A/N: Hey thanks for reading and reviewing. I own nothing but mistakes.

Chapter 5: One Day At A Time

I got in my car and headed back to Bon Temps. I needed to talk to Amelia she didn 't know Eric so it was nice to have an objective opinion. I knocked on her door but it wasn 't Amelia that answered.

"Oh, hi Tray is Amelia here." Tray Dawson is Amelia 's on and off again boyfriend, he 's completely in love with her and she is in 'like' with him.

"Yeah Sook I 'm here." She said closing up her robe.

"Tray was just leaving." I walked in as Tray walked out.

"What 's wrong honey you look like you 've been crying?"

"I saw Eric, remember I told you I was meeting up with him?"

"What did that asshole tell you, did you tell him off like you planned?"

"I did and he told me that he loves me and that he 's not going anywhere."

"Holy shit! whatelse did he say?" She asked pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"He said that he came back to Bon Temps for me and he found out that I had left with Quinn, he said he 's fighting for me this time."

I couldn 't stop crying as I filled Amelia in on the rest of it."I don 't know Sookie I think you should give him a chance, he seems sincere." She took a sip of her coffee.

"I 'm so tired of my life revolving around men but I know Eric is different than he was back then, even back then he would 'nt have done half the things that Quinn has done to me. I 'm just so angry... with Eric, with Quinn, with myself."

"I know it hurts but you 've done everything right. You got out of that horrible relationship and took your life back." "If everything that Eric is true then you owe it to yourself to give it a shot."

"I'm going to give it sometime before talking to him, I have so much to do today."

"Are you making excuses with me, you know better than that." I rolled my eyes but gave no answer.

"Don 't wait too long Sook I have a feeling when it comes to you two, time is not your friend."

"I need to go to the market, call you later?"

"You better Stackhouse." Amelia said with a hug and I drove down the street, I pulled up I saw a red corvette and I got huge knot in my stomach. I seriously considered leaving but I needed I lived here I should not be the one to leave. I walked up the stairs, Eric was looking at his hands.

"I was going to give you some time before I called or came over but I just couldn 't wait." He didn't look up and I sat next to him.

"I 'm sorry I hit you." I said in a whisper.

"Don 't be, I deserved it." He was running his hands through his hair and it was first time I noticed how different he did look. He looked older, his lean body had more muscle, his hair was shorter and he probably wore a tie to work. Even at 24 Eric didn 't seem older than me, I mean he acted like a kid most of the time but know I noticed that he was a man. A man that probably had to swallow his pride more than ever before and I appreciated it. He looked at me and repeated the words. "Don't be sorry Sookie, I deserved it."

"No one deserves to get hit. I think I know that better than anyone." I thought I would tear up thinking about it but I didn 't.

"Is there any room in your life for me?" He asked with those god damned puppy dog eyes.

"Yes but as friends, I need to figure out who I am without a boyfriend. Quinn was really the only guy I was ever with and things with us didn't turn out so well."

"I 'm not going to lie Sookie, I want to be more than a friend to you but if this is what you need than ok, let 's be friends." He tried to sound excited but I knew better.

"I know it 's not what you want-" He put a hand up to stop me.

"I can 't just let you go, I made that mistake once and I 'll never do it again. You want to be friends until you figure things out but I reserve the right to court you when you 're up for it." He smirked.

"Who lives in this century and says 'I reserve the right to court you.' ? " We laughed together. "You should date and have fun, don 't stop your life on account of me."

"You 're everything to me Sookie, I mostly work anyway. I don 't want to see anyone else. I want to be with you."

"We 're not together Eric." I said that harsher than I intended and he looked uncomfortable.

"I 'm sorry." I said closing my eyes. "You know what? Let 's just stop saying sorry. I 've heard and said it so much that it doesn 't even mean alot to me anymore."

"How about we just wipe the whole slate clean?" He asked hopeful.

I shook my head. "No, I can 't just forget everything that has happened. I agree that what happened between us is in the past, you thought you were protecting me and still don 't quite understand it but I 'm not going to dwell on it either. Hey, I dumped my future to run away with a guy, I 've made my mistakes too."

"But that was my fault too." He said sadly.

"It wasn 't you're fault. It 's true that if you hadn 't left, there wouldn 't be Quinn but you did and instead of being strong I caved and let him run my life. It 's just that I felt everyone slipping away and he was the only one there, I didn 't want to be alone. I think there was a part of me knew Quinn that knew that tha t's all our relationship was and he resented me for it." That was the first time I ever said it out loud and it felt good to just talk to Eric like we did before.

"You know what I noticed?" I shook my head. "You 're 25."

"Wow you are a math whiz." I joked and he smiled.

"No, you 're a year older than I was when we... you know. You seem so much more mature than I was back then."

"Well I 've been through alot, it ages you." I joked again.

We sat there awkwardly until I decided Eric needed to go. "Can we hang out sometime this week, since we 're friends?" He asked and I nodded and he reluctantly left.

I was still upset with him but that was more because I mourned the relationship we never had. Back then for a brief moment I was so certain that I would be Mrs. Sookie Northman and we would have two blue-eyed, blond-haired kids. Eric took that away from me when he left. When Gran passed I had dreams of Eric coming back to me and sweeping me off my feet and he never came, I later found out it was because he didn 't know about Gran but that didn 't make me feel any better.

I got my grocery list from the house and drove to Wal-Mart (outside of Bon Temp). I loved to go grocery shopping, actually I loved having tasks to do, I needed something to focus on so, laundry, washing dishes, mowing the lawn, waitressing were all welcomed distractions or now. I was rolling my shopping cart through the frozen food isle when I saw Dawn.

Her eyes lit up "Hey Sookie, I didn 't know you came here."

"Yeah just shopping." I said lamely, of couse I was shopping whatelse would I be doing here?

"Good me too." She laughed.

"Hey Sook, you remember that blond hottie that came in the bar, you waited on him?" She was talking about Eric, maybe she wanted to screw him.

"Yeah I remember."

"You know him?" She asked.

"Why do want to know?"

"Well I like to know about all of my boyfriend 's acquaintances."

"You 're not with him." It wasn't a question.

She showed me a picture of them together. He was kissing her and seemed oblivious to her taking it with her phone.

"You know what that proves to me Dawn? You kissed him, maybe he even fucked you but there is no chance in hell that you are his girlfriend." She looked shocked and I just walked away, she thought she was going to get the best of me. The poor girl didn't know that I just about had it with being stomped all over. I continued shopping and went home and was greeted by Amelia... in MY house.

"Jesus Christ Ame! I gave you a key for emergencies not for random visits." I was breathless.

"Nice to see you too, I 'll help with your groceries." She said passing me and getting the bags from my car. We put the food away and talked about Eric and Dawn.

"Why didn 't you wait for me to call?" I asked.

"I know I should give you your space but after the last conversation you had with Eric, I thought you needed you bff more than your privacy." She said sweetly.

"You would think that wouldn 't you?" I said laughing.

"Not funny Sook... So how long until you let Eric in your pants?"

"I don 't know Ame... How long until you stop stringing Tray along and admit you love him." I countered.

"Ok I get it, you 're not ready."

Two weeks passed and Eric and I had been spending alot of time together as friends. He hung out with Lafayette, Amelia, and even Tray. I finally asked him about Dawn and he told me the whole story of how they had a fling and she got obsessive. I believed him and told him it wasn't my business.

There was an awkward silence when I said that."So?" "So?"

"Sookie I-" His cell phone rang. I thought he was going to say 'I want it to be your business', so I was glad for interruption.

"Northman." "Really? that's great,I 'll give him a call. "No thank you June."

Who 's June?" I asked.

"June is a producer, who just told me my client got the lead in a movie."

"Wow that 's great, you should be so proud." I hugged him. "So who 's the client that got the job?"

"Have you ever heard of William Compton?" I haven't seen movies or television in a while but I did recognize the name.

"Compton? there's the old Compton plantation across the cemetery and there was a William but his last name was Smith."

"Yeah that 's Bill he changed his last name to his mother's, Will Smith was taken." I laughed at that.

"So you knew him?" He asked.

"Yeah in High school he was two years ahead, he used to follow Pam and I around all the time kind of creepy." I cringed thinking about the time I caught Bill Smith er... Compton staring at me while I was sunbathing.

"But I'm sure he's changed." I said hopeful.

"No Bill is still Bill." I laughed not suprised.

"I like this us just talking it reminds me of when we were younger." He said tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. I rolled my eyes.

"You mean when you were younger?"

"Are you calling me old Miss Stackhouse?" He asked laughing.

"You are alittle too old for me Eric, six years older is alot."

"When did you decide I was for you?" He smiled and I didn't say anything. My feelings for Eric were complicated and although I said we were friends, I had more than friendly thoughts about him. When I continued to say nothing he spoke up. "Don't worry Sookie, I was joking." I chose to ignore the fact that he looked dissapointed.

His phone rang again "Cheese and rice! I don't think I like this new business Eric." I pretended to be upset but I was grateful that it kept us from the awkward silences that were happening more and more.

"Just a minute."

"Northman." 'Business Eric mode.' I thought.

"Hey...oh yeah well actually there's someone I want you to talk to." He handed me the phone.

"Who is it?"

"you'll find out."

"Hello?"

"My goodness Sookie Stackhouse,how do hell have you been?"

"PAM! I just saw you on a magazine yesterday." Brilliant I know but I couldn't think of any thing to say.

"Well I was about to tell my brother that I'm coming back to town so soon you 'll see me in the flesh."

"That 's great I guess I can fill you in on everything."

"I 'm looking forward to it, it 's so good to hear your voice again Sook."

"You too Pam." I looked at Eric

"I can 't wait for you to get here." His eyes all but bugged out his head and he grabbed to phone from me.

"You 're coming to Shreveport?"

"For how long?" While they finished there conversation I got the glasses of tea and cleaned them in the sink, I was thinking about how I was going to tell Pam about Quinn, should I even tell her? Amelia,Lafayette,Sam and now Eric all knew, maybe that was enough. I felt a pair of strong arms around me and I leaned back into him. "This seems familiar." I whispered.

"I was so stupid for leaving. I worked so hard for everything in my life and it meant nothing because you weren 't there." I turned around still in his grasp. "We are okay and I told you we both need to stop being sorry."

"You 're right." He let go and I missed the feeling of his arms around me alittle too much. We sat on the couch.

"So what were you and Pam talking about?" I asked flicking through the channels.

"She done being a model and she wants me to start her next venture,a club."

"Really why? Isn 't she still in demand?"

"That 's the point she 's 26, she wants to walk out on top not when they 're throwing her out."

"That makes sense, I 'm glad she's coming."

"Same here. I miss her." Eric reached for his cell. "Okay I 'm turning it off, no more interruptions." I laughed.

We stared at each other for a longtime and I leaned in. Our faces were inches away from each other and than there was a knock on the door. "I guess this is a sign."

"You can ignore it?" He suggested but I shook my head and got up.

"Holy shit!." Eric heard me yell and was by my side in a second.

I hope you guys like this one, this is more of a transitional chapter.

Let me know who you think is knocking on the door?