SPOV

As I pulled out of the courthouse parking lot, I couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that I was missing something. It's like something was right there in front of my face, but it was obscured, so I couldn't quite make it out. I knew there was more to Eric getting arrested than a simple mistake. I just couldn't put my finger on what it was.

I was stopped at a red light, and was only vaguely watching for the light to turn green. I kept turning things over and over in my head, trying to get a grasp on what I knew that I knew.

And that's when it hit me. "Holy shit! Sophie-Ann." Just as I was reaching for my cell phone to call Sam and Eric, I felt a jolt, followed by intense pain. My car had been pushed forward into the intersection, and my airbag had been deployed. Just when my eyes were starting to refocus, I heard a car horn, and turned to my right to see an SUV barreling towards me. I knew they didn't have enough time to stop. They were going to hit me, and they were going very fast. As I waited for the impact, I simply closed my eyes, pictured Eric's face, and told him I loved him. I felt another sharp jerk, and then nothing.

I could hear voices coming from all sides. I wanted desperately to open my eyes, but my body just wouldn't cooperate. I felt strange all over. I wasn't in pain; it was more like heaviness. Like my muscles were suddenly filled with lead, too bulky for me to move at all. I heard a few words that made sense: ambulance; heartbeat; broken bone; blood; hospital. Then, more nothing.

"Any change?" Sam! I can hear you Sam. You're so close. I tried to open my eyes, move my hand, say something, and just do anything to tell him I was here. But, nothing worked. I was still filled with lead. But, this time, I was much more comfortable. Again, nothing.

"How long has it been since the doctor said the swelling had subsided?" Sam, it's you again. Swelling? What swelling. Someone tell me what's going on. What happened? I got hit by another car but why do I feel like I'm full of lead? "About 6 hours, the doctor said they wouldn't start to really worry until it had been at least 24, though." Pam! Pam! Pam, please hear me. "What about Eric? Is he…?" Is he what, Sam? What are you asking about? What's wrong with Eric? Oh, please somebody tell me what's wrong. "I just don't know, Sam. He won't talk to me. He'll only sit here with her if he's alone. I wish he'd stay more often, I know he'll hate himself if he isn't here when she finally wakes up." More nothing.

It wasn't a voice this time that caught my attention. It was a feeling. A presence. I didn't know how, but somehow I just knew that Eric was here with me. I felt a cold, wet sensation on my arm, as if someone had dripped water on me. After another moment, I felt it again. Then I felt fingers entangle with mine, and squeeze gently. I didn't need to see or hear anything to know, Eric was holding my hand. I heard a faint sniffle, and realized the drops were tears. Eric was crying.

"Come on Sookie, I need you to open your eyes for me." I'm trying, Eric, I'm trying so hard. "Come on, damnit. I need you. I can't loose you like this. I'm not going to loose you like I lost Cindy." You'll never loose me, Eric. Just help me. Help me wake up. Help me tell you I'm here. "Come on baby, I need you. I need you to open your eyes." I'm trying honey, I'm trying. I can't do it. I can't open my eyes. Aaahh, I just want to scream! I want to hit something. Anything. I want to hit it hard. Wait, what was that? "Sookie? Come on baby, do it again. Squeeze my hand, baby. You can do it, I know you can." I need to tell Eric I'm here. I don't want him to be sad anymore. Come on stupid hand, move, damnit. Move now!! "That's it baby, you've got it. Now try to open your eyes. Come on Sook, you can do it. Open your eyes." I can't do it, Eric. No matter how hard I try they just won't open. This isn't fair. I just want to see you again. Eric. Eric. Eric. Eric. "Eric." Was out loud? "Sookie, baby, I hear you. Come on, love. Do it again. Say my name." Eric. Eric. Eric. "Eric."

And then, just like that, it happened. My eyes opened. I saw my Eric. He was smiling through tears. God, how I'd missed that face.

"There you are love. Thank God." He bent down and placed a tender kiss to my lips. He let go of my hand and went towards the door. I moaned softly, I didn't want him to leave. "It's okay, Sookie. I'm coming right back. I'm just going to go get the doctor, okay?" He left without waiting for an answer. But, just as he promised, he returned quite quickly. He stood by my bed, holding my hand, while calling both Pam and Sam to let them know I was awake. A few minutes later, the door opened and two doctors walked in. The first was a shortish, middle-aged, and distinguished looking man. The second was tall and stunningly gorgeous female with long black hair.

"Well, welcome back Miss Stackhouse," the man said. "I'm Dr. Edgington, and I'm a neuro-surgeon. You had us worried when you didn't wake up."

"How long have I been here?"

"6 days. What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was driving in my car, and someone hit me from behind, and pushed me into an intersection, and I got side-swiped by an SUV."

"Yes, yes you did. But you were very lucky and didn't sustain many injuries. I want to keep you one more night for observation, but, after that, I see no reason to keep you, unless…" and with this, he turned to the tall female doctor.

"No, I think she should be able to go home tomorrow just fine. Sookie, I'm Dr. Crane with obstetrics." Wait, did she just say obstetrics? But that couldn't be possible. Could it? "We've had you on a fetal monitor, and your baby's heart rate seems to be doing just fine." Oh. My. God. Is she for real?

Eric must've seen the look on my face, because he leaned down, kissed my temple and said, "that's right, Sookie. You're going to have a baby." Any reaction I may have had at that moment was interrupted by Sam and Pam quickly entering the room. Both had looks of immense relief on their faces when they saw that I was, indeed, awake.

"Oh, you had us so worried, Sookie. You have no idea how wonderful it is to see your beautiful eyes open again." Sam almost looked like he was going to tear up. He was so sweet. I sure am lucky to have him as a friend.

Pam leaned down to give me a sort of half hug and a kiss on the cheek. As she leaned back up I said, "Give it up, Pam. I'm not gonna have sex with you, so stop trying." Both Pam and Eric burst into laughter, which left Sam eyeing us all oddly.

Over the course of the next hour, the three of them more or less filled me in on what I had missed. According to witnesses, a car purposefully rear-ended me, causing me to end up in the middle of an intersection. The person who had hit me first had fled the scene. However, there were several witnesses to the crime, and although they didn't have a full license plate number, they had the vehicles make, model, and color. Eric told me that he thought that his arrest under false pretences might have been involved.

"Speaking of Eric's accidental arrest. Sam, will you do me a favor? Next time you're at work, bring me the box labeled 'Bill Compton' with you? I think I may have found a connection, but I want to look into it before I make any rash decisions."

"Sure thing, Sookie. I'll have them ready and waiting for you when you get back in. Speaking of which, though, I'm gonna need to take off. I'm on duty tonight and need to get back before room check." He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and left.

Not long after Sam left, I began to feel exhausted. I was confused as to why, because I'd just woken up from being asleep for so long. I guess it was just my body's way of telling me to take it easy. I fell asleep that night holding Eric's hand, listening to him hum softly.

I was released from the hospital the next day, and regardless of whether not I liked the idea, Sam and Eric informed me that I had no choice in the matter. I was being put on bed rest for the time being. I was to stay in bed at Eric's house, and even though I wasn't allowed to get up very much, they let me have my laptop so I could get some work done, knowing I'd go stir crazy without something to work on.

As promised, Sam brought over all of the files that were in my office on Bill Compton's case. I searched and searched for the specific information I was looking for. When I found it, I yelled for Eric.

"What is it, love? Did you find something?"

"You bet your gorgeous ass I did! Okay, Judge Hopkins said that his new clerk gave him the warrant to sign with a bunch of other paperwork to sign, and he didn't realize he was signing an arrest warrant for one of my cases. When he told me his clerk's name, something seemed familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then, just before the accident, I remembered. See," I should him the form I was looking at, "just before Bill was arrested for grand theft auto, a birth certificate was filed in the state of New Jersey listing Bill Compton as the father, and Arlene Fowler as the mother. The background check that was run on Arlene said she had a sister, Sophie-Ann. By the time Bill was arrested, Sophie-Ann had been married and divorced 3 times, but had taken her first husbands name, legally changing it to Sophie-Ann LeClerq." He seemed impressed by what I'd been able to dig up.

"Okay, so now we know how the warrant came to be issued. But, why?"

"What make and model did the police say the car that hit me was?"

"A green Toyota corolla. Why, what are you thinking?"

"Well, it looks like," I said as I was accessing the DMV database. "Yup! There is a 1998 green Toyota corolla registered to Arlene Fowler."

"Yeah, but, that still doesn't explain who was giving them personal information about you and Quinn."

"True. Let's see. Quinn and I broke up when you first got paroled, so, let's see if anyone who was working or staying at Hope House and left shortly before that time has any connections to these two."

I spent the next three hours going over the personnel forms Sam had given me for Hope House. Just when I was about ready to give up, I struck gold. "Eric, this is it! This is the informer!"

I showed him a completed employment application form. "We had a part-time janitor named Charles Twining who quit working there two weeks before you got paroled. His emergency contact form says his next of kin is his common-law wife, Sophie-Ann LeClerq!"

Eric called Sam and had him come over to look at the information we'd discovered. Sam told us he would get it to the police department right away. Just as we were getting ready to go to sleep that evening, Sam phoned and said that Arlene, Sophie-Ann and Charles had all been arrested for attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder.

As Eric held me close to him in bed, I said, "I can't believe it's finally over. No more looking over my shoulder, wondering who is going to be trying to kill me or beat me up. It's finally over!"

Eric smiled at me, and placed a very tender, very heartfelt kiss to my lips. "Eric, I want to ask you something, and I want you to answer me as honestly as you can, okay?"

"Alright." I could practically hear the apprehension in his voice.

"How are you feeling about the pregnancy?" I was terrified of his answer.

"Well, I'm glad that you are going to be able to fulfill your dream of having children. I know how upset it made you not knowing if it was possible."

"Okay, I get that. But, how do you feel about all of this?"

"I don't think I see where you're going with this, Sookie."

"Well, when I was in the hospital, and the doctor first told me I was pregnant, you saw that I was having a hard time believing it. So, you leaned in and told me that it was true, that I was having a baby."

"Yes, I remember."

"Well, that's just the thing. You said I was having a baby. Not we were having a baby."

He stayed silent for a few moments. I didn't want to upset him, but, I really needed to know how he felt about this. "Honestly Sookie, I don't know. I'm excited about seeing you be a mother, and, I'm ultra excited to see what a child that was made by you and I looks like. But, at the same time, I can't help but feel like I'm trying to replace Lizzie and Mattie."

"Oh, Eric, no. Our baby could never take the place of your children. They will always be special, and, in a way, they will always be here with us because you will always keep them in your heart."

"I know, love. And, I'm trying to think about it that way, truly I am. I think it's just going to take me some time to really get used to the idea. I hope you understand."

"Of course I do. I love you, Eric."

"I love you, too." He pressed his lips to mine, and I felt the passion grow hotter and hotter. We made love for the first time since the accident. It was spectacular.

A/N Well, there you have it lovelies, my second update of the day (even though it's technically after midnight). There will only be one, possibly two, more chapters until we get to the ending. Enjoy!!!