EPOV:

After I'd stormed out of the house, I realized I didn't really want to go anywhere specific, so I ended up driving around for almost an hour before I needed a coffee fix. I'd been in Starbucks for almost ten minutes when I spotted her by the counter deciding over a mint chocolate or strawberry something or other, as well as a cookie.

"Meg?"

"Eric? Hi."

"Hi. It's nice to see you again."

"I'm busted, huh? I'm in the area for another family's meeting; they aren't my easy family like you guys are and I need a caffeine fix before I visit them."

"That bad, huh?"

"Believe me, you and Sookie are a walk in the park compared to some situations I deal with. And considering she showed up tipsy on our last visit…" She raised her brows at me.

"I think we're the ones that are busted. Is that bad?"

"You weren't drinking, right?"

"No, of course not," I answered her honestly.

"Then it's fine. I mean not 'fine' but not something I'm concerned about. You both seem responsible and since you were the one on babysitting duty, I can let Sookie off this once."

"She was mortified if that helps..."

"It does. It's obvious that she cares for Jessica, so I'm not worried."

"Good, because she does you know. I mean, we both do."

She nodded.

"How is Jessica?"

"She's great! She's growing! She's a funny little girl, has an addiction to music—shit music—but she loves it. She's not walking yet, but she stands and moves up and down to dance before she falls on her ass. You should see her looking around like someone pushed her." I laughed, causing her to laugh, too. I found that whenever anyone asked me about Jessica, I tended to get animated describing her. Months before, I'd have laughed at those types of parents that got so enamoured with their kids and just thought they were the best thing ever. But now? I think I'd become one of them.

"It's good to know that she's been adjusting."

"She is. I mean, it's not been easy, and there are times when she has tantrums that I just do not know how to deal with—and it's overwhelming—but I deal. We deal."

"And how are you dealing with each other?"

I sighed.

"That bad?"

"We've had our problems. To say the least."

"And now?"

"Right now, honestly, we're not actually on speaking terms."

"Oh. May I ask why?" She sipped her coffee, looking at me thoughtfully. It had been awhile since I'd had a conversation with a woman that wasn't tinted in either sarcasm or hatred.

"We… There have been misunderstandings between us. Mostly on how we feel, or don't feel, about each other."

"Ohh. Right. Well, that much was obviously going to happen."

"Excu—"

"Well, Eric... come on. There is enough sexual tension between you two to power the entire city. I saw it the first time I met you both, and it's obvious living in the same house, parenting Jessica, that that would intensify things."

"And you couldn't have said something?"

She laughed at my ridiculousness.

"I still think having or attempting a casual sex—"

"I wouldn't do that with her."

"Really?" She didn't look so convinced.

"Really. She and I, we've been through a lot of changes these last few months. I've changed a lot too, I think."

"How so?"

"Well..." I sighed, "I never thought I wanted a family, or just one woman. I didn't 'do' relationships, mainly because when I tried it just seemed like I was trapped."

"And now you feel differently?"

"A little. I mean, I was handed a toddler and a co-parent overnight. We had to sink or swim. It wouldn't have been my first choice for my life—but now that it's here, I can't imagine life with her."

"Jessica."

"Her too," I smiled. And when she realized who I meant, she smiled too.

"Does she know how you feel?"

I sipped my coffee, stalling. That was the question.

"Well, I kissed her and if that doesn't say 'Hey, I like you!' then, I don't know what does."

She set down her giant mug with a slight smirk on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"Women… We need reassurance, Eric. Lots of it."

"But I…"

"Unless you flat out say how you feel, she's just going to keep thinking that the little signs are all in her head. Reassure her that she's what you want. If that's what you want."

"But that's just it. I'm not entirely sure HOW I feel."

She smirked like she knew something I didn't. It was annoying.

"What?"

"You're smitten."

"I am … not."

"You are so the smitten kitten."

When I raised a brow at her, she blushed and coughed.

"Sorry, caffeine makes me a tad … excitable."

I just laughed.

"Hey, something we have in common."

My talk with Meg really helped me to calm down. It was unexpected and just plain nice to chat about things without fear of a sarcastic quip in return. Sookie and I were never going to get anywhere with any aspect of whatever fucked up relationship we had if neither of us was willing to communicate with the other. So, I decided to be the bigger person—not just literally—and open up a line for talking, at the very least. I gave myself the best 'man up' pep talk I could on the way home. I drove to the sounds of Radiohead as I picked up a ton of Chinese food.

Food—everyone liked Chinese, right? Since I wasn't totally sure what she liked, I pretty much picked one of each thing off half the menu, hoping something stuck. She'd tried the 'breaking bread' olive branch so many times over the previous weeks—which I blatantly threw back in her face. It was idiotic and egocentric. I knew that now. So I hoped my gesture wouldn't go shunned as I had shunned hers. But when I walked into the kitchen through the French doors from the backyard, Sookie wasn't alone. In fact, Sookie was having a pretty heated argument with whoever was in the living room with her.

I placed the food on the counter, not making my presence known right away.

"But, Sookie… The child needs a father figure!"

"The child has a father!"

That was interesting.

"The guy you're living with? Please, a child needs parents who love each other and that's what you and I had. Are you and this Eric... are you in love with him?"

I listened to them argue. Sure I probably shouldn't, but really, who was going to know? I heard him mention something about Sookie wanting kids—past tense—rather heavily. He brandished about a few below the belt insults to her, but she seemed to deflect them pretty well. When she mentioned that Jessica had a daddy who loved her, I'll admit my heart ached a little. As scary as it was, I was that guy.

When he said the words "broken little whore," never in my whole life did I feel the rage that I felt at that moment. How fucking dare he! I rounded the corner of the living room just in time to see him hit her. He struck her hard, the force of the blow throwing her onto the sofa with a 'thwack.'

Bastard.

I saw red. The next thing I knew, I was throwing him out onto the front steps in the pouring rain. He was pathetic and it was disgusting that he thought he could hit a woman, any woman, but certainly not who I wanted as my woman.

The bastard had really done a number on her face, hitting her right where she'd bruise heavily. I did my best to comfort her. Being that close to her felt good, even if all I was doing was stopping her bleeding and swelling. I'd witnessed enough bar fights in my time to know how to treat a slap or a punch. But looking into her big blue eyes so full of shock and pain as she apologised over and over for something that was so out of her control, it broke me and all I wanted to do was take her in my arms and tell that I was there. And as long as I was, he would never touch her again.

Of course, I couldn't. She wasn't mine to protect, even though I wanted to. She belonged to Sam and as much as I didn't understand it—especially given what I'd found out hours before—she was still making the choice to be with him.

But what alternative had I offered her? Had I really offered her anything at all?

No, the more I thought about it, the more I realized she still saw me as a whore. Even if it wasn't the total truth, it was still all she assumed—it was all I let her assume. And out of jealously and wounded man pride, I let those ideas escalate for a few months more.

I was an idiot.

When I checked on Jessica, she was standing in her playpen—eyes red and tears streaming down her little cheeks—with an exasperated look of 'Why'd you leave me?' on her face.

"Hey baby, it's okay. I'm here, shhh it's okay." I tried to placate her with bouncing and jiggles, but she was having none of it. I found her Minnie Mouse pacifier sitting in her playpen, offered it too her and thankfully she took it. Her big blue eyes still rimmed red, evidence of her tears.

Fucking Bill.

I found Sookie sitting on the couch where I'd left her, the icepack to her face. She too was crying, only silently to herself. Seriously? I couldn't deal with one crying woman, let alone two.

Jessica seemed to sense that there was something wrong, her eyes never leaving Sookie's.

"Hey, pumpkin." Sookie faked a smile when I sat on the couch sitting the baby in between us. "How you doin' baby girl, huh?" she said, sweetly planting kisses on her, making her giggle.

"Let me see?" I reached over and took the icepack from her. She didn't look at me, but I looked at her, examining ever inch of her face.

"The ice should keep the swelling down. Hopefully, it won't bruise too dark. I swear I should have killed him."

"No. You'd do that and he'd win. And we can't let that happen, right?"

Jessica crawled over to Sookie and sat in her lap. It was a touching innocent gesture that I knew tugged at Sookie's heart since I saw another tear fall. Instead of acknowledging it, she simply snuggled Jessica closer to her.

I went to stand up but Sookie's hand landed on mine, though she still didn't look at me.

"Thank you, really I—"

"Don't worry about it." I nodded. "I brought food—Chinese?"

She looked hesitant. "No. Not just yet, I … I think maybe I need to just go lay down for a little bit."

I understood completely. She'd been bruised in more ways than one that afternoon.

"Of course. I'll get Jess fed and happy; you take your time."

She passed me the baby with a weak smile and I watched as she made her way slowly up the stairs. I wanted to comfort her, to let her know she wasn't alone and that men like Bill Compton didn't exist inside every man. Some of us were nothing like him. But honestly, I didn't know what good it would do.

SPOV:

I felt oddly numb, and it wasn't just the ice on my face either. I didn't know why I did it, but somehow I'd always known that my tastes in men were questionable. I'd dated Quinn because he was friends with my brother, and was really the first guy to show any interest in me. I'd stayed with him all through high school even though he was an ass the majority of the time—and he'd cheated on me. Then there was the only other two guys I'd dated seriously. The three in between Bill were flings at best, but Bill for some reason, I'd stayed with for a significant amount of time. I'd let him take that carefree girl and smoosh her into this anal-retentive woman terrified of her own judgements. By the time I'd realized who and what he was exactly, this new life was thrust upon me. Perhaps just in the nick of time? I didn't know if I believed in fate; I liked the idea of it, but was my fate so closely tied with the deaths of two people I loved? For me to get my head out of my ass, did Hadley have to die? That didn't seem fair. What about her fate? Was it her fate to lose her life and the chance to see her baby girl grow into a woman just so I could make sense of my own life? Again, how was that fair? And Eric, was this all the same for him—meant to be, but at the cost of so much pain? No, I didn't like to think it was.

Bill showing up was a blatant reminder of exactly why I was with Sam. He is Bill's opposite in every way. He's kind and sweet and he has a heart that just wants to help people. He cures babies for goodness sakes; you can't attempt to do much better than that. But Tara was right, I was bullshitting myself. I didn't love him though I did see the potential for loving him—it just hadn't hit me right away. Was it unfair to him? Maybe. But we enjoyed each other's company, the dates were always fun and pleasant—sure the sex pretty much sucked—but as it stood he didn't love me yet either. We liked each other and for now, that was enough.

I'd laid on my bed and tried to not over think the day. Of course I failed, but maybe it was necessary. Eric's sweetness to me, and the fact that he stood up and protected me so intensely didn't go unnoticed. I knew he didn't do it to gain favor with me, mainly because hours before he and I weren't even on speaking terms. But he had. He'd saved me from what no doubt could have escalated into something much worse. The look of rage on Bill's face was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, even on him. Eric had stepped in and for that I'd always be grateful. His comment before he left the house had stuck with me though, how we'd never actually been friends. And he was right. We were a lot of things, none of them friend-like in substance. We'd hated each other, we'd tolerated each other for the sake of Jessica, then we kissed and everything got shifted on its head. I liked the kiss, and I was pretty sure if he were to kiss me again, I wouldn't necessarily be upset by it. His kissing skills were plentiful but that was a step he and I just weren't ready for. We weren't even friends.

I had to fix that.

It was a little after nine when I finally made my way downstairs again. The house was silent and mostly dark, the only light coming from the den. There I found Eric lying asleep on the couch with Miss Jessica tucked into his right arm, her thumb in her mouth, both of them sleeping soundly. I didn't want to disturb either of them since it had been an eventful day, and not only for me. Of course, as I tried to slip out of the room, Eric woke up with a groggy "Hey," thrown in my direction.

"Hey." I whispered back. "I didn't want to bother you—"

"You're not. Let me just put her to bed and then we can talk okay?" he said in a low whisper, as he scooped up Jessica and took her to her room.

While he was getting her settled, I'd discovered that he'd bought enough food to feed an army, and most of it was untouched. I threw a few of the different dishes together on two plates and microwaved them for us both. I was starving.

"You want a second helping?" I asked, when he reappeared in the doorway.

"Sure. I'm pretty much a bottomless pit."

"I hate that men can eat till the cows come home, but God knows if we women inhale air we gain weight. How is that fair?"

He just smirked.

We both took our seats at the island—this time next to each other—and ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"Eric?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry for the way I reacted when you kissed me."

"For kissing me back?"

"N-no, not for that part," I blushed, "the part after. The cold shoulder, freaking out part. It was stupid of me and it was an overreaction."

He nodded, chewing his soft noodles.

"I'm sorry, too. I didn't exactly help matters, now did I? I think it's safe to say we were both pretty childish, huh?"

"Extremely," I agreed with a smile. One that hurt my ever bruising face.

"Also, Eric, what you said today, about us never being friends...?"

"Yeah, look Sookie, I was angry and stupid and—"

"No, it's not stupid. In fact, you were right. We were never really friends. But I'd like for us to be."

He put down his fork and looked at me. He was intense with his eye contact at times.

"I want to be your friend and not just a tolerated co-parent either. I'd like us to get to know each other. Like really get to know each other."

He smiled slightly, more of a crooked grin as he picked up his fork and started chowing down again.

"Sure, Stackhouse. What do you wanna know?"

A/n : *Crawls out from deathbed* I'm been pretty much dying this last two days and still I wrote, love me? Lol. No really it distracted from my sheer misery of this kicking my ass flu I've taken. *wallows* However what did you think of this one? Sound off in the review box and be a love and bring me some water mmmkay? Haha. Sorry about my fail on review replies but since I couldn't breathe for most of the week they kind of took a backseat but just know that I've read and adored them all so thank you thank you thannnk you so much, all of you *smooshes*

Also a big mucho thankies to vikinglover_elle for her beta'ing skills! :D