Disclaimer: I don't own the Southern Vampires. Sole copyright belongs to Charlaine Harris. Most of the characters are Charlaine Harris's... but some are mine! All the mistakes are my own.

Chapter Twenty-five

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Sookie

"How far apart are the contractions?" Dr. Ludwig asked once I told her that my water broke.

"I don't know yet. I just had my first one." I said a little breathlessly. The pain was so intense, I don't think I could have prepared for it.

"Relax, child. It will do you no good to get yourself upset. It is soon, but in these times, babies survive being born premature. We will do everything we can, but you will have to come to my clinic. You will not be able to birth the babies on that boat."

"I don't think I can teleport right now. How will I get there? " My powers had been acting a little wonky during my short pregnancy. Sometimes they would work and sometimes they wouldn't. I had pretty much given up trying to use them for the last couple of weeks. I found it was kind of comforting to feel human again. But now, I was all alone on the boat and no one knew where I was, besides Ludwig, Eric, and Pam. Being that the sun had not yet set, even if Eric and Pam had been here, they couldn't have taken me to Ludwig's clinic.

"Pack a bag. I will call and arrange for things to be ready at the clinic and then I will come to get you." Ludwig said and hung up without another word.

"Shit!" I screamed and waddled towards the bed room. Just as I reached the door to my room I was hit with another contraction. This time the pain was much worse than it had been before and I gripped the door jam to keep from falling to the floor.

When I thought the agony would never end, it started to subside, and I walked slowly and unsteadily toward the bed. 'Ludwig will just have to grab my bag when she gets here.' I had it already packed although we had hoped that I could give birth on the boat. I was going to try to do one of those water births since our tub was huge and it wasn't like I could go to a regular hospital to have the babies.

I was hit with another stabbing pain and I barely made it to the bed before my knees went out. I knew something was wrong. In my gut I knew. I did the only thing I could…I prayed. I prayed that the babies would be okay, that Eric would make it in time, that I would make it out of this and not end up like the other women who have bore children like my own. Ludwig had told me that she knew of two cases like my own. One mother had died and the other lived, for a while at least, so as far as I saw it, I had a fifty-fifty chance. Eric wasn't happy with the odds and neither was I, but we had agreed that we would not end the pregnancy. The babies were part him and part me. It was something we never thought we could have and we knew we would fight for this...this chance at the near impossible. As scary as it was, I wanted the babies more than anything. I wanted to see the little blond babies with bright blue eyes from my dreams.

The contractions seemed to be coming much too quickly and I was feeling weaker by the minute. I laid down on the bed, curled into a ball, and closed my eyes.

When I fluttered back to consciousness, I could hear voices all around me. I felt groggy until I was hit with another contraction and I screamed out from the intensity of it. 'What is happening?'

"Get the ultra sound machine in here! I need to see what going on in there!" a voice bellowed and I thought it might be Ludwig. "Prepare for a cesarean section. We need to get them out!"

"She's awake, Doctor." a little man in a mask said, hovering over me.

"Sookie..." I heard Ludwigs voice, "Sookie, we are going to have to get the babies out right now."

"Eric?"

"I called him. He is on his way." she said quickly, before barking orders at the other nurses in the room.

"Ludwig..." I said with every ounce of strength I had, "do what you have to do to save the babies. If something happens to me, tell Eric that I love him." I was not sure what was happening, but I was feeling so weak that I knew I couldn't remain conscious for long. It seemed I'd rolled the dice and they came up snake eyes. I was never lucky and everything always came the hard way.

I often worried that this would be the thing that finally did me in, that's why I had put a plan in place to make sure that my death would not mean Eric's final death too. We were told that bonded couples, such as us, usually would not survive the death of their bonded. When I found out what Reece's gift was, that he could temporarily and safely break a blood bond, I made a plan. Pam had agreed to call Reece at the first sign of trouble and I had given Reese a vile of my blood. He would drink it and break the bond only if Pam called. I prayed that Pam had done as she promised. When I told her about the plan, I knew she would agree. There is no one that she holds more dear than Eric. Pam would want him to survive my death.

No matter what happened to me, I wanted Eric to live on, not only for his own sake, but for our children. I knew he would be scared, hurt, and most certainly pissed off, but if I lived, he would get over it and if I died, well, I wouldn't be around to see it. I took comfort in that.

I was not sure how much time had passed, but when I was roused again, I was surrounded by a blue cloth and I felt a sharp pressure on my abdomen.

"Eric..." I rasped, and a face with a white mask peaked over the blue curtain.

"He is on his way." the woman said. 'Where is he? How much time as passed?'

"The babies..." my words came out slow and thick.

"We are getting them out now."

My eyes closed, and try as I might to keep awake, I slipped back into the darkness.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Eric

Rasul had provided Pam and me with shelter for the day at his personal estate. It was a modest place but it served its purpose. His secure resting place was not actually in the main estate, which was an old two story Victorian home, but under the shed in the back yard. It was a smart move for any vampire to hide his resting place, especially in these times.

I woke from my daytime rest filled with fear and pain and I threw off the top of the coffin I was resting in. I knew immediately the sun was still up, I could feel its pull. I opened my phone and seeing it was about thirty minutes until sunset, I speed dialed Ludwig. She answered immediately.

"Northman, I am preparing to take Sookie to the clinic. There is a complication." Ludwig said with no preamble.

"What is it?" Anxiety shot through me. 'No. NO! Not again please...' I had already lost a wife and child this way.

"I don't know which is why I need to get her to the clinic. You know where it is. I suggest you get there as soon as possible. She is asking for you." I heard Sookie's shrill in the background and then a dial tone.

I stood there for a moment with the phone still held to my ear. 'Sookie...' was my only thought. If a Vampire can go into shock, I think I must have. I stood unmoving for several minutes, unable to process what was happening. It was my worst nightmare come to life. It was day, Sookie was in trouble, and I wasn't there to save her.

My phone rang then and I yanked it from my ear. The sound shook me from my stupor. It was Pam. She was in the room next to mine, sharing it with Rasul. He had given up his room for me, since I was his King and as he should. I answered the phone, but no words came.

"Eric! What is it?" Pam sounded flustered, which is very unlike her. I did not give it more than a brief thought since I was consumed with worry for Sookie. The fact that my feelings had woken Pamela was a testament to how upset I really was. She did not even wake up when our hotel in Rhodes was bombed.

"There has been a complication. I have to go to Ludwig's clinic." I said and hung up. I had no answers for her. I could not stand to listen to the questions I knew she would ask. 'I just need to get from here to the clinic outside of Shreveport.' I called Aaron Davenport, Rasul's daytime man.

"Davenport." he answered after one ring.

"This is King Northman. Do you have access to a car with a large trunk?" I did not waste time with formalities. I had no time.

"I drive a '65 Lincoln. The trunk is huge. She's fast too, got a 430 engine in her." Aaron sounded proud. Fast and a big trunk was all I cared about.

"Drive it to the shed behind the house, back it up to the door, and open the trunk. How fast can you get here?"

Davenport was smart not to question me. "Under five minutes. I was just running to pick up the Sheriff's dry cleaning."

"Good. Get here now. You are going to be driving me toward Shreveport as fast as possible. As soon as the sun sets, I will fly the rest of the way and you can return here." I ordered and hung up. I started to pace the room. Sookie was becoming more distressed and her suffering was pouring through the bond. I was becoming more and more frantic and I thought about calling Ludwig back, but if Sookie was in trouble, the doctor needed to be focused on her.

I freely admit I was a total mess. I had never stood to lose so much before. I might lose my goddess and my children because I was not there to save them. It hung so heavy on my shoulders that I thought my knees might buckle under its weight. The darkness of these overwhelming thoughts and feelings coming from Sookie were all consuming. I struggled to keep my focus., but finally had to close off my bond to Sookie. I immediately felt relief and a deep guilt for having to leave her, but I would be no use to her in this state. I had to do something.

I pulled myself together, swearing that if the breather didn't get in here in the next two minutes I was going to snap his neck when this was through. I decided to contact Shane. I needed to make the most of the time, I had to put things in place. I had gone over these plans so many times in my head in the last couple of weeks, I was almost running on automatic. It was a good thing too, since never in my existence have I ever felt so helpless.

"Your Majesty?" Shane said sounding worried. I had called him on his personal line. I thought it best that I told him that there was a problem. I needed him to send guards to the hospital. There was much to do to keep Sookie and the children safe, not to mention, their identities secret.

"Shane, get a dozen of our most loyal guards to Ludwig's clinic in Shreveport. Do you know where it is?" I tried to keep my voice calm, but it quivered more than I would have liked.

"Of course. What is it? Is Sookie injured?" Shane immediately became concerned, but his tone changed when he barked to someone who was apparently in the room with him, "Assemble a team immediately a dozen of our most trusted. Go to the clinic in Shreveport, surround the place, no one gets in or out besides the King and myself, until you hear further, understood?"

"There is no need for you to join them. You should stay there." Sookie and I chose not to tell Shane of her pregnancy. We felt the less who knew, the safer we would be.

"My Liege, If Sookie is injured I would like to be there." Shane insisted.

I could not muster up the resolve to stop him. I knew he would defy me anyway if I said no. He had no problem facing my wrath since he knew I would not kill him, although if something happened to Sookie, I would perish with her, so the point was moot.

I hung up on him then, leaving Shane to do as he pleased. I heard the sound of a racing engine and I ran out the door of the secure bedroom and up the ladder that led to a trap door in the floor of the shed above us. I wished I had a blanket or something bigger to wrap around me, and when I looked around me, I saw a tarp over a riding lawnmower. I pulled it off quickly and wrapped it around myself, before walking to the door.

I heard Aaron unlocking the trunk and I whipped open the door and launched myself in the truck, ordering, "Drive now!" and pulled the trunk closed. Aaron hopped in the car and took off. I was stuck in this trunk for the next ten minutes and so I decided to open the bond to check on Sookie. I felt terrible guilt for not being able to handle all that she was going through, even if my reasons were valid.

When I tried to open the bond, I found I wasn't able to. 'What the hell?' I tried several more times before a horrifying realization crept up on me. 'My bond with Sookie is gone, it is as if she is...'

Before the thought could fully form, I called Ludwig again. It could not have been that Sookie was gone and I was still here, I couldn't believe that. The line rang and rang, but before the fourth ring, someone answered, "Mr. Northman your children are out and safe." a woman's voice said without greeting.

"And what of my wife?" I nearly shouted. I longed to feel the relief of knowing that they would all be alright.

"Dr. Ludwig is with your wife now." The woman said not answering my question.

"HOW IS MY WIFE?" I bellowed just as I slid across the large truck as Aaron seemed to have taken a sharp left turn without slowing down. I gripped the phone to my ear so I would not miss what she said as my back slammed it to the side of the trunk.

"Calm down, Mr. Northman. You are upset and could get in an accident. That would prevent you from getting here as quickly as you would if you calmed and carefully made your way here."

"Is my wife alright?" I demanded through gritted teeth. "Please tell me." I added desperately. I needed to know.

"As I said, she is with Dr. Ludwig. I know nothing more than that, but I can assure you they are doing everything they can for your wife. Now I must go tend to your children." the bitch said and hung up.

I nearly crushed my phone, but thought better of it, since at that moment I felt the sun as it set and I kicked open the trunk and took to the air. I flew through the night at such speed that the Gods themselves could not have stopped me. I had the clinic in sight in less than ten minutes and I didn't slow until I hit the front door to the clinic knocking it inward off it hinges and I followed the scent of my Sookie's blood. It hung heavy in the air and I was a blur through the hallways until I found her room.

Ludwig stood outside the door, and when I stopped before her, she jumped at my sudden appearance. My first instinct was to simply toss the hobbit out of my way and storm the room, but Ludwig said "Northman, before you go see Sookie, hear me out."

That was not what I wanted to hear. I pushed Ludwig out of my way and swung open the door. I rushed to Sookie's side and was sickened by what I saw. The bed was red with blood and Sookie laid there unmoving. Her face serene as if she was sleeping, her arms laid at her sides, and her skin as pale as if she had been drained. I could hear no heartbeat, no breathing, nothing. I bit into my wrist and shoved it in her mouth. I had no idea how long she had been gone, I didn't even think about it. "No, my love. NO. You can't leave me. You promised little one, remember?" I pleaded. "Come back to me. You can not leave me. You can not! What will I do without you. Please Sookie...please!" I roared out with pain. Sookie did not respond to me and she was not swallowing my blood. I coaxed her neck with my hand to try and get it down her throat.

I sobbed and begged Sookie to stay, but I knew in my heart it was for naught. I was too late. I had been busy trying to kill my enemies when I should have been by Sookie's side. 'I am nothing more than a blind fool. Forgive me my love.' I pulled Sookie into my arms and cradled her body with mine. All I wanted to do was meet the sun. I wanted to walk out into the sun with my love in my arms and feel it's warm rays once more. I wanted to see her again in the afterlife, to hear her laugh and see her smile. I was no more than half a vampire now, my other half gone forever.

"Northman…" Ludwig said cautiously and I growled with such ferocity she flinched. I had forgotten she was there.

Shane swept into the room then, and his face, I was sure, was a mirror image of my own. He reached out to the wall beside him and leaned against it as if he might fall, his eyes fixed on Sookie and myself.

I looked down at Sookie in my arms as I openly wept. I completely gave into the grief and let go. I howled as pain and anguish ripped through me. Memories of me and Sookie over the last decade were fluttering through my mind. They had been the best years of my long life. I had never known anything as pure and true as the love we shared. I doubted that I ever would again. If I lived on without her, it would be a torture like no other, and I would not abide by that.

"Is she...?" Shane whispered.

"Yes." Ludwig answered shortly and Shane turned on her

"WHY DID YOU NOT SAVE HER?" Shane moved, putting himself in Ludwig's face. He grabbed the little hobbit and shook her.

"We did everything possible to save her, from science to magic. Now let me GO!"

"Yet…she is...gone." Shane paused and strangely took a breath releasing Ludwig. "What did this to her?" Shane said seeing all the blood and the state of Sookie's body. Sookie had blood all down her legs and across her abdomen was a cut where Ludwig had take out the children. He looked away from us quickly and stared at Ludwig.

"I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. We tried to save her but by the time we got the babies out, she had already lost too much blood." Ludwig said shaking her head in disappointment. "There was no way to predict what happened." She said and began to pace the small room.

I held Sookie tighter to me. I could feel her warmth beginning to fade and I couldn't bring myself to ask the questions Shane had gratefully decided to ask. I just wasn't sure I could handle hearing about how I lost my love. My heart was crushed, 'Is this really happening?'

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

A/N: A quick thanks to the wonderful Jeca & Fairyblood at Fangreaders that asked me to come chat in their Author Spotlight on Sunday July 17th at 4 pm EST(1 pm MTN/ 8 pm GMT) at: fangreaders(dot) blogspot (dot) com. I would love to get to hang out and talk with you. I hope that you will join me.