A/N: I do not own these characters, Charlaine Harris does, but I can say that I am the proud owner of seven SVM paperback books and two Black Brotherhood novels – I'm not even telling the number of pdf files! (yes, I'm a sucker for vampire hunks).

Puns aside, any remaining mistakes are mine.

Many thanks to Pixiegiggles, for beta-ing this chapter for me. She worked miracles with her magic spelling wand so this chapter could go to the dance! Have you read her story "The FStop"? No?? Then what the hell are you doing here? Go, now! But don't forget to return and read mine!

Now, I would like to ask you to give the songs for this chapter a listen, especially Serenata, by Immediate Music. There is also a choir-less version of this piece, but IMO, its force and sentiment doesn't even come close to the version I present you. Believe me, I wouldn't be asking this if I didn't think it was worth it. The music is intense and extremely moving. Let me know if it moved you as much as it did Sookie =)

Oh, and while you're at it, take a look at the hot stuff video below, too. It's funny, I promise!

Songs for this chapter:

I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor – Artic Monkeys http://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=c7dt1li5SyY

Serenata (Choir) - Immediate Music http://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=W9fWC-xEOgs

Hot Stuff – Donna Summer http://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=VZuCqT2qbFk (this is the scene (and song) of the movie Eric is remembering)

With no further ado, enjoy. I'll meet you all at the end.


Previously on 'The Sound of Music':

As we got in Amelia's car to drive to the studio, I wondered about the meeting and seeing Eric again. After my talk with Amelia about Quinn, I couldn't help but notice how different Eric was from him.

I felt a strange fluttering sensation on my stomach, a mix of anxiety and excitement. Afternoon couldn't come soon enough and I found myself anticipating our date.

*** 0~º~0 ***

7. I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor

Sookie

By 10:15 a.m. we were already at the studio, where an absurdly anxious Lafayette awaited us.

Okay, who was I kidding? He looked like a parakeet on crack. But I was a lady, so I kept my observation to myself and tried my very best to control the laugher that threatened to escape me. I was going to voice my concern when Amelia beat me to it.

"Lafayette, what the hell is wrong with you? You look like a girl in the bathroom line dying to pee," she commented bluntly. I couldn't have said it better. Well, maybe I could have, but there was no way in hell I was actually going to.

"Well, you see, I'm not dying to piss, but I am dying to know what happened last night with little miss sunshine there," he said while pointing his chin in my direction, "and Mr. Viking God."

I stared at him in disbelief. "How do you-"

"Know? Honeycakes, Laf knows everything. Besides, Pam called a few minutes ago about setting up a new meeting for this afternoon. She was in the hospital with tall, blonde, and gorgeous," he supplied.

"Oh," I said and felt my cheeks flush.

"Oh? Sook, you can do better than that. Now spill, sugar," he demanded, placing his hands on his hips and tapping his foot. I replayed the events I had just told Amelia about, and watched his eyes fill first with fear, then excitement. As soon as I finished telling him about the fight and how Eric got a date out of it, Lafayette grabbed me by the waist and twirled me across the room.

"Lafayette put me down!"

"Not until you tell me I can help you pick the place where you two love birds are going for your date," he exclaimed.

"Fine, you can help me pick the place. Now put me down," I demanded, and he conceded. "It's not like I know Shreveport that much. I don't know what I was thinking when I said yes. I should have said no."

"Oh, coulda, woulda, shoulda. You said yes and that's what matters. Now, when is this fabulous date taking place?" Lafayette asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

"I haven't decided yet, but I guess I need to. I'm pretty sure he'll want the answer this afternoon."

"Tell you what. Why don't we choose the place and then you two settle on the day?" He suggested, and I gladly agreed.

It only took a few minutes for Lafayette and Amelia to come up with a winner. I couldn't help but stifle a giggle as I imagined Eric's face when he saw the place. Boy, was he in for a surprise.

Soon enough, Amelia's first students started coming in and she left to get dressed, leaving Lafayette and me in the room.

"So, blondie, let's see what you got. Go prep and I'll meet you in that smaller room over there."

Since his first class didn't start until noon, we spent the rest of the time dancing and discussing my favorite styles in order to come up with a schedule for me.

I would teach a couple of ballroom classes with him as well as a few Latin ones, since those were my favorites, along with the contemporary dance class Amelia wanted to start offering. All in all, it was a great schedule; I would get to teach what I enjoyed the most and would have Amelia and Lafayette to pair with me on some of the other styles.

After helping me figure out my schedule, he handed me a pile of paperwork to fill out and went to get ready to teach his hip-hop class.

I finished going over the contract and signed the additional papers for health insurance, went to take a quick shower and change into the workout gear I had packed into my bag earlier this morning—a pair of black loose workout pants and a form fitting plum top. As I stepped out of the locker room, Amelia emerged out of the first classroom, soon followed by her students. I returned the signed paperwork to her.

"Now you're officially a teacher at 'Cheek to Cheek'! Welcome to the gang!" she congratulated me.

"Thanks, Ames," I replied with a smile and told her about the schedule Lafayette had designed for me.

"Well, speaking of the devil!" Amelia said as Laf joined us in the hall, "Sookie was just telling me about her schedule."

"What do you think? Too much? Should I cut back on a few?" Lafayette asked.

"No!" Amelia and I exclaimed at the same time.

"It's perfect," I said and they both smiled at me.

"So, what do you ladies want for lunch? I think maybe we should order. Pam and that yummy brother of hers will be here soon."

"Thai?" Amelia suggested and we both agreed. They gave me the number of a place that was nearby and left their orders with me so that I could call the restaurant while they showered.

Soon enough, we were all sitting in the office eating our lunch, and still had some time to spare afterward. Lafayette stayed in the office to process my information into the computer while Amelia gave me a tour and told me about the studio. She led me to the remaining empty room, by far the largest of the three, where she showed me the beautiful grand piano they had acquired recently.

The light entered the room through the high windows and spilled across the maple wood floor in warm, golden rays, giving it an ethereal feel. She told me to pick some music for my classes from the collection of CDs they had on the nearest shelf, before Lafayette called her about some computer problem.

From Latin to classical music, passing by rap, pop and chill-out, they had it all. As I perused over the CD covers I came across a recorded one. Its title—Orchestral Epics—caught my attention. I popped the CD into the player and pressed play. The first notes had barely escaped the speakers and immediately I recognized the music; the choir version of Serenata, by Immediate Music.

I felt the pull of the composition calling to me like a siren's song, and I was suddenly overpowered by the desire to dance. I ran to my bag and grabbed my ballet shoes, quickly tying the elastic band to my ankle, and assumed my position in the center of the room.

The music filled me from the inside out and I let myself go, moving in tune with it. First with slow, enfolding movements and then with strong emotion-filled steps, as the music assumed a more powerful and demanding tempo. I danced for myself, for Amelia and Lafayette, for Gran. I danced to mourn the life that ended and to celebrate the new one that had begun, with every fiber of my living, breathing body.

The music was over before I noticed, and as I turned to grab a towel from my bag to clean off some of the sweat in my face and neck, I saw him.

Our eyes locked for a second or two. His gaze was so intense, I was surely going to self combust from the blazing fire that radiated from his ice blue eyes.

I forced myself to look in another direction so he wouldn't see me blush, before I spoke.

"What are you doing here? You're early. Do you want something?"

0~º~0

Eric

I followed Pam's instructions to her friend Amelia's studio where the meeting was to take place. Despite the difficulties in reading the so called 'map' Pam had drawn for me—a bunch of lines that crossed each other without street names or a single reference point—I managed to arrive with ten minutes to spare, so I invited myself in.

I called to see if there was someone in the closed room behind the front desk, but there was no answer, so I went to do some recon on the place and wandered a bit until I heard the faint sound of a voice. The voice seemed to come from the last room at the end of the hall, and as I got closer to the source of the sound, the voice became a choir that complemented a strong piece of music with passion. I pushed the slightly open door and was momentarily blinded, first by the bright rays of sun that spread across the wooden floor and mirrored walls, and then by the astounding image of countless dancing Sookies, duplicates of the flesh and blood beautiful woman dancing in the mirrors around the room. I froze, mesmerized by the sight in front of me.

She moved with grace and ease, as if she were being tugged by strings at the hands of a proficient harp player—arms and legs sliding fluidly across the air as if she were the insubstantial substance itself, and eyes closed in both extreme concentration and bliss.

She was breathtaking. Out of this world. The true embodiment of Freya.

She danced with so much fire and passion, it was impossible not to be completely enthralled by her presence. It was amazing how such a small body as hers could contain such zest for life.

I stood there, immobilized, drinking in every movement she made. I didn't even realize the music had ended until Sookie cleared her throat and asked me what I was doing there and what I wanted.

"You," I answered immediately, and she stared at me in surprise. I couldn't understand her reaction, until it hit me. Talk about a Freudian slip.

Way to go Northman, I silently chided myself.

I shook my head quickly to clear the desire I was sure was evident in my eyes, and perhaps a bit in my jeans too, before correcting myself. "I'm sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant was, I wanted to watch you. I was watching you. You're a remarkable dancer."

"Thank you. How's the head?" she asked while pointing at my stitches. "Does it hurt much?"

"Nah, I'm fine, really. Nothing a good painkiller can't take care of," I answered, my eyes steady on her as she moved in my direction me.

"You don't need to put up the tough guy act, at least not with me. I was there, remember? I saw how bad it was. Now let me take a look at that war wound."

I was going to argue, but the moment I felt her warm hands on my face, pulling my head down towards her, I forgot all about it and just savored the feeling.

"The cut looks better, that's for sure," she replied while examining it. "Did you get yourself some magic health potion?" she joked, her mouth so close I could feel her hot breath against my face. I was extremely tempted to lean in those few inches and kiss her full lips. But I figured she probably wouldn't appreciate it as much as I would, not so soon anyway; so I restrained myself from giving in to my primal needs.

All in good time, I thought to myself, the moment will come when she will want it as much as me.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not one bit," I said. Not much, at least.

"Looks like the injury scored you some pretty good painkillers."

"And then some," I answered, and she gave me a puzzled look, too good to pass, "I also earned a date."

"Oh," she said, her voice barely a whisper and I saw her cheeks turn the loveliest shade of pink as my words sunk in. I wondered how far the blush went.

"Yeah, about that. When—" she was interrupted when the door swung open, revealing an amused Lafayette, Pam and Amelia.

"So this is where you've been hiding," Pam's voice echoed from behind me, interrupting our conversation.

"There was no one in the lobby, so I let myself in," I explained, my eyes still focused on Sookie.

"Since we're all here, shall we get started?" Amelia asked, gathering a collective yes from us all.

"Let's move to the office then," she added as they left the room. Sookie moved to follow her.

Not so fast, my mind supplied, and I reached for her hand.

"We're not done talking yet. You're not getting away so easily."

"We can finish this talk later. I'm not going anywhere. Besides, I'm a woman of my word. Better learn that, buddy," she replied and gave me a confident smirk before sauntering off to the office, her gorgeous ass swaying to the beat of imaginary music.

I just crossed my arms, leaned back and enjoyed the view. Could you really blame me?

"Are you coming?" she asked teasingly as she reached for the door.

My head tilted back to its former position. "Oh, yes," I answered, my voice lower than it should be recommended at the time. What can I say? This woman did unspeakable things to me.

"I am most definitely coming," I added for good measure and watched her flinch ever so slightly when my forearm made contact with hers as I walked past her and into the hallway that led back to the office.

Apparently I had the same impact on her, and in my book, that were very good news.

I held the office door open, signaling her to pass, and receiving a "Thank you" in return. I could be a gentleman, when I wanted to. I just normally chose not to. Being an arrogant GQ motherfucker—as I was referred many times by women—was way more fun. But that was with others. This was Sookie, and somehow, that made it completely different.

"You're welcome" I replied, and was awarded with the lovely upward curving of her lips into a shy yet sincere smile.

One small step for man, one giant leap for me, I thought as I returned the genuine smile, one that I vowed to put on her lips as many times as humanly possible.

I took my place on the couch arm next to Pam, leaving the empty place on the chair closest to Lafayette for Sookie. It could be interpreted as yet another gentlemanly move, but that wasn't exactly my reason; Lafayette was great guy and a good friend, but that didn't mean I enjoyed being felt up by him.

All things considered, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, so I kept that piece of information for myself.

"So, tells us what you had in mind for your club," Amelia asked as soon as we were all seated. No beating around bush with that one.

"The opening of that new bar across the street has had an impact on our club's income. In order to prevent that loss from becoming a significant problem, and because at the moment we can't divert funds from our company in order to fight the break in the income flow, Pam and I were wondering if you would be interested in setting up a temporary partnership, so to speak."

"And what would this partnership consist in, Hot Stuff?" Lafayette asked with a flirtatious smile. "Please, do tell."

Hadn't heard that one since The Full Monty, back in the 90's. I nodded at Pam for her to answer this one while I tried to keep myself from laughing as I recalled the scene.

"As you are all aware, our establishment is also a karaoke and concert room, and the floor is large enough that it can be turned into a dance floor if necessary. That's where you come in. Eric and I were talking about it and I came up with the idea of implementing a couple of weekly themed nights for karaoke, and, with your help, for dancing. We are willing to open a free tab for all of you at the club, as well as occasional guests of your choice, along with free publicity for your dance school in our club. This would of course be in addition to a monetary payment for your services. The pay wouldn't be much, given the circumstances, but it can be negotiated." Pam said, and we both waited impatiently as Amelia and Lafayette talked it over for a few minutes—first with each other, and then with Sookie—before they reached an agreement. Amelia was the one who spoke up.

"We believe your offer is well beyond generous. You were the ones who helped us when we first started our business, no questions asked, no ifs or buts, and now that the opportunity has presented itself, we would love to return the favor. We don't want you guys to worry about payment—as long as you are willing to cover any expenses that might come up, we're more than glad to help any which way we can. Besides, if we can promote our studio here, it will most definitely pay off the investment."

"I take it then that your answer is yes" I inquired.

"Yes. So, when do we start?" Amelia asked back, and we rose from our seats and shook hands, as if to seal the agreement.

"We can discuss the details later. Say, dinner?" Pam intervened promptly, linking her arm with Amelia's and offering the brunette her trademark cunning smile; Amelia followed her out of the room laughing giddily. Lafayette snorted at the two before turning his attention to us. A knowing smile played on his lips as he made his exit, leaving Sookie and me alone in the office.

Perfect.

I smiled lightly and in return she looked at me timidly, her cheeks taking on that light pinkish color I was growing so fond of. I felt like laughing; it was endearing seeing the way she reacted to my presence. It made me profoundly curious how such a beautiful and enticing woman as her—a true temptress—could be so unaware of her effect on men. It was both amusing and highly arousing. I wanted to know more about it, about her, and this date would be the perfect opportunity to do so.

"Where were we?" I broke the silence. "Oh yes, our date. You were saying something."

"Yes. I wanted to ask you about the day of the date. Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday, 'cause tomorrow might be a bit soon, and you might not be up for it, so I was thinking Tuesday or Wednesday, or even Thursday, if you want ..." she rambled.

She was lovely when she rambled, I noticed. She would get all worked up and mumbled to herself, and then she blushed after realizing what happened, shutting up abruptly and staring at her feet. It was quite the opposite of the fiery disposition that she normally showed, and the fact that she could be a little spitfire in one moment and a shy, blushing schoolgirl in the next was very alluring.

"Tomorrow is perfect," I offered.

"Oh, okay," she said and looked at me, her face lighting up a little. "It's settled then."

"So, may I ask where we are going?"

"It's a secret, so I can't tell you. You'll see when we get there." She offered nothing. It seemed I had to turn on the charm and try harder.

"But how do you expect me to know what to wear if you don't tell me? You don't want me to look inappropriate, do you?" I said, throwing in an eyebrow wiggle for good measure. She swallowed visibly. Score.

"I … ah … no. I guess not."

"Well, then, you better give me something,"

"We're going dancing—sort of. Dress casually, but warm."

"You're not going to give me anything else, Sookie?"

"Nope. You'll just have to wait and see, pal," she laughed as we walked out of the office and towards the front door, where the others would be waiting for us.

"I'm not very good with waiting, but I can try. I bet you look good on a dance floor. In fact, from what I saw earlier, I know you do. You have an amazing … technique, but I could still teach you a thing or two."

"Thanks, but what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, stopping in her tracks.

"You'll have to wait and see, too," I threw her words back at her and she huffed a bit. Now that we were going to be working together, I would certainly enjoy experimenting with the many ways I could to get a rise out of her.

"Fine."

"What time tomorrow? I can pick you up, if you tell me your address." Couldn't hurt to try.

"There's no need. I'll meet you at the club. Say, 9 p.m.?"

"It's a date."

"So, I guess I'll see you then," Sookie said, biting her lip a little.

I couldn't help myself. I raised my hand to her face and freed her bottom lip with my thumb, savoring the softness of her plump lip against the rough skin on the pad of my finger.

Involuntarily or not, I felt her lean in a few inches into my palm. I desperately wanted to kiss her slightly parted lips but refrained, instead laying a gentle kiss on her cheek.

Her eyes closed for a brief moment, and a barely audible sigh escaped her lips before I felt her body stiffen at the sound of Lafayette's voice.

"Hey, if you two lovebirds are done now, I would like to close up and go home; got's ta go get my beauty on. I got a hot date with a hunk of burnin' man meat..."

Just then, I wished I had that X-Men guy eye laser powers—I wanted to pulverize Lafayette so badly. Dude had to learn some manners. And that included how not to cockblock a friend.

"We'll be right out," I barked at the guy. At least he had the decency to look properly admonished.

"I'm sorry about that," I said to her as we walked outside. "He's an okay guy, but sometimes he can be a bit …"

"Too much?"

"Yes, among other things."

Sookie laughed. "Well, I have to go now. Amelia is waiting for me," she said and pointed to the brunette's car. "I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!"

"See you tomorrow, Sookie," I said as she walked away, waving, and got in the car. I watched them drive away and didn't notice Lafayette by my side until he spoke.

"She's a great girl."

"She is."

"You got it bad, don't you, loverboy?" he asked while he watched me, watching them, until I could no longer see the car.

"Huh?"

"Don't huh me, mister. I'm just sayin', she's not one of your drooling barfly skanks. She's good people, so don't you go hurting her, you hear me?"

"I don't intend to."

"Good thing we're on the same page here. Gotta run now. See ya, bitch!" he said and we went our separate ways.

I got in the car and drove home, wondering if there was any truth in Lafayette's words. I was attracted to Sookie, of that much I was pretty damn sure; I cared about her, loved teasing her. But 'like her' like her? I didn't know. Perhaps this date would shed some light on the subject.

Tomorrow was clearly still too far way for my taste.

TBC


A/N: So, where do you think Sookie is taking Eric for their date? Take a guess and you might get a sneak peek from the next chapter in return! *giggles*

Now, there's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now, but I kept forgetting. I would very much like to know how was it that you found my story: a recommendation from a friend, a mention on a forum, a simple search, anything. Just let me know. I'm mighty curious!