A/N: I've had a few chapters written for a while…so I thought it would be kind of me to let you all get a better feel for the story right away.

Chapter Three -

Another month had passed and still there were no new leads, they were no closer to finding Holly. Sookie had talked to Eric twice in regards to the case but had not seen him again since running into to him at Starbucks.

She was running late for work and didn't have time to go out of her way in order to have her Starbucks, so she ran into a small coffee shop a couple of blocks from her flower shop. After the overly friendly woman behind the counter had stopped flirting with the gentleman in front of her, she was finally able to place her order.

Coffee in hand she turned quickly not even considering that the line up was directly behind her.

"Umph… shit… oh god, that's freaking hot!" She breathed, looking from herself to the chest of the man she had crashed into.

"Oh be carefu… holy shit. Yes, hot is a good word to describe it and wet." He chuckled.

She knew that voice and groaned as she met his eyes, not only did she come face to… well chest with Eric but they were both wearing her coffee down the front of their shirts.

"Fuck" The curse slipped from her lips without thought, it's not like she didn't cuss like a sailor at times but not in public and certainly not in front of men that she felt some strange attraction to. "Tell me you have a change of clothes at the office, Eric." She stated more than asked.

"Don't worry about it, here let me get you a refill." He took her empty cup and discarded it ordering two more coffees. The woman of course began her flirtatious conversation with Eric and he just attempted to ignore it as he tried to make small talk with Sookie, the coffee girl wasn't having it.

"You're going to be running late, after your run in with this one, Eric, oh here let me help you with that." She purred and leaned over the counter with a damp cloth, very obviously pushing her breasts in his view. He stood there like a moron unsure of what to do, he was more in shock that she was touching him. He had stopped mid sentence talking to Sookie so his mouth just hung open.

"Oh for christ sakes, it's coffee on a white shirt. You're not getting it out with a dirty rag anytime soon, so stop molesting the poor guy."

"Excuse me?" The woman gasped, obviously embarrassed by her bluntness but Sookie was right and she knew it.

"You heard me, now I'm running late. Do you mind getting me my coffee, actually on second thought. You" She said turning to a young man behind the counter "can I get a large coffee with cream and sweetener… please." She turned back mumbling something about how if this woman had gotten it, she'd probably spit in it or something.

Eric had finally come back around and was nudging the woman away from him. "Thank you, but I've got it from here." He looked at Sookie and smiled, he thought she was funny. Half the time what came out of her mouth was never what he had been expecting, like telling the girl that normally flirts so damn hard that he felt violated by words alone that she needed to stop molesting him. Damn, she was hot.

"Listen, Eric, I'm totally late at this point. I am so sorry about the shirt, thanks for the coffee… well the refill. I'll see ya later." She called out as she headed for the door.

He couldn't help but laugh and actually spent the morning with a huge grin on his face and a coffee stain on his shirt. He hadn't had a change of shirt and had yet to have time to run home, or even to a nearby store for a new shirt plus the thought of putting anything against his skin that hadn't been washed yet bothered him a bit.

Four hours later it was almost noon and there was a light knocking on his door.

"Come in" He called out not looking up from the file he was going over.

"Hey, I come bearing gifts. Coffee and a… shirt." Sookie offered shyly.

He thought she was joking until he noticed that she was in fact holding up a shirt. "You didn't have to do that, Sookie."

"Eh, I work with the public so I had no choice but to pick something clean up for myself and well the men's department was right there." She said shrugging her shoulders like buying new shirts was something she did everyday for men she had only met a handful of times. "This might sound weird but it is a new shirt, believe me, but I washed it at the shop this morning as I did my own as well. I have this thing for wearing clothes that have yet to be washed like they have a fungus or something, so it smells like detergent."

He was staring at her like she had two heads or something as she explained the detergent smell to him, so she felt the need to ramble on some more. " I'm just telling you so that you don't think I've gone ahead and brought some other man's shirt over for you to wear, that would just be weird, you know?"

"It's ok, Sookie, thank you." He said as he gave his head a quick shake, he removed his shirt and realised that the t-shirt underneath was also covered in coffee so he pulled it over his head too. 'Oh my goodness, abs of steel, he has a freaking six pack. Holy fuck, he is a god, a sexy as fucking hell god' Sookie thought to herself and laughs that the fact that one look at his upper body increases the 'potty' in her potty mouth.

While Eric looks down at himself, perplexed by the fact that he had stripped himself half naked in front of Sookie without a care in the world. Equally perplexing was the laughter that drifted through the room, why was she laughing? He knew the effect he had on women and this… well this was not it.

"Care to enlighten me?" He asked with an inquisitively arched brow.

"Uh… oh it's nothing." She stuttered and he couldn't help the tightening in his pants as he noticed the blush that covered her cheeks. He quickly felt like an ass knowing what she was going through and here all he can think about is how her lips would feel wrapped around his length, and how that pretty pink blush would probably increase tenfold if she could read his mind.

"Hmm… so you aren't willing to share your thoughts with me?" He smirked at her.

"Nope. I should run though, I only have an hour and I'm going to be cutting it close as it is."

"Isn't it your own business, doesn't that kind of make you the boss?"

"It is and I am but I try to be fair and if I say I'll be back in an hour then I try to be back in an hour."

"Ok, well you saved me a phone call anyway. I was going to call later but I'm sure you already know why… there's nothing new to report. I'm sorry." His voice was almost a whisper by the end of his statement.

She sat down for a moment, dropping her head in her hands. She wasn't crying, just reflecting and wondering if it ever gets easier. Will she ever not feel empty… lost. She feels like she would know if her own daughter were to… not exist anymore, so she must.

It's only been just over six months but it feels like a lifetime to her.

Eric stood behind his desk, buttoning up his new shirt. It smelled of Sookie, not her personal essence, as that was not of this world but the clean fresh scent of her that he now knew to be her choice of detergent. He was confused by the feelings she invoked in him, or why he felt so drawn to her from the moment they had met. It made no sense, they had spoke on numerous occasions but physical contact had been very limited.

She stood after a moment. "You know, I didn't come here for that. This… was a personal visit, I owed you a shirt. I always pay my debts." She smiled tentatively "Please don't feel as though you always need to tell me that there is nothing to tell, you make specific phone calls for that and well… I like talking to you … about everyday things. You make me feel normal when my life is anything but right now, it's strangely nice and horrible all at once…"

"Strangely nice and horrible?"

"I can't explain it, you're comfortable to me which is strange but nice and then I feel bad because when you say things like that to me when we're having a 'normal' conversation I go from feeling… not happy but maybe content to feeling sad."

"How is that horrible? You're just looking for a semblance of normalcy in the fucked up state you find your life in, you've been through, no you are going through something that has the power to break you. If you let it."

"What makes me feel horrible? That's easy, I get so angry with myself for wishing you wouldn't ruin one of the very few conversations I have that almost make me feel… like I might be ok. Then the guilt kicks in because what right do I have to feel normal or to be ok, when my daughter… is clearly not. She should be with me." She cried, it had been a while since tears had actually fallen. She needed it and he let her.

Sookie was pulled into his arms once again, the relationship they shared was… strange. He'd had to comfort people, other parents before but normally it was a quick embrace or an awkward pat on the shoulder or back before someone else stepped in. Usually family or friends but Sookie didn't seem to have many around her for that, she wouldn't make it without support.

Quinn was still around but not like before, their closeness had caused an issue between he and Felicia. He stayed in touch, called to check in, stopped by for coffee or the occasional lunch but had ultimately chosen his wife and son. Sookie couldn't blame him or Felicia, she had leaned on him for close to two months on a daily basis, spent almost every day with him before his wife finally admitted that she was not comfortable with the level of support he was providing.

Sookie also has a brother Jason that lives in Bon Temps, an hour or so away but they've been estranged for the most part since she was nineteen and had gotten pregnant. He wasn't opposed to the pregnancy, he was however opposed to her marrying the 26 year old Assistant District Attorney that he felt had taken advantage of his baby sister.

Once Sookie had left Eric's office he sat in silence thinking about what she had said, if he were honest he knew that he too had felt the same way. He had felt guilty whenever he gave thought to trying to live his life as opposed to spending it in the perpetually stalled state he had been in for so long.

"Eric" Pam called out as she tapped on his door that was slightly ajar.

"What can I do for you, Pam?"

"Just giving you a heads up, Sophie is probably coming to see you. I caught a glimpse of her on my way up."

"Thanks Pam." He was not looking forward to seeing Sophie, she had been one of the many women he had bedded in the past couple of years. She, like the others had been nothing but a release only Sophie was the one that refused to see that he never had been and never would be interested in more.

She was friends with Rene's wife and they had met at a barbeque. He didn't usually make the mistake of spending time intimately with women he met through friends or family, it never ended well since he wasn't interested in more than the sex. He had had too much to drink and the two were beyond friendly with one another, which in turn led to his first and only complicated involvement.

"Hey there, handsome." She spoke in a tone she was hoping to be sultry.

"Sophie" He greeted, using the same dry, uninterested tone he normally used with her.

"I've missed you, we've been playing phone tag for a while now." She wined.

"It's been months, Sophie, I think what messages you have received from me have been quite clear. Not that I wasn't clear with you from the start, you knew that I was not and am not available… relationship wise." She had been making her way around his desk as he spoke.

"I know, baby, and I accept that. I've just missed you and well, I guess I just needed to realise that I want you in any way that you're willing to let me have you." She purred leaning into him and stoking his arm.

He stood from his chair and crossed the room to be away from her. "I'm not interested, Sophie." He stated bluntly, nothing else was getting through.

He wondered how he had found her to be attractive in the first place, sure she was pretty enough but she was thin as a rail, her eyes were a dead looking shade of grey, and her hair was a bottled bleach blond color. There was nothing natural about her, not like Sookie with naturally blond hair, deep blue eyes, and her sexy curvaceous body. She was not thin nor was she a bigger woman, she just had a natural, athletically fit sort of frame with curves in all the right places. In a word she was… Perfect.

"Come on, Eric, do you not miss this?" She moaned as she exposed her body to him, caressing her breasts in an attempt to arouse him.

He stepped forward and her eyes flashed with excitement thinking that after all these months of avoiding her he was finally going to give in to her advances, that he was finally beginning to realise what it was that he was walking away from.

"This is my place of employment and it would be appreciated if you would both remember and respect it." He said, his tone dry as he quickly pulled her dress together and asked her to zip it back up. She had obviously worn it for easy access, he just wasn't interested.

"You can't come here anymore" He told her as he retreated back to his desk "I have been as patient and as polite as I can with you but you are not getting it. I am sorry but I am not at all interested in continuing anything with you, please accept that and do not approach me anymore in any other way but as an acquaintance."

He had almost told her not to approach him as anything but a friend but he wasn't even that to her, he knew that she would never settle for just friends and would continually push for more.

"Well." Sophie was lost for words, it was a rare occurrence for her to be turned down and she wasn't about to let this go. He would change his mind eventually. "It's disappointing, Eric, but I guess I'll just have to accept it. I certainly hope that we can be friends though."

"I have a rather busy schedule, Sophie, but yes I am willing and able to be cordial anytime we happen to run into one another, as long as you remember that it is nothing more than that."

It appeared that Eric had finally gotten through to her and he was happy about that, he was a little freaked out by the fact that he had not been with her sexually in over four months and yet she was still coming around, the last time had only been a blow job. He had at that time also been trying to end things and she had somehow managed to talk him into one last treat, prior to that it had been a few weeks.

The next several weeks flew by, it had been over six months since he had gotten laid and every time he talked to or ran into Sookie he was forced to rub one out, it was frustrating. Prior to meeting her he had never so much as ran into her in a coffee shop, but now he sees her everywhere he goes.

The grocery store, the drug store, the coffee shop, the wine rack, walking down the street, the shopping centre, it was never ending and each time he walked away with an erection. He hated that he seen her that way, she was hurting and he would never take advantage of her.

It also threw him off to actually care about someone, to actually care about a woman. His choice to not involve himself emotionally with a woman had nothing whatsoever to do with Lorena , she was nothing to him now. What held him back was what involving yourself with a woman intimately would eventually entail… children.

He didn't want them, not now. It would be too hard, he would always feel like he was betraying his Zoey if he fathered another child. There were times when he even considered seeing a doctor and going ahead with a vasectomy, he just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

"Come on Laff" Eric called out as he entered his house "You need some exercise, you're getting a little thick, bud."

Laff was Eric's dog, man's best friend and all. He had gotten him to have him around for company and he had done his job well. They headed out for a walk around the neighbourhood and Laff was of course leading the way, even Eric could admit that he was not a well trained dog but he would never attack, bite, or even nip at anyone.

"Whose leading who?" Eric heard the familiar voice of an angel call out and watched as Sookie crossed the street approaching him.

"Hey, it may not look like it but I am in charge in this relationship!" He said managing to keep a straight face as he gazed at her.

She scoffed at him. "So if you were another life form watching earth and saw two life forms, one of them taking a poop, the other one picking it up and carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge? Just face it, Eric, dogs are the leaders of the planet."

He laughed because she had him, he rubbed his thumb and forefinger along his jaw as though giving it some serious thought. "Hmm… I can see your point." He chuckled.

"So what brings you out today?" He asked her, she wasn't walking a dog or anything. She was alone… again.

"I just needed some air. I didn't know you had a dog, Eric, it's cute."

"Thank you, his name is Laffeyette but I call him Laff, I didn't name him. I rescued him and he already had a name." Most people questioned him about his choice in name so he went ahead and explained before being asked, plus it filled the awkward silence.

"Nice, you have a big heart." Eric simply shrugged off her comment. This sort of meet cute was happening between them often, like it wasn't enough that he was drawn to her and couldn't have her. Higher forces were also at work causing all these unexplained encounters, it was beginning to feel awkward. Not because he wasn't interested in seeing her because he was but shit, all this extra personal attention he was having to pay to his genitals was getting out of hand. Quite literally.

"Well I should get going, I have big plans tonight." She rolled her eyes as she turned slowly walking backwards and giving a small wave goodbye to him and Laff. He waved back but couldn't help feeling slightly jealous, did these big plans include a man? He quickly remembered that he had no right to even think that way, there were several reasons that he could never be involved with her.

They lived in separate directions so he continued to walk on in the opposite direction from her, reminding himself and his goddamned erection of why they both needed to move passed her. For one, he was a federal agent working on a case involving her, she was vulnerable and didn't need to be taken advantage of, he was eight years her senior, they would surely drown in one another's grief, and what would he do, how would he react if her daughter suddenly returned to her life while his never would?

After managing to sit alone in the silence of his home he got up and walked downtown, he couldn't sit there anymore. He's worked these type of cases time and time again, never had it begun to affect him like this one. He knew it was her and not the fact that they've both had daughters disappear, the two cases were completely different.

His daughter had been eight, hers six. His daughter had been taken from their home during the night, hers from the park in broad daylight. His daughters body had turned up within a week, hers still had not after six months. His job had been responsible for his daughters death, she owned a flower shop and surely that played no part in her daughters disappearance.

He looked up to see that his feet had unknowingly brought him to a theatre he used to bring his daughter to once or twice a month, whenever he had a chance. He looked up and noticed that Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakual was playing, Zoey had loved the first one. Without even giving it any thought he purchased a ticket and entered the theatre, taking a seat on the end of the second row.

A/N: All characters belong to Charlaine Harris, I just like to take them out to play.