*its a one shot because I have no good sense and couldn't work on my two open stories until this was out of me*

"Court was moved, you're meeting in chambers. They want to keep things out of the press. Looks like your arm twisting worked." My assistant Sookie smiled at me.

"I told you they cared more about their image than money. They're going to take the offer to settle." I said returning her smile.

"After that your sister wanted me to clear your schedule for a long weekend. She has some baby blood draining or a human sacrifice or something going on upstate she wants you to attend with her."

"Clear it."

I laughed, her eyes sparkling at me. My Sister really was a stage 4 bitch. Sookie is the only person who has ever been able to tame her, or me for that matter. Without her my life would be in shambles. Sookie isn't just my assistant, she's my everything. Which is the number one reason why over the last 6 years I have kept my hands completely off of her and my filthy thoughts to myself. I cannot function without her. If I need it she does it. If I want it she gets it. If its impossible she finds a way. She is incredible, sexy, smart and often scary.

When I hired her she wasn't exactly qualified for the position. She was my best looking applicant and at the time I wasn't exactly the kind of man a mother would be proud to have her son become. I quickly figured out Sookie being wholly unqualified is what made her the perfect assistant for me. She saw past filing, scheduling and answering phones. She took it upon herself to get my entire life in order. There was suddenly food in my home, calls returned to my sister, my friends were meeting me for lunch, clients were being wooed by her. She wasn't just an assistant, she was a southern belle completely out of place in a New York law office. She was however exactly what I needed. She made me a better man and I was going to hold onto her with two hands. That meant I had to keep my non figurative hands off of her lest I lose my lifeline.

My phone ringing brought me out of my musings. She reached over me with a smile and picked it up.

"Law offices of Northman & Crane, this is Mr. Northmans desk. How can I help you?" She was still leaning over me even though she didn't need to. The cord was long enough. Sometimes I think she likes to tease me or secretly knows how I actually feel about her, but I just let that roll right off me and just take a moment to take in her scent. It was a very expensive perfume I had gotten for her on a business trip and something else uniquely her.

"Oh, yes this is she." Eric peaked up when she abruptly pulled back away from him and he listened to her side of the conversation.

"Yes, that's my cousin."

"Is she alright?"

"Oh God… no."

"I…. I'll be right there. Please don't move him. Ill be right there."

She tossed the phone down on my desk and started hastily running out of the office. I followed after her and she grabbed her purse. Her face was pale and her eyes looked as if she had detached from the planet.

"I have to go." She said quietly.

"What's wrong?" I asked, something was obviously very very wrong.

"I have to go, have a good weekend." She got in the elevator and started mashing the close button over and over. I followed in behind her. It was January, she didn't even have her coat.

"Wait, Sookie what's wrong? Where are you going?" I asked as the elevator started moving.

"I just…. I have to go. Its urgent." Her body was starting to tremble. The elevator opened and she started hauling ass to the front doors. I quickly took off my suit coat and put it around her as we opened the doors and the frigid January air hit us. She seemed completely unfazed as she started waving down a cab.

"Sookie, please. What happened." She just looked up at me one last time, her eyes now glassy as a cab pulled up to the curb for her and she just said.

"I have to go." One more time, this time with a sob in her throat as she got in the cab and shut the door. I just stood there dumbfounded.

To say I had a long weekend was an understatement. I had thought over everything I had heard from her side. Something about a cousin, and a he she didn't want moved. I didn't even know Sookie had a cousin, or at least I had never thought about it before. In fact, I didn't know much about her family at all. She knew my Sister, my Mom she even knew all my friends, but I hadn't found anything out about her. I didn't even know what to do with that revelation. She was someone I cared so deeply about because of what she did for ME, yet I had taken very little time to find out what I could do for her. She does everything for me down to making sure my apartment has toilet paper, you'd think I could have spared a moment to see what her parents did for a living. Especially, now that I had had time to think about it. I was desperate to know more about her the she just shows to me on the clock.

Tuesday finally rolled around and I get into the office early. At least I thought I was early. Apparently, there is no beating Sookie here. She looks rough, I'd never say that to her, but she's obviously been going through something. She had no makeup on, her normally impeccable hair was just up in a pony tail, and she was wearing one black flat and one navy blue one. She stood from her desk as I walked in and handed me my coffee. She gave me a smile, but it was hallow and didn't meet her eyes.

"Here you go, Eric. You have a 3pm with Stan Davis." I took the coffee and set it down. I reached out for her hand and held it really looking at her and asked.

"Are you okay? On Friday…" she cut me off and snatched her hand back like I was burning her. Leaving me staring at the place in space where our hands once joined.

"Im fine, its fine, everything is fine."

Everything was definitely not fine. Over the next two weeks Sookie continued to look worse for the wear. She had visibly lost weight. Filings were getting mixed up, messages not returned. Something was horribly wrong and she had no intention of letting me know what it was. Today it got to the point where she snapped at me during a client meeting leading us to having it out in my office. It left her not speaking to me outside of email for the rest of the day, and me feeling like an absolute sack of shit for how I acted.

After sitting in my office for a few hours thinking about the whole situation I decided to put a stop to this. I needed to know what was wrong. If she needed time off id give it to her, money, whatever. I needed to solve the problem for her. I got on my computer and looked at her employee file to get her address. I was more than a little shocked to see where she lived. I know how much she makes, she can certainly afford a better, safe place to live. That was a problem for another day. I put on my coat and switched into my boots because it was snowing pretty hard at this point. I also took off my watch. And left it on my desk. I wasn't wearing a 'rob me' sign in the neighborhood Sookie lives in.

I walked out and called a cab giving him Sookies address. A short while later we pulled up and I got out. I stood looking at the little call box on the door and decided to hit every button except hers not wanting to give her the opportunity to turn me away. Someone, buzzed me in probably expecting food to be delivered and I walked in. I started walking up the 6 flights of stairs to her apartment. She's probably safe up here, any potential robbers would be too exhausted from the walk up to commit any crimes by the time they ever got to her door. I saw her door and I decided to just knock and not give myself any time to hesitate.

"Hold on!" I heard an old womans voice yell. Did I have the right apartment? When the door swung open, I saw an elderly woman using a walker. I could hear a baby crying and something falling and breaking. I just stood and stared as the woman asked in a southern drawl even thicker than Sookies

"Can I help you, Sir?" I shook myself out of it a little bit and said.

"I umm, Im looking for Sookie, Sookie Stackhouse." Thats when Sookie herself peaked from behind a wall, she was in pajama pants and a tank top, holding a very very angry baby. Her face went through several emotions. Shock, fear, horror and settled on anger as she stormed over.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed at me. The old woman chided her.

"Sookie, manners. Please come in…." She gestured trying to find out my name

"Eric Northman."

"Oh Sookies boss, well I'm so sorry for the state of things we've had a bit of a…." Sookie cut her off.

"Gran!" She took a breath "please take Hunter I just finished his bottle. Eric go to my room and we can talk. Its the door at the end of the hall.

I toed off my boots so I didn't track winter into her house and went where I was told to go. I could hear them having a hushed whisper argument behind me. When I walked into her room I was consumed by all thing Sookie. Her smell, her things. The pale pink walls and floral bedding just fit her so perfectly. It was a small room and I definitely wasn't going to be able to fit in the chair at her desk because it was took close to her bed for me to fit. I decided to just sit on the end of her bed and wait for her. I only had to wait a few minuets before she walked in, shutting the door behind her. Her arms were crossed over her chest. She wasn't wearing a bra and was trying to be decent. She reached over and put on an LSU hoodie her eyes never leaving mine as if she was trying to read my mind. She finally set next to me and sighed looking defeated and asked.

"Why are you here? My phone is on I would have answered."

"I was concerned about you. You haven't been okay since you got that call and you won't…" she held her hand up to stop me.

"Its not your job to be concerned. I know I've been slipping and I'm going to do better. Im pulling it together. Im sorry." I reached over taking her hand and trying to get her eyes to meet mine.

"Sookie, im not here about work. I'm here because something obviously happened and you're not "fine"." I said making air quotes around the word 'fine' because it was Sookies new favorite word lately. She squeezed my hand and took a deep breath.

"I don't want to burden you, Eric. You're a busy man and you have a lot going on. This just isn't your problem."

"Youre my problem, Sookie. You run my personal and professional lives. You know everything about me inside and out. Until you ran off after that call I didn't even realize how little I know about you and that deeply upsets me. I don't even know what you parents do for a living." She looked thoughtful and just sighed, still holding my hand.

"They're dead."

"What?"

"My parents, they are dead. They have been since I was 7. They were killed by a drunk driver. Gran raised me." I nodded, probably not my best move bringing up her dead parents, but thats on me.

"Im sorry." She shrugged

"It was 20 years ago." I nodded and she scooted back on the bed getting more comfortable and pulling her legs up under herself, breaking the hold my hand had on hers. I took the opportunity to take off my coat. Taking her getting more comfortable as an invitation to stay.

"Please tell me what happened?" I asked almost pleadingly. She flopped back laying her arm over her eyes and said.

"Its a long story and you'd need background information to understand."

"Well then, just let me get comfy. Since im going to be hearing a long story with a lot of background information." I slid back laying on her bed resting my hands behind my head. She sat up a little and gave me an eye roll before scooting up and laying next to me.

"So my parents died when I was 7. I have a brother who is two years older than me. After they died, we went to go live with Gran. Thats who you met out there. Money was tight, she saved everything my parents left to send us to college. When I was 15 my cousin Hadleys Mom, my aunt Linda got sick with cancer. she died within a few months. Thats when Hadley came to stay with Gran too. She…. She struggled. She had a funny uncle on her dads side who had messed with her, if you get my drift." I nodded, I unfortunately understood exactly what she was saying. "Anyway, she struggled. We were however very close. When I went to college she came with me and worked while I went to school. The year before I graduated she met a guy and moved up here to New York. That fizzled out and when it did she asked me to move up here to be with her. I took her up on it because I was having a hard time finding a job in Louisiana. You were actually the first interview I had up here, and my last."

I smiled at that thinking about how I scooped her right off the market as soon as she got here. Sookie took in a really deep breath and continued.

"Well, we were great for a few years. She was working as a dancer, exotic, not broadway. I was working for you. We had money to send home to Gran and we were thinking about moving out of this apartment. Well that obviously never happened. She got mixed up with drugs and got pregnant. She wasn't really making money anymore so I had to send more and more to Gran. Her health is declining. We needed to get her a home health aid, because my brother is completely useless. Hadley just wasn't thriving. About 3 months ago she left with Hunter to go live with some guy, maybe the father who knows. Hunter is the baby out there. He's 8 months old now. Well this turned to that ,and the call I got was the police telling me she had overdosed and was dead. Hunter was with her, they were in a trap house when it happened. So I went and got him from social services and took over custody, because he's family. I was there when he was born and for all of Hadleys issues, I loved her." Her voice breaking and she took a few more deep breaths. "Well, I had to call Gran and tell her. She insisted of coming up here to help me. Except, she's old, really old and she needs as much care as Hunter does practically. She can't get up and down the stairs without me so im always stressed during the day when I leave her here. Frankly, she's forgettin' things too and it scary to leave Hunter alone with her, but I don't really know what to do. I don't know what to do with a baby. Hadley's funeral cost a fortune, Hunter is always pissed because he detoxing off all the drugs she exposed him to and my Gran won't go home and I don't know if I want her to because as bad as it is who will watch hunter while im at work? Every daycare I call has months or years long wait lists. Im scared."

By this time she was just sobbing. I did the only thing I could think of and I pulled her into my arms, close to my chest and held her. Apparently, that was exactly what she needed because she threw her leg over me and hugged me tightly back. We sat there while she cried as I rubbed her back. I stayed quiet, I didn't think she wanted me to try to fix these things yet. She seemed to just need someone to listen to her and let her get it out. Eventually, she cried herself out and fell asleep on me. Im not sure when it happened, but I fell asleep too.

A few hours later I was awoken to the sounds of a baby crying. I slid out from under Sookie who didn't even stir, she just was that exhausted and I went to go see if I could make the baby stop crying so she could sleep. I found him in a little travel crib in the main room. I saw her grandmother was asleep on the couch next to him with the tv blaring. Her hearing was probably so bad she couldn't even hear him crying. I turned the tv off and reached in to pick up the baby who was a bright red color and just all around pissed. I shifted him around in my arms looking for a bottle or something to give him. when I moved him to be draped over my forearm he suddenly stopped crying. Well okay, apparently, he likes being held like a football. Good to know.

I walked into the kitchen and saw some bottles of premade formula. It wasn't warm, but I wasn't sure the rules on how to heat it so I decided he might like a cold drink, who knows. As I flipped him over he started to kick off again, but I stuck that bottle right in his scream hole to plug him up and that seemed to do the trick.

Thats how I spent the rest of the night. Just walking around soothing this restless baby so Sookie could get some sleep. At about 9 the next morning Sookie shot out of her room in a panic and was just staring mouth wide open at me holding Hunter like a football, swinging him side to side in just my under shirt and dress pants. He had thrown up on my dress shirt in the wee hours of the morning so it had to be thrown away. .Be.

"What are you doing?" She asked breathlessly.

"Watching the baby, you needed to sleep."

"Where is Gran?"

"My friend Tray and his wife Amelia came and got her. They are taking her out to see the city/ have her look at an assisted living center so she can stay here and be closer to you." She looked really confused and said.

"I don't understand, and I definitely can't afford assisted living in New York, Eric." She reached to take Hunter, but I swung him away from her. He and I had developed a rhythm and I was still in the zone.

"You can afford it because, I can afford it."

"You can't just do this Eric. You can't come in and start fixing my life. Im sorry I got so upset last night…." I cut her off.

"Isn't that what you did 6 years ago to me? Fixing my relationships, cleaning my apartment, getting me groceries, forcing me to make time to live outside of work?" She crossed her arms and huffed

"That not the same it was my job." I got an inch from her face an said

"You know damn well, fixing my relationships with my mom and sister, getting me my friends I had pushed away back or getting my home back in order was never your job. I was falling apart and you saw that, so you did everything you could to help me. You sure as shit know that our relationship is in a gray area beyond professional."

"Don't cuss near the baby." I sighed and backed up.

"I regret not investing in your wellbeing like you invested in mine. I was always scared if things became too personal I would lose you, so I was keeping you to me in the way I felt would be permanent. I should have been looking at you and not just at keeping you. I was selfish and I'm sorry."

"You don't need to…" I held up my hand

"I do, and I am." We just stood there staring at each other for a few minutes until Sookie spoke.

"We're late for work."

"No we aren't, I called Claudine and we are both on leave for the next month. You need to take a breath in and I have the ability to give you CPR. Hunter will start in the daycare at the building when we go back. Its all set up already." Her lip started to quiver and tears started to spring up.

"You knock it off, don't cry again!"

"You high handed, big dumb, ass hole." She walked over to me and threw her arms around me crying. I put my free arm around her and said.

"Don't cuss near the baby." That got a chuckle from her and she dried her eyes.

"Thank you, Eric. Its too much, but thank you."

"Its not nearly enough. Go change and pack a bag for hunter, maybe a change for yourself too. We're going to go to my apartment and order some food and get you a a weekend off from life. Your Gran is fine with Tray and Amelia, she's a nurse you need a break."

"Okay, but no hanky panky." She said with a pointed look.

"I would only dream of it." She quirked her head.

"Don't you mean would never dream of it?"

"No."

"No?"

"Yeah, I said what I meant." She threw her head back and laughed giving me access to that beautiful sound I was so fond of.

I had and SUV waiting when we were ready and I walked all of Hunters stuff down so he could stay with us at my apartment a few days while sookie rested. We got in the car and situated the car seat and buckled ourselves in on either side of hunter. Sookie reached over and took my hand that was fixing his hat and said.

"We're going to be okay."

"Sookie, I wouldn't allow it another way."