So I saw today on Charlaine Harris's message board that it is Sookie's birthday. It inspired me to write a quick one-shot about Sookie's birthday. I hope everyone likes it!

These character's belong to Charlaine Harris.

It is the first day of July and it is my birthday. I woke up this morning and swore to myself it was going to be a good day. As I got into the shower to clean myself I thought back over the past ten years and how crazy they've been. I thought back to my birthdays past and how the way I spent them has changed me. It was almost as if my shower was not to clean me, but to wash away my past and start a new future.

Ten years ago, I spent my twenty sixth birthday with my boyfriend at the time Bill Compton. To think about that night sends chills down my spine to this day. I had just recently met him and our relationship was new. He was my first real boyfriend and the man I gave myself to for the first time. We spent that birthday making passionate love all night long.

It has been way too long since I've seen Bill. He moved away about eight years ago. He comes in about once a year to check on his property, but I rarely see him. Unfortunately I am the reason he left and to see him would be much too painful for both of us. He never could accept the fact that I was with Eric. I broke his heart and I feel bad about that to this day.

The next year, when I turned twenty seven, I was dating Quinn. That relationship was fairly new at the time and he was always busy with work. I spent that birthday alone. Quinn didn't have a lot of time for me between all the secrets and his work. I pondered for years whether the way I broke it off with him was right or wrong. I finally came to a realization about four years ago, that it didn't even matter. He wasn't right for me and it would have never worked anyway.

The next two birthdays I had, I was with Eric. We had a long complicated relationship that went on and off for a few years. I had first met him when I went to his club, Fangtasia, with Bill. I was twenty five at the time. As much as I hate to admit it, I was attracted to him from the start, although I found him scary as hell.

The more I was around him the more drawn to him I was. He was always there when I needed him. He saved my life on more than one occasion. He always bought me the things I needed when I couldn't afford them myself and was too proud to ask. He knew me and my needs like the back of his hand. My birthdays were no exception.

The first birthday I spent with him when I turned twenty eight, we spent a quiet night at his house in Shreveport. He cooked for me. Yes, Eric could cook. It surprised me too. He made me my favorite meal. Fried chicken and mashed potatoes. He even baked me a cake.

The meal was only half of the wonders in store for me on that night. After I'd eaten my wonderful meal he had prepared and blown out the twenty eight candles he'd placed on the cake, he whisked me away to his bedroom where we had mind-blowing sex for nearly five hours. He never got tired.

To think back at the sex, it was always mind-blowing. He knew tricks that could make a whore blush. I enjoyed each and every one of them.

The next day I arrived back at my home in Bon Temps to find that he had had all new windows installed and he had had my driveway graveled for the second time. Like I said, he always provided for me when I was too poor to provide for myself.

The next year I spent my birthday with him again. I was twenty nine. I guess he knew that nothing could top the birthday the previous year so he threw me a party at Fangtasia. He invited all my friends, even the ones he didn't like and even my brother. He and Jason hated each other. He hated the fact that Jason did not take care of me. He was old fashioned that way. He also couldn't stand the fact that Jason had raised his hand to me on a few occasions.

The party was wonderful and followed by about five hours of the mind-blowing sex I'd mentioned earlier and a brand new car the next day.

Oh, did I mention that Eric and I were married. Well, not by human standards, but we shared a blood bond and in a ceremony that he had tricked me into, I presented him with a ceremonial knife. Under vamp law that apparently meant we were married. I believe his trickery added to our eventual demise. He not only tricked me with the knife, he had tricked me into drinking his blood in the past among other things throughout the years.

For my thirtieth birthday, I was unattached. My friends Amelia and Tara took me out to my cousin Claude's strip club for ladies night. I was so glad Claude had decided to stick around after the door to the Fae world was closed and it turned out to be a great thing on that birthday.

What started out as an innocent night out with the girls ended in me taking one of the strippers home for a night that almost topped the many nights I'd spent with Eric. I guess that's what happens when you mix girls night with gin and tonics at a strip club.

When I got home that night, sexy male stripper in tow, I arrived to a houseful of roses. It turned out to be thirty dozen. Of course, they were from Eric. He just wouldn't give up on me. I don't know why I expected him to, we were bound together by blood and frankly he never gave up before the blood bond so why would he after.

By my thirty first birthday, Eric and I had gotten back together. On that birthday, he took me to Paris. Well, he took me for a week so we would be there on my birthday. He took me shopping, and site seeing and let's not forget the mind-blowing sex. He initiated me into the mile high club on that trip and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Our relationship became strained shortly after my birthday when he became King of Louisiana. He and his vamp allies had overthrown Felipe de Castro in an attempt to take over Louisiana, Arkansas, and Nevada. They won the fight and split up the territories. This led to Eric eventually moving to New Orleans which eventually led to the end of our long relationship. I love him to this day, but Bon Temps is my home and I guess that I love it more.

By the time I turned thirty two, I had finally enrolled in college. I continued working at Merlotte's to support myself while I took classes to become a veterinary technician. It was a two year program and I enjoyed every minute of it. I always loved animals so I knew it would be the perfect career choice for me.

For that birthday, some of my friends from school took me out to dinner in Shreveport. I was surprised big time when Eric walked into the restaurant with some business associates. We spoke awkwardly for a few minutes but I quickly rejoined my friends. I couldn't go there. Not that night. When I got back to my friends of course some of the girls in the group wanted the details. I explained the main points of how we dated on and off for several years without getting into it so deep that it ruined the evening.

When I got home that night, Eric and a brand new patio furniture set was waiting for me. It was actually the really expensive one I'd been looking at for months at Lowes, but couldn't bring myself to buy. I don't know how he knew I wanted it, but like I said earlier, he knew me better than the back of his hand. He told me he still loved me and begged me to move to New Orleans to be with him. Needless to say that birthday ended in tears and not the mind-blowing sex I was used to.

By my next birthday, I was dating a human named Jeff. We had met in class and became close instantly. We had been talking seriously about marriage and children, and for my thirty third birthday he bought me an engagement ring. With my new diamond ring, you better bet that birthday involved mind-blowing sex. Looking back on it, it wasn't nearly as mind-blowing as sex with Eric, but he was human so I couldn't fault him for it.

That year I also got a present I wasn't expecting. A month later I found out I was pregnant. My pregnancy didn't last past the third month, which led to us finding out that the injuries I had received when I was staked in Jackson would prevent me from ever having children. The doctor told me that it was amazing that I had ever conceived in the first place.

That eventually led to a thirty fourth birthday alone. Jeff stuck around for a couple of months after I lost the baby, but he always pictured us with a family so the fact that I could not give him one caused an end to our relationship.

Well, I wasn't completely alone. I had recently graduated and gotten a job at a local veterinary clinic. My co-workers took me out to dinner in Shreveport and then we ended the evening at Merlotte's. Sam got me a cake. Apparently my friends had told him we'd be there.

Overall that birthday was a great evening until I got home. When I arrived home I found my house filled with roses again. I'm sure you can guess where they came from. There was a note attached to one of the thirty four dozen vases. It said,

Happy Birthday My Lover,

I wanted to let you know that I am thinking of you. I know it has been a rough year for you. If you need anything I am always here.

Love,

E

When I read the note it brought tears to my eyes and I spent yet another birthday in tears. I liked the birthdays that ended in mind-blowing sex much better.

Today I'm thirty five. I have decided that not only am I going to have a good day, but I am going to have a good year. I am not going to let anything bring me down. I got out of the shower and headed to work.

Once my work day was over I headed home to get ready. My co-workers were going to take me out again. We are doing dinner in Shreveport and then we are going out to a new club that just opened up called Sunrise.

They arrived at my house to pick me up and we got to the restaurant right in time for the reservation. We had our meal and headed out to the club. I was ready to dance, drink, and have a good time. I had been dancing and found myself parched. I went over to the bar to order a gin and tonic. As I stood at the bar I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around to find Eric standing there behind me.

He said, "Lover, it's nice to see you. Happy Birthday! How do you like the club?" "Oh, hello Eric. I'm having a good time. If you'd excuse me I need to get back to my friends. It's nice to see you." "If that's what you would like then I will leave you. I am glad you like the club. It is my latest business venture. I know you would like to get back to your friends, but I was hoping that you would give me the honor of just one dance."

Oh hell, every year it is the same thing. Why can I not get away from him. It is a fast song so I guess it wouldn't hurt anything. "Well, I guess one dance wouldn't hurt." I said to him as he took my hand and led me out to the dance floor. Once we arrived on the dance floor the song ended and the song Endless Love began playing. That was definitely and OSM (Oh Shit Moment). What made it worse was that as the song began the DJ said, "This song goes out to Sookie from Eric."

I was stuck now, I had to dance with him. I would have been a horrible person if I didn't. I allowed him to take me into his arms and we swayed back and forth to the music. When the song ended he said, "Sookie I will always love you for the rest of my days. I am back in Shreveport now and I want to be with you." I felt a tear form in my eye and I said, "I have to get back to my friends." He gently kissed me on the cheek and let me go.

We left the club shortly after my dance with Eric. Although my friends asked, I couldn't bear to explain what had just happened or our history together. When I arrived home he was waiting for me. This time he had no expensive gifts. It was just him.

I met him on the porch and he pulled me into his arms. He said, "The past few years have been almost unbearable without you. I have rearranged the whole state to be with you. It has been a long process, but I am now running the state from Shreveport. Please say you will come back to me." "Eric," I said. "It's not that easy. I have my own life now and I don't know if I can go back." "Lover, then just give me one night. I'm sure I can change your mind."

I thought about his statement and felt it was a bad idea, but I agreed. I am sure the lust that was filling our bond didn't help me refuse. I ended my birthday with mind-blowing sex that lasted until dawn. I also realized that that the only reason I was so reluctant to be with him that night or any other, was because I loved him. What can I say, I am a stubborn person.

I woke up the day after my thirty fifth birthday with a new hope for the next one. The hope that I would be spending my next birthday and many future birthdays happy with the man I loved.