A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, so please be nice. The main story arch is set and all mapped out, but little details in the chapters can and will almost certainly change if I'm presented with great thoughts and ideas as we go along.
Sookie goes on a holiday of a life time, determined to go where the wind takes her, but is she prepared for some of the storms she'll face along the way? AU/AH
Disclaimer: These sheep belong to Charlaine Harris, I'm just putting them out to pasture for a while.
The Souvenir
"Sookie, don't ask me why, but I need you to book three weeks off work. There's no rush, book them for whenever you like, but make sure they're three weeks together." Gran was being mysterious. This wasn't like her. "Talk to Neil then let me know the dates as soon as you can."
"Okay..." Anything for Gran, but this was an odd one.
Getting three weeks together wasn't going to be easy. Sure, I'd never really had any vacation time in the five years I'd been working at Brigant's Data Solutions over in Monroe, but it was still going to be tight. Neil was sweet about it though, and a day later I called Gran back.
"Hi there, this is Adele Stackhouse. Let me have your message or news after the beep, and I will call you back as soon as I can. Thank you."
BEEP
"Hi Gran, it's Sookie, I can get the first three weeks in September. Will that be okay? What's this about? Ring me back. Hope Jason's not eating you out of house and home. Let me know if you need anything. It's Sookie, if I didn't say. Bye." I don't know why I always said that last bit; I get so flustered by answer machines, do you get that? Where you can talk yourself round in circles just saying the same darn thing over and over because you've forgotten you've already said it, then get all embarrassed? I know I sure do.I was going round in two days, so I figured we could talk about it then.
.-oOSOo-.
It was a balmy summer day when I drove over to Gran's. It was my birthday and I had the entire weekend off, everything was fine. I'd packed a change of clothes, my favourite sunbathing bikini and a handbag full of happiness.
Gran greeted me at the door with the hug that says you're home, and the sweet smell of home baking. I grew up here; it's a beautiful house – in my eyes it is anyway. Built and added to over the years, it's a hotch-potch of styles, with furniture to match. You can't see it from the main road; we're a private clan, we Stackhouses, all apart from Jason, my elder brother, whose aim in life is to be as un-private with every woman who'll look at him as it's possible for a human to be.
"I've cooked your favourite Sookie!" chirped Gran, pleased as punch.
"Anything you cook is my favourite, always has been, always will be."
I loved being home. I snuck into my old room that was still laid out as it had been when I was permanently in residence here. I dropped my bags on the bed and got ready to greet the sun. In my bikini and robe I wandered through to the kitchen to see if there was anything I could do to help Gran. It was my birthday and she was going to say no, but she'd raised me to be polite and helpful, and I was damned if I wasn't going to be a granddaughter to be proud of. She smiled at me and handed me an iced tea and told me to go relax, lunch would be ready in an hour or so.
Jason didn't live with Gran, and I often worried that she might be lonely now that I'd moved out, but it did seem that he came round regularly to do some of the more manly chores, mowing the lawn, chopping firewood and such – as well as eagerly devouring everything in Gran's fridge. I kept suggesting she put a padlock on it, but, despite being well aware of Jason's failings, she would insist on turning a blind eye to that one. "Got to keep a growing boy fed," she'd tell me whenever I commented. "Yes Gran, but we all know which bit it is that keeps growing... and it's not his feet!" And we'd both fall about laughing. I could crack a sex-related joke from time to time, goodness knows Jason had provided me with enough ammunition over the years, but I certainly wasn't the most experienced girl in the world.
"How's the love life Sookie?"
I sat up on my elbows on my favourite sun bed, lowered my sunglasses and looked up at my dear brother. It was a fair question, but a real sore subject.
"It doesn't exist Jason, John and I ain't an item any more, I'll thank ya very much for askin'." John Quinn and I had been dancing around a 'relationship' for some months, but there was always something that seemed to get in the way. In the end I just gave up and told him it wasn't worth it. The physical side was good – better than the first boyfriend I had, but then how many of us really have great sex the first time round? You neither huh!
I lay in the sun for over an hour while Gran pottered in the kitchen and Jason did whatever Jason does, rotating myself like a hog roast as the rays kissed my skin. I know it's unhealthy, and no, I don't use sun block, but I don't smoke and I barely drink, so give a girl a break! Eventually Gran called me to the table on the back porch, which she'd laid with a whole range of my favourites. After we ate our fill, Gran disappeared back into the kitchen and reappeared with a birthday cake, with 25 lit candles. She laid it on the table and went back in to fetch something else.
"Happy Birthday Sookie!" Gran handed me a beautiful grass green silk-covered folder tied with a sunshine yellow velvet ribbon. "This is a once in a life time treat. There'll be no arguing with us about it. It's from me, Jason and a few of your friends who are still in Bon Temps"
As I gingerly opened the folder and looked inside I nearly fainted. Tickets, money, details... I read through them and then stopped gawping like a fish.
"First three weeks in September Sookie – you're going to England." Jason crowed, so pleased with himself that you'd have thought he'd planned it all. I didn't doubt my brother had helped, but I knew from experience that Gran would have done all the work, and Jason would try to take all the credit. "We've got you your flights, a rental car, a couple of tourist guides and booked the first night's accommodation."
"Hopefully there's enough money to live on while you're there. It won't be a luxury break, but you're a sensible girl, a little planning and you'll make it stretch I'm sure." Gran knew me so well. I would rather have three weeks and live on beans than a luxury break that went faster than you could say 'shoot'.
I didn't know what to say, I was in absolute awe. I'd always wanted to travel, but there was no way I could afford it. This must have cost a small fortune. I threw my arms around Gran and Jason. "I can't say thank you enough!"
"Well if you can't come back after three weeks with a handsome Englishman on your arm Sook you're no sister of mine"
.-oOSOo-.
I handed my ticket to the air stewardess with a huge grin on my face. I took my seat (by the window! How exciting!) and mused over the weeks that had rushed by since Gran handed me that folder. I managed to put together what I thought would be a suitable wardrobe to take with me; according to my travel guides, English weather was notoriously fickle, and in my three weeks I could be subjected to sunshine, rain, wind, or possibly even snow, though that was highly unlikely, it being September. I had a pair of nice shoes for going out, a pair of sensible day shoes and a pair of walking boots. I really wanted to see some of that famed English countryside, possibly the Peak District, a night out in London – maybe even the theatre, and who knows what else. I'd done a little research, and quite a few people suggested playing the trip by ear. I was planning on staying in youth hostels to save money, and there were likely to be others in my position, so a chat over dinner might lead me on some amazing adventures. I'd prepared for myexhaustingly long flight: three romance novels, an iPod full of tunes, my little netbook, camera and a bag of my favourite sucking sweets.
I fastened my seat belt and tried not to get too anxious about the journey when my new neighbour appeared and put his bags in the over head locker.
"Hey girlfriend!" he sang in a husky drawl, "we have a whole heap of time to learn to love each other, I'm so excited. I can tell from your choice in books we are going to be BFFs by the end of this flight." He waved the exact same romance book at me that was sat on my lap. My eyes could not have opened wider if they'd tried. He was a well-built black man in makeup. He minced like a queen, and from the way he spoke to me I had to assume he was a gay as the merry month of May. But his manner was just so relaxed and affable that I couldn't help but chuckle, and I found myself taking an instant like to him.
"Sookie Stackhouse, nice to meet you."
"Lafayette Reynolds." He took my hand and pressed it his twinkling glossly lips. "And the pleasure, sister, is all mine."
A/N: I know there's no Eric yet... he's running some errands right now, but he'll join us eventually.
