Six Months Later…

SPOV:

Those first six weeks where the longest of our lives, or so it felt. Not only was I unable to do much at all physically because of my surgery, James was still very much confined to his little bubble of perfect temperature and zero germs. However, bright side? He was growing, and thriving, and healing, as he would have had he not have been born as soon as he was. His tiny body and his even smaller organs were growing and not counting one minor almost infection, he was almost free and clear. It took almost two months before he was strong enough to come home, and when we finally set about getting him ready for home, it felt like it was the day we'd been building up to, forever. But he was responsive and happy, just like any other baby his age should be. So we were happy, Eric and I were beyond thrilled, truthfully.

Jessica was happy, at first, she had a new brother, people where coming and going, and there where presents and cake, presents for James and of course for her, and we know how she loves her cake, so she was in kid heaven.

That is, until the newness wore off having a screaming baby awake at all hours, or having my time with her seriously monopolised due to James' needs. After about a week, she got bored of it and started to just roll her eyes whenever anyone would ask about him, or come to see him. He was still so small, and fragile, that, quite rightly Eric and I were just scared for him and extremely nervous. We had never really dealt with a fragile new-ish born baby for long periods of time before. When we got Jessica, she was a year old, the three am feedings, and constant fear was not there. This time it was, in bucket loads.

"He's breathing right?" I said, as was my nightly ritual when we put him in his crib, it was next to our bed. I wasn't feeling so ready to have him in the next room just yet either.

"Yes, he's breathing." Eric smiled down at him, "you know, he's growing, and eating and being amazing, I think we need to try and relax a little bit, Sook."

He had been telling me that since be brought him home, Eric the baby whisper and his talents seemingly hadn't died out, he still had the baby magic touch.

The bastard.

I wasn't half as bad with James as I was with Jessica though, he liked me right away, and even though I didn't get to breast feed him like I had planned to, we still felt bonded, I was so glad because it was one of my worries. Between Eric, myself, Olivia and Niall, I do believe there is more pictures of my six month old and his sister than there are of any other kids on the block, possibly the zip code. Olivia and Niall arrived shortly after I got out of hospital, and they really couldn't have arrived at a better time. Both Eric and I were mentally and physically done out, and having them around to distract Jessica was a welcomed break. Back and forth to the hospital, every day was certainly not the most fun thing to be doing, but it meant we got to see our little man, and for that, we were thankful.

Pam and Amelia broke up shortly after James was born. Pam made Ames move out, and they were sharing custody of Ben, it was heartbreaking to see Pam so broken, and in truth - even though I was far less sympathetic to her - Amelia too. I tried to talk to them both equally about it, but the truth was I hated Amelia for cheating on Pam, not matter what was going on between both of them; they were still very much a couple when she decided to fuck that person. I understood Pam's pain, and I understood why she wanted time to herself. As selfish as it sounds, they needed to deal with it themselves. I knew first hand just how messy things got when everyone and their opinions started sticking their noses in other couples business too much, so no; Eric and I agreed we would be there for both of them if and when they asked.

"I know we need to relax, it's just hard you know? After everything I know I'm being overly cautious but, I'm just scared."

"I know…" he kissed my forehead before we both crawled into our bed.

"How's Pam?" I asked, changing the subject.

"She's fine, she's having trouble getting Ben all the way across town to Ames in the mornings but other than that she doesn't mention her much."

"She's gone back into robot mode?"

"Pretty much." he sighed and it made me roll my eyes.

"Amelia is the same…"

"Have you stopped giving the poor girl the death glare at least?" he smirked.

"It's not a - that's not the point. She's the one that ruined it; I'm not going to encourage her to wallow in her own self pity because she couldn't stop herself."

He nodded, but there was something he was not saying.

"Out with it."

"I just… aren't you being a little harsh?"

"How am I being harsh? She broke your best friend's heart."

"You're my best friend." He corrected me, that made me smile.

"You're mine too," I kissed him on the cheek, "but your … other best friend then."

"We all make our mistakes, Sookie."

"I know, but your mistake or any I've made haven't broken us to our core."

"No, but mine almost did, in fact it came damn near close to killing us, a small mistake can have disastrous consequences, " he said, sadly.

"I three second uninvited kiss is not the same as fucking a guy, Eric."

"I'd hope not, if I was fucking a guy, the cheating thing would be the least of our worries." He made a funny face while widening his eyes.

"You know what I mean…"

"I do."

Pulling me to his side, I revelled in his warmth.

"They'll get through it, if they're meant to. Like I knew we were meant to."

"You did?" He nodded.

"Do you remember when we first moved in here? How unsure we both were, of everything?"

"Yeah…"

"You made my uncertainty less, little by little. And soon it allowed my confidence to grow, with you, with Jess, with the idea that I could be a good dad, and maybe something to you as well… you know other than a pain in your ass."

I laughed; I never knew he felt that way.

"Even when you were lying to me and pretending to be a man-whore and hiding your jealously over Sam?"

He grumbled, "I didn't hide my jealously so well, though did I?"

I kissed him then, "No, you didn't, but I am glad you were… I was jealous of all your women, even if I only ever saw one of them, the rest where in my head… and total supermodels… it sucked."

He hugged me closer."We were foolish, weren't we?"

"Ever so slightly, but it was our thing, hell, it still is our thing. We fuck up, and we fix it."

He smiled.

"Speaking of fucking up, when are we going to rectify this situation?"

"What situation?"

He just raised his brows at me. Oh, that situation.

"Oh."

"Yes. Oh."

"Well, before things were so hectic, and it was just -"

"One thing after another, I know. But now, Sookie, he's a happy baby, Jessica… will come around, and I think it's safe to say whatever "baby weight" you didn't like isn't an issue anymore either."

He finger quoted baby weight, mostly because Eric thought my issue with my larger body was a little on the ridiculous side, then again, he did not seem to notice the rolls, he just seemed to notice the boobs. It had been a pain in my newly sizable ass that is for sure. After James, and after the hysterectomy, I had to be careful, and for a long time, sex and running seemed so out of the question. Even though I was in a shit load of pain for a time, I knew it was the right thing. It allowed my baby to be here, and it allowed me to be there to see it. The heartbreak I felt about them taking away the possibility of more babies was something I knew I would have to process, I was just glad that they had done it in such a manner that other than the fertility issue, I was still able to function as normal. No hormones, no pills. Small favours, right?

That is what I was focusing on now, or trying to at least. The small things, the little things that made life good. Jessica growing, making more friends, James smiling, or laughing and watching Eric with both of them it was all my happy place.

"Let's do it then."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah… Let's just do it, just us, let's get married and make everything we are official. I'd like the idea of being Mrs Northman you know?"

"I'd like that too, though living in sin has been awfully fun," his lips attached to my neck gently sucking, kissing, and making me tingle, as he knew how.

"It really has, I mean, we can't be young free and single forever, sooner or later we have to attach that old ball and chain," I joked letting my hands wander, "it'll be a pain, but I guess it's time."

"Oh, yes, such a pain, I can't even begin to think!"

"I know! Throwing away my best years… it's such a shame." I kissed him again, this time pushing him back against his pillows, allowing me to straddle him.

"How do you want to do this?" I asked him.

"This or … the wedding?" He answered me, his hands roaming my hips in the hopes of what was to come, it was to come, but we needed to talk first.

"Both, but mostly the wedding. I know what you like sexually, but I've never had a wedding with you before."

He smirked.

"I really don't mind where we do it. Or how. I mean, it is a girl's thing, right? The big white wedding, the whole nine, I just want it to be you, me, our kids, making it official, then we can just shout it from the roof tops maybe."

"But you've never thought about what you'd like to do for a wedding?"

"Honestly? No, all I knew when I thought of a wedding was you."

Sweetest man ever, and I knew he was not just angling to get laid, that was pretty much a given already.

"Really?" I asked.

He nodded.

"So you wouldn't care if I wanted a big huge wedding with all the trimming and ridiculously expensive dress and maybe let Pam plan it?"

His face blanched.

"Well… I … if it's… you know, if it's really what you wanted, we can just choose which kid goes to college." He smiled then.

"I'm kidding, Eric, believe me, the last thing I need is a big ass expensive wedding. I'd be happy just going down to City Hall and doing it there."

"You're kidding again?"

"No," I really was not, I may have at one time in my life dreamed of the big expensive white wedding, but that is not what I needed or wanted anymore. I just wanted to be married, I wanted to be Eric's wife and for him to be my husband. The party was just a party, and we could do one of those anytime.

"Okay, I'm game if you are."

"Just us, not big hoopla, just simple and intimate?"

"Definitely." He grinned, and if he didn't make me want to jump him before, I certainly wanted to after that.

EPOV:

"Who's my boy, you're my boy, that's right, you're my boy." I said tickling him as we finished off his bath. He loved his baths, but really, I think he just loved to be naked. Jessica scowled at me when I informed her that she had been similar in that respect.

"But I love my clothes, I did not!"

"You did, you used to strip off all the time and just go running around the house in your little naked tush."

"Dad!"

"Whaat?" I whined back, "it's funny."

She rolled her eyes, just turned six and already such a sense of attitude. We were doomed.

"You want to hold him?"I asked, knowing she had been skittish for a long time. It had mostly been because he was just so fragile at first, and we had kept an extra close eye on her when she was with him, it was nervous new parenting, but it was not something we could help. Now, she was just uninterested.

"Nah, that's okay. I'm going over to play with Hoyt."

"Oh, you are?" I asked her, since she certainly hadn't asked me.

"May I go over and play, please?" She asked, in her most polite voice.

"You may. We're going to Adele's for dinner with mom though, so tell Maxine to send you home at five so I can get you washed up and ready."

"Okay. Bye dad, bye James." She said, taking off for the front door, hopping on her bike and cycling across the street. I kept an eye on her though, even if it wasn't busy, I worried.

"Okay dude, just you and me, and personally I think you need a nap."

Spit bubble.

I settled us both down on the couch for a little TV time for me and maybe some sleep times for him. The previous week we had gone down and registered for a marriage licence. Filled out all the paperwork, and now it was just a matter of doing it. I was excited, I was excited for the change and I was excited for things to just hopefully stay the same. We were good now, really good. We had gotten back on our respective wheels again, and everything felt right again, finally. The only kink in the steel so to speak was Jessica. She was not interested in the baby at all, and I knew it freaked Sookie out. She didn't want to be with her mom when it was just them and James, no more cuddle Saturdays, and she rarely asked her mom to come play with her either. I knew that when Sookie came home, and had been in such a fragile state, both emotionally and physically, that Jessica was put off by seeing her mom in pain, and having to stay in bed and not be as playful as she was so used to. And somewhere along the line, Jessica just started to pull away from her; I knew it broke Sookie's heart, because I knew it broke mine to see her disinterest. Sookie was trying to be brave about though, she was trying to convince us both that she would grow out of it, and things would go back to normal soon… but it had been six months, and she was still not showing any signs of going back. With Sookie back to work three days a week it gave me a lot of one on one time with Jessica again, but every time I would bring it up or bring up what she thought of James… she would just change the subject or go silent.

I was really struggling on what to do, for all of us.

"Hey guys!" Sookie said enthusiastically coming to greet us as we walked into the restaurant. She lifted Jessica first, eyeing me in the question if anything had changed, sadly, it had not.

"Where you good for dad?" She asked her, "Did you help him with the baby; you know how he really needs your help, right?"

She just shrugged.

"He seemed okay on his own, mom."

Cringe face from me to her. Yep, I knew what she meant. This whole 'integrating the babies' thing really wasn't working.

"Okaaay." Sookie sounded out taking us to our usual table, where we left James in his carrier seat on the inside of the table. Sookie fawned over him, and he seemed just as happy to see her, big gummy smiles and excited hands and legs.

"So, Jess what do you want for dinner?"

"Does it has to have vegetables in it?"

"Maybe."

"Can't I just have pizza?"

"You had pizza last night, maybe some of Lafayette's peppered chicken? You love that, right?"

"No."

"No?"

"I hate it."

She didn't hate it a week ago.

"Okay, so what about -"

"I want pizza."

Sookie took a deep breath.

"And I said no, besides Lafayette isn't cooking pizza tonight."

"He will for me, he always makes me whatever I want." she huffed.

Little madam.

"Well, not tonight. Pick something else."

Sookie looked to me and I just shrugged.

"I found the dress."

"You did?"

She smiled.

"I did, it's nothing too over the top, but I think you'll like it."

"Oh, will it fit me just right?" I batted my lashes at her, causing her to laugh aloud. She threw her napkin at me playfully.

"No, it won't, but I think you'll enjoy the um, after wedding attire a lot more."

"Is that right?"

"Oh, definitely."

"Any hints?"

"Hmmm. Nope."

I rolled my eyes, of course, there were no hints, but there was also no pressure. We hadn't told a soul what we were doing, not one. We were going down to City Hall, we had booked a minister and that was that. We hoped Maxine and Pam would be available to meet us on a whim, in fact I knew they would be. And that's all we wanted. That and a dinner with all our friends afterwards here, that, they knew about but that's all they knew about. It was awesome.

I ordered my steak, Sookie ordered her chicken, we fed James as we waited, and Jessica refused anything, so she knew the consequence. If she didn't like what was offered, she didn't eat, simple as that. Of course, we normally caved and she'd get something at home, but it was normally supper food, like cereal or toast. But she knew this, and still she sat, her arms crossed, pouting to herself.

"Jessica, do you want some of my chicken?"

"No, I told you, I hate it."

"Okay, fine."

"I just want pizza."

"And I told you there is no pizza."Sookie sighed, "Pam came in today." She said to me, ignoring Jess and her tantrum.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, it was awkward, Ames had just come into work, and they had this whole thing," she looked at me, we had gotten really good at code talk over the years, and I knew what 'thing' they had, it was most likely a row of sorts.

"Did they say anything that gives us hope?"

"Not really, still blaming each other, still mad, still passive aggressive… It's just so sad. I want them to be happy."

"We all do."

"Hey there Miss Jessica."

"Lafayette!" She smiled when she saw him approach us, her whole face lit up, talk about a personality transplant. "Will you make me food? My mom won't feed me."

Sookie looked open mouthed at her, damn Jessica way to rub it in.

"Excuse me, I would feed you, I just told you, no pizza."

"And you didn't want anything else?" Lafayette asked her and she shook her head no.

"Not even my fried chicken? Jessica you knows my chicken is the best."

"Can I have it on pizza?" She asked sweetly, that girl had nothing to learn.

He looked to us, and that was a clear no, she wasn't going to manipulate us like this.

"Not tonight baby girl, how about I take you into the kitchen and maybe let you choose something else, huh? It's better than being hungry right?"

He nodded to us before giving James a baby high-five before he took Jessica off on a kitchen adventure.

"You know, maybe she's Pam's kid, it would make sense." Sookie sighed, finishing off her food before she took James out to wind him.

"Hey little guy…hey…" his face was contorting, clearly uncomfortable, but hilarious just as it was when he'd smile and laugh, I loved it all. He was an odd mix of both of us in his features. When he was born, it was hard to tell whom he got what from looks wise, but as he got that little bit older, it was clear. He had my ears and eyes, and impossibly long fingers for a little dude, but he had her nose and cute little pout, his eye colour was closer to Sookie's blue than it was to mine, but they had my shape. She maintained he was a little mini me, but I saw her in him more than I saw me. His hair was white blond when he was born but was becoming more of a fair light brown now, either way he was as cute as could be, even when he cried.

"I know baby I know it hurts but you just give me a -" and he burped big and loud for such a little one," there we go!" she smiled.

"Maybe we should tell Jessica," she said, pondering aloud, "I could take her shopping for her dress tomorrow, if you're around to keep James, I think we need some real girl time."I nodded, I thought so too, I mean it was killing Sookie that Jess was being so distant, I knew she wanted to fix it more than anything.

"Sure, I do enjoy nap time. I really don't know why I resisted it so much when I was a kid."

"Right? Love naptime. Elmo time, not so much. God I hate that little bastard."

I laughed, yeah Elmo grated on the nerves that's for sure.

"So, shopping tomorrow then, I think I'll ask Pam over for lunch or something, she and I haven't really had a change to talk lately, and with work being so busy it's never really the right time to start bring up her love life, you know?"

"Yeah, exactly, it will do you guys good too; I really hope she's okay. I mean, I know Ames is a mess, but I really feel for Pam. She's more like family than Amelia anyway, and she was the one that didn't do any wrong, it just sucks for her… for both of them, and for little Ben."It did, it really did, I did not know where either of them stood right now, but I missed my friend, she was being as distant as Jessica was with her mom, and that was just never a good sign. But as Sookie would do her best with our daughter, I'd do my best with the woman that was like a sister to me, I'd no idea why they were pulling away, but that didn't mean we could do our best to pull them back right?

I knew for sure it was something she'd do it for us if the situation was reversed. Infact I'm pretty sure she had done it for us, she hadn't asked and maybe it was against the new rules, but I knew something that had to be taken into consideration too - Pam was as stubborn as I was, and if we waited for her to ask for help, we'd be waiting forever.

A/N: Hey guys! Me again! I'm not sure how many chapters of this baby I have left, but I thiiink we might be winding down soon. I'll be sorry to see these guys go, I really will. But I do have another story up my sleeve ;)