment to kiss her while she adjusted to the sensation, which she reveled in. He began to pull out and thrust, the movement delicious. It felt so right to Sookie.

And as if is he was reading her mind, Eric echoed, "This is best. This is right."

Sookie couldn't agree more as she slipped into a peaceful sleep a few hours later, safe in Eric's arms.

Six months later, Sookie couldn't believe that she was still in a state of bliss with regard to her relationship with Eric. Actually, with her whole life, really, since he'd entered it. She felt like a living, breathing person again.

She sometimes wondered when the other shoe was going to drop. When Eric would realize surrogacy or adoption wasn't his thing and he'd decide to leave her. Or when her occasional (and they were just occasional, nowadays) slips into thoughts of Alcide would drive him away. But she pushed all of that out of her mind as the two of them happily unpacked her boxes and put her things away in his home. No, she corrected herself, it was their home now.

Sookie was thankful she was unloading things away in the master bathroom when a wave of nausea hit her out of nowhere. She was hurling into the toilet when Eric came in. He immediately crouched down on the floor with her to hold back her hair and rub circles on her back.

"Ugh, where the fuck did that come from? I felt fine one minute, and the next, blech," she rasped out, her throat sore from gagging.

"You probably just caught a bug going around the school. Go lie down and rest. I'll get you some ginger ale and crackers," he said as he steered her into the bedroom and under the covers. "We don't need to unpack everything today. You're home all week anyway for spring break."

"I know," said Sookie as she began to burrow under their new duvet. "But I was hoping to unpack everything this weekend and spend the rest of the week doing more fun things," she laughed half-heartedly.

Eric kissed her forehead. "Let's you get you better fast and we can still do that," he smirked and raised an eyebrow.

If Sookie wasn't suddenly feeling so tired, she might have blushed. Instead, she shut her eyes and fell asleep.

A few weeks later Sookie was still feeling run down and nauseous off and on, but with no other symptoms, she had yet to go see a doctor. One minute she felt right as rain, and the next she was barfing in the ladies room in the teacher's lounge. She was thinking that she really should go see a doctor, but the last time she went in for medical help things had not turned out as expected. She really wasn't up for that kind of surprise again.

Then a light bulb went off in her head one afternoon when she had to watch over a class for a teacher who had a family emergency. The school couldn't get a sub in on such short notice, and it was the last period of the day anyway, so Sookie had been called in to just keep an eye on the class while they watched a movie.

It was a health class. And the topic of the day was sex education and pregnancy.

Sookie was able to get an emergency appointment after school that afternoon.

If Eric thought he was surprised when Sookie told him she couldn't have kids, he was going to be more than shocked when she told him she was pregnant.

On the nights that Eric had to be at the bar they at least had dinner together after she got home from school and before he headed into work. Due to the doctor's appointment, along with the two hours Sookie had just sat in her parked car in shock, they had missed each other that evening.

Sookie wanted more than anything to wait up for him that night to tell him, but she was just too exhausted. And the next morning, well, he had come home late so the last thing she wanted to do was wake him before she went to work. She decided to wait until dinner that night. He wasn't due to be at the bar after dinner. They'd have the whole evening.

When Eric got home his mind was still on the bar. There had been a plumbing issue in the employee bathroom and the city was giving him a hard time with his application for a cabaret license so he could have live bands perform. It had been a shitty day full of problems.

The aroma of chicken fried steak and apple pie hit him as he walked in the door and he smiled, all of the day's troubles melting away, at least for a little while. He leaned against the door jamb to the kitchen and just watched Sookie for a little while. God, he loved her. He loved seeing her move around their kitchen, like she had always lived there with him. He wanted it to always be like this, them, together.

"Honey, I'm home," he finally piped up.

Sookie squealed and jumped a bit. "Oh, you startled me! How long have you been standing there?" she asked, eyeing him.

She had a beautiful smile on her face, her eyes lit up in a way he had never seen before. Something was different about her tonight.

"Just a minute or two. I like watching you work your way around our kitchen."

She blushed at that and Eric thought it was adorable.

"Dinner smells fantastic. Chicken fried steak AND apple pie? What's the occasion?"

Sookie just smiled, sauntered over to Eric and reached up for a kiss. She bit his lower lip just as she was pulling away.

"Hmmm, it must be something good to be greeted like that," he said.

"I think so," Sookie replied, ushering Eric over to the kitchen table. "Have a seat and I'll get dinner."

For the first time Eric noticed a gift bag in the center of the table.

"What's this? End of the year gift from one of your students?"

"No, definitely not," Sookie replied. "Why don't you open it and find out?"

"A surprise, huh?" he laughed.

"Oh, yes, definitely a surprise. Quite a surprise."

Eric's curiosity piqued, he removed the tissue paper from the bag and pulled out a paperback book.

"My Boys Can Swim!: The Official Guy's Guide to Pregnancy," he read aloud. "Sookie?"

He looked up to find her, expecting that she was still on the other end of the kitchen getting the plates. He found her standing right next to him with the biggest grin he had ever seen.

"Yes, Eric?" she managed to squeak out through her enormous smile.

"What? Who is this for?"

He was just not getting it. He couldn't imagine it was for him. That would be impossible.

"It's for you, Eric."

"But…"

Sookie brought two fingers over his lips to hush him.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered, leaning down to kiss him.

Dinner was completely forgotten about after that.

Sookie's pregnancy wasn't exactly perfect; there had been minor complications here and there along the way, to be expected with the endometriosis. But she never really complained. She was too happy about being pregnant. Sure, she got worried from time to time about losing the baby; but she truly believed that it was such a miracle to even have this life growing inside her and that God wouldn't give this to her, to them, just to take it away. No, her God was just not that cruel, not after all they had endured to get to this point.

This point being the delivery room.

At her worst, during the labor, the meanest Sookie could manage was to jokingly curse Eric and his "super sperm" that could "penetrate brick buildings."

But even that was forgotten when the pushing was done and they heard that loud wailing.

"How could such a tiny thing make that much noise," Eric asked in a dreamy voice as he watched the nurses get to work cleaning up their daughter.

Their daughter.

He looked back at Sookie, and brought her hand that she had been clasping through the labor up to his lips for a kiss. Then he leaned down and cupped her cheek with his other palm, kissing her forehead and nose. Sookie was beaming at him.

A nurse brought her over to them, placing their baby girl in Sookie's arms. Sookie was in heaven. Eric bent down, putting an arm under Sookie's so they could hold her together.

"She's beautiful," Sookie cooed.

"She's you," said Eric, looking back and forth between his two girls.

"She's Alyssa," whispered Sookie, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Eric kissed them away, and then brushed his lips to his daughter's forehead.

"She's perfect. And she's ours."

-0- FIN -0-