A/N - I've altered this a little to make the ending slightly more ambiguous. But still, rated M for adult content. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 12

Eric and Sookie soared for hours over shifting landscapes: sultry swamp-land, fertile plains, high and jagged mountains. Sookie had conquered her fear after only a few moments of flight and was looking down enraptured by the glorious spectacle of this ever-changing theatre of natural beauty. Her enhanced vision meant that in the black of the night she saw with Eric's eyes, spotting the bear cubs sleeping huddled to their mother, the sly dash of the fox as it sought its prey. As Eric set them down in a forest clearing bounded by rolling hills and rapid little streams that Sookie could smell in all of their naked purity, the two of them clung together gasping in exhilaration.

'Where are we?' Sookie recovered the power of speech and gazed in wonder at the vampire.

'Who cares!' He felt Sookie tense slightly in his arms. 'We're in Tennessee. About thirty miles south- east of Gatlinburg.'

'Really? Well, that's quite something, Eric. From a dingy were basement to the Smoky Mountains! I've dated a vampire, I know y'all are fucking crazy, but this is something else!'

Sookie could have bitten her tongue off. There was that confession again, or as a good as. She held her breath, waiting for Eric to speak.

'Well, I can't imagine Bill Compton whisking you off on a surprise flight to Gatlinburg, but please correct me if I'm wrong.' He said it gently, with an undertone of humour and acceptance that dispelled Sookie's worries.

'You know about me and Bill.' She said it as a fact, not a question. She was not going to try to be coy about this.

'Yes, of course. I heard you say it. I also know, Sookie, that you didn't mean to say it. It was a sigh, almost, that you gave out in response to my pain. You identified with my loss over Pam because you know what real hurt feels like. You know this because of Bill, because of whatever happened between you. Sookie, I can't claim total ignorance here and I won't deceive you. I knew about Bill's relationship with a Bon Tempts bar maid,' Sookie gasped, angry now at what he was insinuating. 'No, I don't mean it like that. It was widely understood amongst us that Bill had fallen in love with a Bon Temps girl, a human. We didn't really give it a second's thought. Bill has always been a bit of loner, Sookie. None of us really connected with him and it was just a point of interest that this vampire had a crush on some human woman. Don't take this the wrong way, but the vampires in the district had no interest in you. Most of us didn't even know your name. I certainly had no idea who you were. But after Bill took the throne, after he killed Sophie-Anne, there was a lot of talk about his motives. Rumour had it he hadn't just been a malcontent member of the monarchy's inner circle eager to usurp the queen, but that he'd committed treason because of his commitment to his human lover. Sookie, I have to say, painful though it might sound to you, this was absolutely incomprehensible to the vampire community. And the whole debacle was very quickly covered up by the Authority. They span the line that Sophie-Anne had been facilitating the dealing of vampire blood in Louisiana and that's Bill's actions, whilst a little extreme, were justifiable in terms of the Authority's long-term best interests. The rumours about you continued to make the rounds, but nobody was really that convinced that a vampire would risk his life for the sake of a human. But Sookie, when you said...about Bill, and I realised it was you the whole state of Louisiana had been talking about as that bar maid from Bon Temps...' He clutched her to him, running his hands through her hair and breathing her scent in deeply. 'I understood then, Sookie.'

She pulled back slightly and raised her eyes to his, full of questions and uncertainties. She saw only a true, fierce affirmation of longing and understanding. She placed her head on his chest and he stroked her shoulders in a gentle, swirling motion. She moved her hand shyly to touch his face and he cupped her head, raising it to him and tracing his fingers through her hair, down to her eyes, cheeks, lips and neck. She gasped and met his steady gaze.

'Sookie?'

She nodded, drawing him to her as his lips pressed to her mouth and his tongue gently sought a response. She groaned and pulled him deeper, pushing her tongue against his and moving her hands across his shoulders and back. He lifted her up, then laid her on the soft moss of the forest floor and, lying by her, stroked her cheek again.

'Sookie?'

Once more she nodded and met his gaze sweetly and steadily. He bent to kiss her, trailing his hands down her body and taking in every subtle register of her response. He cupped her left breast and ran his thumb over a nipple which bloomed under his touch. She sat up slightly to pull off her blouse and bra, and she blushed as he groaned and pushed his mouth to her, kissing her flesh, taking her nipples and sucking, licking, letting his tongue linger until Sookie was crying his name and undulating slowly beneath him in a subtle response to his movements. He lifted her hips to remove her sandals, trousers and panties in a rapid movement that left her suddenly feeling exposed and hesitant. Eric, as he urgently peeled off his own shoes, shirt and jeans, registered the shift in her emotions and made a considerable effort to slow and steady his response.

'Are you OK, Sookie? Trust me. It is never too late to say that you don't want this.'

Sookie smiled shyly, and lowered her eyes, sweet Jesus, this woman...he swallowed hard.

'I want it, Eric. I want you. But I might not be quite what you're used to... I might not be very good at this, please don't laugh!'

Eric gazed at Sookie's red, embarrassed, nervous face and was at a total loss as to what to say. Don't laugh? At this sublimely beautiful woman opening up her body to him with such passion and trust? What the hell had happened to her that this was her default position when it came to making love?

He kissed her softly and rested his hand low on her stomach.

'Sookie. You are perfection to me. You have been since I very first saw you and if I don't bring you to the highest peak of pleasure tonight, then I'll hide myself in shame because you deserve the very best of me, and all you need to do for tonight, sweetheart, is to forget yourself, and to feel no fear. Trust me, Sookie.'

She responded by bringing her lips to his and burying her hands in his hair, raising up her hips, slightly parting her legs. Eric moaned and moved down his hand to touch between her thighs and stroke her where she was so hot, wet and ready. His finger slipped inside her easily at first, but he soon realised that she was still a little tense, and that she felt so small clenching against him. She was far less experienced then he'd thought; Eric breathed in deeply and controlled his most urgent, primal instincts. He moved down her body, kissing every inch of her breasts and stomach as he continued to move in slow circles inside her, going deeper, preparing her for him. As his tongue finally reached where his hand was stroking her to her climax, she let out a long cry, fraught with need and desire, and shuddered as his lips sucked and kissed her there, drawing a delicate balance between flickering touches and lingering, firmer pulls on her tender flesh. Her back arched suddenly as she tightened around his finger and he looked to her face, thrown back in abandon, eyes closed and lips spilling out a stream of inarticulate sweet sighs and cries. The angst, fear and desperation of all his months of exile fell away in that moment of pure joy at seeing and feeling his lover come for him.

He moved back up her body to breathe in her sounds and scent, covering her mouth with a hungry kiss, barely able to contain his want as he placed himself at her threshold, feeling her lips part as he moved in. He pushed slowly, feeling her stretch, then paused as he sensed her body jolt slightly beneath him. She wouldn't be able to take the whole of him this first time, he'd realised that when he'd first begun to explore her, but it was only just registering with her and through his blood in her he felt a stab of fear, and then something like ...a deep and painful frustration, a shame almost, at the limitations of her body. Eric felt a rush of love for her that shocked him in its intensity. He knew then that he would never hurt this woman, never leave her, even if it meant the death of him. He pulled back and met her questioning gaze.

'Sookie, sweetheart, my lover, still your mind, relax for me, I will not hurt you, your pleasure is all I want, and I will not take anything that you do not give.'

He moved his lips slowly over her cheeks and forehead, raising himself higher to give her space to move and become accustomed to him, to find her own limit. As she relaxed again around him, he moved forward, letting her body speak to him, taking his cues from her sounds and movements. She murmured his name again, again, again, and as he increased speed, carefully controlling the depth of his thrusts inside her, he felt the shift from within. He felt her open herself completely to him, stretching out to take the whole of him and thrusting up her hips to meet his. He sobbed her name and moved deep inside, losing himself at the very core of her being. His blood in her sang to him. They came together, calling to each other, clinging to each other, as if the slightest space between them now would be death to them.

Sookie raised Eric's head to look at him and kiss him, to let him know with her eyes and mouth what he had done for her. A single red trail ran down his cheek.

'Sookie, how have I lived before now?' He muttered, almost imperceptibly, and without his blood inside her she wouldn't have heard. 'I love you.'