Hello again! Here's the next chapter. I would have posted it earlier, but I wasn't sure what was going on with FF, since I wasn't getting any email updates. Thanks for all the great feedback and I hope you like this one! I am also looking for baby names for the story if anyone has any great suggestions!

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Sookie

After our brief visit with Pam, we didn't talk about her much. I noticed later that week that Eric moved the photos in the box in his office to the garage.

I didn't really know what to make of our visit. I was glad she didn't hate me personally, it was really just the situation, and there was nothing that anyone could do about that at this point. We went out for lunch with Eric's mom a bit later in the week at a lovely traditional Norwegian restaurant near the university she was teaching at. She asked about our meeting and Eric just said he didn't want to talk about it. She shot me a look and I just shrugged my shoulders and asked about the course she was teaching. We made plans to go shopping next week and changed the subject. She pulled my first clipping out of her purse a little bit later and I was relieved to see that I didn't look too pale, since the photo was in black and white. I was just called Eric Northman's mystery woman, which wasn't too bad. I was afraid I'd have homewrecker or worse written under my picture. Elsie explained that the tabloids had taken Eric's side for the most part, after Pam had been touted as a bit of a homewrecker for her numerous affairs with married socialites. Yet another reason for her to be bitter.

After a week and a half of avoiding the small, blond, pregnant elephant in the room, I finally broke.

"I think you need to go over and talk to her. I'll stay here." We were curled up on the couch, watching the extended version of the second Lord of the Rings movie. I loved them, but we'd both already seen them multiple times.

"I don't have anything to say to her."

"I think you have lots of things to say to her, and I think you need to say them, so you just go and say them." I hated to see him so burdened. He needed to be ok with her, because they were going to have to be civil for at least the next 18 years.

Eric sighed and moved my feet off of his lap. "Fine. If I'm not back in an hour, then its safe to assume that she's turned me to stone with the snakes in her hair."

"See you in a bit." He rolled his eyes at me, and kissed my forehead as he headed out the door.

I dozed off on the couch for a bit and came to when I heard two voices come into the house. I looked down at my completely inappropriate outfit of an old pair of Eric's boxers and a tank top and shook my head and wiped the sleep from my eyes. I wasn't even wearing a bra for christs sake. He couldn't have called to give me some warning?

Pam and Eric walked into the living room and Pam sat down in the armchair across from me. Eric sighed and shot me a pained look. "I'm going to go for a drive. I'll be back in a half hour. Pam, if you fuck this up, seriously, I don't know." He shook his head and I felt a lump in my throat as I heard his car pull out of the driveway.

Pam turned to me, once she was sure he was gone. "Let me start this by saying that I'm sorry. If you knew me better, you'd know that's not something I say very often. I don't know why I was such a bitch the other day. That's a lie actually, I know exactly why."

"Oh?" Why the hell had Eric left me alone with her? Was he high? Had she drugged him?

"Its because I don't know how to be around him anymore, and you by default, since you are with him. Its like I've been lying to him for so many years, that I can't even stick with my own truth, when I didn't even have the guts to tell him myself. I had to wait for him to walk in on me face down in someone I didn't even like. Now is that anyway to treat someone you care about? He deserved a bit of honesty from me. Five months ago, I had a loyal, loving, fucking gorgeous fiancee, three girlfriends on the side, this gorgeous home, the respect of my parents, everything. Last month, I almost thought of telling that I wanted to get back together, just so things could go back to the way they were, with him at least. Now tell me that's not a little crazy."

That was more than a little crazy. "Pam, I'm not sure why you're telling me any of this."

"Because I need you to know that this is all about me. It's all my shit. Eric really is the real deal. He's fucking amazing. I wish I could have been what he thought I was. I do want him to be happy, somewhere deep down in my gut, I just don't know how to deal with him being happy, when I feel like my life has fallen apart. For so long, our lives were so tightly intertwined together. He was mine and I should have let him go a long time ago, but I'm selfish."

"Pam, I just want us to be able to be civil. I love him, and you need to know that I don't take his relationship with you lightly. When I decided to keep seeing him, after I called you that night, I knew that you and this one." I pointed to her stomach. "were part of the package. I know you are still important to him, and I accept that. I understand that this is all a lot for you. I told him that when we left your house the other night. I know we aren't going to magically ok, but all I want is for us to be able to agree to work on it."

"Then I will agree to that. I know he loves you too. He's furious with me at the moment, for the other day."

"How did you convince him to leave you alone with me? He didn't seem very happy about it."

She smiled, the first genuine smile I'd seen from her. "I reminded him of how well our phone conversation had worked out for him."

"I guess that was a big risk that paid off."

"Yea, that was really ballsy. I liked you after that you know, even if I have a very bad way of showing it."

We chatted for a few more minutes, talking about what pregnancy was like, how her masters degree was going, how I was enjoying Japan. It turned out she was a big fan of Kyoto, so we had something to talk about there. Sure we were pretty opposite, but we did have someone very important to both of us in common. I'd make the effort, as long as she made some effort as well.

When Eric returned, exactly 30 minutes after he left, he actually sighed in relief when he walked in the room and saw that we both had all our hair intact and weren't in tears.

He came and sat down beside me, grabbing my hand and looked at Pam. "Did you say what you wanted to say?"

"I did, and I owe you an apology too. I do want you to be happy Eric, I know I really do, but I just don't know how. I'll figure it out though. Its up to me to figure it out. You have quite the girl here too, and what a rack. Did Elsie show you those pictures from the paper yet? Is she still saving them."

Eric nodded and I blushed and folded my arms over my chest. What the hell was it with my rack? "Thanks, I think."

"I should get home. I'd like to have you both for dinner, if you'd like to come before you go. I'm not much of a cook. Eric always did the cooking." She looked a little sad. "Maybe I can order in."

"We'd love to Pam. Give us a call when you'd like to do it." I smiled at her as she slowly got up. That was a serious baby in there, and she still had 4 months to go.

Eric smiled at me, looking relaxed for the first time since the last time we'd seen Pam. "Do you want a drive home?"

"Thanks, but I'd like the walk. I need to start planning how I'm going to get this baby weight off." Pam hardly had any baby weight on, just a little round belly.

"Atta girl. Before you know it, you'll be the hottest MILF on the playground." He smiled at her and she rolled her eyes, but smiled back.

"Night you two."

"Bye Pam."

As soon as we both heard the door shut, Eric wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me hard. "I got in my car and realized that was a terrible idea. Hormonezilla really convinced me that you both needed to reach an understanding on your own terms. I'm really sorry."

"It actually went ok. Yes, she is a little crazy right now, but I think most of it can be chalked up to hormones, and how fucking perfect you are, which I wouldn't argue with her on for a minute. I think she's having a hard time letting go, even though she knows its for the best for both of you. You will have to work out things with her when it comes to your child, but her and I are fine."

"Well, that's a start then. So, I have a little proposal for you."

"Oh?"

"Will you come for Christmas? After your school closes, or whenever you can get the time off? I've promised the two of them, Mom and Pam, that I'd be here, and I want to be here when the baby is born, and it would mean so much if you were here too. I'll buy you the ticket for Christmas."

"Of course. I'd love to come, but I should pay for part of the ticket. I know how expensive they are."

"Don't be silly. Do you know how many frequent flyer miles we have banked? I insist."

"Well then, if you insist, then I'm not going to fight you over it. I've never had a really snowy Christmas. And the baby will be here! Yea, I wouldn't miss that for anything." He grinned up at me. "So when is the official due date?"

"December 17th. So exactly four months from tomorrow." His eyes went wide at the thought. "Four months."

"That's lots of time." No it wasn't. Who was I kidding? "Are you going to make one of the rooms upstairs into a nursery?"

"I guess so, I mean, I guess I'll have to. I don't even know what goes in a nursery." He shook his head.

"You'll figure it out. I'm sure your Mom would help you get it all together. We can go, if you want, while I'm here too."

"That would be really great." Eric was starting to look a little overwhelmed, so I sat down and pulled him down onto the couch with me.

"Its all going to be ok, you know. You'll have lots of help. I'm sure every new father has no idea what they are doing."

"I hope you're right." He smiled weakly at me.

A couple of days later, I went shopping with Elsie. Eric and his Dad had a conference call with someone in Hong Kong, so we drove over to their house and then Elsie and I took her car to a lovely outdoor shopping area at the city center.

"So how was your visit with Pam? I know Eric didn't really want to talk about it." I knew she was going to ask me, as soon as Eric dismissed it last week.

"Well the first one was terrible, but the second one went much better. We are going to go for dinner at her place sometime before I leave."

"After the first time, you went back for seconds? That's brave of you. She's really not a bad girl, just very terribly self-centered. I hope that motherhood will cure her of that."

"I'm sure it will. I think its just all a lot for her to deal with." We wandered through H&M, which was exactly my price range. "This stuff is great, and so affordable."

"Yea, I get a lot of things from here. But don't tell the society page that, they'd string me up." She laughed. "So tell me, has Eric asked you to come for Christmas yet? I know he was planning on it before you even came, but I think he got thrown off track by Pam."

"Yea, he asked me a couple of nights ago, after things got a bit sorted out with her. I, of course would be thrilled to be here. Its a very exciting time and I've never had a white Christmas."

"Well, it will certainly be a white one here. Its a lot of snow, and I'm from the great white north. We'd love to have you. You'll have to email me your favourite things to eat again."

"And the baby will be here. Eric's going to need some help getting a nursery together. I told him I'd help out while I was here."

"Yea, I will help out too. I'm sure things will come together. He's got a great support system, between you and us."

"Yea, he does. I think he'll be a great dad, even if he's not sure about it yet."

"I know he will." She smiled. "So Eric mentioned that you have a home in Louisiana. Do you plan to go back there when you finish teaching?"

"No. I don't really have much of a plan for after. My contract is up in January, so I'm going to have to start thinking about it though. I could sign another contract, but then I'd be committed for another year. My brother had an offer on the house, so I need to start thinking about that. I really have no intentions on going back, even if I returned to the states, but its been in our family for a couple of hundred years."

"Can you rent it out? I still own my family home in Toronto, but I have a property management company take care of it."

"I guess that's something to consider. I keep missing Jason when I call, so when I get him I'll see what he thinks. Its no good just standing empty. He helps with it, but he has our parent's house, so it really is mine. I just don't want it to fall apart while I'm gone."

"Eric would kill me for asking, but have you given any thought to moving here when you are done your contract? I could probably help you get into a Master's program here. There are lots of exchange students and lots of programs in English."

I sighed. "I really do like it here, I, well, I just worry about making long term plans, since we've known each other for such a short amount of time. I worry about bringing it up, when he has so much else on his mind, with Pam and the baby. I feel like me bringing up moving here in might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Maybe in time it will feel like the right time."

"I don't think he'd see it that way. You've been a great source of strength for him, through all of this. Its living through difficult situations like this that make a relationship strong, no matter how much actual time you've spent together."

"I know, and I do feel like we are in a really great place, in spite of everything else. Even long distance doesn't seem like that much of a big deal, because its with him."

"Well just don't not do what feels right because you are worried about timing." I went to pay for my armload of purchases, but Elsie shooed me away. "I insist."

After a few hours, we headed back over to her house, to find Eric and Peter having some beer in the backyard. After a few minutes of listening to a very silly conversation about some kind of tuna, Elsie shot me a knowing look. They were both completely drunk.

"So I guess that was a pretty quick call to Hong Kong Pete?" She went over and sat on the arm of his chair. He immediately pulled her into his lap and gave her a huge kiss.

"Didyou have fun shopping El? Hi Sookie. Wouldya like a beer?" He was holding on to Elsie for dear life, as she playfully tried to squirm out of his lap.

Eric looked over at me, shaking his head at his Dad's amorous advances towards his Mom. "Yousee what I have to deal with?" He smirked at me. "I think you should drive home." The slur in his words concurred. I had gotten my international driver's licence when I moved to Japan, just in case I ever had the need to drive, but I really wasn't very comfortable driving on the other side of the road. "Bye folks."

Eric's dad muttered something in her ear and waved and Elsie rolled her eyes. "See you two later this week. I'll have that beer another time Peter." My heart sunk a little, remembering that I only had one more week. I led Eric out to his car, and strapped him in. "You really want to to drive your baby?"

"I trust you. Just go slow though."

"How much did you have to drink?"

"Six or eight. Maybe ten. We closed a deal in Hong Kong and the beer just disappeared. Dad really likes you."

"Well I really like him, and your Mom. She wouldn't let me buy anything. She insisted on paying."

"She likes you too. You're pretty likeable Lover." He leaned over and whispered in my ear. "And pretty fuckable, especially in this car. Maybe drive a little faster."

"Eric, don't distract me!" I smacked him in the arm.

"Why don't you pull over, Lover, and let me distract you properly."

I almost dismissed him completely, but the lusty look in his eyes made me reconsider. "What if someone pulls over and thinks we're broken down or something?"

"Take the first right up here, then go left. Its a dead end. I'll make it worth your while." He waggled his eyebrows and me I followed his directions and we came to a dead end street, with no homes in visible sight.

"I can't believe I agreed to this. What are we, 16? We have a proper bed ten minutes aw...Mmmmm..." I moaned as Eric unbuckled my seatbelt, moved his hands up my dress and under my bra, teasing my instantly hard nipples.

"Why don't you come over here, Lover." Eric hit the release lever on his seat, reclining back. I squealed as he pulled me over the center console, stabbing me in the butt with the gear shift. He pulled me close to him, which was necessary, since it was a very small car, and rubbed his hands along the back of my dress, and I felt him grow hard as he lowered my underwear, leaving them around my ankle. He kept his eyes on my face the entire time. He looked a bit hazy, but completely in control, as he slowly inserted two fingers into me, causing my breath to hitch, as he stroked me lazily. "I told you I'd make it worth your while."

Words escaped me, as he used his entire hand to bring me to an earth shaking orgasm. As soon as I could function again, I reached between us and unzipped his pants. I slowly slid myself onto him, as he let out a moan. "Fuck Sookie." He ran his fingers through my hair as we moved together, his feet braced under the dash. He held my eye contact the entire time, watching my facial expressions and replaying the movements that got the most reaction. I tried to do the same, but he kept beating me to it. He smirked at me, as I completely lost it and came again, screaming out his name. He followed my lead, arching his back in the seat as he pushed into one final time. We lay there for a few minutes, completely spent.

"Lover, I think that that was fucking spectacular. Now there's no way I'm going to be able to get rid of this car. I'll have to get a second."

"That was, wow." I moved myself over to the driver's seat and replaced my underwear. "Sorry, I need a minute before I can drive."

"I like having that effect on you." He winked at me. "I don't want you to go. I missed you when you were gone for five hours this afternoon."

"I know. I'll see you at the end of September though, sometime in November, and then I'll be here for Christmas." This would have been a good time to bring up further into the future, but I didn't want to have this conversation when he was drunk.

After a couple of minutes, my head was clear enough to drive, and I slowly made my way to Eric's house. I looked over at him, and after about ten minutes, he'd passed out in the passenger seat. I laughed, thinking that I'd have to leave him there, because there was no way I was going to be able to get him in the house on my own.

I carefully pulled into his garage, and gave myself a pat on the back for my first European driving adventure, both in the driving and the fucktastic time we'd just had. I pushed on Eric's shoulder, trying to rouse him. "Eric, we're home. Time to go inside." He mumbled something incoherent, as I opened the car door and shook him a little more. "Come on silly." After poking him for ten minutes or so, I was finally able to wake him up enough that he could at least help me get him inside. I laid him out on the couch and went to pick out a movie. I finally settled on Lost in Translation, which I had, oddly enough, never seen. I smiled most of the way through it, partly due to the giant man passed out on the couch, and partly because I knew exactly what the characters in the movie were experiencing. Every once and a while Eric would mumble something.

When the movie was finished, I crawled off the loveseat and went over and kissed his cheek. He rolled over and kissed my mouth. "Eric, do you want some water or anything?"

"I just want you. I want you to stay with me." He pulled me onto the couch with him, squeezing me tightly.

"I am here silly, I've been here all night."

"I don't mean like that." He mumbled. "I mean I want you to stay here with me. I love having you here and I don't want you to leave."

"We'll talk about this when you are in better shape. Let me get you some water." I wriggled out of his grasp and went to the kitchen, wiping an errant tear from my eye. I wished I knew with certainty that he'd feel this way when he wasn't drunk. I felt like I belonged here, like I had fit myself into a puzzle I'd been working on forever. I didn't want him to feel forced into anything though, I wanted him to ask me. He had so little control over so many things, it seemed unfair to invite myself any further into his life than I already was, unless it was what he wanted.

I brought the glass of water back after a few minutes and Eric pulled me into his arms again. We slept on the couch, until about 3am, when I woke up damp and sweaty from the leather. I pulled myself out of his grasp.

"Eric, come on, lets go upstairs." He mumbled a bit more and let me help him upstairs. I pulled off his jeans and sweater and tucked him him and went to brush my teeth. I crawled in beside him and a strong arm automatically wrapped around my waist.