12: Baby I Love You

 

I wasn’t nervous at all. Sookie, Aaron and I were walking through Golden Gate Park, heading toward Hippie Hill. As Sookie promised Aaron loved San Francisco. He’d been opening up a lot more to me on the trip. We were right on track for him to accept me fully as his dad. I think shutting my dad down when he started to get onto him about joining the military really opened his eyes and made him recognize that I was on his side. I was going to be there to support and defend him no matter what.

 

“Right over there was where we saw Janis Joplin,” I told Aaron, pointing to the spot we saw her. We were heading to the carousel so we could ride it. I planned on making a pit stop to ask Sookie a very important question. I wanted Aaron there for it.

 

“Really? Mom showed me her pictures once. She keeps them put away special so they don’t get ruined.”

 

“I haven’t seen those pictures,” I told him. “Did you ever see pictures of us together?” I had Janis’ leash. She didn’t really need one. She didn’t run too far from me.

 

“Nah. If Mom has any she’s got ’em hidden pretty good,” he told me. “It’s a good thing she hid them because I would have figured it out sooner who you were.”

 

“She’s pretty smart.” I squeezed Sookie’s hand.

 

We made it to the patch of ground that was Hippie Hill. I handed Aaron the leash.

 

“Can you hold this for me?” I asked him. He knew what was going to happen.

 

“Sure.”

 

“Thanks, kid.” I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to Sookie. All I knew was I had to ask her if she wanted to marry me. As long as I was able to get the words out it was going to be okay.

 

As soon as I faced her I was sure she knew what I was going to do. I pulled the box out of my pocket as I did the standard down on one knee thing.

 

“Hi,” I smiled up at her. Sookie’s eyes welling let me know she had an idea. I glanced over at Aaron. I was glad he was smiling. When I looked back at Sookie I continued. “If I was a smarter man I would have proposed to you before you went home to Louisiana last time. I should have fought harder to keep you. I fucked that up. And now I’m fucking this up by saying fuck so many times… what I really want to know is, would you like to marry me and be my wife?”

 

“We were just two kids who didn’t know what we had, Eric. If I was a smarter woman, I never would have left. Yes, I’ll marry you,” Sookie answered, tears rolling down her cheeks.

 

I stood up, lifting her into my arms as I stood all the way up. I grabbed her thighs so her could wrap her legs around me. I crashed my lips onto hers as the round of applause erupted around us. It was like the world around us disappeared as we kissed. When the kiss broke Sookie rested her forehead on mine.

 

“You just made me the happiest man in the world,” I whispered. “You’re stuck with me, I hope you’re okay with that.”

 

“Baby, there’s no one else I would rather be stuck with,” she replied.

 

“Good.” I pecked her lips once more. I was surprised Aaron didn’t gag next to us. I let Sookie down so I could actually give her the ring. I pulled it from the box so I could slide it on her finger. “I got Aaron’s blessing, just so you know.” I slid the ring into place.

 

“It’s perfect, Eric,” she beamed, staring down at the ring. Sookie turned her head to look at our son. “You’re sure you want Eric to marry us?”

 

“He’s not so bad. He’s kinda growing on me,” Aaron answered.

 

“I love you too, kid,” I smiled. I moved over to give Aaron a hug. We didn’t hug very often, or ever, but I felt like it was a good time to hug. “You’re really okay with this?” I asked him quietly.

 

“Yeah, I am.”

 

“I’m glad. I’m very proud to call you my son,” I told him.

 

“I’ll work on the dad thing,” Aaron promised.

 

“In due time. No one is in any kind of rush,” I smiled. “Want to go check out the carousel?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” he agreed. Sookie hugged him when I was done. I knew she whispered something to him but I couldn’t hear what it was.

 

I waited until they had their moment before I reached out for Sookie’s hand. The ring fit perfectly. I was truly the happiest man ever. We were way overdue for our happily ever after. Sookie and I shouldn’t have allowed her parents to dictate our lives. If I was a stronger man then I would have made a detour to Louisiana on my way to boot camp. I wasn’t, though. It took a lot of years to become the man she truly deserved.

 

***

 

“Do you, Eric, take Sookie to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, to love her tender, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do you part?” The Elvis impersonator who was marrying us asked. He had the sneer down pat.

 

“I do,” I smiled. I had Sookie’s hands in mine. Stopping in Vegas to get married on the way home was Sookie’s idea after we stayed the night in Joshua Tree. It made the most sense.

 

“Do you, Sookie, take Eric to be your lawfully wedded husband and hunka hunka burnin’ love, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do you part?”

 

“Yes I do,” she grinned, squeezing my hands.

 

“Then by the power vested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce you to be husband and wife. Eric, you make kiss your ‘Cilla,” Elvis told me.

 

I reached up to cup her face as I leaned down kiss her. I didn’t hold back. For once our son didn’t cringe when I kissed his mother. When the kiss broke I rested my forehead on hers as I wrapped my arms around her.

 

“Only thirteen years late,” I whispered.

 

“Better late than never,” she whispered back. Sookie tilted her head up to kiss me one more time.

 

That was the absolute truth. I didn’t want to let her go. I wasn’t planning on it. I had a feeling I’d known she was The One since I was twenty-two and she walked into the bar at the bowling alley. There were so many things we should have done differently then. It didn’t matter what happened then, though. We were here now. Sookie Stackhouse-Du Rone was officially a Northman.

 

When the kiss broke I moved my hands up her back so I could give her a tight hug.

 

“You know you’re both stuck with me,” I said as I looked over at Aaron. He looked surprisingly happy for us.

 

“You keep saying that like I’d rather be somewhere else. Stop it.”

 

“I’ll stop. I think it’s still weird to me that you actually want me,” I smiled.

 

“Even weirder I want to have another one of your kids,” she whispered like it was a big secret.

 

“The first one is so perfect why wouldn’t you want more?”

 

“Well if you want to go get snipped–”

 

“No snippers are coming anywhere near my junk,” I said, stopping her. Our poor son looked like he was going to throw up thinking about it.

 

“Yeah, I guess you’ve had enough trauma in that region, huh?”

 

“Yes I have. I don’t mind giving you all the perfect babies you can handle.” I let go of her so we could get a few pictures taken. On the way to the chapel we stopped to get some dressier clothes so we didn’t look like complete hippies when we got married.

 

“You guys aren’t going to have a baby right away, are you?” Aaron asked.

 

“We weren’t planning on it,” I answered. “I’m still working on getting the first one to claim me. Also, if you ever decide to take my last name I’d be honored.”

 

“Aaron Northman…” he said aloud. “No offense, Mom, but I think I like the way that sounds better than my other last name.”

 

“None taken, sweetheart. It’s not like you’ve ever had a connection with JB’s family,” she said. “If you change your last name they’ll never know.”

 

I knew he wasn’t going to take it overnight. He was still working on calling me Dad. I didn’t even know if he loved me yet.

 

“You guys ready to get out of here?” Sookie and I had to sign some paperwork before we left.

 

“Yes. I think we have a fancy dinner ahead of us to get to,” she said.

 

Sookie and I walked out to the lobby so we could sign our marriage certificate. It was sweet that Aaron signed our license as the witness.

 

We took off after that, heading out to dinner. I decided to take them to Caesar’s Palace for dinner.

 

“Mom, can I play the slots while we’re there?” Aaron asked.

 

“Uh, no, you’re not old enough.”

 

“We can take you to Circus Circus after dinner so we can play arcade games,” I offered. Sookie and I had all night to consummate our marriage.

 

“Nah, I’d rather go swimming at one of the pools,” he said. “It was too cold in San Francisco to go swimming. It’s hotter than the Devil’s breath here.”

 

I chuckled and said, “That works too.” We didn’t go to the beach in Los Angeles. Between Hollywood and dinner with Godric we were too tired to check it out.

 

“How’s that ring feel on your finger?” Sookie asked me.

 

“Like I’m a whole man now. I didn’t know it was missing until I put it there,” I smiled.

 

“Good.” Sookie tilted her face up for a kiss.

 

“Man, are you guys going to be kissin’ all the time now?” Aaron asked.

 

“You know it,” I grinned. I reached over to tuck him under my arm. I was too happy to care if he minded.

 

“That’s really gross,” he informed us.

 

“You’ll get used to it,” Sookie said without a hint of apology. “Besides, I had to wipe your butt for two years. You can deal with it.”

 

“Moooom,” he whined, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. Like he was the only kid ever to have his ass wiped by his mom for the first two years of his life.

 

“Don’t worry kid, she’s going to have to wipe my ass when I get too old and I have to wear adult diapers,” I chuckled.

 

“Eric, no.” Aaron shook his head. He looked beyond disgusted with me.

 

“Don’t worry, kid, I’m not enthusiastic about that either,” Sookie added.

 

“Hey, you signed up for it, Mrs. Northman.” I squeezed my wife’s hand.

 

“Was that in the vows?” she smirked.

 

“It’s the secret silent vow you agreed to when you signed the certificate,” I winked.

 

“Remember that silent vow when I’m an irrational, crazy pregnant woman.”

 

“I will.” I kissed the top of her head.

 

“How many babies are y’all planning on having? We might need a bigger house,” Aaron said.

 

“Nah, you can just share a room with the baby,” Sookie told him.

 

“No way! I need my sleep,” he said.

 

“You can camp on the beach behind the house,” I told him. I didn’t think that was going to fly with his mother.

 

“During hurricane season?” Aaron looked at me like I was nuts.

 

“Then you’ll be good sharing a room with a baby,” I smiled.

 

“You guys are lame,” Aaron huffed.

 

“You’ll get used to it.” Sookie smiled up at me and asked, “Should we swing by the hotel and change before dinner?” Her eyes told me she had something else in mind.

 

“That’s a good idea. Aaron can take the dogs out to potty too.”

 

“If they’re anything like me they need to throw up,” he said.

 

“You’re so dramatic,” Sookie chuckled.

 

He was going to meet a girl one day that he was going to be over the moon for. I was going to remind him of how ‘gross’ he thought we were.

 

The chapel wasn’t too far from the hotel so it didn’t take long to get back. Aaron was old enough to walk the dogs on his own without our supervision. We promised we wouldn’t take too long to change. We’d gotten really good at quickies.

 

Sookie’s dress was coming off before I had the door locked.

 

“Anxious, Mrs. Northman?” I smirked as I unbuttoned my pants.

 

“Excited is more like it.” Off went her underthings, as well as her shoes.

 

I was excited too when her tits came into view. My shirt disappeared before I pushed my pants down. My shoes came off with my pants.

 

“As you can see, I’m pretty excited too,” I smirked, waving my hand in front of my rapidly growing erection.

 

“That’s pretty hard to miss.” Sookie stepped closer to me and to my surprise, she dropped to her knees. She winked and then wrapped her lips around my tip and sucked.

 

Oooh… she hasn’t done this in a while…

 

I ran my fingers through her hair. Our eyes locked and I could see the love in those pretty blue eyes. They were the same eyes I had in every one of the dreams I had about her over the years. Sookie had always been my forever.

 

“As good as that feels, we don’t have a lot of time,” I whispered as I massaged the top of her head. I was solid as a rock and we had a kid waiting on us.

 

“Mmhmm,” she hummed and kept sucking.

 

My head dropped back as the vibrations shot through my shaft. “Fuuuuck, that feels so good,” I growled. I was completely solid at that point.

 

She stopped and asked, “Should I keep going?”

 

I answered by lifting her up onto her feet. I walked her backwards to the bed. When her legs bumped into the mattress I pushed her back and climbed onto the bed so I was hovering over her.

 

I reached down to rub my fingers over her slick folds. “Pull your legs back,” I directed.

 

She did as I asked, giving me plenty of room to work. I pushed two fingers into her, pumping slowly. My thumb rubbed over her clit, making her moan softly. I wanted to make sure she was at least close before I pushed into her. I was too excited to think about my stamina.

 

I watched her face as my fingers played. It reminded me of the first time we did this. She was an angel then and she was still an angel. I was a lucky asshole.

 

When Sookie was right on edge I lined myself up with her entrance and slid in, getting as deep as possible on the first stroke.

 

“Goddamn,” I hissed when her warm, wet walls engulfed me.

 

“You feel so big,” she moaned. Her walls clenched around my length and then fluttered. “I want it hard, Eric.”

 

I grabbed her hands so I could pin them above her head. My hips started to drive in fast, pistoning in and out. We didn’t do it hard like that too often. It was amazing every time we did it. It was amazing whether it was hard or soft.

 

“Yes… yes…” Sookie moaned. Her eyes rolled back a little and the flutters became pulses as her orgasm got closer and closer. “So… fucking… good…”

 

I started to swivel and grind against her on each deep, hard thrust. I watched her face as I thrust. It was the most beautiful face I’d ever seen. It wasn’t like I’d had a lot of lovers in the past, either before or after we met. She was hands down the best. For me, she was the best at everything.

 

Her walls started to pulse, milking my shaft. It felt so, so good.

 

“I’m not going to last much longer,” I panted.

 

“I don’t care, just fuck me,” she moaned. The way her walls were pulsing she wasn’t going to last much longer either. “Oh fuuuuck…”

 

I did. I came a few seconds later, thrusting right through my orgasm. I wanted to feel her cum hard. She was very, very close. I wasn’t going to stop until she did.

 

“Ohgodohgodohgod!” Sookie cried out. She came hard a few seconds after me, milking every last drop of my release from me.

 

I dropped down to kiss her hard. My hips continued to thrust slowly,

 

“I love you,” I whispered into the kiss. I did love her more than anything. I’d been in love with her from the moment I met her, I wasn’t sure of it then, but looking back I knew it was true.

 

“I love you too,” she whispered back, rocking her hips up. “I want to skip dinner.”

 

“We have a son that’s probably starving,” I groaned. I really wanted to skip it too.

 

“Damn kids,” she smiled. “You can fuck me again later.”

 

“Oh, I intend to,” I purred. “I plan on fucking you until you can’t stand up straight.”

 

“I’m going to hold you to that, Mr. Northman.”

 

“I expect nothing less, Mrs. Northman,” I smiled.

 

I kissed her one more time before I rolled off of her so we could clean up. I watched as Sookie got up to go to the bathroom. She turned on the water so we could shower quickly. I still had a lot to work out on my own. I’d decided I would open up to Sookie about the things I did and saw overseas. It was going to be a big step in the healing process. I hadn’t quite figured out what I was going to do with myself. Until I did I was going to love the hell out of my family and revel in the happiness and calmness they brought to my life.

 

 

End