Sorry everyone for the delay, real life got a little hectic and TB is still too many months away.
Thanks to my darling Mika for ever inspiring me to continue because "some things still needed to be said" about our two misfits lovers.
Oh, May and June can't get here fast enough... as always, I do not own the rights to these lovely characters. But sure glad Ms. Harris does - May is almost here for DEADLOCKED!
Pulling into the employee parking lot at Merlotte's, I spot Sam unloading his truck of the morning's market purchases in the back. I called out his name and waved. Sam nodded his head towards me and smiled.
Inside, I could smell the cooking from the kitchen and Terry was turning over chairs into their places from last night. I settled in and started my prep work at the serving stations and by the time I moved over to the bar, Sam came through the door.
"Hey Sookie." Sam was that kind of boss who made sure he greeted everyone on his staff. Over the years Sam has become more than just a boss; at one point I suspected he would have wanted to date but it wasn't in our stars. Sam Merlotte was hard to read that way, but our relationship was fine the way it is now. I had enough men trouble adding more flavors to the pot.
"Oh hey Sam, I finished all the bar prep. We're ready to go once Arlene sets the condiments out." I turned to face him. His face was a little scruffy, and he still had his sleeves rolled up from unloading the groceries.
"Thanks, cher. Just a heads up, I'm probably leaving a little early tonight. Terry will be here to run the bar, make sure you let the girls know during shift changes." Suddenly Sam's cheeks turned a little pink. Oh, silly Shifter humor.
"Will do. By the way, Alcide said to tell you – you're more than welcome to run with his pack if you'd like. He's asked to use my land tonight." Suddenly an alarm went off in my head, I best remind myself to check in with Eric as to where he hid Debbie Pelt's body! It was the farthest thing in my mind to ask but it seems I'm finding every excuse to call him anyway.
"Everything alright Sookie, you look a little flustered? And why are you letting the Pack run on your land?" he quietly inquired.
"Alcide mentioned something about campers being out and about locally. So they needed to move their run, but I don't know why he extended the invitation." Again with the blushes, I swear Sam was behaving like a school girl.
Typical Sam move, he runs his hand through his hair before he answers, "I'm sort of seeing a Pack member, Jannalyn." Bingo.
"Oh Sam, that's wonderful. Alcide wanted to pass along gratitude for that night, I was wondering where the invite came from." Between Sam and I, we preferred to not talk about the night with the big Were confrontation.
"Hmm, thanks. Jannalyn didn't mention anything about the run personally, so I don't know if I'll head out there. I generally prefer to run on Full Moon alone, I'm not too comfortable with the idea of a pack Pack." Every time Sam mentions anything about his shifting; all I see are the puppy dog eyes of Dean. My eyes must have glazed over in the memory when Sam poked me. "Gee Sookie, you seem cheerful today."
"Silly, I'm always cheerful. I better start helping Arlene before she gets into a hissy." We nodded to each other and moved on with our day.
It was the normal lunch crowd in Merlotte's today, one of the most practical ideas of living in a small town such as Bon Temps is the routine everyone carries out through out their lives. You can always count on the Sheriff and his Deputies coming in and sitting in the same booths, ordering the same meals like clockwork. You have the mix of Parish construction crews coming in and out, this was when I would see Jason the most. I learned early on working at Merlotte's to tune out the conversations, it was best to not let on that I can read everyone's dirty little secrets. Truth be told, I'd rather not know the skeletons in people's closets.
By the time dusk came, I could feel the little movements in the background of my thoughts, Eric was almost up. I've noticed that he can almost rise almost after the sun sets. Bill always waited until complete nightfall to wake up for the evening. But I can feel Eric's spark in the background already. I looked up to at the clock to see my shift was almost over and towards the office; Sam was cleaning up to head out too. I was already thinking of the ice cream and date waiting for me at home with Amelia. All I wanted was to kick up my feet and have a quiet night home. I had my fill of Eric for one night, let him come find me now, I thought smiling smugly to myself. Then I realize, darn – the Pack.
Finishing up my shift, I said my good byes to everyone I cared to talk to at Merlotte's and made my way outside. Last I checked it was just dusk the moon was rising. Tinges of happiness flooded my senses. Curse the man, he was right – I did like the bond too much for my own good. Fumbling for my keys, I felt a vibration in my pocket. Patting my coat down, I realized it was my phone and quickly reached to answer my phone.
"Hello." I was having a dandy time trying to balance the phone on one shoulder, get my keys out of my bag when I heard slow drawl.
"Well hello little one," Eric greeted. I smiled inside and stopped everything I was doing to lean against the door of my car.
"Eric! Perfect, you're just who…"
"Yes, I'm rather perfect. First you tell me you miss me and now I'm perfect, I like all these little confessions from you. Tell me another one, did you dream of me perhaps? Preferably naked of course." The timber in his voice was giddy and full of mischief. I swear one of his life's purposes is to get a rise out of me in every conversation.
"Very funny Eric, I meant you were just the person I needed to call." In the distance, I see Sam gathering up the garbage and getting ready to leave too. He must be scrambling to make a break before the Moon fully rises. Leave it to Sam to plan to leave early but never does being the boss.
"I will settle for being needed. I felt something warm and anxious on from you when I woke tonight. Is everything okay, did you not get my gift?" Mr. Smug, I could just hit him, but I remembered back to the box on my night stand.
"Thank you, the delivery came this morning. It is very sweet. You didn't have to get me anything." The simple idea that he thought of me made me wanted to melt in to a puddle of butter on a hot Louisiana day.
"You are correct, I did not have to, but I wanted to… Sookie, if I do not say the words enough it is because…" my heart dropped to my feet as Eric started to open up, but in that same glorious moment I heard a frantic mind in the distance and a shot fired through the night. I quickly looked up and saw Sam fall to the ground. Without thinking, I ran over to his side not sure where the danger was coming from. "Sookie! What is going on?" I could hear Eric yelling through the phone as I dropped it on the ground near Sam.
"Sam, Sam" cradling his head into my lap, I tried to shake him awake from the shot. I heard the same frantic mind scrambling to reload, and Sam was still in shock for me to move us. Quickly thinking I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Somebody HELP! Sam is hurt!"
I felt the shooter get anxious and slightly distracted at my cry. Then I heard the gun, and froze into place – "Sam wake up, I need you to Shift … Sam" shooting my head up in the direction of the mind as I realized another bullet was whizzing through the air, when suddenly it was deflected by a garbage can lid and it ricochet off in another direction. My body covering Sam's I looked over to see Bill. He had taken the garbage can lid Sam had put on the ground, as threw it like a Frisbee with an accuracy I can only thank a vampire for. Suddenly the back door of Merlotte's opened and Terry Bellefleur and half of the bar poured out in a big commotion. Terry fell near me to grab Sam, and Bill swept me up to move out of the open parking lot. We were both quickly moved inside to Sam's office.
Bill sat me down on Sam's desk as Terry searched for the bullet wound. "Thank god, it's just a graze, the bullet didn't go through him but Sam must have been knocked to the ground from the shock." Terry announced. Shock was settling in and I stared at Sam blankly. Someone wanted Sam dead!
"Sookie are you okay?" Bill squared my shoulders to look him in the eyes. He had to shake me a few times before I snapped out of it. "Sookie, Sookie darling, are you okay."
"What?" Stumbling out of my stupor. "Is Sam okay? Terry is he breathing?" pushing Bill's arm off me, I scrambled off the desk to Sam's side.
"He's probably in shock, luckily Vampire Bill here deflected that last bullet, or who knows how you two would be right now." Terry said.
"I'm sorry, where are my manners. Bill, thank you, but what how did you get here so fast? And this early?" I looked over to Bill who was leaning against the desk.
"I was actually on my way to Merlotte's when Eric called and requested I made my way here to see what was going on. So I just ran over from…" his words just dropped. I could have finished that sentence for him, he was probably near ground by Selah's, which was a lot closer to Merlotte's than from our neck of the woods.
"Oh my God Eric! I was on the phone with him when I heard the first shot. My phone is still outside." Just then, Sam started to move on the couch by me.
"What the hell happened?" Sam tried to sit up until his arm burned from the wound.
"Someone shot at you up in the back lot. Did you remember anything? See anyone?" Terry began questioning. In full alert mode, this was a Terry I have never seen before. He was in control, but I remember seeing the terror in his eyes earlier when he rushed out into the lot.
"I remember Sookie waving to me and next thing I know, I hear her yelling. Then I was out." Sam looked over to me and eyed the length of me. "Sookie are you okay?" Just like Sam to think of others before himself.
"I'm fine, Bill arrived just in time and then Terry came out to find us, the attacker must have ran." I looked up to Terry who nodded.
"Do you need to go to the hospital Sam? Should I call for help?" Terry asked. Feeling at the graze on his shoulder, Sam poked the wound to begin bleeding again. I could hear Bill take a breathe as the scent of Sam's blood began to fill the air.
"No, I'll be fine. It's not gushing blood, just a graze. I guess I owe you a thanks Bill," Sam sat up and nodded in Bill's direction. Then he turned to nod at Terry too. Men, as if talking was too beneath them.
"Terry". Trying to move again Sam didn't realize he was bleeding in a small room with a vampire.
"No thanks needed, I was sent to see to Sookie." Bill moved from the desk. "Sookie, you mentioned you dropped your phone. I'll go find it." I saw Bill take another gasp of air and held it, as he headed out the door.
"You stay in here to rest, I'll go calm the crowd. I'm surprised Arlene hasn't beaten down your door yet. Sookie, do you mind staying with Sam?"
"Of course," Terry left us and I settled Sam back into his couch. "Sam Merlotte, you gave me a scare of a lifetime!" I turned to sit on my knees by Sam. It all hit me in that moment that we were just shot at, and I here I thought today was going to be a good day.
"I'm fine Sookie, I should actually be going, and my body is just going to get warmer as the moon gets higher, I'll heal by the time I shift and I don't want to have to explain to Terry why I shouldn't go to the hospital at that point. Plus, I want to follow the trail of the shooter."
"I'm fine too, Bill…" before I continued, Sam gave me one of those looks where he didn't need me to say anything else. Bill will always be his own can of worms to me. I stood to meet him eye to eye. "Don't go chasing trouble, you were just shot at and all. I'll see if Bill saw anything out of the ordinary"
I helped Sam scramble to his feet and scribble a note for Terry. He popped his head out to the crowd in the dining room and carefully made his excuses to leave with me. Outside, he gave me a quick hug and ducked behind his truck to strip down and shift. Next time I saw Sam was as Dean the collie. Bill was on his phone by my car.
"Sookie is fine. Yes, I've checked the area. Yes, I've made sure she was not injured. Yes, yes, yes, I have done everything you have asked of me." I realized Bill was on my phone. "Here she is." Bill actually rolled his eyes at me when he handed me the phone. In the receiver, I heard Eric screaming like he's in a wind tunnel.
"Eric, I'm fine. Really, it's just more shock than anything. Where are you?" I felt like I needed to yell in reply to his background noise.
"Have Bill take you home, and stay in the house until I get there. I'm driving from Shreveport now."
I knew better than to argue with Eric at this point. "Very well, I will see you at my house."
"I will be there shortly." Then Eric hung up.
"I will escort you home Sookie." Bill moved to the passenger side of my car and I reluctantly got into my driver side. Bill and I sat in silence for the first part of the drive.
"Thank you for getting to me when you did Bill." Bill was very forthcoming the night of the takeover; he made it a point to stand up to Eric as my champion. Truth be told, I find it ironic that Bill often voices how he stands up for me but Eric has always been there when I needed him. For all the reasoned declarations, it just comes back to - Bill followed orders, and that is the part of Bill I can't let go of – I should be thankful for when he listens to Eric but I resent him for never standing on his own.
"I was in the area, and you should know darling – I would always be there for you."
I let his words wash through me and strangely, it didn't do anything for me. I use to cling to Bill's words, his vows and his feelings for me, but now, we have this space between us that I'm not sure how to fill. But damn, I would be lying to myself if he didn't pull my heartstrings just a little bit. Pulling into my driveway, we both got out and walked to my porch.
"You and Selah must be getting on well." I wanted to make small talk.
"She isn't you." Bill said forlornly.
"Bill, stop."
"Sookie, I never had the chance to explain…"
"Explain what Bill? How it wasn't me, it was just orders? Or how you love me, but it's complicated? And we can't forget the favorite, you wanted to protect me?" wow, where did that come from?
Silence. I can see Bill's lips move, wanting to say something but just like his actions – nothing. We sat in silence just a while longer and until he pulled into my driveway. I get out, and start for my door, better to prepare for battle with the Viking, than sit in silence with the Bill.
"Sookie," in an instant, Bill flashed to my side on the porch and took my hand. "For what it's worth, I had the chance to say you were mine once. And if I live for another hundred years, no one else would come close to what that means to me. I accept you don't want me now darling, but it doesn't change how I feel."
I sighed.
"For what it's worth, I wished it was so easy to accept. My feelings haven't changed Bill, they've just now found the right person. You and I, we were never right, you made that choice by following orders you didn't know what to do with, but thank you." I didn't realize I had anything to thank Bill for, until that moment staring into his eyes, it hit me hard. Without Bill, I may have never found my pest of a Viking. For what it's worth, all the heartache and lessons learned has lead me to where I needed to be … with Eric. As much of a pest he can be, he's valuable to me.
"I'm sorry darling." He barely whispered.
"No, I'm not accepting anymore apologies from you. What's done is done, and we can only move on." I pulled him in for a hug. "Thank you for being there tonight, I truly do wish you all the happiness."
"My happiness means more with yours." Ever the poetic gentleman.
Even before he spoke, I sense him. Landing below the porch, I turned out of Bill's arms to face one pissed of Viking.
"Remove your arms from Sookie now, or I will remove them for you Compton."
Oh dear, here comes the real fireworks tonight.
