Hello! It's the weekend again! :) YAY! And I'm off to the beach. But before I left, I had to update. So, here's another chapter for you. Now, just a few comments… First of all, this is how Sookie saw things. That's not necessarily the exact truth – sometimes we see things differently than reality, because our judgment is clouded, or because we just see what we were expecting to see rather than what was really there. Secondly, Natércia sometimes lies/embellishes the truth, so don't you believe in everything she's saying. Thank you for reading. Take care! Célia

Sookie "Never Say Goodbye"

When I woke up, Eric was in his boxers and t-shirt, laying next to me, on his back. And he had a hand on my thigh. Or, better yet, he had his huge hand on my thigh, almost grabbing it possessively. And you know what? I liked it. The fact that, even when he was dead to the world, he wanted to, somehow, get a hold on to me, calmed me a lot. And I felt that no matter how many ex-girlfriends would visit, we would still be okay.

Yes, I was still pretty mad at him that he had kept his… friend's visit a secret from me for a month (and I'm not even talking about the fact that he hadn't ever talked to me about such a person before, at all). But he was Eric. It was intrinsic to his personality for him to try to shield me away from every single worry or care in the world. And I was sure, that in his head, he had hidden it from me for "my own good". Because he knew that that visit would bother me, he had postponed my knowledge of it for as long as possible. But the problem was that I'd rather know about the problems earlier, than be suddenly caught in the middle of it already. However, in Eric's mind, he was only playing his part, as "the man", and sheltering me from fears and qualms for as long as he could.

Besides, I kind of owed him to try to deal with that… Natércia. My friendship with Sam still annoyed Eric because he… well, he hated Sam. Not that he was jealous of him because Sam still liked me. No, it wasn't it. Besides, Sam wasn't interested in me anymore. He was now happily married with four (yes, four!) kids – two girls, ages 7 and 5, and a couple of 3-year-old twin boys. He still owned Merlotte's and he had married the new waitress (a regular human, not shifter or were) that had substituted me when I left to Tennessee.

And the thing was: when I left to Cleveland, Eric had obviously stopped dealing with Sam, and so, he hadn't known that he had married in the meantime. And when I showed him the pictures of the twins' first birthday, two years ago, Eric just start laughing and teasing me, because Sam's wife was physically like me and Sam's waitress. And so, Eric kept laughing at me and saying that if Sam had known that he would marry his next blond and tanned waitress, he would have done what Eric himself had wanted back then, and fired me years before I left. So, no, it wasn't that Eric was jealous of Sam, because he also knew that Sam had never even been a possibility in my mind. Eric's problem with him was that David had been Sam's friend. They had met in their early twenties in Texas, and Sam had been the one who introduced me to David and got me the job at Brown's Rest & Grill, which ultimately ended with me marrying my boss.

But even more than my friendship with Sam, what really bothered Eric was my friendship with Bill. Yes, whenever I'd go to Bon Temps to be with Jason, Sam or Tara, and their families, I always tried to visit Bill too because we were still good friends (I would never forget how sick he had looked after the Face War, when I was pregnant with Liz… and all because of me). And even though he still, kind of, slightly hit on me, I knew that he understood that we were just friends. And I, for my part, actually enjoyed his company very much. And Bill was… well, he was pretty much the same (actually, he was exactly the same) as he had been more than a decade before. And just as he had captivated me then, he still did it now. I mean, he obviously looked the same… being a vampire and all. But it was more than that, he still lived on the same house (that was exactly like before), and he still worked on his data-base and travelled once in a while to update it. But the main thing was that Bill still had that mysterious and dangerous, but also shy and morose, as well as gentlemanly air about him that he had had before.

What can I say? Bill would always be an important person in my life; he was my first love and the first man that had showed some interest in me, making me believe that I was worth something and that I was not a social pariah. And now, all these years after his betrayal, I had been able to completely forget about it, and forgive him his lies, and just ripe the fruits of our friendship. And Bill was a good friend. We would talk for a couple of hours about my life and his life, and then I would leave feeling good about myself because I had confided in my friend and he had done the same. And that bothered Eric like nothing else. But he didn't comment on it anymore and he didn't even sulk or brood whenever Bill and I meet. He usually would only insist that I shower (for a long time) to keep Bill's smell away from me.

So, yes, I really owed Eric to try to… get along with that… Natércia.

But even with the feeling that we would still be okay, I was nervous. So I kept myself busy that day. I had breakfast with Lizzie and drove her to school. I did lots of little tasks (besides working at the bars, I was also sort of Eric and Pam's day helper, alongside with Bobby Burnham – who still loathed me as much as 12 years before) and interviewed three possible new waitresses to fulfill a vacancy in Deadliest (because of my mind-reading skills, I always interviewed potential employees).

And later that day, I drove Lizzie to her ballet class. She had started going there once or twice a week (if she had extra swimming trainings for some local competition, she'd go to the ballet only once a week). Her first ballet class had been a few months before, when a Ballet School opened close to Pam's house. Actually it was in the same street. And Pam, being Pam, immediately paid for Lizzie's inscription and the first year's tuition there and she talked Liz into ballet. But, to be truthful, Lizzie, being Pam's fan all the way, was really easy to convince. And why that sudden need for ballet? Because, as Pam said over and over again, "young girls must be taught to have a proper posture." And you know something? You can take a vampire from his time and place of birth, but you really can't take the time and place of birth out of the vampire. Sometimes, you could really tell that Pam had been born in an upper-class English family in the early 18th century. All vampires were that way… Deep down, they could never forget their origins. Eric was exactly the same. And don't even get me talking about Eric's Viking's rampants… especially on bed!

Later that day, at 6 pm, after Lizzie's ballet lesson, we got home. I had called for a pizza and we both ate as soon as it arrived, to Liz's delight. The girl just loved pizza! And, for her, it was especially good, because it wasn't a "Second Sunday pizza night" (we always had pizza every couple of weeks, on Sundays). But I just wasn't in the mood to cook. At all.

Anyway, we usually waited for Eric to have our dinner. But the pizza place had been way quicker that night with their delivery. And because we didn't want to waste a good, hot pizza, we were already finishing our dinner when Eric met us after he woke up.

"You didn't wait for me to have your dinner? Wow. What hungry ladies I have here… You know, I woke up so hungry for pizza, but you didn't even leave me a tiny bit…" he said with a happy and stress-free voice, when he kissed my cheek and then Lizzie's.

"Dad! You don't eat pizza," Liz told him, smiling.

"I don't?" He asked her, smiling back at her.

Kind of giggling, she answered, "Nooo…."

"For real?"

"Uh-huh."

"And what about your juice? Can I taste it, at least?

"You don't drink juice either, dad," she answered him, still giggling.

"You sure?"

She answered him that she was sure and he just told her that she was right and that he had only forgotten about it. We had already started talking about Lizzie's ballet class that day, with the three of us just sitting there, around the kitchen table as a family, when Nike did some noise in the living room and Liz immediately asked to be excused from the table because Nike "needed" her. She barely waited for my "yes" and she left towards her puppy.

"Nike," I said sighting to Eric.

"Nike," he told me back, rolling his eyes.

For the last month, Nike was the only thing that really mattered to Liz. She loved to play with the puppy, wash him, feed him and she had even tried to dress him… twice! So, her choosing to leave the table when she was telling us about her ballet class and the new teacher that would be substituting her actual ballet teacher for the next two weeks (Ms Charlene had gotten married that weekend and wouldn't be teaching her class for two more weeks), so she could attend to Nike's "needs" was something… well, expected.

But that night, it was actually good that she had chosen her dog over Eric and I, because there was something that I wanted to talk to him about, and I knew that he wouldn't be speaking about his friend freely in front of Liz.

And to tell you the truth, I was dreading that conversation. But I was also very curious as well.

"So, how was it yesterday? Uhm…with your friend?" I asked him. I still remembered that Eric had woken me late last night, as I had asked him to do, but we hadn't had the chance to talk then because I was way too sleepy. But I really wanted to know now about his… friend.

"It was okay. Natércia was late, so I basically just drove her to the hotel and then I came home. We… uuhh… No. She… I mean, I… no, she…" and then he paused, and I thought that that had been strange, but he quickly kept talking again, "she said she would like to meet you, and we decided I would pick her at 8 pm tonight," he finally said.

"Okay," I answered.

"We will come back here then, so you two can get to know each other," he added. His happy and stress-free voice wasn't there anymore. But he didn't sound particularly worried about that meeting either. Maybe it was something else (other than me meeting that Natércia person) that was worrying him…? But what could have happened the night before that was worrying Eric?

But then, suddenly, I realized that I actually didn't want to know about his friend, or anything that had to do with that… woman. And so, I changed our conversation to the three girls I had interviewed that early afternoon and how not one of them had experience enough to waitress at a such an usually crowed place. They were just fangbangers that only wanted to job to be close to vampires. And we needed someone with past jobs waitressing. But soon, just a little after we had started that talk, Eric said that he had to leave to go get… her.

And the thing is: I knew I was nervous. And anxious. And kind of afraid to meet that Natércia person. But I was trying to hide it. And I had thought that I had been playing it cool that night, and that I had managed to conceal my nervousness from Eric. But, obviously, I hadn't succeeded in it. And how did I know that he had seen my edginess? Because just after Eric kissed me goodbye, he also whispered: "I have never loved anyone the way I love you. You must believe that not a single person, ever since I was turned, in more than 1000 years, meant to me as much as you and Liz do. No matter what, just know that I love you,"

Okay. I had needed to hear that. So… thank you Eric. I kissed him back and told him I loved him as well.

"And lover, please be patient with Natércia, okay? Just… stay calm. It's a night just like every other," he said after he came back from running upstairs to tell Liz that he was leaving but would be back soon. I said that I would be patient and stay calm.

But just five minutes after he left, I panicked. What about Liz? Was she supposed to meet Natércia as well? There was still almost an hour and a half until Lizzie's bedtime. If he arrived home earlier than that, then Liz would be up and she would meet that Natércia character. Did Eric want her to meet his friend? Did I?

I immediately grabbed my cell and I called Eric.

"Lizzie is here. Will she meet your friend too?" I asked as soon as he picked the phone.

"Of course, lover. You are my wife and we are a family. But… let's just make sure she goes to bed at 9 pm sharp tonight, alright?"

"But she calls you dad since Christmas…" I added. I knew that Eric was extremely happy with that "dad-calling" thing. But not next to other vampires. Raising the orphan daughter of a were-bear is not something vampirish. And I knew that Eric had to keep his "badass" image when he was with other vampires. I mean, most vampires in Louisiana knew that I was with Eric now, and that I had a daughter that also lived with him. But that was it. No vampire other than Pam knew how much Eric cared about us. Well, Bill also knew because I had told him (I knew I could trust him) but he hadn't seen them together yet. Was Eric willing to be with Liz in front of Natércia? Did he trust her so?

"And I am proud of her. Sookie, just relax," Eric answered me.

"But, Liz won't know that she has to stay away from you and pretend that you're not her dad…"

"And she doesn't have to stay away or pretend that I'm not her dad. Nat's an old friend. There's no problem with her knowing about us. I trust her. And you just need to calm down, lover," he then told me.

Again, I answered him that I would stay calm and then I hung up.

I immediately called Liz (she was upstairs) and told her to go and put Nike in the garage. Nike had been spending his nights there for the last week, after he had slept in Lizzie's room for the first three weeks of his stay with us. After she came back from the garage, I made her sit with me on the living room couch and then I started telling her that a lady was going to visit us soon.

"It's like when you meet the headmistress of your new school, okay? Do you remember when you met her?" Liz nodded and I continued, "It's the same tonight. You must behave Liz and you must stay quiet and silent, as well. Alright? You must behave, baby. Do you hear me? You have to conduct yourself like the good girl I know you are. So, just behave, okay baby?" And you know what? Even a 7-year-old can tell when something's not right. And my daughter just knew that her mom was worried about something. So she said that she would behave and stay quiet that night.

A little over half an hour later, Liz and I were both watching TV, when we heard the front door and then a female voice: "So, Álvaro has been nagging me about it for the last year and I've actually been thinking about letting him make a vampire."

"Álvaro" was such a vampire-name as well. Did these people have a "vampire-names" book? Where did they find all those names? Well, I guess that they found those names in past centuries… And again I remembered how I had thought that Bill's name was just so… ordinary when I met him. I think that I even told him something about it that first night when I saved him from a couple of drainers. But I was quickly brought back from my thoughts about vampire names when the female voice kept talking: "Is Pamela a maker already?"

"Pamela." Pam hated to be called that. Didn't that Natércia-person know that? Well, she and Pam weren't exactly friends, so maybe she did know that, but kept calling her Pamela exactly because Pam hated it.

"No. Not yet. And she never talked about it. Álvaro's what? Three? Four?" That was Eric's voice, answering the question and adding his own question.

"He is almost 320 years old, I guess. Or something close. But about him having a child of his own… Well, I just don't know. I think he's too young yet," the female voice answered Eric.

"It's his decision Nat," Eric said.

"The hell it is. He is my child. I own him." She said the "my" and the "own" words in a way that reminded me of Ocella and his voice tone when he talked to Eric on that first and only night when I had met him (and he had talked to me too). And because that still-unseen lady's voice reminded me of Ocella, she was already scaring the shit out of me. She actually gave me the creeps.

But Eric, apparently, liked her answer, because he laughed at her remark. And that was when they both entered our living room and I first saw Natércia. I immediately got up but Liz stayed sitting and watching one of her favorites TV shows "Toys' City". Her eyes were glued to the screen.

"So Nat," Eric started saying; they were next to me by then, "this is Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie, this is Natércia Amaral, my long time friend."

I noticed that she was Natércia Amaral, his long time friend but I was just Sookie Stackhouse. There was no "my girlfriend", "my lover" or even "my wife" after my name. And with Eric's obsession that our marriage was valid, I was left wondering why I was just Sookie Stackhouse, and not Sookie Stackhouse, his… something. I would have to file that away for later, because the "long time friend" was right there, and so I nodded to the gorgeous dark haired, small woman in front of me. She was wearing a beautifully tailored light-grey skirt, with a light-blue shirt and a grey and blue scarf. And she had a jacket of the same fabric that her skirt on her arm, as well as a Channel purse (even I recognized the two interlocked C's of the Channel's logo). She was also wearing what looked like very expensive high-heels shoes, and her hair and makeup were flawless. She looked 24 or 25 years old, or maybe even less (the suit might make her look older). And I immediately felt badly dressed and ugly. And aged.

"Sookie," the stunning vampire said, "how nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Natércia,"

"Yes…" she said. But I had the feeling that she had preferred to say "whatever" like a rebellious teenager, instead of acknowledging me. And then she added with a patronizing tone, "Eric has been telling me how sweet and tasteful your blood is."

Okay, here's a doubt: was she complimenting me about it? Or was she saying that I was just a blood bag and that Eric's only interest in me depended on how my blood tasted?

But to me, it really didn't matter so much the reason behind her sentence. What I was thinking then was that he had told a strange vampire about my blood's taste. Or rather, Eric had freaking told a fucking vampire about my blood.

"Well, Eric's too kind to me" I managed to respond after I mustered all the calm I could from inside me, while giving Eric a deadly glance. Why the hell would he be telling her about my blood? He had told me that yesterday they hadn't had time to talk, because she had been late, and that night, they had only been together for less than an hour. So, I wondered how the hell my blood's taste had come into their conversation. And even if they had, somehow, ended up talking about it, then why the hell did he tell her that I was tasty? I felt my deadly glance at him turn even deadlier. No sex for you tonight mister. Damn, probably not this whole week. Telling another vampire that I was… appetizing! Was he crazy?

"And Nat this is my lovely Elizabeth," Eric finally said pointing to Liz, who got up (only Eric and Nike could separate her eyes from Toys' City) and hugged Eric's waist, as she always did, "Liz, this lady here is my friend Nat."

"Hi," Liz said looking at Natércia, while still hugging Eric's waist.

Natércia looked at my daughter like she was a scientific project because she was obviously curious about the child that was hugging the tall Viking vampire. And Natércia's face looking at Liz? It was precious. I immediately hated her a little bit less. She was getting one hell of an education about vampire relationships with humans that night. Eric, his long-time badass friend, looked extremely happy just because a little human girl was hugging him. Her awe at the situation was stamped on her face. And, I also forgave Eric a little bit too for his "Sookie's blood is delicious" commentary.

"Hello," the vampire finally managed to answer to Liz.

Then, Eric told us to sit and so we did it. And Liz sat as well. And she sat where she almost always did: on his lap. And she just kept watching TV and touching Eric's hair. Lizzie had always loved how straight and long Eric's hair was. And brushing his hair with her hands was part of their every night routine (before her "I want to be a veterinarian" phase, she had wanted to be a hairdresser when she grew up, and she had started brushing Eric's hair then; and for some reason, they just kept doing it). And the fact that Eric was acting just like any other night, especially towards Liz, was calming me a little bit.

Natércia, however, kept watching them curiously. And, of course, she had to keep trying to upset me.

"So tell me human, how long have you known Eric?"

"Her name is Sookie, Nat," Eric said immediately.

"Yes, Sookie. I've known him for more than 800 years. What about you?"

It was obvious she wanted to claim him for herself, because she had met him first. Puh-lease… was she calling "dibs" on Eric or something? Was she still in junior high?

"For 12 years," I answered.

"How cute. And it took you 10 years to be together?"

I wouldn't use the word "cute" to describe our relationship and the time it had taken us to be together as a couple. Yeah, strange word… And she knew that we'd been together for two years already... Why would Eric be telling her that?

I obviously would not get into details about how we had blood bonded just a little over a year after we met, nor how I had fell in love with an amnesiac Eric. So I only answered her, "Yes, kind of."

"How cute," she repeated. Again with the "cute"?

She then asked me about my job at the bars and how I filled my days without Eric. Did she think that my whole life should be exclusively around Eric? I told her how I used to fill my days and then I asked if they'd want some blood. Natércia didn't answer me, but after Eric's positive reply, I went to the kitchen, I warmed two bottles of True Blood and I went back to the living-room and that awful conversation. I had just sat again, when I discovered that Natércia did indeed think that I should only worry about Eric and nothing more when she said that it was odd that I wasn't keeping vampire hours just like Eric. Hah! Eric didn't keep human hours, why would I have to live completely according to his schedule? I tried to muster all the "hostessness" inside me that I could and I also tried to just focus on the part that she was a guest at my house and so she should be treated with respect (even though she didn't deserve it). And so, I answered, "I am a day person. I love the sun. Besides, my daughter needs me during the day, obviously."

Natércia was going to say something else but before she had the chance, I excused myself saying it was Lizzie's bed time. I told my daughter that we should go upstairs and after she said goodnight to Natércia and gave Eric a kiss, the two of us went upstairs. Just the two of us. And that sure worried me becauseEric was normally there for the story and goodnight kiss. But that night, he stayed downstairs entertaining his guest.

When I got there, almost an hour later, I was appalled by what I saw.

Natércia had moved from the place she had sat before. She was at my previous place on the couch, right there next to Eric. And his hand was on her knee. His hand. On. Her knee. On the skin of her knee because her skirt had gone up a little when she had sat, and so he had his freaking hand on her fucking knee. And they were talking in some God forsaken language that was completely foreign to me. And they were laughing and just having a good time together.

Shit!

They looked great together. And great as in the gorgeous couple of a TV ad for a luxurious European car or an extremely expensive perfume, or even Dubai Airlines or something like that. They looked "Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the Oscar Night" great. I felt awkward and unattractive all over again.

But then, in just a second, Eric heard me or saw me or smelled me or whatever he did to know that I was there, and he turned his head towards me and told me to sit with them again in English. Natércia told him another sentence in that strange language and he just answered her "yes," again in English. I wondered what it was that he was agreeing with.

"So, she's sleeping?" Eric then asked me while I sat at Natércia's previous place on the smaller couch. Not by Eric's side.

"Yeah," I managed to mumble.

"Good. Nat and I were talking about Nat's maker just now,"

"Oh…" I answered. And he kept looking at me as if he wanted me to add something more to the conversation. But what the hell was I supposed to say to him? I knew what I wanted to say to him, but I was also sure that I shouldn't tell him what I really wished to say. "I don't freaking care about Natércia's maker, Eric. But I do care about why the hell she moved so close to you in my freaking house while I was upstairs with a 7 year old, who was just asking about you and why her dad wasn't there to read to her." Yeah, that was exactly what I wanted to say. But I didn't. And so, I left it at "oh…"And apparently, even though he looked like he wanted a few more words from me; it was answer enough, because Eric kept talking.

"Yes. He has been living in the Brazilian rainforest with a native. The guy was an eremite and a religious recluse. And they lived together, just the two of them, for the last 50 years. And Nat's maker didn't want anyone there; just him and the guy. He drank his blood and helped the man hunting and recollecting plants from there. And hardly anyone saw any of them for a little more than half a century. Then, suddenly, two months ago, he showed up at Nat's, in Canada, saying that this eremite, his only company for 50 years had died of old age. Isn't it hard to believe, Sookie?" Eric said to me.

I then heard more laughs from both of them (they still looked great together). Okay, it actually sounded unbelievable to me. And interesting. But I sure didn't understand why they were laughing about it. I was about to ask if he knew what the main learning aspect the vampire had gotten from that experience, with the religious recluse when I was interrupted by Natércia. And I actually didn't manage to say anything at all because she replied immediately to the question that Eric had asked me.

"Yes, it's so far-fetched…" she answered and then she continued talking, "Like I was telling you Eric, of course I knew where he was. I even went there to visit him in the eighties, but he just screamed at me to go away and never come back there. So I left. Imagine my surprise when a couple of months ago, he, out of the blue, shows up in Vancouver, dressed in an modern way, not at all impressed with the new technologies of the world, when I knew that he had been living in a cavern for more than half a century. Just him and this supposedly holy man. They spend decades contemplating God's work and meditating. Decades meditating. Meditating," she said and they both laughed again.

And you know something? I had been thinking before that Natércia sounded just my opposite. And that had made me wonder how Eric could be around her, let alone put up with her for 800 years. But now, I couldn't stop myself for thinking that he did look so at ease with that woman… Maybe the question wasn't how could he be next to her, because she was so different from me. Maybe it was: how could he like me, if he was so comfortable and cozy around Natércia? They were both laughing with such a stress-free attitude…

Shit! And now, they looked like an expensive ad to an exclusive and costly private club or a top-finance company from New York or London, with their good-looks and care-less laughs. Damn it!

And just one more thing: why the hell was that story funny? Why were they laughing about it?

"Yes," I finally said for lack of another word and then offered them another True Blood bottle. Eric thanked me and said that he was full already. But Natércia just told me that only one bottle of "that synthetic crap" was enough. I looked better at her bottle and noticed that it was still pretty much full.

We then kept talking about Eric's bars and his work as Sheriff, but I could tell that during these past two years, since the last time they had been personally together, Eric had still kept in touch, at least by phone or e-mail, with Natércia. She knew too much about Eric's businesses and his life. But she didn't know about me... If she was his friend, as he had said so many times in the last two nights, why hadn't he told her about me? If you started dating someone, wouldn't you tell your friends about it? And Eric and I were so much more than just dating. We were living together, he was always saying that we were married, and we were raising a child together. Liz called him dad, for crying out loud.

Okay, I understood when Eric wanted to keep the deepness of his feelings for us unknown to most vampires. Yes, I got it – it would make him appear human, thus "attackable". But that was a different situation. Eric himself had introduced both me and Liz to that Natércia person, his "long time friend". But the thing was: she was also his former flame, his "several times lover". And he hadn't told his… well, his ex-girlfriend actually, that he was… well, dating a new person. And in my mind, if you don't tell you ex that you're seeing someone new, it only means that you still want to be with your ex. So… did Eric?

And you know something else that bothered me? Okay, Eric had taken his hand from her knee when I entered the room. But now it was her arm that was touching the back of his neck below his hair while her hand was at his shoulder. And by shoulder, I meant, the shoulder of the opposite side that she was sitting! She was almost hugging him! Hugging him! But even worse: he looked absolutely comfortable with it. Did he think that I would be okay with it, or hadn't he noticed it at all?

And so, I stayed there, doing small talk while my heart and my mind were working over-time trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Eric. And almost two hours after I had come downstairs again without Liz, they left because Eric was going to show Natércia the recent renovations of Fangtasia (that she was "dying to see", as she said) and then work there for a while.

We all got up, and I walked with them to our door, where Natércia thanked me for my hospitality and said that it had been amusing to meet me ("amusing"? I was… "amusing"? Was I a clown, who provided pleasure or entertainment?).

Natércia then walked towards Eric's car, which was parked in front of our house. And damn it! Since Eric had bought the car, on the previous year, I had always said how I didn't like it because it was a just a small (with not enough trunk space), sports, fancy European car, way too chic and stylish for me. And it was! But Natércia, on the other hand, looked like she had been made to be in that Porsche… Damn it, damn it, damn it.

The car ramblings in my head then stopped, when Eric, who had stayed by the door with me, while Natércia walked to the car, started to move towards me. And he was about to kiss me, when I moved my face, and looked to the wall at my left on purpose, hence making him kiss my cheek instead of my lips.

"Is there a problem?" he asked. Was there a problem? Was there a problem? Was he really asking me if there was a problem? Oh my God! Was he kidding me or was he that simpleton? But a look at his face, at those eyes, told me that Eric was really oblivious of his previous behavior. And by "his previous behavior", I meant the fact that he had told her about my blood's taste, the not giving Liz her goodnight kiss upstairs, the hand on another woman's knee….

"I'm just tired. I should go to sleep," I didn't want a scene then and there. Yes, there was a problem. There was obviously a problem. A dark-haired-and-dressed-in-a-light-grey-suit problem. But now was not the time. The "problem" was looking at us from the car. I quickly kissed his lips and then I said "Goodnight Eric."

"Goodbye Sookie," he answered me and then he left while I stood there, by our door. I saw the car leaving our house and I was just closing the front door when I heard it speeding, just a few seconds later. Eric probably loved to drive with Natércia. With me or Liz in the car, he knew he had to drive at the speed limits. But with Natércia? Not so much.

I closed the door and went upstairs. I was feeling awful and I even left their True Blood bottles on the table on the living room. I'd take care of it the next day because I just didn't care at that point. Yes, feeling awful was an accurate description. But as soon as I entered my bedroom and I saw a couple of shirts on the bed (that Eric had obviously tried on before going downstairs earlier that night), I realized something even more awful.

"Goodbye Sookie." He had said "goodbye"; not "goodnight". And he had said "Sookie"; not "lover". Actually, now that I thought about it, I hadn't heard a single "lover" in Natércia's presence.

Pam had told me that she was with Eric for thirty years (thirty years!) but then Natércia showed up and Eric ended his (30-years long) relationship with her just like that. Because of Natércia. I was glad that he had let Liz sit on his lap and play with his hair just like any other night. But then there hadn't been any goodnight kiss upstairs, in Lizzie's bedroom.

"Goodbye Sookie." I couldn't stop wondering: what if Natércia's recent appearance ended our relationship? What if Eric didn't want me anymore?

Okay, I'll just ran away and hide now. And yes, yes, Eric could have behaved better in this chapter. But despite that, I really hope that you still enjoyed my writing! Next chapter: a Natércia's POV. Oh, and "Álvaro" is my grandfather's name. Don't forget to review if you can. Célia

"Never Say Goodbye" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi, written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, and one of my favorites. It was released as the fourth single off the band's album, Slippery When Wet, in August 1987. "Never Say Goodbye" is a very beautiful ballad, featuring drawn out vocals and a slow tempo, in contrast to the other tracks on "Slippery When Wet", which are of a much more upbeat, hard rock pace. The song describes the relationship between two young lovers, and their desire to stay together. The chorus goes this way: "Never say goodbye, never say goodbye / You and me and my old friends, hoping it would never end / Never say goodbye, never say goodbye / Holdin' on, we got to try, holdin' on to never say goodbye."