R_S: A New York City girl takes her little sister to Bon Temps in search of her father and finds something entirely unexpected; GodricxOFC with BillxSookie and a dash of EricxSookie. Also slight hints of EricxOFC, but not really.

'I'm not the kind to take things for granted
A simple mind and two strong working hands
But at the time I thought my feet were planted
You came along and uprooted this simple man
A strong-willed woman with every chance to show it
But I didn't mind 'cause you made my life worthwhile
A beautiful woman with every reason to know it
You liked my courage and honey I sure liked your style

A country boy and city girl makin' life in this old world
We went against the grain and against all odds
It don't matter what they say, I'm gonna love you anyway
And time won't undo what you've gone and done to my heart'

Country Boy and City Girl by Clay Walker

Chapter 1

Anthony D'Angelo

The air was hot, too hot, yet the fan was too cool. A little girl sat in the passenger's seat, her chestnut curls shining in red twilight's summer rays. Her tiny fingers clutched at her doll, smoothing its blond hair and moving its arms. Shining blue eyes were locked on the dolls matching set, still entertaining a child's fantasies that they might begin to shift on their own and gaze around with the same wonder she felt. That wonder, however, was beginning to fade. She had been sitting in the car for a long time, and it was testing her already limited youthful patience. She wanted to stretch her legs, empty her tiny, swollen bladder, and get a drink other than water. Turning, her round eyes regarded the woman next to her. She was barely a woman, not yet eighteen, driving steadily. Hair that in her youth had been identical to the little girl's was now darkened with age, less silky and more intense. The humidity of the swampy state had turned her chocolate brown ringlets into wild, untamable curls that fought to escape the messy bun. Her honey hazel eyes shined like liquid gold in the sun's rays but looked tired, eyelids drooping as they continued the lackadaisical ride. Her ipod was plugged in, playing a mix of softer songs (much of it coming from strangely named bands, like The Hush Sound and Owl City) that drifted lightly from the speakers, seemingly lulling the older female into an even deeper state of relaxation. Now was as good a time as any.

"Sissy," the girl called, her child-like voice chiming like little bells, "I need to go potty." Her sister started suddenly, jerking the wheel ever so slightly. After such an extended period of near silence, the interruption had been unexpected. She glanced out of the corner of her eye.

"How can you have to go again? We just stopped at… three-thirty… and now it's almost eight." her voice trailed off as her eyes fell on the digital clock on the dashboard, a sense of shame washing over her. A guilty sigh escaped her current guardian's full, pouting lips.

"I'm sorry, Ames, I must have lost track of time. Next decent place we pass, we'll pull over n' grab some dinner too, k?" That seemed to satisfy the passenger, for she nodded contentedly and continued to gaze out the window at the passing trees, and the older of the two thanked small favors that she was such a well-behaved child. They drove for another half hour in uneventful silence, not a single establishment in sight, and the kid had begun to squirm in her seat.

"Cecilia," she whined, "I really gotta go!" The teen bit her lip nervously and nodded to her, desperately wracking her brain for a solution.

"I know, Amaryl, I'm sure we'll find some place soon… do you want me to pull over so you can go in the woods?"

The girl pulled a face, "Ew, I don't wanna go in the woods!" Cecilia rolled her eyes and increased her speed just a bit.

"Well then, you'll just have to hold it 'til we find someplace… There!" she slowed down and pointed to a sign by the roadside, "What does that say?" The child looked intently, squinted her blue eyes in concentration as she figured out the words.

"M-merl…"

"Merlotte's…" her sister prompted, hoping she pronounced the name correctly.

"Merlotte's Bar and Grill… five miles."

"Good. Do you think you can hold it for ten, fifteen minutes?" The child looked uncertain but agreed and settled back into her seat. Her sister pushed ten over the speed limit, hoping to reach the restaurant before there was an accident and silently pleading not to be stopped by a cop car. She kept her eyes peeled just in case.

When they finally reached Merlotte's, Cecilia was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't the seedy truck stop she had anticipated but what appeared to be a decent, respectable establishment, at least from the outside. She pulled into a parking space amid Amaryl's pleads for her to hurry, who she then had to remind to wait for her as she hopped out of the car before her sister was finished parking. Grabbing the child firmly by the hand, she chastised her half-heartedly as they entered. It was nice inside, quaint, with random booths, a bar, and a billiard's table. It was not crowded, certainly not so much that the two couldn't easily request a booth. First, however, the two moseyed up to the bar and addressed the two working behind it. One was an attractive but harsh looking black woman, probably in her mid-twenties, lazily cleaning a beer glass. The other was a handsome man, probably around thirty or so, just hanging up the phone. Cecilia felt just a bit of anxiety build up as they approached, mixed with the relief that her journey was near its end.

"Excuse me," she called politely, and the two stopped to regard both she and her sister curiously, "would you mind pointing us in the direction of the lady's room?"

The woman looked her up and down judgmentally while the man answered in a typical southern accent, "You're gonna have to buy something if you wanna use the facilities."

"Oh of course, we plan to stay for dinner, but it's been a pretty long car ride…" she smiled warmly and gestured to the little girl dancing awkwardly beside her. The man gave a slightly forced yet not unpleasant smile as he peered down at her.

"Well hello there, li'l lady."

"Hello, sir. Can I please use your bathroom?" He outright laughed at that, and even the sour faced woman behind the bar began to show the barest hint of an amused smile.

"Sure thing, darlin', just right through those doors." The scruffy man pointed a clearly marked door the two had previously overlooked. Her sister could have burst with pride over the child's adorableness, instead kneeling down to look her in the eyes.

"Do you think you can handle going by yourself?" The child nodded emphatically and took off as soon as her hand was freed, disappearing through the doorway. Cecilia waited until she was out of sight before she stood up, turning back to the employees. The handsome man had stopped his activities and was now leaning on the bar, his bright blue eyes boring into her. The woman continued to work but listened idly.

"Mighty cute kid y'got there, real polite. Where y'all from? And I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name…" Before she could respond, a perky blond popped up next to her, setting down her tray on the counter.

"Sam, y'all gotta tell Jane Bodehouse that if she's gonna keep harassin' the younger male customers then she's gonna have to take her business elsewhere." She paused and looked over and the younger female beside her, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were talking to someone, how rude of me!" her accent was bubbly and cute, with more of a drawl than so-called Sam's.

"Oh," Cecilia blushed, "it's no problem." The waitress's smile only widened, as though pleased by humble response.

She stuck out her hand, "I'm Sookie."

"A pleasure." The brunette accepted politely with a firm grasp.

"Nice yankee accent ya got there, guess y'all ain't from around these parts." Cecilia almost smiled despite herself. It was amazing how similar and opposing the northern and southern American culture could be. It was friendly, and the woman was certainly sweet, but that incessant curiosity that bordered on nosiness showed through. Back home, no one gave a rat's ass about your business and left you alone, unless something you did affected them… or if they wanted to be better than you. Then they gave the same idle friendliness in an effort to learn about you. The difference was in this case it was pure curiosity and back home it was more about appraising the person and salacious gossip.

"No, I hail all the way from New York city."

"Huh," the man grunted, "ain't that something. The east coast is mighty far away." This was great, her first real southern parlor talk. No one ever made idle chitchat like this back home. Well, sometimes they did but with far less amicability, often overtly fake. Something about it was oddly refreshing, and she felt herself relax into the warmth of their voices and the calmness of the conversation.

"Yeah, we've been driving three days. We probably could have made it in two, but it's hard to keep a six-year-old occupied in a car for that long." The barmaid took this opportunity to forsake her uninterested façade and interrupt.

"Then what they hell you doin' all the way out here in this podunk town? How'd y'all even hear about it?" The woman was crass and abrasive, but something in her tone still held that familiar southern gentility and made her words sound more teasing than accusatory.

"Actually I'm here looking for someone. You wouldn't happen to know an Anthony D'Angelo, would you?" The woman raised an eyebrow at that while Sam and Sookie exchanged glances.

"How do you know Anthony?" asked Sam, "You city folk all keep tabs on each other or something?"

Cecilia laughed lightly, "Something like that. He's… an old family friend, one whom I haven't seen in quite a while." Sookie shrugged, sending an apologetic look her way.

"Sorry hun, but he moved out west a few years back. Out to California, I think."

The young girl froze, as though ice water had been poured down her back. Pink lips fell slightly open as her breath caught in her throat. She struggled to appear normal as the panic set in, because she was, to put it lightly, royally fucked. She couldn't drive with Amaryl all the way across the country! Hell, she wasn't supposed to be taking her at all! He was supposed to be here, why wasn't he? It was only a matter of time before they would be stopped and brought back, and it was too risky to try and make it all the way across the country, especially if they could be traced to Bon Temps. If the officials heard that they stopped in town looking for Anthony D'Angelo, it would be all too easy to predict where they were headed, and they would be intercepted before they could reach him. It looked like she was going to have to improvise, come up with a new story and stick to it until she got the chance to hightail it out of town. After dinner, she decided, would be ideal. They could stop for the night in the next town over, somewhere where no one would have any reason to be suspicious of them.

"O-oh, what a shame." She faltered slightly but pouted convincingly, trying to put on a face of disappointment but not utter devastation, "I was really hoping to see him again." She hoped it was convincing, though the three eyed her warily.

"Yeah, too bad. You came all the way down here for him, and that little girl you're traveling with, she's your…"

"Daughter!" Cecilia blurted it out without thought, knowing it would be too suspicious for sisters matching their description to be traveling through. The others at the bar looked taken aback.

"Wait, how old are y'all?"

"Twenty-two," she answered smoothly, "And she's six, I know big for her age. I had her when I was just sixteen… we all make mistakes…" she mentally willed herself to shut-up and stop digging her hole, reminding herself that, when lying, less was more. She had already mentioned that her sister was five earlier, repeating it was entirely unnecessary. Still, this seemed to appease Sam and the black woman behind the bar, who snorted in slight ridicule. The teen had put on her daily make-up, with black-rimmed eyes surrounded with mile-long lashes of mascara and blush brushed cheeks she could easily pass for a young twenty-one without question. The only one who seemed to have an issue with her claim was the blond waitress, Sookie, whose eyes had grown dark and confused. Cecilia avoided her eyes and stared at the counter, wondering how she was going to locate Anthony D'Angelo when she knew almost nothing about him and how in the world she was going to keep Amaryl from blowing their cover story without having to explain everything to a mind that surely was too young to understand. At this moment, said child came bounding out of the bathroom and up to the group.

Cecilia peered down at her, "Did you wash your hands?" Instead of answering verbally, the child thrust her hands up so she could see the slight moisture still glistening on her skin, and her sister nodded in approval.

"Sissy," she asked, yanking on the hem of her sister's shirt, "Can I please have a glass of lemonade?" The teen winced, wracking her brain for a reasonable explanation as to why her so-called 'daughter' didn't call her 'mommy.'

Sam didn't seem to notice and turned to the black barmaid, "Tara, why don't you get the little lady a nice tall glass of our finest?"

Tara rolled her eyes, "Sure thing, boss." The sarcasm fell thick with her heavy southern twang. As he reprimanded her for her attitude, Cecilia turned to Sookie. Amaryl was distracted by the two fighting adults behind the counter.

"It's easier to have her call me that than mom, y'know pretend we're sisters, since we're less than two decades apart in age…" her awkward explanation of poor mothering trailed off.

"I didn't ask." Sookie shrugged, suddenly surlier than the southern sweetheart she had been only moments before, but it melted away almost instantly to the flouncing girl from earlier.

"Why don't we get y'all seated so you can enjoy your dinner in peace? I'll bring your daughter's drink to the table." Oblivious to the emphasis put on the word 'daughter,' Cecilia could have leapt for joy, thrilled that she was getting away with so much. They all seemed to believe her. And why shouldn't they? What reason would a young girl have to lie? She had always been paranoid, worried too much. They were in the clear.

Taking her sister by the hand, she turned to Sam, "Thank you for all your help Mr…"

"Merlotte," he answered, "Sam Merlotte, the owner. You can just call me Sam, everyone else here does. And it weren't any trouble."

"Well, then thank you Sam, this is absolutely lovely. One more quick question before I stop bothering you: You wouldn't happen to know where in California Anthony moved to, would you? We're actually on our way up to Seattle to visit some family, so stopping there really wouldn't be any trouble for us."

"I dunno anymore. Originally he moved to Los Angeles, I think. He was never really one for small town living, missed the bustle of the city I guess. But he moved again only a couple months after that, don't know where to- didn't give us another forwarding address for his mail."

"Oh," she forced a smile, which he returned, "alright. Well, thank you anyway. Have a nice night."

"You too." Turning back, she missed Sookie watching her suspiciously and only saw her pleasant smile.

"Why don't y'all follow me, I'll set you up in a quiet booth over there." They followed her to a shadowy corner that was indeed far quieter than the rest of the bar. It was cozy and set apart from the hustle and bustle, something Cecilia found herself quite thankful for. It would give her a chance to figure things out sans interruption and to maybe explain anything she needed to cover with Amaryl. The only inhabited table nearby was the booth across the way. There were four sitting there, two men, a woman, and a young girl. At least one of the men and the girl were vampires, bottles of Tru Blood sitting open before them, but she was willing to bet they all were. Just the aura of power they radiated made her certain… and maybe a bit restless.

She did not have any problem with them being there; vampires were an everyday (or rather, every night) staple of living in the city. In fact, it was pretty chic to be seen with them or at vampire clubs. She was just surprised to see them existing so openly in the Deep South, where people still had issues with homosexuals let alone the undead. Truth be told, though, they still made her a little uncomfortable on occasion. Okay, if she was being perfectly honest, they pretty often made her nervous- sometimes very nervous, actually- but she did not have any issue with them. She had met a few vampires from some of her mother's friends and gatherings, but that did not really bode well for her opinion of them, and she still could not quite wrap her mind around one of their kind in the initial meeting. Anyway it probably didn't matter; most vampires had a very parallel attitude of mutual disinterest. You don't bother them, they don't bother you. If you're interested in a little extra-curricular fun, then you are welcome to ask to accompany them. Otherwise, they aren't that interested in you. That suited her just fine.

After settling them down with their menus, Sookie flounced off to the vampire table, leaving Cecilia alone with her thoughts. Unfortunately, these thoughts all seemed to revolve around how thoroughly fucked she was. When she thought her dad lived here, she had a plan. She would bring Amaryl down here to live with him, effectively protecting her from that rat bastard Jackson while she was at college. Sure, it wasn't foolproof, but it was an effective starting point. Now, with neither hide nor hair of the man and no leads on his whereabouts, she was utterly without hope. It was possible, in theory, to drive up to LA and see what she could find, but the idea was highly ambitious. If it had taken her three days to get down here, it would take her at least four or five to make it to the city, and by that point someone was sure to have noticed their disappearance, despite her mother and Jackson being away on a second honeymoon – which, she had her suspicions, was more of a business trip and desperately attached vacation meant to appease her mother. She needed a new plan, and she needed it fast. She sat silently considering this for a few minutes, before turning to her sister. The plan was weak at best, but it was her only hope, and at this point she had nothing left to lose.

It had been a long night for Bill. He had decided to head over to Merlotte's in an effort to get out of the house and see Sookie at work. Unfortunately, experience had taught him that it was best that he kept a close, watchful eye on young Jessica. Expecting an uneventful night, they settled into a booth only to receive a surprise visit from Pam and Eric. It seemed the Sherriff of area five wished to discuss with him the ongoing vampire crisis of the moment and had tracked him down. Sookie, of course, wanted to be involved in the conversation but had to work, and thus kept flitting back and forth from the table. Jessica listened without interest, inserting her snarky little comments whenever she felt the need yet paying little attention. She was keeping her eyes peeled for Hoyt or Jason, weary of dealing with either of them. However, despite the imminent stress Bill had anticipated, the night was turning out to be not entirely disappointing. It seemed the matters Eric needed to discuss with him were not impending so much as dissipating, and they had finished early on. They even had Sookie entirely up to date on everything going on, quite the accomplishment considering the fact that she couldn't remain standing beside them for more than two minutes. Unfortunately, Eric had chosen to stay in the establishment, despite his distaste for it, most likely just to spite him. Still, he could deal with all that and reveled in its simplicity. He tuned out Jessica's idle chatter as he watched Sookie lead a young woman and child to the booth adjacent to theirs, something he found quite curious. Usually all customers were seated as far from the resident vampires as they could manage, yet these girls were rather close. Eric seemed to have picked up on it as well, judging by the way he regarded the three women from the corner of his eye. The telekinetic wasted no time making a bee-line to their table, chewing her lip in thought. Bill opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, but Eric beat him to it.

"Is something troubling you?" His voice was low, seemingly uninterested, but anyone who truly knew Eric could tell that he was taking every minute detail into careful consideration. Sookie glanced over her shoulder at the other table, where the girls didn't seem to notice.

"It's those two traveling girls over there. She's claiming to be that little girl's mother, but she's lying. And I'm worried she might've kidnapped her or something…" she turned to look Bill in the eye, making it clear that she wasn't going to owe any other vamp at the table any other favors, "Do you think you could try to listen in on them or find something out? I'm gonna try to listen in on what I can when I take their orders, but it's too suspicious for me to just stand near 'em and Sam'd kill me for lingering instead of workin' anyhow." Bill looked over at the table to the still oblivious humans and felt the need to point something out, just in case his girlfriend was overworked and it was going to her head.

"They're very clearly related, Sookie; they're nearly identical." Pam resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Bill Compton's human was fascinating, sure, and certainly helpful; however, sometimes her hero complex became a little too much to bear. Was the girl at the other table obviously lying? Yes. Did they give a flying fuck about it? No. But now that she had mentioned it, both the men would be falling over themselves, desperate to uncover the mystery of the girls at table fourteen. Joy.

"I know Bill, just that something doesn't seem right. I got a few clips of her thoughts, she's looking for Anthony D'Angelo and she wants to find him before the law finds her…" she glanced up at the bar, "I gotta go, Sam's givin me the evil eye. Just please do what you can." With that she breezed back to the siblings across the aisle.

Pam sighed heavily, "Oh what the hell, not like I've got anything better to do tonight." She made a point to focus on the conversation, as did her male companions. Jessica found she was uninterested in these new developments and busied herself playing with a sugar packet.

Bill didn't look over as he addressed her, "Jessica, talk." She looked at him curiously, pulling a bratty expression that was typically her.

"Why? I thought y'all were supposed to be listenin' in on Sookie's mysterious travelers."

"And there's nothing more suspicious than a silent table, so talk and let us pretend to listen." The teenage vampire rolled her eyes but obeyed, prattling on about this and that without care of what she was saying. Her three older counterparts found it easy to tune out the mindless dribble in an effort to hear Sookie take the orders of the girls across the floor.

"So y'all think you're ready to go? You're lemonade and the water you wanted will be out in a jiffy, so what else can I get you?" The older girl smiled at her waitress and looked across the table at the child.

"You know what you want yet, sweetie?" The girl furrowed her brow and cocked her head.

"Can I please get a grilled cheese?" she asked sweetly.

Her sister gazed reproachfully, "You may not. It's dinner time, and you need to have some protein. Since you're getting lemonade instead of milk, you have to eat something more substantial." The child sighed heavily but nodded and turned to look up at the waitress.

"May I please have a kid's hamburger, please? With extra cheese… please?"

"Aw," Sookie cooed, "sure thing hun! Ain't you just the cutest thing on this side of the river!" Amaryl shifted uncomfortably under the beam of Sookie's smile, but her sister laughed lightly.

"Yeah, she's too adorable. I'm still not sure where she gets it from." She finished the thought in her head, that she certainly didn't get it from their mother or her father. Sookie filed the thought away for future reference and smiled brightly at her.

"Well I'm sure she gets it from you. I hope you don't mind me sayin' this, but you look just darling! Hard to believe you're as old as y'are…"

Cecilia returned it effortlessly and answered breezily, "Yes, I'd imagine city living is easier than out here and leaves one a bit softer… though you don't look much older than me either."

"I'm not, just a few years. So what can I get you? A lemonade too, maybe?" The girl looked down at the menu and bit her lip.

"Just a water please, and… the smothered pork chops sound good, but how big are the servings? I'm not sure I could finish a full plate." She giggled youthfully, something both Sookie and the vampire interlopers picked up on.

"It's a lot of food, a real good deal for the price. Don't worry 'bout it, hun- you can just wrap up whatever you don't finish." The young girl smiled and nodded, handing over her menu.

"Alright, smothered pork chops it is. Thank you."

"No problem, I'll be right back with your drinks." Sookie glided away lightly, throwing a meaningful glance back at the other table. Bill acknowledged it with a nod.

"Well, she seemed motherly enough. 'You need protein.'" Pam mocked, rolling her eyes, "Terrible liar, though. A real shame, she has potential." She glanced over to see the girl ring her hands nervously as Sookie delivered their drinks.

"Awfully young to be so motherly in this day and age." Eric commented casually. No one responded, for the girl in question had addressed her younger counterpart.

"Amaryl, honey, we need to talk about something… and don't finish that lemonade before dinner, because you're not getting another one." The little girl looked up from the sugary drink she had been slurping down and put it back on the table, pouting. Feeling guilty already for the mess she had dragged the little girl into, Sissy softened her tone.

"Honey, you know how you always love to play pretend?"

The little girl nodded, a bright smile taking over her face, "Uh-huh! My favorite is house, where I can be the mommy or the princess!" Cecilia smiled softly, not questioning how on Earth one could pretend to be a princess while playing house.

"Well then, how'd you like to play a big game of pretend with me? One where no one knows we're playing pretend except us?" The child's mouth formed into a little 'o' of wonder, eyes shining and the prospect of such an exciting game. Back at the other table, Eric and Pam couldn't help but smirk and exchange conspiratorial glances, somewhat impressed and amused by the way she was manipulating the child.

"Can we do that?" she asked breathlessly.

"Of course, it'll be super fun! I'll be the mommy and you be the baby, and we'll tell everyone you're my daughter. We can even change our names…"

"I dunno… would mom like it if we played that?"

"Oh she'd think it was adorable!"

"Ok… when can we tell her about it? I haven't talked to her since she and daddy went on vacation, when is she gonna call?"

"Soon, baby, real soon. So whaddya say; wanna play this game with me?" The girl looked down, back at her older sister, and down again, uncertain. It certainly sounded fun, but she still wasn't sure…

"Can my name be anything I want?" Mentally, Cecilia reviewed the conversation since she entered the bar. Never had their names been mentioned, the closes being 'Sissy,' which she had written off as being a nickname for sister. Their names could truly be anything. But, just in case, maybe she would pick a name for herself that Sissy could still work as a nickname for.

"Sure, honey, whatever you want."

"Oooh, can it be Sarah? I love the name Sarah!"

Sissy laughed, "Ok, sweetie, you can be Sarah. You'll be Sarah… Brown, how's that?"

"Awesome! What's your name gonna be?"

"How about… Melissa? This way if you forget and accidentally call me Sissy no one will know."

"I won't forget! But ok, Melissa what?"

She laughed, "Brown, silly! If I'm your mommy we've got to have the same name. But remember, this is our little secret, so sshhh!" She put a finger up to her lips and the child giggled for a few moments. Suddenly, however, she furrowed her brow and cocked her head.

"You're a lot younger than everyone else's mommys." A little part of Sissy wanted to strangle her sister for being so smart for her age… then again, it made her endearing. Besides, this gave her the perfect opportunity to convince the child to lie about her age. And by 'lie' she meant 'play pretend in relation to,' of course.

"Well then, we'll just have to tell everyone that I'm twenty."

"That's still really young…"

"Too late, hun, I've decided. I'm twenty. And we'll say you're five instead of six, ok?"

"But-"

"Please, Ames- I mean, Sarah."

The child sighed and rolled her eyes, "Fiiiine…" Cecilia laughed, pleased with the progress between her and her sister, and allowed the conversation to drift away to other topics, such as how Timmy from day camp put a frog in the girl's bathroom. At the table across the way, the cluster of vampires turned to each other. Bill mulled over what they had learned intently, however Eric seemed only vaguely interested and Pam only pulled idly at lint on her blouse. Jessica was still jabbering away idly, causing the eldest vamp to roll his eyes.

"Please shut her up." The redhead sniffed indignantly at him but did as asked.

"So they're sisters on the run, so what?" Pam asked uninterestedly, "Why the fuck should we care? It's certainly not any of our business. Let's just get out of this shithole full of humans and head back to Fangtasia."

Bill mockingly toasted her and Eric with his bottle, "Please, don't stay just on our account." Pam sneered in response, but Eric waved her off.

"Quiet, Pam. I'm somewhat curious, now, to see how this all plays out."

"We haven't fed yet tonight." She knew it was a mistake the minute she said it as Eric turned to look at her calmly, a potentially more dangerous expression than if he were to openly glare at her.

"Then order a bottle of Tru Blood to tide you over." She quieted down after that, and Bill motioned Sookie over with a smirk. She sped right to them without question.

"What'd you find out?" she breathed, sneaking a furtive glance at the girls' table.

"Nothing that wasn't obvious: they're sisters pretending to be mother and daughter, and they're going to lie to you about their names and ages. Oh and Pam here," Bill smirked, motioning to the pouting woman, "would like a bottle of Tru Blood." Her glare trained itself on him heatedly.

"… What?" Sookie asked, looking between the two confusedly. She shook her head after a moment, figuring it was some sort of vampire inside joke and she should just collect the order and forget about it.

"Will there be anything else you require of us regarding the girls?" Eric interrupted.

Sookie plastered on a smile, "Oh well thank you, but y'all really don't have to stay for that. I don't wanna keep ya, I mean Bill's gonna be here anyway so there's no need for you to ignore what other things you might have to do…" She really did not savor the idea of Eric doing her a favor, and she really hoped he would accept that and be done with it. For his part, he seemed to relish her discomfort and leaned back in the seat.

"Oh not at all, I would be happy to stay. Pam can handle anything that might need attention back at Fangtasia." Pam brightened slightly at this, welcoming her escape as Eric stood to let her out of the booth. She bid them a curt goodnight and wished them a sarcastic 'good luck with the mystery of the girls at table 14,' before walking purposefully out of the restaurant. Sookie just looked between everyone with obvious confusion, mumbling idly that they were not seated at table 14 but letting it go.

"So… forget the Tru Blood then? Oh shoot, I gotta go- their food's ready. Bill, honey, lemme know if you find out anything else." On that note she scurried over to Sam, who chastised her weakly for spending more time with her boyfriend than her work.

"It ain't about that, Sam!" she argued in a heated whisper, "It's those girls; they ain't mother n' daughter."

"Damn Sook, what've ya gone n' gotten yourself into now?" He threw up his arms and turned away from her, running a quick hand through his shaggy hair. He was about up to his fill with the craziness that had suddenly become focused around his bar. Once upon a time, Merlotte's had been a nice, quiet, normal little establishment where you could come get a quick bite and a drink. Now everything seemed to have gone to hell in a hand basket, and Sookie was always looking to stick her nose in it and get them all even more involved. Here she strikes again.

She sent him a tight glare, hands on her hips, "I haven't gotten myself into anything, I just wanna know why two young sisters are posin' as mother n' daughter n' travelin' all this way. It's mighty suspicious to me, that's all, and I'm dang sure that Sissy girl ain't even legal."

"Well is she orderin' a drink?" he asked, turning to her.

"No, but-"

"Then it ain't none of our business. Now go on n' bring 'em their food and get back to work." For a moment Sookie remained, deliberating arguing with her boss further, but in the end she thought better of it and marched off to bring the girls their food. When she got there, they were giggling as they played tic-tac-toe on a napkin. It made her heart swell a little. They looked incredibly happy, and she felt so guilty messing with that. But they were young, and it wasn't safe for young girls to be traveling alone. She had to meddle for their own good.

"Soup's up!" Sookie announced cheerily, setting down the plates. Amaryl looked at her confused, furrowing her brow.

"But nobody ordered any soup." The women laughed lightly, and at the other table, Jessica's eyes softened as her lips spread into a warm smile at the memory of her own sister.

"Aw, it's just a figure of speech, pumpkin, I know what y'all ordered. A burger with extra extra cheese for the lil princess," as she set the plate down, she sent the child a wink that madder her giggle, "n' smothered pork chops for Ms… Y'know I'm sorry, but I don't think I caught your name."

"It's Sissy!" Amaryl called out, picking up her burger, "She's Melissa Brown, and I'm Sarah Brown. She's my mommy." She grinned fiendishly at her big sister, who resisted the urge to break down and cry. This was not going anyway like she planned it, getting a six-year-old to lie believably was virtually impossible. In her mind, Sookie listened to her praise herself for being such a good pretender and remembering everything Sissy had told her to say. Resisting the urge to tell the young woman off for manipulating children and teaching them to lie, she turned a sweet smile to the little girl.

"Aw, y'all are just too cute! N' so big! How old are ya?"

"I'm six-"

"She's five!" Cecilia intervened with a nervous laugh, "You know kids at that age; they all wish they were older. But she's five."

"And she's twenty!" Amaryl interrupted purposefully, proud of herself for remembering one of their ages correctly.

"Huh, that's funny… I thought you said earlier that y'all were six n' twenty-two." Turning to face the older girl, Sookie listened calmly to the panic that swirled through her head and across her face with such clarity that she did not need to be a mind reader to tell what was going on.

"Well I, uh…" she stuttered for a few moments before giving up, "Aw shit."

End of Chapter

R_S: Writing children is really difficult… Anyway, the first couple chapters probably won't be the best, because I'll be setting up the story, but I have a lot of stuff planned out =)