A/N: Ok, this Chapter was a lot longer, but I like keeping the chapters a bit shorter (not too short of course). I think it's easier to read that way. The following is the conversation with Bill and Eric's plan on what to tell people. I hope you like it. Thanks to all of you who have been following my story. I promise the next chapter will have some much needed ESN :-)

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Eric walked out the back door, and I went into the living room.

I handed Bill his bottle and sat down next to him.

"Thank you."

In typical Bill fashion, he was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a tan polo shirt. He looked weary. Not lack of sleep weary, but more like he had a lot weighing on his mind.

"You're welcome. So, how was your trip?"

He took a sip and drummed his fingers against the side of the bottle as he held it in his hands. "It was all right. I heard about your ordeal with the fellowship. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you."

I put my hand on his arm. "You weren't exactly in the neighborhood. Besides, I'm fine now."

"Sookie, please tell me you're not with Eric." He was definitely irritated with the fact that Eric was at my house.

I pulled my hand away. "Who I'm with and not with is none of your business anymore."

"Sookie, he's bad news. He'll only end up hurting you."

"Hurting me? Like you hurt me?" I spat.

He flinched. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I never meant to. Sookie, I still love you."

I didn't want to rehash all this with him. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to throw that in your face. Bill, I forgave you for what you did to me, but that doesn't mean I'll forget. I don't love you anymore; at least not in the way that you want me to. You know that."

"Do you love him?" He just wasn't going to let this go.

I looked into his eyes and stated as clearly as I could, "Yes. I love Eric…and he loves me."

Bill flinched again. "Eric only loves Eric. He only looks out for himself. He will never put you first and he will never lay down his life for you."

He took another sip from the bottle and turned his eyes away from me.

"Bill, look at me." I was trying to do this calmly and politely.

He turned his eyes back to me, pain riddled across his face. "I know it's hard for you to accept, but the fact is I love Eric, and Eric loves me. I've come to realize that Eric has always been there for me, no matter what the situation. I would like for us to be friends, but please realize that it will never be more than that. If this is something you can't handle, then maybe it would be better if you stayed away."

My words were like a slap across his face.

"Sookie, I can't help it. I do love you. I always will. Please give me another chance to prove it to you. We could be so good together."

I braced myself for what I was about to tell him…and how he was going to react.

"Bill, it's too late. Eric and I are together now. He's asked me to move to Shreveport, and I said yes. We're getting married."

Bill's eyes filled with rage. Without saying a word, he got up and set the bottle down on the coffee table. He turned his back to me and headed toward the door.

"Bill, please don't leave yet. Not like this. There's something else I have to tell you."

"I think you've already told me everything. There's nothing more to say." His words cut through me like a knife.

As he reached for the doorknob, I blurted out, "I'm pregnant."

Bill stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned back toward me. "What did you say?"

I knew he heard me. "I said I'm pregnant. Will you please come back so we can talk?"

He moved back to the living room and sat down again, thoroughly confused. "I don't understand. How can you be pregnant? You just said you were with Eric."

"Yes, I told you I'm with Eric now. We're getting married." Did he not hear me the first time?

I could almost feel the anger pulsing through him. He narrowed his eyes. "Were you with someone before him?"

I was resentful at the implications of his question. "How could you even ask me that? No! I wasn't with anyone else."

"What does Eric have to say about all this? He can't be pleased that this happened."

I swear Bill was trying to coax me into his way of thinking…that Eric was no good for me. It wasn't working. "Eric knows about it. As for how he reacted, well… I'm not quite sure. He didn't actually say so, but judging from our conversation tonight, I would say he's at least okay with it. Neither of us have had much time to discuss everything."

I sighed. "Bill, what I'm about to tell you can't go any further than here. Too many people know already."

He spoke with an air of sarcasm. "Well, I would assume people are going to find out. It's not like you can hide a pregnancy."

I shook my head and ignored his intonation. "No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the fact that…Eric is the father."

His eyes widened. "What do you mean Eric is the father?"

I found myself explaining to yet another person about dhampirs and how Eric was the father of my baby. I was going to have to make a mental note of how many people knew the actual truth. Too many by my count.

I was expecting some kind of reaction from him, but instead I got nothing. If Bill had needed to breath, this would have been where he got the proverbial wind knocked out of him.

"You can see why it's important that very few people know the truth. Although it wasn't intentional, I've already put Eric and myself in danger. You know I hate to lie, but if the wrong people were to find out that Eric is really the father, we could all be killed."

He could see the fear in my eyes. "Sookie, I would never let anyone hurt you. I will not tell anyone who the father is, but how are you going to explain your pregnancy? People already think that you can't get pregnant by sleeping with a vampire. They will want to know who the father is."

I rubbed my fingers over my forehead. "We haven't discussed that yet. Although, knowing Eric, he probably has that figured out already."

"Well, if there's one thing that can be said about Eric, is that he is a pragmatist."

Just as I was about to say something, Eric walked into the living room.

"You are correct, Bill. I am pragmatic. I have something to say and I want both of you to hear it."

He stood tall, an air of confidence swirling around him, as he continued speaking. "No one knows this about me, and out of respect, you will not repeat this to anyone."

Bill and I both looked up at Eric and nodded.

"When I was human, I had a family. I had a wife and two sons."

A look of shock swept across my face. "You what??" I clamped my hand over my mouth…oops.

He scowled a bit at the interruption. "I have not mentioned this to anyone, not even to Pam. When I was made vampire, that part of my life was over. It hurt me to leave them behind. Even though it was an arranged marriage, I loved my family, and I was very proud of my sons. In my 1,000 years, I never even imagined having that possibility again. To answer your first question, Bill, I was skeptical at first. But since I have had time to think things through, I am very pleased. To answer your second question, I have given some thought as to what we will tell people."

Tears filled my eyes as I felt through the bond how painful it was for him to leave something he loved that much behind. I stood and walked over to him, placing my arms around his neck. I kissed him gently on the lips. "I'm so sorry, Eric. But I am glad you are pleased. I wasn't quite sure how you were taking all this. Heck, I'm still not sure how I'm taking all this."

He lifted my face and wiped the wet streaks away with his thumb. "Sookie, you are my family now. You have given me something very rare and precious, and I will love and protect both of you always."

He smiled and kissed me back.

I'm sure Bill "loved" this little display of affection, which is why I was a bit startled when he cleared his throat. I had forgotten, if only for a moment, he was even in the room. I sat down in the nearest chair and looked at both of them.

"I am happy for you both," Bill said, although it was said with a fair amount of disdain. "But that doesn't answer what you plan on telling people about how she got pregnant."

"He's right, Eric. What are we going to tell people? There's no way I can tell them you're the father. We're in too much danger already."

"Lover, do not worry. I have already set things in motion that will conceal the true lineage of my baby."

I felt a warm glow bubbling up inside of me. Not only was I finally going to be with the man I love, but he said I was his family now. It was also the first time I heard Eric refer to it as his baby. I know it was a silly thing, but I couldn't help shed a few more tears.

"Sookie, why are you crying?" Eric looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I can't help it. I guess I'm just happy." I knew from friends who had kids, that your hormones go whacky when you're pregnant. Oh well, I hoped Eric could put up with me crying off and on until the baby was born.

His smile began to fade into a more serious expression as he addressed the both of us.

"Your happiness means everything to me, Sookie. As I said before, I have already set things in motion while you were having your little talk."

"So what is your plan?" I looked at him nervously.

"You are my mate and you have agreed to marry me. I know how much having a family means to you, and what a hard decision it was to give up the idea of having children in order to be with me. I did not want you to have to choose, so I arranged for a carefully selected donor to help you get pregnant. I spoke to Niall while you were talking, and he has agreed to the deception. The so-called donor will be an anonymous part-fey from a different branch of his bloodline."

He wasn't far from the truth about me really wanting a family, but eww. How did he expect me to react to that? I was outraged, of course. "Oh my God, Eric! How could you?"

He ignored my words and continued. "It is the only logical assumption. You are my bonded, my mate. It would be worse for people to think that you slept with someone else and conceived a child in that manner. Having someone donate his sperm to impregnate you was the only choice. It was actually Niall's suggestion to make the donor part fey. This way it would seem like the pregnancy was created by magick."

I was so insulted that, without saying another word, I got up and walked out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.