Notes: Ok I totally didn't use a beta, and frankly I wrote this on a whim. I have an idea for more, but it's really up to the readers as to if it will continue. Please read and review if you have interest in seeing anything else here. Charlaine Harris is master of all- I just like to play dress up. I own nothing.

My name is Sookie Stackhouse. I'm a co-producer/co-creator and puppeteer for the extremely popular children's television show Flax Boulevard filmed right here in Louisiana. In my world things are never simple. I'm a telepath, which means I can read the thoughts of those around me- hence the lack of simplicity in my life. That is why I chose to work in children's entertainment. Simple concepts designed to teach children basic skills and understanding, that doesn't sound so complicated, does it?

Besides the horrid thoughts of the real world, I've found that in general I work with a happy group of people and that makes my job easier. There has been the odd bad experience, like the time I overheard the ugly thoughts of the man who snuck on set to get a glimpse of some of our child actors. Or the time I learned about Tara, the costume designer, having a miscarriage. It wasn't all unicorns and rainbows, but generally I enjoyed my work and the thoughts of children were always sunny enough to chase away the darkness.

Life changed dramatically for everyone the night that would come to be known as The Great Revelation. Vampires revealed their existence to the world and things have never been the same. The day after the big announcement I was in my office very early. I'd called an emergency meeting of my best writers and even a few child psychologists I had on staff. We had to help calm the fears of parents, and explain to children what this change in their world would come to mean to them.

Gathered around the conference table with copious amounts of coffee on hand my team and I deliberated what it was we should do. When Gran, our most beloved human character on the show, had died of natural causes we chose to address the issue of death. When Hurricane Katrina struck we chose to explore the topic of natural disaster and help those children struggling to understand and relate to the struggles of its victims. Now that there was a new and potentially scary subject to deal with we chose to tackle it as we would any other.

We tossed ideas around about how best to portray a message of tolerance and caution without upsetting too many parents, until at last we settled on creating a new character for the show. A vampire character. We tried in vain to contact anyone involved in the Vampire League of America's press office in hopes of them sending us a liaison, but they never did return any of our calls. My partner, co-creator, fellow puppeteer and long time friend, Sam Merlotte and I decided to place a casting call for new puppeteers who would help us mold our new addition to the Blvd family. We had to act fast because we were hoping to get the episode shot and to air in just a few weeks time.

Most of the creations we saw were dressed in dark capes, or plunging necklines, with fangs and Dracula-esque accents. As we sat through nine straight hours of over the top, stereotypical, or just downright bigoted ideas about vampires I was starting to lose hope. It was dark outside, and my stomach was telling me it was way past dinner time. Then a vision of a man walked in carrying a smaller puppet version of himself. He introduced himself as Eric Northman in a slight accent I didn't recognize. He had only auditioned on a whim, because he never intended on working in television.

His long blond hair was gathered at the neck and tied loosely with a leather cord. He had piercing blue eyes that stood out starkly from his pale skin and very strong features that made him manly and beautiful at the same time. His arms and legs seemed to go on forever, and his jeans were just tight enough for me to imagine what was under them. The puppet version of him was dressed similarly in blue jeans and a black t shirt, but the puppet's hair hung loose. It made me imagine running my hands through Eric's long locks before I could stop myself.

I was sure a blush had crossed my cheeks and I attempted to listen in on his thoughts, making sure he didn't notice my attraction. It was as if he wasn't there. Silence. Air. A black hole. I had never encountered such a thing before. Some people were harder to read then others, but there was always something there. I was so intrigued by him that I found I was unable to focus on the interview at hand. Luckily, Sam noticed and chalked it up to exhaustion. He took over the audition as I tried to keep my mind out of the gutter. I could picture my hands exploring his chest, unbuttoning his pants, wrapping my hands around…

Sam stood, breaking my chain of thoughts.

"Well," he said, extending his hand to Eric "we'll get back to you once we've made our decision." The man I'd been fantasizing about simply nodded in response to Sam's open hand, turned, and walked away. "He was the best we've seen, but there was something about him I just didn't like. He's too cocky, just something off about him. We should keep looking."

"I don't think so. He was the best we've seen and we don't have much time on this. Plus, I think we've seen everyone within a thousand mile radius. I'm done looking."

Sam cocked his head to the side and lifted one eyebrow at me, it reminded me so much of his character on the show, Woofly, that I had to laugh and pat his head. He chuckled in response. "You're right. I'm sure we can work with him. I trust your judgment, Sook." He kissed me on the cheek, gathered all his notes, and headed towards the parking lot.

I was left standing there, feeling a wee bit guilty. I knew Sam had always wanted to make more of our friendship, but it had just never happened. He would submit to my wishes on just about anything, and truthfully, I wasn't sure this one was one he should have agreed to. Had I chosen Eric because he was good for the show? Or because he was sex on a stick? Either way, I would have to be very careful around him. He was unreadable and just gorgeous enough to cause me some real trouble.

****

The writers' meeting was first thing the next morning. Sam and I provided snapshots of the new character, Alex Viking, to the group. Mr. Northman's creation had no name when he was presented to us, so we took the liberty of choosing a name based on our insight into building successful characters for children. The back story and general idea was provided by the creator of the puppet and we used that as a jumping off point. Alex is a vampire; he was a Viking and lived over 1000 years ago. This would give us a chance to introduce some history elements to the show as well, and provide us with a theme for the other characters to work around. All the residents of Flax would want to meet and learn about our new arrival.

It would be our first ever episode to take place at night and shooting was to start as soon as possible, tomorrow, if we could get a hold of Mr. Northman in time. We had to bring in the animators and the master of our stock footage to come up with some non-puppet or non-actor segments in the episode that could tie into vamps or Vikings. Our letter of the day would be V. After sketches and storyboards were finalized I went down to meet with the rest of the cast on set and to film my own segments.

My character is Louisey Anna; she lives with Miss. Isis Ippi. Louie, as I call her, is a pink puppet with a blonde ponytail and big blue eyes. She is a little reserved and likes the outdoors, books, and quiet activities. Her roommate, and as a result my roommate, is performed by Amelia Broadway. Amelia's character, Miss for short, is a light blue puppet with short dark hair and brown eyes. She has the ultimate imagination and can be somewhat irritating to my character, plus she always carries around a stuffed bunny and sings to it sometimes.

When I got to the set they were just breaking. I had everyone meet at the craft services table for refreshments while I quickly briefed them on the changes. Bill was first to arrive. He and I had flirted with each other, but I'd never let it get very far. After all, he was the guy in the giant duck suit five days a week. Big Bill, in character, but I wasn't so sure about below the waist. His counterpart, Mr. Bubbalopagols, (a giant green furry monster with a lisp, who was supposed to be Big Bill's imaginary friend) played by Bubba Green was next to join us. Bubba used to be a professional Elvis impersonator in Vegas, but had to give it up after a drug overdose caused some brain damage; he is better suited to children's' entertainment now.

Two of the human actors, Hoyt, and Holly, who played a married couple on the show, rounded out the rest of the pack, including: Andy the Grump (a yellow blob that lives in a shoe), played by Andy Bellefleur, Rover, (a purple monster who suffers from vanity and a hero complex,) played by my old high school boyfriend, and Tara's husband, J.P. and The Duke, (a grey puppet with shining silver clothing) portrayed by Nial. Our regular child actors were in their on set classrooms, among them, my nephew, Hunter. I would have to brief them at a later time, along with the rest of the cast not on set.

"Ok everyone, I wanted to let you all know that we are in the process of finalizing a script for our vampire episode. Ideally we'd like to start shooting tomorrow, so we can get it to air right away. I will have the final draft ready for you all by the end of the day, and I'd like you to each study it this evening. I know this is going to be a hard episode to shoot, and that there maybe some fallout because of it, but I really think we owe it to the kids to take on the subject." As I spoke I held my hands up in protest, to prevent everyone from interrupting; they were so used to the gesture that no one dared speak.

When I finished, I lowered my hands, as a signal I was ready to answer any questions. The first came from Niall, still holding his puppet designed to teach children about numbers and practice basic counting.

"Do we have anyone from the vampire press available to walk us through the myths and the falsehoods surrounding our new citizens?"

That was typical of Nial, he was born in the wrong century, something about him just screamed English gentleman. It didn't hurt that he had an Oxford education and over forty years experience in theatre. His silver hair shined brighter than any human I have ever seen and his fine features made him striking, but soft. It took me a moment to slip back into the conversation, but no one seemed to notice.

"No. Unfortunately we have not been able to reach anyone in the press office of the Vampire League. We are flying a bit blind, I admit. But, surely we can try to avoid spreading anymore of the rumors circulating in the papers."

A nodding wave of approval met with my comments, everyone accept Andy seemed happy with the changes. He is very true to character as the curmudgeon on the block. I slapped my hands on my hips and stared straight at him. "You've got a problem with this, Andy?"

"I don't see why we should do anything to help the bloodsucker, that's all. I mean, we're putting kids at risk" he said, glaring at me through slitted eyes.

"I understand your point here, Andy, but I am not sure you understand mine. We are not going to introduce a character that puts children in a dangerous position. Our job is to create a place of tolerance and learning. You didn't have any problem with the segment we did on Jessica's Two Dads, did you? We are not going to leave our viewers in the dark about a big and scary change in their lives, with no clue about what it means. We are also helping parents open up a dialogue with their children about how to address the dangers this poses to them."

Andy slunk back into the crowd, and there was no further discussion about it. I thanked everyone for their time, and they all seemed ready to get back to work immediately. I headed over to the prop and storage department, trying to get myself ready for shooting my own scenes with Amelia. She was the only person in the cast who had had an early heads up about the new character (and his handler) we were introducing.

As my roommate and one of the only people who knew about my telepathy she felt entitled to know every detail. I obliged her most of the time because it was rare that she had any secrets from me. I spared telling her anything regarding Eric's perfectly shaped ass. Sexual harassment is no laughing matter, at least not when you're the creator of a kid's show; we all remember what happened to Pee-Wee.

When I reached up to grab Louie from her storage space I sensed Amelia in the room, and tuned into her thoughts more closely to figure out how close she was. Sometimes, people's thoughts are not clear, they don't always think in sentences, but emotions. Amelia is a pretty good broadcaster, but all I could get was images of frantic hands, and a feeling of wetness, and heat. I rounded a corner into the adjoining prop area and found the source. She was pressing herself up against one of the security guards, Tray, who was in turn smashed with his back against a shelving unit.

Before I could slink away, they came up for breath and Tray noticed me. Gently pushing Amelia back he straightened his tie and wiped his mouth. She flipped her hair and smiled at me innocently. I cleared my throat, and opened my mouth as if to speak, but I couldn't find anything to say. Turning on my heel I walked from the room shouting over my shoulder that she had less than five minutes to get to set.

She caught up to me in the hall, with Miss in hand.

"I'm ready when you are, Sook."

"So, I guess you and Tray are back on then?"

"I guess, I mean I like him." She said, as if it was that simple.

"Hmm"

I had never dated much, what with my ability to read thoughts, and the extreme difficulty to concentrate blocking out the thoughts of others while you are in the throws of passion. Sure, there were a few guys, but I never did get to just relax and enjoy myself with them, so no big O for me. I had all but given up on men. Amelia was chattering away as the director had us find our marks, but once that red recording light came on I was out of my own head and completely in character.

Our segment was always part of the silliness of the show. In the scene we were shooting Miss. Isis Ippi, had a beignet in her ear and Louisey Anna asks her a few times if she knows she has pastry in her ear, but Miss can't hear her, and that leads Louie to get more and more annoyed and louder, until at last Miss says "I can't hear you, I've got a beignet in my ear."

After I finished on set I headed back to my office to check in with Sam's efforts to get a contract with Eric Northman. He informed me right away that there was still no answer on the cell phone number provided, but he had left several messages. Maybe he has a busy day job that won't allow him to answer his phone? I resigned to take the contact information home and try to reach him later that night.

The studio was starting to wind down when I got the final copies of the script to the cast. Sam had handled informing the rest of the staff himself when he went down to shoot his scenes. He was always last to shoot because while his segments were generally short, the dog suit he wore made him horribly sweaty.

I collected my things, including Eric's number, and swung by the studio school to pick up Hunter. I usually drove him home because his parents' house was only ten minutes from my own, and I didn't really enjoy the commute to and from Bon Temps alone. It had become routine for him to tell me all about his day, and it was one of the greatest joys I had; listening to the world through the thoughts of a six year old. It was not medically possible for me to have children of my own. It was a fact I'd lived with for years and probably another reason why I chose the field I did.

Arriving home, I found Amelia preening in my bathroom. A date with Tray was my guess. Her thoughts confirmed it.

"Yours just has more counter space, and counter space is a must when you are aiming for this level of perfection." She grinned widely.

"Just clean it up before you go out."

"Of course."

When she was gone I microwaved the last slice of leftover pizza and settled on the couch for a little channel surfing. As I mindlessly flipped I found my thoughts turning to Eric Northman. Was it a good idea for me to call him? I could leave it to Sam, but that meant it would have to wait another day to get moving on this story. I debated with myself a little longer. As long as I was completely professional and kept my thoughts centered on work and off his sculpted pecks I would be fine. I paced around the living room with the TV on mute, the phone in one hand and the number in the other for a good two or three minutes agonizing over what exactly I would say.

Ten minutes later, with a telephone script designed to keep me on point in hand, I dialed nervously.

One, one ring.

Two, two rings.

I chuckled to myself as my inner dialogue was starting to sound like The Duke, but just then the line picked up, a strong male voice answered,

"Eric Northman." It said in a very natural tone.

My carefully thought out script went right out the window and words tumbled from my mouth in an incoherent string.

"I'm sorry?" The voice came on the other end of the line again. Making me silently squee like a fangirl with a newly photoshopped picture with partial nudity.

I cleared my throat a little too loudly and pulled myself together enough to say "Mr. Northman, I apologize for calling at this late hour. It's Sookie Stackhouse, by the way," I was anything but smooth, but I continued "umm, my office has been trying to reach you; we are hoping to sign you to a contract right away."

"I see. Well, I could meet with you now if you like. I own a number of businesses which divide my attention during the day, but I would be more than happy to set aside an hour or two. I am in the process of building a new nightclub and I was just headed over there to check on the renovations. Say, an hour?"

"Umm, ok, I mean I won't have any of the paperwork with me, but we could discuss your terms and go from there. What's the address?"

"444 Industrial Drive." Click, end of conversation. And with that, my boring night at home became a lot more interesting.