A/N: Since the show plays fast and loose with the rules of vampires being awake in the daytime, I will too…
Sookie set the phone down with a sigh. Hoyt had retired to his and Jessica's room shortly before the sun went down, and James and Lafayette had gone to dinner with her, but were now having a date night down at one of the night clubs. Sookie had been left with the option of being a third wheel, going out alone, or going back to her room. The last option didn't appeal to her, but it was better than the alternatives so she'd bid James and Lafayette a good night and promised Lafayette she'd meet him for brunch in the morning, thanking him for his advice.
Now she was alone, and missing the one person who'd made their trip possible. Surprisingly, that person was now calling her phone.
"Eric? What are you doing awake, isn't it daytime in Sweden?"
"You didn't think I could just let that message go unanswered, did you? If so, you've seriously underestimated me," Eric's voice greeted her, sounding fully awake. "To answer your question, I am awake because we were tending to business here at our hotel while waiting for the sun to set. But it is nothing so important I cannot make time for you. Especially when you send such sweet messages to my phone."
Sookie felt herself relax at hearing his voice, even if he was on the other side of the world. It helped to hear him. "Thank you for calling," she said, quietly.
"The pleasure is mine, I assure you. I think it's beyond time for us to have a little talk, one that isn't about business or emergencies. Don't you agree? Also, you should probably go answer the door," he added, just as someone knocked from the outside.
"How did you know...? Oh, never mind," she muttered, getting up to answer the door. A room service attendant wheeled in a cart on which stood a large pitcher of margaritas and two glasses. "Eric, did you order this?"
"I might have. Since I cannot be there with you, you can have a few drinks out on your balcony while we talk and pretend that I am."
Sookie was touched once again by his thoughtfulness. "Thank you, Eric. That was real sweet," she said, switching ears on the phone so she could push the cart onto the balcony.
"You say that like you do not expect this from me?" he observed.
"That's not true! Well, I guess you kinda have a point. I have kinda always acted that way with you, haven't I?" she mused, pouring a margarita and settling into the comfortable deck chair.
"Yes," he said, simply.
"I'm sorry about that, I really am. I mean, not at first. You did kinda use me a few times," she pointed out, taking a long drink. "Mm, this is good, by the way."
"Yes, and I have apologized for this," he replied, ignoring her commentary on the drink, "I had hoped that my actions since then had helped you form a better opinion of me. It seems I was mistaken, at least until very recently."
"I know, and I've been trying to figure out why that was. My dislike and mistrust of you was a little irrational from the start."
"Only a little?" he teased, helping to lighten the mood of the suddenly intense conversation.
"Alright, very irrational," she agreed, laughing lightly.
"Do you want to know what I think?" he asked, his tone shifting back to the serious side, as though he'd been waiting to ask this question for a long time.
"Yes, please," though she didn't feel like she was ready to hear it.
"I think if you were to have met me before you met Bill Compton you would have loved me, easily. I think that his influence on you, and I have my suspicions about that as well, but it hindered you from really seeing me as myself and not as what Bill had convinced you I was. I am not saying I was without flaws when we met, but you made me try to see myself how you might see me, and try to be better, in as much as I can be. Only you never did see it."
Sookie felt like he'd taken a knife to her heart. Everything he was saying was true, and she was only realizing now how much she had hurt him. Tears ran down her cheeks while she tried to figure out what to say to this.
"Sookie?" Eric asked, concerned when she didn't answer, "Please say something?"
"I'm here, I just...I need a minute, okay?" She thought through all of her encounters with Eric over the years. True, he had done some things she hadn't liked in the earlier days, but what he was saying was true. Yes, he'd hurt Lafayette but Lafayette had been selling vampire blood. She didn't agree that it was the right thing to do, but ultimately he'd released and healed Lafayette and the only person who could hold a grudge about that was Lafayette, and he clearly didn't.
Then there was the Russell Edgington fiasco. But hadn't he apologized for that enough? And really, his worst mistake was not telling her about it and allowing her the choice - she would have done it willingly if she'd known, and she could have rescued him sooner. And hadn't he been the one to ultimately save her from Russell again and finally kill him? Then there was his high handed calling of Lorena when they were in Dallas so Bill would be distracted, but even that she couldn't begrudge as it was only another step on the path of finding out who Bill really was.
Bill. Why did she always give Bill all the breaks, but never Eric? Why did she let Bill get away with everything and still love him? Why was she always so afraid of the idea that she could, and maybe did, love Eric?
After a couple of minutes, Eric finally grew impatient and carried on his train of thought, "In the meantime, as the two sentiments run hand in hand, I'll continue and tell you my suspicions regarding Bill Compton. As you are aware, he was sent by the Queen to procure you by any means necessary. I don't say this to drag up past pain, but to point out that he formed a blood bond with you almost immediately. As you know, these do not make you feel things you don't already feel, but it does allow a skillful manipulator the ability to shape your feelings, and Bill was many other things but first and foremost he was a very skilled manipulator," he paused here, seemingly to figure out how to proceed with his line of thought without hurting her. "I cannot say what his true feelings for you were, or yours for him, and I will let you make that decision on your own. But I can say that he was set on shaping your opinions of the vampire world, to allow you to be more open to working for the Queen. To do so, I believe he tried to use fear of other vampires to make you think he alone was good and that he alone had your best interests in mind. That he alone could and would protect you, and would likely have used that fear to get you to go to the Queen if things had been different. If he'd had his way, you would never have met any other vampires, except those he deemed necessary for this task. Therefore when you had him bring you to my bar, he wanted you to dislike me before you'd even met me. So he pushed a sense of trepidation and contempt through the bond, coloring your opinion from the start. I believe he continued to do this until they were no longer his suggestions, but your mind's natural response."
Sookie was quiet for a moment; but, mindful of Eric's limited patience, said, "Like the dog with the bell," with a frown.
Eric laughed, "Yes, like Pavlov's dog."
Sookie sighed, "I think you're right. I've been tryin' to figure out for a long time why I had infinite forgiveness and blind spots for Bill, but never for you. And I just couldn't figure it out. But what you're sayin' makes sense, in a sick-fuck twisted kind of way."
Eric was quiet this time, but after a moment he asked, "Sookie, answer me this one question honestly, and we can let this go for now, move on to something else. I hate to ruin your good time with all this seriousness. But answer me this: when I got my memories back, knowing what you know now, and if Bill hadn't been in the room with us, would your answer be any different?"
"I've actually thought about this a lot over the time since then. So I can say that yes, even without knowing your suspicions, if we could go back and do it differently, without Bill being there, I would have said yes. Would have chosen you," she admitted, quietly.
He was silent for a long moment, then finally said, very quietly, "Thank you, Sookie. You have no idea what that means to me."
After a moment, Sookie asked, nervously, "Where do we go from here?"
Eric sighed, "Well, we can continue this very serious, unpleasant and painful discussion until we've rehashed everything unnecessarily, undoubtedly hurting each other's feelings in the process. Or we can agree that this is a turning point, and leave it be for now. Were I with you on that balcony, I would have kissed you by now. Alas, I am stuck in Sweden for the foreseeable future."
Sookie blushed, then decided to needle him for information, as well as change the topic since there was no where else to go with that line of thinking. "So what are y'all doin' in Sweden, of all places?"
Eric laughed, "I tell you I want to kiss you, and you change the subject? That's very Old Sookie, but I'm glad some things about you don't change, even without Bill. Pam and I have meetings with various scientists prominent in the field of synthesizing blood. Wiping out the competition has set us back to ground zero, I'm afraid. But I have faith that the scientists in Stockholm will be able to get the ball rolling and allow us to be back home soon. We'll need to set up a base of operations here, for tax reasons, and then we can focus on getting our lives back in order at home."
"That will be nice," she said, softly.
"Do you miss me?" he asked, and she could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Maybe," she played coy, "I'll have to get back to you on that."
He laughed, "And what have you gotten up to down there in Mexico?"
"Nothing too exciting. We spent the day at the pool, so I got some sun and had a nice chat with Lafayette and Hoyt."
"I'd heard," Eric said, wryly. "I owe Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Fortenberry a great deal, I believe. And I wish I could be there to see you - you always look so lovely when you've been in the sun. But go on."
Sookie blushed, but continued, "Well, Hoyt and Jessica are newlyweds and acting like it. Plus, James and Lafayette are pretty much in their own little world tonight, so it's been...well, I guess I can't really complain. I'm on a free trip to a gorgeous resort, so I'm just fine," she finished, resolutely.
Eric chuckled softly, "Sookie, you can admit that you are lonely. I should have had the forethought to invite along someone who was not in a relationship for you to spend time with."
"That's all right, you had bigger things on your mind. And honestly, you try findin' one of my friends right now who's single. It's like the whole town just suddenly paired off, it's fuckin' weird."
Eric laughed again, then added, "This is nice. This is what I miss from spending time with you at your home. Getting to talk with you without your defenses being up. You calm me," he said, openly.
Sookie was taken aback, but flattered. "You calm me, too."
"Hmm, is it me or is it the margaritas, I wonder?" he joked.
Sookie laughed, "I haven't even finished one yet, I'll have you know!"
"Well, what are you waiting for? We are pretending that I am there with you, and that we are on your balcony, drinking margaritas. You need to keep to your end of the deal, Miss Stackhouse," he teased.
Sookie got up and poured herself another margarita, then on impulse asked him to hold for just a second while she switched to camera mode on her phone, taking a picture of the moon and the lights of the resort reflecting off of the ocean. She sent it to Eric, then pulled the call back up. "Okay, check your messages. Now you can pretend you're here, too," she said with a smile.
Eric gave a choked laugh, "If I weren't a vampire, that would just look like a black picture with a white dot. Your picture taking skills need work. But I appreciate the gesture, none the less. I really do, thank you."
"Only you could insult me and flatter me at the same time," she complained, but without heat.
"It's one of my many talents," he deadpanned.
"So I thought more about your suggestion that I go back to school, and I think I want to do it," she said, after a comfortable silence.
Sookie could almost see his eyebrow raise before he responded, "Is that so? I would have thought I would have to talk you into it more."
"Don't get me wrong, I wanna pay my own way. The money I'll be making from re-hauling your bar will be more than enough to get me through a couple of semesters, and that will get me through until the company starts to make money."
Eric laughed, "I honestly wouldn't have expected you to say any differently. Your independent spirit is one of my favorite things about you. But it pleases me that you will do this. For yourself, not for me. I think you have so much potential that never really got to shine through, with the directions your life has taken. I am happy to know you will get a chance to do so now."
Sookie sighed, happily, "Me too. I'm excited to see where things are going to go, now that life seems to be settling down again."
"Never be too complacent, Miss Stackhouse. You are a trouble magnet, after all," he teased.
Sookie laughed, "Well, that's true. But I think the worst of the storm has passed."
"And what comes after the storm?" Eric asked, curiously.
Sookie paused, "I don't know. But I'm looking forward to finding out, with you."
a/n: Just an FYI, this is not the end, far from it, but I couldn't help but work in the story title, since I left it wide open there. Call me corny.