A/N: Alright, folks! This is it! The epilogue to my very first story! This is actually kind of bittersweet. I want to thank each and every one of you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, following, and encouraging me to keep writing this story! I hope you enjoy the end to this fluffy little story. And I hope you'll let me know what you think of the end, and of the story in general. A newbie like me can always use some feedback :) I hope you'll also keep an eye out for anything else I might post! You can check out my Wordpress, the link's on my profile! Thanks so much 3

Epilogue

SPOV

I walked through the familiar black doors with a smile on my face. I was looking forward to surprising my husband. The bouncer, Rasul, gave me a smile and a wave, so I went over to say hello.

"Have you come to cheer up the old man?" he asked me.

"Something like that," I laughed.

It was a Saturday night that Eric was supposed to have off. The bartender, Clancy, had called in sick, and the other bartender wasn't answering his phone, so Eric had been called to go fill in for him. Saturdays were busy, after all. Eric wasn't happy that he had to go in, to say the least. I wasn't happy either. I had asked Eric to take tonight off, because I had a surprise planned for him. I had wanted to cook him a nice dinner, and spend the evening together, and I was always too tired Friday nights, so I had planned for Saturday.

See, Eric and I were trying to have a baby.

Eric had proposed in January, and we had ended up getting married in August. It wasn't a particularly long engagement, but that was fine with me. I didn't want a very fancy wedding; I'd always hoped to have a pretty outdoor wedding in Gran's backyard. And because I was marrying the sweetest man in the world, he agreed that it sounded perfect. Lucky for us, we were friends with very connected people; both Amelia and Pam functioned as sort-of-party-planners. They also happened to be the maid of honor and the best man, respectively. I asked Tara and Arlene to be my bridesmaids, and Eric asked Tray and Lafayette to be his groomsmen. Jason walked me down the aisle on what was, up until now, what I considered the most perfect day of my life. Things had gone wrong, as they tend to do at weddings, but walking down the aisle in a gorgeous gown that made me feel like a million bucks, towards the most handsome tuxedo-clad man I had ever seen, surrounded by my loved ones, I couldn't imagine a better day. Eric's aunt Elin and her boyfriend Henrik, and Eric's cousin Lina and her husband, flew down from Sweden for the wedding, as did my cousins Claudine, Claude, and even Hadley and her son Hunter from New Orleans. We spent our honeymoon at a beautiful resort in Hawaii.

When we returned to real life, we decided that we wanted to wait a bit before having kids. I went back to school, and Eric went back to the bar, and in the fall we hosted our first Thanksgiving as a married couple. Christmas was hosted at Tray and Amelia's.

During my spring break week, we went to Sweden to visit, and Elin was thrilled to have us. In the summer, we decided to take advantage of my time off, and we travelled. We spent a few amazing weeks in Europe. While on a train to London, we fell in conversation with a woman and her adorable two-year-old daughter. She was blonde haired and blue eyed, and absolutely precious. Eric and I shared a look, and I knew that it meant that we were on the same page. We wanted to have a baby. So, by the time our first wedding anniversary passed, I had already thrown away my birth control pills.

Now, it was November. I had missed a period, and suspected that I might be pregnant. It seemed crazy to me that it happened so fast, but I couldn't deny the signs. That was why tonight, I had wanted to cook a special dinner, tell Eric about my suspicions, and then take the three (yes, three!) pregnancy tests that I had bought from the pharmacy. But Eric had gotten called to work as I was starting dinner, so my plan had been spoiled.

But as I was sitting at home alone, it was as if the pregnancy tests were calling to me. I couldn't handle the suspense; I needed to know if I was really pregnant. I figured that I could take the tests, and at least if this was a false alarm, and I wasn't pregnant, I wouldn't build Eric up for disappointment.

So, I drank as much water as I could, and took all three tests. I couldn't contain my squeals of joy, or my tears, when I saw that each test said the same thing: I was pregnant.

Eric and I were going to have a baby.

I obviously hadn't thought far enough ahead, because I realized that it would be absolute torture to wait until Eric got home to tell him. He wouldn't be home until practically the next morning. I needed to tell him! But I didn't want to get in the way at the bar if it was super busy, which it often was on Saturday nights.

I decided to call Pam.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Hey, Pam," I said, still smiling.

"Sookie. What is it?"

"Um, is it very busy there tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's a decent night," she replied. "Why?"

"It's just… I had a surprise for Eric," I hesitated. "But if it's too busy, I…"

"Oh my god," she interrupted.

"What?"

"You're preggers," Pam gasped.

"What?"

"You're totally preggers!"

"Hush, Pam," I scolded her. "I'm not telling you anything."

"Fine," she snickered. "It better be a girl, so I can train it to go shopping with me."

"Oh jeez, Pam," I chuckled. "Yes, if we have a daughter… in the future," I emphasized, "she will go shopping with her Auntie Pammy."

There was a moment of silence on Pam's end. I thought I maybe heard a sniff.

"Fine," she finally said, but it sounded like more of a sigh.

"Fine what?"

"I'm going to call in a favor with someone so that you and your husband can get out of here," she said.

"Really? With who?" I asked.

"Chow," she said. "He owes me."

"Okay! I'll get ready and be there as soon as I can," I smiled into the phone.

Instead of getting all dolled up, I decided to wear the same dress that I wore the night that Eric and I met. My red and white sundress. That night had been the start of the rest of our lives together, and tonight was the start of a brand new life, in a way.

I walked up to the bar and waited for an empty stool, much as I had my first night at Fantasia. I knew that Eric hadn't seen me yet.

He smiled when he did see me. It made me warm and fuzzy inside to know that Eric's face still lit up in my presence.

"Hello there, sweetheart," he said in his sexy bartender voice. I knew he was teasing me, because he knew that I didn't like being called 'sweetheart'.

"Hello, Mr. Northman," I winked.

I watched him turn around and make a drink, which he placed in front of me.

"Here you are, Mrs. Northman," he smiled at me.

"No thanks," I said, biting back my own grin.

"You don't want a gin and tonic?" he asked, surprised. It was my signature drink, after all.

"No thank you."

"Do you want a long island iced tea?" he asked me. Lafayette had got me into drinking those.

"Just water's fine," I smiled.

"You come into my bar and you just order water?" he teased me, placing a glass in front of me.

"I hope that's okay," I smiled apologetically. "It's gonna be like this for a while."

"For a…" his eyes shot up to mine, and I knew he understood my meaning. I just nodded and smiled.

Eric said nothing, but walked around the bar. He stood in front of me, and scooped me up bridal style. He carried me into his office, where he sat down on the couch with me on his lap.

"Hi," he smiled, and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around him. He kissed my lips, my nose, and my forehead.

"So?" he asked.

"So…" I was smiling big.

"You're…" he searched my eyes.

"Mhm," I confirmed. "We better get that minivan," I joked. Eric had been adamant about still having a 'cool' car when we were parents.

"Fuck, Sookie," Eric laughed, kissing me deeply. He ran his fingers over my still flat belly. "I can't believe it," he almost whispered.

"I know," I covered his hand with mine, and rested it on my belly. He pulled me closer to him, and rested his face in the crook of my neck. I stroked his hair as we sat quietly for a minute.

"I want to go home and celebrate so bad," he murmured into my skin.

"Well then it's a good thing that Pam called Chow to fill in for you," I replied.

"She did?" he looked up at me.

"Yep."

"Did you tell her?"

"I just said I had a surprise for you," I laughed.

"Then let's get out of here," he smiled.

We got up and walked towards the parking lot, Eric's arm wrapped around me.

"You didn't want to say goodnight to Pam?" I asked.

"Nope," he smiled down at me. "I want to go home."

"Okay."

On the drive home, I told Eric about the secret plans I had had for tonight. He was glad that I didn't wait to tell him. Eric was touching me, in one way or another, for the whole ride. He held my hand, rested his hand on my leg, and occasionally brushed his fingers over my belly.

"There's nothing to touch right now," I laughed.

"I know," he smiled. "But soon there will be. And there's still a baby in there, even if it's, like, tiny."

My husband was adorable.

When we got home, Eric showered while I heated up some pecan pie for us. It would do as a sort of celebratory cake. We put on our pajamas, and snuggled into our bed with our pie. When we were done, Eric told me to stay in bed while he brought the dishes into the kitchen. I smiled. I knew Eric had a protective side, and I couldn't even imagine what he was going to be like when I was very pregnant, or when our baby was born. I couldn't wait.

He got back into bed, and we snuggled up.

"I love you," I whispered to him.

"I love you," he said, kissing my lips. "More than I ever thought I could love another person." The feeling was mutual.

Our clothes came off slowly, and our lovemaking was gentle. It was sweet and loving, and so very perfect, that when I finally screamed my release, I felt a few tears spill down my cheeks. Eric kissed them away, and I snuggled into him, as I loved to do.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

"Anytime," he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Not what I meant," I laughed into his chest.

"I know," he said, running his fingers through my hair. "I should be thanking you, though."

"Why? We did this together."

"We did," he smiled. "We made a new life together. And we made a new life for ourselves."

"That we did."

"We should send Bill flowers, or something," he said.

"What! Why?"

"Because if he wasn't such a fucking asshole, you might never have walked into my bar, wearing that adorable little dress," he looked down at that dress, which was currently on the bedroom floor.

"Maybe not," I smiled. "Did you ever think we'd be here?"

"In your bed?" he teased.

"No!" I laughed. "You know what I mean."

"Honestly? I hoped we'd be here the moment you walked into the bar. And I knew I would do anything to make it happen that night when I held you in my arms while you were sound asleep, in my bar… That sounds so fucking cheesy," he laughed.

"No," I sniffed, "it's sweet. You're sweet."

We laughed and joked some more, and then we talked more about the adventure we were about to start together. I knew that all of the loss and the pain that both Eric and I had faced in our pasts was all leading up to this. We had found each other, loved each other, and now we had this life together, and it would only get better from here.

I fell asleep huddled up to Eric, his hand resting on my belly.