Yuyu Northman would you be so kind as to take a bow because chapter Thirty-one is all yours. Sharing is caring so please let us all read along will ya?

I have had many of you worried as to the whole Sookie not wanting to be turned thing. Right below is your answer. I was on the lookout for interesting names for the girl born to a vampire and a human. The most hilarious I got was the most practical: Erica.

Sookie

Chapter Thirty-One

Crossing Planes and Changing lanes

The first thing I was going to do when and if I ever woke up was talk to my great uncle Dermot and Eric about slapping people when they were passing out. It didn't help.

I felt like everything was faraway but I could see Eric's anxious face over mine. I looked past him and caught sight of a blonde haired little girl. I was reaching out for her and her brother but my arms wouldn't budge they felt like they weighed a ton so did my eye lids. My son's eyes were alert but mine were slipping out of focus until he blurred out of my sight and then there was nothing but complete darkness followed by a big burst of light.

I blinked slowly and found that I was under a cherry blossom tree. Many of the petals had fallen and I was lying on a bed of flowers. The scene resembled the back courtyard of the Caspian hotel where I got married but it was as though the side of the picture were faded; like someone had taken an eraser to the outer edges of it. I was so confused. It was all even more confusing because I was in my wedding dress. This had fairy shit written all over it. Just once I would like a warning when someone was going to do something with my body or life. It was getting a little ridiculous.

Right on cue he appeared. "Do not be afraid child" A voice called out from somewhere in the distance. I wasn't afraid I was irritated. I turned around glad that I wasn't alone but anxious as to where I was and who was here with me. The voice belonged to my great grandfather. He was walking with pep in his step like a spring chicken. I didn't know what was going on but I sure I was dead. I was okay with that. It wasn't exactly what I expected but I was happy to see a face I knew so naturally I began balling.

Niall stroked my hair and patted my back. He tried to hush me but nothing doing I was damn near hysterical.

"What's wrong?" He finally asked.

"I'm dead" I told him.

"No" He pulled away and smiled warmly at me as if he forgot I was especially dimwitted. I was even more baffled. Maybe this was an out of body experience or I was in a coma or purgatory for my many sins. All of those explanations were dreadful.

"But you are here and I'm with you so…" If at any point he was going to fill in the blanks this was the perfect time. He gave me grin that was nothing short of mischievous and nodded.

"Come" he pulled me to sit under the tree with him. "Try to reorient yourself then I will explain" He whistled a merry tune and waited patiently. As if he didn't have a care in the world he caught a few falling petal in his hand and blew it away. He was positively buoyant to be here where ever that was. He was taking it with great zeal. He was not acting like I knew him to be.

I just took some deep breath and took count of the good news so far. I delivered two children and they were safe with their father. I was only sort of dead but I was with Niall and he was happily dead. That last part was only kind of positive.

"The night I saw you I gave you a gift" he began. My anger at his highhandedness was long gone. He had made it possible for me to conceive a child with my vampire husband. If he had asked me I would have said no but now I couldn't imagine being happier. I wanted to thank him. It would put me in his debt but he could have it. He deserved it.

I had thought about what I would say to him many nights when I was lying awake unable to sleep from having active babies inside me. "Thank you. I didn't have the sense to think to ask for something like that and I don't think I could ever say how happy having them made me" I didn't notice the look of confusion on his face as I trudged through my speech. "They were born today" I told him in case he didn't know. "I had a boy and a girl" I couldn't help smiling as I made that announcement. Even after all the pain of labor it was still unreal to me apparently I wasn't the only one who thought it was unreal. Niall did too.

"The vampire allowed you to mate with another?" he asked. His face went blank with shock and he stopped smiling.

I flinched "No" I said. "It was because of what you did" I said my words slowly trying to jog his memory maybe you forgot something's when you died.

"What would that be?" He asked clearly flummoxed either that or he was doing an excellent job of acting.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" I asked flatly. A trace of annoyance had seeped into my voice. I was in the twilight zone and I could do without the usual fairy evasiveness. Plus he was interrupting my speech.

"The night of your wedding I came to see to give you Tana Hadin" I let him explain the whole basis of the great wish to me even though I already knew the meaning. It gave me time so I could digest what was coming. "It will keep you from withering with time as is the latency with mortality" My mouth fell open.

Compared to Niall Eric wasn't so bad. My great grandfather's level of flagrant audacity was nothing but stupendous. Just when I thought he had out done himself he tops it. By the way, no one but a fairy could make mortality sound like a debilitating disease and an insult. He said "Mortality" like normal people would say "Cancer or Genital Herpes" I had several colorful things to say about that but I held my tongue and waited for him to finish. We may be stuck here together indefinitely I didn't want to tell my only companion off unless I had to.

"I know you are angry I did not ask but I would not have been able to complete it if you truly did not desire to be with your Eric always" He didn't hide his smugness either, not even a little bit. That took the potency out of the rant that was building in me. Anything I said now would be a sorry lie or whining. I frowned and said nothing.

That was a desire I had not wanted to admit to myself least of all to Eric. Since we had gotten married I had been counting every day like our time together had an expiration date because it did. I was happy but that thought was never far behind because I did not want to be made vampire there was nothing else to say or do. Niall had given me another option.

I found another reason to become belligerent.

"What's wrong with this place" As we were talking the eraser was creeping in on all sides. It was far away but it was still unsettling to watch as more and more of our surrounding faded into white. "And why am I in my wedding dress?" It fit me exactly as it did the day I got married. It was another good thing to be counted.

"I think you look lovely in it" I smiled at his compliment despite my pique. I haven't gotten a sincere compliment in a while also he was a fairy so it counted double. I did roll my eyes as he flattened the fringe on the train of my gown so it spilled out and lay next to me just perfect. I will never understand what it was with fairies and vanity. He was worrying over the presentation on my dress as if we were awaiting a photographer; at least I didn't think one was coming. I didn't ask.

When Niall was satisfied with the display of my dress he answered my first question. "This is the last place I saw you in the physical world. It also explains the dress" as I looked at him I saw he had the same suit. "It is fading because you are late" No way I was going to apologize. That's what happens when you don't tell people what you were up to but expected them to show up and play along. "You were supposed to return here three days after our meeting. What happened?" He asked curiously.

"I don't know" I told him honestly.

"Have you been hurt? Vast amounts of vampire blood could have delayed you" I shook my head not really concerned about the cause of my presumed tardiness. There was a more important issue I wanted to discuss.

"Nothing you told me so far explains how I got pregnant" Ordinarily that was a question no one but me would be able to answer but with magic there was no hard and fast rule. Niall quirked his eyebrow at me and I knew he didn't know what I was talking about. That wasn't possible. I was speechless all over again.

"So you had children" He said candidly to urge me to begin because he was plenty interested. I bet he also gotten sick of watching me gape like a fish.

"Yes" there was barely any volume in my voice. My right hand was resting flat on my tummy and it felt so strange; to have gone from a beach ball to nothing. I wasn't too sure of anything anymore maybe that had all been a dream. Or maybe I had finally lost my mind like a town full had been attesting to for years.

"The father" Niall prompted.

"Eric is the father" He made a small noise of amusement not disbelief or shock just like a 'humph'. I tell you his genial nature was really beginning to get on my nerves. I turned to look at him in the face. "You didn't have anything to do with that being possible"

"No, at least not intentionally" He said. For added emphasis he raised both his hands and shook his head. If he wasn't a fairy I would have said he protest too much but he was a fairy and his word was good. "It could be because you gave me gave me my son back. Or perhaps both of those desires were equally strong in your heart so both came to be or neither" He shrugged. I sat silent for a few minutes not knowing what to say.

I have always had this notion that when people you loved died they could keep watch over you. It wasn't the case at least not for fairies. Niall knew nothing.

"Tell me about them" He said. I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face when he asked. Our backs were leaning against the tree and our fingers were intertwined. I leaned into him and told him what little I had experienced of my children.

"My son was born first. He didn't cry" We laughed as I described how ridiculous he looked yawning and stretching his teeny body fresh out of the womb. I couldn't really describe their features to him but he didn't seem to mind. I told him how I was willing to bet money my daughter was the one who spent many nights kicking the shit out of me.

"She has the spirit of the never fading star" He seemed to be talking to himself. I was going to ask him about that star but he had more questions. He asked about Claude and Dermot. The subject of fairies brought their potential impending demise to the fore front of my mind.

"They are in trouble" I said sadly. Niall looked away and shrugged his shoulders.

"There is nothing I can do and we cannot speak of ill things here" That was it. He didn't give me access codes to fairy super-secret weapons-nothing. He squeezed my hand and kept asking about other things.

For the first time Niall told me about him. Our time together was usually spent talking about me. He never explained fairy things to me. He has always been guarded and tight lipped about it. Today he was nothing like that. He appeared carefree as he told me about hills and mountains in a world that I would never see; about a world that was in danger. He told me about the mother of my grandfather. The first time we had met he told me of her. He had described her as simple but now I saw he loved her. I guess now that he was dead it was okay to admit he loved her the way Fintan had loved my gran. Life was a bitch to all species it seemed.

"You are happy in the Summerlands" I asked. He smiled. It was a serene and warm.

"Yes I am at peace" He said.

Niall let out a sigh. "Your spirit yearns to return to your body" I looked around and was more than concerned that there was nothing but a white canvas all around us. The cobbled stoned bridge was gone so was the lake under it. There were no more benches or sky everything that was not under the tree was whitewashed and it was getting closer. "You will remain as you were the night you wed. Your beauty will be ageless; time will no longer touch you" He swept a piece of perfectly curled hair behind my hair and smiled.

"I'm not a fairy" I asked for clarification. It would most certainly be ground for a divorce if my husband couldn't help himself and constantly tried to kill me. Not only that I didn't want to be a fairy any more than I wanted to be a vampire. I wanted to be able to remain myself no matter how long I lived. It was a confusing thing to want even to myself it didn't seem logical but in my heart any other way felt wrong.

He shook his head. "You will always heal but you can still be killed if the injury is severe enough. I think you will be stronger but your will did not allow for any more changes" There was a frown in his voice but my eyes weren't on him. They were on the impending whiteness. Finally Niall turned my face to his.

"I love you" He said. "It was a joy to have known your face" I was touched and was at a total loss of words. He smiled brightly. Then he kissed both my cheeks and my head. He held me firm with eyes closed and pressed his fore ahead to mine until there was a blinding flash of light and again I fell into darkness. Would it kill him to give a little warning?

The sun was on my face. I knew I was in my body again. I knew I had to ability to move but I didn't open my eyes. There was a light breeze. It was humid and it told me I was in the right place. I was wearing a soft cotton shirt dress I thought. Having squeezed two human beings out of my body I was expecting pain but there wasn't any. And if I had been expecting super hearing or any other sort of powers I would have been disappointed. In fact my senses had dulled compared to when I was pregnant. I did know people were in the room with me. One was a vampire and the other was fairy.

"I think she is awake" It sounded like Dermot. I felt him hovering over my face.

"Uncle Dermot if you slap me you are going to have a fight on your hands" I opened my eyes to him grinning over me. He snatched me up by the shoulders and pulled me to his chest.

"Where are they?" I asked him while still caught in his embrace. Over his shoulder I could see Eráh was seated in the chair watching us with a smile on her face. The Kovalls were full of surprises the biggest for me right now was seeing Eráh setting down a book titled: Binary Code For Dummies. It wasn't so strange when you take into account that she has been talking to Bill a lot.

"They were with him from dawn until eight this morning" I looked at Dermot and hugged him again in thanks. "Now they are with my Atan and Téyo" I nodded and began getting out of bed.

The thin covers over me had fallen away and both Eráh and Dermot were staring. I looked down and saw that my body was indeed like it was before I got pregnant. I looked at my hands and touched my face. It was silly but I expecting something to have changed but nothing had.

I got to my feet slowly testing the strength of my legs.

"I will let Claude know you have awoken he should look at you" Dermot said. His hands were hovering at his sides as if he were expecting me to fall. I shook my head at his suggestion. I felt perfect.

"I want to see them" I stood and stretched. I smiled thinking of my son.

Barefoot and happy I ran through the house and out the door. I was so high off the prospect of seeing my children that I didn't register the complex was crawling with fairies. I slipped quietly into the house weary of waking the babies if they were asleep.

Cohan appeared at the foot of the stairs to save me some looking. He smiled brightly and held his hand out. I took it and we walked up the stairs together.

"How are they?" I asked.

"Happy and healthy" He said with a smile. "Your daughter has a strong personality already" I smiled. We didn't go to the top where the nursery was. He led me to one of the light tight guest rooms. I had expected my children to me immune to the sun but I guess in that respect they were more vampire than human. Eric would be happy. This way we could both share them. Their father wouldn't miss out on too many moments because of the sun.

I opened the door holding my breath. The room was brightly lit but the light tight shades were drawn. I could see my son's face over Atéyo's shoulder. His eyes were ardent and they zeroed right in on me when I came in. His sister was in a cradle next to the bed and she asleep. Nothing could describe what I was feeling it made want to laugh and cry and scream and dance.

"Hi, Baby" I whispered. Like an absolute lunatic I held my hands out to him. Atéyo walked and handed him to me. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight. "I missed you" His head was on my chest and I could feel the difference in our body temperatures. He was lukewarm. He was breathing at a leisurely pace.

By the time I had gotten comfortable on the bed with them on me I realized both Cohan and Atéyo had gone. I wanted to thank them for all they had done but I was glad they let me have the moment. When my daughter woke up I held her and she rubbed her face on my chest with her mouth open. Assuming she wanted to be nursed I arranged her brother across my lap and tried. She latched on and suckled. I was thrilled that I was still able to nurse them. I didn't think I would have been able to because my body felt normal I wasn't even bleeding. I stroked my daughter's head and caressed her tiny fingers as she ate. She looked up at me with the same color eyes as her father. She didn't stay awake long but for the few minutes I looked in her eyes I felt she knew who I was and it warmed my heart.

There was a knock at the door a while later. I had no idea how much time had passed. "Come in" I threw a small blanket over my shoulder to shield myself and the child I was nursing. It was Cohan.

"If you wanted to test their immunity to sunlight twilight is the safest time" I looked towards the window. It never occurred to me that they had been kept in here as a precaution instead of a necessity. I wasn't sure I wanted to test the theory.

"I don't want to chance it in case they're not" I told him.

"This time of day it will irritate more than harm" He looked at the way I was shrinking from the window and added "But it is not necessary to do this" I shook my head. I was being ridiculous. It would be best to know. He came and helped me out of bed.

I walked into the hallway. It was dark but at the end of it I could see strips of light. I crept forward and unwrapped my son's leg from the blanket. I extended his foot forward so the tips of his toes were exposed. I pulled back and examined it. His skin was almost translucent any sign of damage would be easy to see. There wasn't any. I removed the blanket from his face. He was looking at me intently but there was no evidence of discomfort on his face.

"I know mommy's being crazy" I told him. To be sure I exposed his leg and kept it exposed for a few seconds longer. Slowly I moved closer into the light and removed the blanket. He turned his head from my nipple and looked out the window with me.

"Pretty isn't it" I murmured to him.

"He's fine" I called down the hall to Cohan. He appeared next to me with my daughter in arms. She blinked against the glare of the falling sun and turned her face away. She was uninterested. Cohan smiled.

"Thank you" I said to him. I don't know how I would have gotten through child birth with my sanity intact if not for him being able to take away the pain. He and his son had also cared for my children while I was wherever I had been and Eric was dead for the day. He waved me away as if those things had been expected of him. He did that a lot and it threw me off.

In the fifteen minutes before first dark I had laid my children down to sleep; groomed; showered and dressed. It felt great to have my body back. I was vain enough to have been worried about that while I was pregnant. For no other reason that celebrating the birth of my children I applied a little make up and selected something that pretty to wear.

The emotions that coursed through me as Eric woke were dizzying. He came into the bedroom and walked slowly towards me. There was a look of skepticism on his face. He held my face in his hands and just looked at me.

I smiled. "Are you going to kiss me or what?" He picked me up and held me to him. My legs went around his waist. His head was buried in my shoulder and I felt his lips moving as he whispered to me but I couldn't understand a thing. His grip was almost painful but I welcomed it. I just relished the feeling of having my body close to his. Nothing felt right unless I was with him. Eric kissed his way to my lips. He kissed me until I was out of breath but he still didn't break contact with my skin. We lay in bed and just held each other.

"What happened to you?" He asked. I told him everything.

"I'm supposed to be stronger but I don't feel any different I guess I'm still me just long lasting." I concluded.

"This makes you happy?" He asked. I knew he was happy and trying to control it in case I felt the opposite.

"Yup, you're stuck with me" I said cheerfully. He laughed. Unlike me Eric wasn't at a loss when I explained Niall had nothing to do with the two little vampires down the hall.

"Cohan fathered both Atéyo and Demetrius" He told me.

"How did that happen?" The thought had occurred to me that I couldn't be the first. I was hoping maybe they could provide an answer that Niall couldn't.

"It was very common a long time ago. They cannot sat with absolute certainty why it stopped"

I would think more on that later. "What are we naming our children?" I asked him.

"I have already named our son Alrick" He told me proudly.

"What does it mean?" I asked him.

"Peaceful" He thought I would approve and I did. I had been with the both of them since I woke up. I had gotten that vibe from Alrick he was mellow. He struck me as a go with the flow king of person already.

"I think I know what I will name his sister I just have to check something first" He nodded.

"I will bring them to meet the other vampires here" Eric told me. He was getting dressed.

"Why?" I asked feeling nervous.

"They want to see them and it is important for the vampires of our state to be familiar with them" I saw something like that once on the discovery channel. Before a female lion gives birth she leaves her pride of lions. When her cubs are a few months old she brings them to meet her pride. They had to pass a sniff test and it didn't always go well. That was all I could imagine.

"They will be fine" Eric said. "Also we need to meet with the fairies their reinforcements have arrived" I nodded. Not liking one of those things more than the other.

0o0o0o0

I for one had missed SPOV. But honestly there hasn't been much going on for her until now. I want to make a vote. Who do you guys want to hear from next? Because I am absolute nutcase I have written the next chapter from both. I'm just not sure.

Rules of the game Yuyu Northman your vote counts double!