A/N: Thanks so much for the wonderful reviews for the last chapter. So glad you all haven't given up on me or this story yet. The wait for an update was too long. I love that you're all so patient.

Krismom is a kickass beta. She finds my boo- boo's and puts band-aids on them, no matter how many times I fall down. If I were half as good a writer as she is I'd be phenomenal.

Big hugs and kisses to EtheHunter who took the time out of her busy life to help me with this chapter as well. She's more than awesome. Go read her stories, cuz they're the shiznit! For realz!

Disclaimer: I still don't own them, no matter how many times I play with them.

Previously...

Eric carried me up the stairs and into my room, careful not to jostle me. I could hardly feel the movement of his steps, perhaps we were flying, floating. Or maybe I was just that out of it. I was, after all, letting Eric carry me into my bedroom without a fight. Yes, I was definitely out of my mind.

I wondered with a snort if he'd still use the opportunity to proposition me. The walls were blurry and my thoughts were so scattered I closed my eyes.

Eric sat with me in his lap on my bed, brushing the hair out my face gently. His cool breath fanned over my face making my eyes flutter open once more. The look in his eyes brought me out of my daze. It was so tender, so full of care and pity, it frightened me. I didn't want his care, or need his pity. It only made things more confusing.

"Let's get you taken care of, Lover," he whispered. And I wanted to sob.

My heart couldn't handle any more confusion.

SPOV

"What will you do to him, Eric?" I asked the question hoping to distract myself from what his fingers were doing to my neck, not because I particularly wanted to know what he had in mind. It wasn't working; I could still feel those agile, cool fingers and every single pass they made over my heated skin.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked, raising a speculative eyebrow.

"Uh, not really," I admitted.

Eric chuckled but remained silent as he plucked the hairs away from my chest and neck and out of my wound. The cool rag he passed over it occasionally did nothing to ease the inferno that was building with his touch.

His hands were steady and methodical, but they sent a fire blazing through my veins. His cool fingers brushed across my collarbone. My breath caught in my throat and my nipples hardened. The way I ached, anticipating his next touch, was pathetic and bothersome. I hated that my body reacted to Eric despite what my head said.

I heard a rip and looked down in time to see Eric tearing at my T-shirt. "What are you doing?" I gripped the fabric over my chest, making it impossible for him to expose me any further.

"Relax, Lover. I'll be on my best behavior."

I snorted. Yeah, right. Eric's best behavior was still bad. I had no doubt. Still, I relaxed, allowing him to carry on with whatever he was doing. I wouldn't have been able to stop him had he really wanted to do anything untoward, but I was fairly sure he wouldn't do anything against my will.

Eric lowered his head, keeping his eyes locked on mine briefly, before his cool tongue touched the jagged edge of my wound. I tried to hold back my gasp at the sensation of cold and hot on my sensitive flesh, but it came out all the same.

I grasped Eric's broad shoulders as he loomed over me on my bed, prepared to push him away at any given moment. Eric was known for taking advantage of a situation, and if ever there were a situation for him to take advantage of me, this was certainly it. I'd have been near powerless to stop him.

Trying to control my body's response was a whole other ballgame. As Eric cleaned my ruined flesh with the healing properties in his saliva, cool as his tongue and occasional brush of his lips may have been, I couldn't keep my blood from burning inside my veins. Telling my body not to enjoy his attentions was like telling my lungs not to breathe or the earth not to rotate. It happened any damn way.

I was actually quite impressed with Eric and his composure. I couldn't help but notice that despite the fact that he was, no doubt, tasting my blood as well as my bare skin, and his fangs were not down and he wasn't so much as caressing me inappropriately. Which was something he did all the time anyway. He was the perfect gentleman, and yet, I was practically panting.

"Tell me about your family," I asked by way of distraction. Eric paused to look up at me. "Your human family."

Eric took a deep breath, seeming to debate on whether or not he wanted to answer me. "My father was a chieftain, an honorable, fair and just leader. He was responsible for seeing that our people not only survived, but prospered."

He paused, returning to his task at cleansing and healing my wound. His tongue somehow seemed warmer, his lips softer. "And your mother?" I pressed when I felt my breath catching and my pulse racing.

"My mother was beautiful and caring, but had a backhand that kept her eldest son in his place," he said with a chuckle and a wink up at me.

I couldn't help but to smile back. "Did you have brothers or sisters?"

"A sister," he said softly. "She was only a babe when Russell and his wolves attacked our home, only out of Mother's womb a few months." His face was hard but his words were soft. I could tell the loss still hurt him, and felt it soften me to him even more.

God, the last thing I needed was to fall for Eric.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. There was really nothing else I could say. No words ever helped with the loss of a loved one, no matter how kind they were.

"It was a long time ago," he said stiffly before his mouth continued working on my wound.

He was methodical in his task and completely clinical in his touch, and I was grateful. Lord knows my will could only be so strong. It's one thing to deny Eric when it's just inappropriate words and a whole lot of innuendo. But if I were to have to deny him with his talented tongue devouring my heated flesh, that would be entirely different. And no doubt have an entirely different outcome.

Without even knowing, I had gripped onto Eric's shoulders and was holding him to me. As soon as I realized it, I hastily let him go and placed my arms stiffly at my side, fisting the fabric beneath my fingers.

Eric chuckled a little but otherwise remained silent and finished his task. I was grateful he decided to hold his tongue. For once.

I knew as soon as Eric pricked his tongue with his teeth because my skin started tingling and growing warmer – the effects of his blood healing me, at least on the outside. I was thankful he'd done it without my asking. I definitely wasn't looking forward to having to explain it to anyone.

He pulled back, gently touching the sensitive spot with his cool fingers, inspecting his work. Apparently satisfied, he reached behind him and grabbed the nightgown on the end of my bed, placing it beside me.

I stopped breathing when his hands went to work, trying to lift the remains of my shirt over my head. I wanted to argue, knew that I should, but couldn't find the will to do so. Instead, I lifted my arms over my head to assist him in his task, holding my breath the entire time.

"When your father passed, you became the leader or chieftain, right?" Eric nodded and since he didn't seem to want to say anything further, I pressed for more, acutely aware I was laid out in only my bra and shorts in front of him. "Were you married?"

He looked up to me, snaring my eyes with his. He looked so human. So unlike the monster I often thought of him as. "I was."

"And children?" I pressed as he moved to place the nightgown over my head.

I idly wondered where my sudden bravery had come from. This was Eric I was talking to, and I wasn't asking him whether he preferred his turkey and cheddar on white or wheat. I was asking him real questions, and he was answering them. I thought perhaps I should have been nervous, instead I felt... special, honored.

"Not of my own," he said with a shake of his head that caused his hair to fall into his eyes. I had the inexplicable urge to brush it away. It took my all to resist, but I did. "My cousin was killed in battle, leaving his wife and three children to survive on their own. I married Hanna and took them into my home."

"Sounds like you were a lot like your father," I was beyond words speechless. I'd known Eric was good, somewhere deep inside, buried and hidden. I had felt it in my bones. And this confirmed it.

"I was young and ignorant, but I had a responsibility to my people. I'm unaware of how they fared after my death," he whispered, pulling the soft cotton down and straightening it over my body.

I tried to imagine what it must have been like for him, what life back then would have been like, but couldn't do it. I was just a nobody waitress with a high school diploma, and hardly any life experience. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Eric had lived through everything I'd learned in history and more. I found that I admired his zest for life. I couldn't imagine myself making it through a thousand years of death, loss, suffering, tragedy – so much time for so many sorrows – without coming out jaded and spiteful in the end.

Eric was none of those things. He was nothing short of amazing, and that thought unsettled me more than anything else.

Eric's fingers slipped under the edge of my nightgown, and it took me a moment to realize what he was doing. I felt his cool fingers working at the button on my shorts and gasped, ceasing the action with my hands over his.

"I was wondering when you would stop me," he said with a smirk that threatened to turn into a full blown grin.

"You pig," I half snapped, not fully able to contain a grin of my own, and slapped away his hands.

Eric sat up, but made no move to get off my bed. I slipped the sheets up and around me so I could wiggle out of my shorts and then tossed them to the floor. The night and events that had happened were suddenly weighing heavily on me and I was exhausted. When was it ever going to end? Would I ever have a normal life, ever again?

"I'm always going to be in danger, aren't I? Someone is always going to be after me, wanting to own me, control me, drain me? Kill me?" I swallowed hard, fighting with my emotions to keep them at bay.

"I am... regretful for that," Eric said carefully. "You're mine now. In the eyes of vampires, at least. I will protect you." His hand brushed away my hair as I sat up on my elbows. The look in his eyes was both genuine and full of fire. I realized he was trying to convince himself as much as he was me. I couldn't decide if that was comforting or frightening.

"But you can't guarantee that I won't die, can you?" I asked in a whisper.

"No." Eric turned and looked towards the window. "No one has the guarantee of avoiding death."

I appreciated his honesty, even if it wasn't the words I wanted to hear. It was the truth, and I liked Eric a little more for it. He was being honest even though he knew the truth was brutal. It actually made me realize just how much and how often Bill had lied and purposefully kept me in the dark about things.

Perhaps Eric would hide things from me, perhaps he was already. I doubted I'd ever get the full truth when it came to vampires. But something told me that my trust was better placed in Eric than it ever had been in Bill. Eric wasn't going to wear a mask around me or paint things with pretty colors just to make it look better. Bill had given me blinders from the start. It was time to take them off.

I sighed heavily and fell back into the bed with a soft thump. "I'm tired."

"You should have my blood," Eric said without looking at me.

"I don't want to argue about this, Eric. I have to work tomorrow and I'm too tired. Let's not have this discussion now."

He turned to face me then, his eyes soft but playful as well. "I know you have to work. All the more reason for you to not fight me on this. You lost a bit of blood. Mine will help replenish what was lost and keep you from exhaustion."

Instead of focusing on how logical he sounded, I avoided it. "How do you know I have to work tomorrow?" I asked, genuinely curious. I had only just decided to work hours ago.

He smiled. "I always make it a point to know where and what those I... in my employ are doing or who they are with."

His pause was slight, but I noticed it. What had he meant to say there? I chose to comment on the words he did use. I'd have to think on what he wanted to say later. "I'm in your 'employ', am I?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. But..." His eyes twinkled, and his lips twitched into a small smile, making me lose all coherent thought at the beautiful vision of his face. Man, I was so weak. "You are so much... more." he seemed to get stuck on that last word, as if it tasted wrong in his mouth.

Perhaps the almighty, badass vampire sheriff, a thousand plus years old, was just as confused and conflicted about whatever this... this energy between us was as I was. That thought forced the next words from my mouth, mistake or not.

"I will take your blood," I said in a breath.

"Good," Eric said with a nod, lifting his wrist towards his mouth.

What possessed my next actions, I'll never know. Perhaps it was the fact that I'd seen another side of Eric that night. A side of him, I was quite certain, not many others had the privilege of ever knowing. But he had shown it to me, shared with me. He'd taken care of me without taking advantage, and was offering to share his blood with me. A precious rarity as far as most vampires were concerned. He'd touched me in a way I wasn't willing to explore at the time.

"Not from there." I shook my head, taking hold of his arm before he could break the skin of his wrist.

His fangs were extended, glinting slightly in the light from the moon streaming through my window. "Where?" he asked hoarsely, his eyes questioning.

I lifted my hand carefully, sitting up a little farther in the bed, and placed it over where his heart would be beating. My fingers tapped against his shirt, and the muscles beneath hardened and flexed at the simple touch. "Here."

Eric hissed, his eyes rolling to a close briefly. "You test my control, Sookie." He looked like he very much liked the idea of me drinking from him there, and it excited me further. "You will have to bite. I cannot pierce the flesh there," he added with a teasing wink.

I cringed at the thought of having to bite him. It wasn't really appealing to me. Well, it was, in a way. But I didn't want to think about why that was, so I didn't.

I reached over to the bedside table, pulling a pair of trimming scissors from the drawer and passing them to Eric. "Will that work?"

"Yes," he said thickly.

I swallowed my nerves, my pulse beating wildly as Eric pulled the shirt over his head and set it aside. Damn, how could I have forgotten how perfect he was? Flawless, smooth muscle filled my vision, and I couldn't tear my eyes away. What had I gotten myself into?

I looked up and caught Eric's eye, seeing the hunger there. His lips were parted and he was panting slightly, looking about as nervous as I felt. Which should have made me laugh – Eric Northman, nervous? Never – but it only seemed to make me burn hotter. Or was he anxious? Excited? In any case, I was about as turned on as I'd ever been in my whole life.

I tugged my bottom lip between my teeth and reached up to him, my dream coming back to me as if it were a reality. My fingers were hesitant and my eyes sought his permission or denial, hoping for the former.

At first touch of my fingers against Eric's fangs, he released a shuddering breath. A whispered growl that sounded an awful lot like, "Sookie," followed. I think my heart stopped completely only to pick up double time when it resumed.

If I thought about it, it wasn't the beginning. My yearning for Eric had begun so much earlier, when I'd first met him, if I were to be honest with myself. But as far as I was concerned, my next move was what broke me.

I was powerless to stop it... us, from then on out. It was only a matter of time. It was just one of those feelings. I knew I was giving in. It may have only started as an inch, but it may as well have been a mile. It wasn't a matter of 'if' anymore, but a matter of 'when'.

Eric's was still sitting up, leaning slightly on one arm as I laid down propped on one elbow beneath him. His eyes were closed, but I was sure he could feel the shift of the bed as I moved. If he had opened his eyes, perhaps I would have stopped myself. But he didn't.

At first I simply placed my lips over his, testing, tasting, questioning. Until I decided it was what I wanted. More than anything, I wanted to kiss him; feel his tongue, his teeth, his passion. I wanted Eric to know I wanted it. I wanted him to feel my passion. I pressed harder, smoothing my tongue over his semi-parted lips, grazing the tips of Eric's fangs as I did.

His response was immediate and intense. Eric's lips and tongue moved against mine; his arm surrounded my waist. The weight of his body pressed me back into the mattress and I whimpered. Not from pain, far from pain. Exquisite and sensual pleasure was consuming me, making me forget everything but Eric and the fire he ignited from within me.

He didn't press for more, seemingly fine with just the dance of our lips, tongue and teeth. I couldn't decide if I was happy about that or not. And yet I didn't make a move to go further myself. Perhaps I was just testing it, tasting what it would be like for us. If it were to ever happen, if Eric and I were to ever be anything together, would it work?

Oh, heavens to Betsy, would it work! I was burning in the most wonderful way imaginable. Eric and I definitely had something. Physically at least. I still wasn't sure about the emotional part, not even on my part. Ultimately, that fear, my inability to give into him with my heart, was what made me pull back. How could I give him my body when I couldn't give him my heart?

Eric was just as breathless as I, flattering considering he didn't need the oxygen. He took a deep shuddering breath, seemed to regain some control, and I found myself doing the same thing. Lord knows I needed to get control of myself before I went and jumped him anyway.

But my upbringing won out in the end. No matter how badly I wanted to, I just couldn't sleep with someone I didn't love. And my heart was simply too weak to love at the time.

Eric raised the small scissors to his chest after a moment, cutting a deep line into his unmarred skin. His intense blue eyes bore into mine, and no matter how hard I tried to get a read on them, I couldn't. "Drink," he ordered as it began to ooze red.

Eric's eyes flashed, his mask falling long enough for me to see the longing and desire he'd been attempting to control. I lost my breath. He was going to be my downfall.

Lifting my head, I closed my eyes and covered the wound with my lips and sucked. Eric's hand cradled the back of my neck, holding him to me. The effects of his arousal from our kiss or from my drinking of his blood was pressing firmly against my thigh through the covers. And it was very distracting.

Opening my eyes, I looked up to Eric. The burning, the struggle for control, the pleasure, was etched clearly in the line of his jaw, the strain of the muscles in his neck. I craned my neck, wanting to see his eyes more than I had a right to.

A moan ripped through my throat as I locked eyes with Eric. They flashed with fire, with an ache I'd yet to feel in my few years on this earth. No man should ever look at a woman with so much... so much longing. The way Eric was looking at me made me feel like a woman, a beautiful, desirable, last-woman-on-earth kind of woman.

As I took my second pull from his chest, I couldn't help but to move my thigh against his erection. So impressive, so unavoidable, and so arousing as it was; it couldn't be ignored. There was an almost uncontrollable desire that burned in me. I wanted to take him in my hand so badly, stroke him, to feel him come undone. All because of me.

Eric groaned, tightening his hold on my neck and tangling his fingers in my hair as he pushed back against my thigh, an instinctual reaction of him seeking relief. Hell, who was I kidding? I had the same ache. I resisted the urge to rub my aching center against him, but only just.

After another pull, I heard Eric growl, shuddering against me. I pulled back, feeling the cool, wet result of his release soaking through the thin sheet. It shouldn't have turned me on like it did, shouldn't have been as hot as it was, that I had made Eric come in his pants simply from drinking his blood. But I couldn't help my reaction.

I blushed deeply and settled back down in the bed, opting not to state the obvious. I saw Eric looking down at himself as if he were shocked it had happened as well. It was more than flattering; it made me feel downright giddy, and hell was burning in my panties. But if he wasn't going to say anything about it, then I certainly wasn't.

"I should sleep," I said after too long of a silence.

Eric's hand trailed over my stomach. "I wish you would let me take care of you." I shuddered when his fingers trailed over the edge of my panties.

Oh, how I ached for him to do exactly that. I hadn't thought it possible for me to be any more turned on. Eric proved me wrong. His words coupled with the look on his face heated my core almost beyond reason. One touch, one stroke from those beautiful fingers of his, and I was certain I would have exploded into oblivion.

"You've already taken care of me, Eric." I whispered, unable to meet his eyes for fear of giving in.

"Not in the way in which I wish to now," he said huskily, making the ache between my thighs throb painfully.

"Goodnight, Eric," I said offering him a small smile as I rolled onto my side to sleep.

He pulled the comforter over me, effectively tucking me in, and placed a kiss on my temple. I closed my eyes, trying to fight the butterflies that simple action caused to flutter in my stomach.

I was simply too tired to process why my chest warmed, and why I yearned to ask him to stay. Just for a moment. Just until I went to sleep. It was a ridiculous notion.

Eric paused after he lifted the window, looking very much like there was something he wanted to say on the tip of his tongue. I wondered briefly why he didn't just use the front door, but decided it didn't really matter. "Goodnight, Sookie. Sleep well," he finally said just before disappearing into the night.

I don't remember him closing the window because I fell asleep as soon as he was out of my sight. But when I awakened, it was closed, the curtain back in its perfect place.

A/N: I rather enjoyed writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. It's about time these two didn't fight over something or another. Well... mostly anyway, lol.

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