Author's Note-sorry it has taken me so long to post another story…..thanks again for your support and please review….thank you!

PART ONE-Ruminations

The house was silent and so too were the ones in their cozy neighborhood. Which now totaled four with the completion of the one he had never imagined would need building. But as life had thrown him so many curveballs in his long life, the fact that this one had been the resurrection of his own maker, it was nice getting a good surprise rather than a misery filled one. Everyone else was at work, he himself deicing to remain at home from Fangtasia for once. Not that he didn't enjoy being fawned over but sometimes, even her needed personal space. Private time for his thoughts. Thoughts that he usually revealed only to Sookie. But as she was over at her own job and wouldn't be home for hours, here he sat alone. At least until a second figure settled in a similar chair across a table from him.

"I am enjoying the new house….as nice as my home in Dallas was until….well, you know, you were there." Godric said with a rueful smile as they were both briefly taken back to the night when that suicide bomber had wreaked havoc. And while so many had died, there was one highlight of that evening for the Viking.

"At least I got her to get that bullet out of me." Eric said with a small smirk, a smirk that faded away, his thoughts elsewhere.

"You are looking troubled and aren't as…..well you seem off. What is it? Are you upset I have not released you? Because in the craziness of things as of late….." he trailed off as his progeny shook his head, stretching out on his chair and turning to face him. There was a pained look on the face of Eric as Godric waited for a response. Bare chested, the Viking stood up and paced, clad only in track suit bottoms and there was a gentle agitation about him as he leaned over the railing and looked upon his palatial property. Finally he spoke, his back to his maker.

"Are you ashamed of me? I have failed in many ways and the things I did in your absence….things I know now you saw and were upset by. I….never wanted to fail you and yet thinking back to when we parted ways so long ago….the things I did…the killing, the cruelty…" Eric looked at his maker, who was looking back him, his face unreadable. "I don't think I deserve this…let alone her or the life I have now."

Getting up to join him at the railing, a thoughtful, a almost equally pained looking Godric placed a hand on the shoulder of the burdened Viking. "I was to blame for making you what you were. You had lost everything you cared about and at that time I was nothing more than a monster myself. I had lost my humanity and as such, helped strip you of yours until there was not much left of your true self. For that I am to blame and if not for your travels, your meeting Nora and Pam..I do not believe you would have evolved like I had. The fact that you are where you are in your life now," the older vampire nodded slightly to the left ring finger of his lone surviving progeny. "I never thought I would see the day you would settle down-somewhat-with someone you started out as seeing as merely a tool for your personal gain."

"I won't lie….I enjoyed the kills, the fighting….I still do. But looking back as I stand here now….I am not proud of what I did and though I can go back home to commune with those I lost-my parents-I know I have their forgiveness. But what of yours? Perhaps you should have left me to burn rather than turn me. Sookie….she has brought out the person I failed to be for my father. That I failed him and my mother drove me to become so…cold and heartless."

"I helped in that transformation but you and her, along with others in your life….they brought you back to your true self. You were a proud warrior and still are. You have honor and loyalty. Not that you are a saint…." Godric managed to get a smile from his progeny. But there was still that air of misery hinging over him. And it pained Godric to know that there was little he really could do to alleviate it. Words could only do so much. "If she were to hear you say that I should have left you to die on the battlefield, how do you think that would make her feel? Do you not understand the way you changed her life? All the pain she endured from her own family and friends over the years, dealing with her abilities she had no control over? the feeling of being an outcast? Surely you could relate to those feelings. And surely you have to know how happy you have made her…."

"I….wouldn't want her to have heard me say that….do you really think I have changed her life for the better? She changed-literally-for me and I can't undo what which she-"

"She became what she has for you. And look at how she has thrived. Just as you have. That you are being so brutally honest, baring your soul, proves to me that I did manage to instill goodness in you after I had to relearn things myself. It was not a easy journey but I believe I am in a good place and I think you are as well. you have always been hard on yourself for the past mistakes and only when you let them go fully can you let yourself be free and I know this word is somewhat foreign to you but….happy."

There was a long silence as he took in the wisdom being imparted to him. He supposed even he could still learn a thing or two and as tortured as he found himself to be now and again even all these centuries later, it was a comfort he saw in his maker rather than allowing to feel like his returned maker was a crutch instead. "I am…..glad you are back. It is…..something I will not take for granted. I can not afford to take anything for granted ever again. I suppose I should lay off the devil-may-care attitude, I suppose."

"No…perhaps just use more discretion. Cockiness has gotten you in tight jams and though you have managed to escape them, I wouldn't get too complacent. Life can deal you the most unexpected of blows." Godric said. "But it can also give you gifts that you could never dare to imagine. Gifts that have presented themselves to you. I know you hurt from losses over these past years and I wish I could bring back all those you-we-have lost to us. But think of what you have now and for my part, I feel renewed, happy to be given a second chance at living again. I do not regret ending my life in Dallas but I learned form it as I existed as a spirit…the times I came before you and you alone, I felt for you all the more and wished it possible to return to help finish teach you what you needed to learn. But it turns out, you found teachers elsewhere and have even married one of them." he winked at the look on the face of the Viking, a startled, uneasy expression. "You have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams and should you think I have come to be disappointed in you, you really should think again. I feel quite the opposite, actually."

This was not what he had expected to hear, though he felt relieved. Somewhat. Nothing could erase or undo the lingering torment and memories of the past and nothing could undo the terrible things he had done. But this talk, these thoughts being imparted to him and his own to his maker…it was cathartic and he supposed it was only a part of the healing process. Honestly was something the Viking had tried to use more, not wanting to let Sookie down. "I..am glad you are back with us….me. I…..missed you." he said in a rush, the words escaping his lips before he could stop himself. And though he looked embarrassed for a moment speaking such tender sentiments to Godric, there was a feeling of pride he felt, this reunion being something he had only had in his dreams. It was then he did something he would only do for two people in his life. Kneeling at the feet of his returned maker, Eric bowed his head and pledged his loyalty once more, saying he needed to do this, that it was the right thing to do. For his own sense of honor and it was clear he would acquiesce to the whims of his maker…unless the situation warranted something different.

"You needn't pledge loyalty or obedience to me. For this night I am going to release you as you have earned it after all this time." Godric said as he gestured for his progeny to rise and it was within a few minutes, the verbal ceremony that would set free Eric from the control of Godric had concluded and as he left that painful tug signaling the severed tie, he nevertheless felt as loyal and as fiercely protective of him as he always had. They stood silent side by side, gazing over the lawn. Then came a rare mischievous smirk from the older vampire. "It has been some time since I enjoyed a good race…how about it? To the woods and back?"

Never backing down from a challenge and feeling confident in his abilities that perhaps he could win this one, Eric grinned as they climbed up to perch, on the railing of the balcony and in a flash they were off and though he beat the younger vampire, it was also not by much, a testament as to how strong and determined, agile and powerful that the younger had become on his own. He had thrived, thought Godric as they went to race again, the Viking wanting a redo to see if he could best him, and yet he was thriving because of not him but of those he had allowed to care for and vice versa. It was not until the 23rd race that the persistent Viking finally claimed victory but even he knew that it was only because his maker had allowed it. The gesture was not lost on him as they returned to the balcony. There was so much else to talk and the night was still young. That they now both felt the need to put their feelings into action was something neither could be fully prepared for, even being as old as they were.

TO BE CONTINUED