"Sookie?" I call only to have my voice fall into the empty air surrounding me.

A flash of blonde hair, which looks like Sookie's, whizzes by me in a blur. I turn looking this way and that, trying to catch another glimpse of the mysterious vision. Another allusion of golden locks crosses my periphery and I move quickly to locate the source of my torment. I follow after the long flowing hair, trying to catch up to the elusive woman. I call out to her again and this time, she pauses after a hesitant step. Turning around, I see that it is her. My Sookie. A smile spreads across my face and I step a little closer to her, wanting to be as near as possible.

"Did you get my message? Are you here to go with me to Stockholm?" I ask, desperate for her to say yes.

"Er, no. I'm going home. To Bon Temps. I'm sorry, Eric. I need time and I think you going home is great. I won't worry about you and you won't have to worry about me. I hope you get things worked out with your parents. If and when you do, call me. We can talk then."

"I really thought…" I shake my head, trying to organize my thoughts. "So, you won't come with me? Sookie I need you—"

"I have to go. I'll miss my flight if I don't. Text me or something when you land so that I know you made it safely." She turns to walk about but stops, casting me a sideways glance. "You should know... I don't hate you, Eric. I just can't be with you right now; not after everything that's happened."

"Can I at least…?" I step closer to her, filling the small gap of space between us with as much love and devotion I can muster.

I place a finger under her chin, tilting her face up toward mine. My other hand finds its way into her hair and I cradle her head gently. My lips brush hers with the briefest of touches before she pulls away. The soft tendrils of blonde curls float across my fingertips as she takes a step back.

"Goodbye, Eric. Be safe," she whispers.

I catch a glimpse of her hand going to her face and brushing across her cheek. Remembering my touch, maybe? She turns on her heel and dashes away.

This is the third time I've let her walk away from me and it will be the last.

XXXX

"Mother, Father." I nod in greeting to my parents. The thought of being any closer to them makes my skin crawl. Their bullshit might rub off on me.

"Eric, my boy. Nice of you to come home," my father says in Swedish.

"He's only here because he knows he's fucked up. I regret the day I birthed you. Thirty-six hours of labor and for what!"

I expect nothing less from my mother and walk away as she continues her rant of regret. I find my room is left in the same condition it was in when I left years ago. It's empty of my life here. A mere shell of what used to be my home. I find one of the guest rooms to drop my bags in and quickly hop in the shower. I need to wake myself up. If I sleep now, I'll never be on the right schedule and my time here will be even worse.

I emerge from the bathroom with a towel slung low on my hips. Feeling refreshed, I pick up my cell to call Sookie. I hesitate.

She said I should let her know when I arrived, but I don't know if I should. I'm sure I won't say anything but how much I miss her and want her with me. That would not be productive. I dial her number anyway. She answers on the third ring.

"Hello?"

She sounds winded.

"Sookie, its Eric. I'm in Stockholm. I didn't wake you did I?"

"No, no. I was away from my phone and had to run to answer it. So, how was your flight?"

We're in the small talk stage now?

"Sookie, I'm sorry. I love you. Please let me make this up to you."

"Eric, I can't do this with you right now. I told you, I need time."

"Time for what? Don't you love me? What matters besides that?"

"I'm sorry, what? I didn't understand. I think you started speaking Swedish." She giggles and I get angrier.

I must have switched languages. I tend to revert to my native tongue when I'm pissed. I take a deep breath before I can say anything.

"Don't you love me, Sookie?"

I can hear her breathing on the line, but she doesn't say anything for a long while. I'm beginning to lose my resolve and think that maybe we can't come back from this.

"Sookie?"

"I'm here. I do love you, Eric. I don't know if I can trust you. Do you understand that?"

I nod, forgetting she's not in front of me.

"I understand. Can we start over? Be friends and work our way back to one another?"

"I… I don't know. I guess that wouldn't be terrible. What do you mean by 'friends' though? I just want to be sure I'm clear on things."

"The type of friends who talk on the phone, maybe hang out every once in a while. Friends who trust one another with their secrets," I chuckle. She doesn't laugh.

"Hmm… I would be willing to try that, but not until you get yourself sorted out. I can't, and won't, hop back into the same situation as if it will all work out fine without anything being done to resolve these issues between us."

"My parents, you mean."

"Yes. And Sophie, among others. I may not have liked her calling me but she gave me some insight into your world. I'm worried about getting caught in the cross-fire and being hurt unnecessarily. I want to be with you and it kills me to be apart from you. But it has to be this way," she whispers the last part.

I can feel her hurt pouring through the phone and I want nothing more than to wrap her in my arms and tell her everything will be okay.

What the hell happened to put us here? Pam.

"Everything will be okay, Sookie. I swear it. If I can't work things out, I'll leave you alone. But if I can, I'm coming to get you."

"Skipping right past the friends bit, huh?" she laughs.

"I won't bullshit you. We can do the friend thing now while we're apart. That's all I can promise you as far as that goes. You can't expect me to keep from wanting you when it's been you for so long."

"Let's not go there, please. You were with Pam during your longing for me so I'm not buying that. If you can't be honest with me, this friendship thing won't work."

"I'm going down to talk to my parents in a bit and I'll call you when I'm done. I want you to know what's going on every step of the way."

She sighs. "What about Pam?"

"What about her? She's out of our lives and I'm planning for her to stay that way."

"I'm not so sure about that. She might be on her way there. I don't know what she's planning, but she left me a message and I—"

I unleash a slew of profanity that I'm glad Sookie doesn't understand. I hadn't gotten the chance to teach her much Swedish, but her ears would be red right about now.

"Calm down, Eric! I would have told you sooner but I'm glad I didn't since you're reacting this way."

"How can I not? She's ruined everything for me. For us. We'd be married now if it weren't for her interference."

"Again, let's not go there. Would you have told me about Sophie on our wedding night?"

I hesitate to answer as I don't know what I would have done.

"That's what I thought. I know she went about things the wrong way, but she saved me from making a mistake."

"Not a mistake. We're not a mistake, do you hear me?"

"I didn't mean that. I only meant—"

"I know what you meant." I glance at the clock and notice the time. With everything that's happened over the last two days, I'm amazed she isn't in bed now. "I'm keeping you up. You should get some rest. I'll call you when I have news."

"Please don't be upset…" Her words trail to nothing, but I'm positive she wanted to add with me.

"I'm not upset with you, love. I only want us together. I love you more than anything and I'm willing to do whatever I need to prove that to you."

"Goodbye, Eric."

She disconnects before I can say anything. I don't think she wanted me to hear her crying. Fuck!

I dress, making myself presentable enough to ream out my parents. I find them both in the sitting room, waiting for dinner to be served. My mother looks up when I enter the room and returns her gaze to her book. I doubt she's even reading it. It's merely a pretense so she doesn't have to participate in any conversation.

My father folds his paper closed and gestures me to sit across from him. I take a seat on the sofa but don't get too comfortable.

"I wanted to tell you both that I'm not married to Sophie Ann. We had the marriage annulled shortly after we were wed."

"Your mother and I know that," my father says, unperturbed.

"How?" I ask, thrown for a loop.

"Your girlfriend, Pam. She used to come see us. I'm not sure how she found out, but she let us know she was stepping in to be the next Mrs. Eric Northman."

Oh she did, did she?

"You know, Eric, you could have told us Sophie was gay."

"That wasn't my tale to tell, Dad. She didn't want her parents to find out that way."

My mother puts her book down and fixes me with a hard glare. "How do you think we found out? Her mother knew all about it." She pauses to take a sip from her glass of wine before continuing. "She didn't want to ruin the business deal we had going and you kids were a huge part of it. Why do you think we wanted you to marry in the first place? You'd both be heirs to our businesses. We couldn't just let them fall into the hands of board members."

"I can't believe what I'm hearing. Is this true, Dad?"

"Every word your mother speaks is truth." He drops his head, ashamed.

I always wondered which of them were involved in the business dealings. It would seem I have my answer. I'm pulled from my reverie by my mother's belligerent mutterings.

"… you're just like us yet you hide it better."

"I don't understand what you mean, Mother."

"You never told us what was going on because you knew it was what we wanted. You're a good son in that regard. We don't want this getting out so we'll take care of it," my father says with a look that garners no further comment.

"You don't want what getting out? That I'm not married to Sophie? Or that she prefers women?"

"Both," my father sighs. "It would be devastating to your reputation to be ousted by another woman. Don't you care about your manhood?" he asks, eyebrows raised.

I laugh, unable to do anything else. I can see this is going to be a long, tiring trip. But if in the end it leads me to getting Sookie back, it'll be worth it.

"Sookie, sweetheart! I wasn't expecting you so soon."

Gran wraps her arms around me before I can set my bag down.

"I got an early flight. I wanted to get home as soon as possible."

She pulls back, placing her hands on my shoulders. "Now why is that? You didn't work things out with Eric?"

"No. But, he's going home to sort out his folks and we'll go from there. He's supposed to call when he gets there."

"It's interesting you care whether he makes it home or not," Gran says, her lips pursed to keep from smiling.

I roll my eyes. "Of course I care. I can't turn it off like I want to."

"Why would you want to, if you love him?"

"Gran… it's not that simple. He's lost my trust—"

"But not your love." It wasn't a question.

"No. Not my love. I just… I can't think. I can only feel."

"How do you feel?"

Angry! "Tired. Can I put my bag down and we finish this conversation later?"

She laughs but finally drops her hands from my shoulders and allows me to enter the house. I put my bag in my bedroom, dropping to the bed like a sack of potatoes. Gran follows behind with a glass of iced tea. She sets it on the table next to the bed with a "tsk." I turn my head to watch the droplets of condensation as they chase one another down the sides of the glass. The ice clinks together as it melts, floating to the top of the liquid with an invisible push. I sigh, knowing Gran is waiting for me to speak. I'm not sure I have the energy for this conversation but I sit up and take a long gulp of tea.

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and gather up the courage to look inside and figure out what I truly feel.

"I feel alone, betrayed, and hurt. On top of that, I'm still madly in love with him. I think that's what hurts the most. I feel like an idiot. Like I shouldn't still love him the way I do though he lied to me."

"At least you're being honest with yourself. I'd hate it if you felt the way you thought you should instead of just feeling what comes natural." Gran sits next to me and gathers me to her side with an arm around my back. "Listen, we'll have a nice meal, get you settled and do something that doesn't take much thinking."

"What exactly do you have in mind?"

"A movie."

"Not a romantic comedy. Please."

"I don't know what that is, but I do know good movies. We'll get you sorted. Not to worry. As long as you're happy, I'm happy. And if you need it, I still have my shotgun. Of course, we could just call Jason…"

"Jason! Goodness, I forgot about him. I caught a cab because I didn't want to have to explain this mess. I'll talk to him though. He doesn't need to know all the sordid details. It's not his business."

"You know he'll make it his business if you're in pain. Besides, he's your big brother and he takes his duty seriously."

Gran winks and leaves me to unpack with a reassuring pat on the back. I do so absentmindedly, not knowing where I put anything once I'm finished. I take a long shower to wash off the grime of air travel and exhaustion. And so I can have a good cry where no one can see or hear. Once I've dried my tears, and my body, I resolve to handle this like an adult. Even if I don't know how to begin to do that.

After a long nap, I head out into the kitchen to grab another glass of tea before movie time with Gran. I hear my phone ringing and rush back to my room to get it, finding it hidden under a pile of dirty clothes. I have a nice conversation with Eric (and another bout of tears), which leaves me doubting myself, yet again. I gulp down more tea, desperate for brain freeze. Anything would be better than thinking.

After Eric's call to let me know he was okay, I dread the next time I'll get another call. Not two seconds after I think that, my phone rings. Only it isn't Eric. It's Alcide. Should I answer? If it's important, he'll leave a message. Right? I sigh, take another deep breath and hit the green button.

"Hello?"

"Stay the fuck away from my boyfriend, bitch!" says a shrilly female voice. Not Alcide's.

Click.

Okay, would someone like to tell me what just happened?