A/N: I don't deserve you guys. Seriously I don't, but I love you! More than you could ever imagine, I do. I just wanna hug you and squeeze you, and maybe rub myself all over you. LOL.
Krismom is beta rocking queen. I love everything she does for me. EtheHunter pre-reads, but that's not all. She makes me smile and feel amazing! I love the dynamic duo.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, but I like to play with them.
Previously...
"No!" I said with a chuckle, biting back my smile. "When you can make it a day without the pain pills, we'll see about it then. Until then, you're on your own, buddy."
"Buddy?" he teased, quirking that eyebrow at me. "I don't think it's safe for me to walk around like this all day," Eric said as he eyed the tent in the sheet, crossing his arms behind his head.
He tried to hide the wince that simple movement caused, but I saw it. "See. You're in pain. And I'm not talking about the pain in your balls, you big horn dog. I'm not going to add to that because you can't control your raging boner."
"You talking about my balls and my raging boner are not helping, Sookie." He shook his head and lifted gingerly out of the bed. Wincing.
I turned away from him and walked into the bathroom, closing the door softly behind me. It was one thing to know what was under that sheet, but to actually see it bare, hard and ready for me. Well, I just didn't think even my will of steel was strong enough to resist that. Even if he was broken and bruised.
After all, it doesn't strain or over exert too many muscles to lay on your back, now does it?
EPOV
I took the opportunity to pop a pain pill while Sookie was in the bathroom. It wasn't that I was in much pain, but I did feel sore all over. My head didn't hurt much, just felt a little sensitive, and my skin felt really tight around the wound. It was really more in my back and neck where the pain resided. Tensing for the impact must've affected me a lot more than I thought.
I knew Sookie had more than every right to be mad at me. Hell, I was pretty pissed at myself. Having Bud and Andy walk all over me like I was a son of their own, and then almost apologizing for doling out a punishment to me, had opened my eyes a bit. I was grateful that they'd taken it easy on me. For the most part.
Six months was a little harsh to lose my license, and a lot long for me to have to rely on Sookie to chauffeur me around. Then again, the consequences had I actually harmed someone in my recklessness were infinitely worse. All things considered, I couldn't be pissed about any of it. It was my own fault after all.
To drink and drive was never a good idea.
Sookie came out of the bathroom chuckling and drying her face with a hand towel. I was standing with my back to her, nude of course, digging through my dresser for a pair of boxers, but turned to face her when she started talking.
"You know, you're never going to live this down. One of these days, we'll tell the story to our kids when they are wanting to do something recklessly stupid." She snorted and shook her head. "Hopefully it will keep them from making the same mistakes."
I froze, dropping the boxers to the floor, forgotten. Sookie was still snickering to herself and finger combing her hair, unaware of what she'd just said.
"I know I'll never let you forget it," she continued as if I wasn't gaping like a fish.
It was all so strange. Sure, I'd thought about kids, having kids with Sookie, but it wasn't until she said it aloud that I dared to hope she'd have me in that way. That I dared to dream it could come true.
"What did you say?" I asked, cutting off whatever she'd been about to say and stepping towards her.
"I said, I'd never let you forget it," she replied confused and averting her eyes. I was still extremely naked, and ready to make babies, if you know what I mean.
"Before that, about our kids?" I clarified, smirking and holding her cheek in the palm of my hand so that she had no choice but to face me.
"Yeah. So? Why aren't you dressed yet? You're not going to change my mind by parading around naked all day, Eric."
I raised an eyebrow at her last statement. It may have been cocky, but I was pretty sure I could get her to give in if I did that, eventually. "You want to have kids with me, Sookie?" I asked, serious once more.
"What?" she looked at me strangely. And then like a light came on inside her head, she realized the weight of her words and what they meant. "Well, I guess. I mean, not right now, of course. But eventually, I guess." She was stuttering and blushing, and I smiled as I leaned to brush a kiss against her lips.
"Relax, Sookie. I'd like that very much. I'd like to have a family with you. You realize though, this means you'd have to marry me?" My words came out in a whisper, heavy and full of doubts of my own. What was I saying?
I'd thought about it often and for years, fleetingly. I'd never once hoped that I had even the slimmest of chances of marrying Sookie. She'd always been out of my league on an emotional level, on so many levels really. But the idea of it, the dream of it, appealed to me in so many ways, it left me nearly breathless to imagine it.
But to have it here, so close, so achievable, I found I couldn't resist seeing if maybe, just maybe, Sookie felt the same way.
"What?" she whispered, looking intently into my eyes as if to search for signs I was kidding. She would find none. Whatever she saw there made her breath catch and her knees wobble, but I had a hold of her. Would for the rest of my life. "You don't have to be married to have kids, you know?" she half teased, the insecurity in her voice ringing clear in every word. Her lip quivered.
"No," I agreed. "You don't have to be, but you'd like to be. Wouldn't you, Sookie?"
"Well, yes," she admitted. "But wait, are you..." her eyes squinted together, and she cocked her head sideways. Her warm palms slid up my arms, stopping on my biceps and squeezing. "Are you asking me?" she breathed.
My pulse raced like a horse in my chest, and my lips felt suddenly parched. Looking at Sookie's eyes, her face, her lips, and seeing everything I knew was inside her told me I knew the answer in my heart.
"So what if I was?" I asked, stepping closer still. "What if I was asking you to... marry me, Sookie? What would you say?"
Her breath froze in a gasp, and I watched as her eyes watered and filled with a hope I knew shown in mine. "I... I..."
"Would you say yes? If I were to ask you?" I pressed, cutting off her stutters. "Could you ever see that between us? Have you ever imagined it?"
"I..." Sookie smiled, blushing once more and looking every bit as beautiful as she did flustered. "I've imagined it often, Eric," she admitted in a whisper, looking up at me through her moist lashes. "It's crossed my mind on a regular basis on several occasions over the years."
"Yeah?" I asked with a smile of my own. A smile that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside of me that I'd never have been able to hide if I'd tried. Sookie had that ability. The ability to make me happy deep down into my very soul. "You'd want to be married to a fool like me?" I half teased, wanting – needing – the reassurance.
"You're not fool, Eric. You just do foolish things," Sookie said softly, brushing her fingers lightly over my bruised eyes. They fluttered closed briefly, but opened when she spoke again. "I'd be a fool to let anyone else have you. I'd marry you yesterday," she snickered, though giving the tears in her eyes and the emotion in her voice, she was serious.
I took a breath, my chest tight and my heart soaring, feeling relieved for so many reasons. Reasons I don't know that I could ever comprehend. After another deep breath, I stepped back. As the old saying goes, it was time to shit or get off the pot.
Sookie looked confused for a brief moment while I turned to my dresser. But I knew exactly what I was searching for, and exactly where it was. Slowly, I turned back to face her, catching her eyes with mine as I took her hand and knelt before her.
A sob escaped her, and Sookie gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand and shaking her head in disbelief. I grinned and swallowed thickly.
"This was my mothers," I said softly, opening my palm and revealing the etched white gold band with the small princess cut diamond in the center. "I never, ever thought I'd want to give it to anyone else. But..." I paused, making sure Sookie was paying attention, holding her icy blue eyes with my own.
"Marry me, Sookie? Marry me today. Marry me tomorrow. Hell, marry me a year from now. Just, marry me." I shook my head, smiling, feeling my words more than I was thinking about them. Who the hell knows if I even made sense. "I belong to you, and will for the rest of my life. I only ask that you do the same," I said softly.
Sookie's tears ran in a steady stream down her face, and she was silent long enough to make me squirm. She took in a deep shuddering breath before she spoke. "Are...are you for real, Eric? You shouldn't tease. Not about something like this."
I shook my head, laughing, but not out of humor. "I am very, very, very, for real, Sookie. Be my wife. Be my everything. Because you are mine." My eyes prickled.
She nodded once and then more vigorously as her words spilled out and she fell to her knees with me. "Yes. Yes. Yes, Eric. I will marry you. I'll marry you."
She peppered my face with kisses, being careful of my bruises and gentle in her obvious excitement. I laughed. Out of relief or excitement, or a combination of just overwhelming emotions, I laughed and hugged and kissed her in return.
I tried scooping her into my arms, but groaned in pain when I attempted to lift her. She may have been adamant before about not giving in to me physically, but there was no way I was going to let her get away with it now.
"Shhh," she whispered, standing on her own and extending a hand to help me up. I took it and stood, allowing her to walk me over to the bed and press me back into it. "Let me. Let me love you. Take care of you."
Sookie's nightgown fell to the floor and she crawled up to straddle me, brilliantly naked. She'd hear no more argument from me. She was mine, all mine, forever. And now, we could make it official.
Her kisses were soft, reassuring and slow, though full of her passion and fire. My lips met hers, equally full of emotions. Soft and slow, but often changing to hard and fast, our tongues and limbs tangled quickly.
When she slid down onto me, slowly, agonizingly so, I groaned, knowing that I'd never, ever tire of the feel of her warmth enveloping me. I'd never grow accustomed to the way her soft mews and moans of pleasure filled me with satisfaction and unquenchable longing to hear them over and over again. Forever.
Pain and wounds forgotten, we moved together, perfectly. It was perfect. "I love you," we whispered simultaneously and then chuckled, ending with a kiss that made my toes curl and my groin tighten.
She looked so beautiful there, above me, the light spilling in from the window, highlighting her hair. Her eyes were hooded with passion and ecstasy, glowing a vibrant blue. Her mouth parted, and she moistened her lips, her hands tangling in my hair as she leaned close enough to capture my lips. The hardened buds of her breasts pressed against my chest, sending a chill down my spine.
"Come with me, Sookie. Come with me now," I groaned, gripping her hips and reaching for that ultimately bliss that only Sookie could take me to and taking her with me when I fell.
As we lay together, sated and sweaty, our fingers and hands explored, our lips often meeting to kiss lazily. "I think I'm speechless," Sookie said with a snicker as she trailed a palm up my chest and over my shoulder. "I certainly wasn't expecting this to happen so soon."
"Me either, but a boy can dream, no?" I replied with a smile, gripping her hand and pressing a kiss to her palm.
"I suppose we'll have to tell people, huh? We can't just run away and elope, can we?" She twisted, leaning over me on her elbows, a playful smile gracing her beautiful face.
"No. We don't have to tell anyone until you're ready. I want to give you the dream wedding. The kind of wedding you deserve." My words reminded me of something, and I stiffened.
Sookie, of course, sensed my change in thought and distress. "What?" she asked.
"I was just thinking," I paused, collecting my thoughts to not upset or worry her needlessly. "You know, all my issues and worries about your brother have been for this reason."
"What do you mean?" she asked, obviously having no clue as to what I was insinuating.
"I'd hoped to marry you someday. If I was lucky enough. And Jason..." I trailed off. "He's all you have, Sookie. He'll... when the day comes, Jason will walk you down the aisle. He will give us his blessing," I explained. "I don't know that he'd willingly give you away to me."
Sookie chuckled, smiling down at me and brushing her fingers over my cheeks and lips. "Well, there's only one way to find out, Eric."
"How's that?" I asked, nervous.
She gave me a serious look and then winked, smiling bright as the sun. "Ask him," she replied easily.
A/N: So, uh, yeah? Did any of you see this coming? I kinda hope not, because I really didn't either. It just sort of happened that way. They influenced me and I let them. But I hope that you aren't disappointed.
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MUAWWW!