"Well, that was a warm welcome."

Eric's deep voice snapped me out of my post-coital haze. I'd been listening to the faint traces of brains in neighboring rooms, before drifting in and out of sleep. Some of the other guests had been rather unhappy about the noise coming from room 105. I'd been trying to figure out what might have been happening in that room, until I caught the drift of the type of noises they'd heard, and then remembered that I was in room 105. Oops. Damn paper-thin hotel walls.

I lifted my head from Eric's chest to look at his smug, self-satisfied face. He caught my eye and winked, before he rested his arm behind his head on the pillow and closed his eyes.

"Hey, don't you be going into down-time, buddy."

His eyes snapped open again.

"What?"

"We've got a lot of things we need to talk about before dawn."

"I thought we were snuggling and you were napping. It seemed like you needed the rest."

"Hmm." I had to admit, it felt so good to just lay there for a while, and forget about everything else. It was like the reluctance you felt having to get out of a warm, relaxing bath on a cold day. I sighed and rested my head back down on his shoulder, wrapping my arm around his body. "Maybe just another five minutes."

"Ten."

"Seven."

"Eight and a quarter."

"Nine and a half."

"Done."

"Dammit," I muttered under my breath, realizing my mistake all too late.

"It's been so long," Eric said, running his fingers through my tangled hair with his free hand. "Too long."

"Since you had sex?" I mumbled.

"Since we made love. Since we just lay together and enjoyed the moment. I know it was awkward for us sometimes, having to timetable each other into our nights, but for a while it worked. My evenings were so much more pleasant, knowing I had the pleasure of your company to look forward to. I've missed it."

I couldn't help but smile at his words. I reminded myself that this was post-sex Eric, the one who was always sweeter and more attentive. My eyelids began to get heavy again, and I relaxed against his body.

"You need to sleep," he said, kissing the top of my head.

"No, not right now," I said, snuggling in closer to him, my grasp around him tightening. "I can sleep later."

We lay quietly for another five minutes or so, and I thought about what Eric had said about how we'd timetabled each other into our schedules. We had made it work, kind of, for a while. Eric would regularly buy me gifts, and we'd have amazing sex until I was as limp as a dishrag and happy as a clam. Then we'd talk about all kinds of things, and I'd fall asleep knowing I was wanted and important and desired. It hadn't been a regular relationship by any means, and I'd known it couldn't last the way it was, that something would have to give or change in order for us to move forward as a couple. In the back of my mind, I suppose I'd always dreaded having that conversation. Perhaps Eric had too, which was why we'd spent so much of our snatched time making whoopee and having banal conversations about parish roadworks, instead of talking about the possibility of making a future together.

I was still unsure what the future held, now more than ever. All I knew was, we weren't going to have much of a future at all, together or otherwise, if we didn't get moving and decide what the heck we were going to do next. I decided I had to bring the both of us back to reality.

"Eric, this is really nice and all, being here with you all warm and snuggly, but dawn's gonna be on it's way, and we really need to talk about a few things."

"Yes," Eric said, rather unhappily. "I suppose we do."

"You have to tell me what happened."

With some serious effort I forced myself to sit up, pull the covers back and throw my legs out over the side of the bed. I switched the lamp on, and blinked a few times, though there had been plenty of light in the room coming in from outside, so it didn't take long for my eyes to adjust.

"Where are you going?" Eric said immediately, as I stood up.

"I'm getting dressed."

"Why?"

"Because if we're going to have a serious conversation, it's going to be easier if at least one of us has clothes on." I hooked my bra on and tugged the straps up, before pulling the Fangtasia t-shirt on over my head. I ruffled my hair, and ran my fingers through it, hoping that it didn't look too much like a bird's nest, and looked at Eric. He was still lying on the bed, the covers pulled back, his fine naked form on full display. As usual, he was quite a sweet sight to behold. Instead of tearing off my clothes again and jumping back into bed, I closed my eyes for a second before turning away, and began searching for my pants. "Second thought, maybe it'd be better if we were both dressed." I found his pants, and flung them at him.

"Come here for a second," he said, sitting up. He swung his feet out onto the floor, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Put some pants on."

"I will. Just... one second."

I sighed and padded over to him. He took my hand and pulled me towards him, so I was standing in between his legs. He wrapped his arms around my body, and pressed his head to my chest. After a moment of hesitation, since I was suspicious that he might pull me back into bed, I held him, and he just held me back. I stroked his hair, and smiled to myself. Then I got this strange panicky feeling, like maybe he wanted to hold me because he might never get the chance again, like he was holding onto what was left of our night together, because we might never have another.

"Eric, we'll be okay, you know," I said, a little shakily. "Won't we?"

He pressed his forehead to my body.

"Yes."

"Are you bullshitting again?"

I heard a faint laugh, and he pulled back to look up at me.

"I'm not bullshitting, I truly believe it. Have you never heard of positive thinking? Pam swears by it. But even an optimist like me needs some extra motivation from time to time. Now that I have you in my bed again, my lover, I have more fight in me than ever."

I opened my mouth to correct him and tell him it wasn't his bed, and I was out of it now, anyway, but kept my mouth shut instead. It lifted my spirits to hear Eric so confident in himself again, after what seemed like weeks and months of struggle and hopelessness.

"That's good to hear," I said, smiling at him.

I lowered my eyes and pulled away. It really was good to see Eric back to being more like his old self. I just wished I could share in his optimism. Taking on Freyda had been impossible, taking on a powerful, ruthless king like Felipe, when he was going to be out for our blood, was surely going to need a miracle.

"Felipe made a fatal mistake when he allowed the possibility of me making it out of that crash," Eric said. "He should have ensured I was the one to die first. I will make him pay for that mistake with his own life."

I nodded at him, and finally located my jeans and pulled them on.

"You and I may no longer be bonded by blood, Sookie," Eric said, leaning back to pull on his own pants, "but I still know you well enough to see when you are trying to hide your true feelings from me."

I sighed, and sat down opposite him on the edge of the second bed.

"I guess I just lost a little faith in the whole positive thinking thing. Sometimes the odds are just stacked against you. Sometimes the fight is too hard. I'm tired of fighting all the time."

Eric leaned forward, and scowled at me.

"Who is this woman before me? What have you done with the brave, fierce fighter I once fell in love with, who stood up for herself and those she cared about most? The one who loved to experience all that life had to throw at her, and dive in head first? The smart one who thinks outside of the box and has a talent for survival?"

I attempted a smile and shrugged.

"I don't know. Sometimes I think she's still around, but other times I think she's just gotten too tired of never coming out on top. Maybe I'm not that perky, positive person you once knew, Eric."

He stared at me for a long moment, his eyes searching mine, and for once I wished I could hear his thoughts. "I think you are still that person," he said finally. "The strong woman I once knew. You might not believe that you are, but I do."

I swallowed, and realized how thirsty I was.

"Do you need a drink?" I said, standing up. "There's some blood somewhere, in the bag."

I grabbed a cup from the table and went to the bathroom to fill it up from the sink. While I was there I checked out my reflection, and wished I hadn't bothered. I looked tired and pale, and my hair, which was still a little damp, was pointing in every direction but the right one. I washed my face, hoping to wake myself up, and dried off before going back into the other room.

Eric was still sitting in the same place; he'd found the blood and was sipping from the bottle. I realized that he hadn't bitten me while we'd been having sex. He hadn't always, every single time, in the past, but it had been a fairly regular thing to happen, especially when our love-making had been frantic and passionate, as it had been earlier in the evening. I wondered if it was because he was trying to maintain some kind of emotional detachment from me, perhaps he was concerned about the prospect of us reestablishing our blood bond, especially if in the heat of the moment I'd decided to bite him back. Maybe he thought it was a bad time for the two of us to be emotionally tethered to one another once again. Or maybe he'd just had his fill somewhere else, earlier in the evening.

I had to admit to myself, I was actually kind of sad that he hadn't bitten me.

"You want to know what happened," Eric said sombrely. "I'll tell you."

I took a deep breath and sat down opposite him.

"Okay."

Eric ran his hand through his hair and took a moment, before beginning.

"After going to see you for what I believed to be one last time, I returned to Shreveport to face the wrath of Freyda. I knew that she would know I had been to see you, of course, but there was really nothing she could do about it, since our agreement only officially began once we were in Oklahoma."

"Was she angry?"

"Yes, but I think she knew I intended to see you again alone, before we left. My cell phone mysteriously vanished earlier that evening; I had the spare one I sometimes use for work, but you don't have the number for that one, so she had no reason to hide it or destroy it. She did not say outright how angry she was, she is too proud for that, but of course I knew. I suppose in the end she knew we'd be parted soon enough, and the marriage contract we signed had a number of stipulations, one of them being that I was to no longer have any contact with you whatsoever. I think she imagined I'd soon get over it, once we were wed."

I looked down at my hands. It was sad to think that Freyda believed I would be so easily forgotten. Just another human, in a long line of lovers, cast aside. Perhaps it might have been that way.

I felt Eric lean forward.

"I wouldn't have," he said quietly. He reached his hand out and I took it. He tugged at my arm, and I got up and sat beside him. He cupped my face in his hand and kissed my cheek. "You know how much you mean to me."

I nodded.

"The contract," I said. "I know you tried to get out of it, and I know that when you couldn't find a way, that you bargained with her to make sure I was safe. I know what you did for me."

Eric's eyes grew cold.

"Pam was not supposed to tell you."

"Don't blame Pam, she was just trying to look out for us, to make me understand a few things when neither of us was willing to talk sensibly with the other. Mr. Cataliades told me a few things, too."

Eric looked surprised.

"He's been working with the queen. You spoke with him?"

"Yes, he visited me, while he was out jogging." Eric looked even more confused, and I tried to explain. "I know him pretty well, or rather, more accurately, he knows me pretty well. He's kind of my sponsor. He was the one who gave me my gift, when I was a baby."

"Mr. Cataliades? The demon lawyer?"

"Uh-huh. Look, we should have this part of the conversation another time, it's really not important right now. He was the one who warned me that you might be in danger."

"And he knew this how?"

"While they'd been doing all the legal stuff with the contracts between Freyda and Felipe, he'd heard something from one of the king's cronies. He warned the queen but apparently she took no notice."

Eric closed his eyes and shook his head.

"She should have known better. I should have known better, too, than to trust Felipe. I had relied on his honor. I was blind not to see that he would have found a way, he would have taken Oklahoma for himself no matter what, and taken you, too. I underestimated him. I will not make that mistake again."

"It doesn't matter now what happened before. You weren't to know."

"It does matter. You were still in danger. I should have seen it. I should have done more to protect you. I should have taken care of Freyda, blackmailed her, threatened her, killed her, and then seen to the king, once and for all."

"Eric, you can't always go around threatening and killing people to get what you want, just because you think they might not be trusted. That's not the way it should be. And sometimes, you gotta remember that I can defend myself pretty well, too."

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Yes, I remember. It doesn't mean that I want you in danger."

I breathed a heavy sigh.

"Where were we?"

"Pam blabbed her big mouth off, as usual. You were given a warning by a jogging Mr. Cataliades, and I was about to rise and travel to Oklahoma."

"Uh-huh. So I called you and left messages, which you obviously didn't get. I didn't know exactly what was going to happen, if anything. All I knew was that the king had been plotting something, to overthrow the queen, but we didn't know how or when it was going to happen. It seemed likely that it was going to be before she got back home, and he was gonna miss his chance. I called Pam too, and left her a message, but of course she didn't get it until later, and then all the vamps were called to a meeting or something."

"Hmm," Eric mumbled suspiciously.

"I was so worried. I just wanted you to make it to Oklahoma okay."

Eric placed his hand on top of mine and gently squeezed my fingers.

"You did what you could to try to keep me safe, and I am grateful for that." He smiled at me, and I felt a little better. "By the time Pam got your message I would have been at the airport, and all communication devices were confiscated before boarding. They spouted some nonsense about safety precautions and terrorist threats, but every time I get on an airplane there are some new rules to follow, and there are always so many stories about anti-vampire groups threatening this and that, so I thought little of it. I had other things on my mind, anyway."

"There were other people on your flight, right? Not just Freyda's people."

"Yes, the flight was far from full, but there were other vampires and some humans, none of whom I recognized or felt suspicious of. It seemed like an ordinary flight. We were offered warmed blood, which I declined, but others drank."

"So what happened next?"

"All hell broke loose," Eric said. "I was sitting towards the front, and the fighting started further back. I had no idea who had started it, whether it was Freyda's people or some idiot Fellowship follower, or just some argument between travelers. It was only when I saw one of the queen's people get staked that I became more suspicious and concerned for my own safety. Freyda was as shocked as I was, it was clear to me that this was none of her doing, and it also became apparent that she was somewhat incapacitated, as were the others. I suspect there was liquid silver in the blood they had drank."

"Oh my gosh. What if you'd drank it, too?"

"Then I might have been weakened, like the rest. Since our attackers were mostly other vampires and they had weapons, I immediately suspected the king. Two of the human flight crew, at least, were also assisting them. We outnumbered them, but being weakened, taken by surprise and having nothing much to fight with, we were at a serious disadvantage. Or rather perhaps they thought we were."

Yeah, they forgot to make sure they took out the huge Viking first. They hadn't counted on Eric not drinking the tainted blood, and so being at full fighting strength.

I realized that I was shaking a little. Even though I knew he'd made it through alive (or at least in his case, not totally dead), just hearing the story of what happened up there was enough to have my heart beating hard in my chest.

"Did you kill them?" I asked. "All of them?"

"Most of them. I had to, Freyda's people were practically useless. She fought as well as she was able to herself, given her silvered state, but protecting her was not my first concern. While I was fighting two of the assailants, others were taking out Freyda and her entourage, and the other passengers. I saw her and many of her people die. By the time I had finished off all the attackers it was too late, but I had made it. Felipe should have sent his best fighters to do his dirty work, but instead he sent incompetent children and humans. I have never been in battle in mid-air before. I have to tell you, it was quite an exciting experience."

"Uh-huh." Eric just loved a good fight. "There was a human survivor. I talked with her."

"Yes. I had just killed what I thought to be the last vampire on board. I was searching everywhere to make sure, when I saw the girl. Other human passengers and crew on the flight had been killed, along with the pilot, I had guessed, because the plane was descending. Then I heard the noise and felt the air rush in as someone opened the doors. There was one last vampire, a fellow flier, as it turned out, and he jumped. I grabbed the girl and followed him. The plane crash landed just before we reached the ground, close by. She'd fainted, and I went after the vampire. I dragged him back to the crash site, and tried to extract information out of him, to no avail. So I ripped his head off."

"Eww."

Eric shrugged.

"It was him or me. I couldn't let him go; Felipe would know I'd survived. Then of course, I had a human survivor to deal with. I used her to my advantage, by glamoring her into believing she'd seen everyone else but herself killed, in particular myself and Freyda. I needed to make it seem as though she'd survived somehow on her own, rather than being saved by a vampire, so I searched the wreckage and found an intact coffin, and put her in it, glamoring her into believing she'd locked herself in there before the plane crashed. It was a long shot, and I knew the story might not work, but I was short of time."

"Well, I spoke with that girl, her name's Nicole by the way. She said that she saw a big blonde vampire going on a mad killing spree."

"That was probably me."

"Yep. But she said you killed humans, too."

Eric shook his head.

"The other passengers had already been killed, and those who were working for Felipe were killed by others, Freyda's people, not me. I took out the vampires."

That could mean only one thing.

"I think she was double-glamored."

I didn't even know if that was a real thing, or something I had just made up.

"What?"

"After you glamored her and put her in that coffin, what did you do?"

"I tried to cover my trail and went to ground as soon as I could. Dawn was some time away, but I couldn't risk being seen by anyone."

"I think someone came to check up on the crash, like they were waiting close by, expecting it. They only found Nicole, since there'd be nothing much left of any of the dead vamps, and she told them the story you'd given her. Maybe Felipe wanted a get out clause, just in case someone had made it out and escaped. So he had them glamor her into believing a new version of the story, one where you're the bad guy and go on a crazy killing spree."

"So that I would be the guilty one," Eric said, cocking his head to the side. "Whether I was dead or not, he would still be blameless, in the eyes of other vampires."

"Yeah," I snorted. "Although human witnesses are hardly reliable, are they?"

"I suppose if that is what is reported, then Felipe hoped it might just be accepted, if there wasn't any further evidence to the contrary."

"But what about Freyda's other people, back in Oklahoma? Surely they'd have something to say about it."

"Maybe they might have thought I was no longer willing to comply with their queen's wishes, and decided to take them all out myself."

"Hmm. Even you're not that crazy."

"The point is, there would have been no evidence against Felipe, he would have made all the right noises and appeared to everyone to be saddened and shocked, and then he would have done what he always does, and taken advantage of a weakened, monarch-less state."

I sighed. What Felipe wants, Felipe gets.

"So it was you, under the ground. I thought it was."

"You were out there?"

"Yeah, just earlier this morning. When we heard about the crash, Pam and I drove here."

Eric rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Reckless women."

"Hey, we were worried about you! Pam knew you were still alive, of course, but since she'd had no contact from you she was worried you'd been taken somewhere, maybe the king had you, or maybe you were buried or injured, and you needed help. We didn't know."

"I can always rely on my girls," he said, trying to make amends for his previous statement. "I didn't want to call Pam until I knew it was safe to do so. I know that the king has been tracking my calls. I thought it would be better to keep her ignorant of everything, since Felipe would want her to confirm whether or not I was dead. I hoped, without me actually having to tell her, that she'd take my lack of contact as a sign to declare her maker finally dead."

"She's on her way back to Shreveport, and that's exactly what she's going to do."

"Good. Thankfully, Pam is quite emotionless and practical, so she will not have to pretend to break down into floods of tears. Everyone will fully expect her to go on as normal."

"So, what now?" I asked. "Apparently there's already been strange people at Merlotte's asking where I am, and knocking on my door, too, so Bill says. I can't really go back home. You're pretending to be dead. What do we do?"

"Shall we stay here?" Eric looked around, and quickly reconsidered that plan. "We could go somewhere else, hide out, regroup."

I shook my head.

"If Felipe sees I'm gone, right after this crash happens, and nobody knows where I am, he'll know something's up. He'll guess you're still alive, and he'll do everything he can to get us to come back and go to him. He'll hurt Jason, or someone else I love, like Hunter, or Tara, or Sam. You know I can't risk that."

Eric pursed his lips and nodded, and we both sat quietly for a moment.

"Well then," Eric said finally. "It looks as though we will have to consider executing plan B."

"What's plan B?" I asked, afraid to know the answer.

"I'm not exactly sure yet, but involves teaching Felipe de Castro not to mess with a Viking and a telepath."

A/N: Now, I know what you're going to say. I'm a very, very naughty fanfic writer. I've been very bad and slooooooow. I should be punished. What's that? Well, alright, so long as it's- Wait... what's that? Is that... some sort of ping-pong paddle? Whoah... wait a... Did you just... OW! At least let me put on some pants! Hold on, what's that you just pulled out of your pocket? IS THAT A BALLOON WHISK? HAVE YOU BEEN READING 50 SHADES OF GREY AGAIN? THAT'S GOING TO LEAVE A MARK. I WASN'T PREPARED FOR THIS. I'M EXTREMELY AROUSED.