AUTHORS NOTE-so yesterday I fractured a bone in my wrist and it has made tying difficult while I am splinted. But Don't worry, I will be back but this short story is one I had in the pipeline and wanted to put something up at least. I will be back at it I promise and thanks again for the support!

It was long time since she had time to herself. All alone, in the cavernous, yet homey mansion she lived in and had been happy to be in for some time. Not that she had really ever needed or wanted such lavish digs….but she would be lying if she said she wasn't happy here. But with everyone gone for the night-all the neighbors in the little private gated community were her kin….and Ginger-she had free reign of the house and the time to think back and reflect on that which had brought her here. The bar was busy and it had been all hands on deck for Pam's idea to have a rare all vamp revue with not only Eric on display, but Willa and Godric as well, together on the dais for the first time. Not that any of them were too thrilled by the idea, though the Viking was all too used to being on display. And not that me minded the increased profits that followed….but it was to be a family affair. She had been invited to attend, of course but instead Sookie had decided a evening at home doing the wash and tidying the house was what she would rather do. It helped keep her grounded, besides, the house wasn't going to clean itself. She had managed to get her Viking to help out somewhat around the house, though he was not one for messes it really was a non issue. She was no slob but nor was she a neat freak. She was trying to get better, but the paths that her life had taken her on over the years, well, cleanliness had certainly taken something of a backseat.

A few hours later, as it approached midnight, she found herself still wide awake…..part of what came with being faerie and vampire, she supposed, not needing nearly as much sleep as she once did. But still, there were times she needed to recharge and pamper herself, recover for whatever was out there for their future, good or bad. And there had certainly been plenty of bad to go along with the good. But the good times had certainly outweighed the bad and she was thankful for that. After taking a hot bath which involved a tall glass of moscato, she lounged lazily in the living room, barefoot and dressed in a camisole top and shorts, a pale lilac with fluffy cloud printing. A million channels, including the premium ones and still there wasn't anything that piqued her interest. And the things she wanted to watch on Netflix she had promised to wait for Eric to have the chance to watch with her. But he was certainly more of the outdoorsy type rather then couch potato and certainly he would take books over movies or TV anytime. Still, there was come common ground they had found such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer,-which he found comically out of touch and yet he enjoyed mocking- and he did enjoy the occasional dose of sophomoric humor of South Park. sighing, she closed the laptop she was intending to use to surf the web and instead plodded up the hall to the vast library where they both kept volumes of varying tastes…and ages. Most of his books were decades old. And some were even older than that. She thought she perhaps wanted to read but instead, wandered the house, looking around at knickknacks and photos that were spaced out throughout their home. The room where he kept his family heirlooms and weapons long since collected was her admittedly least favorite room of the house and yet, she knew it was a part of him and as such, a part of her. She left that room and in the hallway here on the second story, on the wall amidst bronze sculptures of warriors and the occasional dainty female deity, she was drawn to the photos of their daughter, taken back in the brief time that she had been a baby and a young girl. And in a matter of days, she had become full grown and now lived a life of her own riling Faery. It seemed inevitable that the lineage would continue should Aurora and her husband ever have a child of their own. Another branch on a unorthodox family tree. There was yet another room, one she rarely visited and it was a unspoken rule that they would not go into to regret the past but appreciate the here and now. Still, she opened the door and found reminders of the past. There it was, the dress she had first worn when she had first met him. Though a little worn and damaged from recent adventures, it was nevertheless in one piece and was hanging on a hanger in a open closet. Though the room was sparse, that what within were poignant and strong reminders of how life could have been. There was a chair, slightly burnt that she knew all too well the origins from. Why he would have brought it with him after what he had ensured was not a mystery to her. That she felt it was a reminder to himself for what he had almost lost…that last flicker of hope, she supposed. That his chair was where he had nearly met his end on that mountain after the whole Warlow mess….she shuddered as her fingers touched the wood, almost being able to feel the pain she knew he had had when he had retreated to the mountain because of so many losses and heartache. Turning away from it, she vowed to keep her promise to not let this room be a painful reminder but to simply be a testament to where they were now. She hadn't ever pegged him for being the sentimental type, at least as far as odd, random items were. It was in the other room where the more priceless items were, such as his father's crown and things like that. But she had been a bit taken aback when she had found the particular item in the room. Picking it off the shelf that it was resting on, she took the stake in her hand. It was the one she had used to try to stake Bill once. That she had done to try to spare her Viking from harm. It had been that one moment that she had known that she had been leaning towards the wrong guy for quite some time, her instincts that had kicked in on that night had been part of the road that had led her and him to where they were now. Placing it down again, she went to leave the room, increasingly overcome with emotions that were not only sad, anger or relief but there was a note of happiness there too, that this trip down memory lane had made her stronger. Her eyes passed over the objects one last time before the left the room and though to an outsider they mattered little more than items form a rummage sale, these things, these pieces of their past made up a room of reminders not to take anything, or each other, for granted ever again. And with a gentle click of the door, she left the room, only to hear a familiar voice calling out for her and wiping a tear away, she grinned, not having expected him home so soon. But surely she was not about to argue. Nor take a moment with him for granted ever again. Oh yes, she thought to herself, the room of trinkets was certainly doing that which they had hoped it would, that reminder to be grateful was certainly reverberating through her and once reunited downstairs, the both of them.

THE END