A/N I am so sorry for the epic fail in getting this next chapter up for all of my loyal readers. My mom has been in the hospital and life as just been a little nutty, but we are good now. I have started the next chapter so hopefully it shouldn't take as long to get out as this one. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

The two days following the Bartlett incident, both Sookie and I spent close to home and Sookie spent most of that time in bed. Seeing that thing again was very emotionally draining for her. I was tempted to call Dr. Ludwig and have her come over and check on Sookie, but Sookie insisted that she was fine, so I let it be.

When Sookie was feeling better, Adele and Fintan came over for a visit. Adele was quick to go to Sookie's side while Fintan stayed downstairs to talk to me. "I just wanted to let you know Eric that I took care of Jason. He was never told what had happened to Sookie, but he understands now and he's just as glad as the rest of us that that thing is dead."

"Has there been an official report on the cause of death yet."

"The authorities have ruled it an accident. Adele isn't even worried about any type of funeral service, but there is something that you need to know about." From Fintan's tone I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what he was about to tell me, but I motioned for him to continue anyway. "The lawyer has already spoken to Adele about Bartlett's will. Everything in his personal account as well as a sizeable insurance policy was left to Sookie."

"That sick son of a bitch! I wish that it was still alive so I could kill it all over again. How much are we talking about?" I didn't think that Sookie would want anything to do with the money, but I was curious as to how much was left to her.

"The lawyer said just over sixty-five thousand dollars."

"I don't want it." We both turned and looked at Sookie standing in the doorway. "I don't want one red cent of that bastard's money. I don't care what you do with it, give it away, let it blow in the wind, hell burn it if you want, I don't care, just keep it away from me."

I went over and took her into my arms. "It's all right my love, we'll donate it to a shelter or an organization that helps children who were abused or molested. How does that sound?"

"Perfect."

"I'll take care of that for you Sookie so you won't have to worry about a thing."

"Thank you Grandpa Fintan." She walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. "That brings me back to why I was coming in here in the first place, I was wondering if you would want to give me away along with Gran at our wedding."

He smiled and held her tighter. "I would be honored Sookie, thank you."

I heard a sniffle come from the doorway and I noticed that Adele was standing there with tears and a smile on her face. She was quick to wipe her tears away when she saw me looking. "Baby girl, why don't we go into the kitchen and fix supper together."

"Okay Gran. Did you want to come too Grandpa?"

"I'll be there in a minute, I need to speak with your Eric for a few more minutes."

"Okay." I went over and kissed my Sookie, then watched her and Adele disappear into the kitchen.

I could tell by the look on his face that I wasn't going like what he was about to tell me anymore than what he had already told me. "Niall wants Hadley's baby and the twins."

I could feel my anger and bloodlust quickly rising inside of me and I was quick to block it from Sookie so she wouldn't get overwhelmed. She'd been too worked up over the past few days and I didn't need to add to that. "Why does he want them?"

"He knows that all of the children possess the fairy spark. They are all half-lings, but with the spark they will have the same if not more fairy traits than Sookie. He wants to raise them in the Fae realm so their magic will be even greater as well as making sure they grow up strong to become breeders."

"WHAT!" I could not believe what I was hearing! He had sent me back here to save Sookie and now he wanted to take our children away from us. That was not going to happen. "Over my finally dead body." And since I was now truly immortal, there was no need to worry about that happening. "I need to push up my plans."

"What plans?"

"I was planning on bringing Hadley here after the wedding and honeymoon for the last trimester of pregnancy so that Sookie could have some time to bond with Hunter before he is born. I think Sookie and I both would be happier to have them closer now."

"How would you feel about me putting some wards up around here? I didn't think they were needed before since it was just you and Sookie. You are so protective of her and now with her powers emerging, she's even more safe, but Hadley doesn't have that. I want both of my granddaughters and all of my great-grandchildren to be safe."

"Of course, anything that you need. I should have asked you to set them up months ago."

"It's all right. I can get started on them right now." Fintan quickly disappeared outside, while I went into my office and started making phone calls. I called the five people that I had watching over Hadley; 2 witches, 2 daemons and a Were. Nobody had been near Hadley, but the Were that I had hired to stay close to her most of the time had noticed someone following he the past few days. At first he'd thought it was just a coincidence, but with my call he was sure now that it wasn't.

I was quick to arrange for Hadley to be brought here as soon as possible and I was lucky enough to find transportation to get her here by tonight. Now I just had to tell Sookie what was going on. Even though I was planning on bringing Hadley up here anyway, this was a lot sooner than I had planned. I had wanted to wait until after our honeymoon so that Sookie and I could have a little bit of time to ourselves before the birth of our children, but that wasn't happening now.

After I had finished with my arrangements, I went to go and check on Fintan. He had finished the wards as best he could until Hadley arrived, then he would be able to finish them completely. That was a weight off of my shoulders, but I still had to talk to Sookie about everything that was happening.

I wanted to talk to her before supper, but when Fintan and I went into the kitchen they were already finished cooking, so we sat down to eat. I tried to focus on the conversation about our upcoming wedding, but I couldn't get my mind off of Hadley. So many things could happen to her on the way down here, but I just had to have faith in my employees.

I could tell that Sookie noticed that I was distracted, but she didn't say anything about it. Adele and Fintan helped me clean up the kitchen while Sookie went into the living room to put up her swollen feet. It didn't take long for us to finish and they excused themselves to head home

I made my way into the living room to talk to Sookie with so many thoughts running through my head. This was suppose to be our peaceful time before the babies came and the peaceful life that Sookie had always wanted, but for some reason this just wasn't meant to be now. Maybe after the wedding, even with Hadley here we could have some peace, but I had a feeling that wasn't going to happen either.

I went into the living room to check on Sookie and I found her fast asleep on the sofa. I was going to leave her to rest and we would talk later when I noticed that she was becoming anxious through our bond. I could feel her pulse start to race and I knew that she was having a horrible nightmare.

I was quick to go to her and I gently lifted her into my arms and set her on to me lap. I sent all the calm that I could to her through our bond as I held her close to me. "It's all right my love, everything is all right. Nothing can ever hurt you with me here, I promise." I could feel her start to calm just a bit, but she was still feeling very upset. I couldn't let her stay like this, so I gently shook her awake. "Sookie, Lover wake up. It's okay my darling, I'm right here."

I watched as her eyes flew open and were quick to find my own. I smiled down at her to show her that everything was all right. She didn't smile back, she just threw her arms around me and held on to me as tightly as she could. She was trembling all over and I could smell her tears that were flowing down her cheeks. I hated it when she cried. "Sookie, tell me what has you so upset, please talk to me so that I can help you."

It took a few minutes for her to calm down enough so that she could speak. She curled up against my chest getting as close to me as possible before she spoke. "I'm sorry that I worried you Sweetie. It seems that seeing him again brought up some old nightmares from my other past."

I really didn't like the sound of that. "What were you dreaming about my love?"

I felt her tense up again, but she took a deep breath to try to stay calm. She pulled away just enough so that she could look me in the eye as she continued. "I was locked in the trunk in Jackson all over again." That's what I thought she was dreaming about. I wanted to murder Bill Compton for all the things that he had done to her even though technically he hadn't done them.

"Sookie, my sweet angel." I gently cupped her face in my hand. "That is not going to happen this time. Bill Compton is never going to touch you or even come near you ever again."

"I know that, I really do. You will always protect me."

"Yes I will, no matter what." We sat there for a while just holding each other with me rocking her gently. When she was finally fully calmed down I knew that it was time to tell her about Hadley's arrival in a few short hours. I debated whether or not I should tell her the whole reason behind this sudden visit because I knew that it would just upset her all over again, buy I wouldn't, I couldn't keep things from her anymore. I was going to be honest with her no matter what. "Sookie, there's something very important that we need to talk about."

"I'm not going to like what you are about to tell me, am I?"

"Part of it, no, the other part, I'm not sure about."

"Tell me the part your not sure about first."

"Okay. Your cousin Hadley is going to be arriving here in a few hours and she is going to be staying until Hunter is born."

"Oh. Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Honestly, no because there are way more vampires here than where she was staying so she has more chances of getting in trouble here, but the other part of the explanation is why I'm bringing her up here now." I paused for a moment and took an unneeded breath before I continued. "When I was talking with Fintan before he informed me that Niall wants to take the children back to Fae and use them as breeders." I could feel the shock and anger and fear running through her. I hated Niall for making her feel like this. "I found out that someone has been following Hadley, so that's why she's coming to stay here with us. Fintan has started putting up wards for the house and if she wants to go out, I'll have Pam stay with her to keep her out of trouble."

She sat in my lap, her emotions all jumbled together for a few minutes before she became resolved and started peppering my face with kisses. "Oh Sweetie, I'm so excited now. I'm pissed at Niall for wanting to take our children and if he does it while I'm around he will not have the chance to try a second time, but I'm glad that Hadley's coming to stay. I've been worried that she could still get into trouble. I'll feel better when I see her for myself." She kissed me one more time on the lips, before jumping off my lap and heading for the stairs. "I have to get the guest room ready and call Gran to let her know what's going on. I love you."

"I love you too." I couldn't help but smile at her, but I was still worried about what Niall was planning to do to get our children. He had gone to a lot of trouble ending Brendan, Lochlan and Neave to keep Sookie safe, maybe he was considering this as payment for his services. But no matter what he thought I was not going to let him take my children.

I put thoughts of Niall to the side for now and followed my love upstairs to help her get the guest room ready. I found her dancing around the room as she was making the bed and I realized that I should have brought Hadley up sooner. It wasn't just Hadley that she wanted to see, she also wanted to be close to Hunter as well. She wanted to bond with him as much as possible before he was born.

It didn't take us long to get the room set up and Sookie insisted on going to the grocery store. Apparently we didn't have enough food in the house for two pregnant women. I think that she was just having a craving, but I wasn't about to argue with her.

It took us almost two hours to get through the grocery store and on the way home Sookie informed me that she was hungry again and wanted pizza and she wanted me to make sure there would be enough for when Hadley arrived later on. I was only to happy to oblige my Sookie.

Sookie dug into the pizza when we got home while I put away the groceries, then she was getting sleepy, so she went up to our room to nap before Hadley's arrival around midnight. I decided to try to get some work done from here while the house was still quiet.

I'd been working for about an hour and a half when my cell phone rang, "Pam, what can I do for you this evening?"

"You need to get your ass down here to Fangtasia Eric and I mean right the fuck now."

"Why? What has happened?"

"We have a guest and she says that she is not leaving until she sees you in person."

I had a really bad feeling about who was there. "Who is it Pam?"

"Queen Sophie-Anne."