A/N:

If anyone's still out there reading this diddy, I apologize for the wait. I've been taking a break from writing on these stories because I didn't feel like I was doing it for myself anymore. I don't want to feel pressure while writing, this is a fun stress relief thing for me. I'm truly sorry that the readers got the short end of the stick though. I know how much it sucks to wait months for an update. To correct this, I'm no longer going to post a story unless it's completely written so that I can control the update schedule.

I literally only have about a paragraph left to write on the next chapter of this, and it will be done. It will also be the final chapter. For those of you who read My Last First Date, the next chapter is done and with my beta, so it shouldn't be too much longer for that one.

Thank you, FDM, for being an awesome beta and letting me be cheesy and cliche, even if you stomped a bit. But hey, I didn't use center or core *snickers*

Recap: In the last chapter, a newly awoken Eric got to hear the baby's heartbeat. He and Sookie went home and got settled and reacquainted with each other in the bedroom.

Chapter 10 - Falling Into Place

"Would you look at that? The Legendary Eric Northman is hobbling around on his own!"

"Get over here, Alcide, I'm not hobbling all the way to your ass."

Alcide laughed and met me by the couch to give me a good man hug. In the two weeks since I'd been home I'd gained quite a bit of my strength back. I could walk around without help now, but I was a bit slow, and I still didn't risk climbing the stairs. That was mine and Sookie's rule. When I could climb the stairs without falling or needing help, then I could make love to her. I was dying to climb those stairs.

"C'mere Maria," I said after Alcide stepped back. After Maria, Jackson, and Janice all got hugs we sat down to talk. Sookie brought in a tray of lemonade, and sat next to me, her hand immediately resting on her stomach.

"How's the pregnancy going?" Maria asked her.

"I finally got morning sickness," Sookie laughed.

"It's about dang time. I would have been so ticked if you got through the whole thing without throwing up once."

"Maria and I have some news," Alcide said, taking his wife's hand in his.

"No way," Sookie blurted out, and then slapped her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry. Just tell us."

"We're pregnant," Maria said with a huge grin, and Sookie squealed and jumped up to hug her while I settled for a simple congrats to Alcide.

"I'm so happy we're going to have kids close together! When did this happen?" Sookie asked, nearly out of breath with excitement.

"Just after the accident. We were kind of taking every moment we could to be together in light of what happened," Alcide said with a smirk, and Maria swatted at his arm. "What?"

"We knew we wanted more kids, and this keeps them all about two years apart, which is nice. We're just really, really excited," Maria said as she sat back down next to Alcide.

"How long have you known?" Sookie asked.

"About a month, but please don't be mad. We didn't feel right saying anything when Eric was in the hospital," Maria explained.

"I understand," Sookie said, and smiled. "I can't wait to get huge and moody with you."

"It'll definitely be nice to have someone around that really understands. I mean, Alcide is wonderful, but he doesn't get it."

"Hey!" Alcide said.

"Oh hush. I love you, but until you grow a human being inside you, you don't freaking get it."

"I get it," he grumbled, and Maria and Sookie rolled their eyes.

We talked for a bit, and then the girls took the kids outside to play.

"You know we're going to be completely miserable in a few months, right?" he asked.

"Probably, but I'm looking forward to it. At least I'm awake now. It's like having a whole new perspective on life. Everything is better. Air, water, food, sex, love."

"I hope I never have to go through what you did to feel that way," he said.

"You don't. I know you love your wife and kids. You appreciate the life you have. You're a good guy, Alcide. You always have been, even when I hated you."

"Did you actually hate me?"

"You fell in love with the woman I loved, of course I hated you," I laughed. "But you were good to her."

"Since we're on the subject, there's something I've always wanted to ask you," Alcide said.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you encourage Sookie's relationship with me? Like having her wear my jersey, and go with me to Homecoming. If you hated us being together so much, why didn't you try to sabotage it?"

"Because I loved her. All I wanted was for Sookie to be happy, and as much as it killed me that is was you, she was still happy. I would never do anything to stand in the way of that, even then."

"You're a better man than me. I really thought you were trying to break us up at first. It was why I was kind of a dick about taking her home and her dancing with you. I mean, the whole school thought you two had been together since Freshman year, and the only reason I asked Sookie out was because I'd never seen you guys actually do anything that couples did."

"That was my mistake. Did you know that I was going to tell her how I felt the night you took her home after practice?"

"No shit?"

"Yup. Fate is a fickle bitch," I said with a chuckle.

"I'm kind of glad though. I mean, if Sookie turned me down, I was kind of considering asking out Debbie, the cheerleader. Remember her?"

"Are you kidding me? She was crazy."

"I know. Could you imagine if it had worked out that way? She never would have let me go as easily as Sookie did. God, the hurt that would have caused Maria… It wasn't until we were a couple years into college that I really understood how much I'd hurt her. If Sookie hadn't said yes to that movie…"

"I get it. If all that crap happened so that you and I can sit and have a beer while the loves of our lives watch the kids, then it was all worth it," I said. I believed it too.

"Alcide Herveaux!" Maria yelled into the house.

"What?" Alcide yelled back.

"Would you like to explain to me why your son knows the word 'tits'?"

"Shit," he mumbled, and I cracked up.

It took me three more weeks to get enough strength to climb the stairs without losing my breath, and as soon as I got to that top step I yelled for Sookie.

"What? What happened?" she asked frantically as she ran towards the sound of my voice.

"I did it! Get your beautiful ass up here," I told her.

"Oh my god, Eric! Why did you do that by yourself? You should have told me first. Dammit!"

"Sookie, please don't be moody right now. Please? I just climbed the stairs by myself, and I'm not even sore. I'm fine. I want to make love to you."

"Do you really think I'm in the mood now?" she huffed and then turned on her heel and stormed off.

She'd barely been in the mood for a while now. At first it was sex all the time, but then it was like a switch flipped and she never wanted me to look at her unless she had layers of clothes on. It happened around two weeks ago, after the press conference for the NFL in which I announced my retirement so that I could be with my pregnant wife and be around more for our child. A reporter got a picture of the two of us where she was turned slightly, and after she saw it she began wearing looser clothing. We hadn't had sex, or even showered together since.

I knew I'd have to be crafty for this one. I slowly went back down the stairs and into the guest room to gather our things to take up to the bedroom. I put it all in a laundry basket and made the bed so Sookie wouldn't have to, and then I went to the kitchen where she was making supper.

"I got all our stuff out of the guest bedroom and bathroom to take upstairs."

"Why didn't you just take it up yourself?" she snapped at me, and I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I've been too afraid to try lately, and I finally got the courage to, so I just did it. I wasn't thinking."

"No, you weren't."

"Can we not fight about this? Please? That was a big step forward for my recovery. I climbed fifteen stairs, Sookie. Fifteen, and I didn't lose my breath or feel any strain on my muscles. That's huge. I'm practically back to normal."

Sookie set the spatula down next to the stove, took a deep breath, and then burst into tears.

"Shit," I muttered, and turned her around so I could hug her. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

"It's not you," she sobbed into my chest. "It really was a big deal, and I ruined it for you. I don't know why you put up with me."

"I don't put up with you. I love you. Even your mood swings," I said in a calm tone as I rubbed her back.

"But that was a big moment, and you'll never get it back."

"No, it's okay. We'll look back on this and laugh. You're actually making it more memorable, and also a story we can tell our kids."

"I still don't want to have sex. I look disgusting."

"You do not look disgusting. You're carrying our baby, and that's a beautiful thing."

"We'll see if you're still saying that when I'm so big I can't see my feet," she said, and then started crying in earnest again.

"Even then I'll say it. You are my whole world, Sookie, and you're carrying our future inside you. I don't care how big you get, I will still find you sexy, and I will still love you."

She didn't seem to have anything to say in response to that, so I gently took a step back and made her look at me.

"I'll finish up supper, and we'll eat in the living room. Want to pick out a movie for us to watch while we eat?"

"Okay," she sniffled, and walked off to the living room with one hand on her stomach, where it had practically taken up permanent residence. The sight always made me smile. I hated that I couldn't do anything for her though. I know it's sappy, but I'd always been one of those men that truly appreciated what a woman goes through to bring a child into the world. It's a scary, yet very beautiful thing.

I finished making the supper Sookie had started, while sneaking Jude some scraps since she wasn't around to yell at me for it. She picked out Steel Magnolias for the movie, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying anything about the choice. Instead, I acted thrilled that she'd picked such a good movie. Sookie sobbed through most of the second half, and I rubbed her back in silent support. When the movie was over, the waterworks suddenly stopped and she declared that it was time for ice cream.

So far, she hadn't been having any out of the ordinary cravings other than insatiable appetite for ginger snaps. I had learned that when she was craving something, you made sure she got it or else she'd get really, really moody. Alcide told me that Maria only got moody at the end of her pregnancies, so I was hoping Sookie was just getting it out of the way and it would taper off later.

After we both had a bowl of chocolate ice cream, hers with crushed ginger snaps on top, and watched another movie, we headed up to bed. Sookie silently picked up the basket of our things from the guest room and carried it up to our room.

"I'm going to take a shower," she said. I watched her go into the bathroom and shut the door, wishing I could join her. I missed showering with her. What the hell was I waiting for? I needed to show her that I still found her attractive, and damn it, I was horny.

I waited until I heard the shower start and the door to the stall shut before I went into the bathroom and stripped. Sookie jumped when I joined her and immediately started yelling at me to get out.

"I'm serious, Eric!"

I grabbed her by her arms and put my best kissing skills to use until she finally went limp against me.

"Please let me shower with you. I miss it," I said.

She stared up at me dreamily for a moment, and then nodded.

"Fine, but no sex. I don't want to fall, and you probably couldn't hold me up anyway."

I wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, I reached around her for the shampoo and began to lather her hair. She didn't put up a fight for the rest of the shower, and seemed much more relaxed than normal when we crawled into bed.

"Do you remember what you told me when I woke up?" I asked.

"I told you a lot of things," she smiled.

"It was the thing about how you used to fantasize that I was awake and making love to you."

"Eric…"

"Did you, or did you not fantasize about me making love to you?"

"I did," she sighed.

"Good. As your husband, and the love of your life," I said, running my hand up and under her shirt to graze the sides of her breasts, "it is my duty to make all of your fantasies come true. Let me make love to you."

"I'm not sure I can get into it," she said, a worried expression on her beautiful face.

"Close your eyes, and lay back," I whispered in her ear. She stared at me for a moment, and then hesitantly shut her eyes. I removed her shirt and took my time kissing down the length of her neck softly, taking my time reaching her breasts. Her breathing became shallow as I toyed with her nipples, swirling my tongue and nipping at them lightly. They had become more sensitive.

When she finally began to arch her back and moan a little, I moved further down and removed the heavy flannel pants she had begun wearing to bed every night. Her eyes were still closed tightly, so I lightly ran my fingers up the inside of her thigh and when I reached where I wanted most to be, she let out a small gasp and opened her eyes.

"Watch me, Sookie," I said, and then I was between her legs, tasting her, savoring her, giving her pleasure. I knew I finally had her when her hands tangled into my hair and pulled, hard.

"Please, I can't wait," she moaned.

In response, I brought my hand into the mix and pushed her over the edge quickly. She cried out and arched her back, and I continued to enjoy her until she sat up and pulled me on top of her.

"You've made your point," she panted. "Now give me my fantasy."

"As you wish," I whispered into her ear, and positioned myself, mindful of her growing baby bump. Slowly, I slid into her, taking much pleasure in the low moan that came from deep in her throat. As I started to move, I leaned down and whispered into her ear.

"I dreamed of this. Remembering the feel of you around me, of your skin against mine, it kept me fighting. I wanted it again, every day for the rest of my life. I swore I would never take you for granted; I would never take this for granted. You're perfect, Sookie. We're perfect. I love you."

When I moved to kiss her, I saw that she had tears running out of her eyes. I kissed them away before I kissed her lips, and shortly after that we came together, perfectly.

"Are you alright?" I asked her after we'd both caught our breath and I had her tucked into my side.

"I'm better than alright. You have no idea how much you really did make my fantasy real."

"Oh really?"

"In my dreams you whispered things like that. I wasn't expecting it," she said, and then her voice dropped to a light whisper. "For a moment I thought I was only dreaming again."

My heart sunk at her confession, and I turned her face up to mine and kissed her lips.

"I'm really here, and I'm never leaving you again. I promise."

Her eyes began to glisten again, and she buried her face into my chest as she clung tightly to me. It was like she was afraid I would turn to smoke and disappear. I didn't know what I could do, so I did the only thing I thought would be of any comfort. I wrapped my arms around her and started talking. At first it was just whispered promises and declarations, but as she calmed I started talking about our life together. I reminisced about our childhood, about how adorable she was as Tinkerbell. I talked about the moment I realized how she felt about me after I saw my Viking costume. Eventually she began to say things too, and we ended up talking for more than an hour before exhaustion forced us to succumb to sleep.

After that night, Sookie didn't cry anymore about being afraid of losing me. It was like she had just decided to be done with being afraid. We both threw ourselves into fixing up the nursery, and by the time Sookie was eight months along we were as prepared as we could be.

She had stopped being insecure about her body, so our sex life got back to normal until she was simply too uncomfortable to do anything. She and Maria fell into a routine of walking together and going out for lunch, and Alcide would come over and work out with me when he wasn't practicing.

Sookie still wanted to stay home with the baby, and I did too for a while, but I also wanted to work. We had a lot of money, and would be comfortable for quite some time, but I wanted to work and provide for my family, as well as have something to do. I started calling around to see about coaching positions, and finally got a call from a nearby high school that was extremely interested. They had the number one team in the state, and their coach was retiring after their upcoming season, so they wanted to offer me the position.

I talked it over with Sookie, and she was tremendously supportive of the idea. She said that the school was one of the best in the state academically, and for safety. The position also meant that I wouldn't have to start working until the baby was almost a year old, which was perfect for us. Also, Alcide was considering a retirement from football after the season because of what had happened to me. The school's assistant coach had gotten an offer from a college for an assistant coaching job, so I was able to negotiate for Alcide to be my assistant coach. It hardly required negotiating from the school, and soon enough Alcide and I were both signing contracts.

After one hell of a year, things were finally running smoothly, almost too good to be true. Sookie and I were happy and awaiting the birth of our first child, and the only arguments we had were over baby names. I wanted something simple, like William or Jack, but Sookie wanted something elaborate and unique, and kept throwing out the names of the men from the trashy romance novels she was into. Neither of us bothered trying to figure out a girl name because not only were we both positive it would be a boy, but if it was a girl she would be named after Gran unquestionably.

As we got closer to the due date, we both became more anxious. Sookie had been having some minor contractions, but nothing ever progressed. Finally, almost a week past her due date, she went into labor. We only stayed home until the contractions were ten minutes apart before we caved and went into the hospital, and after nearly fifteen hours they finally told us it was time.

I was about to be a daddy.