Now before I start this next chapter, I just want to say a huge thank you to every person who reviewed the last chapter! – thank you all so much for your support. To the guest reviewer who thought that I had emasculated Eric even more than CH had already done and passed me the "emasculator crown", I wear it with pride.
Also, to ashmoo2000, who was one of the few readers that pointed out that if Eric does anything, he dies – so he is pretty much stuck in between a rock and a hard place.
And yes, the boys do have smart mouths. They really do, but to be fair they weren't saying anything that everyone wasn't already thinking.
Disclaimer: Not Mine
Enjoy!
SPOV
"Boys enough. I don't want to hear either of you talking like that again – do you hear me?" I practically snapped at my two oldest children – I had enough to worry about right now without adding in their smart ass comments to the mixture.
Although to be fair, Neal did have a fair point I thought to myself as they all piled into the back of my little car. Sam was going to shit a brick whenever he found out about this, but I at least owed it to him to let him know what was going on, since after all it was his house, his family and I was his wife.
"Mum, there's nowhere for me to sit" Tara whined, whenever it was her turn to get in the car, pulling out of my thoughts – and she was right. The car was currently full except for the driver's seat, which was where I was going to have to sit.
"Come here, Tara. You can sit on my lap if you want to" Eric said softly to her.
"No, that's okay, Eric. She can sit in between Neal and Jennings" I said, thinking that that would be a suitable punishment for their smart mouths earlier on – even if it was only a short journey between the bar and the house.
"Ugh. Fine. If we have to" Neal whined, as Tara looked positively excited about being allowed to sit with her older brothers instead of in her usual chair. She was at the age where she just wanted to copy everything that the boys did, and it never ceased to piss them off.
"How long are you going to be staying with us, Eric?" Jennings asked, seeming curious.
"I don't know yet, it depends on what your mum says" Eric said, and while that was true I could have winced at his choice of words. Now the kids were definitely going to be thinking that I was just keeping Eric around as some kind of a sex toy.
Well, since Freyda had already done that …
"We need to get something figured out, but as soon as we know what is going on I promise to tell you, okay?" I said, as I pulled out of Merlotte's and on to the main road that would take us home.
"Has this got to do with some kind of vampire stuff?" Neal asked, and I was amazed that he had managed to figure that bit out so quickly.
"Sort of – now enough questions boys. We don't want to overload Eric right now – at least let him think that we are half normal for a little while longer" I said, and looked around to see Eric grinning at me reminding me that he knew exactly how un-normal that we – well, I was.
"Now kids as soon as we go in, everyone needs to go straight upstairs and get ready for bed. It's already late and you all have to go to school tomorrow" I a few moments later whenever I had pulled the car into the drive.
It was another half an hour before I had managed to get all four of the kids into their perspective beds, and I returned to the living room – with the baby monitor in my hand, of course, to find Eric sitting on the sofa channel surfing through the TV.
"Sorry about that Eric" I said, starting to apologise for the length of time that it had taken me to get the kids to bed.
"Don't worry about it Sookie, you are a mum now and I know that you have more important things to worry about than some stray vampire you haven't seen in fifteen years" Eric said, with a small smile on his face.
"Don't be thinking like that Eric. You are still important to me – my kids have to come first" I said softly, sitting down in my favourite arm chair.
"Of course, Sookie. As it should be" he replied. Damn why in the hell was this so fucking awkward?
"Exactly" I answered, and watched as Eric re-shuffled himself in the seat, and he must have hurt one of his injuries whenever he released a huge hiss from his mouth.
"What is it?" I asked, him sounding slightly panicked.
"Nothing much …. Just an old injury" he said, trying to palm me off.
"What the fuck has that little bitch done now?" I said, before I could stop myself. Freyda may be a vampire, but in that moment I was confident that I could take her.
"Nothing, seriously Sookie" he answered.
"Don't lie to me, Eric. Tell me" I said, softly and then moved to sit on the coffee table in front of him
"She hit me with silver chains" he eventually said, his head hanging low in shame, and I fought the urge to ask him why – that would only serve to make him feel even more victimised.
"That settles it. Eric you are staying here with me – with us, until we figure out a way to get you out of this. For you" I said.
"Sookie, I can't ask you to do that. You have your own life now … with Sam and the kids. I'll be fine" Eric said.
So … what do we think? Review to send me your thoughts …