Disclaimer*** No copyright infringement intended. These characters are exclusive property of Charlaine Harris, Alan Ball and HBO.

Tara was so sick of this sh!t, wishing she had never come back to Bon Temps, knowing that she couldn't have stayed away. Not once she knew Sookie had come back. Tara frowned, thinking about her last conversation with Sookie, and how freaked out she had been that Bill was staying in her house. Getting away from vampires and other crazy who know whats was the whole reason she left Bon Temps in the first place, but lately it was like vampire city. Tara was almost ready to give in and talk to Sookie more about what was going on, knowing that whatever was going on with Bill was complicated for Sookie too, but then Pam had shown up.

Tara was minding her own business at Lafayette's, wallowing in self pity about what had happened with Naomi, trying to come up with a way to earn her forgiveness. Then there was a knock at the door, and when Tara peeked through the curtains she saw that damn vampire. Thank god Lafayette had never invited that b!tch into his house, and Tara had learned from her mistakes and definitely wasn't going look her in the eye. They had yelled at each other through the door until Pam had gotten pissed enough to force it open from the outside. It had scared the sh!t out of Tara. She was frozen in fear as Pam demanded to know where Lafayette was and what Tara knew about the witches. F*ckin' witches, messing with the wrong vampires! Tara had thought at the time, knowing that Pam and Eric were some of the nastiest vampires she had ever met.

It was all too much for Tara., losing Naomi, and even if she hadn't, this place was too dangerous for someone she loved, fighting with Sookie and now more threats from a vampire that she believed would make good on them. She was glad Lafayette's house was never lacking in the alcohol, and that was how she had found herself wandering the roads between Bon Temps and Shreveport. It probably wasn't a genius move to be out alone in the dark, but a half a bottle of tequila gives you strength you never knew you had. It was on that road, alone, in the dark that she found or rather was found by Marnie.

Tara had remembered her from that first night with Lafayette at the witch place, and thought she was a kook then, and even more so now. But what she was saying made sense. She had a way to protect them, protect all of them from vampires. Tara had no question in her mind that it was what she wanted, and she didn't really care what that meant. Now all she had to do was recruit more people to help. Marnie had said the stronger the circle, the safer they would be. She showed up at Merlotte's this morning with some of the other witches from Moongoddess to try and convince as many people as she could. Holly was working, and she knew if they could convince Holly, it would get even more people on their side.

x

x

The pain was excruciating, but Bill had become almost numb to it by now. He had been lying with Sookie on the small bed for what had to have been hours. They had both been drifting in and out of fitful sleep, exhaustion driving them, while the silver kept Bill from truly resting. He was so glad to have her here with him, it made the pain almost bearable. He couldn't really move, and the small movements he could make tended to shift the silver, exposing new, unburned flesh sending more pain his way. Sookie rested with her arm across his chest, her head next to his on the pillow. He could feel her breath cool on his skin.

"What time is it?" He asked, breaking the silence. She had been shifting her position, trying to stay comfortable on the small bed, so he knew she was awake. She sat up before responding, looking down on him.

"I don't know, it must be almost noon by now," she touched his forehead with her fingers, brushing away a stray lock of hair. The softness of her touch offering him more comfort than she could possibly know. He hoped Jessica was doing okay, it had been terrible to watch her go under silver. Despite not remembering her, he had grown to care about her very much in the past few days. She had proven herself over and over to be very dedicated to him, he must have done something good to earn that.

"If the spell hasn't come already, maybe it won't come." He said, trying to be hopeful, despite knowing that really, he had to remain under silver until night fall.

"We can't take that chance, Bill," she said, her eyes filled with sorrow.

"I know, I just hate that you have to see me this way, that we have to do this at all." He turned his head slightly, toward her, wincing as the silver touched fresh skin.

"I've seen you under silver before, Bill. The night we first met. But I've also seen you out in the day time sun, and I would much rather deal with the silver." She looked away from him, remembering something.

"You risked your life to save me, in broad daylight. I didn't know how you were going to survive, you were burned so badly. It was awful feeling like I lost you. I've lost too many people, Bill. I can't go through that again." She put her hand on his chest, as she sat next to him.

"I will do my best to keep you from going through that again, Sookie. I can't stand knowing that I've hurt you. It seems that I have hurt you so many times." He said, closing his eyes, not wanting to see her sadness or let her see his guilt.

"You've hurt me, Bill, the other you, but you have also brought so much good into my life." she gently touched his face, leaning in to kiss him sweetly. He opened his eyes, meeting her dark gaze, again, he was lost in her eyes. He wondered for probably the hundredth time how he got so lucky, to have her here... caring about him.

"Good? What ever good I brought you must have been undone when I betrayed you. You said our whole relationship before was a lie. How can you forgive that?" He asked her, angry with himself for what he had done to her.

"Bill, I might have not believed it at the time, and I definitely was very angry with you, and I suppose if you had your memories, I would probably still be angry with you. But I know you loved me, you wouldn't have risked your life over and over to save me if you didn't care about me." She continued to play with his hair, stroking it softly as he lay, tortured, wishing he could throw off his chains to hold her in his arms.

"Before I met you, my life was pretty boring. I liked my job, sure, but it was always the same thing. Trying to stay out of people's heads, knowing way more than I could ever want to know about them. Always having to keep my guard up."

"That must have been awful for you, Sookie, never being able to relax, knowing every ones innermost thoughts. There must be some people who know about your talent," he said, curious about what she has been through and how he fit into her life. The conversation and her light touch in his hair both also served as a nice distraction from the silver.

"Those closest to me, they know... but we don't talk about it , and I try to stay out of their heads. It seems a bit unethical to me to be listening in on the people I care about, but sometimes I can't stop it, like if I'm touching someone or if I'm having trouble concentrating. Other people suspect or think I'm psychic but most of them just think I'm crazy."

"That must make... personal relationships, with men your own age, very difficult." he said, grateful that she couldn't read his thoughts. Not that he was keeping secrets from her or thinking bad things, but his thoughts served to distract him enough when he was around her. Plus that meant he was the only one who could plan a surprise for her, if he ever had the opportunity.

She laughed at his comment, "What personal relationships?" then she laughed harder, at her own reply. He was confused by her laughter, although it was a beautiful sound.

"What's so funny, Sookie?"

"Nothing, I mean... I've just been getting this feeling of deja vu, we sort of had this conversation one of the first nights we met. I told you how I didn't date and you asked if you could call on me." She smiled sweetly at him.

"And did I?... call on you?"

"You did, you met my gran, right here in this house." There was a wistfulness in her voice, she must have loved her gran very much.

"This house? Your gran lived in a vampire's house?" That didn't make sense to Bill, although the whole house situation didn't make much sense to him. It certainly didn't look like a house that Eric would own.

"Oh... No, not at all. This is our house, the Stackhouse family has always lived here. It was my house after gran died, and then while I was gone for that year, Eric somehow managed to buy it." He could hear the anger as she said Eric's name. So that is how she ended up living in a vampire's house. It was her ancestral home that had been stolen away from her.

"I'm so sorry, Sookie. That must be awful to feel like you've lost your home as well. There must be someway to get it back. Eric won't sell it back to you?" He frowned, thinking about ways to get her house back for her.

"I've tried asking him, but he, well, he's Eric. I asked for your help, before all of this," she waved her hand around, "but you said it wouldn't be easy. I suppose it wasn't fair of me to run to you for help after kicking you off of my porch."

A slight frown creased her face as she thought about what she was saying. "I'm sure I would have done anything I could to help you, Sookie."

"I know Bill. Anyway, my Gran really liked you, and of course I liked you, but I was still a little nervous about the whole vampires biting people thing, and a few other scary things happened that made me wonder if dating a vampire was a smart idea." He was fascinated by her tale of how their relationship had started, he didn't know what to say to keep her talking so he just nodded his head, forgetting for a second about the chains around his neck. He groaned at the burning, earning a very concerned look from Sookie.

Annoyed that he had distracted her from talking, he prompted her, "Please, Sookie, tell me what happened next."

"Well, like I said, I wasn't too sure about us being together, but then..." She hesitated, swallowing hard, "My gran was murdered. Murdered by the same person that almost killed me. And... And.. I..."

"You must miss her." He said, seeing how hard it was to be reminded of what had happened to her gran.

"I do, she was, she was everything to me. And then she was gone, I don't think I would have survived without you, Bill."

"Without me?" What could he have possible done for her in the face of such tragedy. Especially if he was only here for some sort of mission, it was almost ironic how angry he was at himself for things he didn't remember doing.

"You were there for me, you gave me peace and quiet that I needed, you just let me be me," she kissed him again before continuing, "It was after her funeral that I knew you were what I needed, I waited that night, for the sun to go down and you knew somehow, before I even reached your door that I needed you."

Bill was totally enraptured in her story, he was so glad he had been there for her when she needed him, it took a little bit of the sting out of knowing how much he hurt her when he knew that he had actually helped her too.

"That night, it was a perfect night, Bill. You were everything I had dreamed of in a lover, gentle and sweet and it was just so perfect. You were the one I had been waiting for my whole life." she blushed, remembering, he could smell it as the blood heated her cheeks.

"Sookie, are you saying..." He wasn't sure how to ask, but he really, really wanted to know, had he really been the only man she'd been with?

"Those shirts, your shirts that I kept... it wasn't just because of our first time, but because it was my first time and..."

"Sookie! Sook, you here?" a male voice yelled from upstairs, interrupting their conversation at what Bill thought was the worst possible moment.

"It's Jason... My brother," she supplied at his questioning look, "I'll be right back."

She climbed out of the cubby, yelling for her brother, as Bill tried to make sense of everything she had just told him. He almost felt even more silly about what had happened in the forest, asking her if he was her first, when really he was. Although he did suppose that it made her "what other men" comment make more sense. He was blown away, there had been no other men. Just him. She really was amazing, this Sookie Stackhouse.

As his thoughts about Sookie and his new memories from last night swirled together in his mind, he felt a new sensation. It wasn't unpleasant, but it was the beginnings of what felt like an unfulfilled desire, a craving. It was more than a craving it was a need growing ever stronger... a need... to see the sun.