A/N Phew! Finally got this finished, yesterday I got side-tracked by having too many kids with snotty noses who couldn't be left in a room alone together. Yeah, I know. The glamour!

Disclaimer: Not mine.

SPOV

When I heard Eric arrive home it was about 10pm and I was sitting in bed reading, with Bob curled up next to me, looking particularly pleased that I'd obviously got rid of that huge interloper who insisted on taking up most of the bed. I swear that when Eric walked in the bedroom door, shedding his shoes and tie as he did so, Bob actually frowned at me.

"How did it go?" I asked, putting my book down.

Eric flopped on the bed, causing Bob to bounce slightly then look pointedly at me again as if to say 'why the hell do we let him stay?'

"It was terrible and really…sordid" Eric said, running a hand over his face.

"What, the function was?"

"No, that was OK, if a little boring. It was Sophie-Anne and Andre that ruined the night by dragging me into their little shit-storm of complete fucked-upness. If I never see either of them again, it will be too soon."

Eric just lay there and I wasn't sure what to say, having discarded 'I told you so' and pressing him for more gory details. In the end I went with just rubbing his arm. Bob took my movement in Eric's direction as a kind of betrayal and went and sat at the end of the bed and washed his tail.

After a bit Eric sighed and said "I'm going to take a shower" and went off to the bathroom, after a moment's hesitation where he looked like he wanted to say something else. Bob took the bed's movement as a step too far and jumped off, leaving the bedroom in search of something else to do. I figured there was no point sitting in bed alone and went to talk to Eric in the bathroom.

"So it was really bad?" I asked, over the noise of the shower.

"Really bad" Eric said lifting his head from under the spray. He turned and looked at me. "Are you getting in?" he asked.

I reached for a hairband and twisted my hair on top of my head. "Yeah, hang on" I said, taking off my pyjamas. "But I'm not getting my hair wet; otherwise I'll have to spend ages drying it or face weird hair in the morning."

Eric kissed me as I stepped in. "You and your shower rules" he said.

"What rules?" I asked. Eric just raised his eyebrows. "They're not rules; they're just…ummm, conditions? I don't know. You make me sound really bossy, like I'm Amelia or something."

Eric started laughing again so I smacked him on the backside. "Shut up you!" I said. He grabbed me in a hug and buried his face in my neck and we just stood there like that for a while. I realised that my hair was actually getting wet, with the spray as it bounced off Eric, but I'd given up at that point.

When he stepped back and started rubbing shower gel over my boobs I asked if he wanted to talk about it. He shrugged. "It was just…bizarre, and awful and so completely fucked-up" he said.

"How?"

"Ugh, I don't even really want to go over it again. But let's just say Sophie-Anne is the biggest bitch ever and had been lying to everyone for fuck knows how long." He was silent for a moment, just watching his own hands, then said "And there may have been a baby" so quietly I almost didn't hear.

"Oh...oh, that's pretty awful" although the thought of them breeding wasn't exactly pleasant. Eric was still looking down and frowning. "Hey" I said. "That won't happen to us. We're not them. We're better than that."

He looked up at me. "Yeah" he said "we are." We kissed again.

"Turn around" he said and I did. "Oh, were you outside today? You've got some more sunburnt spots."

I twisted around to try to see. "Bugger" I said "You would think by now I'd be OK putting on my own sunblock."

Eric placed some very tender kisses along the sunburnt blotches on my shoulders, which made them feel a lot better. Then he just pulled me back against his chest, at which point his stomach rumbled loudly making us both laugh.

"Come on" I said, "there's leftover macaroni cheese."

We got out and dried off, I put my pyjamas back on and tried to give my hair a quick dry. Eric went off to the kitchen to help himself to some dinner, but only after I made him put his boxers back on, instead of just wearing a towel. To be honest, if Halleigh or Andy were looking in the kitchen window at that point, Eric sporting either look was going to be pretty incriminating.

When I went back in the bedroom Eric was sitting on the bed watching TV and eating macaroni cheese. I sat down next to him as he was poking around with his fork. "What are the green bits…and the orange bits?" he asked. I rolled my eyes. "Vegetables. They're in there for Amelia's sake; it's just easier to shove everything in one dish."

"OK" he said, and went back to eating and watching some movie which seemed to have a lot of explosions. I snuggled into his side and surreptitiously watched his face. He seemed a lot more relaxed now, which was good.

He finished the macaroni cheese and put the bowl on the nightstand. I fought the urge to grab it and run to the kitchen to rinse it. Because cheese sauce sticks like anything. But I was getting better at fighting my urges, well some urges anyway.

Eric put his arm around me. "Well, the evening is turning out better now" he said, kissing my head and turning off the TV.

"Was it the shower or the food?" I asked.

"You" Eric said simply.

Oh. I felt such a huge surge of emotion that I thought I might burst into tears, which seemed a really dumb thing to do. Because I wasn't sad, not at all. I was happy and content and a whole bunch of other things that I couldn't even really decipher in that moment.

I didn't speak for a bit, trying to get past the tears thing. "Oh…oh, that's so…"shit, I thought, what is it? "...lovely" I finished, but I wasn't really happy with that. Eric didn't look upset though. I tried to think of something else to say. "I'm happy you're my boyfriend" I finally settled on.

Eric looked thoughtful at that though. Something flickered across his face. "Um, sorry" I said. "I just thought that maybe…" I pulled back from him a bit, but he just moved me back again.

"No, it's fine" he said. "It's good that I'm…something. It just makes me sound really fucking young!"

I wanted to tell him that he was really young, and anyway, I didn't think there's an age limit on boyfriends. Well, I hoped there wasn't. But I tried another tack. "So, what do you want us to be?" I asked.

That didn't elicit any real response, just a sideways glance from Eric, before he said "No, boyfriend is fine. Really."

"Well, how about partner then? Lots of people use that? Lots of, you know, de facto couples especially, like 'this is my partner, Eric'. Does that sound better?"

"Um…well, it sounds a bit like we're…gay…"

I snorted. "I don't think anyone is going to mistake you for a lesbian Eric." He chuckled. "But, look, we don't have to decide tonight. I'll be whatever you want."

"Really?" he asked.

"Well, within reason. I'm not dressing up like Tinkerbell or anything for you."

He pretended to look really sad, "well there goes a Christmas present idea!" he said.

"Ha ha. Seriously though, I'm fine with whatever."

"That's good" he said, and looked thoughtful again.

"What?" I asked.

Eric frowned. "But you're mine, aren't you? Whatever we are, you're mine? And I'm yours?"

"Oh, of course I am." It seemed an odd way to phrase it, but I sort of got what he meant. He wanted some kind of, assurance I guess, that I wasn't going to stomp all over him like Sophie-Anne stomped all over Andre. And I wouldn't.

"Good" he said. "Very, very good." Then he kissed me, deeply, and pulled me over so I was straddling his lap. "Want to prove it?" he asked, lifting my pyjama top over my head.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked.

"Maybe I should just show you" he murmured, kissing my breast. It was a demonstration that I very much enjoyed.

EPOV

The total clusterfuck that was my evening caught in the middle of Sophie-Anne and Andre's meltdown, was redeemed completely by coming home to Sookie. Seeing what Sophie-Anne was prepared to do to Andre made me more grateful than ever that I'd found her. Fuck, I thought, I didn't really deserve her. Well, maybe I could make it so I did deserve her. I was sure I could do that.

We had a completely weird conversation about whether I was her boyfriend, or partner or whatever the fuck she wanted to term it. She said she'd be what I wanted. I wanted her to be my wife. That would be a…statement to the world, or some shit like that. But I couldn't exactly say that to her now, I didn't want to scare her into thinking I was a fucking needy weirdo. And if I was going to do…that, to actually ask her, then I'd have to do it right. So maybe I'd have to put up with some fucking awful terms in the meantime.

Saturday morning Amelia was up bright and early and woke me up by leaning over me and going "Eric!" really loudly. I stopped myself yelling fuck just in time and only "Fu…" came out, thank God.

"Wake up" she said grumpily. "You have to come out and see my garden."

"Your…what?"

"Garden. I planted it yesterday. Mummy helped. Come on!" With that she skipped out of the room.

I hauled myself out and followed, heading to the kitchen where I said good morning to Sookie and Felicia, who squealed at me, which possibly wasn't desirable when she had a mouthful of cereal at the time. Amelia was over by the doors to the deck practically jumping on the spot. "Come on Eric!" she yelled.

"Yeah, yeah. You're like your mother sometimes, Amelia."

"I heard that!" Sookie yelled from the kitchen, and I turned and grinned at her before heading out.

The grass was wet with dew but it wasn't too cold at least. Amelia skipped ahead across the grass. Down by the back fence there was a cluster of small flowering plants of every colour you could possibly imagine. "See, Eric" Amelia shouted "It's my garden!"

"Oh, well it's lovely." I wasn't sure if I was required to say anything else, but it seemed sufficient. Amelia yelled "Bob!" and took off after the cat, and I trudged back inside to find some coffee.

After breakfast Amelia started pestering me for a ride in my car.

"There aren't any car seats in there, Amelia" Sookie said.

"Well, that's no fun" said Amelia and she stalked off. Sookie laughed.

"Maybe I should get some?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know…maybe you could just rent some or something? That might be a bit cheaper?"

"I don't know, wouldn't rented ones be all disgusting and stuff?" I asked. Sookie burst out laughing. "What?"

"Oh, Eric. Have you even looked at the car seats in my car? They get pretty disgusting really quickly whether you own them or not."

"Well, the rent would surely add up over time so maybe buying would be better..?"

Sookie shrugged. "It's up to you really."

"Yeah, well I think I will then. Today. OK, point me in the direction of the…car seat shop or whatever it is I need."

So an hour later I found myself in somewhere called The Baby Factory which was the fucking scariest place I'd ever been. We'd taken both cars to get there so that Sookie could help me because I had no fucking clue what I was doing, and it soon became obvious she was really good at asking the right questions, and actually knowing what the fuck we were buying.

I let her talk to the saleswoman and glanced around. Fuck, there's a lot of crap you need when you have a baby. On a Saturday morning this place was really busy. There were kids everywhere. Luckily they had a playpen set up in the middle of the store and we'd stuck Felicia in there along with Amelia to keep an eye on her, although Amelia seemed to be trying to engage most of the other parents in conversation in lieu of playing with her sister.

The saleswoman seemed to know what she was talking about and took several models of seat out to my car to try them, before I finally made my pick, at which point she helped me get the new ones fitted. It seemed a total fucking shame not to tip her, but Sookie was adamant that it wasn't allowed.

When we were done Amelia insisted on driving home with me, so we strapped her in and I set off, with the little voice in the back narrating all the way and telling me that it was much quieter without Felicia, because she's the noisy one.

SPOV

Amelia's morning was made by the addition of car seats to Eric's car. It seemed wrong somehow for him to have to fork out that amount of money for something for my kids, but he really wanted to do it. And to be honest it gave me a bit of security, having someone else who could pick them up or drop them off in an emergency without the annoying change-over of car seats beforehand.

When Felicia and I arrived home, after a stop to buy fresh bread for lunch, Amelia announced how much fun she'd had in Eric's car. "It's so high up, Mummy. I can see everything. And I have a blue carseat, not a grey one. Blue's nice."

Eric looked pleased with himself that the set-up had met with her approval. It was so sweet watching the pair of them together.

After lunch, while Felicia was sleeping, Eric made us coffee. "Thank you for the car seats" I said to him.

"Oh, it's OK. It makes sense really."

"It does, but I think a lot of guys wouldn't have bothered."

Eric didn't say anything, but he smiled down at me.

"So" I said "Is it time for the moment of truth? Shall we try the Christmas cake?"

"Yeah, let's" said Eric, brightening at the prospect of cake.

I brought the tin over the table and Eric carried our coffee cups. It looked OK, but I couldn't be sure until we tried it, so I cut two slices and served them. I looked at Eric and he looked at me, and then we both took a bite. It wasn't right, it was OK, but it wasn't right. It was chewy or hard or tasteless or something.

I put my slice down on the plate and sighed. "What?" asked Eric, and then he saw my face. "It's OK" he said, "It's supposed to be chewy anyway, so it's fine."

And then I burst into tears.

Eric looked panicked. "It's not really chewy" he said, "It's really nice. Don't cry, it's only cake."

I cried harder. "It's not the cake" I said. "It's just, I want my mum. Or my gran. Or anyone who can actually make this cake taste like it should. But they're all gone. And I can't make it right, and I don't know why. And there's no one left who can tell me why. And I've stuffed up my heritage, or something. Why am I the only one left?"

"Oh, Sookie". Eric held out his arms to me and I went and sat in his lap and put my head on his shoulder, while he held me. "Ssh, it's OK. It doesn't matter about the cake."

"It's not the cake that's the problem; it's that I can't, I don't know, pass on the knowledge to Amelia and Felicia. It's lost. Gone forever."

"But there are lots of other things you can pass on to them."

"Like what?"

"Um, like bacon and egg pie"

"That recipe's in the Edmonds cookbook."

"Or, Christmas mince pies."

"I bought the pastry and the fruit mince filling."

Eric sighed. "Well how about macaroni cheese with vegetables? That's got to be a Sookie creation?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And what about all the other stuff, then? Not cooking. Like, you can teach them how to be kind, and generous and loving and give people second chances when they probably don't fucking deserve them. You can show them all of that."

"Oh, well. That makes me sound wonderful. I'm not sure I am, but thank you." I kissed him. Wow, I thought, did he really think I was that great?

We were silent for a bit and then Eric said "I think I remember my mom making brownies. That was her special recipe. But I don't remember being allowed to eat them. Maybe I got to lick the bowl; I remember that being a big deal. But they were always for some fucking bake sale or whatever."

Oh, I thought. Eric is sharing. This is a big deal. I just stayed quiet, and waited to see what happened next.

"But she wasn't a good mom, or mum, like you. She was fucked up. And she left me with my dad, who was probably even more fucked up. So I don't think being able to bake is everything." He held me tighter and I got the feeling there was more going on in his head than he was saying, but I wasn't going to push him.

"Thank you for putting up with my minor breakdown" I said.

"You're very welcome. And now I'm going to eat my cake." Eric reached around me and took another bite.

"You don't have to you know."

"S'OK. I want to" he said with his mouth full.

Eric mowed the lawns again in the afternoon, and even managed to get the mower started by himself. It meant I had to keep the kids inside for a bit, which annoyed Amelia. She was worried that Eric would mow over her flowers, no matter how many times I told her they were safe where they were in the corner of the garden.

So she and I played Dora snap, with lots of significant pauses while I waited for her to catch on and yell snap herself, and Felicia circled around us and tried to find interesting things to touch. Eric was going to have to start taking better care of that phone.

I kept an eye on Eric out the window and he seemed to be doing OK. I noticed that Andy was next door doing the same thing, and he was watching Eric as well. I wonder what Halleigh had been reporting back to him and whether they were gossiping about the widow next door who'd moved her toyboy in. And made him help with the chores. I decided I didn't care. Well, I was going to pretend I didn't care anyway.

When Eric was finished and I could release Amelia back outside again she was thrilled and went down to check the flowers. I brought out her watering can so she could give them another water, which resulted in us all getting wet.

Just then Halleigh called "Sookie!" over the fence, and I left Amelia to go and talk to her.

"So, um, Andy and I are having some people, um, neighbours over for a Christmas drink tonight and wondered if you guys wanted to come over?"

I wondered why I was getting such a late invitation. But it would be rude to say no I thought while we were quite obviously just hanging around at home. "Yeah, that would be great" I said. "Just let me round up the family and get them cleaned up and we'll be over."

"Great, we'll um, see you guys soon." Her eyes flicked over my shoulder to something, and then she turned and lumbered back inside. Poor woman, I thought.

EPOV

I'd finished putting the mower away and was coming around the side of the house when I saw Sookie talking to the woman from next door, Riley's mom. I heard Sookie say something about 'rounding up her family' and it made me feel insanely happy that she didn't say 'Eric and the kids' or, even worse, 'Eric and my kids'. But she'd included me, her boyfriend, partner, whatever the fuck she thought I was, I was at least family.

I put my hands on Sookie's shoulders and she turned around. "We're invited for drinks at Halleigh and Andy's tonight, for Christmas" she said.

"Sounds good, I'll just have to take a shower. It's freakin' hot out here."

Sookie stood on tiptoe and kissed me. "Nice work with the language there, Eric" she said.

"Well, I'm trying."

And then we heard the shout as Amelia realised that Felicia had not only crawled off the picnic rug onto the grass, but had some of the new flowers in her chubby little hand and was doing her best to rip them out of the ground.

Sookie sighed and went over to scoop up Felicia. "It's OK Amelia, she didn't get any" she said.

Felicia just giggled. Amelia pouted and pointed at the perceived damage. Sookie crouched down to hug Amelia and let Felicia see the flowers from a safe distance. I just watched the three of them and thought fuck, that's my family. I'd never felt so fucking pleased about anything in my entire life.

The Edmond's Cook Book is an institution in New Zealand. It's been published since 1907 by Edmonds who make a lot of ingredients for baking, particularly baking powder (their motto is 'Sure to Rise'). Just about everyone and their dog has one. My mum has three, because whenever she goes to replace her old tatty one, she discovers the newer edition doesn't have some essential recipe. So she just keeps them all. They have a bit of everything in them, but really can't be beaten for basic baking recipes. So if anyone needs a good recipe for bacon & egg pie, just let me know!

Thanks for reading!