You never really know how someone is going to react when you tell them that you're pregnant. If they are of any great importance to you, you hope that they'll be happy for you; that they'll shower you with love and congratulations and ask all of the questions that you have no way of answering. When is it due? What is it? Are there more than one? And, even if they aren't of any great importance, you still hope they'll be kind to your face about it. That's what any decent person would do anyway.

But when that person is a possessive, thousand year old vampire Viking named Eric Northman, it's really hard to tell exactly how decent he's going to be. I had no idea how Eric was going to react. I had no expectations of him being gracious about the situation. In fact, I wouldn't really have been surprised if he'd instantly blown his top and starting yelling things in a language that I didn't understand before he started smashing in my furniture. After all, that was what I had come to expect out of Eric Northman.

This really hadn't been a day of expectations though.

"Eric, I'm pregnant!" I shouted at him after he'd finally driven me to my peak. We sat staring at each other as an awkward silence fell between us. You could have cut the tension with a knife.

I watched his face carefully, looking for any sign of stray emotion that could warn me about what was about to happen. But he was still staring down at me with completely blank eyes. Even across the blood bond I felt nothing. He was completely emotionless, like a hollow shell. For once, he really did seem dead.

"Eric?" I questioned timidly, trying to get any sign of life from him. Honestly, it was more unnerving to see him like this than it would be to see him throwing a hissy fit. At least I know how to deal with him and one of his temper tantrums!

"Eric." I asked again with a little more umph.

"What?" He snarled in response. I flinched back as he rose from the couch and began to pace around the living room.

I turned my eyes to the floor and took a moment to steel my resolve. We were going to have this conversation no matter how much of a dick Eric wanted to be. If he was troubled enough to come over after he felt my anxiety then he could deal with the issue. For once Eric Northman was getting exactly what he asked for.

"Well aren't you going to say something?" I finally asked him. I was beginning to get angry. So angry that I felt the need to punch a wall or break something. That certainly couldn't be healthy. But I realized that it was because of the blood bond. I was sharing Eric's aggression and I was sure he was feeling a little bit of my own.

"What do you want me to say Sookie?" He asked me furiously. "Do you want me to tell you that I'm happy for you? Do you want me to tell you that I'm excited that you are caring another man's child?"

"No, but I want you to say something dammit! You're the one who wanted to know why I was so upset! You're the one who had to came see, even though Amelia told you not to! Now you're here and you can't just avoid the situation." I yelled back at him. I felt bad for yelling because I knew Amelia would be able to hear us. But, really, she'd find out anyway.

"Like you?" He snarled at me.

I flinched and Eric visibly seemed to regret it. I saw (and felt) him trying to calm his temper before he said anything else stupid.

"You wanted to know." I told him after a moment, keeping my anger under control. At least I was trying to.

"Yes, but I certainly didn't agree to be happy about it." His accent was becoming more pronounced now. That was always a good sign that the Viking was upset.

"I'm not asking you to be happy about it Eric. Lord knows I'm not happy! I mean I've always wanted to have a baby, but not like this! I wanted to at least be in some sort of stable relationship. I wanted all sorts of things but that's just not the way things are working out." I confessed to him.

"Then what are you asking of me?"

"I don't know." I admitted to him. "Just don't storm off and leave things unfinished."

He seemed to sigh and he turned his back to me, staring into the fireplace. "I wasn't planning on storming off." He said after a moment. "There is still much I have to learn. Who is the child's father?"

Every warning bell in my head screamed at me not to tell him the truth. But what else was I suppose to tell him? Besides, if I didn't tell him now he'd find out sooner or later and then he'd be even more upset.

"A Were named Preston Pardloe." I admitted a little shyly. No matter what way I looked at it, I couldn't help but be ashamed about the events that had led to this.

If I thought Eric was mad before then he was absolutely livid now. Maybe it was the fire he was standing in front of, but for a moment I thought I saw the air around him start to sizzle; like seeing the heat rising off a car in the middle of July. That was scary.

"You bedded a Were?" He asked through clenched teeth. I noticed he had his fist clenched at his side. They were starting to shake with the force of his anger.

"Well who else do you expect it to be? I can't sleep with any normal man and its impossible for a vampire to get me pregnant."

Eric was quiet again. I could tell that he was thinking. He was probably trying to decide who he wanted to kill first.

"Is he one of the Shreveport pack?" He was still speaking carefully.

"Umm, no, not exactly." I answered hesitantly.

Even the air stood still as I waited for Eric's reaction. I noticed his fist shaking and a small trickle of blood trailing down the side of his hand. Uh oh.

"Then to what pack does he owe his allegiance?" His voice was so heavy with an accent that I almost didn't understand him.

"Baton Rouge." I answered timidly. I knew his response would not be pretty.

I was right. Quicker than my eyes could see he punched the brick wall of my fireplace, leaving the bricks cracked and broken, leaving an impressive dent the size of his massive fist. A few small pieces fell away as he slowly pulled his fist out of the hole in my wall and let it fall to his side.

"And how did you come to share a bed with a wolf from Baton Rouge?" He asked without looking back at me. I had a feeling that he wasn't going to look at me for a very long time.

With a heavy sigh I began to retell the events of my Christmas Eve. I told him about the injured man I found in the woods behind my house and how I had hidden him when the Monroe pack came to search for him; and how one thing had led to another.

"I hadn't heard from you in weeks, Eric. I hadn't heard from anyone! Amelia and Octavia were gone. I was lonely."

"So you took the first stray man you could find into your bed?!" He snapped harshly.

Now it was my turn to do some yelling. "You listen to me Eric Northman! I made a mistake. I know I did and its one that I'm going to live with for the rest of the life. But I do not need you to come in here and accuse me of being a sleaze. So if that's all you are going to do then you can just leave!"

Eric spun around to face me, his face hard. "You are mine." He hissed as he took a step closer to me.

"I am not yours." I hissed back. "And even if I were you hadn't contacted me in weeks! No phone calls. No late night visits. Nothing! I hadn't even heard from Pam! For all I knew Felipe had taken you off to Vegas never to be seen again! How was I supposed to know when, or if, I'd ever see you again?!"

That seemed to make him back off a bit. He did, at least, take a step back. "I was trying to keep you safe. I didn't want anyone coming to pay you any unexpected visits." He explained. "But I guess it seemed to have had an opposite effect."

We glared at each other from across the room. I was proud of myself for having as much heat behind my stare as his eyes did. For once I wasn't going to let this Viking overpower me.

But as we stood there mulling over our anger I began to feel my fury replaced by something else. Pain. Betrayal. Emasculated? The last emotion confused me greatly and it made me realize that I was feeling Eric's emotions, not my own. Was he really feeling that inadequate? Surely he'd slept with human women before who had gone on to become mothers. Why wasn't this time any different?

Because he loves you.

The realization struck me from nowhere. Instantly I wanted to believe that it was true but I was too afraid of being hurt to believe that it was so. Eric Northman would never admit, to himself or anyone else, that he was in love; especially with a human woman.

Even as I tried to steel my resolve again, to maintain my anger, it continued to slip further and further away. Now that I understood why he was upset it was hard to be so angry with him. With a sigh I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my head against his chest. No matter how angry or upset I was, this was always where I felt at home.

After a moment of reluctance he wrapped his arms loosely around me. We stood together for a long moment gathering our thoughts and calming down. Finally I gained the courage to speak again.

"Eric you know that if I could choose anyone to be the father of my baby I would choose you, right?"

For the first time that night I felt him chuckle. "I should hope so. Our child would really be quite beautiful, since both of us have blond hair and blue eyes." He said as he ran his fingers through my hair.

"You really have a thing for blonds don't you?" I asked. It hadn't escaped my notice that Pam also had blond hair. I couldn't recall the color of her eyes at the moment. I made a mental note to check the next time I saw her.

"Oh man." I said suddenly. "Pam is going to flip."

Eric just laughed. "Oh yes. Pam has been hoping that one of our waitresses would come of child so that she could throw them a bath."

I snort. "You mean a baby shower?"

"Yes. Whatever it is you women do to celebrate gaining weight and getting sick every morning."

"Hey now, as one of those women, I resent that. It's not about celebrating all of the changes we are going through but to celebrate a new life being born. It's celebrating being a mom. Plus it's a good chance to get a lot of things that you'll need for free. Like diapers and clothes and furniture." I trailed off. Just thinking about all of the things I was going to need made my head spin. The cost of everything was going to be insane.

"Sookie." Eric said gently, pulling me back into reality. I looked up to see his big blue eyes looking warmly into mine. "Don't worry about all of those things now. When the time comes we will prepare, but for now we need to get you ready."

I couldn't help but smile. "It sounds like you've done this before Mr. Northman."

His eyes darken a little and instantly I know I've brought up something bad. "I had three children when I was alive. They were all still very young when I was turned, but I do still remember what it was like to be a father."

Needless to say I was shocked. Eric had not once spoken about his past or even hinted about it for that matter! I would have never expected that he had been a father in his human life. It wasn't that he didn't seem the type, but I had come to know the ruthless vampire. It was just hard to imagine that he had once had children. For a brief moment I imagined him sitting in a chair with one child in his lap and the other two at his feet, listening as he told them a story about some grand Viking adventure. It made my heart swell.

"Would you be willing to do it again? Be a father, I mean." I asked him hesitantly. I wasn't sure he would want to be asked a question. "I mean she's going to need a father and I don't know if I'll be able to find Preston or not. And, even if I do, there is no guarantee that he will want anything to do with either of us."

He seems stunned for all of a second before he smiles. I see a light appear in his eyes that I had never seen before. "Sookie, it would be an honor to be the father of your child."

Again I felt my eyes flooding with tears as I tightened my grip around him. That was the best news I had heard all night. "Thank you." I mumble against his chest.

I feel him nod before he snickers and asks. "So what makes you so sure it's going to be a girl?"

Not quite as long as the last chapter, but I know its been a while since I've updated. It took me a while to decide how, exactly, I wanted this chapter to end. But I'm really happy with it now. I hope you guys agree with me!

And for all of you who have read The Next Life, I'm working on Chapter 7 right now! If all goes according to plan then I should have it posted at the end of the week. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned it.

Thanks always to my SEOrwin for being a wonderful beta and muse! 3

Reviews are love!