Fandom: True Blood
Characters/Pairing: Eric Northman/Sookie Stackhouse
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,042
Summary: Eric doesn't want to change to get what he wants and he finds he doesn't have to.
A/N: written for
severina2001 for Swap of Joy at 
1_million_wordsAt the knock on her door Sookie barely opened it to peek outside. “What are you doing here, Eric?” She was proud of the fact she could look him in the eyes and her voice didn’t tremble a bit. Or at least she really hoped it didn’t. She didn’t want him to realize how he made her feel or just how much power he could have over her.
Eric bit back a grin. He could see how hard she was trying to act unaffected by his presence. “There is something I need to say to you.”
Sookie opened the door further and leaned against the doorway. “Go ahead.”
Amusement clouded his face. “Perhaps we can discuss this inside.”
Slowly, Sookie began to shake her head. “No.” She shook her head again for emphasis. Letting temptation, and that’s exactly what Eric was, a walking temptation, inside her home was a bad idea. “No way. Whatever you wanted to say to me you can say right here on the porch.”
The grin he had been fighting since she opened the door spread across his face as he raised his eyebrow. “Chicken?”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“You heard me. Are you afraid to be alone with me, afraid of what I might do?” His smile turned wicked. “Maybe you’re afraid that you might like it? Or could it be you’re afraid you won’t be able to keep your hands off of me?”
Her mouth popped open in shock. Was he serious? The man... vampire really thought highly of himself. “Contrary to your belief, Eric, I’m neither of those things. And I am perfectly capable of keeping my hands to myself.”
“Are you sure?” Eric took a step forward as if to give her a closer look at his beautiful Viking self.
She nodded her head but didn’t say anything.
The doubt was plain on his face as he muttered, “Okay.” His voice turned low, seductive and sweeter than ice tea on a hot summer’s day as he whispered, “If you’re sure then invite me in.”
After calling herself all kinds of a fool Sookie opened the door wider as she stepped to the side. “Won’t you please come in, Eric?”
Eric gave a mock bow. “I would be delighted.”
As soon as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him Sookie realized she had made a terrible mistake. He was too big, too vampire for her house not to mention herself. “What did you...”
But before she could finish speaking Eric was behind her, his fingers gentle as they smoothed her hair away from her neck.
Sookie stood still, her heart beating out a fast tempo in her chest as the vampire’s mouth came ever closer to her skin. Sheer disbelief flowed through her body. This couldn’t be happening. She had to make it stop. The question wasn’t could she make it stop but did she even want to?
“Eric.” His name fell like honey from her lips.
“Hmmm?” He purred against her skin.
“We can’t do this.”
His head snapped up like a puppet master had pulled his strings. “Why not?”
“Because, I...” Sookie wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say or even if she could deny the fact she wanted him just as much as he did her. But she couldn’t want him. Not after everything he had done; she just couldn’t. She took a step forward and turned around to face him. “What did you want to talk to me about?” Only silence greeted her question. Sookie placed her hands on her hips. “Just say want you wanted to say, Eric and then please leave.”
It was Eric’s turn to stare in shocked disbelief. He was being dismissed. It was something that had never happened to him before. And he couldn’t say he liked it very much. She acted as if being in his arms hadn’t fazed her a bit. When he knew for a fact that was a lie. Her body had trembled in his arms at the mere thought of his lips on her skin. And there was no denying he had heard her heart beating fast enough to almost burst out of her chest. And yet she stood there as if none of those things had ever happened.
He had chased her longer than he had any other... he had never chased anyone else in his whole life. As a vampire he had never had to chase a woman before at least not until he had met Sookie. It seemed as if his chasing her wasn’t enough now she wanted him to beg. Eric narrowed his eyes. There was no way in hell he was going to beg for scraps of her affection.
“This was bad idea.” Without another word Eric turned on his heels and left Sookie staring after him with a haunted look on her face.
“Do you know what it’s like to be in love with someone who doesn’t know what they want?” Eric snarled as he stormed into Fangtasia. He ignored the shocked look on Pam’s face and continued to rant, “There’s not a doubt in my mind she wants me, I mean look at me how could she not? But for some reason I can’t fucking figure out she doesn’t know it or worse doesn’t want to admit it!”
Pam stared open mouthed at Eric. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Eric was in love... with Sookie? Oh, she’d known he wanted the blonde fairy. Apparently she had some kind of magic va... something that even vampires weren’t immune to. But love? That was a whole different issue. “What happened?” She was thrilled she managed to sound calm and interested.
“I went to Sookie’s to talk to her and she....” He was still having a hard time believing what had happened.
Confusion and shock warred with each other on Pam’s face. “She doesn’t return your feelings?” Which was odd because she would have sworn Sookie loved Eric even more than she thought possible.
“I didn’t tell her.” Eric admitted softly.
“Wait. What?” Pam shook her head. “I think I’m missing something. If you didn’t tell her then what exactly happened?”
As Eric opened his mouth to speak Pam quickly held up her hand to stop him. “Let me guess. She said something that pissed you off so instead of telling her what you wanted to say you were your usual stubborn self and left in a huff.”
Eric glared at Pam but didn’t argue with her assumption. How could he? It wasn’t as if she was wrong. “I’m a vampire.” He reminded her unnecessarily. “I won’t change and I won’t beg.” His pride would never allow it. “I’m out of ideas.” He slumped down in his throne and threw one leg over the side. “What do I do?”
Pam wasn’t a fan of Sookie’s, never had been. She would never understand the appeal but she hated seeing him like this. If Eric wanted her advice who was she to refuse? “Go back over there and talk to her but this time don’t leave until you have an answer one way or another.” At the mutinous expression on his face she added, “You’re not giving up are you?” She pretended to consider the situation. “I guess if you don’t want her any more there are other vampires who would be more than happy to take her in all manner of ways.”
The words had barely left Pam’s mouth when Eric jumped to his feet with a growl that echoed throughout his nightclub. There was no way he was going to let another man be it vampire, human or any other lay claim to Sookie. “Sookie is mine!”
“Glad to hear it.” The tone of Pam’s voice gave lie to her statement. “Now what are you going to do about it?”
Before he could answer the front door of Fangtasia swung open and Sookie stormed in.
“You know before I met you, Eric I had a pretty good life.” Sookie took a deep breath as she walked towards him. “Okay, so it wasn’t perfect.” She ignored the major understatement; it was hard to achieve perfection when one could hear all of the thoughts of everyone around her. “I knew exactly where I was and where I was going and then you.” She stopped in front of him, leaned closer and poked his chest with the tip of her finger. “You walked into my life like some kind of Viking god and expected me to fall quietly at your feet.”
Eric barely managed to keep the smirk from his face as he took a step forward. “I would never want you quiet, Sookie.”
“Shut up!” Her voice rose higher. “You don’t get to flirt with me or tie me in knots when it suits you and then leave me hanging.”
He had left her hanging? That was news to him. “How did I do that?”
The air in the room grew still as if time itself had stopped. Pam rolled her eyes. This was the last thing she cared to witness. As Eric waited impatiently for her to answer, Pam slipped out of the room.
Sookie glared up at him. “You came to my house tonight on the pretense of having something to say to me but then you left.” Watching him leave was the hardest thing she had ever done.
“There was no pretense, Sookie.” Stubbornness, pig-headedness but definitely no pretense.
“Then why did you leave?” Sookie gazed up into his eyes.
It took all of his willpower to keep from reaching out to her and enfolding her into his arms. He was proud of the fact he managed to control the urge. “You were not ready to hear what I wanted to say.”
Her voice was breathless as she spoke, “I am now.”
The word why was on the tip of his tongue but then he quickly reminded himself that he wasn’t going to beg. Eric shook his head. “I’m not going to beg you, Sookie. I don’t want scraps of your attention whenever you deign to give them to me.”
For a split second Sookie’s eyes glazed over at the thought of Eric on his knees in front of her begging her to... but even as the picture formed in her mind she swallowed a gasp and closed her eyes in horror. She would never want to see him like that. Not ever. She liked him just the way he was. And that was the rub. Eric was a vampire, sometimes vicious, sneaky but always loyal. And despite the things he had done, the horrors he had caused she liked him, really liked him. No, it was more than that. She was in love with him.
Patiently, Eric watched the emotions play across Sookie’s face. He could hear her heart beating fast and he knew the exact moment she realized her true feelings for him. But still he waited. It wasn’t enough for her to realize it; she had to admit it not just to herself but to him.
The silence dragged on in the room as Sookie slowly opened her eyes. With a look of wonder she began to speak, “Eric, I have something to tell you. I...”
At the look on her face Eric lost the war within himself. He found he didn’t need to hear the words after all. There was only one thing he needed and that was Sookie. With a harsh growl he reached out, slid his arms around her waist and pulled her into his arms. “It’s about damn time.” Another growl rumbled in his throat as he lowered his mouth to hers.
“Wait.” Sookie pushed against his chest. “You don’t know what I was going to say. I haven’t told you yet.” Her breath caressed his lips as she spoke.
“It’s the same thing I wanted to tell you and you can tell me later. Much later.” Once more another growl, this one deeper than before escaped him as his lips descended on hers.
Years later Eric would tell all who would listen the story of how he had won the heart of the fairy just by being his own stubborn self.
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