A/N: Sorry that the chapter took so long to show up, something is definitely going on with ! Hope it's working now! Thanks for all the reviews, and for adding me onto your alert/favourite lists. I apologize profusely for not replying to and thanking you for your reviews. I thought I'd post the chapter, then get straight on that! I'm a bit nervous about this chapter, since you meet Nora and find out some stuff. There's a bit more 'drama' this chapter, but it's still sweet as pie. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Sigh No More

EPOV

Time went by pretty quickly, and before I knew it, it was late November. Things with Sookie were going well. In all honesty, I couldn't name one person that I'd ever gotten along with as well as I got along with Sookie.

We'd only had one real fight, and it wasn't something I ever wanted to experience again, though I assumed in all likelihood we would fight in the future. It had all started out when we went out to Merlotte's for dinner again, in October, with Jason. We both had a lot of fun. Sookie's friends were great. Plus, there had been no more encounters with Bill. But when it came time to pay our tabs, I'd paid for myself and Sookie, and for Jason too. Sookie had given me a look, but I didn't think too much of it. She thanked me politely and told me I didn't need to, like she always did, so I thought it was okay. But later that week, I went into Best Buy for a part for my laptop. I saw a really cool DVD box set that had Gone With the Wind in it, which was Sookie's favorite movie, and other cool movies I thought Sookie would like. So I bought it, not really thinking anything of it.

I went over on the Friday night for an early dinner at her place before I went to Fantasia.

"I got you something," I told her, handing over the Best Buy bag. She took out the collection, and furrowed her brows.

"What's this?" she asked, staring at the box.

"I thought you'd like it," I shrugged. She was still quiet, and then I noticed that I hadn't taken the price tag off, and she saw that I'd spent like eighty bucks on it.

She flipped out.

I wasn't even sure what she was freaking out about, to be honest. I was caught so off guard, and she wasn't even making that much sense. Was she upset that I bought her a present? My experience was more with women expecting to buy them shit, not getting pissed at me for doing it. And it wasn't like I'd bought her a freaking diamond bracelet, either.

"Sookie, they're just movies," I said, not quite understanding what was wrong.

"Yes, I see that Eric, but what the hell!" she cried. "You can't just drop a hundred dollars on me like it's no big deal!" She was getting really upset. I didn't know what to do. I listened to her rant, and it started to sound like somehow my buying her something nice was somehow me being high-handed or something.

"Jesus fucking Christ," I finally exploded. "I didn't come over to get yelled at for nothing, Sookie." She looked shocked, but she was quiet. "I'm just gonna go to work, okay? I'm sorry for ruining your night with my horrible fucking present."

I walked out of her house, and drove to Shreveport, feeling fucking pissed and quite confused. What the hell had just happened?

I was in a bad mood for the rest of the night. I told Pam to fuck off when she badgered me about what was wrong. It was none of her business what 'crawled up my ass'. I didn't even look at my phone to see if Sookie had texted.

But when I was sitting in my office, I realized that I probably hadn't handled the situation very well. Sookie was not the crazy irrational woman that had yelled at me tonight. Something was obviously wrong, and instead of asking her what was going on, I stormed off. Fuck. She had been a bitch, but I had kind of reacted like an asshole, hadn't I? I felt a little bit guilty.

I left the bar around two a.m., and when I arrived at my house, Sookie's little yellow car was sitting in the driveway. I pulled in and got out of my car, and Sookie emerged from hers, wearing little plaid pajamas under her sweater. She ran towards me, and wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm so sorry, Eric," she said into my chest.

"Me too," I scooped her up and brought her inside. We got into my bed, lying down face to face. I wanted to figure out what the fuck had happened tonight.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks.

"What happened, Sookie?" I asked, as nicely as I could.

"I... I don't know," she sniffed. I held her close to me so she would know that we were okay. "I just… money's always been a thing for me," she said. "We didn't grow up with much, and I've always been pretty self-sufficient, you know." I nodded. I could tell that, based on her ever-present desire to pay for dinner.

"It bothers you that I spend money on you?" I asked, which seemed like the logical conclusion.

"Yes. No. I…" she was crying a bit more, so I wiped at the tears and tried to calm her down.

"It was so nice of you," she whispered. "And then I felt bad for liking it. And…" she went quiet.

"And?" I prompted her.

"With Bill… whenever he used to spend money on me, it was… it was like it was for him. He bought me a dress once, which was sweet. But then he used to tell me when to wear it. And he bought me a really lovely bracelet, and all of a sudden I had to wear that too. And he'd brag about it. I realized one day that… maybe he was ashamed of me." She started to cry a little bit harder, and I kissed her hair.

"I'm not ashamed of you," I said, stroking her back. "I'm not Bill."

"I know you're not, I do." She nuzzled into me.

"And I don't expect you to carry the box set around with you all the time and, you know, show people that I bought it for you." I tried to make light of the situation, hoping to make her smile. She did.

"Thank you," she laughed.

"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have left."

"I was afraid you hated me. I tried to text you, but you didn't reply. I thought I ruined everything," she said quietly, but interrupted me before I could say something. "But I know why you did. I was being an a-hole," she sighed. "A really crazy one. I'm so, so sorry. I had a crappy week, and I took that, and my leftover Bill-issues, out on you." I squeezed her to me.

"It's okay, Sookie. But I still shouldn't have walked away like that, or ignored you. I was kind of an asshole, too. I promise the next time I'll handle it better."

"The next time I yell at you for no reason?" She smiled, eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

"Yeah," I teased her. "The next time we fight," I clarified.

"I don't want to fight," she pouted. "I felt so, so awful. I hated myself for making you feel bad…"

"I know. So did I."

I held her to me for a bit, but there was a topic I wanted to breach, and I wasn't sure how she'd react.

"Sookie?"

"Yeah?"

"I just… I'm just going to say this once." She nodded. "I have money, Sookie. A lot of it. My parents were very wealthy people, and since they've passed away I inherited that wealth. So no, spending money is not something that bothers me, or something that I worry about. But this is the first time, ever, that I've had the chance to share that money with someone. And I want to, okay? If I make you uncomfortable, you can tell me. But I just want to make you happy. Making you happy makes me happy," I said the last part quietly. I sounded so fucking cheesy, didn't I?

Sookie didn't say anything, but when I looked down at her she was crying again. I groaned; I hated her tears.

"You're perfect," she cried into my side.

"No, I am not perfect," I chuckled.

"To me you are," she said.

"You're pretty perfect yourself, min älskare."

We kissed gently for a bit. I was totally down for our first round of makeup sex, but we were both tired from our days. So instead, we cuddled and went to sleep.

The next day, though, all bets were off.

There were no more run-ins with scary Sookie after that, thankfully. She apologized for her freak out for a long time after, and I told her to stop. I told her it was likely that I'd screw up in the future, to make her feel better, but also because it was probably true. I knew Sookie didn't think I was a snob or something. I'd actually walked away from that kind of life. I liked to think that we learned from that fight, at least what not to do when we fought. I.e. go berserk on the other person, or walk away completely. I couldn't judge Sookie for having hang-ups from her relationship with Bill. I certainly had mine.

And I was about to be reminded of them.

xxx

It was a Saturday night, and I was sitting in my office. I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," I called. It was one of the waitresses, Belinda.

"Mr. Northman, someone's looking for you," she said. "Can you come out?"

I followed Belinda, and she led me to a booth. Sitting there, sipping on a martini, was Nora.

"Hello, Eric," she said with a smirk. I said nothing. I was too fucking dumbstruck. "Are you going to have a seat?" she asked watching me with her giant blue eyes. I slid into the booth.

"How did you find me?" I finally asked. We hadn't kept in touch.

"Really, Eric?" she laughed. "You're not very hard to find. I googled your name and this place came up." She looked around. "It's a lovely establishment, really." She was still smirking at me. I knew Nora, her parents, and our background. Owning a bar was not what we were supposed to do, and with the look Nora was giving me, it was clear that she felt the same way.

"I like it," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you. I thought we could have a drink," she smiled. I didn't.

"I'm not thirsty."

"Come on, Eric. It's been a long time." She looked at me. "Please?"

"Nora," I sighed, "if you came to talk to me about something, please just talk." I was not big on pleasantries, and I didn't think Nora was either.

"Fine," she said. "I miss you, Eric. I've missed you for a long time." She looked at me intently. What the fuck? I tried not to laugh. This wasn't a conversation she any right to initiate. I stayed silent.

"I know that we've had our… difficulties," she said carefully. "But that was a long time ago. We were always happier together than apart, weren't we?"

"Jesus Christ, Nora. Seriously? After all the shit that you let happen?" She was unbelievable.

"I told you I was sorry you got hurt, Eric. I still am. You know that I… I just wanted you with me. We always made a great team."

"Maybe we did. But I'm happy now, Nora. I'm with someone."

"Really," she raised her eyebrow. "And is it serious?"

"Yes," I said simply.

"Here? Really? In the middle of fucking nowhere? Doing this?" She looked around distastefully. "I don't believe you."

"That's your prerogative, Nora. But I've changed, in these past five years. I'm sure you have, too." I hoped to god she wasn't still the selfish bitch that I realized she was. "But I am happy. And I'm sorry, but that's the truth."

"For how long, Eric? How long will screwing some bimbo keep you happy? Not very long, I know that much."

"She's not a bimbo," I said, clenching my jaw.

"Right," she chuckled. "I know your taste, Eric."

"You knew my taste. And those weren't girlfriends, Nora, those were girls I fucked when we were on one of our 'breaks'."

"Yes, and you always came back to me." She took a sip of her drink. There was a tense pause.

"Are you still friends with Salome?" I asked. She was playing dirty, so I figured I might as well, too.

"No." She said quickly. It seemed to be a touchy subject, judging by the way she looked down when she answered.

"Why? She fuck you over?" I asked.

"Eric, I don't want to talk about this. I am done with them. I wouldn't come all the way here if I wasn't."

"Look, Nora," I sighed, "I don't know what else to tell you. This is my life, and I'm happy."

"We were happy in New York, once."

"No. Never like this," I said. It was true. Sookie made me happy in the way I couldn't remember being, even before Nora's shitstorm.

"I want to meet her," Nora said, frowning.

"Excuse me?"

"If you've got such a great life here, I want to see it," she shrugged. Was she fucking kidding me?

"I don't owe you anything, Nora. I don't have to prove anything to you. You know that."

"We grew up together, Eric. We were best friends for twenty years, and lovers for ten of those. Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but it does to me."

"Oh, so now my well-being means something to you? That's rich," I scoffed.

"Jesus Christ, Eric. I just want to see for myself that you're happy before you cut me out of your life again. Or else I'll never believe you, and I'll never stop trying to get you back." She was issuing me a challenge.

I really had absolutely no desire to introduce Nora to Sookie. I could just tell Nora to get the fuck out. On the other hand, however, tenaciousness had always been one of Nora's qualities. I knew there was a good chance that Nora would never leave me the fuck alone until I did want she wanted. I took a long moment to think things over.

"I'll see," I said. "I'll see if she's willing to meet you."

"You've told her about me?" Nora smirked.

"Not much." Her smile faltered a bit. Good.

"Well, whatever. Call me, if your girlfriend is okay with it. If she doesn't want to come, we can have dinner, just the two of us," she said, almost suggestively. She handed me her business card. I didn't even glance at it, and stuck it in my pocket.

"I have to get back to work."

"Fine." She finished off the last of her martini, and we both got out of the booth. "I'll talk to you later, then."

"I guess so," I said.

"Alright. Goodnight, then, Eric."

"Goodnight, Nora."

I was glad that she didn't try to hug me or kiss me. I watched her walk away, trying to figure out if she really just waltzed into my bar. That was real?

I went back into my office, in a bit of a daze. A few minutes later, Pam barged into my office.

"Was that who I think it was?" she demanded.

"Yeah, that was Nora."

"What the fuck was that bitch doing in my bar?" Pam scowled. Yeah, Pam and Nora had met a few times, and did not get along. Nora seemed rather jealous of our friendship. Pam thought Nora was a "fucking snobby bitch," which was kind of funny coming from Pam. I told Pam the gist of our conversation, and she glared at me.

"Are you really going to subject Sookie to that, Eric?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I don't want to, but I kind of believe Nora when she said she wouldn't let this go."

"You better not hurt Sookie," she said seriously.

"I'm not going to hurt Sookie, Pam. Never. You could pay me any amount to get back together with Nora, you know that. I don't want her back in my life. I… I'm serious about Sookie."

"Okay," she nodded. "Whatever. Good fucking luck." She stomped back out.

I sighed. All I wanted to do was drive over to Sookie's house, crawl into her bed, and breathe in her scent. It was corny as fuck, but I didn't think there was much that Sookie's presence couldn't fix. Or her cooking, for that matter. I closed my eyes and imagined that Sookie was wearing my favorite little pink nightgown of hers, and it made me smile.

I was struck with a realization, right then. The thoughts that I had been avoiding, despite Pam's teasing, had reemerged.

I fucking loved Sookie.

SPOV

I knew that since it was a Saturday, Eric would be pretty late coming in. I left my back door unlocked, like I always did, so he could come in whenever he got here. I went to sleep around midnight.

I was woken up just before three, and opened my eyes to see Eric stripping out of his clothes, and climbing into bed beside me. It had become a familiar routine, and I loved it. He wrapped his arms around me, and held me close to him.

"Hi," I whispered sleepily. Eric didn't say anything, he just nuzzled into me and inhaled. I liked it when he smelled me, as weird as that sounded. "You okay?" I asked.

"Not really," he sighed.

"Honey, what's wrong?" I shifted so that we were looking at each other, but our bodies were still touching.

"I want to talk about it, but it's late. You're tired," he whispered.

"Oh hush," I replied. "Tell me what's wrong." I was awake now. I held his hand, stroking his fingers with mine.

"My ex came into the bar tonight," he said. I tensed up.

"The one from New York?" I asked. That was the only girl he'd ever mentioned.

"Yeah. Nora," he confirmed.

"Oh…"

"Yeah. I haven't seen or spoken to her since I left."

"Will you… Eric, will you tell me what happened in New York?" I felt that I needed the background information, now that she was suddenly in his life again.

"Okay." He shifted closer to me and took a deep breath. "Nora was always smart, and really into politics and activism and that kind of thing. I really wasn't; I've always stayed away from that shit. Anyways, I told you she got involved with bad people, right?" I nodded. "Well it was kind of like… a weird political group. I don't know if was a fucking cult, or an anarchist group, or what. It was led by this guy named Roman and this girl named Salome. And they were all fucking insane, and dangerous, too. Nora and I were broken up for a bit, while she was doing that shit and while I was doing my Masters and stuff. But one day, she came to me, and she… wanted to get back together. I'd missed her, so I agreed. Anyways, she brought me to meet her friends. I found out later that Nora had a particularly close relationship with Salome." He looked upset thinking about it. "Well, I really hated them, and thought they were dangerous. It turned out that…" he stopped for a moment, and I squeezed him.

"It's okay Eric," I whispered, stroking his cheek.

"Well it turned out that they needed money. Nora's supply had been cut off by her parents. And she knew that I hadn't been. She tried to get me to join their group, and I flat out refused. I tried to get her out of there," his voice broke, "but she was… too far gone. When I refused their demands, and told them they were all fucking crazy, I… I pretty much got the shit kicked out of me."

I was crying, at this point. This girl was supposed to love him, and she got him hurt.

"Nora just watched. There wasn't much she could do, I know, but…"

"Oh, Eric," I cried into his chest. He held me to him, and it felt like we were both comforting each other.

"Later, she apologized. But she still thought her actions were justified, somehow, by the politics of it all. Even now, I can tell that while she's sorry that I was hurt, she still isn't sorry sorry. She thought she was doing the right thing. So we broke up, because how could I ever trust her again after that? I left for Louisiana with Pam shortly after."

"How could she do that to you?" I whimpered. I couldn't wrap my head around it. "She betrayed you. I could never, ever…"

"I know you wouldn't," he whispered and kissed me. When he pulled away, he was staring at me intently.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I love you," he said simply. My heart faltered. I wasn't sure if I'd heard him correctly.

"What?" I whispered.

"After I saw her, I felt so crappy. All I wanted to do was be right here," he squeezed me. "In this bed, close to you. You just make everything better. I love you, Sookie."

"I love you, too," I stroked his cheek and kissed him sweetly. When we pulled away he gave me a gorgeous smile.

"Can I tell you the rest tomorrow?" He asked quietly, his fingers running along my back. "I really, really want to make love to you right now." I giggled a bit at Eric saying 'make love,' and hoped he understood that I wasn't making fun of him.

"Yeah?" I teased him.

"Mhmm," he kissed my neck.

"Then make love to me," I smiled softly, cupping his cheek.

He did. It was gentle and sweet, but in no way boring. I hugged myself to him, and we looked into each other's eyes as he moved inside of me. We kissed slowly, stroking each other reverently. It was more private and special and intimate than anything I'd ever experienced. I felt so close to him, so connected, and it felt so good that I wanted to cry. I called out his name when I came, and buried my face into his neck. He cried out my name when he came, too. For a moment, I wanted to know what it would feel like for him to come deep inside me, without a condom between us. We stayed tangled up in each other for longer than we usually did, choosing to just stay as close as we could get, with him inside me.

"I don't want you to move," I whispered.

"I don't want to move," he kissed me. But he did have to get up, to clean himself off. When he came back into bed, he practically pulled me on top of him.

"Can you sleep like this?" He asked, smiling at me.

"I think I can manage it." I shifted into a more comfortable position. We were as close as we could get.

"Okay. Goodnight, Sookie."

"Goodnight, Eric. I love you." I said it with a smile on my face. I couldn't believe I finally got to say it.

"I love you too, min älskare," he whispered. I listened to him breathe for a while, and I knew that he fell asleep pretty quickly.

I couldn't believe it: Eric loved me. It was almost a relief to be able to tell him that I loved him. I had wanted to say it so many times over the passed few months. Especially after our crappy fight in October, when I'd acted like a totally psycho. I still felt guilty about that. I never, ever wanted Eric to think that I didn't appreciate him, or that I felt like he made me feel bad about myself. Because he didn't. I'd never felt so good as I did when I was with him. It was really an amalgamation of a horrible week at school and my own insecurities that made me go off like a crazy person.

I snuggled into Eric a bit more, if that was possible. I was afraid that I had blown it, when he walked away and wouldn't answer his phone. All I had wanted to tell him when I went to his house later that night was that I was sorry, and that I loved him so, so much. But I didn't want the first time I told him that I loved him to be after a fight. And I was still not sure that I wanted to be the first one to say it.

But I knew that that fight was behind us now. I had promised myself that I would be more conscious about Eric's feelings, and not just my own. I absolutely refused to let any insecurities ruin what I had with him. I loved him too much.

I knew that he still had more to tell me about Nora, about why she came into the bar today. I would have been nervous, if Eric hadn't just declared his love for me and we hadn't just had the most incredible sex ever. I knew that whatever Eric had to tell me, we would be just fine.

I fell asleep listening to Eric breathe with a smile on my face.

A/N: Aw, so they love each other! I hope you liked this chapter. So, is Sookie gonna agree to go meet Nora? If so, how do you think that will go? Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading :)