Disclaimer: I don't own the Southern Vampires. Sole copyright belongs to Charlaine Harris. I'm poor, please don't sue.
Rating: M (possibly in later chapters)
I want to take this chance to thank DontKawai for the research she did into Dhampires and Fae babies. Thank you so much for all of your help. Also, anyone who enjoy's my story should really check her story out as well. She is an amazing writer and I find her story to be addictive.
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*Flash*
"I can't believe you did that Pam."
"What? I had to get a picture of the hat."
She could hardly hold in her laughing. I was sitting at Fangtasia, surrounded by some people I knew, and a bunch I didn't, wearing a silly hat that was made from the ribbons and bows from all the baby gifts. I was surprised how many people were there, but then I figured Pam probably ordered all the female vamps in the area to be there. Amelia, Octavia, Holly, and even Tara had shown up for the party. We played silly games, I lost just about every one of them. I had started out with clothes pins attached to my shirt like everyone else. Of course every time I said the word baby I had one taken away. I had lost that game pretty quickly.
"You promise you won't show that to Eric?"
"Yeah, right." She laughed at the thought of not showing it to Eric. "Here, you still have one more gift left."
She picked up a large box wrapped in pretty white paper with little teddy bears all over it. I plucked the card off the top and opened it.
Sookie & Eric,
Congrats on bringing a tiny terror into the world.
Love,
Pam
I laughed at the words tiny terror. I had often thought the same thing. If the baby ended up with Eric's personality we were in for quite the ride through the teenage years. I smiled at the thought, then gently started peeling back the paper. It was so pretty that I didn't want to rip it to shreds. Underneath the wrapping paper was a plain brown box. Pam grabbed a knife and cut the tape for me. She looked so impatient, like she was genuinely excited to see my response.
Laying on the top was a small white sweater box. I opened it up, inside was the most beautiful dress I had ever laid eyes on. It was so tiny and...pink. It looked to be all silk with a little black bow around the waist. I teared up a bit and held it up so everyone could see. When everyone had a good look I put it back into the box and sat it down with the other gifts. When I looked back into the box I could see what was underneath.
It was a beautiful wooden rocking horse. It looked old and very fragile. I was scared to pick it up so Pam lifted it for me. Once it was out of the box I could see that it definitely was old. It had a pink ribbon tied around the neck of the horse. It looked hand carved.
"Pam.."
She waved it off. "Just something I picked up at the store."
I knew it was much more than that. I'd get the story out of her later, but for now I was so touched by the gifts that I pushed myself up to give her a hug. I laid my head on her shoulder and cried for a minute.
"Eric was right, you've become a sap." She reached down and grabbed a huge bow that had been on her gift, she placed it right on top of my already ridiculous hat. She stood back and snapped a picture of me sticking my tongue out at her.
"Priceless. I have one more thing for you."
She handed me a box with matching wrapping paper. I tore this one open, excited to see what was in it. I unwrapped the tissue paper from around it and smiled when I realized what it was. It was a pink baby book. Pam was thrilled by the fact I was having a girl. Eric was convinced I was having a boy, until the ultrasound. That took care of that. I knew I had been right.
I turned back to all my guests. "Thank you all for coming I truly do appreciate it." It was getting close to midnight and I was sleepy. Pam could tell so she hurried everyone along. Once almost everyone was gone she asked Amelia to drive her car back to Eric's and for Octavia to follow in Amelia's car, so that Pam could drive me. She didn't want me driving so late when I was so tired. It seemed like a production just to get me home, but I was glad I didn't have to drive.
After confirming the plans with Amelia and Octavia, Pam loaded all my gifts into the back of my SUV and off we went.
~*~
As soon as we walked in the front door I was ready to sleep. Pam told me to head upstairs and she would get all the gifts. For that I would be forever grateful. I dragged myself upstairs, heading straight for the bed, kicking off my shoes at the bottom of the steps.
"Sookie, come in here please." I heard Eric's voice coming from the bathroom. I sure hope he wasn't trying to seduce me. I was beyond tired. When I walked into the bathroom there were candles on every available surface.
"Eric..."
"I'm not trying to seduce you. I just want you to relax."
He walked over to me and slid my shirt off over my head. Then he released my bra, which had barely been holding my breasts in, if they had grown any bigger I don't know what I would have done. He slid down my body, stopping only to kiss my stomach and whisper to the baby. Once he was done at my stomach he slid my skirt and panties off of me.
"Come, let me bathe you."
He looked so innocent when he said it. I knew he had wanted more, but he respected the changes that my body was going through. We had given up our marathon sex sessions. When we did have sex it was very gentle. I knew that he couldn't wait for me to give birth and heal up so we could get back to our old ways. Something told me that he would be in for a shock when he realized that you can't have sex when a baby is screaming and crying in your ear to be fed. I laughed at the thought of us being interrupted, I knew eventually he'd just beg me to hire a live in nanny. That wouldn't happen though. I wanted to raise my child myself, with his help, of course.
I shook the thoughts from my head. I was suppose to be relaxing.
I stepped into the shower and Eric followed me in. The warm water felt amazing. Eric lathered up his hands and gently started kneading my back. I was in heaven, my back was killing me, but Eric and his magic fingers were quickly taking care of that problem. When he was done cleaning and massaging my back he turned me to face him. he washed the rest of me, leaving my stomach for last. He knelt down in the shower and laid his head on my stomach. I watched the water run down off of me and onto his golden hair. His hands where massaging my sides and hips. Finally he pulled his head away from my stomach and gave it a little kiss. He followed up with his hands, gently massaging my belly and whispering to the baby the whole time. I had to admit, it was amazing to see.
Here was the powerful, dangerous, not to mention sexy, Eric Northman, brought to his knees, rubbing and whispering to my stomach. He was going to be an amazing father. Our daughter had not even been born yet, but he was already wound around her tiny little finger. Every night while we laid in bed he would curl up next to me, with his head on my heart and hand on my stomach. He'd whisper to her in old Norse. I didn't know the language, but it was beautiful to listen to.
Eric stood up and planted a kiss on my lips. "I have a surprise for you."
He helped me out of the shower and toweled me dry. I sat on the edge of the tub while he gently brushed my hair. When he was done I pulled it up into a pony-tail and slipped into the nightgown that he had brought in the bathroom for me. He finished cleaning up the bathroom for me then lead me out of the bathroom. He stopped in front of the baby's room.
"I did this myself, with no help. So please don't think I paid someone to do it."
He opened the bedroom door and my eyes instantly teared up. The walls had been painted in pink and cream colored stripes. The white crib was assembled and all of the sheets were already on it. He had a tiny cream colored teddy bear sitting in the corner of the crib. My white rocking chair was in there with a soft pink cushion on it. There was a large white bookcase with tons of children appropriate books on it. The hardwood floor was adorned with a large pink and cream area rug. He had put together the changing table, the baby's dresser and all the furniture. There was a huge castle built with pink blocks in the corner and toys everywhere. It looked like something out of a home decorating magazine.
"Oh Eric, how did you do it?"
"I had a bunch of this stuff already purchased and in storage. I just wanted to wait for the right moment to surprise you."
"You did an amazing job. It's beautiful."
"There is one more thing."
He reached into the crib and picked up a soft pink blanket. At the bottom of the blanket was our daughters name.
Klara Asa Northman
I reached out and took it from him, holding it to my chest. I had wanted to name our daughter after Eric's mother, but we had settled on using that as a middle name. We had both fell in love with the name Klara the second we came across it in a baby name book.
I sat the blanket back into the crib and turned to Eric. I was a puddle of emotion by that point. The room had turned out beautifully. I knew that Eric worked hard on it. I smiled when I imagined him painting, he knew I shouldn't be around the paint fumes so he did it himself. Thinking of his hard work reminded me of Pam's gift. I wanted to show Eric.
"Come look at what Pam gave me for the baby." We walked downstairs, Pam was sitting on the sofa watching t.v. I pointed to the box and Eric pulled it into the middle of the floor. He lifted out the rocking horse and marveled at it.
"This is amazing." He was running his fingers over the carved wood, admiring how beautifully made it was.
"It is beautiful Pam. Will you please tell me where you got this? I know you didn't buy it at Ikea."
"It was mine."
I gasped.
"Pam, don't you want it?"
"My parents died not to long after I was turned. I was able to go back and get a few things. This was one of them. It had been a gift from my grandparents. My parents kept it in case I ever had children. But since that is not the case, I can't think of anyone more deserving than you two."
I tried not to cry for her. Not to long ago I thought I'd never have children. Pam didn't always strike me as the maternal type, but I'm sure she would have been a wonderful mother. I sat down on the sofa next to her.
"Thank you, it's beautiful."
"You're welcome."
The baby started kicking up a storm the second I sat down. I grabbed Pam's hand and put it on my stomach. She held her hand there for a while then looked at Eric, arching one eyebrow.
"You're right. You've impregnated our Sookie with a tiny little ass-kicker." I laughed, but Eric was beaming with pride. We both knew she would be tough. She'd have all of our good qualities, and none of our weaknesses. She would be as strong as a vampire, but she wouldn't need blood. She'd also be able to walk in the sunlight. Then there is a matter of her fae heritage. I wasn't sure how that would play out. I knew fae's were prone to having twins. So when I found out that there was only one baby in my stomach, I had been thrilled. The thought of all of this gave me a headache. I brought my hands up to my head and started rubbing my temples.
"Thinking about her heritage again?"
"Mhmm. Just trying to figure everything out."
"You need to relax. Your working yourself into a frenzy over nothing." He swept his hand like having a human/vampire/fae baby happened every day. I started to argue back that it was nothing, but I didn't want to upset the baby. With Eric and I being blood bonded, we had no idea what that meant for our unborn daughter. We had no clue if she could feel our emotions or not, so I tried to stay calm.
"You're right. I'm worried for no reason. Can we go to bed now? I'm really tired."
"Sure." He stood and came to help me off the sofa. Pam put a gentle hand on my back to help push me forward. I had no idea how large our daughter was going to be, but by the size of my stomach, I would guess that she would be blessed with Eric's height.
Eric picked me up and carried me upstairs. I loved the way he did that. It reminded me of the time I used to have a nice figure. I wondered how long it would be before I ever fit back into a size 8 (okay, 10). Eric gently laid me on our bed and pulled the covers up around me. He climbed in next to me and gave me a kiss goodnight. I started to drift off. Listening to him speak in old Norse to our daughter. I always wondered how long he'd stay like that after I'd gone to sleep. My guess was all night. He was enthralled by the life inside me. I ran my fingers through his hair and slowly fell asleep.
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TBC. Plenty of good stuff to come! It won't all be this mushy and sappy.
