AN: Thank you very much for a wonderful feedback – your reviews and alerts mean a lot to me :)

Big thanks to keiman and kei for fixing my mistakes.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

Chapter 10

Sugar Pie and Master Manipulator

"I've just made tea. Want some?" I heard from the kitchen and I plopped down on the couch with a long sigh.

My Nana was a force of nature when she had seated us and hurried to bring us tea, not even waiting for out answer. Sookie and I exchanged looks of worry when something shattered in the kitchen but I was used to this – my grandmother was unable to cook or brew anything without breaking glasses in the process. Did I mention that women in the Northman family were extremely skilled in the kitchen?

Hearing a soft throat clearing, I glared at Nora, who was standing next to the coffee table and was giving us signs. I had no idea what she was trying to say when she pointed at her pelvis and made a circular motion. I assumed that she had confessed mine and Sookie's secret though…

"Eric, I think it's gonna be the most awkward encounter in my whole life!" Sookie whispered-yelled at me and I huffed. She's the one to talk. I've been running around my neighborhood butt-naked with Mr. Beckett chasing me with a gun. After he had found me in flagrante with his daughter. And after I had dented his car.

And still, speaking with my Nana about the baby Northman growing inside of Sookie, will top all of this.

The silence was elongating when Nana came back into the living room and offered us tea. I was trying my best to avoid eye contact with her and sipping on my hot-as-devil's-balls drink, burning my tongue in the process.

"So, Eric…" Nana started, but her eyes were fixed on Sookie. My blonde friend was extremely interested in her cup as well. "This is Sookie, I understand."

"Yes… She's…" I hesitated for a moment, raising my eyebrows at Sookie and she smiled gently, offering: "… friend?"

"Yes," I said more surely. "Sookie is my friend."

Nora exhaled loudly and my Nana glared at her, causing my mother to lower her gaze and blow on her hot tea.

"Yes, this Nora had explained. Sookie…" My grandmother put a hand on the blonde's knee and squeezed it gently, almost comfortingly. "It is my understanding that you've appeared in Eric's life recently…"

"Yes, Ma'am," Sookie answered, giving me a sideways glance and I decided to come to her rescue.

"Our relationship is fresh, but…"I mumbled, but I was interrupted.

"Right after Eric and his so called fiancée went their separate ways?" my Nana was continuing and I shut up immediately. "Why he did not mention their break-up and I learnt about this from Pamela, is beyond me…"

Oh God, she's going to kill me later…

"… but that was one of the most joyous piece of news that I've ever received!"

This brutally honest (and unexpected) statement was followed by a deep silence.

"Nana?" I asked, taken aback by her wide grin. She had smiled this broadly only when she was about to visit Nowak's sisters for their weekly poker game. My grandma was always as drunk as a skunk at the end of the visit and I was starting to suspect that there was some Gummi Bears' secret juice in her tea.

"What?" she asked winking. "That She Fox was bad for you, my boy! At first I was planning to be harsh on this Sugar Pie here, but one look at her face told me everything. You've got a golden heart and a beautiful soul!" Nana reached for Sookie's cheek and pinched it playfully. "And tell me dear…" Nana's hands were now firmly holding Sookie's palms and she was looking at her like a wanderer who had found an oasis in the desert. " Have you something to do with banishing this demon? What's your story? How was it?" Nana squealed; I swear to God she squealed like an excited teen. "Eric, did you look at this young lady and just decide that's it? Was there this… bug in your stomach?"

"Butterflies." I corrected her automatically and sighed. She was acting strange – I was able to smell the stench of my manipulative mother all over it.

"Mrs. Northman," Sookie started hesitantly, for the first time being able to break through my Nana's excitement. "I admit that I like Eric very much. I was taken with him from the moment we met… Although, it may be too soon for so romantic an analysis of our 'thing'." Sookie looked at me and I nodded. It was, in fact, better to put it straight that there was not much romantic emotion involved between us. Maybe except for the fact that I wanted to wrap myself around her and keep her and baby Northman close. Nora started to cough and I glared at her when her coughing was getting more and more dramatic. I was shocked when she started to shake her head violently and pointed at her stomach. Oh fuck, she didn't! I turned to Sookie, having every intention to cover her mouth with my hand but unfortunately, sound was faster than my movements. "Aside of the baby, we haven't developed any deeper connection. I can assure you though that I am not planning to use Eric. Just the baby is his and it's only fair…" Sookie was continuing, but she stopped in midsentence when my Nana made a strangled noise.

Her shocked expression was almost comical. Well, it would have been if I hadn't have been afraid that she was going to have a stroke.

"What baby?" Nana asked and Sookie's eyes got bigger.

"We assumed that Nora…" my friend started and she looked at me in panic a moment later when a horrible truth came to us.

"Well, I haven't, you nut-jobs," my wonderful mother muttered.

"Oh dear," Nana whispered eventually, after a few awkward minutes of silence. I was damn close to calling an ambulance, assuming that she had gone catatonic. "I have only one question to ask in the current situation then – when is the wedding?"

It took us two hours to explain everything to my grandmother. She took it surprisingly well – she even stopped pushing us on the wedding. She was not so understanding about Sookie's husband though. I swear that when Sookie told her story, both my Nana and Nora were acting like very pissed off lionesses. I knew about the whole thing already, but still, I was outraged by the extent of that asshole's deceptions. This poor bastard better pray that he never meets us.

All in all, Sookie won my Nana over. Damn, even Nora was acting decently towards her. I was memorizing Sookie's every smile and her every tear and promising myself to do everything in my power to fill her life with the first and to completely erase the other.

"Eric, honey? Are you there?"

It was Friday and I was spending my evening with Nana, playing poker with her and my mother. They insisted on playing for money and seeing that I was already poorer by more than two thousand bucks, I started to regret that I had agreed.

"Yeah, I was just thinking…"

"About Sookie?" Nora asked and I decided to ignore her. Yes, I was thinking about Sookie and I would much rather be with her if not for the few obstacles that had interrupted us. The first reason – Nora, still living in my apartment. Second - Sookie's girl's night with her roommate Tara and someone called Lafayette. Third and finally – my atonement for hiding something from Nana, hence my losing money on the game I hate.

My only answer to Mother's biting comments was grumbling under my breath.

"So, do you have any plans for the weekend? With Sookie maybe?" It was my Nana's turn to fish for information.

"Actually, I do not… Maybe on Monday."

Tomorrow, Sookie is looking for a new apartment and on Sunday, she is having dinner with her brother. I've offered her my company ( for apartment hunting, not meeting her brother) but she had politely declined, pointing out that she had already promised her best friend that she could do it with her. She did show me some advertisements for the apartments she was thinking of renting though. Each one of them was worse than the previous…

"And you're going to allow her to live there?" my mother asked, the outrage clear in her voice, when I had opened my laptop and showed them the site. I sighed heavily.

"What am I gonna do?" I growled annoyed. Yes, I was considering trying to persuade Sookie to find a better place to live. One mention from me about this had gotten her hackles up and an evil porcupine had raised his head, replacing that of my sweet Sookie.

"You're not gonna sit on your hands and allow this wonderful woman…" my mother started.

"… who is pregnant with YOUR baby," Nana added.

"… move into one of these hovels!"

This united front against me was getting seriously annoying… "But what else can I do aside from pointing out that it's not suitable for her? She will not accept my money." I defended myself from their disappointed glances.

Two wonderful minds got silent and clearly started to plot some evil scheme. I was getting more and more worried when they started to whisper and gesticulate, our poker game long forgotten.

"Obviously, Sookie is a proud young lady," Nana told me with a smile. "Not a gold digger like that She Fox… So, we have to tread very carefully." I sat more comfortably, getting ready for a long lecture, but my grandma was into a 'keep it short and straight and to the point' mode lately. "You have to buy your own apartment."

"Or better," Nora added, "a house. And absolutely live there with her."

I blinked a few times, taken aback by their not so ingenious plan. "First of all – I already have an apartment – and it will be hopefully free for me when you leave. Second, we're not even officially a couple yet…"

Nora's only reaction was an eyeroll.

"Do you want this girl?" my mother asked, putting a hand on her hip.

"I do…"

"Then start acting like a man, damn it!"

I gasped, outraged and looked for support from my Nana, but she surprisingly merely shrugged. "I do not agree with Nora too often…" Yeah, try like never. "… but she does have a point. You should woo Sookie and show her that she's a wonderful woman. I like her – she's nothing like that She Fox."

Damned right she wasn't! Sookie was warm and caring. She was funny and supportive and definitely good-hearted. Not even mentioning beautiful. What's more shocking, she seemed to like me genuinely. We were talking on the phone every evening and not even once had she made an excuse to finish my call any sooner.

We're gonna have a baby together and if I'm to be completely honest, I want to be a participant throughout the whole process. I want to be awakened in the middle of the night to buy her pickles because of some stupid cravings. I want to massage her swollen feet every evening. I want to decorate a nursery and be there when our baby starts to kick. I want to help her pack a bag and drive her to the hospital when everything starts. I want to change diapers and lull our baby to sleep.

My women were saying something, but I was in the dreamland and didn't listen to them. "You're right… I want to live with Sookie," I blurted out eventually and Nana and Nora smiled. "But, how am I gonna convince her?"

"Baby steps, Eric. You cannot offer Sookie anything until you have purchased a house," my mother chastised.

"But why?" I was clueless. "Wouldn't it be better if Sookie gets a chance to decide where she wants to live? I should take her with me and…"

"No!" Both of them exclaimed. I deflated.

"Why the heck not?" I swear if it's another stupid 'women's rule', I'm gonna scream.

"A woman like Sookie would feel that it's too much of a commitment. As far as it may seem… deceptive… you have to manipulate her a little." Nora explained, but in the middle of her speech, I was already shaking my head. There will be no misleading or hiding things. Sookie's douche-bag of a husband had lied to her and we have all seen how that ended.

Nana reached for my hand and squeezed it gently. "Honey, you don't have to lie to Sookie, but you should buy the place without her. It is too soon to drop this bomb on her."

I opened my mouth to argue further when something else occurred to me… I knew what house Sookie was dreaming about! She had confessed it to me at the 'Big Reveal' night. I don't have to drag her along with me, selling lies like 'I need a woman's opinion'. I can find a house that she will love without having to fool her.

But, first I have to make sure that she will not find a place for herself.

"I need to do something!" I murmured, hurrying to my office and dialing Alcide before my ass had touched my chair.

Alcide was the chief of security in my company and a good friend of mine. I trusted him and even though he will be pissed off that I had interrupted his Friday activities, he will understand. And what's more important, he will do what I'll ask him to do without question.

I tried to reach him four times and eventually, he answered my call. I was not surprised that there was a woman's voice in the distance calling him to 'come back to bed'.

"Jesus, Northman," he grumbled. "What is so important on a Friday night?"

So I explained it to him. To say he was surprised would have been an understatement, but he assured me that it would be done. My second call was to Godric. He, unsurprisingly, answered immediately and was listening to me patiently while I was asking him for a favor.

"I'm not so sure if this shit is legal…" he summed up eventually. "And it can work only on one IP address… If your lover lady uses a different computer, all will go to Hell."

"She will use only her own home equipment." I assured him. Sookie still had a very outdated cell-phone and as she had admitted, she was slightly techno-phobic. She didn't even have a laptop, saying that she had never needed one. She will be using a computer at Tara's place, I was sure about this.

"By the way, Eric – you're creepy – and if you're about to ask me to spy on her on her webcam, I will decline."

I rolled my eyes, not taking the bait. "It's very important to me. Thank you, Ric."

"Don't call me that," he growled and hung up.

I felt like whistling and dancing – I couldn't believe how ingenious my idea was! I stopped smiling when I noticed both of the Northman ladies watching me from the entrance with frowns upon their faces.

"What?"

"I found a real estate agent who's willing to take care of you tomorrow. His secretary was very attentive when I mentioned that you want to find something as fast as possible and that price doesn't matter. She needs details of what you're interested in," Nora explained, still watching me strangely. I walked over to her, taking the phone along with me, but I frowned as well when their expressions didn't change.

"What?" I asked.

"Honey," my mother said with a smile. "I'm proud of you."

Hm? That couldn't be good, right?

I looked at Nana and she was watching me and gently shaking her head. There was disappointment on her face and it was as unnerving as Hell.

"What?" I asked again, not understanding her displeasure. I had taken matters into my own hands, hadn't I?

"You'd better pray that she does not find out about this little stunt of yours, Eric or you'll be in trouble." With this ominous warning, my Nana kissed my cheek and wished me good night. I really wanted to ask her what she meant, but the lady on the other end of the phone started asking for my attention and I shifted my interest to the matter at hand.

Why Nana was acting so strange, I had no idea. I hadn't done anything aside of making sure that everything will work out nicely for me. And for Sookie.

AN: So, Eric decided to man up and take care of things. More about Eric's master plan in the next chapter.

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