Here's the next chapter!

I don't know what got into me, but I got it done fast ... I know.

And, Northwoman wants to kill me after reading it! Just a warning ...

It's a little short and angsty, so don't kill me.

It's also a little different as far as the format. Despite these things, I hope you like it.

It turned out to be a great way to get from point a to point b in a fairly simple fashion and took the story exactly where I'd wanted it to go.

I'd thought about writing the next chapter in Sookie's POV,basically being the mirror of this chapter ... filling in the blanks as far as what she was thinking was concerned, but I've decided not to.

Have no fear, though ... I will hit on quite a bit of it next chapter - which is already in progress, so hopefully y'all won't have to wait too long for resolution.

As usual, I've already mentioned Northwoman. I gotta thank her for betaing the chapter. She is awesome!

And finally, before we get on to it ...Sorry if it's TMI, but my hubby made me do it. He wants credit where credit is due!

Nothing's mine ... but Alarm Cock - which unfortunately isn't in this chapter! It's only mine by 50% I guess ... that's what I'm entitled to of my husbands, legally, I supposed, and he's actually the one who coined the phrase! And, yes, I love it just as much as Sookie! LOL! Everything else belongs to Charlaine Harris.

Now ... on with the story ...

Eric's POV

March 26th, 2010

I stared down at the file on my desk in disbelief. My eyes stuck to one specific item.

A date – 02/02/02.

This wasn't happening. I just couldn't believe it. It wasn't even possible.

If I'd ever thought I'd known the meaning of conflict before, I now realized I'd had no fucking clue.

What I felt now was conflict and I'd never felt anything like it before. It was complete emotional overload and it was gut-wrenching. I felt as if my heart was being ripped into a million tiny pieces, yet infused with life at the exact same time. It was an uncomfortable and unexplainable sensation.

I was going to throw up.

I leaned over the trashcan by my desk and wretched.

How was I ever to tell Sookie of this?

We already had so much on our plate with Dad.

He and Mom had stuck around for a while after the wedding. They'd spent two weeks visiting the World of Doughnuts locations in the area. In that time, we'd pretty much only agreed to disagree, so things between us were really no better.

And this was only gonna make that battle worse.

On top of that, Sookie's blood-pressure had been slightly elevated again. It was still considered normal, though. Thank god. It wasn't elevated enough to warrant any special treatment, only enough to warrant caution. I didn't want this to be what pushed her over the edge and I definitely didn't want it to cause harm to our daughter.

But I had no choice. I had to tell her; and him too. This wasn't something I could hide, or even wanted to.

I needed help and I didn't know who else to call.

I dialed the number, impatiently waiting for him to pick up.

"Eric, Son. How are things? Have you decided to allow Sookie to sign the contract? I know you're the only reason she hasn't signed it. She's carefully kept up the act she agrees with you on this, but I can see through it."

Fucking asshole! And of course he had to call it right.

But I didn't have to tell him that.

"No, Dad. She's not signing. That's not why I've called. Dad, I …."

Why did I even call him? Fuck! I called him because I had no other fucking choice.

I hated what I was about to do. I hated it. Despite the fact part of me felt like I'd been given the greatest gift of all, this was going to make everything worse, but really, given the circumstances, it probably couldn't get any worse, now. Could it?

"I … shit, Dad." I buried my head in one hand while the other held the phone to my ear, shaking my head.

"Eric is everything okay?" he asked, actually sounding concerned.

"No … I mean … yes … I mean … Dad, I just don't know."

I never, ever, thought anything like this would ever happen. It was completely insane, unreal, and unbelievable.

"It's not Sookie, is it … the baby's okay?" he questioned. "Your mother told me about her blood-pressure."

"No, it's not Sookie, Dad and the baby's fine, but I really need your help."

Talk about a double edge sword.

One had plunged straight through my heart today.

February 26th, 2010

"Dad, Hunter's inside waiting to see you. For some reason he likes you, so can we continue this conversation some other time?" I pleaded.

We'd had it entirely too many times over the past several weeks.

At least this was the last time we'd be having it in person. Two weeks had been enough. We'd had dinner with him and Mom four times since the wedding and the topic of conversation was always the same.

"Eric, I like her. I like her a lot, in fact; but that doesn't change the fact that you knocked her up, practically on your first date, I assume … given the math … and then you moved in with her, and married her, barely knowing her. She's turned out to be wonderful, so you've lucked out there, but I think I have my right to be concerned."

It was the same schpeil, every time, and I was glad they were finally going back to Chicago in the morning. One more night of drama was all Sookie and I could take. I couldn't help but really feel bad for Mom in all of this. She was caught in the middle and she had to live with Dad.

That had to suck.

"And frankly, none of that matters when it comes to the family's money and business. It certainly doesn't help, but it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't matter who you married. I don't care how long you've known her or how long you'd been together. Hell … I could have chosen her for you myself. None of that matters. I'd still have asked for a pre-nup."

I'd pretty much figured that much out on my own. I really didn't need him explaining it to me a dozen times.

Hunter was sticking around the whole time this time, so I hoped his presence would lighten the mood a little. He'd gone to stay with Tara and Jason during the previous four dinners, only being around when Mom and Dad first arrived.

Even though he'd only spent a little time with them, he'd really taken to them both and he'd been excited all day long to see them.

Like crazy excited.

"Dad, we've been over this. I'm sick of it. We always come to the same conclusion - we're not signing anything and you threaten to disinherit me. Just change your damn will, for Christ's sake. For now, there's a little boy who's very excited to see his Jimbo."

That's what he called Dad ever since the wedding. I had no idea why or where it had come from. Mom was Bea Bea which made much more sense.

"I'm still working on that," he informed, matter-of-factly. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about tonight, but it can wait," he said heading up the steps leading to the front door.

He threw open the door, stepping inside, a completely different man than I'd just been speaking to out front.

"Now where's Hunter?" He shouted excitedly, his hand digging into his pants' pocket. "Jimbo's gotta little something for ya!"

Hunter stormed in from the kitchen, where I assumed Sookie and Mom were hiding.

"Jimbo!" he exclaimed excitedly, crashing right into him.

Dad pulled his hand out of his pocket, holding a fifty. "Here ya go, Kid. Don't let it burn a hole in your pocket and don't spend it all in one place," he warned, seriously.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, chuckling at the scene playing out before me.

Then I realized my dad had just given my six-year-old a fifty.

"Hunter," I called out, stopping him on the way to his room, I guessed.

He'd headed for the stairs, so that was the only place he'd be going up there. We'd decided to begin work on the nursery, so we'd moved him to one of the rooms upstairs just last weekend.

I held out my hand and suggested, "You better let me hold that for you. That's a lot of money and you wouldn't want to lose it."

"Okay," he agreed, walking over to where I was standing by the front door. He sheepishly placed it in my hand.

"Now what do ya say to Dad?"

"Thanks!" he exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear.

I patted the top of his head. "So, when you're ready to spend it, let me know, okay."

"I don't wanna spend it. I wanna save it. Jimbo says savin's good," he said smiling.

My dad barely knew him, yet he was already corrupting my child! Fuck me! At least it was in a sort of good way. Maybe he'd just turn out to be thrifty, like me.

"Well, we'll go out tomorrow and get you a piggy bank then. That way, it'll be safe." I nodded.

"What's a piggy bank, Eric?"

"You'll see tomorrow; now go get washed up for dinner."

The evening went well, that is until Hunter was safely tucked in, read to, and asleep. I left his room, headed downstairs, and walked straight into a living room so tense you could cut it with a knife.

Sookie was sitting in the easy chair, a stunned look on her face; Mom was on the couch, her head buried in her hands; and Dad was sitting beside Mom, a stack of papers and a pen in his hand, holding them out to Sookie.

I had no clue what had transpired in the thirty minutes I was gone, but I was having no problem formulating many theories in my head in the seconds I stood in the doorway, taking in the sight before me.

"What the fuck is going on?" I finally asked, beyond pissed.

"The terms of my will will be finalized over the next few days. I'm offering Sookie a chance to sign over her rights to your inheritance if you ever divorce. There is a stipulation in there for the kids, of course, both Hunter and the baby, and any subsequent children the two of you may have in the future. They'll be well taken care of. It's really a very fair deal."

"Are you kidding me? I left for … for not even a half hour and this is what I come back to!" I shouted.

I swear I'd never been so pissed off in my life!

"It's what's best for everyone, Eric. Part of what you've argued for is that you want to know that Hunter is accounted for. With this agreement, he is, and you'll never lose him."

I did want that, more than anything - to know I'd never lose him.

If there was one thing all this had made me think about it was the chance I could lose Hunter. I didn't think it'd ever really happen, but that didn't change the fact the thought of it scared the hell out of me.

I was also beyond glad Dad cared enough about Hunter to not want to lose him himself. He'd made that perfectly clear, watching them together this evening, but he'd really jumped the gun, cornering Sookie like that.

He should have spoken to me first.

"You said you were here to talk about the will. That was obviously a lie," I spat as calmly as I could, given the circumstances. "Get out of my house!" I shouted, giving up on being calm. "Go back to your hotel … go back to Chicago! Just get out!"

"Eric, I'm going to hold onto this. Think about it. If you change your mind let me know," he said calmly as he stood. He extended his hand to Mom, helping her to her feet. "Darling, I believe it's time we go."

Damn right it was!

Not so much for Mom, but he definitely had to go. At the moment, I couldn't stand the sight of him.

"Sookie," he finally said, walking over to her and extending his hand to her. "As always, it's been a pleasure … dinner was lovely. Please remember, this is as much your decision, if not more, as it is Eric's."

"That's enough, Dad!" I chided him through gritted teeth, walking over to him, and then smacked his hand away from my wife.

"Eric, please at least consider this," he urged, then left.

I didn't speak to him again for another month.

March 15th, 2010

"Madeline," I suggested, pulling Sookie's legs up onto my lap. "We could call her Maddy."

"No. I was thinking something more like Prudence," she insisted, yawning.

She was exhausted and her feet were swollen.

Damn, I hated her job.

"Prudence? Prudence, the prude. I think not," I argued, diligently rubbing her feet.

"Well, would you rather call her Lucy?" she joked; at least I hoped she was joking.

"No! Of course not!" I proclaimed, her foot-rub, briefly paused while I wrapped my head around that horrible idea.

Loosey Lucy. Not my daughter. No way in Hell!

"We'll figure it out," she insisted, giggling. "We have plenty of time. Now rub my feet!" She wiggled her toes at me to drive the point home.

We would, and we did have over four more months.

I wished I had time like that at work.

There were only a couple more months left of school and at the end of the year, the work piled up with all the normal end of the year bullshit. To make matters worse, Mrs. Jenkins had fallen over the weekend and broken her hip. So I was a teacher short, indefinitely, which sucked.

We'd gotten the news yesterday, and then this morning learned she'd be out for at least the rest of the year – possibly longer. Knowing time was of the essence, with the end of the year approaching, we needed a long term sub and fast.

She was seventy-four years old and the school board had been trying to get her to retire for years. They hoped this could be what forced her hand, so they'd decided to hire a long term sub with potential for a long term contract. They wanted me to sit in the interviews next week.

I dreaded it.

"I've got to go to Shreveport one day next week for interviews. It doesn't look like Mrs. Jenkins is gonna make it back this year," I said.

"I hate to hear that, but perhaps it's for the best. I had her in the fourth grade and she was really old then. How old is she, anyway?" she asked, looking perplexed.

"She's seventy-four, so she wasn't that old when you had her. Only what? Fifty-seven … fifty-eight." I chuckled.

"Well, she had gray hair. I know that much." She laughed then abruptly stopped. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your dad called me again today."

Great, just what I needed!

I hadn't taken any calls from him since he'd gone back to Chicago. I had; however, talked to Mom a few times. I was just pretty much through with it all and Mom got that. Dad and Sookie didn't; however.

Dad still wanted Sookie to sign the contract he'd had drafted and Sookie still held out hope something could be settled in all this which would at least allow us all to get along, so despite my wishes, she'd been taking his calls.

"You know I wish you would just ignore him," I chided her, knowing full well she was going to do whatever she wanted.

It drove me nuts, but it was also part of why I loved her so much – her independence and strong will.

"I know," she said solemnly, then continued, "He said the will's finished. I didn't really understand everything, but he said he was leaving you nothing."

"And that's supposed to surprise me?" I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"He didn't leave your half to Pam either, Eric. He left it to the kids."

Now that was interesting. She had to be joking.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"I'm not joking, Eric. He stipulated half of his estate be left to Pam, the other half was to be split evenly between all our … or rather, your children, including Hunter." She began to look nervous. "There is a rub though."

I knew there had to be.

Dad wasn't ever easy. I'd said it before and I'd stand by my word on the matter.

I sighed. "What is it?"

"Are you sure you really want to know cause I know it's really gonna piss you off," she said sheepishly.

"Just tell me."

Nothing would surprise me at this point. I just wanted it over with. To know how it was gonna be and it all be done.

"If he should die before the children are of age, he named you conservator."

Bastard! I didn't give a rat's ass about the money, but that was just an asshole move, putting me in charge of it.

"He did that to spite me, you know?"

I was happy to know the kids would be taken care of, though.

"I know. That's why I knew it would piss you off."

"I guess he still wants you to sign the contract?" I asked, curious if he'd finally let it go, but doubtful.

"Of course he does," she said shaking her head. "He didn't ask me to sign it or anything, but he reminded me he still had it."

That figured.

March 22nd, 2010

"Eric, glad you could make it," Dr. Brigant, H.R. chair for the school board, said smiling, extending his hand. "We have three applicants to speak with this afternoon. I'll make the final decision, but afterwards, I'd like your input. It will be strongly considered when the final decision is made, since there's potential for the position to continue on permanently."

"I'm happy to be here." I shook his hand.

I really wasn't.

I had way too much to do in my office and I wasn't happy I'd be stuck in Shreveport till five. I was usually home and to Sookie by 3 pm, although in the grand scheme of things, I guess it didn't matter because she usually was either still at work or getting ready to go at that time.

I still hated her fucking job.

But she loved it, so I accepted it.

With my crazy schedule today, she'd made sure she had the evening off to watch Hunter, so I knew at 5 pm I'd be heading straight to her.

I couldn't wait!

The first applicant was awful. Jenna Stacy – blonde bimbo. There was no other way to put it.

She sucked – probably literally.

She was young – probably straight out of college and she didn't have a clue. The kids would run right over her and honestly, I could see her spending more time flirting with their fathers and the male faculty than actually teaching.

I hoped Dr. Brigant saw it too.

There was no way he couldn't have, seeing as how she'd shown up to the interview in a mini-skirt, her tits hanging out, and wearing five inch fuck-me heels. I mean, don't get me wrong, she was very nice to look at, but that didn't mean I wanted to look at her on a daily basis.

Besides, I already had my very own chesty blonde, who I couldn't wait to get home to.

The second wasn't as bad. Christian Masterson was a little older, but still young; however, I could see potential in him. He'd previously had a full time teaching job at one of the schools in Shreveport, but had been laid off, since he was the low man on the totem pole.

He looked a little conservative, though, for my tastes.

So far, he was on the top of my list; not that either had the experience or qualities I'd hoped for. Bon Temps was a town where everyone knew everyone and it was important that whoever got the job could fit in with that.

They were just a different kind of people and not everyone could fit there.

The third applicant was apparently coming from New Orleans, so that interview had been scheduled for a little later, leaving about a twenty minute gap between interviews. That time was spent discussing the first two applicants at length.

"What did you think of Ms. Stacy?" Dr. Brigant asked.

I almost laughed at his question. It was so hard to think he was seriously considering her, but I guess he still needed to know what I thought.

"Uh … I don't know if she'd fit properly into a small town school like Bon Temps. She's a little flashy." I carefully chose my words.

"She was a floozy, Northman. Don't be afraid to speak freely," Brigant insisted.

"Well, then … uh … yeah … she was."

"How about Mr. Masterson?" he asked after a little further discussion of Jenna.

"Between the two, I'd have to choose him, but I still don't know that I'm comfortable with either of them."

After discussing him a little further, Dr. Brigant said, "Well, our third interview should be here any minute. She's come highly recommended from the school district in New Orleans and the private school she worked at there, more recently. Eric, you may know her, she taught briefly at Albert Wicker in New Orleans. Isn't that where you came from?"

I didn't get a chance to answer the question and I did indeed know her.

It was Thalia.

Worse - she had the other two beat hands down. I knew that before the interview even began.

She may have been an evil bitch, but I knew, first hand, she was a great teacher. Not only that, her experience was way beyond that of the other two applicants.

Fuck me!

I got out of there as fast as I could once everything was over; now dreading going home. I had to tell Sookie there was a good chance my ex would be the new fourth grade teacher at my school.

March 24th, 2010

I'd decided not to tell her till I was sure; opting to skirt around the questions she'd had about how the interviews had gone and why I'd been so stressed out the past couple days. I just didn't want to bother her with any of this, on top of what we'd already been going through with my parents.

Even with the will in place, Dad was still relentless.

I just couldn't see why she insisted on taking his calls. They only stressed her out.

That said, I just couldn't bring myself to add to her stress. I couldn't tell her until it was absolutely necessary.

That time had come. I'd gotten the news today. Thalia had officially been given the job and I wanted to run and hide under a rock.

Hunter ran into the house, as he did each day. Sookie always had a snack waiting for him. She always had one for me to. On the days she worked, she'd leave them for us on the counter.

Today; however, she didn't work. She was home which made avoiding our much needed conversation even more difficult.

I slowly entered the house, dragging ass, trying to figure a way out of this.

I didn't even know how I felt about it exactly. What had happened between Thalia and I was a long time ago; nearing ten years. I was with Sookie now and we had a family.

Things were just really, really different now.

I wanted to just let it all go, but it sort of felt that would be minimizing what she'd done. I definitely didn't want to do that. She'd broken me. Since her, I'd never been the same.

But if I didn't let it go, would we be able to work together each day?

That, I just didn't know.

"There you are," Sookie called out, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

She was in her twenty-second week and looking pregnant as ever and beautiful as ever, in a pair of tight knit stretch-pants, one of my old Grateful Dead t-shirts I'd had since college, and a pair of Uggs.

"Your snack's waiting. I know it's your favorite part of the day," she teased, beaming.

"One of them," I soothed her, still a little wrapped up in my head.

I had to tell her and I didn't know even where to start.

"You know, I've sorta had a headache all afternoon. Would you mind if I skipped snack-time today and maybe took a nap instead?"

It was a piss poor excuse, but it was all I could come up with on the spot and I knew, at the very least, it would get Sookie and me in a room to ourselves whether it was sooner or hopefully later. I just knew I didn't want Hunter around because I didn't know how she'd react to the news.

"Go lie down for a bit, then, Sweetie," she ordered. "There's aspirin in the medicine cabinet. I'll come in and check on you in a bit."

"Sweetie, dinner's ready," Sookie said, her head sticking through the crack in the door a little later on. "You feel like eating?"

I'd slept for a while, but mostly, I'd just lain there, trying to formulate what I was going to tell Sookie in my head. I'd known my time was limited from the moment I'd laid down, so I knew I needed to come up with something.

I hadn't yet.

Nothing I'd come up with felt right, but I knew I had no choice. I had to tell her something, even if it wasn't perfectly planned out. I couldn't hide it.

I sat up against the headboard. "Yeah, Baby. I'll eat." I was so nervous. "Uh … can you come here for a minute?"

She immediately knew something was wrong. She said as much when she sat down on the bed beside me.

"What's bothering you, Sweetie? I know it's something. You've been acting weird for a couple days now," she pointed out.

I couldn't hide anything from her. In just a few months, she already knew me that well.

"Is it your dad? Did you actually talk to him? What's he done now?" she asked, looking like she was waiting for the worst.

"It's not Dad," I insisted, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her against me. "I wish it was just Dad, actually," I mumbled under my breath.

"Well, if it's not your dad, what is it then?" she asked curiously.

"It's Thalia, Sookie. She's the new teacher. She starts Monday."

March 26th, 2010

"Principal Northman, is it okay if I go ahead and sneak out a few minutes early today?" Maxine, my secretary asked, poking her head just inside my office door.

"Sure, Maxine, have a good weekend." She'd mentioned she was going to Jackson this weekend to visit her son, Hoyt, who was apparently a good friend of Jason's.

"Thanks, Principal Northman," she said smiling as she opened my door the rest of the way, stepping inside. "Here's the file for the new teacher, and her son's school record. They just arrived from the school board office.

Thalia had a son. I'd thought she didn't want any kids. That was news to me.

"It's a sad story I must say, that is if the rumors are true," Maxine soothed, peaking my interest, as I took the two file folders from her hand.

Rumors?

"What rumors?" I asked curiously.

Maxine was a gossip that was for sure. She had the lowdown on everything.

"They're saying her husband died. That's why she came here from New Orleans. Cancer, they said … colon, I think. She had a good job making top dollar at some ritzy private school in New Orleans, but she had to quit in order to take care of him. He died and she and her little boy were left with nothing. It's quite tragic."

It was, if it was true.

I'd be lying if I tried to say I didn't want to run right up to Thalia and shout, "Karma's a bitch," but I couldn't wish something like that on anyone. Not really. I just wasn't capable of such hate. If the story was true and Maxine had her facts straight, as she usually did, my heart broke for Thalia.

"Wow," I said, shocked and not sure what else to say after hearing something like that. "I had no idea. I used to teach with her back in New Orleans and I just had no idea. I hadn't spoken to her in years though."

I still wasn't sure how I felt about working with Thalia, despite my newfound sympathy for her.

Only time would truly tell.

There was really no way to know, until she was here and in my face every day. The only thing I was sure of, was she wasn't worth my job, so I'd have to do whatever it took to make it work.

I was confident I could do that. I had to.

I was damn good at my job and I knew she was good at hers, too. I'd have to find a way to focus solely on that. That's all there was to it.

Sookie had taken the news well. In fact, she'd taken it better than well. She'd been absolutely amazing.

She'd made it perfectly clear her main concern was, first and foremost, me. She wanted me to feel comfortable with it – which I guess made sense, since her history was with me and I was the one who'd be seeing her every day.

I filed away the file which read Thalia Madden, but in order to file away the other I had to look inside. My student files were organized by grade level and I had no clue what grade Marcus, her son, was in.

Upon opening the file, I got the surprise of my life.

How did she think she could keep this from me? Was she insane?

His birthday read 02/02/02 and it didn't take a rocket scientist to do the math.

We'd broken up the June prior. She'd had an abortion the June prior - or rather she'd told me she'd had an abortion then.

Now, I wasn't so sure.

There had to be another explanation because the one in my head was just too incredible to believe. There was no way it was possible. It just couldn't be.

Was it really possible the file I was currently staring at was the school record belonging to my son? One I never thought was born.

So, I realize it's angsty ... I'm gonna try to get the next one up soon to give y'all a little resolution or at least a happy time or two.

Tell me what you thought!