Charlainne Harris owns the puppets, I just pull the strings.

Sookie POV

When I had reached out to comfort Eric, he looked so hurt and devastated, I flinched when he shooed me away, but Mary had taken up the position of his hand soon enough. I had my arms wrapped around her and Peter had a grip on her thigh, whispering in her ear that everything was going to be okay.

I knew that Peter was his blood brother, even though Mary was more upset physically. But men seemed to have a problem with showing emotions in public (as displayed by Eric before).

I knew that Peter had been drinking whiskey all evening, and I wasn't going to let Mrs. Northman drive home with her blurred vision, so I made up the guest room for them both, even getting them a new toothbrush each.

They thanked me and hugged me tightly before they went to bed.

I decided to clean up the house again before I went to bed. I generally slept or ate when I was upset. But I was too full from dinner, and didn't want to go in with Eric while he was upset, so I scrubbed instead, even though everything was already clean.

I placed a bowl of wet food and water out for Buddy, who seemed content on following me around the house wherever I went, and lay some paper down for him for his business. I doubted he was toilet trained, but I hoped he was.

I fell asleep on the lounge, On Eric and I's cushion to be precise, and woke up shortly after with the sound of Peter trying to cut some cake during the night. It sounded like he was slaughtering the plate to death so I decided to go out and help him.

I think he was startled by my presence, but smiled and offered me a piece, I denied politely. I knew how much sugar went into that cake to make it sweet, and I don't want that in my body. That was the flaw of being a baker. I knew how bad my goods were for me, so they weren't fun to eat anymore.

"You shouldn't let him hide from you, you know," Peter muffled, trying to finish his mouthful of cake while speaking. I tilted my head in response.

"I'm sorry?" I asked.

He chuckled at me. "Eric you silly, girl. Don't let him hide from you."

I smiled at him. "He's not hiding, Peter. He just needs space to think."

Mr. Northman snorted at my comment but didn't say anything. I wrapped the Snowman cake up in glad wrap and placed in the fridge, getting out two bottles of water and placing one in front of Eric's dad. He nodded in thanks at me.

"Go and sleep next to son. He'll need you when he wakes up in the morning." With that he put his empty plate in the sink, gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek and walked away.

"Oh and Sookie." He called as he was passing through the doorway.

"Mhm."

"Thanks for the sweater. You're getting better at knitting." With that he winked at me and went to join his wife in bed. That left me standing in the kitchen with nothing to do.

I picked up my phone and saw I had a missed call from Pam and a message with her condolences. I wondered whether she would delay her wedding for the funeral, or if she'd still have her New Years wedding.

Thinking about funerals made me think of funeral planning for Andrew. It wasn't my place to organize, or have an input in the least, but a small part of me felt partly responsible for him dying. He was on his way to see us, if he hadn't have come to visit, he would still be alive.

I replied to Pam telling her I would call her in the morning, and wished her a Merry Christmas since I hadn't talked to her all day. I also sent Eric a simple heart, not knowing whether to sleep next to him tonight or not. I parked myself on the lounge for a while. It was only early in the night so I wasn't feeling tired yet, but Buddy obviously was since he was curled up on my lap, fast asleep.

I didn't think it was possible to fall in love with something so quickly, but I was a sucker for miniature things, all girls were though.

I'd spent at least 5 years of my life knowing Eric, and not even now was I in love with him. I didn't think I was any who. I loved things about him, a lot of things about him. But I couldn't picture us being together forever. I'd never been able to imagine that with anyone though, I didn't even know what 'happily-ever after' looked like in modern society. But if I was going to share my perfect life with anyone, I guess I'd have Eric in.

He'd be the husband of mine that would make breakfast in bed for me every morning, and he'd be the father of my babies (provided the size of the first child's head was a decent size, and I wanted more after), and Him, Buddy and I would live in a house with a white picket fence around it. I know it sounded cliché, and it would probably never happen. But it gave me something to look forward to in the future.

I tried to be quiet as I opened Eric's door. I had decided to sleep next to him after all, taking Peter's advice. But Buddy had rushed into the room and jumped onto the bed. I saw the giant blonde man on the bed move, so I knew he had woken up and sure enough, she asked me what I wanted in a harsh voice and told me I could go home whenever I felt like it.

I knew he was pushing me away, but Peter had told me not to hide from him so I jumped into bed beside him in just my singlet and underwear, knowing I would wake up sore if I kept my jeans and blouse on. He didn't reach out to me when I was snuggled into my side of the bed, and I don't think I expected him to. My new dog curled up next to me, and I the last thing I remember was scratching him before I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up facing Eric, with his big arm draped over me, and him tracing patterns on my back with his hands. I looked up to his face and saw his big blue eyes seep into my own.

I smiled at him, but didn't get a smile back although his hand on my back kept lightly tracing patterns along my skin.

He pulled me closer to him, and I noticed he was naked (as he usually was in the morning), but for once didn't support his usual morning wood. I tucked my face into his body and felt him inhale as breathed in my hair.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to me in the softest voice, completely opposite to his hostility last night. I kissed his chest and whispered that he was forgiven back to him and Buddy jumped in between the small space between our legs.

"He's protective of you already you know," said Eric as I looked up to him. He almost had a smile on his face as he looked at the puppy on the bed.

"How so?"

He rolled his eyes dramatically. "He took defense when my arm went around you last night."

I giggled and made kissy noises at Buddy. Of course his tail started wagging immediately, and even Eric laughed. I raised an eyebrow at him questionably.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He gripped my hand tightly, and nodded. "I didn't think it would hurt this much."

I bought his hand up to my lips and kissed it. "It'll always hurt Eric, but you'll get used to the pain."

With that I got up, had a shower, made four cups of coffee and rang Pam. I knew she didn't like her uncle. Nothing against him personally, she just didn't like his life choices, yet she was still upset. She had decided to post-pone the wedding, to the 26th of January to give her family some time to settle, and Pam had arranged a New Orleans funeral for the 28th of December. So two days time.

New Orleans was a four hour drive away, but it was fair since the petrol money would equal out to the amount she and Stan would spend on flights.

I wondered why she had made the funeral plans, since he wasn't her favourite member, but she insisted that her parents wouldn't want to do it, and Eric would probably punch someone in the planning process.

I laughed at her, knowing how frustrated he got when it came to minor detailing things.

When I asked him what coloured scarf he wanted his Snowman wanted to have on his Christmas cake, he answered "Who the fuck cares?" and walked away.

I sighed and chose blue, knowing that all men were impatient, and it wasn't a bad thing that he took his aggression out on un-important things. It was better than him getting angry at how much the electricity bills were, and how long I took in the shower (like Bill had).

After all, I didn't really have anything for him to get angry about. I cooked and cleaned, I didn't have any drama in my life. We even made an arrangement for toilet seats. I would leave it up at his house if he put it down at mine, it sounded stupid when we made the agreement, but it was actually the best thing I ever agreed on doing.

Peter was teary in the morning; I gave him a hug as soon as he stumbled out of the guest room and handed him a mug of caffeine. Mary followed him out two seconds after. I got them both towels to use in the spare shower, and I was glad I cleaned the main bathroom as well as Eric's ensuite. Since Pam threw up everywhere on her last visit, the smell of vomit had stuck to the tiles until last week.

Pam called her brother, and he put her on speakerphone for the benefit of Peter and Mary, they exchanged Christmas pleasantries before discussing funeral details. She was right when she told me that her parents wouldn't want to organize everything, Mary wrote the time and place with a shaky hand, and Peter stared off into the distance, and Eric kept scrunching his fists up while talking about flowers and seating arrangements. I rubbed his back soothingly to try and calm him down and he kissed me on the cheek.

At least that meant he wasn't mad at me.

The funeral came and went. I tucked Eric into his suit and tied his tie for him. I held his hand the whole procession, and he finally shed the tears he'd been holding for three days. His parents were in and out of his house constantly, and Pam and Stan appeared and disappeared in what seemed like minutes. The brief glimpse of the future Mrs. Stan Davies, told me that she was embarrassed to be seen by her family. You could see her baby bump. It was small, but none-the-less, it was there, and clearly visible in the tight pants suit she had worn.

Eric had rested his hand upon it whilst he hugged her, but she nudged it to the side, not wanting attention drawn to her body. Stan looked pleased as punch though and gave me a knowing smile.

After the ceremony, Mary had insisted on a wake at the golf club, which I didn't want to attend. It seemed Eric had the same idea as he whisked me away to his house without a second thought. We sprawled out on his couch for what seemed like hours, reminiscing the past, and Eric laughing about his memories of the late uncle Andrew.

I learned against him on our cushion and ran my fingers through his hair soothingly. It must have calmed him as he was soon asleep. I put the heater on in the lounge room, laid a blanket over my blonde boyfriend, turned the TV off and decided to drive back to my house in Bon Temps. Not before feeding Buddy (who I decided was staying at Eric's, since I wasn't sure if there were gators in the river behind my house) and wrote Eric a note explaining I needed to check my mail and throw out the vegetables in my fridge before they got moldy. I also took the key off my chain and put it on top of the note, hoping he would get the point and come to see me when he felt like it.

So I drove home. It seemed like forever since I'd driven down the 1-20, but the drive was horrible. The last few times I'd drove down the road, It's always been to get to Eric's, or get to work. I can't remember the last time I'd drove there to simply get home. And right now, home wasn't good enough for me, the thought of turning back and waiting for Eric to wake up was tempting, but I knew that I had at least two bills due, and I wasn't sure if my rates were due yet.

Soon enough though, after what seemed like a 2 hour trip, I was fetching my spare key from the letterbox, along with my large pile of mail (I groaned at the thought of how many bills I had), and was making my way around my old farmhouse opening windows, to air out the stale air.

Sure enough, the electricity, water and cell phone bill were due. Not to mention the council rates (Which were higher than last year's). I went online and paid them though, thanking god I didn't have a mortgage, looking at the sum of money I had left in my account I smiled. Considering how I hadn't been into Hale's in what seemed like weeks, I was pleased with the amount of money I had. Don't get me wrong, I was no millionaire, but I was comfortable. Eric was too (he was closer to the millionaire title though). But he worked hard for his money, and so did I, so we deserved to be financially comfortable.

It felt so good to relax for a while, when Gran was around, we worked so hard to get the business up and running, and then we had to make repairs to the house. Not to mention every time one appliance was replaced, it seemed like a new one was breaking. Jason wasn't happy when we only had enough money to buy a new fridge instead of a TV.

After I paid the bills, I took out the milk, vegetables and fruit to the trash, I dusted every surface in the house, swept, mopped, did some weeding and even popped over to the shop to make sure there weren't any eggs or cakes left out over the break.

I went home after and decided to order in for the night, food wise. I'd just finished ordering my Chinese on the phone, when I heard a knock at the door.

As much as I wished it was Eric, I knew that he had my key now, so he could just let himself in, so I was disappointed that Bill Compton was standing by my front door.

I just rolled my eyes at him dramatically. He was standing there in one of his ridiculous pale blue suits, his hair slicked back smoothly and his sideburns still an inch past his earlobe. You could put him in a retro/ disco music video, and he would fit right it. Sure it was fine at home, and in Bon Temps, since everyone is old fashioned and no one looks twice at what you wear. But when I was with Bill Compton, he used to take me out to dates wearing that type of clothing, and it was embarrassing to say in the least.

He nodded once at me before trying to step in the doorway of my home.

"You're supposed to wait to be invited in, before coming into someone's home." I snapped.

He rolled his eyes at me and pushed past anyways. "Where have you been Sookie? You haven't been home in almost a week." he stated as he paced through the corridor towards the kitchen. I closed the front door behind me and followed him, not wanting him wandering alone through my house.

"Why's it any of your business where I've been Bill, and how do you know how long I've been away for?"

He laughed. "I'm the closest neighbor you have silly, and I noticed your mail has been untouched for the last few days."

I called bullshit straight away. He may be my closest neighbor yes, but we still lived on opposite sides of Hummingbird Lane, he would have to drive the opposite end of the street to check my mail box.

"Is that so?" I asked. He nodded simply.

"I've been thinking about you lately, Sookie. About how horrible our relationship was."

If I didn't know Bill Compton for so many years, I might have believed that his visit was merely a check-in on his ex-girlfriend.

But I'd known him for long enough to know that when he said,

"I've been thinking about you"- he meant: I just got dumped and haven't had sex in a week, I'm horny.

And when he said, "About how horrible our relationship was" wasn't an acceptance that he was a bad boyfriend.

For the however many years that he and I were together, he was cheating on me with his sister's friend for half that time. And even worse, when he got her pregnant (at the minor age of 17, may I add), he refused to admit that cheating was bad and managed to blame me for his actions.

"It was not my fault, Sookie. She tempted me with her skirts and lacy underwear. She excited me. You don't excite me at all. When was the last time you actually wanted sex. You don't want it at all, it feels like I'm forcing you to take your clothes off."

I'd stomped my foot and walked out at this point.

"See my point you selfish whore," he'd yelled at me. "You're running away. There's no fight, no drama, no chase. You just run. It's exactly the same in the bedroom, Sookie. If you're not going to fight me, or put some anger into things, it's going to bore me eventually. You made me bored Sookie. She was exciting."

Eugh. I shook the memory out of my head.

"No Bill. You've been thinking about sex, not me. And quite frankly, you were the horrible thing in our relationship."

He laughed again. I didn't know why, I wasn't saying anything remotely funny.

That was when he grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. "I think you should leave, right away William Compton," I spat. "And you should let me go straight away."

Another laugh. This one made my skin crawl though.

I'm sorry dear readers, but I'm leaving it here for now. Thanks to the people that have held onto the story!
It takes a while for my Sookie POV's to update, but my Eric chapters are so much easier to write :)