Summary: Sookie returns from Fairy Land with a dash of reality, and handles her dangerous situation with more awareness. Watch the pretty ripples...AU Season Four. Eventual Eric/Sookie.

I've been awful about replying to reviews lately but I promise to be better at it now that my home schooling has FINALLY been sorted out. As promised, here is the next chapter.

Feel free to check out my poll regarding a new True Blood fanfic of mine.


"Who are you?"

The soft, fearful question hit Sookie hard in the chest, knocking the breath out of her. Though she knew there was something wrong with him, she couldn't help but feel a sting of hurt. "I'm...Sookie."

"Who?" he repeated faintly, turning towards her tentatively. Her voice had been soft and stunned but he seemed to find her threatening somehow.

"Eric, you know me."

Eric stared at her like a wounded animal. "No, I don't." After a moment of staring at her blankly, he turned back to the street.

Panic surged wildly up in her chest at the thought of Eric walking around in his frightened, confused state, and Sookie shoved her door open. Eric hissed loudly at her, recoiling backwards into a crouch. His muscles were tense, and his blue eyes were livid with terror.

Gasping, Sookie stumbled back, staring at him with wide eyes.

The look in his eyes killed her. She wanted to soothe him so strongly, like she had wanted to on the roof with Godric, but she knew that it would only scare him.

If he ran, she wouldn't be able to catch him. If he ran, someone could hurt him.

Usually Sookie would laugh at the thought of anyone giving Eric trouble but something had happened to him, and if whoever caused this found him again...

Any anger she had felt for Eric was forgotten, overpowered by her protective instincts.

Sookie raised her hands slowly, chest aching at the look on his face. "Okay," she said softly. "I won't come any closer."

Eric stared at her wildly, breathing heavily, like he actually needed the air. Slowly, the tension in his muscular eased, but did not dissipate. "You...know me?"

Unsure of what to think about his seeming lack of memories, Sookie nodded jerkily. "Yes. I'm...you could say we're business partners, I guess."

That was what they had started out like, now it was more of a stalker and stalkee relationship. Except not, at the same time.

Eric inched a little closer to her, about as comfortable as a cat on hot bricks. His eyes were huge and painfully blue, so scared that Sookie's heart swelled. "My name is Eric?"

It took effort for Sookie to remain still, to not offer comfort. "Yes," she said, looking at him. He looked so pitiful, so un-Eric like that it frightened her. "What happened to you?"

Eyes locked on her, Eric shook his head slightly. And then a gust of wind came from behind Sookie, and his expression became transfixed. In a move not entirely unlike his reaction to the scent of her arousal, Eric's head lifted and he sniffed the air.

"Why do you smell so good?"

Sookie stiffened, suddenly she felt threatened. She licked her lips slowly. "That's not important."

Eric ignored her, moving a little closer, inhaling deeply. His expression was slowly turning hungry, the bad kind of hungry. "Like wheat...and honey...and sunlight." His fangs clicked down.

Okay. That was it.

Balling her fist, thumb on the outside just like Jason taught her, holding back her Light, Sookie lashed out and popped him hard on the nose.

Eric's head snapped to the side from the force as Sookie tried to shake the pain out of her knuckles. "What did you do that for?" he demanded, actually having the gall to look hurt and outraged by her actions.

"You looked like you were about to go for my neck!"

"It was a compliment!" Eric protested, touching his nose gingerly as a bead of blood slid down his chin.

"It didn't sound like one! It sounded like you were reviewing a menu!"

"You broke my noise!" Eric yelped like a disgruntled child.

"Oh for Heaven's sake, come here." Sookie stepped towards him, trying not to let her anger soften at the sight of his blood or how out of character he was acting.

Eric looked at her warily but allowed her to peer at his nose, flinching away when she moved her hand to touch him.

Anger gone, Sookie paused and looked up at him reassuring me, feeling a twinge of guilt. Punching the already scared and vulnerable man was terrible of her - but at least she had been able to restrain her light. "Unless I think you're about to take a bite, I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

Eric looked at her intently, and she remained still, staring up at him with kind brown eyes while he tried to decide if he could trust her or not. Eventually, Eric lowered for her, and she felt relieved.

"This may twinge a bit," Sookie warned him, stroking gently down the bridge of his nose. His skin was soft and worryingly cold - not cool, but cold. His intense eyes burned down at her, like blue flames, and the hesitance, the uncertainty, in them made her ache for him. "It isn't broken, barely even bruised and you're a vampire, so that will heal in like five minutes."

"I know what I am, Sookie," Eric murmured, watching her intently, seeming almost disappointed when she removed her hand from his skin. His petulance reminded her of Jason whenever he was sick, and she couldn't help but smile at the thought. A smile that disappeared with his next statement. "I just don't know who I am."

"Nothing?" she asked, worry leaking into her voice. She figured Eric must have made enemies in the past thousand years, and this left him clueless, vulnerable, a sitting duck. She was suddenly fervently glad to have found him. "What's the first thing you do remember?"

"I don't know," he bit out in agitation, softening his voice when he saw her stiffen. "I don't know."

Thinking back, Sookie came up with a new question. "Okay. Well, you were walking when I drove up - do you know where you were going?"

"I..." he frowned. "I don't know. But there's something...listening, maybe. Home."

"Eric," Sookie called to him softly. His eyes snapped back into focus, staring at her almost desperately. "It's cold out here. Why don't we get into my car and you can tell me, then?"

"Cold," he repeated numbly, eyes moving over her form. "You're cold."

Sookie was, actually, but she had meant him."Yeah, so are you. Come on."

With hesitance, watching her warily, Eric climbed into the passenger seat of her car. Sookie got into the drive seat and looked over at him. He looked as cramped as a sardine in a can.

Resisting the urge to laugh at the sight by reminding herself how freaked out he was, Sookie rolled the windows up, switched the heater on, and warned him. "I'm just going to readjust your seat, so you won't be so cramped, okay?"

Eric nodded, his eyes were wide, still afraid. "Okay."

Sookie adjusted his seat quickly so that his long, long, long legs weren't practically pushed up to his chin and reached for the red afghan in the back seat.

"What are you doing?" Eric sounded tense.

Sookie turned her head to the side and abruptly realized how close their faces were. He had turned his head to watch her with those startled eyes. They were close enough to kiss. A fizzle of heat simmered in her lower stomach against her will. Eric's eyes widened, and he stared at her face with a measure of wonder.

"You are so beautiful." His voice was quiet, hushed with awe and so very sincere.

Heat rushed to Sookie's face, a shy smile tugged at her lips before she could clamp down on it. Glancing away from his soft, open expression, Sookie swallowed. "I'm just grabbing a quilt from the back. See," she pulled the afghan into her lap and passed it to him.

"Oh." He accepted the afghan and tentatively wrapped it around his broad shoulders, covering his bare, shirtless, pale and extremely muscular chest. Lafayette would have called it a crime against humanity, Sookie couldn't argue. "Thank you."

After blinking at him in surprise, Sookie tried to figure out what the hell was going on. "You were telling me about the last thing you remembered."

"Yes." His eyes grew unfocused, and his face moved away from hers, staring blankly out of the window shield. And then he started to ramble, quick and smoothly, in another language.

Sookie shook her head slowly at him, trying to identify the language but she soon gave up - even if she could recognize it, she sure as hell couldn't speak it. "Eric - "

His eyes snapped to her, expression grim and his voice gained panic. When he said something, repeating the words twice, Sookie interrupted, "Eric, sweetie, I can't understand whatever language you're speaking. English."

"Her eyes," Eric said instantly. "Her cold, empty eyes." He stared at her, almost pleadingly. "They were reaching into me..." his mouth remained parted though it was a moment before he continued. "Emptying me."

"Okay," Sookie said soothingly. She had turned to face him in the middle of his speech.

"And it was her," he said fiercely, eyes getting wider, panic growing. "But it wasn't her." He shook his head slightly, like he was acting out his words. "She was in, ah, a circle." His eyes flickered up, trying to dig more of the memory up. "Chanting. And, ah...everything I was..." Eric paused, panic fading to sorrow, swallowing. "Was taken from me."

A sickening jolt of rage surged within Sookie. She felt a moment of pure, hot hatred toward whoever had brought the pain-in-the-ass Eric she knew to this. She hadn't always wished the former Viking well but she had never wanted him to be hurt, either.

"Okay," repeated Sookie, reaching over to touch his hand, grounding him back in the present with her touch. "I'll help you deal with this."

Coming fully back to the present, Eric took her hand in his, making her feel so fragile. He stared down at their hands, her small, tanned one in his large, snow-pale one. Unable to deny him the small comfort, Sookie did not pull away as she would have mere hours ago.

"I am grateful for this," Eric murmured.

"Whatever," Sookie started her car. She could drive one-handed, and helping him in some way lessened the ache in her chest. "Just keep your fangs to yourself."

It would be stupid to lay down a no-touching order when she had reached out to him.


Opening the door for him, Sookie flicked on the light and walked into her house, casually kicking the rug out of her path. "I'll call Pam."

"Pam?" he echoed softly.

"Yeah. Pam's your - well, I don't know what you call it but you're her Maker." Turning to see if he understood, Sookie realized that Eric had stopped in the doorway. She stared at him in question for a moment before it hit it. "Oh. Eric, you already have an invitation to my house."

Following her gesture, Eric entered her house, looking around skittishly. Forgoing her plan to call Pam, Sookie went to his side. "Why don't you go sit in the sitting room?" he looked at her. "I'll be there in a minute," she smiled at him.

Murmuring his agreement, Eric limped - limped - toward her living room. Sookie frowned at his legs. Having him in her house had relaxed some of her worry but now she could feel it returning.

"What happened to your leg?"

Eric turned to her, looking baffled. "You're limping."

"Oh," he murmured, lifting one of his feet.

There were tiny rocks embedded in his dirty feet, Sookie noticed with a cold thrill of horror. He was bleeding, and they looked deep. Eric looked back at her, nonplussed by the startled expression on her face.

"Sit down," Sookie ordered. It surprised her when Eric actually did sit back on the couch. She quickly filled her gran's old baby bath with warm water, and returned to the couch with that and a first-aid kit.

Her first priority was getting the stones out of his flesh. Trying not to think of what Eric should have said about this, Sookie knelt at his feet, placing the baby bath at his feet.

Watching her intently, Eric moved his feet into the warm water. Sookie dug a pair of tweezers from the first-aid kit and rolled the muddy, ripped bottom of his jeans up, grasping one of his ankles. His skin was icy against her warmer hands.

"This might hurt a little," Sookie warned him.

Eric shook his head slightly. "I can't feel them."

Sookie paused, looking surprised.

"I would heal around them," Eric offered.

The horrifying thought prompted Sookie into action. Gripping a stone firmly with the tweezers, she pulled it out of Eric's flesh. A drop of his blood fell into the water where his other foot rested but Eric was unresponsive to it.

"Wow," she muttered, impressed despite herself, and Eric grinned, pleased.

Oh.

He had a beautiful smile, wide and open with perfect white teeth. It looked better on him than his usual harsh frown or smug smirk. If he smiled at her like that more often...well. Her self-control and convictions were only so strong.

There were five more stones in Eric's foot, and four in his other foot. Sookie was relieved to be finished with that task. How could Eric not have noticed so many stones in his feet? How long had he been walking before she'd stumbled across him by dumb luck?

After re-filling the baby bath with clean water, Sookie went upstairs to fetch a cloth to clean the dirt off his feet and she called Pam.

Pam sounded annoyed when she bit out a generic greeting in her droll voice.

"I thought you should know that Eric is at my house."

"So?" Pam said, a frank carelessness in her voice. "It's his house."

Sookie counted the other woman's reaction as good news; if Pam didn't expect Eric back so soon, than no one else should. Now, how the hell was she supposed to tell Pam that her Maker didn't remember owning her house, or anything else for that matter?

It wasn't the kind of thing that should be broken over the phone. And her neck might be broken in person - but it would be safer for Eric that way.

"Well, would you mind bring some of his clothes over?"

Pam make a naughty purring sound. "Oh? So you decided to fuck him after all?" Before Sookie could react, Pam continued. "Finally. I didn't think you had it in you, human. I'm impressed."

"Well you shouldn't be," Sookie snapped. "I did not have sex with him." Taking a breath, Sookie softened her voice and started down the stairs. "He isn't himself, Pam. He's okay," she added forcefully. "Just...different, vulnerable."

"What?" Pam snarled, her bored voice was hard, worried and trying not to show it. "What the fuck happened to him?"

"I don't know, and I don't think we should be talking about this over the phone." Sookie glanced into the sitting room where Eric sat on her couch, absently stirring the water around with his foot. "Just grab his stuff and hurry over here."

The sound of something moving very quickly was her only response, and Sookie hung up the phone, coming to kneel by Eric's feet again, dipping the wash cloth in the water. It had gone cool.

When she looked up, it was to see Eric watching her. "I'm sorry the water got cold."

Eric shook his head lightly, leaning forward to look closely at her. "Doesn't matter. You live alone."

"Yes," Sookie answered, figuring he was concerned about someone walking in. "I used to live here with my friend, Tara, but she moved out."

Eric studied the blonde telepath at his feet, unable to stop taking in the kind woman's beauty. "You are unmarried." He felt strangely glad of this.

Unaware of Eric's thoughts, Sookie nodded, adverting her gaze to his feet as her thoughts turned to the man she might've married. Logically, she was glad Eric had told her before she'd had the chance to marry Bill but thinking of what could have been (if Bill had been what she'd wanted him to be) hurt.

"No," Sookie muttered, "I'm not."

"I've upset you," Eric realized, looking unexpectedly contrite.

"It isn't you," Sookie said quickly, feeling oddly breathless at how sweet Eric was acting. She moved the wet cloth up the arch of his foot, and then something unbelievable happened.

Eric giggled, jerking his foot out of her grasp. "It's - it tickles," he said to excuse his reaction, still grinning at the sensation.

Thought bemused, Sookie was unable to stop herself returning his delighted grin. It was infectious, and the thought of Eric Northman, badass 6'4 Vampire sheriff, being tickish was so absurd.

"You're ticklish?" Sookie repeated incredulously.

Before either of them could say anything else, the door flew open and Pam burst in, wearing the same glittery pink dress.

Eric was on his feet before Sookie could even draw in a startled breath. "Who the fuck is she?" he shouted, panicked.

"Fuck!" Pam blurted, looking horrified.

Sookie jumped to her feet, holding a calming hand up to Eric, as though to halt him. "It's okay. It's Pam. I told you about her."

"Oh. Right. Sorry," Eric looked down at Sookie earnestly. "I'm sorry."

So Eric with amnesia - polite.

That was never going to stop freaking Sookie out.

Or Pam, it seemed.

"You don't know me?" Pam asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"No," Eric said bluntly.

"He doesn't remember anything, Pam," Sookie explained.

"Nothing?" Pam questioned aggressively. The usually calm vampire looked uncharastically alarmed, her blue eyes were wide and frantic. Sookie could almost hearing the woosh as dozens of thoughts zoomed around her head.

"No."

"Shit," Pam exclaimed. Her eyes moved to Sookie, filled with intensity and poorly concealed desperation. It was clear Pam loved Eric just as much as Eric had loved Godric. "Sookie, you have to hide him."

Sookie startled, eyes going wide. "What?" she demanded. "No, I can't! You'll be able to hide him much better than I can."

The Fairies wouldn't stand much chance against an awake vampire but if they caught Eric while he was asleep, they would probably have much better luck, and it was only a matter of time until the Fae went after her.

"I'm the first place they'll look!"

"Who the hell is they?" Sookie exclaimed.

"Bill fucking Compton and the witches."

Only in fucking Bon Temps.