A/N: Still with me? This is a much shorter chapter, but my chappy lengths will widely vary throughout my story. Still, no Beta, so forgive any flaming incorrectness.

Chapter Two

Sookie rolled over, still in distress about the dream. Her mood was dark, but she was still thankful it was just that-a dream.

It was a bright, sunny day out, but there was a definite chill to the November air. She put her feet in some fuzzy slippers and trudged off in need of the bathroom and some coffee, in that order. She felt as though she had barely slept, though the clock said 11:00 am, so she knew she got at least 8 hours sleep.

Thanking the heavens for her next two days off, she waited for her coffee to brew, and thought back over her dream and all it's implications. She hadn't seen Eric in weeks, months, in fact, and this was not the first dream she'd had about him. Nor was it the first about him where she woke up sad, scared, crying, angry, you name it. She spent the time she wasn't dreaming about him, wondering why he hadn't called, come to see her and analyzing their relationship, if she could call it that, to the point of making herself crazy.

She had also tried to completely push him out of her mind, but that was useless. He was in her mind, but good, and if she was truly honest with herself, he was also in her heart. She took her coffee and blanket out to the porch. Her mind kept flashing back to how she felt, when she was being pulled from Eric in her dream.

It wasn't the thought of being used as the King's property, "his" telepath, though that infuriated and scared her. It was the sheer terror she felt at being taken from Eric, her Eric. Her mind drifted to her memories of him, over the last few years. The countless times he did save her, how he was always there for her, no matter how mean she was to him. All the ways he helped and provided for her, despite her fighting him tooth and nail.

The Eric that stayed with her, that January for a few blissful weeks, who pledged his fealty and offered to give up everything for her. Just like her Dream Eric had done. But why couldn't Real Eric tell her these things? She ran Dream Eric's words through her head one more time.…"I have chased you, protected you, risked all for you, only to be repeatedly rejected by you…"

She had rejected him, many, many times. She, the back-country barmaid telepath had rejected the Bad Ass Viking Sex God Sheriff of Area 5 on multiple occasions. And yet, she expected him to keep coming back for more. He had done better than spouting empty words of devotion at her. Lord knows, she'd had those in spades from her past men, and they meant nothing-less than nothing, since they had all hurt her.

But he had shown her-proven himself to her, and she resisted because she foolishly wanted it spelled out for her. Sipping her now lukewarm coffee, Sookie felt a resolve she had never felt before. She felt a huge weight lifted from her shoulders, and her heart.

She allowed herself something she hadn't in weeks: she opened the bond to feel her Eric. She had learned to block it, out of necessity these last long weeks. Though she knew he was at rest, she could feel his presence, his life (haha) force. And, though impossible, she could swear, she could feel him sending love to her. Not possible because he was sleeping, right? Vowing to think on that later, she got up and started to carefully plan her day and more importantly, her night.