Here's a little short EPOV for you guys! I was so overwhelmed with all the wonderful reviews and the adds to alerts and favorites I got after posting the last chapter. I swear, I got some of the best reviews I've ever had. Anyway, I was just so happy and thankful that I decided to go ahead and give you guys a new chapter as a big fat thank you, thank you very much! It's short, but you at least didn't have to wait three weeks. For those of you reading One Year Later, it may be a couple days late cause I was writing this. Sorry.

Now, on with the story......

Eric's POV

After texting Sookie shortly after lunch, the rest of my day drug on. In reality, what was only about a two hour period, felt more like two days. I was going stir crazy in my office trying to keep myself busy and my mind off Sookie when the final bell finally rang.

Once the bell rang, I left my office and made my way up and down the hall, making sure all of the students got out of the building okay. When the students were gone and hall duty was over, I grabbed my things from my office and left.

When I got to Sookie's, I thought about just parking my car in front of her house. Although I was unsure what would happen between us, I figured that she would more than likely leave me or demand we go public, which would mean it really didn't matter if someone saw my car there, but there was always a slim chance we'd decide to keep things as they were so I went ahead and pulled into my secret spot, as usual.

I walked up the house, hoping for the best, but preparing myself for the worst with each step I took. Seeing as how it was in the middle of the day and nobody was home other that Sookie, I made my way to the house's front door.

As I walked onto the porch and approached the front door I could see Sookie sitting on her couch watching TV. I knocked and when I did, she turned toward me and motioned for me to come in, then stood up and made her way over to greet me.

I didn't know how I should act toward her knowing the reason I was there was to have a conversation which could mean the end of us, so I gave her a quick peck on the lips and took a seat. I was so nervous and I didn't know what I was going to say, but based upon the long, uncomfortable silence we shared, I can only assume she felt the same.

"Eric, I know that after this morning we have some pretty big decisions to make regarding us," she said solemnly. She had pretty much stated the obvious, but as nervous as I was, I couldn't have done any better myself.

I proved the fact that I couldn't have done any better when I took her hands in mine and simply said, "Yeah, I guess we do."

"Eric," she said, "I just want to start by telling you that I really do care a lot about you. I want to be with you, I really do." It truly broke my heart when I noticed the tears that were forming in her eyes as she spoke.

"Sookie, please don't cry," I pleaded as I took her into my arms. I held her as tight as I could and gently rubbed her back to calm her.

Very selfishly, as I held her, I wished that I never had to let her go. I wanted to hold her in my arms forever and never have this conversation, but after a moment she pulled away, still crying, and said, "I need to finish."

When she pulled herself out of my arms, it led me to immediately think the worst, but I knew there was no avoiding any of this, so I nodded for her to continue. After a deep breath she said, "I don't want to lose you, Eric, but we can't keep hiding. I'm sick of all the lies and all the sneaking around."

"Sookie, I'm sick of lying and sneaking around too," I said in desperation before dropping my head ashamed, "but I just don't know if I'm ready to deal with the possible consequences of people knowing we're together."

Essentially, I had just told her I was not man enough to be with her and it absolutely killed me; partly because it simply hurt my pride to admit, but mostly because I knew it hurt her to think that she was not important enough to me.

I honestly expected her to start screaming at me or kick me out after what I'd just told her, but instead she surprised me and said, "Eric, I get your concerns, I really do. I know I told you they were a crock this morning and I'm sorry. I didn't mean that, I was just frustrated. I know your career is really important to you and that you've worked really hard to get to where you are," then the "but" came. I knew there had to be one, but had hoped there wasn't and this "but" turned out to be a big one, "but before you say anything else or make any decisions, there's something you need to know."

I was pretty much expecting her to end it right then. I couldn't figure out anything else she could possibly need or want to tell me before I made any decisions. It was the only thing that made sense and it was the last thing I wanted.

I knew I wasn't sure if I was ready to go public with our relationship, but I didn't want to lose her. As I stared at her, with thoughts of the worst going through my head, the thought of going one day without hearing her voice scared the shit out of me. I was starting to think that if ending the secret was what I had to do to keep her then I'd do it whether I was ready or not. She meant too much to me to just throw away.

She was apparently as nervous and upset as I was because she looked really pale and she was crying so hard that she was gasping for air. I didn't want to hear her tell me she didn't want to be with me anymore, but this was obviously really upsetting to her and whether that was what she needed to say or whether it was something else, she just needed to say it for her own sake and mine.

Filled with trepidation, I said, "Sookie, what is it? Are you okay?" I dreaded her answer, but knew, no matter what it was, I needed to hear it.

After a moment, she took a deep breath and said, "Eric, we can't hide our relationship anymore because I'm pregnant."

Oh fuck, I've only known her a few months, I'm totally fucked, what are people going to think now, this is not going to look good, and please don't let this be a repeat of the past were just a few of the million thoughts that bombarded my head when I heard Sookie tell me she was pregnant.

I was scared shitless about what was to come, but I knew I had to be a man about this. Thalia had taken one child from me and I wasn't going to lose another one; not if I could help it. I still cared what people would think and I was still worried about what could potentially happen with my job, but Sookie and my baby, our baby, were more important.

"Please tell me you want to keep it," I begged quietly then before I even realized I said it, I said, "I can't lose another child."

Sookie's eyes went wide even though she was still crying. I could tell my sudden proclamation that I couldn't lose another child had shocked her. Another, being the operative word.

I knew that she was about to ask me what I was talking about and I also knew it was a very long story and also something I didn't like to talk about, so I quickly said, "It's a really long story and also something I really have a hard time talking about. I promise you, I will tell you about it, but first, will you please just answer my question. Do you want to keep it?"

"Yes," she said. "That's the only thing I've been one hundred percent sure about since I found out."

When she said that, I started to become more at ease with all my worries about our situation and actually started to smile. Sure, really bad things could come of this, but I was going to be a dad and that certainly out-weighed all of the bad.

"So, I guess we tell people about us, now? I mean, I assume we can't hide it much longer, at least not without making this all look much worse than it already will," I said. I hated having to bring that up, but I had to. It would look bad enough that she was pregnant and we'd only been together for a month and a half, but this was worse because nobody knew we'd been together for a month and a half. People would think we were together because I knocked her up.

"Yeah, I guess this will look pretty bad," she said, still crying, but laughing a little as well. "I'm thinking that for people we are close to, friends, family, and coworkers, maybe we should be honest and upfront. We should just tell them about our concerns with Hunter and your job and that we felt more comfortable keeping things between us until we knew if things were going to work out...that is, if I'm right to assume that things are going to work out," she said eyeing me questioningly.

"If you want things to work, Sookie, then we will make them work. I will see to that and I agree, we should be upfront with people about this," I said as I wiped the last of her tears away with my thumb.

I placed my hand on the back of her head, kissed her forehead then leaned down so my forehead was touching hers and said, "You know, I didn't want things to end between us when I came here today. I wanted us to find a way to make it work. I'll admit, this wasn't quite what I had in mind, but I knew there was a chance we'd end up deciding to tell people about our relationship anyway. The baby is only more of a reason to come clean. I know it's not going to be easy, but we can face whatever comes from hiding our relationship, good or bad, together and we'll get through it."

"Eric," she said very quietly and apprehensively, "It's going to look a little worse than you are even thinking. There's only been one time we didn't use protection and when I found out I was pregnant the doctor verified that I was a full month along. That was two weeks ago. I got pregnant, the first time we had sex."

Earlier, when I had been bombarded with thoughts, I had already figured out that it happened on Halloween. Amongst the thoughts that flooded my mind were thoughts of each and every time we had sex and there was only one when we didn't use protection.

"I had pretty much figured that out already," I said. "When you told me, a lot of thoughts went through my head and a mental checklist of when it could have happened was a part of the barrage."

"Oh," she said nodding. She smiled then said, "Well, on the bright side, I guess we could fudge the date a little. We could probably get by with a few weeks on the pregnancy. As far as how long we've been together is concerned, we really can't fudge that because everyone knows I had no life before Halloween."

I laughed and said, "Well, we have time to figure it all out. For now let's just take things one day at a time. I think we should let people know we have been dating first and then drop the baby bomb later; after everyone knows we've been together. They might not put the timing together as easily that way either."

Sookie was smiling when she said, "One day at a time sounds good," but then the look on her face became serious. "Now that we're on the same page about the baby, do you mind explaining your comment earlier? You know, the one where you said you didn't want to lose another child."

I was hoping she had forgotten about that. It wasn't that I didn't want to tell her. I cared a lot about her and wanted to tell her everything about me, but that was just a time in my life that I hated to think about, much less discuss.

I guess Sookie could sense my apprehension because she said, "Eric, the comment spoke for itself and its obviously painful for you. You don't have to tell me about it if you're not comfortable."

"Sookie," I said, thinking about how lucky I was to have such an understanding woman, "thank you. It's not that I don't want to tell you about it, it's just that, well, it was a really dark part of my life. It's really hard to talk about."

I paused for a moment and took a deep breath before telling her the entire story, from the time Thalia and I met until Pam brought me out of my depression. Once I was finished, I actually felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Pam was the one and only person who knew anything about why Thalia and I had actually broken up. She was the only person I'd ever spoken to about it. It felt good to have someone else to confide in.

"That was so awful, what she did to you, Eric. I'm so sorry," Sookie said as a tear rolled down her cheek.

I brushed away her tear and in an attempt to lighten our moods I said, "If I'd have known it would make you cry again, I wouldn't have shared it with you," then I leaned down and kissed her. "You know, I can think of a few ways to cheer us both up after the day we've had," I said as I wiggled my eyebrows, "besides, there's something incredibly erotic about knowing you are carrying my child."

She smiled at me with the wickedest smile I'd ever seen cross her lips and said, "Oh, I'm sure you can," as she wiggled her own eyebrows.

I scooted closer to her, kissed her again, this time briefly allowing my tongue explore her mouth, then said, "I most certainly can," and then I proved to her I could.

Okay, so the next chapter will obviously start with a SPOV. I plan on elaborating on the lemons mentioned at the end of this chapter in it. My question to you is would you like me to: a. start with the lemons and move on, b. start with when he tells her about Thalia and give you the dialog and eventually make it to the lemons, or c. start with the lemons and somehow flashback to the conversation about Thalia, so you can get the dialog then move on. Those are the choices! Review and let me know! You have about two weeks!