Chapter 60: I Am Unafraid

Chapter 60: I Am Unafraid

Through the hourglass I saw you

In time you slipped away

When the mirror crashed I called you

And turned to hear you say

If only for today

I am unafraid

—Lyrics from “Take My Breath Away” (performed by Berlin; written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock)

---

“You okay?” Eric asked, once he and Sookie were in the car and headed for the lake house.

“Yeah,” she responded. “I was just thinking about how this is my first real vacation. I’ve gone to spend Thanksgiving with Gran a few times, but Bon Temps isn’t somewhere I,” she paused, “like to visit, though I do love Gran and the farmhouse.”

He squeezed her hand. “I hope you’ll like your visit here.”

“I already have,” she assured, squeezing his hand in return.

Eric maneuvered the SUV back onto the main road.

“So—how far is the lake house from here?” she asked.

“It’ll take us at least fifteen minutes to wind our way around to it,” he responded.

“Okay,” she smiled, stretching out in her seat. “Tell me a little more about this land; it’s so beautiful!”

He smiled in return. “Well—as I told you last week, Mormor has quite a bit of acreage around the lake, though the lake itself is public property. However, the little channel that leads from the main lake into Mormor’s cove is narrow and very rocky, so it’s almost impossible to get a boat through—unless it’s a very small boat, and you know exactly where to go. And only a handful of people know that. Luckily the cove is plenty big enough to enjoy in and of itself, so it’s almost as if we have our own private part of the lake! Morfar bought all of the land from the opening on one side of the cove to the opening on the other side, so Mormor—quite literally—owns every square inch of land around the cove. The outer perimeter of the land is actually perfectly square, and the lake juts into that square like a thick finger.”

“Oh,” Sookie said, closing her eyes for a moment so that she could better visualize the property. “So where will we be in relationship to your mormor’s house—across the cove from her?”

Eric shook his head. “Nope. If you think of the area around the lake as if it were a ‘U’ shape, Mormor’s house is on the top, northeast side of the ‘U’; it’s about a quarter of a mile from the main lake.” He turned the car off onto a narrow, rocky lane that could hardly qualify as a road. “The lake house is at the bottom of the ‘U,’ on the southwest side of it. There’s a small off-shoot of the lake down there, so it’s almost like a cove within a cove.”

“So how much property does your mormor own altogether here? It must be a lot.”

Eric shrugged. “If you include the water, it’s about 3,000 acres altogether. In actual land, it’s probably closer to fifteen hundred acres. And, of course, quite a bit of the land is on the shoreline.”

“Wow—that’s a lot!”

Eric nodded. “Can you imagine owning that much land in Manhattan?”

“Is there that much?” Sookie asked with a chuckle.

Eric grinned. “Well, this property is about 3 miles wide, which is wider than Manhattan, but the city is much longer.”

Sookie nodded as Eric drove cautiously over a coarsely constructed low-water bridge.

“I remember when Morfar and I could only get back here with ATVs,” Eric recalled. “I imagine that’s how it still has to be done once the snows come. However, Mormor hates this road and only comes to the lake house by boat.” He winked. “I’m sure she only encouraged me to drive tonight since she has the rental; there’s no way she would have let me bring her Fiat out here.”

Sookie giggled.

After a few minutes of silence, Eric sighed. “It’s sad really. I don’t think Mormor stays out here much since she and Morfar didn’t really get to enjoy it together before he died.”

Sookie squeezed his thigh since he was now using both hands to guide the vehicle over a particularly rough section of the road.

“It’s a shame that it stays empty so much,” she observed.

“Every once in a while, Mormor rents it out for extra income,” Eric commented, “but never when I’m visiting.”

Sookie smiled. “Because she knows you’ll want to stay in it.”

“Yeah. She’s kind of amazing like that; I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have Mormor and Morfar to come to during the summers.” He sighed. “I really did think about telling them about Appius—so many times—but for some reason, I just never did.”

She nodded in understanding. “Even when I went to live with Gran, I didn’t tell her about Michelle. I still haven’t told her much.”

He glanced over at her and smiled softly. “The important thing is that we can talk to each other now.”

Sookie nodded and then held her breath a little as the road suddenly brought them out of the woods. In a clearing in front of her was one of the most unique—and beautiful—dwellings that she’d ever seen.

“Wow!” she gasped.

“It’s pretty cool—huh?” Eric smiled as he parked the car next to the small house and got out.

In that moment, Sookie was very happy that they were so far north. There was still plenty of light from the sun despite its being almost 9:00 p.m., so she was able to truly appreciate the beauty of the building.

“Just wow!” she exclaimed as Eric opened her door and offered her his hand. “This place is amazing!”

The lake house itself was quite small, and the windows, which took up most of three sides of the building, showed her that it was sparsely decorated. The dwelling was square shaped, but the roof was something to behold, angling up in two dramatic-looking shapes.

“It looks like something from a James Bond movie!” she grinned.

Eric chuckled. “It does—doesn’t it? And just wait until you see the cave underneath,” he said dramatically, before tickling her side.

She laughed and slapped his hand away. “Hey—is there a bathroom?” she asked, only slightly afraid that he’d answer that it was a hole in the cave.

He nodded and then led her toward the entrance of the structure, which was a glass door around the side. He unlocked it, and they stepped inside the place that was to be their home for the better part of two weeks. The main room was a bedroom, and the bed and a small table next to it were the only pieces of furniture. At the back of the main room was a door, which led to a narrow room that ran along the entire rear of the structure; the room was about twenty feet long and about five feet wide. In that narrow space was something of a mishmash of items. There was a small refrigerator and stove at one end, a sink and small counter in the middle, a closet with some build-in drawers next to that, and a toilet and large shower at the other end.

“This is something else!” Sookie remarked.

Eric bent down and kissed her forehead. “I’ll go get the bags while you freshen up?”

She nodded. “Thanks.”

After closing the door behind him, Sookie quickly used the toilet before washing her hands and splashing some water on her face. Though it wasn’t that late, and New York time was several hours behind them, she was exhausted since she’d not slept at all during their overnight flight from New York to Berlin.

Returning to the main room, Sookie noticed that the bags were next to the door, and Eric was looking out the front window—his back to her.

“I love it here,” he said quietly as he gazed out onto the water. The sun was beginning its descent into the hills, and the scattered clouds in the sky ranged from red to pinkish gray.

“It’s beautiful,” Sookie said, snaking her arms around him and resting her cheek on his broad back.

“This place has been my refuge for a long time,” he whispered. “And now I can share it with you.” He turned around slowly to face her. “I want to share everything good with you, Sookie Stackhouse.”

Immediately, she felt tears burning at the corners of her eyes, but she held them back. “You already do, Eric.”

He bent down to give her a lingering, though closed-mouth kiss. It was the kind of kiss that pledged love rather than demanded lust. It was the kind of kiss that made Sookie think that anything could be possible.

She smiled up at him, but then yawned widely.

He chuckled. “Am I boring you?”

“Yes,” she giggled, a blush rising to her cheeks. “It’s easy to get bored in the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen with the most beautiful man I’ve ever known,” she joked.

He sighed dramatically and then crinkled his nose. “You think I’m beautiful?”

“Gorgeous?” she tried.

“Better,” he said, bending down to kiss her again. “Plus, you are the beautiful one here.”

She blushed even redder, but didn’t argue with him. He’d been doing his best to make sure she was used to his compliments.

“Should we unpack?” she asked, suddenly nervous when he glanced at the bed and got a hungry look in his eyes. She knew that look wasn’t about food. She was getting rather ‘hungry’ herself, and suddenly she felt much less tired.

“Yeah,” he said, rather huskily. “But—first—let me show you around a bit.”

Sookie arched an eyebrow at him in question as she looked around the sparse, though beautiful room.

He chuckled and led her back out the door and onto the deck, which wrapped around the lake house—though in somewhat irregular shapes, especially along the backside of the structure. Some portions of the deck were covered, and one such part had a small table with two chairs set at it. There was no other furniture on the deck, but Eric pointed to a small outbuilding.

“There are some mats in there that can be brought out if you want to sunbathe. They also float.” He pointed down to the lake, which was below them since the house had been built on the hillside. “And then there’s that.”

Sookie looked toward where Eric was pointing. About twenty feet from the shore was a small, floating deck of sorts, and on it were two wooden lounge chairs, facing away from each other.

“Wow—I’ve never seen anything like that!” she exclaimed looking at the floating lounge. She smiled to herself knowing that she’d now have no trouble swimming to it. Eric and she had continued her swimming lessons about four times a week, and she was already able to swim laps in the pool, though she couldn’t do it for nearly as long as Eric—and he swam about four strokes to her one. Still—she was proud of her progress. She was no longer afraid to hold her breath under water, and she’d learned how to swim the backstroke, the breaststroke, and the freestyle stroke so far. She’d tried the butterfly stroke once, but doing it had caused her to sink like a ton of bricks.

In actuality, however, the butterfly was her favorite swimming style—at least when she was watching Eric completing his laps. When he did that stroke, his body moved up and down through the water with ease and grace. And to Sookie, watching his supple muscles propel him above and below the surface was like the best kind of foreplay in the world. She licked her suddenly dry lips.

“Do you like it?” Eric asked.

“Huh?” she returned—stirred out of her lustful thoughts by the cause of them himself.

“I designed and built it,” he added with some trepidation, gesturing again toward the floating lounge.

“Really?” Sookie asked, looking once more at the piece. “It’s incredible!”

He smiled. “After Morfar died, I would spend most of my summers tinkering around in his workshop, which is near the main house. I worked on that piece for two summers before I got it right.” He chuckled. “Mormor always made sure that lots of wood was waiting for me, and she was never shy about giving me a specific job—if she needed something repaired.”

“Wait!” Sookie said in sudden realization. “Did you make the chair on the deck in New York too? The double-sided lounge chair?”

Eric nodded—his pride obvious. “I designed it, but I didn’t build it. I hired a furniture builder to do it. Do you like it?”

“It’s gorgeous. So is this,” she motioned toward the floating lounge.

He smiled even wider. “Usually, it’s kept docked underneath the house, but Mormor had it brought out for Pam, who stayed here part of last week. Every other summer, I take the time to refinish it so that the wood doesn’t crack.”

“I love it,” Sookie whispered, leaning against him. “I love you.”

Kissing her gently on the lips was the only answer Eric could give her, but she didn’t complain one bit. After lingering against each other for a while, Eric broke their embrace and took her hand, leading her down some steps. Sookie shivered a little, despite the fact that she was still wearing her hoodie.

“Cold?” Eric asked.

She nodded. “Just a little—from the breeze. But it’s okay—nothing compared to New York in the winter.”

He chuckled. “We’ll head back inside soon. I just wanted you to see how to get down to the water.”

At the bottom of the steps, Sookie smiled as she saw that there was, indeed, a cave under the lake house. The gentle waves of the large lake lapped in and out of the cave, making a lulling noise.

Shivering again, Sookie sighed contentedly as Eric wrapped her up into his warm embrace. Suddenly, as his hands stroked her sides, she felt no cold; there was only heat, flowing from him and into her. She tightened her hold around his waist, pulling herself into his body even more.

“Sookie,” he murmured as he began to kiss her, starting at her forehead and then moving to her earlobe and then her cheek and then her chin before finding her lips and leaving her breathless.

Once they were both panting for air, Eric pulled away. Even in the limited light, his eyes bore into hers, telling her exactly what he desired.

“I want you,” Eric said in a husky voice. “But if you’re too tired . . . .”

Sookie didn’t let him finish his sentence as her hands moved to his shoulders so that she could pull him down and capture his lips once more.

“I’m not too tired,” she gasped when they came up for air again.

Eric smiled. “Good.” He took her hand and led her back up the steps.

“Um—won’t people be able to see us?” she asked as she once again took in all the windows.

“If anyone were around, they could, but not from the water, and we’ll hear if a vehicle approaches,” he assured her. “In all my summers here, no one uninvited has come into the main cove of the property, let alone this little one.”

Comforted that they were, indeed, in their own private little world, Sookie followed Eric into the house, where he dimmed the lights, using a switch on the wall.

“I didn’t see an electric pole,” Sookie observed.

“The raised side of the roof actually has several solar panels. The electricity and hot water heater run on that.”

“Cool,” Sookie said, though she was hardly listening any more since Eric was taking off the fleece pullover he had on. “Anxious?” she asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

“You have no idea, min älskare,” Eric rumbled before his lips crashed into hers again.

She answered the demands of the various parts of his body with equal fervor of her own. As his lips pressed against hers, she pressed back and pulled herself closer to him by wrapping her arms around his neck and rising onto her tiptoes. When his tongue swept against hers, she savored his taste with similar swipes. As his large hands moved over her body, trying to feel everything they could reach, her much smaller ones made similar explorations.

“Sookie,” he growled as his kiss moved along her chin and then to the spot behind her ear that always elicited goose bumps on her arms and neck.

“Eric,” she whimpered, moving her hands down his back and then underneath his T-shirt until she was finally grasping his warm flesh with her cool hands.

She grunted in frustration, but understand the meaning of her primal noise perfectly well, he quickly pulled his shirt over his head. He had her hoodie, long-sleeved T-shirt, and bra off moments later. He kissed down to one of her breasts and took her nipple into his mouth.

“Eric,” she grunted for a different reason.

Feeling the need to kiss her lips again, Eric kissed back up to them—after making a short pit stop at her other breast so that it wouldn’t feel neglected. Their bare chests pressing against each other, he walked them the short distance to the bed.

“Så vacker,” Eric said in the language of the country they were in. “So beautiful,” he translated for her as he laid her down onto the bed.

Sookie watched transfixed as he stood upright and took off the rest of his clothing with as much speed as possible. They both laughed as he stumbled while trying to take off his jeans and boots at the same time. Finally triumphant, he pushed his boxer-briefs over his hips and then stepped out of them.

“Så vacker,” she repeated as she looked up at him with lust-filled eyes.

He smiled down as her even as he took her left foot into his hand and slipped off her tennis shoe. He repeated that action with her right foot and then removed her socks—one at a time and much more slowly than she would have liked.

“Eric,” she whispered almost desperately.

He shook his head, even though his darkened eyes betrayed his own impatience to be inside of her. Well—his eyes and the enormous erection swaying against his belly. That was also a clue—a big one!

Sookie’s eyes were drawn to his as he leaned forward and tugged on the elastic band of her yoga pants. He methodically pulled the garment over her hips, making sure to leave on her panties—which were becoming more and more useless by the second. As soon as her pants were off, he began slowly kissing his way up her body: first her foot, then her ankle, then her calf, then behind her knee, then her outer thigh.

“Eric,” she said insistently as she grabbed his shoulders and tried to move him to where she wanted him most. He was having none of it.

“Ha tålamod, älskare. Låt mig dyrka dig.” [“Have patience, lover. Let me worship you.”]

This time he didn’t translate, but when he moved to her other foot and repeated his slow, methodical pattern of kisses, she got the idea. All she could do was lie back and let him do as he wished with her. They’d taken their time with each other quite a bit in the weeks since they’d become sexually active, and she recognized the look in his eyes. She knew that he was storing this experience in his memory, storing it for the inevitable time when such experiences would no longer be possible. She held in her tears at that thought and let him continue without more protests from her. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed on his, determined to do some memorizing of her own.

His lips finally found her center—after nipping playfully at her inner thighs. He took his time tasting, licking, nibbling, and kissing her lower lips before teasing her clit with his lips and tongue. After a few minutes, his fingers got busy too, first rubbing and then thrusting and then curling into her.

“Faster—please,” she begged, her head now lulling from side to side in ecstasy, as her orgasm approached like a freight train.

He obeyed and moaned into her clit, the vibration sending her over the edge. As her body shook, he slowed his movements down—trying to extend her pleasure with both his fingers and his tongue.

Sookie shivered in pleasure as he removed his fingers and moved his kisses up her body, lingering for a few minutes on each of her breasts. “Beautiful. Vacker,” he sighed as he made his way to her lips, capturing them with his.

---

Eric felt the tip of his cock throbbing against Sookie’s clit, and when she arched into him, his already shaky control was threatened. In truth, he felt like he was ready to orgasm without even entering her. The thought of being inside of her without a little piece of rubber between them was almost too much for him.

“Not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet,” he repeated to himself.

“Dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies,” he tried, remembering a strategy Bobby had told him about once.

When that didn’t work, he tried to think of something disgusting—anything—that would help him to enter Sookie without immediately ejaculating, but looking into her eyes, he couldn’t think of anything unpleasant. He could only think of her and her warm body waiting for him.

And—that wasn’t helping!

“Shit!” he thought to himself as his cock lurched a bit. One thing was certain: it was definitely ready to venture into her and explode into a million pieces!

Eric took a deep breath and tried to be rational—to do his thinking with his “big head.” He and Sookie had talked about this moment—talked about the fact that neither one of them had ever had sex without a condom. They’d both been tested to make sure they were clean—which was something of a minor miracle in his case, when he thought about it. “Yes!” he thought triumphantly. That thought was helping to calm him a bit.

So he kept thinking.

“Rational, rational, rational, rational,rational, rational, rational,rational, rational, rational,” he thought.

He and Sookie both wanted this—wanted a connection without anything between them. They’d protected themselves from an unexpected pregnancy by making sure that Sookie had been on the pill for long enough for it to be in full effect.

Yes. They’d been practical.

Rational.

“Rational, rational, rational, rational, rational, rational, rational, rational, rational, rational.”

And his dick could be the same. “Okay,” he thought, hoping that his cock would overhear his words, “you and I can do this—together. We are going to go into Sookie and do a good job, and you are NOT going to erupt until AFTER she’s orgasmed again—understand?”

His cock seemed to answer by pitching against Sookie’s clit, causing her to mewl.

Eric took that as the best sign of agreement that he was going to get, even as he groaned in pleasure at the sensation.

He looked at Sookie in question—one last time—to make sure that she was sure that she wanted to make love without a rubbery “friend” onboard. Part of him didn’t think that he deserved the honor that she was about to give him, but he was ready—so fucking ready—to be inside of her.

---

“Snälla,” Sookie practically begged, saying one of the Swedish words she’d learned for their trip. “Please.”

Eric nodded and set his tip against her opening as her legs wrapped around him. Slowly, he pushed inside of her, groaning and savoring her heat.

“Shit!” he said in ecstasy as he felt every single inch of her core welcoming him.

“Oh God!” she cried out in her pleasure. Sookie had never and would never regret protecting herself—from both pregnancy and disease—during her limited sexual experiences. And she was also glad that they had waited until her birth control pills were doing their job—so that they would have no worries plaguing the backs of their minds as they joined.

But she was glad—very glad—that the waiting was over!

For join they did!

Sex with Eric had been earthshattering before! However, apparently, those little pieces of rubber that they’d been using for protection had also been robbing them of sensations that amplified everything tenfold. And the pleasure of it was almost too much to bear.

“So warm,” Eric groaned as he stilled his movements once he was fully sheathed inside of her.

As she felt his member stretching her, Sookie couldn’t find the words to contradict him—despite the fact that, to her, his member felt cool against her heated inner flesh.

Eric was breathing heavily above her, but still not moving.

“You okay?” she managed.

“It’s too good, “he answered with a pant. “I’m afraid to move—afraid that this will be over right now if I do,” he added shakily.

She giggled a little. “Well—we can always do it again.”

He chuckled even as he took some steadying breaths. “I think I’m okay now,” he said as he waggled his eyebrows. “It’s just that this feels good. So. Fucking. Good!”

She nodded in agreement and then moaned as he started to move out of her slowly before pushing in again.

“Eric,” she sighed, as he started a steady, slow rhythm.

He kept up that pace for a minute or so and then quickened it, causing her to cry out in pleasure as he hit her G-spot with his unfettered member. He seemed to be touching every nerve in her body at that moment, and the feeling was beyond words.

---

It was as if an invisible and mystical bond were forming inside of them, fusing their bodies and souls together forever. And they were both lost to the feeling of it as their bodies moved toward release.

“Sookie,” Eric panted above her, even as she felt his member swelling to an even greater size inside of her body. “Can I?”

“Yes!” she yelled, as her own internal muscles erupted and she came undone around him.

The feeling of her walls collapsing into what seemed to be every nerve ending of his sensitive organ was all Eric needed to finish his own journey to orgasm. And for the first time in his life, he felt his seed leave his body and move into a woman’s.

It seemed as if a million thoughts flashed through Eric’s mind as his release continued, and most of those thoughts were primal and instinctive. In that moment, he felt like the first and the only man on the earth, claiming the one woman who had been designed exclusively for him. He felt pure and privileged. He felt transported away from everything that wasn’t her. But the thought that dominated his mind was a fantasy of Sookie being round and beautiful with his child. It was a dream that he knew could never be, but the beauty of it brought tears to his eyes, and they streaked down his cheeks.

Sookie didn’t ask him about his tears. As if she could read his thoughts like an open book, she put her arms around his neck and brought her still quivering body upward so that she could meet his lips.

“We love each other, Eric,” she whispered into his mouth, saying what needed to be said for the both of them.

“Alltid,” he sighed and kissed her again. “Always.”

That kiss soon led to renewed passion between them, and though Eric was certainly no longer a teenager, his cock was definitely still behaving like he was one.

“You’re ready again?” she asked as she brightened to a nice shade of pink.

“With you?” he grunted, “always. You?”

“Alltid,” she smiled and then moaned as he kissed her neck.

Eric moved them so that she was on top of him, which was a position they’d both found that they liked. It was also a position that Sookie was still getting used to since Bill had been a “missionary” man only, not that there was anything wrong with the missionary position—when it was done right, that is. She loved the feeling of Eric on top of her, his large body cocooning her and making her feel safe. However, with Eric, all positions seemed to lead to very happy moments for both him and her, and she had enjoyed experiencing the variety of ways that they could make love.

“What are you thinking in that beautiful brain of yours?” Eric asked as she sank down onto his shaft.

For once, she was glad that she could read his lips because it was difficult for her to concentrate on anything other than his enticing mouth and his girth inside of her.

They moaned as one as she took him in fully and then stayed still for a moment.

“I’m thinking that I like this,” she said, as she looked down at their joined bodies. She put her hands onto his chest for leverage and slowly began to move her body up and down.

“You’re beautiful like this,” he grunted as he captured her breasts in his hands and then leaned upward to take one of them into his mouth.

“Eric,” she gasped at the sensation of his tongue teasing her nipple. “Bite a little,” she begged.

He complied. She’d learned early on that his own nipples were quite sensitive and responsive, and he enjoyed a little nip as well. Thus, he was more than happy to return the favor, and—from her mewling—it was clear that she was happy to get the favor returned.

After a few minutes, Eric could tell that Sookie was tiring from her exertions, so his hands went to her hips in order to help her keep up the delicious pace she’d set for them.

“Eric,” she muttered, her head slumping forward in ecstasy as he used his strength to sit up and then thrust skyward, hitting the spot inside of her that drove her mad with pleasure. She wrapped her legs around him as he continued thrusting upward to meet her own downward movements.

Soon, they were both yelling out as their orgasms rippled through them. And then they sank into each other’s embrace as they enjoyed the aftershocks of their releases. Finally, after a few pleasure-filled minutes, he withdrew and lay back, keeping her against his broad chest as he did so.

He sighed contentedly.

“Will Elsa really expect us there at 7 o’clock?” Sookie asked with a yawn.

“Oh yes,” Eric replied drowsily. “And trust me—we don’t want to be late.”

“She’ll get mad?” Sookie asked as she tried to burrow into his body even more.

“No,” Eric replied. “It’s just that she makes the best breakfasts I’ve ever had in my whole life.”

Sookie giggled even as her stomach growled. Eric’s stomach immediately gurgled as well—as if to answer hers.

They both laughed.

“Come,” he said with a grin, managing to lift her off the bed while holding her against his body; she helped out by twining her arms and legs around him.

“It’s messier without condoms,” he observed almost to himself as he began the short walk toward the back of the house.

“But better,” Sookie sighed, leaning her head into his neck.

“So. Much. Better,” he agreed with a little chuckle.

He carried her to the shower and—for once—their bathing included very little hanky-panky, though a little light petting and kissing occurred as they washed each other’s backs and then gave in and washed each other’s fronts as well. Once they were squeaky clean and had run the small water heater out of hot water, Sookie set about preparing them a couple of sandwiches as Eric unpacked their things.

While eating—in bed—they chatted contentedly about their plans for the two weeks they were to be in Sweden. Since Gran and Mormor was interested in visiting the Viking Ship Museum with them, they were all planning to make the four-hour drive to Oslo, Norway after spending four days at the lake. Then, they would spend two days in Oslo, going to the museum and doing some window shopping.

Despite already spending a couple of days shopping in Stockholm the week before, Pam was planning to fill up another new suitcase or two in a second Scandinavian capital before flying back to New York directly from Oslo. Adele would also be flying out of Norway’s capital city. Eric had already called Peder Lang and had asked if he would like to join Sookie, Mormor, and himself for lunch before they made the drive back to Mormor’s house. After that, he and Sookie planned to spend five more lazy days with Mormor before driving to Stockholm alone for their last two days in Sweden. They’d decided to go to the Birka Museum and sightsee a little before flying to New York from Stockholm.

Their plans discussed and all of their appetites sated for the moment, they curled into each other’s arms and slept soundly.

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A/N: Hello. My name is California Kat, and I have confession to make: I’m an ’80’s girl. For those of you who are with me, you will recognize this chapter’s title as coming from the song “Take My Breath Away” (performed by Berlin and featured in Top Gun). Sigh. Four words: Young, shirtless Val Kilmer. ‘Nuff said.

Anyway, though it ages me, “Take My Breath Away” was the song that seemed to work its way into my head time and again as I was writing this chapter.

I am so enjoying editing this section! A vacation from Appius was so needed—even for me! I hope you are enjoying the Sweden chapters too.

I wanted to say a special thanks to all who continue to review this story! I love hearing what you think! And another thanks to those of you who have followed to my new stories, “Gift Horse” and Scrooged.” I’ve tried not to let writing other stuff get in the way of getting you lots of chapters of this story over winter break, but it’s nice dabbling in the supernatural stories again. If anything, it’s given my brain needed distraction from this world so that I can return to it with new vigor.

Once again, many thanks to all readers!

Cheers (& beers),

Kat