Ok people, seems to be a bit of confusion. First, what has happened to Sookie in my story so far is mainly all me. It's what I decided to have happen to her because I HATED what Harris did to her in the end of her series. Hence why I said my story starts 200 years AFTER the end of DEA. I'm the one that made Sookie immortal with the Cluviel Dor. Not Harris. I'm the one that gave Sookie the gift of life. I decided since Harris had tortured Sookie over 13 books, taking away one person she loved after another, that my Sookie in this story should be able to save her loved ones with just a touch. I'm the one that decided if Sookie couldn't be with Eric she should at least be able to surround herself with children she could love.

Second, Sookie has 33 children. NOT 130. Vic, tried to message you, but your private message function is disabled. Sookie had 11 children with Sam over the course of 50 years. She has been married to Marcus for 130 years, and during that near century and a half she had another 22. I had Pam use the term "liter" because of the correlation vamps consider shifters have with animals.

My way of thinking with the so many children is so that Sookie can have someone to love unconditionally. She got her safe vampire free life, and filled it with children to love. I'm setting up her marriage with Sam and Marcus as marriages of convenience with friends so she won't be lonely. So to my mind she would definitely want children to fill the void in her life. So she felt like she lost the love of her life for good reason. It's not like Octomom. Remember her first 11 children were born over 50 years and most children were adults and moved out of the house before Sookie had more.

The connection Sookie has with the shifters and demons is all me. Her taking over Bon Temps, and it becoming a safe haven for supernaturals is all me. This story is me correcting the many wrongs that I feel were committed at the end of the official series.

Harris stuck Eric in OK for 200 years, and left Sookie in Bon Temps with Sam. Everything else in this story is all me.

I thought this story would be about 5 or 6 long chapters to bring a satisfying end to DEA, but I've changed my mind. I'm going to do a bunch of shorter chapters that showcase the evolving relationship between Eric and Sookie. Expect time gaps like the one in this chapter. So basically I'm saying now that it will end when it ends.

No beta or proofing. As is.

Chapter 2

"Sookie."

She knew that voice. She would always know that voice. Even after two hundred years it still had the ability to reach inside her and make her heart and stomach flutter. That voice would always fill her with an indescribable heat and longing. No matter how much she wished it didn't.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Sookie finally turned around and looked at the man she hadn't seen since he broke her heart so callously. He was still as devilishly handsome as she remembered him. Just as she hadn't changed a bit since the night she'd saved Sam with the Cluviel Dor so many years ago, so had Eric remained just as unchanged by time. He still had that easy grace, the look of confidence and power, and that damned arrogant smirk that made her want to slap him!

Squaring her shoulders, and refusing to let his blatant perusal of her body disturb her calm, Sookie greeted stiffly, "Eric."

Eric couldn't keep his eyes from taking in every tiny detail of his former lover, and soon to be wife. She was just as beautiful as he remembered. He'd, of course, known she had stopped aging, but knowing and seeing are two different things. A part of him had believed that the rumors of Sookie's new immortality were untrue and she really had been lost to him for eternity, but seeing her before him now put the last of his fears to rest.

She was real.

She was right in front of him.

He could have her again.

He would have her again!

His eyes flicked to the young woman at Sookie's side. The girl was obviously Sookie's daughter with her striking resemblance to his stubborn fairy. Taking in her features Eric determined this was Tara, one of Sookie's demon children with her second husband. A girl named after Sookie's long dead human friend, and a very powerful half demon according to the background checks Pam had provided him.

Eric didn't want to cause a scene with Sookie and her daughter, but he'd known approaching Sookie in public was the only way he'd get to speak to her. There was no way he could even get close to her house with all the safe guards she had now. Truly, Sookie had fortified all of Bon Temps from outsiders to keep her home safe. While he was glad she didn't have to worry about being attacked at her farmstead anymore, it did pose some accessibility problems for him now. He would have much preferred privacy the first time Sookie and he spoke, but by this point he'd take what he could get.

He'd been back in Louisiana for three months. Just as he'd planned, the week he returned he met with Stan and Russell. In exchange for their supporting him against Freyda and Felipe, he'd promised Nevada to Stan, and Arkansas to Russell. That left Oklahoma and Louisiana to him. The fight to take down Felipe and Freyda had been embarrassingly easy. With a simple phone call Eric had Freyda's own guards, the ones he'd trained over his two centuries as royal consort, take her into custody and secure the palace. From there it hadn't been hard for Russell's troops to secure the rest of the state.

The night of the takeover Felipe had been in New Orleans doing his yearly check in with his sheriffs and meeting with the vampire that had replaced Victor Madden. With the loyal forces Pam and Rasul had been inundating the state with it hadn't been hard for Eric and his people to completely overpower Felipe. Stan had swept through Nevada with his Texas vampires just as easily, and by the time everything was said and done the take over of Felipe and Freyda's kingdoms took less than three hours.

What had taken so much longer was getting all the proper paperwork for transfer of power done between Eric, Stan, and Russell, and then Eric setting up his new regime in Louisiana and Oklahoma. The past three months had been hectic and filled with the tedious task of securing his reign, but now all the heavy lifting was done, and it was time for him to speak with Sookie. He'd been shamelessly stalking her for the last 4 nights, and he'd decided now was his best opportunity.

"Sookie, I need to speak with you."

Sookie looked at her 22 year old half demon daughter, and said, "Sweetie, why don't you go see if they have the dinnerware set that Corbett and Amanda registered for. I'll find you in the food court."

Tara darted her eyes to the unknown vampire that had approached them before asking her mother, "You sure, mom?"

"Yes. It's fine. I know him and I won't be long."

Eric watched the half demon girl walk away after tossing him one last weary glance. When she was gone, he said, "You have beautiful children."

"Cut the shit, Eric, why are you here?"

"What? No hello?"

"I'd rather be saying goodbye. Just tell me why you're here so I can get back to shopping with my daughter."

"For a wedding gift, yes? Your son Corbett is getting married soon?"

Sookie didn't know how he knew about her son's upcoming nuptials, and she didn't care. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she warned, "You'd better stay the hell away from my family, Eric. I don't take shit from vampires any more. Not even you."

Arching a brow, Eric couldn't help but ask, "You think I am a threat to your children?"

"I think any vampire is a threat to my children."

"I have never been a threat to you and yours, Sookie. Never. If nothing else that must have been known to you."

She wasn't going to get into this with him. She didn't want to rehash the past. She didn't want to be talking to him at all. She just wanted him to say what he was here to say and then leave her alone. She might have all the time in the world now, but she'd long since reached the point where no matter how long her future she wasn't willing to waste a second of it on bullshit again.

She'd learned a lot in the last two centuries: about herself and about the world around her. She wasn't the naïve girl she'd been when she'd first garnered Eric's attention in Fangtasia. She might still look young, but she'd gained wisdom in her 228 years on this planet. She'd gained insight, and she'd gained a sense of self that no longer allowed her to let people walk all over her.

"I'll decide what is a threat to my family and what isn't. Now, why are you here?"

"Because we have things to discuss."

"I really don't think we do."

Eric waited only a second before declaring, "I want you back."

Silence filled the air, thickening it with Sookie's quietly growing rage. One heartbeat. Two. With the third her eyes narrowed dangerously as she demanded, "What?!"

Taking a step closer to Sookie, Eric explained, "I have taken out Felipe and Freyda. They are locked in my dungeon in my new Shreveport compound, and I will give them the true death soon enough. Right now they are being punished. I am king of Louisiana and Oklahoma. They took much from us, lover, but I am here to take it all back. We can have the future we were meant to have."

When Sookie did not respond, Eric continued, "I know this situation is not ideal, and I know I have a lot to make up for, but I refuse to lose you again. I want—"

SLAP!

Sookie felt the satisfying sting in her palm as it connected with Eric's cheek and hissed, "Go fuck yourself Northman!"

He watched her spin around, intent on walking away from him, but he was not going to let her go. Reaching out, Eric grabbed Sookie's arm and jerked her back to his chest to claim her lips in a kiss before she could stop him. He hadn't seen her in over 100 years, not since Sam died and he'd gone to her to try to again convince her to come to Oklahoma with him. He'd missed her fire! He'd missed her!

His mouth slanted over hers before she had a chance to respond. When her lips parted in a surprised gasp he pressed his advantage and slipped his tongue inside the warm cavern of her mouth to stroke along hers. His hand abandoned her arm so he could dig his fingers into her still long and golden hair to tilt her head back further for his heated assault. For a precious few glorious moments he had Sookie back in his hold. He savored her long lost taste and felt something inside him finally relax after 200 years apart … but the sensation did not last long.

Sookie may have been furious and surprised at Eric's sudden declaration and embrace, she might have been momentarily stunned, but she regained her wits quickly and brought her knee up as hard as she could. Her smile was pure satisfaction as Eric let out a grunt at her move, and vampire or not, couldn't help falling to his knees as he clutched his boys.

Glaring down at him, wishing it would take him more than a second to be back on his feet, she snapped, "Don't you ever fucking touch me again! You stay the hell away from me, Eric! We're through!"

Eric could admit that Sookie's response to his kiss had been entirely unexpected. He thought she might push him away or slap him again like she had so many times in the past. Never did he think she'd simply knee him in the groin and walk away. The years had definitely changed Sookie, and despite the quickly fading pain in his cock and balls, he liked her new inner strength.

The moment he no longer felt shooting pain between his legs he was moving. He had planted himself directly in Sookie's path before she'd made it ten feet. She might be immortal now, but he was still a vampire, and he would always be faster. "We are not done talking, Sookie."

"Oh yes we are."

"No, we are not." Refusing to be swayed by Sookie's angry stare, Eric insisted, "I have things to say to you, Sookie Stackhouse, things I should have said 200 years ago, and you are going to hear me out."

"What the fuck could you possibly have to say to me that will change anything, Eric?"

"I was wrong, Sookie. I was wrong not to tell you what was going on those last few months. I should have let you know that there was literally nothing I could do to stop the marriage. I should have let you know that only Felipe could stop it since Freyda refused to call it off. I should have let you help me try to find a way out, and if you couldn't then at least you would have known how hard I tried to find a way on my own. I should not have kept the distance and silence I did between us after Appius died. Sookie, there are so many things I did wrong."

At Sookie's stunned expression, Eric continued, "I realize that most of what was wrong in our relationship was my fault. I kept saying that you were the one making things difficult, but you were only doing what you thought was best in face of the limited information I allowed you. I should not have tricked you into marrying me. I should have discussed it with you. I should have let you know that yes, it was a way to keep Felipe and Victor from you, but mostly it was because I wanted you to be mine. I wanted to call you wife."

Taking another step closer, Eric poured his heart out in the middle of a mall. "But I didn't. I tricked you and took the choice from you, just as the choice was taken from me, and now I understand how that made you feel violated. For that I am sorry, but even more I'm sorry for not telling you once it was done that the marriage wasn't just a political maneuver to keep you away from Felipe. I married you in the fashion I did for your safety, but the reason was because I love you. I loved you then and I wanted you for my wife. Just as I love you now."

When Sookie backed up a step from him, Eric refused to allow her retreat and followed. "I left you guessing and in the dark time and again, my lover. I should have told you how I felt about you as soon as I regained my memories. I should have brought you to my side as my wife and equal, but a thousand years of keeping my own counsel and solving my own problems had me keeping you at arms length. It was wrong of me, and I fear it is part of the reason Felipe and Freyda were able to separate us. I know now we were stronger together than apart, and I should have let you help me save us. I own those mistakes now. It is not easy for me to do, but I am admitting to you that I was wrong to handle our relationship as I did. I am here to fix my mistakes and do a better job as your husband this time."

Sookie could only stare up at the much closer face of Eric Northman in total shock. Never in a million years would she have expected him to approach her in the middle of a crowded mall like this to be so open with her. So forthcoming. It was mind boggling.

Finally allowing his words to process in her mind, Sookie shook her head and backed up again as she denied, "Eric, showing up here and making some grand speech isn't going to wipe away the past 200 years. Maybe you did marry me out of love, but it is a moot point now. What's done is done, and we are most definitely done. I have a new life now, and it is one that does not include vampires."

Ignoring her words, Eric stared straight into Sookie's eyes and demanded, "Look me in the eye and tell me you no longer love me and I'll walk away right now and never return. Look me in the eye and tell me your heart is no longer mine, and I will go."

Stepping forward Eric gripped Sookie's arms and pulled her back into his chest. When she tilted her head back to keep his gaze he let his fangs snap down and growled, "But if you can't know I won't stop. I will never stop or fail again when it comes to you. I love you, Sookie Stackhouse, and if you still love me I'm going to get you back."

When Sookie said nothing, Eric grinned. "You can't, can you? I see it in your eyes even now, my lover. You might be angry, and you have every right to be, but you still love me."

Darting her eyes to the side, suddenly feeling 27 again, Sookie insisted, "No I don't."

"Look me in the eyes and say that."

Sookie looked up into the intense and stormy blue eyes of Eric Northman and suddenly her mouth ran as dry as the Sahara. Just as it had in the past, when she looked so deeply into Eric's eyes the rest of the world fell away and it was just the two of them. She felt herself falling into him again, but forced herself to put up one last fight.

"Eric, I can't give you what you want. I'm married and I'm happy."

"You settled. You settled with Sam, and you're settling with Marcus. Neither of them have your heart. Neither of them have your passion."

"Eric, you can't just—"

"Get your hands off my mother, vampire!"

Eric and Sookie both turned to see Tara standing a few feet away from them. Her hands were lit with her fire and she was glaring at Eric with deadly intent. 200 years ago a part demon threatening a vampire with fire hands in the middle of a mall might have been cause for alarm, now it just had the human shoppers discretely leaving the immediate area to let the Supes handle their disagreement.

At the sight of her daughter, Sookie shook off Eric's hands as she said, "It's alright, Tara. He wasn't going to hurt me. In fact he was just leaving."

"No I wasn't," Eric denied. He eyed Sookie's daughter warily as he said, "But she is correct, I was not going to hurt her."

Tara's eyes darted back and forth between the unknown vampire and her mother as she demanded, "Who are you?"

"Eric Northman, King of Louisiana and Oklahoma."

Tara, not knowing her mother's past, shrugged, and said, "Yeah, we heard there was a new fanger king, but that doesn't make you our king. If you don't back away from my mother I'm going to light your ass up right here in this mall!"

Eric couldn't help but grin at the blonde fireball in front of him. "You are so much like your mother."

Stepping between Eric and her daughter, Sookie tried to diffuse the situation. "Tara, put your fire away. You're not going to start a fight around so many humans. Eric, you need to go."

"No."

"No way!"

Well that had accomplished a lot. Letting out an annoyed huff, Sookie ordered, "Tara Summer Stackhouse-Radke! I am your mother, and I'm telling you to put your fire away right this second!"

"But mom! He's—"

"No buts! Now, Tara!"

With a clearly disgruntled expression Tara let the fire disappear from her hands. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her mother and the strange vampire equally. She'd only been trying to help!

Her daughter dealt with, Sookie faced Eric who seemed amused by the altercation. With only her eyes she let him know he'd better drop that damned smirk if he didn't want to get kneed in the balls again. When Eric sobered his expression, she said, "We're leaving, and I want you to stay away from me Eric. You aren't a part of my life anymore, and I intend to keep it that way."

"Prepare to be disappointed then. I told you, Sookie, I'm going to get you back. Whatever it takes, however long I must pursue, none of it matters. You were my wife, and you will be my wife again."

Leaning forward Eric dropped a kiss on Sookie's cheek before she could stop him and said, "Expect to hear from me soon."

And then he was gone.

Muttering about damn arrogant vampires and their damn arrogant ways, Sookie turned to face her daughter and asked, "What are my chances you'll drop this?"

"Snowball's chance in hell mean anything to you?"

"Figures. At least let me get a cookie and a cup of coffee from the food court if I have to talk about this. I deserve some chocolate."

"I thought you were on a diet for Corbett's wedding?"

Grabbing her daughter's arm and leading her further into the mall, Sookie replied, "Not tonight I'm not. Come on. I'll tell you what all that was about, but you have to promise to let me speak to your father about it before you going running that mouth of yours Tara."

Following after her mother, Tara asked, "Who the hell was that guy, mom?"

"My ex husband, and future pain in the ass."