A/N Well I'm glad no one was scared off by the cricket in the last chapter! And now we get to find out what the final result will be. Fingers crossed for the Black Caps!

Disclaimer: Not mine.

SPOV

I watched the New Zealand opening batsmen running between the wickets and wondered idly where Eric had gone. He seemed to have been missing for a while. I sighed, and listened to Jason and Tara groaning loudly as Guptill was bowled out. Well this sucked, I thought, we weren't doing very well and I didn't even have Eric to commiserate with. I was stuck with Calvin, who kept predicting a complete batting collapse by the Black Caps with a smile on his face.

Eventually Eric reappeared with a tray of coffee which he passed around to those who were interested. Trust Eric to find the coffee cart I thought. "How's it going?" he asked me.

"Oh, well. They got some runs, and then they lost a wicket, now it's just a matter of holding on, scoring as much as possible and trying not to be bowled out too quickly."

"Right. So we just…wait then?"

"Yeah. Well we watch too. And support."

"Uh-huh" Eric said, sipping his coffee. He seemed to be preoccupied by something, but I had no idea what.

I suddenly realised that I should ring Judith and check she was coping, so I dug out my cellphone and had a chat to her. The day seemed to have gone OK. Well, no one was currently crying. That was always a good sign. I said goodnight to Amelia and then passed the phone to Eric so he could talk to her, and then to Felicia. That seemed to be a one-sided conversation. And then we gave the phone to Calvin so he could talk to his family.

During all of that New Zealand lost two wickets, one of the batsmen was out for a duck. Jason took that particularly personally and I could tell really wanted to march onto the pitch and pick up a bat himself.

I got the chocolate chip biscuits out again and passed them around. The more food we could eat the less I had to carry home afterwards I figured. The men obliged me by finishing up the biscuits and eating the apples I had left too. That lightened my load considerably.

The next wicket was a bit controversial and had to be referred to the third umpire, so we sat and waited for the big screen to give the verdict. Jason was ropeable when it came up saying 'Out'.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" he wailed. "They're just fuckin' cheating. They always fuckin' cheat. It's like under-arm bowling all over again!"

"Who bowled under-arm?" Calvin asked, confused.

"Jeez, Jason. Get a grip" Tara said. "You have to get past 1981 for God's sake. It was McCullum's stuff up. He shouldn't be batting that far up the order. They should have him further down so he can cut loose in the last overs."

"He's still talking about 1981?" Calvin asked.

"I wasn't born in 1981" Eric supplied.

"Shut up you" I warned him. I didn't need to be reminded of that fact.

Jason looked at Eric, having temporarily forgotten the dismal state of New Zealand cricket and the inherent inability of the Australian team to abide by the rules. "You that young?" he asked him.

Eric shrugged. "I'm not young. I just wasn't born then." I hoped I was the only one who heard him mutter "And I don't really care about the fucking under-arm bowling." I tried to give him a disapproving look, but he kept his eyes fixed on the field. Yeah, he could play at being interested when he wanted to.

"Hey Sook" Jason said, turning to me. "Does that make you a panther?"

"Cougar" Calvin corrected. I turned my glare to Calvin, because, really, he could just shut up too. He just smiled at me and then turned back to the cricket. God, they were all as bad as each other.

"Yeah, one of those" Jason agreed.

"Next time" Tara chimed in "I'm picking someone really young. So he'll do what I say. Without me having to say it, like, twenty times."

"What do you mean next time?" Jason asked her.

"Next husband. When I finally get rid of JB. And Sookie helps me bury him in the garden."

Eric decided to look back at me at that point. "Bury…JB?" he asked slowly.

"Well…we had a pact…" I said stalling, waiting for Tara to jump in and make it sound better.

"Yeah. Sookie agreed to help me if JB ever got so annoying I felt compelled to off him. She promised she'd be there with a shovel. And I said I'd do the same for her" Tara said cheerfully. Well, I thought, she jumped in but I don't think she made it sound any better.

"So…I'm in danger of being buried in the back garden?" Eric asked. "Or did that just apply to Bill?"

"Um. Either of you I guess" I said.

"Yeah, it's a fully transferable agreement" Tara said nodding. "Oh, for pete's sake, that should have been a four!" she then yelled.

Eric was still frowning. "I don't think it's really going to happen" I assured him.

"Well, I don't know. JB was pretty annoying when we went to Piha. He buggered off every morning to go surfing and we all had to hang around waiting for him" Tara said.

"How was the surf?" Calvin asked.

Tara shrugged. "Apparently it was OK. I don't know. I was stuck with the kids."

Calvin nodded. Jason looked worried. "Fuck" he said, "I hope Crystal doesn't get any stupid fuckin' ideas like this eh?"

"Oh, Jason! You're pretty annoying. I'm sure she already has" I told him.

Tara laughed. "It's just too far for Sookie to drive to help her bury you."

"I'm sure she'd have lots of friends though!" I said to Tara.

"Crystal fuckin' likes me too much to do that, eh?" Jason said.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that!" I said, reaching past Eric to pat him on the shoulder.

"But it would take you both so long to dig the hole?" Eric said, still a bit fretful. "Just with shovels. And you'd have to avoid being seen. Surely between the house and the shed would be better than the back garden?"

I sighed. "Eric! It's not a real plan. For one thing, Tara's put a bloody great big swimming pool in her garden so that's cut out most of the space we had to bury JB in."

"Yeah, that's a point" Tara said.

"You guys have a pool now?" Jason asked. Tara nodded yes. "Fuck" he continued. "Can I stay with you blokes next time I'm in Auckland?"

Tara's eyes flicked to me, a hint of panic in them. "No" I said to Jason. "You can't, and you can't just invite yourself to stay with people."

"Oh, go on!" Jason said. "You like me really!" He patted Tara on the arm and gave her a winning smile. Yeah, she was immune to most of Jason's charms. I'm not sure if it was because familiarity bred contempt, but at any rate, she was probably one of the only women alive who didn't fall all over Jason.

"Mmm" Tara said.

"If I win Lotto I'd get a swimming pool. Or maybe a house with a swimming pool. Depends how much I win" Calvin said, looking a bit wistful. Yeah, money was a bit tight for them with Judith not working at the moment.

Eric touched my arm to get my attention and I turned to look at him. "You'd be better off" he said "to put my body somewhere away from the house entirely, somewhere where it wouldn't be linked to you."

I sighed. "We've moved on Eric. We're onto swimming pools."

"Oh" he said. "Well that might work. You know, putting the body in the hole you've dug before the pool goes in."

"Bugger" Tara said. "I should have thought of that."

"Where do you live now, anyway?" Jason asked Tara. Tara just ignored him. Mainly because Taylor had just hit a six.

EPOV

I wasn't happy about whole Sophie-Anne situation but there wasn't much I could do about it sitting here at the cricket. I gazed around the stadium. She was there, somewhere. Fuck. I really didn't want to spend any time with her again. My business was doing OK, and I really didn't need her fucking it all up for me.

I sat and drank my coffee while pretending to watch the cricket. New Zealand were batting now and they didn't seem to be doing very well. It took me a while to work out that 'out for a duck' meant the batsman hadn't scored anything. Yeah, that looked slightly humiliating.

After that it was picnic time again. I wondered briefly if there was any food left at home. Then we had to ring the kids. That resulted in me listening to Felicia breathe on the phone while I could hear Amelia in the background saying "You have to say something, Felicia! That's how a phone works. If you don't talk it doesn't work!"

Still, Felicia's breathing was preferable to some of the shit Jason talked. He did fucking go on about everything. And somehow we ended up discussing how Sookie was going to get rid of my body if she killed me. I didn't particularly want her to kill me, of course. I kind of liked to think she liked me too much to want to do that. But she had no fucking clue how to get rid of a body all the same.

And then something fucking amazing happened. New Zealand actually started to play well. The batsmen finally hit their stride and were starting to hit fours and sixes. It took me a while to figure out the difference between a four and a six was whether the ball actually landed over the boundary line or just rolled there, but at least I figured it out on my own without Jason having to lecture me on why it was that way, and all the ways the Australians found to fucking cheat by moving the boundary line or whatever. Fuck he took this seriously. It was only fucking cricket after all.

Sookie was paying more attention now though. Now that New Zealand looked like that might pull it together she was watching it all pretty fucking closely.

"We have 5 wickets in hand, and need…100 from 60 balls. So that's a run rate of…"

"About 1.6" I supplied.

"An over? That seems low?"

"A ball."

"Oh. It's supposed to be by over, but anyway, that sounds totally do-able. They just need to stick to making sure they get a run a ball at least and then take the boundaries when they can. They can do that."

"Or they could just collapse completely" Calvin said.

"Oh shut up Calvin, before I find some Australians to beat you up or something."

"Why Australians?" I asked her.

"They're far more intolerant than we are. They hate South Africans."

"They're wankers" Jason supplied. Calvin nodded.

"Are you really sure they're the intolerant ones?" I asked Sookie, and she turned to glare at me. "Don't push it Eric. I'm tired, Tara's tired. We don't want to have to dig that hole tonight."

"Oh, God no" Tara said. "I'll get JB to sub in for me if we're doing it tonight."

Everyone held their breath while the current batsman hit a ball into the air. This was either very good or…yeah, it was bad. He got caught.

"Fuckin' Vettori" Jason said. "If he's going to do that he needs to fuckin' look at where the fielders actually are."

"Yeah, yeah" Sookie said. "He did alright."

"You were fuckin' slagging him off before" Jason grumbled.

"I simply said that it would be nice if they had a captain who could be bothered shaving occasionally. He looks like a homeless person. It's not just that its stubble, it's like…it's all down his neck. He looks a mess. His wife must be so embarrassed to see him on TV like that."

"Well, fuck Sook. I think they pick him for the way he plays, not the way he looks."

"Yeah, but he should care! He's captain. Even though he seems too young to be captain. It's just not right. To me he'll always be the gangly 18 year old that's just joined the team."

"How old is he?" I asked her.

"I don't know. How old is he, Tara?"

"Um. 30-something now, I think?" Tara replied.

"Yeah, that sounds right" Sookie agreed. "But I still think he's 18 and his mother should be telling him to smarten up."

I realised I should be grateful Sookie hadn't met me when I was 18, she'd probably still think I was a kid and be trying to mother me.

"He looks like Harry Potter. Still" Tara commented.

"Yeah, that's because he still looks really young" Sookie agreed. "Far too young to be captain. Plus, you know, the glasses kind of give him that effect."

"Yeah" Tara agreed, and then she eyed me speculatively. "I think he looks younger than Eric though."

Sookie turned to me, but before she could say anything Jason spoke up. "That's because Eric has a really fuckin' hard life with you two threatening to hit him with a bloody shovel all time, eh? That'd make a man age really fast."

"No one's hitting anyone with a shovel, Jason!" Sookie told him. "The shovel's for burying him. There's no condition on how I have to get rid of him. I could use a nice slow poison or anything."

"I think I've been aged just by dealing with Judith's family" Calvin interjected, before Sookie and Jason got into another argument about how she was going to kill me.

"Mmm, that would" Sookie agreed. "I wonder if I can blame all my wrinkles on Lorena?" Sookie and Calvin laughed. I leaned over and whispered in Sookie's ear "You don't have any wrinkles."

She turned to me and said "phfft" but she was smiling at least.

Everyone turned their attention back to the game. Sookie was getting really fucking carried away. "Run! For fuck's sake run!" she screamed in my ear when the batsmen decided to take a risk and go for a second run. Yeah, that didn't work out for them. Some Australian player hit the stump-things before the guy got back and that, apparently, was out for him.

"OK" Sookie said, "Three wickets left and…we need 81 off 48 balls, so that's getting heaps better, isn't it?"

"Yep, it's just over 10 an over required now, eh? Fuck, they better not fuckin' stuff this up or I am never watching the fuckin' cricket again" Jason replied.

"Yeah, you always say that Jason" Sookie said.

"It's like torture supporting the Black Caps sometimes" Tara muttered, as we watched another ball roll slowly towards the boundary. Everyone waited with baited breath to see whether it would get there before the Australian fielder who was desperately scrambling to get near it grabbed it. He threw himself in its path and it managed to evade his outstretched fingers and just push gently against the boundary rope.

The fielder wasn't so lucky; he landed heavily and bounced several times on the turf. It looked fucking painful.

By this stage the general mood in the stadium had picked up, as all the Kiwis sensed that victory was within reach. Of course the New Zealand team did their best to prove them wrong, losing some more wickets through what even I could tell were pretty reckless manoeuvres, but that didn't stop everyone celebrating. There was a lot of singing along to the songs played over the stadium soundsystem between each over and whenever a new batsman arrived. During a particularly raucous version of 'Sweet Caroline' Sookie turned to me and said "See? I told you it would be fun! It's great going to the cricket. You don't get any of this atmosphere at home."

"Uh-huh" I said. The atmosphere was quite something, but at the same time, I'd had to sit here for a long time on these ass-numbing seats watching a game I didn't really understand or care about to get to this point. I glanced at Sookie. She was leaning forward to watch the next ball eagerly. She looked really happy. I just hope they fucking won and she stayed that way. We had the house to ourselves tonight after all and I'd rather have a happy Sookie than a morose one.

And I really fucking hoped I wasn't going home with a Sookie who wanted to kill me. I figured I was best off not saying anything about the cricket.

As it was, it came right down to the wire. The New Zealand team needed 10 runs off the last over. But they couldn't let anyone else get out. At first it seemed like they would do it, one of the Australians bowled a wide which meant extra runs, or an extra ball, or something fucking good, anyway. But then, well, some dick called Southee who, apparently, is a really a bowler anyway which is why he bats almost last tried to hit the ball into the stands and it was caught by an Australian fielder instead. And that, I realised, when I saw all the players were walking off the field, meant the game was over.

"Well. That fuckin' sucks" Jason said, summing up everyone's mood. "Fuckin' Black Caps. They couldn't fuckin' keep it together for one fuckin' game!"

"They just get intimidated by Australia and lose their heads" Tara sighed. "Happens every time. On paper there's no reason we shouldn't beat them, none at all. But yet…we just fold."

"Still, it's better to lose to the Aussies than Bangladesh or something. At least you know they're better than you" Calvin said, consolingly.

"Oh, shut up Calvin. You're not making it any better. We should have won, but we didn't" Sookie said, gathering up the cooler bag and her backpack.

"Fuck that sucks" Jason said again. He seemed to be stuck on that note.

Slowly we stood up and joined the throng of people exiting the stadium. It took a while to get out of the stands. "So" Sookie asked me, as we were slowly making our way up the stairs and I was trying to stop random men from barrelling into her, "Did you enjoy your first cricket game?"

"Yeah..." I said slowly. "But I'm not sure I want to do it again in a hurry."

"I know" she agreed. "It's really disappointing when we lose like that. We were so close! Oh well, there's always the next game."

"Yeah, I guess."

"It's in Hamilton. We could drive down."

"You want to drive to Hamilton…for the cricket?" I asked her.

Sookie burst out laughing. "Oh the look on your face is priceless. No, I won't make you drive to Hamilton on Thursday. But maybe next year we can come back when they're playing at Eden Park again. We can walk here after all."

"Mmm" I said, hoping that would cover it. Fuck, I thought, maybe next summer she'll be pregnant and won't want to come. I could only fucking hope.

SPOV

Everyone was a bit quiet after the game finished. It had been really exciting at the end, and then, it stopped being exciting because we lost. It always happens that way with cricket. At least it wasn't a five day test that had ended in a draw, but still. It would be nice if New Zealand won occasionally.

Shit, I thought. I bet Sophie-Anne is really happy now. I really hoped I didn't run into her again before I left the stadium. It would actually be nice to never run into her again. She must be due to go back to Sydney soon, I thought. Surely she didn't want to stay here that long?

I told Calvin to walk Tara back to her car, given she'd parked practically where he lived, and she agreed to give him a lift home. So we said goodbye to them and that left me with just Eric and Jason.

Then we heard a voice yelling "Oi! Stackhouse!" Jason and I both automatically turned around to see who it was. It was Hoyt, Jason's friend from when we were kids. It would have been nice, I'd realised, if I'd run into him earlier rather than Sophie-Anne.

He caught up to us and walked with us along Walter's Road, chatting to Jason. When we hit Dominion Road Jason suggested a drink at the pub. Hoyt was keen, but I just wanted to get home.

"Have you got the spare key?" I asked Jason.

"Yes Mum!" he replied. "And I know the fuckin' address. I'll be fine, won't I Hoyt?" Hoyt just nodded. Yeah, I just hoped he had more sense these days. The pair of them used to get into all sorts of shit.

"OK, well have fun you two" I said, and Eric and I set off walking past the entrance to the supermarket carpark and the Asian barbecue restaurant.

It was fully dark now and as we got further and further along Dominion Road towards our street the people around us thinned out. Eventually we were pretty much alone. It was nice walking like this with Eric, holding hands. I noticed that he even made an effort to walk at my pace. I had to do a lot less running along beside him, at any rate.

"I wish we'd won" I said to Eric. "It would have nicer for your first game if there'd at least been a reason to celebrate."

"Yeah, celebrating would have been nice" Eric said.

"But that's cricket. It all comes down to who's better on the day. And, unfortunately, they were this time. Stupid Australian team."

"I'm, um, supposed to say something about the Australians now, aren't I?"

"Yeah, that would be nice and supportive."

"Um. They fielded really well…"

"No Eric! Not supportive towards them. You're on our side, remember?" In the light of the streetlight, I could see Eric was grinning at me. Yeah, he was playing dumb.

"Oh. OK then. Um, they dress funny?"

"They do. It's a terrible yellow. Everyone knows black is much more fashionable."

"Um. They, um, they…no, I'm completely out of ideas about what's wrong with Australians."

"Everything, Eric. Just everything."

"You guys take this rivalry really seriously don't you?"

"Of course we do. Jason used to have this t-shirt which said 'I support two teams. New Zealand and anyone playing Australia'. And it's true. I'd even support South Africa if they were playing Australia. But don't tell Calvin."

"No. No I wouldn't tell Calvin your dirty little secret."

We walked in silence for a while, and then, when I complained that my feet had blisters, Eric gave me a piggy-back down our street. That was kind of fun.

By the time we reached home I was feeling a bit more cheerful. The walk home had been great. It wasn't often I got that much time with Eric all to myself these days, normally if we walked anywhere we were trying to shepherd two kids as well, and Eric had at least one of them attached to him. I think this was the first time I'd actually managed to be first in line for a piggyback.

First thing I wanted when I got in the door was a cold drink. I poured two glasses of water and handed one to Eric. "Well the day wasn't a total bust, but I still think it's a shame we didn't win" I said to him, taking a sip.

"Yeah. I guess that would be a shame for you. Me, I'm OK about it."

"Hmm. You haven't invested enough in your chosen country yet, Eric. But you'll get there, in time."

"Can I be a rugby fan, rather than a cricket fan though? I don't think cricket is really me."

"I thought you weren't that keen on the rugby?"

"It's better than cricket."

"Maybe I'll show you netball."

"What's that?"

"Well, it's like basketball. Except it's not, they don't bounce the ball."

"Sounds a bit lame."

"It's played entirely by women. In short skirts. And we often beat Australia at it."

"No, you had me at women in short skirts. I think that might be my sport."

"Yeah, it would be." I finished my glass of water and put the glass in the dishwasher. Eric did the same.

"Soooo" Eric said. "You're kind of, um, disappointed?"

I shrugged. "I guess. Mainly because I wanted you to have a good time."

"And you might need, um, consoling?"

I figured out where this was going. "I might" I agreed.

"And it's a warm night, and we have the house to ourselves."

"And Jason will be arriving back at any time" I countered.

"Yes, but if we weren't technically in the house Sookie, then it would be OK, wouldn't it?"

I looked at him. "You're like a dog with a bone, aren't you Eric?"

"I prefer to think of myself as eternally optimistic. Like you know, New Zealand cricket supporters"

"Uh-huh" I said, eyeing him as he edged closer to me, so I was sandwiched between him and the dishwasher. "And, you know" he said "even the New Zealand cricket team has to win sometimes…" he dipped his head and kissed my neck.

"Well they do" I agreed. Oh, bugger it, I thought. There was no getting him past this one. I'd just have to go for it. "OK" I said in the end. "Sex on the freezer it is then."

"It'll cheer you up" Eric said.

"It'll cheer you up."

Eric shrugged. "I had to sit there for a very long time, you know, all crushed up in those seats."

"Fine, let's do it so we can be back inside before Jason gets home. I grabbed his hand and we headed out the ranch sliders, after a stop by the linen cupboard to get a towel. Eric rolled his eyes at that, but didn't say anything.

It was very good. And it did take my mind off the whole cricket debacle. And, most thankfully of all, we were back inside the house just ahead of Jason arriving home, because as much as I liked going to the cricket with Jason, I didn't need him to be privy to all my after-match activities.

As we were going to sleep Eric leaned over and asked "So what other sports do New Zealand do really badly at?"

"Well, that'll be your new mission, won't it? You can Google them in the morning."

"Yeah, I might just do that."

"Thank-you. For going to the cricket with me, and putting up with Jason and everyone else."

"Oh, that's OK Sookie. It wasn't quite what I expected but I enjoyed…well, I enjoyed commiserating with you."

I laughed. "Yeah, I bet you did."

"But I still think I would have enjoyed it, even if we weren't commiserating."

"Well, that's good. I'd hate to think you had sex with me on a freezer out of pity."

Eric chuckled. "No. No, it definitely wasn't pity. It might have been fear, because you keep threatening to get rid of me, and bury my body somewhere. Maybe I'm scared of being surplus to requirements?"

"Yeah, maybe" I said, laughing. "OK, well goodnight. Love you."

"Love you too. 'Night Sookie."

A/N In case it wasn't clear Daniel Vettori is the captain of the New Zealand cricket team. He really, really needs a decent shave. It's not good. It doesn't make him look older, he just looks about 12 with facial hair. But he's one of the few professional sportsmen who wear glasses, I think.

Thanks for reading!