Thank you so much for your reviews and alerts, it means the world. Hope you enjoy this. Another time jump ;)

Chapter 10

(Three years later...)

Fifteen. Just like that, Sookie was a little girl of fifteen years old.

When I got in through the front door of the house in Baton Rouge, I could hear music blaring and thumping, with irritating bass lines vibrating through the walls from somewhere upstairs in Sookie's room.

I thought it was One Direction that Sookie was playing yet again on her music player. Or Justin Bieber. Or some other guy I didn't remember the name of. Frankly, it was hard to differentiate just who it was, because they all seemed identical to me. All were equally as annoying and whiny as the next one, only Sookie evidently felt differently.

Lately, things had changed with Sookie in a startling way. She tended to just want to remain in her room, hibernating or doing fuck knows what. Whenever I got in to head upstairs to tuck her into bed, it was baffling how red and flushed she was just by my mere asking to. We had looked after Sookie for a little over five years now, and not once during that time until recently, had she felt uneasy about me tucking her into bed and reading her a story.

When I got upstairs, taking my time as I went down the narrow hallway, I noticed her bedroom door was left wide ajar for once. Lately, Sookie had developed a habit where she locked it on me constantly, forcing me to have to wait with fake patience while she manually opened it and allowed me in herself.

I automatically assumed she knew what time it was, that it was her bedtime and that I was tucking her into bed as usual. Yet when I leaned my shoulder against the door frame of her room, peering in, expecting to catch her already in bed waiting for me, I was shocked by what I found.

Sookie was standing by her mirror, watching her reflection as she swayed back and forth to the music. Both hands were resting above her stomach, her fingers splayed as she held up the fabric on her pajama shirt so that she could watch her stomach in the mirror as she moved, I presumed. Usually Sookie wasn't so preoccupied with the way her body appeared. Well, it certainly hadn't been that way just barely over a year ago. Did things really change that fast?

For a growing girl, apparently things did. It was baffling.

Out of nowhere, she somehow saw me in through the mirror waiting for her slumped by the doorway. Even though the music, I heard the loud huff of annoyance she made as she stomped over to turn the dreadful racket of whining boys off on her music player abruptly.

"Oh, my gosh," she said shakily, yanking down her shirt to cover her stomach hastily. "Why don't you ever knock lately? Why are you so embarrassing?"

It took me a good second to get over the shock of her words. "Embarrassing? But I always tuck you into bed at this hour? Which book did you want me to read you tonight? Same one from before?"

"What am I?" she muttered under her breath in irritation, flapping her arms heavily at her sides. "Am I still a twelve year old baby to you or something?"

Actually, she was. Menstrual cycle or no menstrual cycle; Bra, or no bra, Sookie would still be that same little girl I discovered sleeping outside the back entrance of Fangtasia. It was just a pity she couldn't stay that way for ever.

She moved towards her bed, yanking down the sheets roughly with a ragged sigh through her mouth- the job I usually did for her while she went to brush her teeth. I pushed off the door frame with my shoulder, stepping closer. Now that she had done my job for me, I began to feel out of place and incompetent. Now what the fuck was I supposed to do, if not tucking down her sheets?

"Did you remember to brush your teeth?" I asked her, my voice scratchy and hoarse as I watched her start chucking her spare pillows on the floor.

She placed a hand on her hip, letting me see the roll of her eyes. "Um, yeah, I did. Just like I'm perfectly capable of remembering to do it every other single night of the week! God, you're so stupid!"

Jesus. When she did become such a little spoilt, insolent brat? It was like she woke up one morning in December last year, deciding that she despised me and everything I represented. Only positive thing that had arisen out of her harsh and temperamental treatment of me, was that her and Pamela had become closer. They were now extra close gal-pals.

It had gone that way a lot lately and, honestly, I still wasn't accustomed to it.

I had no idea whatsoever on just what it was Sookie felt I had done wrong to her personally, but lately, she'd become a little more... distant and petulant with me. And rude. Rude with her constant back-chatter. It was as if I couldn't do anything right, that I annoyed her merely by being in her presence.

She acted like I was an embarrassment to her a lot of the time, something I did not fully understand nor was prepared for.

Personally, I felt I was pretty fucking cool with this entire raising a human thing despite being clueless and inexperienced, but according to Sookie, apparently not.

It had started during the end of last year.

I had felt Sookie's distress and when I had arrived to the house to tuck her in for bed, she had urgently pleaded to talk to Pam alone. She hadn't wanted anything to do with me, which frankly, stung like hell. Ever since we first brought her in, she had mainly relied on me.

I had been the sole one that had to suffer through the whole period debacle with her, yet all of a sudden, she no longer wanted me around.

So when I had called Pam through our maker-progeny bond, as she had arrived, Sookie was literally throwing me out of her bedroom. With my advanced hearing, I had heard a few things, though I couldn't make any sense of it.

Sookie had urgently needed something that she felt only Pam could assist her with. They had left to go somewhere, and when they had returned with Sookie holding a plastic bag of something mysterious, she had completely and utterly ignored me in favor of running upstairs and locking herself up into her bedroom. I just hadn't really understood what I had done to make her feel as if I had failed her.

I mean, I'd tried my best, hadn't I?

I'd tried to get her a babysitter that I knew would be responsible and would educate her best. I tried to ensure that she wasn't without anything she wanted, indulging on her every whim because there was no point in being stingy with money.

It wasn't easy looking after a human girl, yet I'd given it my best shot, hadn't I?

"Would someone please do me the great kindness of explaining to me just what the fuck is going on here?" I had asked Pam in confusion at the time. "What's wrong with Sookie?"

"Sookie and I just had to duck out for awhile to go bra shopping."

"Bra shopping? Yeah, right." I had scoffed out loud in disbelief. "Sookie's only fourteen, Pam. Why would she need a bra now?"

It hadn't occurred to me at the time, but I perhaps ought to have done a little more research with the whole menarche-puberty thing. Supposedly after a girl's period develops, everything else begins to develop as well. So now she needed bras and all that other weird womanly shit now.

But when I reflect on that now, I feel incredibly pleased that Sookie had wanted Pam to take her bra shopping, rather than myself. I had already suffered though it once with the entire unpleasant period thing. It was about time Pam had endured a little suffering of her own, though at the time she had seemed quite happy to offer Sookie some assistance with her bra-expertise.

It just pained me the way things had gone so sour between us so quickly. Though I prided myself on being a very headstrong and hardhearted man, that I could tolerate and endure whatever insults or names people threw at me, it hurt more profoundly when it was shot at me from the little girl I had raised since ten, of all people.

"Just go away," she grumbled at me rudely, sliding under the blankets on her bed. "I don't need your help anymore. You're so annoying!" She rolled onto her side, showing her back to me as she rested the side of her head against her pillows comfortably.

I couldn't seem to move from where I stood, I was that shocked.

Stupid and annoying in one day? Oh, she was definitely pushing it.

"I think somebody has gotten their period this morning," I retorted back before I could help myself. "It would certainly explain why you are acting like a disrespectful, mean and moody little girl."

There are a few particular things that I never learn. I've considered them codes on what not to do when raising a girl. Taunting them about their monthly periods were one of them. Do that, and you are bound to be stepping into dangerous territory. And yet, sometimes, when she really hurt me with what she was saying, I found myself doing exactly that. I never learn.

Just as I expected it would, the gasket was blown.

Sookie rolled over onto her back, glaring at me with such a hate filled look. I hadn't known she had it in her, but it made me feel six inches tall, rather than six feet.

"Fuck you," she screamed at me, her voice shaking wildly. "Eat shit and die for saying that!"

I had never heard her use such foul language before, so it startled me. Then again, it was either Pamela or myself that was obviously rubbing off on her. I did try to censor what I said from time to time, but I knew that Pam was careless when it came to that.

My hands clenched into fists instinctively and I felt myself tremble all over. I felt horrified by what had come out of her mouth yet, at the same time, I felt such rage at her disobedience. What had happened to that sweet and innocent little girl who had seemed as though she needed me? Where had that good little girl gone, the one that did as she said without complaining and would never speak so badly to me? The one who said often that she loved me?

I handled it in the only way I knew how, which was to try and diffuse the situation.

"What did you just say to me?" I muttered, pretending I hadn't heard her properly, trying to sound intimidating as I slowly stepped forward. "You did not just say what I thought I heard you say, did you?"

I knew from experience over the years that Sookie was a ticklish little thing, so that was exactly what I tried to use to my advantage. I brought out my fangs with an audible snick, noticing the way her heart sped up and the way she tensed.

Then I vamp-sped, and she didn't even see it coming when I was on top of her on the sheets in the next instance, though I was mindful to support all of my weight onto my knees as I put them over each side of her and with my hands so I wouldn't hurt her too much by her crushing her.

"I said," she gasped through laughter, "Go eat shit and die!"

She screamed piercingly loud, thrashing her head and arms around furiously when I yanked the sheets down, finding her stomach and tickling her mercilessly with my fingers; her hands hitting every part of me she could find though unfortunately for her it presented me no feelings of pain whatsoever.

Then she started using her knees and bare feet, though they proved to be just as ineffectual.

I was trying to act all playfully menacing, assuming it would ease the situation and put us onto better ground. Sadly, I did not realize until too late, that it was only exacerbating it.

"Piss off, Eric," she yelled, elbowing me in the ribs. She was laughing breathlessly though, so I assumed my intentions had worked. "Stop, I haven't properly been to the bathroom just yet! You gotta stop before I-"

I had managed to wrap an arm around her, getting her halfway on top of me when I felt it. Something trickled from her to me, wetting through the crotch of my jeans. It felt warm, like warm water, and as I immediately halted tickling her so she could regain her breath, I noticed Sookie made a despairing groaning noise as she covered her face in her hands, going rigid and stiff. Her cheeks looked flushed and I felt her embarrassment course through me deeply, though I did not understand what was happening or why I felt so wet especially.

Then everything dramatically shifted worse again. "Oh, my god," Sookie cried out of nowhere, crawling to her feet hurriedly. When she rushed towards her dresser to get something out, I noticed with some bewilderment that there was a round dark patch in the back of her pajama bottoms. "What is wrong with you? Why do you insist on embarrassing me? You're so frigging dumb!"

Great. Diffuse the situation. Or not.

I sat up slowly onto my elbow, watching her as she scurried frantically out of the bedroom, saying a foul word to me again as she carried underwear and her other spare pair of pajama bottoms with her. I thought I even heard her crying, which made me feel like utter shit. I hadn't meant to make her cry- she was just supposed to laugh and not hate me anymore- and yet, what had I gone and done instead?

I forced myself to stand, peering down at the wet spot around my crotch, plucking it away with my fingers when it seemed to stick unpleasantly and rub against me. What the hell was going on?

Then I turned around, noticing the patch was there on her bed sheet as well. Since Sookie had reacted so embarrassed, I automatically decided to start taking off her sheets to change them with fresh ones instead. There, I was not a complete fool like she had said. I did know how to take initiative and change the bed sheets. By the time I'd finished and replaced them, Sookie was still hiding in the bathroom doing something.

"You can come out of hiding now, Sookie," I yelled out to her when it occurred to me that she was trying to avoid me. "I put some clean bed sheets on your bed because the old ones were wet, too. You don't exactly want to sleep in wet sheets, right?"

I heard her footsteps as she slowly approached the bedroom. It definitely seemed as though she was avoiding me for some reason.

"I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry for ruining your sheets," I went on, hoping to draw her out and coax her back into the room when I heard her hiding near the doorway. "It's never happened to me before but I... I'm sorry for wetting your sheets." I glanced back down at the damp patch at the front of my crotch in confusion. I had no fucking idea how that happened. "I'm sorry. Hope you can forgive me?" I was not even entirely certain what I was apologizing for, but Sookie was the only human I apologized to, if ever.

Finally, she reappeared, peeking into the room.

I noticed she avoided my eyes as she smiled sheepishly, looking at the clean sheets on her newly made bed. She had definitely been crying; I had become good at understanding when she had been secretly crying over the years.

"Um, it... it wasn't you," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"What?"

"It wasn't you," she said, her breath hitching as I saw her eyes look at the patch on the crotch of my jeans quickly before she glanced away. Then she rolled her eyes, sighing heavily in annoyance. "I peed myself, okay? I told you I hadn't been to the bathroom properly yet, but did you listen? No! You never do listen, which makes you pretty shitty at this and I hate you!" It all came out in an angry rush. She didn't even pause to catch her breath.

Usually I did not have defeatist attitude, only it was a bit hard not to. I was a downright failure as far as raising Sookie was concerned. I could never do anything right.

"I'm fifteen years old and still, you wanna tuck me into bed and read me bedtime stories?"

I didn't realize she was too old for that.

"I wish you wouldn't do that anymore. I'm a big girl now, almost a woman! I don't need you reminding me to brush my teeth every night, either! It's so weird that you still treat me like a baby!"

"Oh. All righty," I finally spoke awkwardly once it sunk in. I didn't realize it was such a problem. "So I won't read to you or tuck you into bed anymore?"

She shook her head.

"You don't want me to at all?" I asked, disappointed. Well, I had certainly come to enjoy it. It saddened me a little that she no longer wanted me to read or tuck her in anymore, because it had become our routine even since she was younger; Something we did. It also brought to light the fact that obviously no matter how hard I tried to deny it, Sookie was changing. She had changed and she was no longer the same girl she used to be.

"You know what would make me like you again, though?" she continued with a hopeful glint in her eyes. "Like what really, really would?"

"What?" I asked eagerly, taking notice.

"Well, you could maybe allow me to have my own computer? Just so I can have a Facebook page, and all. I mean, I figure plenty of girls my age have Facebook pages and their own computers?"

I was like instant putty in her hands. If she felt that having a Facebook page and her very own computer would make her feel happy, then get it, she would. I suppose it was naive of me, considering I was over a thousand years old. But because it was Sookie, who wouldn't do anything to make a child like them again?

Hope you found some enjoyment in this one? Sorry!