Laf POV:

I did it. I sent one person into a dream, and two came back. I can't believe Eric f*ucking Northman is laying there, all but naked with some kinda fur wrapped around his waist. I know part of her wanted to get him back as a live human, so they could have a normal life together, but that was impossible. If he woke up, he had to wake up as who he was when he fell asleep. But I don't know what the hell I have on my hands here. Vampire or corpse, we may have to get him in the ground fast. I pulled those drapes she got, but I don't know if it's enough. And I'm terrified to be messin around with Eric Northman period.

"Let him go, Sookie, come on, let him go."

Sookie POV:

I feel Lafayette separating me from Eric, but I only cling tighter.

"Sookie!"

"Leave me alone", I howl. Eric is here. With me, I can still smell him. I kiss his chest. I can taste him too. But I won't look up.

"We can't help him until you let go", I hear Lafayette say.

I'm clinging to the man on my bed. Eric is covered in his own blood, clad in nothing but a tunic and furs.

I open my eyes and release him. Rather than a pile of ash, this time I have Eric. But what is he? A dead human? A "living" vampire?

"Eric", I whisper, looking up. Lafayette and I stare at each other.

"He doesn't have a pulse, but that doesn't mean anything. Cut me", I say, "He needs to feed."

"Sook, no, you've got to be crazy. He needs some TruBlood…"

"TruBlood can't help him in this condition, Lafayette. There's a manicure scissors in the bathroom." He just sits there. "Now!"

He makes a lot of noise rummaging around, and comes back with it. "Sook, I…" he holds it up, shaking.

"Can't he just bite you?"

"He's too weak", I explain. "Oh for God sake." I take it away from him and slash into my wrist.

"Shit! Sookie!" he yells. "Shit!"

Ow, God, that hurt.

I hold my wrist to his mouth. "Drink, baby, come on."

Nothing.

"Drink!" I scream, opening his lips and pushing my wrist into his mouth.

"Sookie, if he's dead…I'm sorry."

There is no anguish like this. To lose him once was earth shattering, to lose him twice is soul shattering.

I cradle his head and let out a sobbing howl. "Noooo!"

Lafayette just slides to the floor and covers his ears. Then he reaches for me.

"Sook, I'm so sorry, this is my fault, I wish I never would have said a word…"

My lips are pressed to Eric's forehead. A soft flick. Was that his tongue? Another flick. He's licking my wrist!

"Oh my God! Yes! Lafayette, he woke up!"

Lafayette sits up and stares, amazed.

"He woke up in time. Thank you God, thank you, thank you, thank you…" I keep repeating.

Eric licks the blood on my wrist, and gets stronger by the second. He grabs my wrist and holds it to his mouth, sucking. Oh how I missed that sensation.

"Thank you God, thank you", I sigh, ruffling sweaty blonde hair off his forehead.

Lafayette is staring with his mouth open.

"Mmmm, mmmm", Eric moans. I can't do anything but smile, but run my fingers through his hair. The big cut on his arm heals, the skin sealing itself up around a healed artery.

"That's it, baby." I smile.

Lafayette looks worried as sweat starts to bead on my forehead.

"That's enough, Sook, you've given him enough."

"He can have as much as he wants!"

"Sookie!" Lafayette yells, and pulls me away. "I said that's enough."

He runs to the bathroom and comes back with a glass of water. I gulp it.

My husband looks… perfect. It will never cease to amaze me how a vampire can go from essentially dead to perfectly fine in seconds. They can recover from any wound except a stake. He doesn't have a f*cking scratch on him.

"Eric?"

He gasps softly, and opens his eyes. They focus on me.

"Sookie…" It's a low, soft, deep whisper. He seems confused.

"Yes, it's okay, you're fine, we're both fine."

"Sookie. I thought I'd never see you again."

"You're back, you're back…" I hold him close, and press my forehead to his, hot tears gushing down my face.

"You know I…"Eric takes a gulp and then clears his throat, "Don't like it when you cry."

"Sit up, sit up", I say, helping pull him up.

There's fresh red blood dripping down my arm. "Wha…Sookie" He lifts my wrist. "Say something or there will be two of us bleeding to death." He cuts his finger with a fang and drips his healing blood on the cut on my wrist, healing it instantly. He licks the rest of it off my arm.

"I'll just…um, go" I hear Lafayette say in the background.

I'm crying and can't stop. He doesn't know what it was like, he'll never know what it was like. He cradles me against me.

"Please stop crying, my Sookie, please stop", he whispers hotly against my ear.

"I can't, you have no…" I cough and gulp, "Idea."

"Shh, you're going to make yourself sick."

"You'll never know what it's like to be the one left behind." I'm bawling all over him, and don't care.

He tips up my chin.

"Stop, stop, you can't even breathe, Sookie, stop…."

Then he kisses me and pulls my attention away.

I don't know where my clothes went, but I was wearing them a second ago and now they're on the floor. Possibly in shreds.

He kisses down my neck, down my chest, and seizes a nipple. When he bites ever so gently and sucks, I buck off the bed.

"Sookie, I love you, let me show you, please relax", he whispers against my skin. He kisses down my stomach and spreads my legs. Kissing the inside of my thighs, his hot tongue dives between my legs and spreads the folds around my sweet spot. Then he sucks me into mouth.

"Oh God!" I yell out.

"Relax", he says, releasing me a moment and then going back to his task.

I can feel myself tingling and getting closer, and I'm still sobbing when I come hard in his mouth.

"That's my girl", he says, kissing up my body again.

"I need you inside me", I say, and yank his hips toward me.

"Apparently you do", he chuckles warmly against my ear. He's eager and pressed hard against his abdomen. I shift myself into the position he can enter me easiest.

"Ready?" he whispers hotly, "Ready for me?"

"Yes, please…." And he pushes.

I scream out. My body isn't used to his size anymore, having been celibate for two and a half years. But in moments, my body remembers. And I can't get enough.

"Sookie, I never thought I'd be with you again, I'd be inside you again", he says, "You're so warm and soft and…."

"Human?" I ask with a laugh.

"Yes, human." He drives harder against me.

"Hard", I say, "deeper, baby, I need you."

He obliges me. "Harder, harder!"

"Sookie!" He screams out, using more of his strength and being a little more reckless with me than his usual extreme care.

"Yes!", I howl as pure pleasure mixes with a bit of pain. "Come on, Eric, come on…"

"Thank you. For finding me", he whispers and explodes hard inside me.

Sometime later, I'm resting in the crook of him arm. For now, the tears have stopped.

"I didn't notice that. Genius Lafayette."

"Huh?" he asks.

"He light blocked the room. He must have done it while I was sleeping." We got blackout drapes for this room years ago, but Lafayette, knowing it was day time, was smart enough to use them.

"I need to have a conversation with Mr. Reynolds in the near future." He sounds like himself already.

"Why?" I ask.

"He saved my family. That's not an act I will soon forget. After the way I treated him, I'm frankly amazed." Eric says.

"He did it for me. I wasn't….doing very well", I say.

"What do you mean?" he asks. "I mean obviously I was dead, but it's been nearly three years."

"I don't want to talk about that", I say, "You're back, you're home, and we're together, and that's all that matters. And now you need to get some sleep."

"Do you think I could sleep now?" he asks. "I've been sleeping for weeks! I don't ever want to fall asleep again."

"It's daytime, Eric, you're going to make yourself sick, just rest your eyes. And this evening, when you wake up…there's someone you need to meet."

Eric Northman looks…nervous. "He really survived, you weren't just telling me that?"

"He really survived", I say, "Thanks to you. He's survived and thrived. He's beautiful and smart and so loving, there isn't a child with a better heart in the world."

"So he's just like you", he says, leaning over to kiss me.

"Ha! Well, we'll see how you feel about that when you see him."

"I'm anxious now", he says, "Part of me wants to meet him this instant, and part of me never wants to meet him."

"Never want to meet your son?" I'm dumbfounded.

He bites his lip. "What if he doesn't like me?"

I throw my arms around him. "Oh, Eric, he'll love you. You're his father. But I do want to warn you ahead of time, he's uncomfortable around vampires, so it might take a little bit."

"Smart boy", he says.

"Yeah, you should have seen him around Bill, he was really uncomfortable." And the instant it leaves my mouth, I want to groan with my own mistake. Why, Sookie can't you ever seem to keep your mouth shut?

Eric props himself up on his elbow. "Bill? Bill knows my son?" His voice is not pleased.

"He came over to offer his condolences", I explain. "He met E.J. then."

"I see you went with the initials after all", Eric laughs. But he sobers fast. "Did Bill offer anything else?"

"Eric, this is not the time, you need your rest…"

I know that look he has in his eyes, that growl in the back of his throat. But amazingly, he backs down, and just pulls me closer.

"Later", I say, kissing his forehead.

"You better believe later", he responds. He doesn't need it, but I wrap him up tight in a blanket and he smiles. "You always used to do that."

"And I always will. Now please, try to sleep", I say.

"No", he answers.

But despite his protesting, his body knows better than he does, and he shuts off almost like a timer. He pulls me tight against him and I stay there until he's out. Then I slowly extricate myself. Just like always, his arms snap around me tight, and I have to pull off some acrobatics just to get out of bed.

I wander down the staircase, knowing for the first time in years, that I'm no longer alone. And in the quiet privacy of my kitchen, I allow myself to weep like a child.