Sookie walked angrily along the Magnificent Mile, garnering appraising looks from passer by's which she ignored. She was carried five bags along each arm, and Alcide was behind her carrying still more bags.

"Is this necessary Sookie?" He puffed, struggling not to drop anything, though it was a difficult task with all the bags.

"Probably not," she admitted. "But I'm just so damn angry! So when I get angry, I shop. Shopping is the one thing that's pretty much the same in every city; and Eric and I? We travel a lot. Lots of different cities. Lots of different people. But shopping? It's pretty much the same no matter where you go. Ooh!" She squealed, stopping short in front of the Salvatore Ferragamo store, causing Alcide to nearly tip over to avoid running into her back. "I have to have those shoes!"

After they had exited the store, Alcide weighed down by one more bag, Sookie decided it was time to take a break and have lunch. She decided to eat at the Melting Pot, one of her favorite restaurants, due to her love of fondue.

Once they had stowed all their bags under the table, and ordered, Alcide took the chance to gently ask her, "Why are you mad at Eric? There's nothing you could have done about the girl."

She smiled sadly at him over her glass of wine. "I know that, I really do, I just hate that I'm put in that kind of situation at all." She saw Alcide open his mouth, but before he could say anything, she cut him off smoothly. "Look, I love Eric; God knows I do, but this lifestyle! I'm not talking about the clothes, or the parties. I'm talking about what just happened in the hotel room. I can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen. But I can't leave him, that would kill me! I loved him Bon Temps, I loved him before he got into this 'business', if anything, he should leave this life for me!" She gave a sad smile again. "But I can't ask him to do that either, because that would kill him."

Alcide gave her a quizzical look, "What do you mean? Kill him?"

Sookie rolled her eyes. "I don't mean literally, Alcide. It's just… Eric was born for this life. He's too smart, too charming, and too smooth to be anything else. Like I said, he was born for this life; he can't just leave it all behind. And I was born for Eric, I can't just leave him."

The server took that moment to bring out their fondue, and for a while the table was silent as they dipped their meat and bread, and enjoyed the flavors. Then Sookie interrupted the silence by saying, "It's not even just the fact that she was there!" She waved her dipping fork around for emphasis, while Alcide gave her a questioning look. "He wasn't even going to tell me she was there!"

"How?" Alcide asked, truly curious how the little blonde had deduced that.

"When I came out of the bedroom, the first thing he said was, 'Sookie, I thought you were out somewhere.' That's how I know!" She stabbed the air with her fork emphatically, nodding her head, and taking a big sip from her wine glass. Alcide began mentally calculating how many glasses she had, as it appeared she was well on her way to getting drunk. He winced. Eric was going to be pissed.

"You know what that means Al?" He groaned. Sookie was definitely drunk. She only called him Al when she was flat out drunk. "Do ya?" She slurred, and he could only shake his head in horror, flagging down the waitress and asking for the check immediately. The waitress took one look at Sookie and immediately dashed away.

"It means that he was never going to tell me that she was there! He was going to kidnap her, stow her in our hotel room, and then let Felipe pick her up, and never let me know," she said the last part in a stage whisper, looking around the room in an exaggerated manner as if expecting the people in the surrounding tables would be leaning towards them, listening in. "If he was going to lie to me about this, what else was he going to lie to me about?" She finished her little ramble by looking sadly down at her plate, tears welling in her eyes. Alcide was truly panicking at that point. The Boss's girlfriend was drunk and crying. This was not good.

She looked up at him with her tears streaming down her face and whispered in a broken voice, "I know that we aren't really married, but still, if he can't even tell me things, than our marriage really is a sham!"

Alcide leaned forward frantically, hoping to dispel all of her fears. He couldn't bring Sookie back to Eric drunk, crying, and doubting their marriage, that was just asking for a death sentence. "Sookie, listen to me," he spoke in a low voice, trying not to draw anymore eyes to their scene. "I realize that you and Eric were married under fake names, but believe me when I say that Eric does not think it's fake at all. To him, you are his wife, and there is nothing else to it. If he has lied to you in the past, it is only to protect you. You know he views you as his partner, his closest confidante, he tells you everything, things most would only dream of hearing," he leaned in closer, hoping Sookie would believe his words, but he could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't quite ready to let go of all her fears.

The waitress came by with the check, and rather than prolonging the scene by charging with a card, Alcide threw 200 bucks onto the table, to the waitress's relief, and tried to discreetly help Sookie out of the building, by wrapping an arm around her waist, and helping her stumble out the door, and into a cab, with three waiters trailing behind carrying the bags.

When they reached the hotel, he figured that it was private enough, and gave up trying to walk with her, as somewhere along the way, she had fallen asleep, and just picked her up in his arms and strode across the lobby into the elevator. The doorman of the hotel brought Sookie's shopping bags in, and had them sent up, shaking his head at the amount.

As Alcide entered the hall, Chow and Clancy both gave him strange looks, "Yo Alcide, you do know that when the boss told you not to let any men touch her, that included you right?" Chow called out, both he and Clancy snickering.

"Hilarious," Alcide said dryly, not amused. "Why don't you lazy fuckers open the door, as you can see, my hands are full."

"I'll bet." Clancy responded, and he and Chow once again burst into laughter, but opened the door for him to enter.

Eric stopped from his pacing the moment he heard the door open, and his eyes darkened considerably when he saw Sookie cradled in Alcide's arms. "What the fuck is going on," he asked slowly, approaching them to take his wife from Alcide's grasp.

"She's drunk," Alcide hastily stated, praying that he wouldn't be killed where he stood.

As if on cue, Sookie stirred in Eric's arms and woke up, and blinking up at him blearily, said, "You can't be mad at Al, I'm mad at you, 'kay?"

Eric chuckled and whispered, "Okay lover, be mad at me, but you need to sleep now, alright?"

Sookie yawned and snuggled into his chest. "'Kay," she muttered, already half asleep.

He chuckled again, and began to take her back to their room for her to sleep it off. "Leave," he ordered Alcide, never turning around. Alcide let out a sigh of relief and immediately left the room, heading towards the hotel bar to follow Sookie's lead and get shit faced.

When Sookie woke up, her head was throbbing out of control, and the first words she uttered were, "Ow, my head," bringing her hand up to feel it gingerly.

Eric swooped in with a giant glass of water, and two aspirin, which Sookie took grudgingly, saying, "I'm still mad at you."

He let out a big laugh, "I noticed," he said, gesturing to the giant piles of shopping bags in front of their closet, which made her blush.

"I'm sorry Eric, I guess I got carried away, you know how I get…." She trailed off, unsure of his reaction. She'd gone shopping in anger before, but never to the extent it was at on this trip. All her fears were erased however when Eric laughed loudly once again.

"My love, if this is all you do when you get angry, I consider myself a lucky man. Is it too much to presume that you bought some lingerie?" He asked with a mischievous grin, looking like a little boy.

Sookie gaped at him, but forced herself to transform it to a glare. "I'm still mad at you," she repeated from earlier.

"I had hoped so," he returned, winking saucily back at her.

"You hoped so?" She echoed in disbelief.

"Oh yes," he rolled over on top of her, his body pinning hers. "Make up sex is fun, if you remember," he winked again.

Despite herself she burst out laughing, but still shoved a pouting Eric off her, and the mood turned serious. "You weren't going to tell me about the girl were you?"

There was a long silence before he finally answered, and she had the feeling that he was choosing his words. "No, I wasn't."

"So you were going to lie to me?"

"Not lie, my lover, you would have never asked about it, and therefore I would have never had the opportunity to lie to you about it." She could almost hear the coyness in his voice, and could not stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"Semantics, Eric. If you were going to lie to me about that, what else have you lied about?" She asked with a little quaver in her voice that broke his heart.

"On this point, because you asked me directly, I will not lie to you. I have concealed a great many things from you," at that she opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, he continued, "but not for the reasons you might think.

"I am a powerful man, you know this Sookie, and to some, this is seen as dangerous. By keeping you in the dark on many things, I am keeping you safe from some that may want to harm me through you."

Sookie felt herself torn, her eyes were tearing up from the sweetness he was showing her, but inside, she was still seething from how he had treated the girl earlier. "The girl, is she dead?" She whispered, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"That, I do not know my love, but I would guess yes," he propped up on one shoulder to gauge her reaction to his words, and when she showed no visible sign of stress, he relaxed.

"Will that ever be me?" She asked quietly, and then found Eric once again pinning her down, with a ferocious look in his eyes.

"Never," he hissed. "I will always keep you safe," and with that, he swooped down to kiss her frantically. Sookie moaned into his mouth as she found her tongue dueling with his, as her hands reached to drape over him, tearing and clawing at his back.

He ripped opened the night shirt he had put on her, and pounced on one of her erect nipples, and enjoyed the way her back arched off the bed, pushing it farther into his mouth.

This was nothing like the tender making of love they had experienced the day before in New York, no, this was ferocious, needy, and angry, a whirlwind of bodies in the sheets, each trying to gain the upper hand, to force dominance.

Finally, Sookie rolled over and without further ado, sunk down on Eric's rigid shaft, causing him to howl in delight and shock. At first she began to rock slowly, to get used to the sensation, but Eric put a stop to that, as with a howl, he lifted her up off him, and then slammed her back down, causing them both to moan in delight.

"Yes, yes, oh my God!" She cried out, rocking her body wildly, moving her body up and down frantically searching for release of any kind.

Eric sensed the dilemma she was in, and began thrusting up with his hips, groping one breast with one hand, and allowing the other to trail down their intermingled bodies, to play with her clit. That was all she needed, and with a shriek, she came, going rigid on his cock, as he came with her, groaning out her name, thrusting sporadically into her pussy.

She collapsed on top of his body, and as their bodies and blood cooled, Sookie could feel Eric shaking beneath her, and she looked down at him to see him laughing. "What's so funny?"

"I was just thinking that I really must get you angry more often my love, I might get laid more."

With a huff and a laugh, Sookie grabbed a pillow and smacked him in the face with it, starting an epic pillow fight that only ended when Eric called a truce and kissed her soundly on the lisps, starting a war of an entirely different kind altogether.

A/N: Up quicker than usual, and I hope you liked. Hopefully the posting schedule will go as follows from now on:

Mondays: Shattered
Wednesdays: Nothing Personal
Fridays: Heist

Well aware this is a day late, but whatever, started work today! Support Stacie will be having another auction from March 26-29, and I am up for auction once again! This was a SS auction fic winner, so if you enjoy this or any of my other stories, crack open your checkbooks for a good cause, and let me make all your fic dreams come true! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for reading!