A/N: Thanks so, so much for the lovely reviews for last chapter.
Some people where wondering if the story is drawing to a close. I'd say we're about halfway there. I hope I'm not overstaying my welcome by continuing but I didn't see the 'I love you's as the end of the story. There's still more to go in the present as well as the past.
And thanks as always to my amazing beta Northman Maille! I just don't know what I would do without you.
Disclaimer: I own nothing….
"Touch My World with Your Fingertips"
They walked into the house hand and hand, not saying anything, just reveling in the feeling of being together. When Sookie closed the front door behind them she noticed the little piece of paper stuck to it, covered in Amelia's distinctive handwriting:
Pam invited me out. Be back sometime tomorrow morning. Hope all went well.
Sookie laughed just a little while reading it. Then looked at Eric with a raised eyebrow as she laid the note on the little table where she and Amelia always stowed their keys.
"Would you have had something to do with this?" She asked. "I didn't think Pam and Amelia were 'spending time' together anymore."
Eric shrugged his shoulders, even as he pinned her with a mischievous smile.
"I might have mentioned to Pam that I hoped to get some alone time with you after our dinner engagement tonight. She has always been very…proactive when it comes to helping me achieve my goals. It's one of the reasons I put up with some of her other, less endearing character traits."
"Sure." Sookie laughed a little. "You love her and you know it."
Eric smiled brightly, as he closed his arms around her again.
"I do. Though I will deny it if you ever tell her so. But what I feel for Pam… it does not even come close to what I feel for you." He said, already keeping his promise never to hide his feelings from her again. "I have never loved anyone the way I love you." He whispered, just before his lips took hers in a searing kiss.
When Eric pulled away to let her breathe, Sookie felt lightheaded in a way that had very little to do with lack of oxygen.
"I love you too." She whispered as her arms squeezed him tight and her face buried itself in the hard plains of his chest. "I'm sorry it took me so long to see it." She felt his kiss on the top of her head before his lips began a slow, reverent journey down to her ear, sucking lightly before dropping lower to nuzzle the pulse just beneath.
"We have both made mistakes Lover. Do not them weigh upon you. We are together now. Just be with me, love me, and let me love you."
"Just try to stop me." She said, smiling softly as she felt him take a long, deep inhale of her scent, which she assumed was still suffused with Fairy when he shuddered visibly, and tightened his arms around her.
"Never." He swore as his lips dipped lower, tracing the line of her collar bone. "You are mine as I am yours." He pulled away suddenly, a look that encompassed both trepidation and possessiveness darkening his beautiful features. "You are mine, are you not Sookie?"
Their phone conversation from the night before floated through her mind, but this time she had no problem telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. In fact, she found she couldn't stifle the words, even if she'd wanted to.
"I'm yours Eric. There isn't anyone else. You were right. I don't love him and I never did. He might not know it yet, but it's over. There isn't anyone for me but you, and there never will be again."
The words were barely out of her mouth before he'd lifted her into his arms. In the blink of an eye they were in her bedroom and he was lowering her back to the floor, sliding her sensually along the length of his body, letting her feel every hard inch him as his lips attacked hers with a need that was both completely new and utterly familiar all at once.
"I love you." He breathed against her mouth as his hands reached down to the hem of her silk shirt and began lifting it, exposing her skin to his exploring fingers. "I love you." He said again as he lifted the material up and off, his hands sliding back down her raised arms, caressing the sides of her breasts teasingly, before slipping behind to undo the clasp of her bra with expert ease. "Only you." He intoned as the hooks gave and the simple black cotton came loose.
Sookie lowered her arms and the bra fell to the floor between them, completely forgotten as those same hands moved forward again to cup the heavy swells of her breasts.
Eric's fingers began to slide back and forth over her nipples, raising them to hard peaks, even as her own fingers began working the button of his pants. They snapped it open as though they had a mind of their own, while her head swam with the pleasure he was eliciting from just the pads of his thumbs on her pebbled skin.
"Eric please." She pleaded breathlessly, her eyes rising to lock with his. "I need you. I need you so badly. You can't understand how much."
His eyes seemed to blaze at her admission.
"I do. I can feel it. Close your eyes." He commanded. "Do you feel it? There in our bond. Do you feel how it burns?"
Sookie could only nod as she concentrated hard on the emotions zinging back and forth between them, so much stronger now she was actively listening to them.
"What you feel is our need. Yours and mine combined, one spurring the other, both driving each other." He murmured just before he bent and took one of her aching nipples between his lips, sucking hard as his hands continued to squeeze and knead her breasts.
"Eric!" Sookie barely recognized her own voice as she whimpered his name, her hands coming up, digging into his hair and holding him to her with a force she could hardly believe she possessed.
No one had ever made her feel the way he did. The fact she could have him now without shame because she belonged to another, or fear because she couldn't truly be sure if he returned her feelings, heightened every touch, made every caress that much more meaningful. He was hers, in a way she'd never imagined he would be, and she could finally allow herself to be his, in a way she'd only ever been in her dreams that weren't dreams.
The rest of their clothes seemed to melt away, without Sookie actually being sure how they got from their bodies to the floor, and then he was lowering her to the bed. Laying her gently on top of the blankets, his lips took hers again.
His tongue sought entrance which she granted, without hesitation, as her own darted out to caress the sharp tips of his fangs. His groan of pleasure was like music to her ears as his hands came down to grasp the swells of her bottom, hauling her up so he could rub the rock hard length of his erection through her soft, wet slit.
"Open your eyes, Lover. Look at me." He breathed into her mouth.
Sookie's eyes popped open at his words and she realized she'd had them closed almost the entire time, willingly drowning in the emotions going back and forth between them through this strange, new, magical connection.
"I love you." She said again, having happily lost count of how many times they'd said it already tonight.
This time Eric sent her his love in strong waves instead of answering her with words, and smiled adoringly before his whole body began to move slowly down the length of hers. His lips stopped again at her breasts, kissing and licking both with equal ardor before dipping lower, sliding wetly over each of her ribs, his tongue dipping teasingly into the indentation of her navel.
Sookie was practically shaking with need when Eric finally reached his destination, blowing cool air over her heated core and watching with delight as she shivered and whimpered. When he took the first taste of her though, it was his turn to shudder and Sookie could feel the soul deep delight coursing through him.
"Lover," he moaned, "you taste…God I've never had anything so delicious." They were his last words as he dove into her, licking and sucking on her over sensitized flesh with abandon. He dipped his tongue into her entrance drawing out the sweet essence of her desire before driving two fingers deep inside and concentrating all his efforts on her throbbing bundle of nerves.
It took only a few delirious moments for Sookie to reach her peak and she came screaming as Eric turned his head to the side and sank his now aching fangs into the soft skin of her thigh.
The stars had barely cleared from her vision when she felt him kiss and lick his way back up to her mouth. He kissed her with abandon, letting her taste the heady mix of her desire and her blood, covering his mouth, as he aligned them and thrust into her in one long, slow movement.
Sookie screamed again, something that started as Eric's name but ended as nothing more than an animalistic noise of ecstasy, as she locked her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. She felt Eric's fingers tangle roughly into her hair as he began to move inside her, plunging deep and riding her wildly.
"Sookie!" He moaned over and over again as he moved inside her, shaken by the overwhelming pleasure and pleased beyond belief that she could take him so completely.
With what little sense he still had he probed their bond, making sure she was well, that she felt only bliss in their joining. Her rapture telegraphed to him clearly and he lost himself in their passion, forgetting everything but the feeling of finally being inside her.
Their eyes locked as they rocked frantically against each other and, just as he had when he was cursed, Eric began to speak to her in his old language, whispering praises and gasping his pleasure with each hard pump of his hips.
The moved against each other for what seemed like hours until they were both coated in Sookie's sweat and she was nearly breathless, panting his name in frantic whispers and broadcasting her desperate need to come.
Knowing he couldn't last much longer, Eric finally brought one of his hands down and began to work his fingers lightly over her nub, giving her the final push she needed to fall over the edge, sobbing from the power of her release. He followed seconds later with a roar of surprise as her muscles, an agonizingly pleasurable vice, forced his release over and over again.
When Sookie opened her eyes minutes later, Eric was lying beside her, his arms wrapped around her and her head lying limply on his chest. She noticed there was a purplish mark, already healing, on his shoulder, just above where she lay and realized she must have bitten him when she'd come…hard. Blushing straight to scarlet it dawned on her that she had no memory of it. Her orgasm had ripped through her with such intensity she'd all but blacked out from the pleasure.
"Are you well?" He asked, the words concerned even as his tone dripped in smug satisfaction.
"I'm…I'm…Wow!" She answered, hiding her head in the crook of his arm as she realized she didn't have words for just how 'well' she was.
"I think that about sums it up." He laughed holding her tighter and laying gentle kisses in her hair. "You seem somewhat surprised though. Was I not as…'wow' before, when I lacked my memories?"
His voice was still light as he asked her, but Sookie could sense a myriad of warring emotions through their bond. Genuine curiosity, frustration, which Sookie guessed was because he still didn't know the whole of what happened between them, and a bit of worried male pride mixed in, that he might have disappointed her in the past. Wrapping her arms around him tighter, Sookie nuzzled her face into his chest, kissing him softly in reassurance.
"No, it was always 'wow'." She laughed, smiling up at him. "I think it's the bond, everything just feels…more somehow, like wow times a thousand!"
Her explanation seemed to appease him and he nodded, kissing her head and closing his eyes in what felt like total bliss. They were silent for a few long minutes as Sookie breathed deep, willing her body to calm down and begin working properly again. When she felt a little more sure headed, she lifted away slightly, resting her weight on an elbow so she could see Eric's face.
"I know I have a lot that I need to tell you. Things I should have a long time ago, but…" She broke off then, her expression turning sad and puzzled all at the same time. "Will you tell me how it ended for us?" Her voice was just a whisper as she spoke the last words.
"Lover?" He asked back, unsure of what she meant.
"Our lives, when we were both Human?"
In hushed tones she told him all she'd seen in her dreams and how she still didn't know what happened to them.
"Did we ever find our way back to each other? Niall told me I got sick and Fintan visited me and brought my spark back to their…world, because he was unable to heal me. But apparently my grandfather didn't tell him everything. He just said Fintan was trying to wait you out before…I don't know bringing me back, but that he felt guilty after he fell in love with my grandmother and decided not to wait any longer."
Eric's emotions seemed to go dark and churning at her words and she could feel his anger as though it were her own, though the expression on his face never changed.
"Is that what he told you?" He asked darkly.
Sookie only nodded her head, to overwhelmed by his rage and pain to say anything.
"Fucking Fairies." He spat all of the sudden.
"What happened?" She whispered again, unable to make her voice any louder….
Looking out the window, Eric surmised it was well into the early hours of the morning already. Still all of them sat around the long table, his father, his brother Gunnar, Thorvalder and Thorvalder's father, worry and anxiety filling up the room as the men of the family glanced every few moments at the white curtain that separated the majority of the house from where the women had gathered to help Aude through another birth.
The children had all piled into one of the big beds together hours before, too tired to care anymore about the sounds of pain and exhaustion that rhythmically filled the house.
Just as it had been all those years ago, Sookie walked through the curtain just moments after a final sharp cry of pain. Her hands were bloody this time though, bloody and empty.
With tears coursing down her cheeks she walked directly up to Eric.
"I'm sorry Eric." She whispered when she reached the wall of men who'd stood from the table the second she'd pulled back the divider. "It was a girl. She drew a few breaths but then just faded away."
"And Aude?" He asked, trying to keep the bitter disappointment and pain from his voice.
"They're cleaning her up now. You should go to her. She's very weak. The midwife is worried for her." Eric only nodded his head as he began to move past Sookie towards where his wife lay.
The outcome of this birth, though sad, hadn't been entirely unexpected. They'd returned from their raid the summer before laden with treasure only to have an early frost destroy most of the crops while they were still in the ground.
The winter had come quick and hard and, without the harvest, the village had barely been able to scrape together enough to keep alive. They'd had to kill a great many of their livestock in order to keep food in their mouths over the harsh snowy months and if it had not been for the treasure and money they'd taken during the summer's raid, which they'd been able to trade for some of what they'd lost, they would have all surely starved to death. As it was they'd barely made it through.
And with hunger and cold inevitably came disease.
Many had been taken from them this winter. Mostly the very young and the very old, who were too weak to stand the deprivation. In their home both of Eric's grandparents had succumbed as well as Sookie's youngest boy, who had been barely two years old. Aude, pregnant and vulnerable, had pulled through, but she'd been so weakened it was no surprise the baby had died or that her own life was hanging in the balance.
As he knelt before his wife now, knowing these were very probably their last moments together, he took her hand and tried to be strong. She'd been a good wife to him these eight years. She'd put aside her feelings and her grief to do her duty. She'd nurtured and cared for their children and, knowing she was not the one he wanted, she'd always tried to be what he needed: a partner and a friend, a woman who would never ask for his love, even as she gave her devotion. He only hoped that she could say the same about him.
"Eric, I'm sorry." She whispered, when she felt his hand, cool in hers as she burned with fever.
"Don't apologize. You've done nothing wrong. You have only to get better, grow stronger. There will be more children." He whispered back to her.
She seemed to smile at that, even as she shook her head.
"Don't patronize me." She tried to laugh, though it came out more as a croak. "I'm not sad, so you shouldn't be either. Do you think he's waiting for me…in Freya's hall?"
Eric had no need to ask who she was talking about and knowing her mind had wandered there he was sure she wouldn't fight. She wanted to go.
"I have no doubt." He answered, squeezing her hand gently, and smiling down on her, not wanting to weight her journey with grief. "He is there with little Sverri too, they're waiting for you, along with this little one and the others who were not long in this world."
"I hope you're right. I cannot wait to see them again." She breathed, before turning to him with sad eyes. "I'm going to my happiness, my only regret is that my passing will not bring you yours. You've been a good husband to me Eric, a better husband than any woman could have asked for. I only wish it could have been different for all of us. I have loved you and Sookie both, to be the one that came you between you…I'm sorry."
He hushed her then, with a kiss to her forehead.
"That was none of your doing and nothing you should apologize for. He would not have died if I…." After years of wallowing in this particular guilt, Eric still had no idea how to finish that sentence.
Sverri would not have died if Eric's boat had been closer, if Eric had jumped into the ocean to save him, if…if what? There was only that feeling at the pit of his stomach that his brother should still be alive. If Sverri had lived none of it would have happened. Aude would never have been broken by her grief. She never would have gone into labor early and little Sverri would have lived. He and Sookie would have married, loved and born the children they should have together. They all could have been happy.
"You will tell her anyway?" Aude's voice, weakening by the moment, broke into his revere. "You will tell Sookie I'm sorry."
"I will if you wish it." He answered.
Aude just nodded her head and said no more. She seemed to drift off into sleep a few minutes later and though her body held on for another few hours, it was clear her spirit was already gone.
As the sun began to stream through the small windows, lighting the darkness where the fire had long gone out, Eric felt Sookie's hands fall on his shoulders. Turning where he sat, Eric buried his face in her stomach as her arms came up around him.
They stayed for long minutes like that, Sookie just holding him, stroking his hair and crooning wordless noises of comfort. They would have to call the others soon to begin preparing Aude's body, and the baby's too, but for now all he wanted to stay in Sookie's arms, saying goodbye to what had been, knowing he had his wife's blessing for it as she was already making her way to the one she loved.