First off let me say WOW! I never expected so many reviews! I am both thrilled and terrified at the same time. I don't want to disappoint any of you who are so eager to see where this leads. Like many of you said, there are so many possibilities that not even I'm sure where I'm going to take it.

Again, another warning, if you have not read "Gift Wrap" (aka Sookie Stackhouse 8.5) then you're about to have it spoiled for you big time. Now please, continue on.

She took a few steps back from the door. "Eric," she said softly, "come in."

The vampire Viking stood in the door way, staring down at the woman who had left him twenty years ago with intense blue eyes. He watched her with an unreadable expression for several moments before he slowly began to walk past her into the house. His eyes darted around the room, examining every detail with the same cold eyes.

Sookie watched him hesitantly, following several feet behind him. For the first time in her life she was absolutely terrified of what Eric would do. She couldn't begin to imagine what was going through his head.

"Momma?" a small voice called from the hallway, catching the attention of both adults. "Is everything okay?" Addie asked. She was eyeing Eric nervously, looking back at her mother to insure everything was okay.

"Everything is fine Addie. Go back to your room." Sookie told her daughter. Obviously her voice hinted at her unease because Adele didn't move. Instead she stayed, continuing to eye Eric with great apprehension.

"Addie! Now!" This time she left no room for argument. She was pleased that her daughter quickly turned around and darted back into her room.

Slowly she turned to look back at Eric. He was staring at the doorway with wide, shocked eyes. At least, as shocked as a vampire's eyes could get. Just like with Bill something seemed to click into place when he saw Addie.

"How old is she?" he growled, his eyes never leaving the spot that Adele had just stood.

"Eighteen. She'll be nineteen in September." Sookie answered softly.

Eric was quiet after that. Slowly he turned and continued walking into the living room, examining every box and piece of newspaper with hard eyes. He didn't look at Sookie again.

"Eric I--"

"Nineteen years. You have been gone for nineteen years. You left without a word to anyone. You gave no explanation, no means to contact you, no hint about where you would be going. We looked for you, all of us, night and day, trying to find some trace of you. We thought you had been taken by an enemy, someone who wanted to get back at one of us. Hours were spent locating old rivals in an attempt to find you. Finally the witch told us to stop, that you had left on your own, but she didn't know where you were going or why." his voice was as cold as his body and it made Sookie shudder to hear it.

"We waited, I waited, to see when you would return. Every night I came here and watched this house, waiting for you to come back and give me some excuse as to why you had been gone for so long without letting anyone know where you were going. I spent those nights concentrating on our bond, trying to find you, trying to call you back but I couldn't feel you. Every single trace of you was gone. It was like you never existed."

Sookie watched him as he turned his back to her. His hands were grasped behind him and she could feel his anger and frustration, which she expected, but what she didn't expect was the amount of hurt she felt, all of which was not their own. She was comforted to know that their bond was still intact but now his emotions were weighing more heavily on her than her own.

"I thought about so many possibilities as to why you left. I finally decided that you had just had enough of us, of me, and left. I never expected that you had come of child." The thick accent of his past was beginning to seep through, as it often did when he was upset. "Who is her father?"

"A fairy named Preston." Sookie admitted in a soft voice. She found that she couldn't speak any louder than a gentle whisper.

"A fairy?" he asked in disgust, looking back at her with a similar expression on his face. "You bedded a fairy?"

"I didn't know he was a fairy!" her eyes were watering now. "Niall set it up as a Christmas present to me. The man disguised himself as a werewolf and laid himself somewhere that I would find him. He was injured and I brought him inside to try and help him. We spent only the one night together, he was gone the next morning. I didn't learn that it had all been set up by Niall until after I found out I was pregnant.

"I panicked when I found out. I didn't know what to do."

"So you ran?" Eric accused furiously.

"Yes I ran!" Sookie snapped back. "I ran as far away as I could! As long as I've known you you've always reminded me about how dangerous your kind are! A baby would have given you ample leverage against me and there was no way in hell I was going to let you use my daughter against me!"

The vampires blue eyes flared as he spun around to face her fully. His gorgeous face was twisted with fury and pain.

"Do you think so little of me that you believe that I would stoop so low as to use your own child against you? Do you honestly believe me to be that evil." The fact that his voice was low scared her more than if he had raised his voice.

She sighed in frustration. "Not you Eric, I mean vampires in general! The state had just been taken over--"

"And you were in the King's protection! Don't you think that would have passed onto your daughter too?!" Now his voice was beginning to grow in volume.

"I didn't know Eric! I didn't know anything about what was going to happen! Its not like I've ever been in this situation before and with the Weres coming out I half way expected for people to pull out their guns and start firing away."

Eric's big hands were suddenly on her shoulders, pushing her back into the wall. He bent down to look at her, his cold eyes boring into hers. "Do you think I wouldn't have done whatever it took to protect you? We are bound Sookie! Anything you wanted to protect I would want to protect too and I would have gone to any lengths to make sure you and she were safe!" he hissed.

Sookie was taken aback. It had never even occurred to her that she should tell Eric. She hadn't even began to ponder what he would say or how he would react. All she knew was that she had to get out.

"Is that how you knew I was here?" she asked softly. "Because of the bond?"

The corner of his lips quirked up in a sort of snarl and he moved away from her, turning his back on her again. "Yes. Even from this distance the tiniest spark alerted me to your presence. I saw the lights from the street."

Sookie took that in stride. She hadn't felt anything from their bond in years.

"Eric, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate that you would have used her against me. I never thought that you would do that."

"Where did you go?"

"What?"

"Where did you move to?"

"To Florida. Claudine came with me and we settled in a small town on the coast. I worked at a restaurant when Adele was a toddler and then took some college classes when she started elementary."

"So Niall hid you then. I figured as much when he didn't come demanding to know where you were."

"Yes. When he found out I was pregnant he took it upon himself to make sure we were safe. He found the house and insured that we would be able to make a living there. Claudine lived with us for a while, until Adele was about six, and then she moved into a place of her own."

"Was the girl a handful?"

"Adele? No, she was a good baby. Claudine on the other hand...well, she's always been a handful."

Sookie actually heard Eric snort softly and that lightened the mood. She found herself smiling as she walked up to him, coming to stand at his side.

"Why did you come back?" his voice was softer than it was earlier, as if he didn't want her to hear him asking the question.

This was the one question that Sookie was hesitant to answer. She didn't know what she should say because she didn't know how much her daughter wanted them to know. She decided to play it safe until she and Adele had a chance to talk it over.

"I just missed home. Addie just graduated high school and decided to wait a few years on college so I thought it would be a nice change to move back." she answered simply.

"You're lying." he said blankly.

"No I'm not."

"You aren't telling me the entire truth." he turned to look down on her from his great height.

"Because that's none of your business."

The Viking didn't reply but Sookie knew she hadn't heard the last of it. Eventually they would want to know why she came back.

"Do you want to meet her?"

Eric thought about that for a minute before nodding.

"Adele, can in you come in here please?" Sookie called down the hallway, praying that he daughter didn't have her headphones in.

"Coming!" her daughter shouted back. A minute later Addie came walking into the living room and looked between the two of them. She was still eyeing Eric nervously but she didn't seem as timid as before. "Yes ma'am?"

"Addie I want you to meet another friend of mine. This is Eric. Eric this is my daughter, Adele." Sookie said, nodding to each in turn, making sure she was positioned between them.

"Nice to meet you." Adele said politely. She didn't offer her hand like Sookie had done so many times when she had first been introduced to the undead. Her mother had taught her well.

"A pleasure to meet you too, Adele. Might I say you look just like your mother." Eric said with a smile and more charm than she had expected. She eyed him carefully, making sure he wasn't trying to pull something over on her barely legal daughter.

Adele just laughed a little. "I know. People tell me that all the time."

Eric nodded and then looked back at Sookie. "I should be going." he said as he started to walk to the door. "It was nice to meet you Adele. Sookie, we'll speak again soon."

"Good night." both women called in unison.

He opened the door and then he was gone. They stood there staring at the door for a moment.

"You sure do have a lot of vampire friends Mom. I didn't think you liked vampires that much." Adele said as she started to gather up a few loose pieces of newspaper to throw in the trash.

"I don't have a problem with vampires in general, I just don't trust them."

"You don't trust anyone, Mom." Adele said as she walked into the kitchen. "Oh, do you still want me to get that box from the trailer?"

"No, leave it for tomorrow. I think we've had enough adventures for one night."

Now, I know that it is a stretch that Sookie would have gotten pregnant from a one night stand with a fairy. But its just gotta work for the story. I'm working on a lot of "what if"s here so please bear with me.

And a big thank you to SEOrwin for voluteering to be my awesome Beta.

Again thank you sooooo much for all of the reviews and alerts! I honestly couldn't believe it! I'm so excited! Thank you all so much! Uber love!!!

Obviously I do not own any characters here. They all belong to Charlaine Harris.