Author's Note: Thanks to BonTempsBeau for everything.

Fifty-Two

The Unexpected

They said waiting is a punishment of time, since we all are not able to appreciate time until it is all too late.

Or at least, that's what Sookie believed. She didn't know how long she had tossed and turned, laying on her right side one minute then lying flat on her back the next minute. Before she had settled into sleep in the flat position, she was already on her right side. She also couldn't count how many times she had gotten up from bed to go to the window only to return again to the bed.

It was almost dawn already, and Eric hadn't returned yet. She imagined all sorts of crazy scenarios of what might have happened to him; Eric could be fighting with André or the King. Or the men in silver suits managed to shoot him with a silver arrow and poisoned him, just like what they had done to Bill. Or perhaps, Eric managed to persuade the King with his charms and diplomacy. Or maybe the Queen, being out of her mind, ordered the Bret brothers to attack and torture him.

Whatever had happened; she could only bite her fingernails and desperately pray that somebody, somehow would tell her the news, any news.

She hated being hopeless. Had she been in the same situation, fifteen years ago, she would've run to the garage, taken the car and gone to wherever Eric had gone. Eric would've been angry with her, said rough words, but in the end they would've had sex and Eric would've forgiven her for her stubbornness.

It is, however, different now. She is no longer a twenty-six year old girl who lives only for herself. She has a son now. She has a whole 6 feet of responsibility to care for now.

Sookie sighed. As much as she loved Eric and worried about him, she couldn't simply leave the house and run headlong for him. James needed her. She had to be strong.

Slowly she sat down on the edge of the bed. She felt something hard underneath her. She lifted her ass to see what it was. Hmm, it was the hilt of their marriage dagger. She took it out of its sheath. Its red eye glimmered under the lamps. This little thing bonded her and Eric forever, the way it had done the same to Aude and Eric. This little thing would decide whether she would survive the night or not. If something happened to Eric, it would happen to her too. If Eric died, she would die too.

God, if only she knew what he was doing at this moment!

The clock struck 3 times.

Three o'clock in the morning. Eric had left for more than 5 hours, and there'd been no call, no message. She could hear the werewolves moving around the house, sometimes they walked quietly, sometimes they howled. Perhaps they wanted to let her know that they were around. It wasn't necessary; she could hear their troubled thoughts. They were as nervous as she was.

Finally, she couldn't wait any longer. She had to know what happened to Eric. She had to go down and send one of the werewolves to Fangtasia. She had to know.

She walked to the door, when suddenly;, she felt a strong wind come into the room.

Eric had arrived with Pam in his arms, covered in blood.

"What happened?"

"I have no time to explain now, Sook. I need blood for Pam."

"Take mine,"

"No, you gave your blood already this evening. It's not good for you to give blood twice in a day." Eric sniffed. "Alcide, I need Alcide."

"I'd rather die than drink that son of a bitch's blood," Pam's voice was weak, but Sookie could hear the anger in it.

"Don't be a fool, Pam." Eric laid her on the bed. "I order you to."

Pam chuckled, but she said, "Yes, my maker, but I'll never forgive you for this."

"I can live with that." Then, Eric left them and returned some moment later with Alcide in his arms. The werewolf didn't look so happy when he saw Pam. His face was getting sourer when he realized what he had to do. "I have to give her my blood?" he muttered. "Her?"

"Trust me, Werewolf, it isn't my dying wish to have a werewolf blood running in my veins," Pam sneered. "I'd rather take a dying old man's blood instead."

"After this, you sleep with me." Eric stroked her hair fondly.

"You remember the last time we slept together in a coffin, Eric?" Pam smiled. "It was the best sex with a man I've ever had …" then, she laughed. "But it doesn't say much; since there are only two men that I've ever slept with…I love you, Eric…."

"I love you too, Pam," Eric reached out his hand to Alcide. "I owe you one, Alcide."

Alcide didn't look happy at all. His eyes turned yellow as Eric's fangs bored into his hand and Sookie heard him snarling as Pam started sucking his blood.

Eric wiped off the blood around his mouth.

"What happened?" Sookie asked again.

"I'll tell you tomorrow, Sookie. Now, I have to care for Pam. If she drinks too much of Alcide's blood, she can kill him."

Alcide fell on the bed as soon as Eric stopped Pam drinking his blood. His face was pale and he was trembling. Pam fell into Eric's arms. "Water….I need water…," Alcide gasped.

Sookie ran from the bedroom and brought back a glass of water. She gave it to Alcide, who took the glass and drank the water vigorously.

Eric lifted Pam's body and said, "I'll go to ground now. Good night, Sookie." Then, within a blink of an eye, he left the room.

Xxxxx

It was late in the afternoon when Lafayette arrived at Northman Mansion.

Sookie's heart missed a beat when she saw the figure that was walking beside him. For a short moment, there was a crazy wish all over her again, that it hadn't been a dream or a delusion.

But it was.

James was back in blond. From a distance, he could be mistaken for Eric.

She wasn't the only one who had thought the same thing. The Grey Hounders jumped on their feet as they saw him. Haru's jaw dropped and he murmured, "Interesting." Sam clinched his jaw, in his head he said, I'll be damned.

"I told you, Jimmy," said Lafayette. "You shocked the shit out of them."

James touched his hair. "Sorry, Mom. I was getting bored with black,"

"That's all right, Hon."

"You look worried, Mom. Is everything okay?"

Sookie nodded. "I didn't get enough sleep," she said. Her eyes ran to the storeroom's door. Eric and Pam were still sleeping. Soon, they would wake up and they could tell her what had happened last night. "Why are you here? I thought we agreed that you would stay with the Hervaux's until the situation improved."

James sat down. "I feel better here. Besides, what could possibly happen? The Hounders are here, they can protect me during the day – if that's what you are afraid of, and I don't have to be worried about the night, do I?"

"No, you don't."

He got up. "I'll be in my room, Mom."

"What's the matter with him?" Sookie asked Lafayette as soon as James was out of sight.

"He got a phone call from a girl last night."

Sookie looked at the stairs. Luna. That bitch, if she continued playing with his feelings, she would grab her by the tail and smashed her against a tree, she swore!

"First love is difficult, Sook. You remember yours?"

She turned to Lafayette. "Yeah, I remember," she smiled. "But I don't trust that woman."

"What woman?"

"James' obsession, Victoria Luna."

"You mean…he and…"

Sookie nodded.

"That's messed up, you're right."

"I don't care about their age differences…anymore, but something is not right about that woman. I just can't put my fingers on it…I don't know. One minute, she cared a lot about James, the next minute she was gone. I tried, really, Laffy, to get rid of the feeling, but it's always there."

"I heard that she had saved y'all."

"Yes, and I will never forget that."

"Love is a bitch."

Suddenly Sookie realized that Lafayette had a problem of his own. "Joseph called you yet?"

Lafayette shook his head. "I wish he had the balls to call me and to tell me straight to my face what went wrong between him and me. It's been fifteen years, Sook, it's like forever!"

"I know."

"He can't just leave me cold like this. Okay, his parents needed somebody to carry on their family line; I understand that. Hello, didn't they ever hear about surrogate mothers? He doesn't have to marry the woman; he can just give his fucking seed away and let them shovel those little bastards somewhere!" Lafayette raised his head. "Sorry, Hon. It has to get out. I have to let the steam out of my head; otherwise I would go fucking nuts."

Sookie grabbed his hands. "You don't have to apologize, Laffy. He is the one who should apologize, not you."

Lafayette nodded. "If he's man enough to call…"

Sookie wished she could find some nice words, something comforting to say to him, but she knew Lafayette didn't need them. He needed Joseph to return or at least to give him a sign that all those years of their being together meant something.

She had been been through something similar during those years, believing that Eric had died - years made up of empty days and loneliness. The only thing that had helped her to go through this had been James and his love for her.

She looked at the stairs again. She would not fail him. James was in a difficult phase; he was no longer a boy, but not yet a man. He would need her now more than ever. Whatever happened between him and Luna, she would be there; just as he had been there when she had been all alone.

Xxxxx

Eric and Pam came out of the vault as soon as darkness overtook the sky. Both of them looked shriveled. Their skin was dull and wrinkled. The dark red rings around the eyes reappeared, this time it was more pronounced than before. It seemed Alcide's blood had worked only temporarily.

Without saying a word, both of them left the house and returned around an hour later, in a much better condition. Around their mouths were traces of blood.

Eric went upstairs, followed by Sookie. Pam said to Lafayette something like having a bath and fresh clothes.

"What happened?" Sookie couldn't wait any longer.

Eric took off his clothes, which were covered with blood, and threw them on the bathroom floor. "Why is James here?"

"He feels much better here," said Sookie. "I think it's also because Luna called him. They possibly agreed to see each other again."

Eric took off his boxers. "I need to take a shower," he said and reached out his hand.

"I already had a shower," Sookie said, but she took his hand nevertheless.

She helped him remove the bloodstains in his hair and on his skin. Eric spread his arms and let her rub the sponge all over his body. He opened his mouth as the water fell on his face, washing away the blood on it. He closed his eyes and let his long eyelashes get wet. The water stayed for a while on them and then fell on his cheeks. Sookie rubbed his chest and underarms softly and as she reached his shoulder, he opened his eyes. With one lift, she was on his hip, wrapping her legs around it. The water hit their heads, then fell on the ground, carried away the red color of blood, circling around a pair of pale feet, before finally it ran down the drain.

Sookie held his neck as tight as she could while Eric pushed her slowly against the glass wall of the shower. His hands grabbed her ass strongly before he adjusted his height so that they were on the same level. His lips kissed hers greedily as he pushed the door open and carried her back to the bed.

They were soaking wet as they hit the bed, but they hadn't bothered to take a towel. They didn't even notice as the bedroom door was softly closed by a pale hand. They were each desperately touching and kissing the other as if they wanted to unload a burden that had been on their shoulders too long.

Sookie let out a loud and long cry as she felt Eric exploding inside her. Her fingers were buried deep into his shoulder and her legs, which had been wrapping around his legs, were opened like flower petals and fell to the bed.

After a while, Eric slid his body down, and took her into his arms. "You don't know how afraid I was of losing you, Lover," he whispered in her ears.

Sookie held him tight. "I hope that would be the last time that you held me by a thread like that. I swear, Eric, if you do that again…"

Eric interrupted her by kissing her. "I won't."

"What happened, Eric? Why were you and Pam covered in blood?"

"Jennifer Carter tried to take the Queen by force back to the Palace. King's orders, she said. But Pam didn't let her."

"Was it the King's orders? Didn't Pam then commit treason, to disobey the King's orders like that?"

"Yes, and they tried to take Pam too. Lucky for her, I came just in time."

Xxxxx

"It wasn't easy for me to leave you like that" Eric started the story. "I felt like I had made such a terrible decision by leaving you at a time when you needed me the most. I could feel the terror in your blood. 'Lover, what had I done to you?' I thought. 'I have caused you so much pain through the years, and there is nothing more I want to do than make you forget all that suffering, even if just for a night.'

"But Pam needed me. She had called me. She rarely called me and only did so when there was a matter she couldn't handle. I had raised a brave and independent child, too independent in fact. Sometimes her actions crossed the border between independence and insubordination and I am proud of her.

"A cold wind brought me to the Leclreq Wellness Center. I don't like this kind of cold wind. It can only mean one thing: it was past the midnight hour and the time after midnight is like the rushing wind in September. It moves fast, too fast even for me; and the next thing we know, the sun is showing her damn face on the East.

"A human moved away, tried to escape from my path as I walked through the hall.

"'Mr. Northman,' one of the security personnel stopped me. 'Sir…everything is…' he stopped speaking as his eyes met mine.

"'Leave,' I said.

"'Yes, Sir.' He moved aside.

"Something had happened. I could tell from the angst that shone brightly from the eyes of the humans in this building. Brakk! I pushed open the door that led to the basement. It flew away together with some humans who stood behind it. I heard them growling from pain, but I didn't care. The silver-suit people again.

"'Northman,' a sneering voice welcomed me as I walked down the stairs.

"'Carter,'

"In front of the door of Her Majesty's room were Carter, André, Addison and some vampires I didn't know. Pam was standing between Weybert and Siegbert. All their fangs were out and their claws bent. They were ready to fight.

"'I come here carrying King's Orders,' Carter said. 'The Queen must be brought back to the Palace.'

"'Without notifying the local authority? What are we now, barbarians?'

"'I never thought that you were such a lawman, Northman,' said Addison.

"'There are things about me that you know nothing of, Addison. I'd prefer to stay that way, if I were you.'

"Addison opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He had lost his words.

"Carter gave me a roll of a parchment. 'Everything you need to know is in here..'

"I didn't take the roll. Taking it meant accepting the order.

"'Please, Eric,' said André. 'What we all wish is Her Majesty's well-being. Your stubbornness will only prolong her suffering.'

"I knew that André meant it. He loved Her Majesty more than anybody else did. I knew how it felt to love a woman – I loved two women; and I would do anything for either of them. But I couldn't let them have Sophie-Anne. If what Haru said about mercury poisoning was correct, then there would be only one solution. I would ask Godric to save her. Godric could only do that if Sophie-Anne stayed here.

"I decided to play with open cards. Sooner or later, they would find out that I knew, why must I play hide and seek?

"'You can't take Her Majesty out of here. She has to stay here. She is poisoned, there's nothing that you can do. Returning her to the palace will mean that you take her back to the source of the poison."

"'What are you talking about, Sheriff?' asked Siegbert. 'We controlled every drink that was served to the Queen…,"

"'Bruderchen,' Weybert interrupted him. Then, he spoke in his old-fashioned German. 'We were never allowed to taste the True Blood that was sent from NIC. It was made for her only.'

"The other vampires, except André and I, were grunting for they didn't understand what Weybert had just said.

"'Non, non, non…,' André shook his head. 'Non! You should always taste the food! How many times do I have to tell you that? She's dying because of you!'

"'André, control yourself!' said Carter. 'How do we know that you are not lying, Sheriff? You aren't exactly model citizen for honesty.'

"'You don't.'

"For a moment, we looked at each other.

"Jennifer Carter was one of those vampires that had been working for the King of Arkansas for as long as I could remember. She was one of the granddaughters of one of Arkansas Generals who led the Confederacy army. I had met her several times, when she had been human. I had tasted her. Her blood had been sweet and sharp, just like her tongue.

"She had known some vampires before me, and she showed no fear at all to any of us. I never knew whether she had wanted to be turned or her boldness had cost her her life.

"To be honest, I had forgotten her. After my arrival from England with Pam at my side, I met her again, as the secretary of King Peter. She never liked Pam. She had even accused her of stealing me away from her. Nobody steals Eric Northman. Either they die or they conquer me. Aude DuBois had conquered me, you – Sookie Stackhouse; conquer me. But none of you will be able to steal me.

"Carter might have been still mad at me, but she wasn't stupid. She knew the risk if what I had said was true and she hadn't believed me.

"'Jenny, don't tell me you believe him…,' Addison said.

"'I don't know, Brian…I'll call His Majesty and ask him.'

"'Jennifer Carter, the Right Hand of the King, can't make a decision because she wants Northman's…" Addison's sentence was interrupted, as Carter grabbed his jacket and smashed him against the wall.

"'Shut up…just shut up,' Carter pointed at him with her index finger. 'I came here to do my job and I won't allow cockroaches like you to undermine my authority.'

"Addison got up. His fangs were bared and he looked at Carter dangerously. He would've attacked her, if he could. But he was younger than Carter and he was also a lower rank than she was. He would be either dead or punished and it seemed, he wasn't willing to take the risk. He stood there and sniffed.

"'Eric, please, as a friend,' André came to me. 'Please, help my Judith.'

"'I am sorry, André. I can't promise you anything.'

"André came closer and suddenly he drew a stake from under his coat and thrust it at me. At that very moment, Pam jumped in front of me and received the blow instead.

"My loyal companion growled and fell to the floor. Black blood sprayed out from her stomach. She held the stake and said with a smile on her face, 'Master…'

"'Pam,' I hissed.

"André looked at me, shocked. 'I have to do what I have to do, Eric.'

"Before I could catch him, he had jumped away and ran to the door.

"Siegbert and Weybert were going to catch him, but suddenly they stopped. Both of them turned toward the door of the Queen's room.

"'Bitte, verzeiht uns, Eric,' Weybert said and busted the door wide open.

"There I stood, on one hand, I had to stop the Bert Brothers from going in the room and do whatever they were going to do. On the other hand, I had to stop Carter and her people. Pam also needed my help.

"'Eric…,' Pam's weak voice caught my ears.

"Pam, I had to save Pam. The Queen and the rest I could deal with later. Now my priority was Pam. 'Whatever you are going to do, Siegbert, make sure that she doesn't bleed. If she does, don't touch her blood.'

"'You are serious, aren't you, Eric?' asked Carter. 'Somebody did poison the Queen…and how did you know…' Our eyes met each other. 'So it's true,' she muttered.

"Addison looked at her suspiciously.

"I lifted Pam's body. 'Move,' I said.

"'No, I'm sorry, Eric. You have to come with me to His Majesty,' said Carter. 'You hold important information, Eric.'

"'I don't make it a habit to repeat myself, Carter.'

"Carter lifted her hand and suddenly the men in silver-suits charged me with their guns. The silver needles that hit my skin were like fire crawling on dry leaves. Soon my clothes were wet as my blood started seepingcrawled out of my flesh. Pam yelled in pain and covered her face with her hand.

"I had to leave this building before it was too late. The Queen wasn't my responsibility anymore. I just hoped that the Bert Brothers knew what they were doing."

Xxxxx

"That low-life scum son of a bitch André!" Sookie growled. "And he wants to marry me! I'd rather stay as a hag instead getting married to somebody like him!"

Eric got down from the bed. He was now standing naked in front of her. Sookie ran her eyes on that heavenly body and couldn't find any trace of needle wounds. When she looked up, she found a pair of blue eyes looking back at her, teasing her, as if he wanted to say, 'Na, satisfied?'

"I don't see any wounds," she said, tried to excuse what she had just done. Then something hit her; she was his wife and as a wife or girlfriend, she could do whatever she wanted with her man's body!

"I have fed," he said. "I am old, Sookie. As an old vampire, I can heal faster than a young one."

"Is it true what Pam said last night, that you and she…"

"Yes, but it was long time ago. We were lovers at the beginning. She prefers women over men, but when she was with me, she stopped having women. Then, we took different paths. I let her go because I thought it was about the time that she became independent. When we met again fifty years later; she lived together with a woman. After her woman died, she came to me and worked as my associate. I myself had a woman at that time. I remembered the three of us were going to go to Louisiana, but we couldn't find a good hotel with good cellar. So, my woman slept on the bed, Pam and I slept at the nearest cemetery and found only one coffin, which was clean enough and big enough for me. We decided to sleep together, and one thing led to another." His eyes were darkened as he continued, "I have to find out what happened to the Queen."

"Why did the Bert Brothers do that? I thought they were our allies."

"There is no such a word as 'allies', Sookie. In my world, you eat or be eaten."

"You're different, Bill is different."

Eric smiled. "You're naïve and honest, Sookie; that was the reason Aude chose you." He caressed her face. "If only she had known how stubborn and temperamental you are and how you're able to drive me insane with your sense of love and sex, she might have changed her mind."

"You underestimated your little devil. She knew, trust me on this." Perhaps not the sex part, but somehow Sookie believed that Aude had known that she would've fallen in love with Eric and that Eric would've fallen in love with her. "Don't you think it's about the time that you visit her grave, Eric…say goodbye to her?"

His blue eyes blazed. He went to the closet, opened the door and put the dark green shirt on. "I'll go to Fangtasia," he said, ignoring her question. "Weybert said something about my old company. Perhaps I still could contact some people I know and find out about it."

Sookie swallowed her spit. Eric couldn't do it. He couldn't say goodbye to Aude, perhaps he would never be able to. "Eric, what about our dagger? The vampires know that you're married to me, don't you think it would be easier for them to kill us?"

"Our marriage is protected by the highest vampiric law, Lover. Killing a married couple intentionally would meet with severe punishment. The ones who do it will be put on a stake, chained with silver, and he or she will be drained almost to death, to be fed again, and then the punishment will be repeated in the next night."

Sookie didn't find any word to describe the cruelness that she had just heard. Her skin crawled and cold feeling touched her back.

"You don't need to be worried."

"But what about the others? Werewolves, for example?"

"Alcide loves you; he won't tell anybody." He put his trousers on. "Don't get any crazy ideas about breaking that dagger without talking to me first." His eyes flickered dangerously. Sookie still remembered how he had wailed in agony when Aude broke the dagger.

Sookie forced herself to smile. She got off the bed and tiptoed to kiss him. "Maybe one day, Eric. Maybe one day."

xxxxx

Footnote: Bitte, verzeiht uns = Please forgive us.

I use 'ihr-form' for The Bert-Brothers and Eric. In German, 'ihr' means 'you plural'; but in the old days, to address the conversation partner noblemen/aristocrat used 'ihr' ; it's kind of majestic plural. Nowadays, people use 'Sie-form', which also means 'you' (plural or singular) if they address their business partner, official occasions, somebody they respect or strangers. For conversation between friends/family to children/youngster, they use 'du' for single and 'ihr' for plural. For you as the third subject, people use 'man'.

A little German language information.