a/n: since you guys are being so epic with your reviews, you shall be gifted with another chapter! =) I think the overall consensus from the reviews was that everyone wanted their own supply closet with an ASkars locked inside. Hahaha, who wouldn't!

Chapter 7

As time passed Eric had been with us for a full month. It felt like I had known him for much longer than that. Now that Amelia was in on our secret I got to spend more time with him. I still had no plan of where this was going but I did my best to live in the moment. We spent hours outside on sunny days. The air was starting to cool down with fall just around the corner. But we could still get away with pants and short sleeve shirts. Eric slowly discovered he knew how to play numerous songs on the piano. I could spend all day watching him play and listening to the relaxing melodies. A couple times I did just that.

We also discovered Eric loved soda. Seriously he had an addiction. The hospital never handed out soda to its patients. It was too unhealthy a beverage to be giving out with meals. However there was a vending machine for employees with sodas and juices. I bought a coke one afternoon and shared it with Eric. At first he looked confused by the bubbly sensation then he realized he liked it. Since that day whenever I have a soda he ends up stealing half of it. Sometimes I'm even nice enough to buy one just for him.

His sister Pam has only come back one more time since I found her in Eric's room. She was just as grouchy as ever. I found her whispering to Octavia about something then she abruptly left. I've tried talking to Octavia about Eric a few times but she always gets closed off and just warns me to be careful.

That afternoon I walked into the lunch room and headed to the vending machine. I was craving a Sprite and figured I'd buy a coke for Eric. Drinking water and juice had to be sickening since that's all that comes with the hospital lunch. He hated coffee so that wasn't an option. Eric only tried it once with about ten sugars in it and he grimaced like he swallowed acid.

"Sookie?" I recognized Octavia's voice immediately.

"Yeah?" I popped a few coins into the machine and pushed the right button.

"Can we talk?" She seemed anxious and I doubted this conversation would go anywhere.

"Okay" I grabbed the two sodas from the bottom of the vending machine and sat down at one of the lunch tables with her.

"I'm sorry for being so secretive lately. I feel like we usually have a better relationship than that." She seemed sad. I was too because honestly I thought we had a better working relationship.

"Me too. I'm not trying to be a pest, I'm just trying to figure out what is going on." I was not going to tell her exactly why I was so curious about Eric. She still had no idea I was sort of dating my patient.

"I've wanted to be honest with you. But I promised someone I would keep quiet about Eric."

"Who? What are you keeping quiet about?" She was making me nervous.

"His sister" Her voice was low, as if someone might be watching. "Remember I told you he was dangerous? That is very true Sookie. Eric and his sister have a pretty dark past. I thought warning you once would be enough but I can see you're fond of him. You have to be careful Sookie. I don't want to see you hurt."

Octavia's expression was morbid. She was not joking around and she definitely knew much more about Eric than she let on.

"How do you know all of this?" Did she know who he really was?

"I can't tell you that. It would put you in a bad spot. Just trust me, please." She was practically begging me now. Her brown eyes were pleading.

Amelia called for Octavia to look at some paperwork and that ended the conversation. Her first warning got me thinking but this sit down seemed different. It brought my caution to a whole new level. Before I had tried to brush it off. But if she was this serious and secretive about Eric something terrible had to be in his past. I stared at the two sodas sitting on the lunch table in front of me. One was for Eric. The guy who might be a serial killer or some type of psycho.

I got up to bring the soda to his room. He still had no memories so there was no one to fear right now. I could hear Amelia down the hall trying to quiet down Mr. Spencer. He was getting very persistent about seeing 'yankees' outside his window. I prayed he would find peace soon. As I wandered down the hall I debated dipping into Octavia's mind. Why hadn't I already? I told myself it was to be polite but deep down I was scared of what I might find. Spending time with Eric meant so much to me and I was afraid to lose it once I found out what his past might consist of.

When I was just outside of Eric's room I heard the sounds of thrashing and banging from inside. I looked through the small window on his door and spotted Eric fighting with some strange man. What the hell was going on?!

"Hey! Stop it!" I yelled and swung the door open.

Both men paused and looked my way. Then the stranger punched Eric right in the nose. The brawl started again and I noticed Eric could definitely defend himself. The strange man was a few inches shorter than Eric but burly and aggressive. His shaggy brown hair looked dirty and his bright eyes did not seem to match his complexion. They were a tad too golden for someone with brown hair and fair skin. Eric got a good shot to his stomach then the man snarled and ran at him. He slammed Eric into the window and I heard the glass shatter, shortly followed by Eric's scream of pain.

The guy had Eric by his shirt and was repeatedly smashing him against the window which shattered. I had to do something, I had to stop him. Frantically I looked around the room then found a sharp piece of glass that had landed near the bed. I picked it up and with a shaking hand I ran over and plunged it into the guy's shoulder. He reacted but not enough so I twisted it in his flesh. He growled at me and turned around.

Uh-oh, now psycho with the yellow eyes was facing me and full of rage. I had no weapon since the glass was still jammed into his back.

"dumb bitch" He snarled and I took a step back.

He started to lunge towards me but Eric pushed himself off the wall and tackled him just in time. Then I heard more yelling and Octavia showed up with Amelia.

Holy shit, what the fuck?! Amelia's thoughts were screaming in my brain. I was not focused enough to keep any shield up. Octavia's thoughts were strangely in another language. They were calm and consistent as she seemed to repeat the same few sentences. When I looked at her I noticed her lips were moving slightly. She was whispering. Was she praying?

This all happened in seconds and when I looked back the man had Eric pinned under him. Then he looked up at all of us, and took off by jumping out the broken window. I assumed the amount of onlookers scared him off. He probably figured someone called the cops already. I don't know if Amelia did, I sure as hell had not had the time.

"Ames, call the police!" I yelled and knelt beside Eric.

She nodded and took off down the hall.

"Eric? Are you okay?" He was far from okay but I just wanted to hear his voice. His face was bruised and his nose was bleeding.

"I'll be alright" He started to push himself up off the floor and winced. Once he was sitting I could see blood seeping through the back of his white shirt in numerous patches. The glass from the window cut his back up pretty badly.

"I'll get something to clean him up." Octavia quietly left.

"come here" I got Eric settled on his bed so I could kneel behind him and inspect the damage. I very slowly peeled his shirt off and saw him tense up as the fabric pulled at his cuts.

"How bad is it?" He turned his head enough to look at me over his shoulder.

"It will be painful, but it'll heal. I don't think you'll need stitches." There were about ten cuts on his back. Some were deeper than others but none were longer than two inches. It looked like everything was shallow enough to heal on its own and scab over. Eric would just be uncomfortable for awhile.

"Here you go, I'm going to call his sister and let her know." Octavia dropped off a first aid kit since I wouldn't need much more than that.

I nodded and got to work. I carefully made sure all of the glass was out. Eric was not too happy when I had to pick out a few shards from his skin. I disinfected all of his injuries and patched him up with gauze and tape since most of the cuts were still bleeding.

"I'm sorry" His voice was hoarse and barely a whisper.

"Why?" I wiped away the last of the blood on his face.

"You almost got hurt." It was like he was blaming himself for that guy turning on me.

"It's not your fault someone attacked you, I was the one who chose to jump in." Maybe Eric did do something to that guy, I don't know. But right now he had no memory of it so there was no use in blaming him.

"I know but I don't want to bring you trouble. Thank you for helping me." His blue eyes watched me with remorse.

"I wasn't going to stand by and watch him hurt you." This incident was most likely not a random attack. It seemed like the target was Eric. Maybe this was the troubled past Octavia warned me about.

"It might be more comfortable to leave your shirt off for tonight. So it's not pulling at your bandages." I stepped back realized the two sodas were sitting on the nightstand. I probably dropped them on the floor, Octavia must had put them there. "I got you something" I grabbed the bottle of coke and handed it over.

Eric smiled and untwisted the cap. It made that fizzing sound as some of the carbonation escaped. "Best sound in the world" He grinned and took a huge gulp. Moments like this made me wonder how he could ever be involved in anything bad.

Hours later after the cops came and questioned us, Pam showed up and freaked out on Octavia. She started spewing some shit about how she was supposed to watching out for him. I don't know why she was so mad at us instead of the psycho stranger. After that she said she was getting Eric and taking him somewhere safe.

I rushed to the new room we had put him in and told Eric the news. He was not happy. Neither was I. I did not know how much time I had left with him.

"I don't want to leave with her." He insisted.

"I don't want you to go either. But who knows maybe she can keep you safe. Pam knows who you really are, maybe she knows why you were attacked tonight." I could not beg him to stay. What if being here put his life at risk? Pam might know enough to keep him from getting hurt again. I was not going to be selfish.

I grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down my information. "Here"

"What's this?" Eric held the paper and looked confused.

"It's my name and phone number. If your life gets back to normal and you still want to contact me you can. " I did not know what else to do.

Eric nodded then folded the paper and put it into his pocket. He still had on pajama pants the hospital gave him. Then he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me. I collapsed into his embrace, burying my face in his chest. I never wanted him to leave. He was the guy I had been waiting for my entire life. Even if I could hear his thoughts I'm sure I'd still want him.

"Lets go" Pam was at the door now.

I guess I didn't even get to kiss him goodbye. Pam was right there and so was Octavia.

"Bye Eric" I looked up at him with misty eyes.

"This isn't goodbye." He whispered with determination. Then he gave me the most toe-curling kiss I've ever experienced in my life. Eric didn't let me go until Pam started clearing her throat and tapping her expensive heels behind us.

He squeezed my hand one last time before following Pam out the door. I watched silently as they walked down the hall. Eric kept glancing back at me with this angst ridden look in his eyes. Eventually they reached the end of the hall and disappeared out the door.

I know he said this wasn't goodbye but it sure as hell felt like it. I doubted I would ever hear or see from him again. His sister would take him back to his real life. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked over at Octavia.

"I'm sorry Sookie, but I think this is for the best." She felt bad enough for me to not even be mad about that kiss.

a/n: there you have it folks, so old Spencer wasn't just seeing things for once. There is definitely someone creeping around the hospital. as for everything else... well, yall will have to wait until chapter 8! oh and as always please review/follow!