Thanks for all the amazing reviews for the last chapter! I posted it before going to bed and got to wake up to them all which was a lot of fun! I'm glad everyone liked Sookie's confrontation with Sophie-Anne.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

EPOV

Sookie's idea for a walk had turned up all sorts of surprises. Running into Sophie-Anne was at the nastier end of it, but Sookie had no fucking qualms about standing up to her. And she also told Sophie-Anne we were getting married. Not in so many words of course, but she was pretty clear in what she said.

And then she spent the rest of the afternoon trying to backtrack, which was totally fucking hilarious. All the shit she'd been giving me about sticking to the truth and protecting her feelings and then she's no different at all. I may have teased her a tiny bit. She's really fucking cute when she stamps her foot.

By the time we'd walked home Felicia and Amelia were a bit bored, Felicia had even stopped throwing her hat, thank fuck. Amelia went off to play and Sookie put Felicia down in the family room so she could pull the toy box over on herself and have a poke around. I followed Sookie into the kitchen.

She put the package from the butcher's shop in the fridge then whirled around to look at me. "Stop grinning Eric! Honestly, you look like an idiot!"

"I can't help it that I'm happy." I put my arms around her and she relaxed against my chest.

"Well it's nice that you're happy, but just don't count your chickens before they're hatched." Shit, did that mean she didn't want to get married.

"So" I said, looking down at her, "can we get married then?"

Sookie sighed. "Possibly." Well, I'd heard enough conversations with Amelia to know that 'possibly' was a step up from the 'we'll see' I'd got from her earlier in the day. So I guess that was progress. Now all I had to do was nudge her towards a 'maybe' and I was almost there.

Just at that minute we heard a familiar yowl and broke apart. Bob was carrying something again. Please take it to Sookie I thought, trying to move so I was standing behind her.

But no, the fucker dropped it by my feet, and it ran under the fridge. I looked at Sookie who looked pissed. Well, that had probably sent me back to 'we'll see' again.

"Well I think that's your skink there, Eric" Sookie said before leaving the kitchen. Fuck.

I started to pull the fridge out from the wall. "Something seems really wrong here, Bob" I said to the cat, who was now eating cat biscuits and ignoring me. "You're over there with fucking expensive cat food, and I'm over here…" I paused to peer into the gap I'd made "…chasing a fucking lizard around while Sookie is pissed at me because of it. You are not my favourite…" I reached into the gap and tried in vain to see if I could feel where the skink had gone "…cat about now." Fuck. I wasn't having any luck getting the skink.

Amelia came into the kitchen and stood watching me for a minute. "What happened?" she asked.

"Bob brought a skink in" I said, trying in vain to work out where it was.

"Oh. I'm hungry."

"Well, wait for dinner."

"But I'm hungry now!"

"Well find some raisins or something. The pantry door is open. I'm a little busy here!" I still couldn't quite see where it was, so I gave the refrigerator another shove.

Amelia sighed exaggeratedly and went to the pantry, then came back and just kept watching me. "Where's the skink?" she asked.

"I don't know! Under here somewhere."

"Why isn't Mum catching it? She gets the skinks."

"Because apparently this is my skink." I went to get the flashlight out of the pantry and tried crouching down and shining it behind the refrigerator.

"Oh. Can I have a skink too?"

"No, Amelia. You cannot have a skink. No one is having a skink; the skink is going back outside." I stood up again. "As soon as I can find the fucker" I muttered.

Just then the skink decided to make a break for it and dashed across the kitchen floor to the first bit of shelter it could find, which was Bob, who was sitting there washing his paws and ignoring me. He ignored the skink too, as it tried to hide under his tail. I guess no one was going to help me.

I started to edge towards Bob in the hope of grabbing the skink before he scared it off, but I hadn't counted on Amelia shouting "Bob! You've got the skink!" at him, which of course made him leave in a hurry in case any of Amelia's enthusiastic hugs were forthcoming.

The skink, having realised that it's fantastic hiding place had disappeared, made another dash for cover but this time I got him before he made it under the dishwasher. "Did you get it?" Amelia asked, while still munching raisins.

"Yep. I'm going to put him outside now."

So I walked outside, with Amelia trotting after me, and we put him in the garden where he darted off. Fuck that was a lot of hassle for something that small.

"Do you think he'll get home?" Amelia asked me.

"Uh, probably."

"Do you know where he lives?"

"Not really."

"So how do you know he'll get home?"

"He just will. I'm pretty sure he can find home. Most things can."

"But he might be lost!"

"Well maybe he'll get a new home then. Somewhere better. Perhaps a bigger rock that will protect him better from Bob." We started to walk back towards the house.

"You got a new home. Did you forget where your old one was?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"This is better." That didn't seem to be a question.

"Yeah, this is better."

"What's for dinner?"

"Steak."

"I don't like steak!"

"Yes you do."

"Do I?"

"Yes."

"Does Felicia like steak?"

"She's too young for steak."

"I'm not. I'm a big girl." By now we were back in the kitchen and Amelia watched me push the fridge back into place and then take the steak out. I started trying to make a marinade for it and Amelia disappeared, re-appearing a minute later with her stool.

"I'll watch" she said.

"Why not. Just don't tell your mother."

"Why?"

"Uh, because she normally tries to watch what I do, when I'm not looking."

"Oh. Is it a secret?"

"Yeah. Kind of."

"Why?"

"It just is. Have you decided what movie we're watching?" I prayed for something other than Tinkerbell. I had Sookie; I didn't need to see any other women stomping around quite frankly.

"Um…Monster's Inc. I'll go get it." With that she dashed off.

"No, Amelia. We don't…need it now." I gave up, she was gone.

Just then Sookie appeared again. "Did you get the skink?" she asked.

"Yep, eventually. After it tried to hide under Bob, which seems a really dumb fucking move if you ask me."

"I don't think skinks are noted for their brains. Half the ones Bob brings in have scars from the last time he caught them. You think they'd learn. Ah! Felicia, no!" She looked over to where Felicia was sitting unpacking a basket of carefully folded laundry. Felicia looked over and said "Mum!" happily. "Mum mum mum mum mum mum" she continued while waving a pair of Sookie's panties above her head.

"Oh" said Sookie. "Well that's a new sound. Or possibly an attempt to get herself out of trouble."

"I think she's talking to you" I said.

"Yeah, maybe. Or it's just a new noise. It's an easy noise to make." She went over to take the laundry back off Felicia who yelled "Mum!" at her again as she arrived.

Amelia went over to them. "What's Felicia doing?"

"Unfolding the washing and saying mum" Sookie said, trying to get Felicia to part with her treasures. Yeah, she couldn't keep a fucking hat on her head but she wasn't letting go of my sock apparently.

"I can do that!" Amelia announced.

"Yes you can. And you frequently do. Come on Felicia let go of the sock!"

"Mum!"

"Yeah" said Amelia, never missing an opportunity to tell her sister what to do. "Let go of the sock."

Felicia wasn't having any of it and crawled, sock still in hand, into the kitchen to where I was standing. "Mum mum mum mum" she said happily. "Bub." She sat behind me and put the sock in her mouth. Well that was going back in the laundry hamper now.

The sock in her mouth muffled her a bit and turned her noises into a kind of "mm mm mm mm mm" sound.

"Sock please Felicia!" Sookie said, holding out her hand. "Ta."

Felicia took the now wet sock out of her mouth and poked it against my leg. Yeah, that was disgusting now. "Da!" she said happily. "Da da da da da bub!"

I bent down to take the sock off her. It was nastier than the skink. "Da!" she chanted.

"Yeah, thanks" I said, handing the sock to Sookie.

"Is Felicia saying dad now?" asked Amelia.

"No...no. I don't think so. I think it's ta" said Sookie.

"Yeah, definitely ta" I agreed.

"Oh, sounds like dad" Amelia said. "Felicia doesn't have a dad. Maybe she wants one?"

"Maybe" Sookie agreed. I just kept quiet in case any of this was going to blow up in my face. Felicia poked me again and said "Ma!"

"She does. She told me." Amelia pronounced, then, obviously deciding the case was closed she said "I got the movie!"

"OK, well put it in the bedroom for later" Sookie said and Amelia ran off. Felicia held out her arms for Sookie and said "Mum mum mum mum!" Sookie picked her up and peered at what I was doing.

"I'll go and get the barbecue started up in a minute" I said.

"Yeah" Sookie agreed, somewhat dreamily, as if she was thinking of something else. She started to walk off with Felicia in her arms. "Maybe" she said.

"Maybe what?" I asked, having lost what was going on.

"Maybe we could get married" she said as she disappeared off with the basket of laundry, leaving Felicia sitting on the floor in its place. "Mum!" she wailed before crawling after Sookie.

Well that was definitely fucking progress. I'd got as far as maybe and the day wasn't over yet. I wasn't going to push my luck any further though and just got on with making dinner.

It was such a nice night that we ate outside, where I ignored the fact that Sookie was accidentally dropping chunks of steak near the spot where Bob was stationed. He was fucking doing alright out of all of this.

We watched Monster's Inc with a running commentary from Amelia who asked questions about everything that happened, then repeated it back to Felicia who would make a random shout of 'Mum!' or 'Bub!' or 'Da!'.

After it was over and Amelia had gone to bed, reluctantly, and Felicia had finally stopped singing to herself in her crib, Sookie disappeared into the bathroom and emerged wearing the dreaded big t-shirt. The one that signified there was no sex. Oh well.

She sat on the bed and we watched TV for a while in silence. Eventually she turned to me and said "Thank you for earlier. I didn't say it, but thanks for helping Amelia stand up to Sophie-Anne. It would have been horrible if she'd been crushed by that awful cow."

"Oh, yeah. No problem. I think it was the fact she saw you telling her off that made her want to join in."

"Yeah. I've never wanted to kill someone so much in my entire life as I did today." She sighed. "Motherhood. It makes you cry at stupid ads and turns you into a homicidal maniac when faced with rabid Australian bitches."

I laughed. "I think it makes you lovely…" I kissed her "…and beautiful, and kind, and sensitive. It suits you."

She snorted. "You're just saying that because I'm stuck with it now."

"No, I'm saying it because it's true. I don't think everyone is cut out to have kids. My mother fucking wasn't. But you are."

"Well, maybe" she conceded finally. "But I think you are too."

"Yeah, I like it. I never thought I would. But it's actually kind of great being around them."

Sookie leaned over and kissed me. "Yeah" she said, starting to undo my shorts "You'll be a great dad." It took me a second to register what she'd said, because I was far more interested in what her hand was currently doing with my cock. And by the time I had figured out what I'd heard, her mouth was doing some really interesting things and I completely lost my train of thought, otherwise I might have asked her what she meant and who's dad I was supposed to be.

All I could think was that fuck, if barbecuing steak really does get me a blow-job I hope like hell that we can cook outside all fucking winter in this country.

Thanks for reading!