A/N: One of my lovelies reminded me that I started writing to just get the stories out of my head and into the world so I am just going to write for me and enjoy myself. I will appreciate and love each and every review but I am not going to stress so if I see people are reading and not reviewing. OK on with the show! (but it does make me do a cute little dance when you review.**giggles and claps hands!**)

And as always, I own NOTHING but a huge Dalmatian that thinks he is a lap dog!

Chapter 3 Sookie's POV

I was in Pam's arms sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. Pam and Eric were having quite the conversation but it was in that language I will never understand. I absently wondered if it is Old Norse or something even older. I felt safe in Pam's arms and I had not felt safe since Eric left me. Eric, every time I even thought his name I ached. Eric once more began to speak in English and what he said terrified me.

"Pam leave us; leave her to me." But I was unsure of his tone. He had hurt me once, would he hurt me again? Plus I felt safe, finally.

"NO! NO! You can't have her too! No, she is all I have now." I yelled at him. "Pam, please don't leave me please." I begged her as I clawed into and around her.

Pam tried to calm me. Her voice was so soothing. I did not ever remember her voice being this loving and sweet. She was asking me to give Eric a chance but she wasn't there earlier in the evening at Merlotte's. She did not see how horrible he was to me; how angry he was.

"No. He hates me. He hates me now." I whispered to Pam all the while knowing Eric would overhear.

I felt Eric's hand softly touch my elbow as he whispered with the gentlest of voices, "No little one, I do not hate you. Sookie, Sookie, look at me angel. Look at me." He begged in a hushed tone that soothed me. I blinked several times trying to clear my vision as I looked up at him. He smiled gently at me and continued to say, "Sookie, I am here. I am sorry. Do you wish for me to hold you?"

I nodded and tried to speak as he also asked if I wanted him to put on the t-shirt that was clutched in my hand. I tried again to speak, but I could not, so I nodded. He looked at me so sweetly with his hand outstretched to take the t-shirt. I slowly handed it to him. I did not want to but if he was going to put it on and hold me, I would risk just about anything to feel his embrace.

Once he had the shirt on he looked at me, "Come here Sookie. Let me hold you." He whispered.

I tried to let go of Pam but I was afraid. What if I let go of her and he didn't take me in his arms? What if he threw me away? I have stared down serial killers, werewolves, vampires and shifters all intent on killing me but I have never been as scared as I was of letting go of Pam and going to him. I looked up into Pam's eyes; they were covered in red from her tears.

"You'll stay though, right? You won't go?" I asked with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.

"I will be right here Sookie." She smiled and rubbed my arm. I began to unwrap myself from her arms when she smiled and said something to Eric in that other language that made him look lost and ashamed, but at the end of her sentence he smiled and held his hand out to me. I threw myself into his arms. There was so much I wanted to say. I wanted him to know how sorry I was for falling apart like this. I had always known I had to let him go, that he was not mine to keep. I wanted him to know I knew he could never love me. I wanted him to know I knew that I was broken and damaged goods but the brief time he loved me I was whole and happy. But I could get nothing out for the first few minutes he held me. I just lost myself in his scent.

Then suddenly all the pain of losing him flooded back into me. I thought of the night he left me. I never got to say goodbye. I went from having a man who loved me to him walking out and not saying goodbye. I cried so many nights for him. Begging any god that would listen to give him back just for a minute or two. I thought of the check he left for me on my kitchen table. I remembered how the money was decided on but no matter what the circumstances, the night I found the check after he left I felt like a whore. I felt like he thought I was a whore. I had begged that night. I had lain on my sofa and begged God to return my Eric to me but no one came. I realized I was praying now, I was once again begging God to give me five more minutes with My Eric.

Eric shivered and pulled me up and into his hold as he said, "Pam pull your vehicle around I need you to drive us home."

I was in his arms and for that moment it was enough. He was holding me. I rubbed my face against his chest and then against his neck and breathed him in deep. He was saying something. I don't even know if he realized he was saying it. He was saying, 'that's right little one, scent me. Mark me as yours.' It made me so happy. I looked up into his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes and there he was- MY Eric. I smiled, stopped crying and asked him "Where are we going?" I almost added baby to the end of the sentence. He smiled at me and simply said, "home."

We did not drive that long. Pam reached back into the backseat several times and patted my leg or arm, whatever she could reach. Eric smiled several times when she did this. It was like he was proud of her or he was thinking of something else. I started to ask but I was so tired. Not sleeping for four weeks will do that to a person. I snuggled against Eric's chest and closed my eyes. I heard Eric whisper to me "Sleep little one, sleep." And with that reaffirmation I felt safe, happy, and completely relaxed. I fell asleep in my vampire's arms with my new vampire patting my leg.

I was so comfortable and safe. Eric was carrying me again but it didn't matter that he woke me when we got out of the car. I kept my eyes closed and just enjoyed being in his arms. He whispered to Pam that I would need food in the morning and something to change into. Pam said she would handle everything and for Eric to take good care of me. I smiled into his chest.

Eric carried me with his lips brushing my temple the entire time. He placed sweet kisses there all the way to what I assumed was his bedroom. He laid me on a soft bed that was covered in his scent. I wondered why I could smell him so intently. There was no one else in my life that I had ever had that experience with. Except maybe Gran, if I smell pecan pie I always think of Gran, but this is different. This is Eric's actual scent- his scent is so unique. He smells of the sea and musky earth. I realize somewhere in my sleepy mind that Eric is undressing me and I am just too tired to protest. He was tucking me into the covers and once I was settled to his liking he kissed my forehead and whispered to me,

"Sleep my little angel, my dearest one, sleep." He sighed and ran his hand over my cheek cupping it just for a moment. I was aware of all these events, yet I could not be pulled out of my deep sleep.

I awoke in a strange room but covered in a familiar scent. Eric. I felt his arms around me and sighed a breath of relief. A nightmare, I had a horrible nightmare. I pulled against him for him to hold me tighter which he immediately did.

I sighed and whispered, "MMMM Baby, I had the worst dream. You didn't love me anymore. You hated me. You hurt me. It was horrible."

He responded by kissing the top of my head and saying, "Shush, Sookie, it is okay. I am here." That made me smile. I wanted him to love me, to take me and make me his.

"Eric, MMMM kiss me, love me….MMMM Eric…" I pushed back against him and rubbed his strong arms that were wrapped around me. He wasn't responding.

"Sookie wait…" he started to say but I wanted to know what was wrong, so I asked,

"Why, Eric? Why aren't you making love to me? Baby Please." As I rolled over to look at him I had a horrible realization. A pain ripped through my body. My arm, oh God my arm hurts. It was not a dream. It was all real all the pain. The events of the night flooded my mind and so did the last month of hurt and horror.

"Oh, it wasn't a dream. You do hate me." I could not bear to look in his eyes so I looked away. I started to get up but I thought if he was going to send me away at least I could have a few more minutes in his arms. I would lie there and memorize the feeling. I would be grateful for getting to say goodbye this time. I would at the very least get to tell him everything I wanted him to know. I wanted him to know that if he was ever lost and alone and wondered if he was loved in his life, that he was and that if there was still breath in my body he would be.

His answer shocked me, "No Sookie, I do not hate you. I care so much. I have been wrong. Let me make this up to you little one." He spoke so gently and sweetly it scared me a little. He sounded like My Eric but this Eric was the one who hurt me, who left me, who broke every promise and my heart. No matter how I longed to stay in his arms, old habits die hard and I wanted to run.

"No Eric, I should go home." I reluctantly sighed.

"NO!" he shouted and then in a more gentle voice started "No, Sookie stay. Let me hold you so you can get some sleep. Would that be ok?" He said it with a look in his eyes of desperation. Maybe I wasn't the only one who wanted to be held. When he was speaking he laid his hand over his heart. He rubbed gently there like he was in pain. It hurt me to see him with an ache in his eyes so I agreed.

"Yes, I'll stay." I whispered. He looked at me rubbing my hurt arm with guilt in his eyes.

"Would you like me to heal that for you?" he asked with a nod toward my bruised arm. I thought about it for a brief moment before I agreed. I wanted his blood inside me. I wanted that closeness.

"Yes." I answered and he looked surprised but he smiled. He bit his finger and placed it in my mouth. He closed his eyes while I sucked on his finger. I felt that familiar pull in my stomach as I ached for him. He nuzzled close to me and his eyes when he opened them were so full of emotion. I didn't know what to say so I went for the obvious.

"Thank you." I sighed.

He kept snuggling against me.

Then he spoke so suddenly. "Sookie, you stop the ache. You take it away. I ache here and I don't know what it means." He said as he pointed to his chest.

I didn't know exactly where he was going with this line of conversation, but I was concerned that he was in pain.

"What are you talking about Eric? How does it hurt? What does it feel like?" I asked as I rubbed his chest where he had motioned that the pain was located. He looked at me with such hope and the look in his eyes was familiar to me.

It was My Eric. In this moment he was not 'Eric Northman, Sherriff of Area 5, he was My Eric. The Eric who has stayed with me, the Eric who needed me and I would be there. Whatever he needs I thought as he continued to explain.

"Since I left your home it has been happening, but the other night at Fangtasia when we danced it stopped. It was the moment you took me in your arms. The ache just stopped and tonight just holding you, it goes away." Did he know what he was saying? Did he know?

I brushed his hair from his eyes and kissed his cheek. He looked young and scared as he asked me, "Is this what it feels like Sookie? Is this what it feels like to be loved?" He pushed closer to me and held me tighter as if he thought I would disappear.

And let's face it, I do run when confronted. But I did not want to run. I wanted to comfort him. I wanted to take his pain away. I thought of how I had hurt over the past month and how I longed for Eric to come to me and fix all the pain. He had not been able to do that for me but I now had the opportunity to do that for Eric. He was laying here in pain. Scared and unsure of himself for possibly the first time in a thousand years, laying his heart out in the open, I reached up and cupped his face in my hands and just looked in his eyes. I suddenly knew what I needed to do.

"I was driving home from work, it was New Years Eve and I saw you running down the road…" I told him everything. Every emotion, every sweet moment, every promise and I held him in my arms as I did so. I didn't tell him about the night he rose and had forgotten me or the night after when I had mourned him like he had died. I figured I could cover those two nights later. We had enough pain to deal with right now. When I finished my tale I reached up and kissed his lips and said,

"I miss you so much. Was any of it you?" I was afraid to look at him as he began to speak. He took my face in his hands and spoke the words I had longed to hear for longer than I care to admit.

"All of it was, Sookie. My mind may not remember but my body and my long dead heart, they remember. They know that they love you. Every time you are in my arms the world is suddenly bright and full of color. Sookie I know that I love you. I have known for some time. I knew in Jackson." He said with conviction, sincerity and a voice so full of love I thought I would burst from the joy in my heart!

"Oh Eric, I love you so much!" I exclaimed. He held me so tight and then we were kissing. It started slow and sweet but it grew into a forest fire quicker than you could say "take me vampire." I could feel him holding back. He wanted to take me and take me hard but he was trying to be sweet and tender. I did not want sweet and tender! I wanted him and I wanted him right then and there! So I said,

"Eric, I know that you want to love me but baby I need you inside me so bad. Please Eric, please baby fuck me, please!" I begged and just like that my vampire took over and took me!

He dove between my legs. He was kissing and licking my already wet folds from front to back and I was watching every move he made. I remembered how he liked that and it seemed he still did. Every once in a while he would lose his rhythm and look at me softly. I begged him again to take me and just like that he was inside me. It was heaven! I was home and he was my home. I wanted him to bite me.

"Bite me Eric. Please baby bite." I begged and he did. It was incredible!

As he raised his head from my neck and looked into my eyes, I saw the horror in his eyes. He had remembered. I knew as sure as I knew my own name. His eyes rimmed with red as I stroked his hair and cooed softly to him,

"Shush, it is okay baby. It's over now. It's okay. I am fine, see. You healed me, see." I said as I showed him my arm. I knew there was more to the look than just tonight. I knew we had so much pain between us. I knew we had to talk about our month apart but I was hoping to table that for the night.

"Oh Lover," he began. I had not realized how much I missed that nickname until he said it. "How can you forgive what I have done? How I became toward you? I broke every promise, every vow. Lover, Lover…" He wept. It broke my heart to see him cry but I knew he needed it. I could just feel it in my bones; I needed to let him cry. A few minutes later I whispered to him,

"Eric do you love me?"

"YES!" He answered with no hesitation. And in that moment I knew what I wanted. What I had to have and what would save us from ever feeling this pain again.

"I love you too and we will have the rest of eternity to figure the rest out." I smiled and winked at him as I continued "Besides, I will find a way you can make it up to me."

He looked at me like a man with a new lease on life. "Sookie, my beloved did you mean that, for all eternity, you won't leave me? You will let me turn you?"

"Yes. Not tonight or anytime real soon but one day, sooner rather than later. I don't want you to ever feel the way I did this past month. I have to let you turn me to save you from that pain." He looked at me strangely for a moment but then exclaimed,

"Sookie you have made me so happy! I will spend forever making the last month up to you. I will love you and will worship you forever." He kissed me and laid me down. This is what I wanted, to be his. He sat me back up and looked at me so gently I felt tears flood my eyes. He kissed my tears away and told me to wrap my legs around him. He did the same and soon he was doing wonderful things between my legs with his hands. When he thought me prepared enough he whispered,

"Oh Sookie, you are so wet for me." This accomplished his goal of making me even wetter as he slipped inside me. My forehead was pressed to his and I was gazing in his beautiful blue eyes. I was writhing on him like a wild woman and he threw his head back as he exclaimed,

"Perfect, oh Sookie this is perfect. You are perfection, my angel." Something about him calling me angel did something to me. It made me want to be bad. I jerked his head to one side and bit his neck as hard as I could. I drew blood and I drank it down until the flow stopped. This caused him to come hard. He screamed out in the ancient language that is unknown to me and his body went limp against me. We lay down in each other's arms. After a few moments he looked down into my eyes and said,

"I love you Sookie Stackhouse. Marry me? Be my bonded and pledged?" He said in one big blur. He seemed flustered and unsure of himself and that is so un-Eric like.

It made me smile and I answered, "I will only say yes to the one thing I understood. Yes I will marry you Eric Northman. You can explain the rest tomorrow, the first night of our new life together!" I smiled a real smile for the first time in a month!

Soon I was bundled back in his arms. "Sookie, be here when I rise?" He said as more of a question that a statement. He looked at me gently.

"I promise. I will be in your arms when you rise. What time is sunset tomorrow?" I swore and asked.

"5:31pm" he advised. I felt a shiver run though my body at that time but I said nothing. I let it go. It was just a coincidence. Everything would be fine. Just because he rose at 5:31 the night he forgot me last time did not mean it would happen again. So I snuggled in and slept like the dead.

I did not wake up until 10:15 the next morning. I smiled into Eric's chest but then I replayed last night's events. OH MY GOD! I had not only agreed to marry Eric but to let him turn me. I agreed to marry Eric Northman, Sherriff of Area 5 - not my Eric. This Eric comes with lots of complications. "Oh shepherd of Judea save me!" I mumbled.

I knew that I loved him and could not live without him, but I had an overwhelming desire to RUN!

Yes I just did that…. Stay tuned for the new story Remembered Love (the morning after and beyond) That is the current plan anyway. Don't hate me too bad you know how I love me some HEA!

Thank you to my WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC beta sassyvampmamma who beta'd this from her sick bed. Thank you again girl. You are my hero! If you aren't reading her stuff you are missing out! And the ever faithful and sweet friends and final read through extrodinare kjwrit and Vikinglover Elle.