Nothing but the Truth
Thanks to AB, HBO & C Harris who without their vision none of the characters would be here today. I do not own any of the True Blood characters & will hand them back to their capable hands when finished. The character of William, he is mine.
Chapter 1
Sookie tried opening her eyes. The bright light instantly made her head hurt and she closed them again. Her whole body was hurting for that matter. Just breathing was an effort. Her lips were dry and cracked and her mouth felt fuzzy. She tried to move but found the shooting pain too unbearable and a wave of dizziness spun her head like an amusement park ride. She tried moving her left arm but something was attached to it making only minimum movement possible. Sookie groaned softly and instantly a soft sweet voice shushed her. A cool hand stroked away the pillow hair that had streaked across her face. 'It's all right; it's all going to be all right. I'm here' the beloved gentle voice softly spoke.
Sookie's eyes flew open despite the discomfort this caused. 'Gran, is that you Gran?' she feebly croaked 'Am I dead Gran?' 'Very nearly dear one, it was a close call but you are going to be all right now,' Gran responded tears misting her eyes. 'Gran where am I, what happened?' 'You were in a car accident Sookie and you nearly died. You have been unconscious for over two weeks now. We thought we were going to lose you. Tell me child, do you remember anything, anything at all that happened that night?' Gran said. 'Bill, where's Bill. I want Bill,' Sookie said becoming agitated. At that moment a nurse came in and seeing Sookie awake but upset, she made some adjustments to the drip in her arm. Sookie sank back into a peaceful sleep almost immediately.
The next time Sookie woke the light in the room was dim, day giving way to sundown. Turning her head only slightly she saw Adele sitting in the bed side chair reading one of her beloved romantic novels, the kind that always have a happy ever after ending for the heroine after many trials and tribulations. A small shadow of a smile twitched at the corners of Sookies mouth, now she new that she was definitely alive and so was Adele. Reaching slowly across, Sookie patted her hand. Adele, looking up from her book smiled the same sweet smile that Sookie had always known. 'You're back with us finally. The nurse said that it would be a while before you would sleep off the morphine they gave you. Sookie, before you say anything, you were hurt in the car accident so you need to take things very slowly, no more getting upset promise me.' she said.
Weakly Sookie nodded as it was about all she could do at the moment. Carefully taking inventory Sookie went over all her body parts testing to see what worked and what didn't. She found that as a whole everything was intact and in general working order, sort of, but extremely sore with little hot pokers of shooting pain dancing randomly through her when attempting to move. Her neck was painful where a large bandage covered a deep wound and she could feel stitches pulling when she moved her left thigh. Her head was the worst; she had a constant ache like a toothache amplified a thousand times, sudden movement not being an option at the moment.
'Gran what happened?' Sookie said as she tried to get into a more comfortable position. 'Well dear, you were coming back from the real estate convention in Shreveport and were almost home when it was the oddest thing….from what we were told, you are just so lucky to be alive child. If it hadn't have been for our neighbour I don't know what would have happened. Really I blame that low account trailer trash the Rattrays for it,' Adele said not making anything much clearer for Sookie. 'The Rattrays?' Sookie exclaimed, something in the back of her head registering a vague memory. 'Why yes dear that's what he said, they were swerving all over the road' she added. 'Gran who said, I don't know who you are talking about?' Sookie questioned. 'Why if he hadn't have stopped….' but at that moment there was gentle knocking on the door and Sookie saw Adele's face light up like a lantern as a head tentatively peeped around the door way. 'Well, speak of the devil' she said beaming as a figure entered the room. 'Sookie this is the young man I was speaking of, our new neighbour. You two haven't been formally introduced,' she laughed. 'Sookie I want you to meet the man that saved your life'.
Looking over she couldn't quite see past the open door until the visitor was no more than a foot away. Looking up she let out a deep breath as she exclaimed 'Bill!' 'Please, call me William Miss Stackhouse, and it is very good to see you awake. You certainly had me worried for a while' he said smiling. 'Bill, why are you talking so funny?' William looked across at Adele with a slight question on his face. 'Sookie honey, William is over here from England, that's his English accent that you can hear. And now, since you are here, perhaps you can tell Sookie exactly what happened in the accident William, as I seem to be making a bit of a mess about it.' 'Certainly it would be my pleasure Mrs Stackhouse' William replied.
'I don't know if you recall anything about the night but there were pretty heavy rain showers on and off and that made the road very slippery. I was on my way home out near the old cemetery and you were in the car ahead of mine,' William was saying as Sookie interrupted 'Wait a minute, what do you mean you were on your way home?' 'Sookie, now don't be rude, let William tell his story and you can ask as many questions as you like later,' Adele admonished. Sookie felt like an eight year old again that was being scolded for talking in class. William gave her an encouraging smile and continued on. 'It was just as you were rounding a bend in the road that I noticed car lights in the distance coming from the opposite direction that seemed to be swerving all over the road, then it was the strangest thing.'
'Even though it had been raining heavily not more than ten minutes beforehand at that particular time it had stopped and there was a break in the clouds. With the full moon being so bright it lit up that particular section of the road and that's when I saw it. I'm not familiar with Louisiana wild life so you will have to forgive my ignorance, but for just a moment I thought it was a wolf standing caught in the headlights of the on coming car. The approaching car seeing something on the road, swerved even more erratically than before and clipped the side of your vehicle sending you spinning off the road and straight into a tree. In the mean time the other car flipped several times before landing on its roof. The Collie dog, for that's I have come to believe that I actually did see, was no where to be seen so I can only presume it was unhurt and made its own way home.'
'I instantly stopped and after checking on the couple in the car with the worst damage, I knew that there was nothing I could do for them, so I ran over to your car. You had a pretty bad hit to the head but it was a tree branch smashing through your window that had done the most damage to you, gashing your neck and your thigh. You were bleeding badly and ringing for an ambulance on my mobile, sorry force of habit, on my cell phone I think you call them, I felt that you were in danger of bleeding to death so rather than take the chance of waiting for the ambulance to arrive, I managed to get you out of the car and into mine and well, here you are.' William finished.
'But Sookie, that's not all' Adele said 'You had lost a lot of blood and like all us Stackhouses you have the distinction of being in the rarest blood group there is; AB negative. When William got you here they needed to give you a transfusion but they didn't have your blood type, now here is the most remarkable part, William is AB negative, so it was William giving you his blood that saved your life a second time'.
Sookies head was literally spinning. She could not shake the feeling that she had lived all this before but under different circumstances. She looked at the man sitting next to the bed. His auburn hair falling softly around his face, his sapphire eyes and sensitive mouth all feeling familiar.
'Who are you?' she said, the words echoing in her mind reminiscent of a past event that she couldn't quite place. 'Oh I'm terribly sorry, I should have explained' William replied. 'Sookie, as I told you this is William, William Compton. He has taken over the old Compton place and is our new neighbour. Portia Bellefluer was handling the estate and had a terrible time tracking down last living relatives after old Jessie Compton died but William explained he had been travelling and that was why he was so hard to reach, and now here he is and Sookie, he is restoring the house to its old former glory. Won't that be something?' Adele spoke enthusiastically. 'Why, did you know William that it was once home to a confederate soldier? Oh my, I forgot, of course you know that, he would have been a relative of yours wouldn't he?' 'Well actually, as I have been doing a lot of renovating, I came across a diary from those times and you know, I do believe that it was written by the person you were speaking of,' William said.
Adele was in seventh heaven. 'Well now, if that isn't the oddest coincidence? William I don't suppose I could impose upon you….oh no, but would you, would you care to come to a meeting of the Descendants of the Glorious Dead and give a talk on its contents?' she asked hopefully. William looked doubtful but seeing the excited look on Adele's face he quickly replied a little wistfully, 'Why yes, my time is my own at the moment, it would be a pleasure. As I am hoping to make Bon Temps my home I would like to get to know everyone, building bridges in the community so to speak.'
William was glad that at that moment the conversation was interrupted by a loud whoop of delight. 'Sook' Jason exclaimed as he walked in the door 'You're awake. William, good to see you again man.' Jason grinning held out his hand to him in greeting. Behind Jason, Tara stood smiling at her dearest friend.
William got up to go as he felt an intruder in this happy circle of family and friends. 'Don't go man' Jason said. The nurse entering the room put an end to the reunion as visiting hours were over. Patients needed their rest and as Sookie had only just awoken from her coma she needed to get some sleep. 'Mrs Stackhouse I can give you a lift home if you need one, it's on my way' William offered. 'Please, come back tomorrow,' Sookie said holding out her hand to him with an effort 'and thank you. I didn't thank you earlier but I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate what you have done for me,' she said softly. He smiled and gently eased her hand back onto the bed before leaving with the others.
Sookie woke the next morning feeling refreshed or as refreshed as possible with tubes still hanging out of her. The nurses like in all hospitals, were all about the business of changing sheets and sponge baths and routines. Normally this would have irritated Sookie but right now there was nothing more that she could want than to have some kind of decent wash. Her skin felt like lumpy macaroni and her hair was an oil slick. The hospital gown she was laying in had that sickly sweet milky smell that you only get when you have been seriously ill and Sookie couldn't wait to get clean and put on one of her own soft night gowns. Besides she thought, she might be in hospital but there was no reason why she couldn't at least look a little decent for visitors, her mind instantly flashing upon a pair of blue mesmerising eyes. Sookie smiled a little at the thought, hmm, I must be feeling a little better today.
Two nurses came in to make her bed at that point. 'Hi I am Jessica,' the tall red haired girl said smiling 'and this is Pam,' introducing an ash blonde with serious big blue eyes. Sookie shook herself, again she had the oddest sensation, almost a feeling of deja vu but not quite, there was something about seeing the two nurses but she just couldn't quite grasp it. Still, she was glad to be helped out of bed with care and, joy of joys, assisted into the shower where with every care she was able to even wash her hair. When finished, Jessica and Pam encouraged her to sit in the chair while they changed the bed. While sitting waiting to get back into bed, the doctor who had been attending her made his rounds. Jessica did the introductions 'Sookie this is Dr Ericsson'. 'Good to see you awake and out of bed Sookie' the tall blonde doctor said to her, holding out his hand. 'We just need to do a few more routine tests then we'll see about getting that drip taken out for you. How are your pain levels on a scale of one to ten?' he asked as he shone a light in her eyes and then examined her neck.
He was taking her pulse when he quickly looked at her face alarmed by the sudden jump in her heart rate. William had walked quietly into the room unnoticed by the doctor and turned to leave, embarrassed that he had intruded. Sookie's gown was still pulled up from the examination of her thigh and left very little to the imagination. Quickly adjusting it, she called out 'William, please don't go'. He was carrying a bunch of flowers for her and looked a little sheepish. Sookie blushed too as she realised the cause of his discomfort. Dr Ericsson gave a small nod. 'Mr Compton' he said rather formerly and shook hands before turning back to face Sookie. 'Your wounds are healing well and there should be little scarring,' he said with the faintest of accents. 'Right now, what you need most is to get up and start walking, it will help the recovery processes. You will have a long road of rehabilitation but you won't have any lasting impediments if you stick with it,' and smiling slightly as he left the room he added 'I will see you again on my next rounds'.
'Well, that's good news' said William smiling, still standing with the flowers in his hand. Sookie couldn't help but stare at him; it was just the oddest feeling, why it was just like she knew him she thought. She shook her head, this was crazy. Forcing herself to focus, she cautiously attempted to stand up. 'Please let me help you' William reached out with his hand to steady her, gently holding her arm. His hand on her arm was so soft and warm, and was so elegant, so expressive. Oh Lord Sookie thought, it must be the remnants of the drugs making her fanciful, as she took a few shuffling steps. 'William, would you mind…you heard the doctor, the sooner I get walking the better, do you think you could just walk with me a bit? Only till I get a bit steadier,' she asked looking up at him.
Leaving the flowers on the bedside table Sookie took her first steps towards recovery with William at her side. Slowly shuffling, wheeling her drip along with her, William slowed his pace to match hers. He was quiet and she liked that. It was a comfortable silence. Her head was still hurting but she realised that she hadn't noticed it so much, nor the other aches and pains. There was something so comforting about William. He had an aura to him, one of …she couldn't quite decide if it was peace or sadness but there was something unmistakable that left an impression on her. What was that saying people had, 'an old soul', yes that was it, that was sort of what she glimmered from him, he was an old soul.
To be continued….