The next night I was not in a good mood, Eric had left without saying a word to me, just blew me a kiss and was gone. I didn't like not knowing what was going on; I liked it even less knowing how much it was affecting Eric. Usually he was calm, it took a lot to get him to react to things, but he was so on edge these days. As disappointed as I was, he was probably right, now was not the best time to be trying to get pregnant. I didn't want to go into the club that night, even though I knew he expected me to show up at some point. I walked down a busy street with café's and restaurants along it; I just watched people and walked along. No one bothered me which was nice, though I was just in jeans and a long black pea coat. My phone rang twice but I ignored it, I was happy to be out by myself for a bit. I knew that if Eric really wanted to find me he could through the blood bond but he hadn't so I wasn't worried about it. After an hour or so I did head to the club, it was quiet tonight but it was a Tuesday so that wasn't unusual. Eric was sitting at his usual table by himself and when I walked in he motioned me over.

"You didn't come straight here." He said as I sat down.

"No I went and walked around for a while, just wanted to clear my head a bit." I replied taking off my coat, I was wearing a pretty red top under it and Eric looked over it a bit.

"It has been pretty messy around here lately." He agreed nodding a bit.

"So you're not mad?" I asked, he didn't seem it but I thought I would check anyways.

"I was mad when I sensed you weren't here and weren't at home. But I understand your need to get out a bit, next time though call and tell me." Eric said and I nodded a little.

"Have you fed?" He asked and I nodded.

"Before I left the house I did." I replied and he nodded a bit.

"I have a few visitors coming, I would prefer it if you weren't here when I was talking to them." Eric said and I stared at him, I was so tired of this.

"Why don't you just let me know when you prefer me around?" I said and got up; I walked towards the front door.
"Ava." Eric said and he was already behind me.

"No Eric, I'm going home." I said and looked up at him, he looked like he was going to argue with me but instead he just opened the door for me and I left. I drove home fast, too fast probably but I didn't care. Why after this long was Eric shutting me out? Was it because of Sookie? I fucking hated that girl; maybe I should just kill her out of spite. Maybe Eric was getting tired of me? I sat on the couch thinking over that thought. Maybe he was…what would I do if he sent me away? Where would I go? I stayed up later then normal, but Eric still wasn't home, which made it harder to want to go to bed. I waited until I couldn't help it; the sun was going to be up within the next ten minutes.

When I woke up in the evening Eric wasn't beside me and that killed me a little (I was already dead but come on). Getting up I heated up my blood and paced, was he that mad at me? What the hell was going on? I heard his car pull up and sensed him getting closer. I sat on the couch and sipped my blood and was doing that when he came in. I wanted to run to him but I stayed stilling. He was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday (or night whatever).

"I'm sorry." Eric said looked at me and I didn't know how to react, it was rare that Eric apologized, ever.

"I hate being shut out like this, I know you think you're protecting me but you're hurting me." I said softly and he ran his fingers through his hair then pulled out his cell phone. Great, he's not even going to have the talk with me without his phone in hand.

"We're staying in tonight; we can watch movies or simply stay in bed and worship each other. The door is locked." Eric said and turned off his cell phone.

"Really?" I asked softly and he nodded tossing his phone on the floor, before walking over to me. I was still in my and staying in them and just relaxing sounded good. We watched TV for a while and just relaxed cuddling.

"Do you still have your dress from the ball?" Eric asked referring to the first night we met.

"No I don't actually." I replied and he kissed my neck softly.

"Too bad, there is a ball coming up, I would have liked it if you had worn it." He explained and I nodded.

"I'm sure I could have one made up just like it." I said shifting a bit to look up at him.

"What ever you like, you could wear something else." Eric said shrugging a bit, then his eyes flashed to the TV, and he turned up the volume.

"Hurricane Katrina is expected to arrive within a week and at this point officials are telling everyone to evacuate New Orleans and the surrounding Area." The news woman said and I shifted to watch it.

"I guess we should get ready." I said softly and Eric pulled me a bit tighter against him.

"Maybe if we are able to have children we should move, I don't want to have to worry about them during hurricane season." He said and I was happy he was still thinking about it.

"Not a bad idea." I agreed, watching the TV show the satellite image of the storm.

"I know you hate thunder, we'll be safe here, and that's why I bought it." Eric said and I nodded a bit.

"I know…we were fine last year." I said softly and Eric stroked my hair gently as we watched the news show people driving out of New Orleans.

"There are a lot of people not leaving." I said softly and Eric stopped stroking my hair.

"How do you know that?" He asked and I shrugged.

"Just a feeling." I replied and closed my eyes content with being stroked, when he started again.

"Why don't we go to bed and I'll rub your back?" Eric said and I nodded a bit, pleased when he picked me up and carried me to the bedroom. He lay me down and gently stripped me of my clothes, kissing what skin he revealed then put my on my stomach. He used the lavender oil and straddling my back starting rubbing it into my skin.

"Remember New York? You used to rub my back every night." I said softly, this was before Eric became sheriff and we were more care free, no bar or anything.

"Would you like it if I picked up that habit again?" He asked kissing my shoulder and I smiled.

"I would love it." I replied feeling more relaxed and at ease then I had been in weeks.