Okay, this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction. Usually I don't like fiction that breaks canon continuity, but I couldn't help myself. The first part is basically a rehash of a canon scene, but I thought it was a good intro.

Please do not hold back on your criticism, I want to get better eventually and for that I need your honest feedback. Also, since English is not my first language, please point out any orthographic, grammatical or idiomatic errors you may find.

Title: Apology
Author: loveisholy
Rating: unrated
Characters / Pairings: Jessica/Hoyt, Bill
Spoilers / Warnings: 2x12
Summary: Jessica does not feed on a truck driver and apologizes to Hoyt as planned.
Word Count: ~2500
Disclaimers: All my base are belong to the rightful copyright owners (i.e. not me) yaddayadda.

"Jessica!" Bill called after her as Jessica skipped down the stairs, wearing a red dress her human father would not have allowed her to wear in the house, much less go outside with. She stopped dead in her tracks, feeling like she'd been caught sneaking out. She wasn't, not really, but she would have preferred to leave without being bothered by her bossy maker.

"Hi," she said flatly, not knowing what to expect from him. He was probably going to chew her out or admonish her for something she had or hadn't done or that she was or wasn't about to do. There was always something.

"You look quite a vision," he said, even smiling at her. This surprised her, Bill didn't usually compliment her. Or smile, for that matter. Jessica looked down involuntarily, years of insecurity asserting themselves, but Bill seemed to mean it. His unusually good mood must have had something to do with his suit that was horribly, embarrassingly outdated. Or so she thought. Only when Jessica took a second look at her maker, she noticed that the suit was actually rather dashing. The tie was just lovely. It was more the way Bill wore the suit that made it look like it was from the turn of the last century. She briefly imagined Hoyt wearing it - and then tearing it off him.

"Are you off to see Hoyt Fortenberry?" Bill asked intrusively, like a parent, snapping her out of her daydream.

"So what if I am?" Jessica retorted defensively. "You're going to see Sookie, aren't you?" What other reason could there be for him to dress up like this and look happy about it?

"It's fine," he reassured her. "In my day, the gentleman came to the lady's house to court her, but times change." Jessica listened to his tale about the good old times quietly, trying hard not to show her impatience. Probably failing miserably. She wanted to go and see Hoyt, not listen to some grandpa talk about how much better everything was 'back in my day'.

"I see his mother is gone," Bill changed the subject, trying to steer the conversation in a direction that she would not interpret as criticism, not knowing that the mention of Hoyt's mother, the woman she had almost killed, made her feel that much worse.

"He took her home yesterday," she explained, fidgeting with the handle of her purse. Maybe Bill would notice that she wasn't in the mood for small talk if she kept her answers brief. Yeah, right. As if.

But Bill did catch on. "Good. I hope she's better. And I hope you and Hoyt have a nice time."

"Thanks," she said, smiling gratefully. Bill went for the door and Jessica, on an impulse, called after him. "Actually, we kinda had a little fight, but I was just gonna go over and make an apology." She looked at him expectantly, not really knowing why she was suddenly confiding in him.

"Well, he'd be a fool not to accept," Bill told her with a warm smile, giving her the reassurance she'd been looking for. She smiled, a little less nervous now.

"Where are you going with Sookie?" The least she could do in return for his kindness was to show some interest in him, too.

"To a French restaurant. Do you know I haven't been to one in over 70 years? Humans seem to love them. They go there to celebrate." Jessica realized that this was Bill being... giddy. She couldn't help but find that a little endearing.

"Okay. Just be back by five," Jessica teased, encouraged by Bill's uncharacteristically good mood, curtseying a little as she walked past him toward the door.

"You be back by four," he ordered in return. He had to play the parent or maker or whatever, of course, but Jessica didn't mind this one time. The hope of actually patching things up with Hoyt had her too preoccupied to be annoyed.

Bill held the door open for her and they left the house together.

Hoyt had not been home when Bill had dropped her off at his mother's place before going on his date with Sookie, so Jessica had decided to try Merlotte's Bar. If she couldn't find him here, she could at least get something to eat - bottled or not.

Merlotte's was filled with people, noise and the smells of beer, liquor, tobacco and sweat. Now that the recent crisis was over and everybody was back to normal, people were busy comparing notes about what little they remembered, what they didn't remember and - most importantly - trying to pry out of each other what they chose not to remember. Jessica envied them. They could resume their lives almost as if nothing had happened. They had lives to resume.

She made a mental note of the "HELP WANTED" sign outside. She could not count on her maker paying the bills forever, and she didn't want to, either. Besides, if Hoyt did not forgive her, she'd be glad for any opportunity to keep herself busy. Just the thought of that made her eyes well up with disgusting tears of blood. She took a deep, unnecessary breath to compose herself. She couldn't possibly go up to Hoyt looking like a monster. It was bad enough that she was one.

Jessica found Hoyt, like she had hoped, sitting at a table in the back. The same table, as a matter of fact, where he had joined her the night they first met. He wasn't alone this time, which was bad; but his company were three other men, which was good. They were all about his age and probably worked in the same construction crew as he. Jessica barely noticed them, she only had eyes for Hoyt. He was laughing with them, drinking beer.

When Hoyt spotted her, the smile left his face and Jessica's heart sank. She almost lost her courage right there, but she could not give up now. She had to try.

Something was wrong, but Jessica could not quite put her finger on it. It took her a moment to realize that her heart should be pounding. She detested her body, her corpse. What had Hoyt ever seen in her?

She made herself walk over to his table, at first maybe a little too forcefully; she slowed down a bit, didn't want to appear aggressive. Hoyt kept his eyes on her the entire time. Jessica could not read his face, or rather, did not trust her readings. Was he pleaseantly surprised to see her or was that just wishful thinking? Was he angry that she had the nerve to show her face in his presence again or was that just pessimism?

"Hello, Hoyt," she greeted him tentatively, almost too quiet to hear. Which was good, she was nearly certain that her voice had broken saying his name.

"Jessica!" Hoyt exclaimed, like he had not seen her almost twenty seconds ago and staring at her ever since, getting up from his seat. He tore his eyes away from her face and toward his friends, clearing his throat, embarrassed about suddenly dropping out of the conversation at the sight of her. "Um, guys, this is my - this is Jessica."

His friends nodded and murmured their greetings, some dipping their heads, some hinting at getting up to greet a lady. Jessica smiled, nodded and waved at them. "Hello, boys! Oh, hey, Jason!" she added when she registered Sookie's brother. "How's your sister?"

"Fine, I s'pose, thanks for askin'," was his polite-but-distant response. Jessica was grateful for that. Jason seemed like a nice enough guy, very protective of the people he loved. She could see why he and Hoyt were friends, but she had other things on her mind. She turned to Hoyt again, who still had not returned to his seat. This gave her courage a small, much-needed boost.

"Hoyt, can I talk to you for a minute?" That sounded too demanding. "I'd like to... it'll only take a minute," she added hastily, telling herself that she should apologize without the background noise of a busy bar - and that she wasn't a coward for not having the courage to apologize in public.

"Yeah, sure." Was he eager to talk to her alone or just in a hurry to have her on her way again? Jessica could have screamed in frustration. They made their way through the tables, toward the exit. She had to fight the urge to reach for his hand while they were dodging the busy servers and patrons. Once outside, they walked to the parking lot in silence, he half a step behind her, while Hoyt's ears adjusted to the sudden quiet, the only noises being the chirping of crickets and the buzzing of the floodlight illuminating the lot. Hoyt stopped and leaned against a blue pickup truck, trying to seem relaxed and trying entirely too hard.

Jessica took a deep breath, still facing away from Hoyt, her hands fidgeting nervously with each other. Then she turned around.

"Hoyt," she began softly, "I feel horrible about what I did to you - and to your mother. I am so, so sorry!"

"Jessica, I -" he began, but she stopped him, holding her hands up.

"Please, let me finish." She couldn't expect him to forgive her after what she had done, but if he didn't want her back, it wouldn't be for a lack of trying on her part. "I can't undo what I did, and I don't expect you to just forget it, either. All I can do is promise that it'll never happen again." The words were pouring out of her mouth by now. "I'll apologize to your mother, too, of course. And from now on, I'll be nice to her, no matter what she says about you. Or me. And I will never - never - again..." she couldn't say it out loud, the thought of how she shoved him all the way across the room made her choke up. Disgusting tears of blood were running down her pale cheeks. Out of habit, Jessica tried to wipe them away, but only succeeded to smear them all over her face.

Hoyt reached for her again, and this time she let him put his big, strong (for a human) arms around her and hug her tightly against his chest. Jessica used her arms as a buffer between them, so she wouldn't stain his shirt. He pressed his face against her hair, rocked her gently, shushed her and tenderly rubbed his hands over her back until she stopped sobbing. It took a while.

"I was going to say," he continued like he hadn't heard a word of what she had said, "that I came over to Vampire Bill's house to see you earlier tonight. But you weren't there, and he weren't, neither." After a brief pause, he added, "I brought you some flowers, but, um, I left them on your doorstep."

She looked up at him, shock in her eyes, her blood-smeared face forgotten for now. For a few seconds Jessica was so surprised that her mind occupied itself by thinking about how closely they must have missed each other. Hoyt had probably arrived at Bill's house shortly after they'd left, and then went to Merlotte's. Jessica'd had to walk, so he got there before her.

Only then, and with quite a bit of amazement, did she register that Hoyt had come to see her. Just like a real gentleman, like the ones in those ancient times Bill had been prattling about earlier. Ha! Suck on that, Bill! But more importantly, he still wanted to see her.

And something else. "You brought me flowers?" Incredulity struggled with joy, both on her face and in her head. It wasn't the first time he'd done that, of course, that was when he had driven all the way down to Dallas just to see her. That he still loved her like that was too much to hope for, but the distinct absence of a deafeningly pounding heartbeat told her that she already did.

Hoyt just nodded, looking down at her with his impossibly kind eyes. "I was gonna apologize, too, y'know. I wasn't fair to you that night. Momma wasn't herself then, but I still cut her way too much slack. I shouldn't let anyone talk like that about my girl, not even my momma." His girl? Jessica's heart made a point of not skipping a beat. "What I said... I didn't mean it, not even back then. And I love that you stood up to my momma when I wouldn't. But that ain't gonna happen no more, either." Jessica couldn't believe her ears, felt numb with shock.

"I was way too hard on you," he continued. "It weren't fair to expect you to have that much self-control when you were so hungry. So, from now on, whenever you need it - or want it - you can have my blood," Hoyt declared, and Jessica's fangs extended involuntarily.

"Oh, Hoyt!" Jessica choked out, her voice breaking, tears of blood welling up in her eyes again, and reached up to touch his face with her fingertips. Hoyt bent down to kiss her, but Jessica leaned away from him in his arms. "Don't, I'm all gross!" she objected, but Hoyt would have none of that. He pulled her even closer, carefully holding her face in his hands, and kissed her lips. Tenderly at first, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs, then increasingly passionate as both hurried to make up for what they had missed in... had it really been only yesterday?

Jessica lost track of everything but Hoyt's mouth and hands. Only the sensation of impending dawn brought her back to earth. "I should go," she announced reluctantly, still kissing Hoyt, playfully now, smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"Want me to drive you home?" Hoyt offered, and she nodded gratefully, not quite yet willing to stop running her fingers through his hair. She loved his new haircut; it looked totally badass without taking anything away from his boyish charm.

"I guess I took more than a minute of your time, after all," she giggled as Hoyt held the passenger door of his truck open for her. Hoyt responded, with a sincere smile, "I'm glad you did."

"By the way, I don't think it's such a great idea to go talk to my momma anytime soon. She don't remember none of it, but she wasn't too happy when she found your fang marks."