A/N Sorry this took so long to post. Unfortunately, real life sometimes has to be the priority!
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, Charlaine Harris does. I just like borrow them for play time.
Stan and his girlfriend, Isabelle, had been seeing each other since shortly after the beginning of the spring semester in January. She spent quite a lot of time at Stan's place, so she got to know Joseph and Eric quite well. She thought that Joseph was sort of boring, but, she got along very well with Eric.
Isabelle knew how important his education was to Eric, because of the values instilled in him by his grandmother. She admired that. It was this knowledge that led her to worry when she walked into the apartment the last day of finals week to find him sitting on the couch, with his head in his hands.
"Eric, what are you still doing here? You only have an hour before for your history final, shouldn't you be heading to campus?" Eric looked up at her, and she could see that he'd been crying. "What's wrong?"
"I just got off the phone with my Uncle Mike. He said that my Grandmother passed away last night in her sleep." His voice sounded completely hollow, and it tugged at her heart.
She sat down next to him, and put her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Eric, I'm so sorry. I know how much she means to you." They sat in companionable silence together for a while, before Eric spoke again.
"I was a huge mess when my parents died. But, she was so strong for me. It's never right for a parent to outlive their children, and I know that it completely broke her heart when she had to bury her daughter. But, she wouldn't let me wallow in self pity. She just kept pushing and pushing, telling me that Mom and Dad would want me to get back to the business of living. She was my rock. With her gone, I'm all alone. Who am I going to lean on, now?"
"Eric, you are not alone. First of all, you still have your uncle." She hesitated for a moment as she watched tears begin to fall down his cheeks once again. "Plus, you've got Sookie."
He thought about that for a moment. Yes, he still had Uncle Mike. His only living relative. They would have to be there for each other, now. He thought of how his friendship with Sookie had progressed the previous summer, and knew that she would do anything in her power to help him cope with his loss. It would be enough. It had to be.
Eric stood, pulling Isabelle up with him and into a hug. "Thanks, Belles. You're right. It's just going to take a little getting used to, is all. I'd better be heading over to take my test. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
He gently hugged her once again, grabbed his things, and started walking towards campus to take the last of his final exams. The closer he got to campus, the harder he tried to push everything to the back of his mind, and concentrate solely on the task at hand. When he arrived at the lecture hall, he stood still and took a few calming breaths before walking in.
Two hours later, he found himself in a daze, headed back to his apartment. He'd been able to focus on the test, but, the moment he left the building, sorrow had washed over him. He took his cell phone from his pocket, and turned it on, having shut it off during the test. He had two new voice messages.
"Eric, it's Mike. I suppose you're probably taking your exam right now. Give me a call when you can and we'll start making travel arrangements to get you back up here as soon as possible. I need to meet with the people at the funeral home, but, I'd like to put that off until you get here, if I can. This is something we need to do together. I'll talk to ya later. Love ya kiddo."
Eric couldn't help but smile a little. He was 19 years old, and was at least 5 inches taller than his uncle, but Mike still called him 'kiddo.' He listened as the second message began to play.
"Eric, this is Sookie. Daddy just got off the phone with Mike. I'm so, so, so, so very sorry about your Grandma. If you need anything, or just want to talk, call me, okay. No matter what time, day or night. I'm here for ya, okay? Well, um, I guess I'll talk to you later."
Eric closed his phone and placed it back in his pocket. He could've sworn it sounded like there was something else Sookie wanted to say, but had held back. However, he dismissed the thought as he entered his apartment complex. He opened the door to his apartment, and was relieved to find it empty. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and went into his room and lay down on his bed.
He put his hands behind his head, propping himself up a little on his pillow, and simply stared at the ceiling. He let his mind replay his memories of his Grandmother, as if they were a video. He saw her sitting in the stands, cheering him on as he played basketball in high school. He remembered the look of amused fear she had as she handed him her car keys for the first time after he'd gotten his license. How she had hugged and rocked him as he cried while opening his presents the first Christmas morning after his parents had died.
He was brought back to the present when he heard his cell phone ring. He grabbed it from the nightstand next to his bed, and answered after glancing at the caller ID.
"Hi, Uncle Mike," he said, deciding not to even try to hide the sadness in his voice.
"Hey, kiddo. How you doin?"
"I'm okay, I guess. I was just lying on my bed, remembering."
"Yeah, I've found myself doing that a time or two today, myself. How'd your test go?"
"Eh, it went alright. I was a little distracted, so, I'm sure I got a couple of things wrong that I would've gotten right otherwise, but, I'm sure I passed without a problem."
"Well, listen, I'm supposed to meet with the funeral home tomorrow evening, and we'll probably have the funeral the day after that in the afternoon. I had Sookie look it up for me on her computer, and she said there's a flight leaving there in a couple of hours that would get you to Denver around 11pm. You want me to go ahead and book you a seat, or, do you want to wait 'til tomorrow to fly?"
Eric thought about it for a moment. "No, I'd rather take the flight today. If I stay here any longer, I won't be doing anyone any good. The sooner I get there, you and I can start doing whatever needs to be done. And besides, I think I need to be with family right now."
Once the flight reservation was taken care of, Eric ended the phone call so he could prepare to head to the airport. Originally, his plans had been to fly to Colorado a couple of weeks after the semester ended, and return two weeks before classes resumed in September. His roommates were staying in Texas for the summer in order to keep their current jobs, so, he didn't need to worry about packing up all of his things.
He quickly grabbed his largest duffle bag and began shoving clothes in. He smiled to himself as he thought that, had she witnessed this, his grandmother would've slapped him silly! Not only was he not stacking the clothing neatly, but only half of what he was packing was actually clean! He froze for a moment, wondering if there was a single part of him, of his life, that she hadn't touched or made better. He instinctively knew there wasn't, and that's what made her passing so difficult.
Stan had arrived home while Eric was packing, having already spoken to Isabelle. He offered his condolences, and asked Eric if there was anything he could do to help him get ready for his flight. Eric told him that he had everything covered, but that he would need a ride to the airport. Stan immediately told him it would be no problem, and they were on the road not 30 minutes later.
The line at the security check was, as usual, an extremely long, slow moving nightmare. More than once, Eric wondered whether or not he'd actually make it to his flight in time. As it turned out, he arrived at his gate with 20 minutes to spare. He pulled his laptop from his carry-on bag, booted it up, and quickly imported any unread emails from his account into his word processor program, so that he could read them during the flight. He had just shut the computer down when he heard the announcement that his plane was now boarding.
Although the airport itself was quite crowded, they were many empty seats on his individual flight. Since it was first come first serve on the seats, he happily found a row about midway through the cabin with no one else in it. He sat in the middle seat, and raised the arm rests so it felt like one large seat instead of 3 tiny ones. He tucked his carry-on bag underneath the seat in front of him, fastened his seat belt, and sat through the usual boring schpeal about what to do in case of an emergency.
Once they finally reaching cruising altitude, he pulled out his laptop and began booting it up while grabbing his ipod. He turned on a playlist that he'd put together consisting of what he considered "good background music," and turned the volume down to a low setting while he flipped through the emails he'd imported at the airport.
He had five new messages. Two were random spam messages that he immediately erased. One was a confirmation from one of his professors saying that she'd received the paper he'd submitted a couple of days ago. One was a short note from Joseph, saying he'd heard about what had happened after Stan had already taken Eric to the airport, and he just wanted to extend his condolences. The last one was from Sookie.
TO: vikingcowboy
FROM: crazysookie
Eric,
Oh sweetie, I just don't know what to say. I know how much your Grandma meant to you. I know how much you love her. I can't imagine how overwhelming your grief must be right now. I've tried to put myself in your shoes and imagine growing up without my parents, but the pain is so unbearable that I simply can't stand it.
You've dealt with so much loss in your life. And, we both know that before it's all over, you'll end up having to deal with more. It's not easy, and it's not fair, but it's the truth just the same. I'll keep you and Mike in my prayers, asking for extra strength and guidance for as long as you need it.
I meant what I said in the message I left on your cell phone. If you need anything, please let me know. I want to be here for you, Eric. If you need to talk, if you want to scream and yell at someone, or just want someone to laugh with to keep you going, I'm here. No matter how much distance separates us, my heart and thoughts are always with you.
I'll talk to you soon.
Love Sookie
He struggled to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. He'd known from his very first day on the ranch that Miranda Stackhouse was a dear, kind-hearted, loving woman. Until now, he'd never noticed how much like her Sookie was. He thought back to that first summer and remembered how he shunned her offers of friendship to instead accept the lesser offer of Jason's. There were many times he'd regretted that decision. But, none were felt as strongly as now.
He found himself lost in the memory of a tender moment that he'd shared with Sookie the previous summer. A particularly bad thunder storm with strong winds had knocked several branches from a tree near the house, one of which broke a window. Peter and Jason had gone into town early the next morning and got a replacement, and asked Eric and Sookie to install it that afternoon. The broken glass had already been cleaned up and swept away, but they were unaware of how unsteady the remaining pains were. As they lifted the old window from the frame, a large piece of glass fell out and shattered on the floor. Eric, as a gut reaction, had stooped to try and stop the glass from breaking. What he got for his efforts was several shards of glass embedded in left hand.
Sookie had immediately gone to get the first aid kit from the bathroom. She sat Eric down in a chair at the dining table, held his hand in hers, and slowly and gingerly pulled the shards out using a pair of tweezers. Each time she put the tweezers on a new shard, she flinched, seemingly very upset at causing him pain. Once she'd removed all of the glass from his hand, she washed it thoroughly, rubbed an antibiotic ointment on each individual cut, and wrapped some gauze and a bandage around it. He had tried to tell her that the dressing was quite unnecessary. She refused to relent, however. She just said that, with the kind of work they do on the ranch, he was bound to get all sorts of germs in it, and the last thing she wanted was for any of the cuts to become infected. She'd even pulled his hand to her lips once she was finished, and placed a sweet kiss over it, while saying "There, all better." He now wished she could do the same to the ache in his heart. How wonderful it would be to have her hold him, tell him everything would be fine, and have it miraculously be true.
"Sir, can I get you anything to drink?" The flight attendant asked while placing her hand on Eric's shoulder, effectively shaking him from his memory.
"No, I'm fine, thank you."
As she pushed her drink cart to the next aisle, Eric looked once again at his laptop. He opened a new document, and began to draft an email to Sookie that he would send off once the plane was on the ground in Denver.
TO: crazysookie
FROM: vikingcowboy
Sook,
Right now, I'm sitting on an airplane, flying over what I THINK is Amarillo, so, I guess I'm about halfway to Denver. I just got finished reading your email. I got the voicemail you left on my cell earlier, and I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to call you back, yet.
I can't believe she's really gone. About a year after my parents died, I accepted the fact that Gram would one day leave me, too. But, whenever I pictured that happening, it was still a lot longer off than this. It all just feels too soon. Like, I didn't have enough time.
But, I guess in situations like these you NEVER feel like you've had enough time. Forever wouldn't even be enough time to be near to the ones you love. Right now, I'm just really grateful that I've still got Uncle Mike. He's all I have left, and I'm all he has, too. Well, besides your family that is. You guys always have treated us both like we were bound by blood.
Ha, speaking of blood, just a few minutes ago I was remember the time last summer when that window shattered and you had to pull glass out of my hand. You put ointment on and wrapped it all up, and then told me it was all better. I wish you could do that now. Just wrap me up in your arms and make everything better.
Unfortunately, life isn't that simple. And, you're right, I'm bound to deal with more loss as life goes on. So, I've decided that, starting now, I'm going to make sure to appreciate what time we have with our family and friends. I'm going to make sure that those I love really and truly KNOWthat I love them.
Thank you for just being there for me. I don't know that I'm really ready to talk about everything, but, when I am, I promise I'll call you. Thanks for everything you do for me, Sookie. I love you for it.
Eric
"Hellooo, Earth to Sookie!" Tara's voice was beginning to sound more than just a tiny bit annoyed.
"What? Sorry, Tara, what were you saying?"
Tara shook her head slightly and laughed in exasperation. "Sookie, ya know what, you miss him, I get it. He's been at your house all summer for the past seven years. Now, unfortunately, because his Grandma died, he's only gonna be there for two weeks, and it just so happens to be during the middle of the three week trip you're taking with my family. I'm sorry that it turned out this way, but, it is seriously time to put a stop on your little pity party."
Sookie looked down at her hands and closed her eyes, trying desperately to compose herself. Tara was right. She had been hardly paying any attention during their various stops at museums, and historical landmarks. She felt ashamed at how ungrateful she appeared.
"Tara, I'm sorry. I know your parents have shelled out a lot of money on me during this trip, and I really don't want you to think I don't appreciate it. It's just, well, a lot harder than I thought it would be."
Tara sighed and moved to sit next to Sookie on one of the beds in their current hotel room. "Sook, I know it's hard. And believe me, no one thinks that having you here with us is a waste of money. But you have got to stop brooding all the time. I'm tempted to call Eric myself and tell him that you're acting all depressed, and not enjoying the trip."
Sookie looked at Tara's face for a moment in shock, only to see the playful smile Tara was now wearing.
"You will do not such thing, Tara Thornton! The last thing I need is another phone call with him yelling at me for not enjoying myself."
"Well, I guess you'd better actually start to enjoy yourself then, huh!"
They giggled together for a moment before they heard a knock at the door. It was Tara's mother, coming to tell them it was time to get back on the road. Tara began taking her bags out to the rental car her parents had been using, while Sookie put her laptop back into its carrying case. She'd spent countless hours on the computer going over and over the email Eric had sent her.
She'd been very disappointed when she learned that it would not be possible for her to attend the funeral. She'd only met Eric's grandmother a couple of times, but she desperately wanted to be there for him, with him. They'd spoken on the phone many times during the two weeks after the funeral. He told her all about cleaning out the old house that his grandparents had owned for decades. They talked about her upcoming trip to the East Coast with the Thorntons.
Several times, she'd offered to stay home, so she could be at the ranch when he was. He wouldn't hear of it, however. Saying she'd be crazy to pass up such a great opportunity. She'd taken several pictures of the various historical sites, and was emailing them to him daily, along with a recap of what they'd done that day. She also made sure to buy him a few gifts along the way, as well.
On her way out the door, she paused briefly in front of the full-length mirror. It still took her a minute to adjust to woman looking back at her. Just last year, she'd had a tearful conversation with Tara, wondering when her body would begin to develop like all the other girls at her school had already done. Tara just kept telling her that she would be a late bloomer, but that it would happen eventually.
Tara had been more than right. In a little under a year's time, so much had changed. Her hips were more rounded, her face had thinned just a bit, and she'd gone from being flat as a board, to having quite the substantial bosom. Because of the type of work she did helping her father, she was very fit, and her skin was nicely tanned.
"Stop gawkin' at yourself and come on!" Tara said from the doorway. Sookie laughed, and went to join the rest of her group at their vehicle.
By the time the three week tour of the East Coast was finished, Sookie felt exhausted, and was ready to do nothing but lie in bed and sleep for a whole week. Her family, however, definitely had other plans for her, considering that in just two weeks time, she would begin her senior year of high school.
They did give her two days to rest and recoup, but, after that, it was back to business as usual. The closer and closer it came for school to start again, the more she noticed Bill watching her in a way he'd never done before. When Jason had come home from his first year at college, he still teased Sookie, but, not nearly as much as he had before. Bill apparently decided to follow the same path, and actually began to act like he enjoyed her company. Things were starting to look up.
The night before her first day of school, she went to bed early, determine to pick out the perfect outfit to wear for her first day as a senior. She was just hanging up her chosen ensemble when her cell phone began ringing. She smiled brightly when she picked it up, and noticed that the caller id said it was Eric calling.
"Hello?" Sookie answered, pretending to not know who her caller was.
"Hey there, little one. Are you excited yet?"
"Um, let me think about that…YES!" She giggled into the phone, and heard Eric's deep laugh in response.
"Yeah, well, have fun, but don't forget that you still have to work hard and get good grades. Don't do what Jason and Bill did and decide that just because it's your senior year, it's okay to slack off and just hope for straight B's!"
"Oh, come on Eric, you know me better than that."
"Yes, yes I do. Hey, listen, I gotta go. It's almost midnight, and my first class tomorrow is at 7am, so, I need to be getting some sleep. I'll call you at the end of the week and you can tell me all about your first five days as a big, bad, senior, okay?"
"Sure," she answered, fighting to keep the disappointment she was feeling out of her voice.
"Good luck, Sook."
"Thanks, Eric. You too."
"Goodnight"
"Night. Love ya," she threw in, wondering how he'd respond.
"Love you, too," and he hung up. She waved her hands in front of her face, not even attempting to conceal her excitement. There was no way she was going to get to sleep, now.
