Disclaimer: I do not own the fabulous Southern Vampire Mystery characters, those belong to the also fabulous Ms. Harris.

Redemption, Chapter Two

At Last

Dedication: This is for the lovely ladies at Sookieverse, thanks for all the love and encouragement, this is for y'all.

EPOV

By the time our flight reached the outskirts of Shreveport, I was already rising, though the sun was still up, and waiting for it to set, so that I could greet Sookie.

I had missed her so much, and was sure that I would never let her leave my sight, but I was grateful that she was technically dead to the world. Ever since I had rushed back into her life, and she into mine, my mind had been going non-stop, and now was a perfect time to pause and reflect on the events of this past evening, and I of course had to call my lover's maker to let her know I had found her Child.

I dialed the familiar number and waited for her to pick up her cell, and I musingly thought about my decision to allow my own Child to turn my lover into one of the damned.

I really had no choice, I knew from experience how short lived maker-Child relationships can be, and I didn't want that happening to Sookie and I, and Pam seemed like the obvious candidate.

I heard the click signifying that she had picked up, and before I could address her, she spoke up, "You have found her. And hurt her." Her tone was flat, so I could pick up no emotions for her, whether or not she was pissed, nor did I care.

I spoke sharply to her. "Yes, I have found her, and while I may have hurt her, it was within my rights to do so."

She had nothing to say to me after that, because she knew I was right. I had laid claim to Sookie, Bonded to her, protected her, and she ran away from me, I was well within my bounds to hurt her, with or without her maker's permission.

It didn't hurt either, that I was her maker's maker.

Pam let out a long sigh that sounded like a hiss. "How may I assist you this evening, Master?"

That Pam. Whenever she was trying to temper my anger, she converted to the archaic ways, which she knew I always appreciated.

"We will be arriving at Fangtasia in two hours, I want you to have bottles of Royalty prepared, and pull out the ring catalog for her to peruse."

I barely acknowledged her assent, as from beneath the window shades, I was preoccupied by the sight of an almost set sun. It would be any moment now.

"And Pamela, make sure that her throne is empty when we arrive. If any fangbangers are seated on it, I will kill them, and then starve you for two weeks."

With that, I hung up, as I watched my lover's coffin lid begin to rise.

I closed my eyes, reveling in the peace before all hell broke loose.

My lover hated the 'pretension' of her throne, as she put it, using a former word of the day. She frequently called it, 'That damn chair'. But there was really no help for it, she was mine, as surely as I was hers, and we would sit next to each other, on equal levels.

I opened my eyes to see that she had already risen from her coffin, and was now staring at me with a concerned look on her face. I merely smirked at her and held my arms open for her.

She gave me a long, impassive stare before huffing a little in an adorable way and making her way over to me to sit in my lap and bury her nose in my neck and sniffing a little. I managed to suppress a shiver with great difficulty. What she does to me….

I placed a kiss on the top of her head, and felt her return it, by kissing my neck softly, sensuously. My fangs came down a little.

"So, now what?" She asked me, her voice muffled against my neck.

I chuckled a little, and I felt her shift to look up at me, and I braced myself for the scream she would let out after hearing my next words.

"So much has changed in the 85 years you've been abroad lover, you've missed many things. One of them is that Louisiana has made vampire marriages of any form, legal. We will be getting married tomorrow, later on tonight; you will pick out the ring you want."

I felt through the bond, shock, pure shock. My shock widened, and that more than anything, I think, set her off.

"How dare you Eric Northman? I haven't seen you in 95 years, 95 years, and then you show up, we have sex, and now you're not even proposing to me, no! You're just informing me that I'm getting married! What if I don't want to get married?"

I raised an eyebrow to her. "I don't care." I said, and the flash of rage I felt was the only warning I had before she slapped me.

"You don't care?" She repeated incredulously.

"No, I don't care." I pulled her in for a kiss, and I felt her resist for a moment, before she acquiesced, and with a sweep of my tongue across her lips, she allowed me entrance. We stayed like that for a moment, sweetly kissing, until I broke it off. She leaned back from me with wide eyes, touching her lips wonderingly. When I felt she was properly dazed from my kiss, and would no longer interrupt me, I decided it would be safe to continue.

"Now listen carefully lover, because I will only tell you all this once. I love you. The 95 years that we were apart were torture to me. As the years went on and I couldn't find you, I began to get more and more desperate until Pamela had to watch me carefully for fear that I would try and commit suicide. I changed you, not because I wanted your telepathic powers for eternity, but because I wanted you for eternity. I was selfish, and I'm sorry, but I have all the time in the world to make it up to you, and hope that one day you will find it in yourself to forgive me. But, my love, you should know that I will never apologize for loving you so much that I never wanted to let you go. So yes, I am informing you that we are to be married, because I am that selfish to never let you go. The supernatural world knows that you are mine, and now I want you to be mine in the eyes of the law."

By the time I was done with my speech, she had tears in her eyes.

"My lover, say something." I was concerned by her silence, and what it might mean.

"You said that you would only say all that once. Does that mean you'll only tell me you love me once?"

I couldn't help it; I burst out laughing. "My love, I will tell you I love you every minute of every hour of every day of every year, if that would please you. I only meant that I would only make that speech once."

She laughed as well, just before jumping into my arms and kissing me ferociously.

A/N: Again, I feel a little iffy about this chapter, but apparently y'all really liked Eric's point of view from the last chapter. I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter as well. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but next chapter will be the last chapter, and I was writing the first chapter for my new story which I will tell you more about next chapter. Thanks for reading!

Playlist:

Unbelievable by the Sleepy Rebels