AN: So I realized that Ice & Firelight, much like season 5, is going to take a long time dragging through the drama before the possibility of a happy ending. And like most Americans, I want my happy ending now! So here it is.

Inspired by a shorter interlude in Ice & Firelight, this diversion takes place in the True Blood-verse rather than SVM (if only because I'm less familiar with the books). Any plot points amended from the show are pure convenience. There really is no substance beneath this flight of fantasy.

Rated T for now. For mild suggestive themes but nothing too mature. Rating may change.

Part One: First Flight


Meet me in outer space

I will hold you close

If you're afraid of heights

I need you to see this place

It might be the only way

That I can show you how it feels

To be inside of you


"You can fly?" Sookie asked the first time she saw Eric come down from the sky. The answer seemed obvious but she stared at his hovering moonlit form in wonder, disbelieving her own eyes.

"Yes," Eric answered simply. He landed softly on the grass in front of the old farmhouse and extended his hand to her. "Would you like to join me?"

Sookie was regarding him with extreme interest and Eric wasn't one to pass up an opening when he saw one. Her usual stubbornness was replaced by curiosity and he knew seeing the world from above with him would bring them closer together.

"Join you… up there?" Sookie hedged, pointing upwards. "Is it safe?" she asked.

"I know what you mean, Sookie," Eric replied smoothly. "You are asking if I am going to drop you and the answer is no."

Sookie eyed the starlit sky suspiciously as though it could tell her what she should do. His dramatic entrance was tempting her to forget to ask why he was here. She really should, especially since the last time she saw him he confessed to stealing her house while she was gone. But talking would complicate everything and undoubtedly ruin her night.

She was too tired to argue with him after working an extra shift as a favor for Holly. Eric's outstretched hand was an invitation to forget her real life problems for a little while and step into a dream where handsome supernatural men appeared on her property and flew her away into the night. How many chances could she possibly get to fly?

"This doesn't change anything," Sookie touted reluctantly. "Not everyone gets a chance like this but that doesn't mean I accept what you did."

"We'll see," he answered cryptically.

Sookie frowned at his answer but supposed it was the closest to agreement she was ever going to get from Eric. She moved forward and grasped his proffered hand, taking a deep, bracing breath.

Eric just stared at her obstinately. "You're going to have to get closer than that if we are going anywhere," he told her plainly.

Sookie wasn't sure how thrilled she was at the idea of cuddling up to Eric Northman at this point. However, she saw his logic. She stepped closer and planted her other hand firmly on his shoulder. His arm snaked around her waist and gently pulled her a little closer to him.

Looking down, the waitress softly placed her feet atop his; she figured as a vampire he could handle her weight. In this posture she felt like they could take off dancing in the misty evening under the stars. From deep in her memory, Sookie pictured herself dancing with her feet on her father's toes as a very small girl.

"Are you ready?" Eric asked.

"As I'll ever be," Sookie answered.

She lifted her head to peer up at him with fear and excitement warring in her eyes. Eric flashed his trademark grin and she felt the subtle shift of his body against her. Startled, she grasped his hand and wrapped her arm more tightly around his shoulder. Inwardly, he celebrated the triumph. Was this all it took to have Sookie Stackhouse falling over him?

"Are we going?" Sookie asked nervously. She wanted to do this but the wait was giving her too much time to think and she was having doubts.

"Look around," Eric murmured and it was a deep, low sound.

Sookie craned her neck to see around the wall of his chest and shoulders. They were hovering just a few feet off the ground now and rising slowly into the air. As she saw the ground departing beneath her, she felt the soft breeze against her skin and the heady, weightless feeling of just floating there without touching the ground. She could only compare jumping on a giant trampoline as a child, hovering mid-air, to the feeling she got hovering with Eric now. She pulled a fraction closer to the only thing keeping her from falling to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Eric questioned cautiously. He didn't want to scare her and the last thing he needed was an airsick barmaid losing her dinner all over him.

"Yeah," Sookie breathed, gazing down at the retreating ground in wonder. As they rose higher she turned her head to look down on her home. "Oh, look at the house! It's so beautiful from up here."

Against the shadows of the trees, the lights softly illuminated the glistening white and yellow paint so that the house practically glowed like a golden beacon of comfort and familiarity.

"You must be glad someone cleaned it up," Eric teased with not the first, and surely not the last, winning smirk of the evening.

"You're determined not to let me enjoy this, aren't you?" Sookie snapped dryly.

"On the contrary," Eric argued, dismissing their bantering effortlessly. "Where do you want to go?"

Boy, that was a loaded question. There were so many places she'd like to go, but they were all far and away. Much further than even a flying vampire could travel in one night. Really, the destination did not matter as much as experiencing the magic of flight.

"I don't care," Sookie told him honestly. "Everything looks different from above."

"Hold on," he advised, encasing his tiny half-fairy in strong arms.

Sookie pressed her nose into his chest as they took off, gaining speed and altitude. It was dizzying. She hadn't yet had the chance to ride a roller coaster but she imagined this must be close. Sookie hoped Eric remembered that she needed air.

The waitress didn't dare look down but she chanced a look up at a cloudless sky dotted with stars. They were clearer up here, not dimmed by the constant light pollution of modern times. The black of the sky was darker and each little while light burned that much brighter. Noticing her fascination, Eric looked down and caught her eyes. Blushing, she quickly brought her head down to once again stare into the black expanse of his shirt. The undeniable romance of the whole situation was not lost on her. This was an experience plucked right out of a fairy tale but it was not one she ever thought she would share with Eric of all people.

Still wearing her uniform from work, the scant black shorts and cropped sleeves of her white shirt left more exposed than she would have liked. The rushing air was cold against her skin and she felt the goosebumps rise on her legs and arms. When she shivered lightly, Eric held her that much closer and she nearly laughed at the idea of a vampire providing body heat.

They slowed down and Sookie was grateful for the respite. She wondered how far they had travelled. Eric's eyes were still trained on her, watching and analyzing her reaction.

"The dive where you work," Eric announced suddenly, gesturing below.

"Merlotte's. And it's not a dive," Sookie defended. She pulled away from Eric just a fraction to look down on the familiar bar below. "I can't believe we're here already."

"If you were mine, you would always travel like this," he supplied helpfully.

"Only at night," Sookie pointed out with a wry smile. "And anyway I'm not discussing this with you tonight."

She watched the local drunks she was used to serving smoke and cavort just outside the door. She could hear their bawdy conversation but to her delight she couldn't hear them at all. The distance seemed to dim her telepathic abilities so she could simply watch as a passive observer.

The faint sound of country rock music drifted up each time the door opened. If she really listened, she could only just make out the sounds of her co-workers voices. She recognized Sam yelling at one of his employees, although it could have been anyone really. Lafayette must have been calling out orders as he cooked them. Arlene muttered bitterly under her breath about something or another as she came outside to dump the trash.

Sookie was transfixed, seeing her plain old everyday place of employment transformed.

"Are we going to see Fangtasia too?" she asked suddenly. Sookie wondered if the neon lights lit up the whole sky in Shreveport with a garish red hue. She almost giggled at the thought of Pam standing outside, just a tiny dot far beneath them.

Eric had to take a moment to think on that. It was very intriguing that her thoughts automatically went to his bar. He liked the idea of her intuitively thinking of him. But she was being unusually receptive tonight and although he didn't want it to end, Eric went with the honest answer.

"If we did, I'm not sure I could get you back by dawn," he reasoned simply.

Sookie nodded in understanding. Maybe next time, she thought and then banished that crazy notion away. As if she could afford to spend her nights flying around with a manipulative bastard of a vampire.

"Do you want to see your town?" Eric asked in a measured tone.

"Not really," Sookie replied with conviction.

Eric wasn't surprised. Sookie had a shaky relationship with the residents of Bon Temps. He wondered what he could show her in the time they had left.

"You know where Jason's house is, don't you?" Sookie asked, bringing him back from his thoughts.

The place where you ran and hid from me, Eric remembered. But she was being sweet and compliant so he kept his mouth shut and simply nodded.

"Can you take me there?" she requested politely.

Unpretentious, curious, and obedient: his Sookie was full of surprises tonight.

"As you wish," Eric's voice consented and she felt the rumble deep in his chest.

This was probably too close. She was pressed against him again, her body aligned with his and her face pressed safely into the place where his heart would thump if it were beating. Eric gripped her tightly as the air whipped wildly around them.

The wind was so strong her hair came loose from its band, dancing and flowing aimlessly below his face. The scent was strong in the thin night air and its perfume assaulted Eric's senses like a powerful drug. He lowered his head to bury his nose in its fragrant softness, nearly losing sight of where they were headed. The need to claim her was strong and irritatingly distracting. He wanted to stop all of this chasing and eluding nonsense and simply ravage her until the rising of the sun.

Chancing a glance downward, Sookie caught sight of the house where she lived as a young girl.

"We're here," she chirped with growing excitement. "To the left. Over there." She bravely pulled her arm from his shoulder to point away from her childhood home and into the surrounding forest. "Can you get us closer to the trees?"

Curious of her intentions, Eric glided them down toward the tree line. He watched Sookie scan the canopy for some unknown sign or landmark. She leaned too far away from him and pitched backward, losing her precarious balance. She shrieked in pure dread as adrenaline flooded her system and her heart seized with fear. I'm going to fall. I'm going to fall! She thought as panic took over.

Eric easily corrected her stability, drawing her flush against him. He shushed her terror away, stroking her back gently.

"I told you, I won't let you fall," Eric assured her.

Sookie blinked away frightful tears and tried to calm her breathing and her rapid heartbeat. She hugged Eric gratefully. At first he went stiff at the abrupt contact but then he seemed to remember he enjoyed all contact with her, and relaxed into the embrace. After a moment Sookie spotted it in her peripheral vision, a clearing of trees with a dense shadow amid strong branches.

"Down there!" she exclaimed happily and pointed directly at the gap in the forest. "There it is."

Eric's gaze followed her finger and they traveled in its path, descending slowly until their feet touched down in the tall, dewy grass. She really looked up at him for the first time and giggled madly at the untamed state of his hair. Without a word she pulled him down to her and affectionately fixed the errant locks. Entranced, he let her comb delicate fingers through his hair, enjoying the feeling all too much.

Sookie heard a low, soft rumbling sound start deep within Eric's chest, almost like a content purr. The intimacy of their act dawned on her and she awkwardly stepped away.

"That's better," Sookie breathed, pinning her arms to her sides.

She parted from Eric and padded towards a strong, old tree on the edge of the glade.

"We helped our Dad build this tree house," Sookie explained quietly. "I played here with Jason when we were really little. We stopped coming here after... " She let the rest go unsaid.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she studied the leaves above and could just make out the decrepit ruins of solid wooden beams that once formed a playhouse.

"It's not much anymore," she admitted with a tinge of sadness.

She heard Eric come up closely behind her, his long shadow cast over her. She felt like he was trying to decide whether or not to offer her comfort. It was strange and incredible sharing this moment with him in this place so dear to her memory.

The woods provided a symphony of nocturnal sounds; crickets and cicadas chirping, croaking frogs from a nearby stream, and a mockingbird singing to his mate. A waxing moon painted everything in a pale silver light. The world and all its evils were waiting somewhere beyond the trees but in this enclave there was only the moon and stars, a wayward girl, and the vampire who brought her here.

Sookie turned to him and was sure she had something to say but the words died in her throat. He'd never looked at her this way before, with concern and wonder and a longing that was lacking its usual lust and selfishness. It made her heart flutter in cautious optimism and her stomach turn over in skeptical fear. Eric could be a smug bastard, a sarcastic jerk, and a primal killer, but tonight he had proven a worthy protector and an amicable companion. Distantly, Sookie wondered if this was all just another dream.

The waitress stepped toward him and invaded his personal space for a change. He looked down at her warily, as though he was embarrassed to have been caught with such sentimental emotions crossing his face.

"Thank you," she whispered softly.

Sookie rose up on her very tippy toes to place a soft kiss on his lips, just a peck. A small token of thanks for sharing this with her, for behaving, mostly, and in a small way, for remaining a constant, though aggravating, force in her life.

Of course Eric wasn't just going to leave the kiss as an innocent peck.

He took over insistently and it quickly became a heated reprise of the fervent, demanding lip lock they shared a year ago, without the impatient edge of fear and deceit. Eric's fingers threaded through her intoxicating hair and coaxed her to open up to him more deeply with each enticing press of his lips. Every touch and caress grew in intensity and Sookie carefully pulled away with alarming reluctance.

"I need to get home," she said soberly. "And you have to get back before sunrise."

"Of course," Eric agreed, coming back to himself.

This night had cast a captivating spell on him and its unforeseen consequences lingered in his mind. With Sookie already cradled in his arms, Eric lifted them gradually from the enchanted clearing and far above the forest canopy. Way above the earth he gathered his bearings and set a course for the newly renovated Stackhouse homestead.

Feeling strangely comfortable, Sookie rested her head against Eric's shoulder and let herself relax. After a few moments, the exhaustion of the day began to catch up with her and she actually started to drift off. As Eric felt her body slacken, he scooped her up in his arms and let her fall asleep there.

Her hands curled into the fabric of his shirt and the little purring noise she made when she pressed her face into his chest did frightening things to his composure. She is mine, he thought, but that statement was beginning to mean more than he ever intended.


AN: A quick meditation on the first flight. This may have potential for a little more spice in the future, but for now it's just a little light and happy piece of sugar-coated fluff to break up the somber drama going down in the other part of my head. I finished it after a really crummy day and it made me happy, so I hope you enjoy!

A very grateful thanks to beta Sweet Sookie who made all the kick-yourself mistakes go away. If you're ever looking for a beta I give her a gold star of recommendation.