A/N: *BIG GIANT BEAR HUG* wow you guys are just the best!!!! Esp when I see that some of ya'll have taken the time to review each chapter, it gives me the warm-fuzzies!!! (And many thanks to those of you who have recommended this fic to others!)

So Halloween didn't make it into this chapter, but I'm working on getting another one out ASAP. I would say "Enjoy," as usual, but I'm not quite sure that's appropriate for this one....

Disclaimer: All these awesome characters belong to the equally awesome Charlaine Harris.

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Sookie POV

The following Monday morning, I thought about our date while I was changing in the locker room for athletics (we were still required to take two years of it, and I had managed to put off that second year till now; whoever came up with this requirement, though, was a truly sadistic SOB). After removing my jewelry and tugging on my grey shirt and red shorts, I slammed my locker door shut and headed out of the room. Shoot, I was already running late- I really needed to get a better hold on that daydreaming.

Totally absorbed in my own thoughts, I was startled and a little frightened when someone grabbed my arm and pulled me aside in the narrow hallway that led to the gym. I started to struggle when I realized that that "someone" was...Coach Quinn? Yech, that shiny bald head was even more disturbing up close. I gave him a wide-eyed, crazy, WTF? look as I wrenched my arm out of his clutches.

He brayed loudly and obnoxiously before he held up both arms, palms facing me, as he spoke. "Whoah, there, Miss Stackhouse. I'm sorry if I scared you but I need to talk to you in my office. It's, uh, about your gym credits." I gave him a slightly mistrustful look and rubbed my arm (ow, he had grabbed me pretty hard; I hoped it wasn't going to bruise) before following him as he turned and led me to his office, which was about two doors down.

I stood in the tiny room, with my arms crossed across my chest, and tried not to glare at him as he sat down at his desk. "Close the door behind you, will ya, babe? And, uh, take a seat."

I raised an eyebrow at that.

Babe? Just how old was this guy?

I reluctantly shut the door before sitting in the chair across from him, hoping that this wasn't going to take long and that he wasn't about to tell me I couldn't graduate because I had insufficient hours in gym. I mean, really, come on.

But what he said next floored me, and in a really bad way.

"Sookie, I know that you're sleeping with Northwo- uh, Northman. I have proof."

Oh shit.

What could I do?

Deny, deny, deny seemed to be my only option.

I said frostily, "I beg your pardon? That is the most outrageous accusation, how dare..." but my voice faltered and I went into shock when he held up a picture of Eric and I in flagrante delicto. It was a little blurry, but I realized that we were in the teacher's lounge....Oh my God, this creep had been watching us when Eric and I had first expressed our love for each other? Oh God, somebody knew.

I was going to be sick.

But it was about to get worse. Coach Quinn, instead of expressing disappointment in me, or looking grave at the thought of discovering such an illicit affair, had a slightly smug smile...and he was leering at me? No, that couldn't be right.

"Well, Sookie, this doesn't give me a lot of options. I should probably turn you both in, but..." his voice trailed off as he stood and moved around to sit on his desk. Subconsciously, I remembered Eric doing this the very first day of class and it was all I could do to stop myself from bursting into tears at this grotesque parody of that moment.

Before I could stop him, Coach Quinn leaned back on his desk and trailed one fat, stubby finger down my leg.

"It doesn't seem like you're really all that picky about who you let between your legs, babe. Why don't you let me have a go at it a couple of times, and I promise not to mention this to anyone. Northman can keep his job, I'll get laid, and you can keep your reputation as a golden girl. This way, everyone gets what they want." He stared at my breasts as he spoke.

I was so confused and disgusted; my insides were warring against each other. I knew there was no way in fucking hell that I would ever let this creep touch me, but could I ruin Eric's life and mine without at least buying some time to figure out a way to get out of this?

I abruptly stood and tripped over the chair in my haste to get away from the demon that was perched in front of me. Coach Quinn called after me, "I want an answer by tomorrow, slut."

I yanked open the door and ran. I didn't know where I was headed, but it definitely wasn't towards gym class and it also wasn't necessarily towards Eric. I knew that Eric's reaction would be to want to tear Quinn limb from limb, but that still wouldn't achieve anything, except for adding assault and battery charges to the litany of potential offenses against him. I ended up outside on one of the benches and, feeling utterly wretched, I tried to control my breathing, but it wasn't long until tears were streaming down my face. I still felt nauseous, so I placed my head between my knees and prayed for a moment.

Suddenly I felt a presence on my right. My head shot up, and I saw Ms. Ravenscroft walking towards me with a concerned expression on her face.

"Sookie, what are you doing out here? Are you alright?"

I couldn't speak, so I just nodded tearfully. She took the seat next to me, and before I knew what I was doing, I told her everything. She didn't seem surprised, just concerned, so I wondered how much she had guessed already about our relationship. However, when I got to the part about Coach Quinn, her eyes narrowed and her lips moved back in a barely concealed grimace.

"...and I just don't know what to do, Ms. Ravenscroft. You're the only person I've told about us and-" I cut off as she patted my hand reassuringly.

"Sookie, Quinn is a bastard. Don't even worry about him. I'll fix everything, and if he ever so much as looks at you, or even looks like he's thinking about looking at you, he will be sorry." At this point, she smiled widely, and I was a little astonished and a lot impressed by the sheer ferocity of that smile.

"But he said he has proof; I'm terrified it will get out. And I don't know whether or not to tell Eric. The idea of him confronting Coach Quinn..." I shook my head miserably.

Ms. Ravenscroft spoke softly but firmly, "If I were you, I wouldn't mention this to Eric, and I give you my word that Quinn will seriously regret this little stunt and that that evidence will disappear; however, perhaps you should refrain from engaging in these kinds of...activities on school property."

I was almost too ashamed to look at her, and settled instead for whispering a very grateful, "Thank you."

She patted my back before standing and heading towards the gym.

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Pam POV

That sick motherfucker. Enraged, I barreled into his office and as he turned around, (he had been standing in the corner, talking on a phone), I grabbed his phone and threw it against the wall. The dumb bastard had the audacity to look at me hopefully, like he was expecting me to come onto him. In one swift move, I grabbed his shoulders and thrust my knee up into his groin. He doubled over, gasping for breath and wheezed out, "You...bitch..."

"John Quinn, you are the most disgusting, pathetic excuse for a man that I've ever had the absolute misfortune to meet. If you ever breath a word of this to anyone, my attorney will have you in jail so fast that your big giant bald head will be spinning, right off of your doughy, freakishly hairless body."

Fortunately, I saw that the evidence to which Sookie had been referring was lying on top of his desk, complete with the negatives. Thankfully, this Neanderthal apparently couldn't grasp the concept of modern technology, as well as that of equal rights, and it seemed like he had used a disposable camera.

I stepped over him, careful to find a spot, with my heel, on his groin area that was unprotected by his hands, and I pressed down hard as I did. He screamed again and cursed at me, but I walked out of the room and shut the door behind me.

As I stode down the hallway, I took a peek at one of the pictures. Hey, I'm only human, and it's not like I wasn't going to burn them the moment I got home...damn, these were kind of hot. Even though I wasn't interested in Eric like that, I had to hand it to the man for having one hell of a great body.

Sookie really was a nice girl, though, and I was definitely beginning to consider Eric as a good friend...God, I really hoped that no one else would find out about those two.

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Sookie POV

For the rest of the day, I was distracted. Even in Eric's class, I couldn't fully concentrate. I wanted to follow Ms. Ravenscroft's advice, but then I worried about what might happen if Eric found out about Coach Quinn's attempt some other way. I couldn't risk destroying his trust; especially not after how far we had come in the past few months.

On Tuesday, I waited around through his tutorial session until finally I was the only one left. I told him that I needed to see him tonight, and he seemed concerned even as I reassured him that it wasn't anything serious.

That night, after I had arrived at Eric's house, I told him about Quinn. When I got to the part about Quinn's disgusting offer, he turned almost purple with rage. Honestly, I was a little frightened. I had never seen him react so violently before; even the issue of his ex-wife made him cold and silent, not hot with anger. I was sitting on his couch, knees tucked under, and I could see his fingertips were turning white with the force he was exerting while subconsciously digging them into the arm and back of the couch. But it wasn't until he saw the slight bruising on my arm that the proverbial shit hit the fan, and it splattered everywhere.

Before I could stop him, he was out the door and he'd hopped into his truck. I shouted at him, but he just revved the engine and motioned for me to move my car out of the way. I ignored him and jumped into the passenger side instead.

His eyes were wild, he was staring straight ahead like a man possessed, and he was gripping his steering wheel so tightly I thought it might break off. I reached over and killed the engine. He turned to me furiously.

I didn't know what to say; there didn't seem to be anything that I could say. So I settled for action.

I kissed him, gently at first, coaxing his lips to move against mine, and when he finally began to respond, I pressed more deeply against him.

Eventually, I broke away, gazed into his eyes and pleaded, "Please, don't, Eric."

He was still tense but he allowed me to finish my story. And because Ms. Ravenscroft had told me exactly what she had done in the coach's office, I related that to Eric, as well. Finally, finally, he relaxed and I thought I detected a hint of a smile when I told him about her almost complete emasculation of Quinn. But once I finished, he asked, "Sookie, why didn't you come to me first?"

I gestured to his death grip on the steering wheel as I said sarcastically, "Gee, I don't know Eric, maybe because I thought you might overreact?"

He frowned.

"Anything less than beating the shit out of that fucker wouldn't be enough of a reaction."

I gave him a look of disapproval. "By giving him tangible evidence to use against you, you would only be making this situation worse. I really think that Ms. Ravenscroft handled everything; I passed him in the hallway and he didn't even acknowledge me."

Eric growled in frustration and slammed both of his hands against the dashboard, making me jump a little. "That's not enough! Trying to blackmail a student into sleeping with him? It's beyond disgusting- he should be in jail!!!"

I sighed. "Sometimes we just have to play the hand we've been dealt, and make the best of a crappy situation. I do think we should take this as a warning, and not mess around at school anymore. It was actually pretty stupid of us to do that in the first place. And anyway, we've wasted too much time on that...loser. Please, can we go inside and enjoy what's left of the night?"

He shook his head slightly, but acquiesced, kissing me lightly before we both got out of the truck and headed in.

We resumed our places on the couch, with his arm stiffly placed around me and me curled up next to his lap. He started flipping through the channels, punching the buttons angrily, as I idly traced light circles on his thigh. He looked down at me, eyes darkening, and shut off the TV.

I expected him to kiss me or do something equally engaging, and I eagerly leaned forward. But instead he spoke, and his words were not what I wanted to hear.

"Maybe," he hesitated softly, "maybe this isn't such a good idea after all, Susannah."

I instantly pulled my hand back, as if it had been burned. I swallowed hard before trying to conceal my hurt with my response.

"Yes, I thought that's why we agreed not to be together at school."

"That's not exactly what I meant." He looked at me, nervous but also resolved.

I drew in a deep, shaky breath and on the exhale, I swear I could actually hear my heart collapsing in on itself. I tried to willfully misunderstand what he was saying. Because he couldn't mean that. He wouldn't. He knew how Bill had so cruelly abandoned me. He wouldn't, I repeated to myself, he wouldn't.

"The idea of our relationship being revealed, or you being taken advantage of by some piece of scum like that...it makes me sick, Sookie. You're so bright, you've got such a great future ahead of you. I don't want people to doubt your achievements, and if they find out that you've been having sex with one of your teachers?

The only viable solution is that perhaps we should..." and here he paused, gauging my reaction, "...break-up. We've never spoken about it, but you'll be going off to college next fall, and that's another experience that I don't want to take away from you- that I don't want the discovery of our relationship to take away from you. I love you, you know I do, but what can we do when that's not enough?"

I sat completely still for a moment, not believing what I was hearing. I didn't know whether to be more offended by him implying that all we were doing was "having sex," or by him trying to decide the course of my life for me.

He looked at me expectantly, like he was waiting for me to slap him or cry or beg or plead for him to reconsider. Well, I wasn't.

I numbly stood and walked to the door. With my hand on the doorknob, I turned back to him for a brief second.

"You are a coward, Eric Northman," I said in a hollow voice.

I left.

He didn't come after me.

It wasn't until later that evening, after I had shrugged off Gran's concerned looks and worried comments, when I was laying in my own bed, that I finally allowed myself to acknowledge the dull, aching pain that was radiating throughout my entire body. If I'd been a drinker, I would've drowned my sorrows with a bottle of Jack Daniels. If I'd been a druggie, I would've smoked something until I passed out. But since I was neither of these, only a high school student, I just lay there sobbing, feeling helpless and abandoned and alone. Very, very alone.

This was worse than Bill. That had been the barest shadow of what I was feeling now.

I wanted to die.

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Eric POV

All night, I tossed and turned, wondering if I had done the right thing. Her words were haunting me, the expression on her face when she said them...maybe I was a coward.

No, I was doing the right thing. It hurt like hell, but I loved her and that meant making sacrifices. Even if the sacrifice was not being with her.

I probably got less than half an hour of sleep, but as I drifted in the early hours of the morning, I finally felt the sun rise. I was a little disoriented as I reached across the bed for Sookie, and my eyes flew open when I remembered that she hadn't slept there last night, and that she wouldn't ever again. Suddenly, it was difficult to breathe.

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Coming up: Will these two crazy kids get it together in time for Halloween? Gosh, I sure hope so, b/c I really like the idea that lemon is the new orange....