They both were still. They silently took in the events that just past. He gently caressed her shoulders and brushed the hair from her face and rubbed his fingers over her lips. She was staring intently at his face, memorizing every detail. She lifted her hand to his cheek and let her fingers gently rub against the cool, silk feeling flesh.

"I love you Eric. I want to get married, soon." She was speaking in a voice that was just above a whisper.

"We can be married whenever you like. I assumed that you would want to have a large wedding with guests and the whole celebration that follows? If that is not what you desire all you need to do is say the word. I can have a clergyman perform a small ceremony with just the two of us. He wouldn't even need much notice. You tell me what it is you want, and I shall see that it is done." He kissed her softly on the forehead.

"Eric, I just want to be married. Having a big wedding with tons of people and traditions means nothing to me. The only thing that matters is us. Just a few people, the people that are the closet to us, that mean the most and that are truly happy for us. I do not want anyone there that I can hear and know that they're thinking about how they can't wait until I get what I deserve, or that I'm going to hell, or wishing us both dead." Her voice was so desperate. Whatever this feeling was that she had was making her on edge. He was truly concerned about her. He held her close to him and felt her heart beating in her chest. It was beating fast and furious. His body ached at her fear.

"Anything you want my love. Lets get dressed and go home." He tried to use his voice to settle her unease, her heart did not slow down. He helped her sit up and watched her as she got out of bed and went to the dresser to get something new to wear. He saw her eyes dart towards the jewelry box again. Whatever was in that box was contributing to her feeling. She dressed quickly in the hopes that he did not notice her mind wandering.

"Sookie?" His voice was sturdy as he started to ask her about the box. "Please tell me why you were crying when you were looking at that box when I came here tonight." He waited for her response, with the renewed bond he immediately felt her emotions. She was so tense and edgy. He saw her body straighten up as she readied herself.

"Eric, I can't explain why. Just know that these are important to me. But now, I feel in danger when I am near them or I think about them." She pulled the little drawer of the jewelry box out and moved to the side so he could look inside. He took a step closer and peered down into the box. His face was hard and unreadable. He looked at her and his eyes begged the question…why?

"Eric, you saved me so many times. Even when I couldn't stand the idea of the two of us, I still had these. I know where every one came from, I remember every time I almost died. You are everything to me, I think that I kept these because they remind me that you would do anything to protect me." She looked away and tried to focus her eyes on a shadow on the wall. "I know it's sick and I know it doesn't make any sense, but God, Eric, those bullets were meant to kill me. But here I am, alive, and with the person that took every one of those bullets to save me. I will never give them up. They are my sick way of reminding myself just how much you have sacrificed for me." Her voice was wavering and he could feel her heart aching. "But now, I see them and all I can think of is that if anything or anyone tried to hurt you…I couldn't save you like you saved me. I couldn't take a bullet for you. I would, but it would most likely kill me. And that would be fine, I would die if it meant saving you. I am scared. I am scared that I can't protect you and save you that way you have protected me." She turned her eyes to his and looked at him with such desperation. She was unable to keep her emotions from flooding their bond.

"Sookie, you kept every bullet? You will never stop astonishing me. I never expected that you would have kept these. I never thought about it. I remember you picking the bullet up off of the floor in Dallas, after you removed it from my shoulder. What happened after never crossed my mind." His voice was far-away, he was trying desperately to remember her saving all of the shots. "You must realize, since I have been walking this Earth, in this form, there has always been something or someone trying to harm or kill me. It is part of my existence, I am a survivor. I would not have made it these 1000 years, and made it to you if I was something other than myself." He looked at her and took her hand in his. He brought their hands to his lips and kissed her fingers. "Lover, you do not need to protect me. I will never allow you to sacrifice yourself for me. I will always be safe, especially now that I have found the one thing that I have been missing for my entire life, alive and dead. You are everything to me, just as I am to you. Never, never will I take the chance of being taken away from you." He pulled her to him and held her and whispered into her ear. "I will never leave you."

She squeezed him tightly and breathed in his scent. She felt him calming her and settling her nerves. At that time it is exactly what she needed. She shut the jewelry box and looked around the room. She was ready to go home.

Amelia had gone to her room and was watching TV. They yelled to her that they were leaving. She came out and gave her friend a hug goodbye.

"Drive safe, I am so happy for you. Talk to you soon." She hugged her and waived. "You too Eric, Congratulations." He smiled and nodded his head.

She looked around and saw that he didn't have his car. She looked in both directions. He hated driving in her car, she was going to have to listen to him complain the entire ride home about how much he disliked her car.

"No car?" She questioned him

"I was concerned when I felt how upset you were. I decided it would be faster if I flew." Again, always with the pragmatic vampire.

"OK, shall I drive or would you like to?" He winced as she held out the keys and waited for a decision.

"I suppose that I will drive, although it pains me to have to drive in the unbearable piece of metal." His voice was full of disgust.

"It's not so bad baby. It could be worse, I could be driving the car I had when I first met Bill." She giggled because she knew that he would remember the even bigger piece of crap and realize that she was right.

"Very well, lets be on our way. It will take us an extra half hour just to get this thing up to speed." He grinned in his Eric way and she smiled back. She loved every part of him, even the sarcastic, smart-ass, arrogant parts of him.

The drive was fairly quiet. She could tell that he was hating every minute of having to drive her car. He actually looked like he was in pain every time he pressed the accelerator and didn't get the result he was used to. He rubbed his hand over her thigh and thought about the night. She felt him and knew that they should discuss why she had felt the need to take his blood. She closed her eyes and thought about how she would like to plan her wedding. She was very sure that she wanted a small and intimate gathering.

Once they got home they immediately went to the bathroom to soak in the enormous tub. She was hungry, but she could hold off eating. She knew it was more important to be with him and relax, and talk about the night. Once the tub was full they slipped into the water and she leaned back against his sturdy body. He didn't even ask, it was her that initiated the conversation.

"I needed to have you. I needed to feel your life inside of mine. The thought of losing you to some unknown force was just too much. All I could think about was touching you and being with you. That need just took over. I didn't care about anything except the two of us." She spoke quietly and waited for his response.

"Are you regretting taking my blood. Did you do it only because you were giving in to the fear?" He did not sound upset, just concerned.

"God no. I was afraid when we were making love. It was the fear that made me practically attack you and made me need you so much." She turned around and half smiled at him. She was blushing as she remembered how she had initiated their sex at her old house.

"Then lover, please, I will need to frighten you more often." He gave her a reassuring pat on her bottom. She laughed and splashed water at him.

"I wanted to have your blood. I wanted to feel you and be close to you. I wanted to be that much closer. I can feel your life inside of my body. It makes me feel incredible, I love you. I love feeling you. I am happy that you gave me your gift." He could feel how heartfelt and sincere her words were. Knowing that she wanted him out of love and not fear made him all the more appreciative of her.

"Sookie, It is not me that gave a gift. You taking and wanting my blood was the gift. Sharing it with you as I took from your's, that is truly a remarkable experience. When we bonded in Rhodes it was out of necessity. It was to avoid having your life destroyed. Tonight was about the love we share. I love you, and everything about you." His face was soft and tender. He hugged her close and began to wash her body. They sat quietly for a few minutes as he washed her back.

"So, lover, when would you like to marry? You seemed very intent on getting this done quickly." He rubbed her back with lathered hands.

"Yes, I don't want to wait. There's no point in waiting. I don't need a year to plan. I have no family to speak of. I can't have Hunter here, we decided it would be best to stay away. I haven't spoken to Jason in almost a year. The only people that I would care to invite would be Amelia and Sam, and Pam of course." She paused as she thought about how little family she had. "It would be nice to have Niall there, Claudine and Claude too. I would even like to have Bill there. Even though he's an ass and I hate what he did, he still is the one that brought us together. If he could accept us and be happy for us, I would want him to be there." She waited for him to let out an angry sigh at her revelation.

"You ability to forgive is remarkable. You are truly an amazing woman." That was his only response to her mention of having Bill present at their wedding.

"What day is it?" Her sense of time was a little screwed up.

"Lover, tonight is Saturday. Why do you ask?" He smiled at her.

"Next Saturday…I want to get married next Saturday. Do you think we can put this thing together in a week?" She was excited at the idea.

"Lover, if we were a normal couple, people might think this was a…" He thought hard about the phrase and looked intently at the water as he concentrated. " A shotgun wedding. That is the term humans use when the bride to be is unexpectedly expecting, correct?" He grinned at her, but her face was slightly sad.

"Yes, that is what we call it when the bride gets married because she is, pregnant." She looked down at the water and smiled. "I'm getting a little cold. I'm going to get out and run downstairs and get a bite to eat." She wanted to remove herself from this conversation as soon as possible. He realized that he had just brought up the one thing that they had never really discussed. When she agreed to be with him and spend her life as his partner, she gave up the dream of having children. Even if it was not ideal, she was never going to be the woman that needed to have a shotgun wedding.