Title: "Florence Nightingale at Your Service, Viking"
Summary: When Eric succumbs to a rare vampire illness, he must rely on Sookie to care for him.
Rating: M (though mostly for last chapter)
Pairing: Eric & Sookie (obviously) :)
Disclaimer: The talented Charlaine Harris is the rightful owner and creator of this fabulous world of hers, including our favorite telepath and one sexy Viking Vampire. I'm just toying with them a bit…
A/N- Thank you again to everyone who left reviews on the last chapter! Reviews make me happy and make me write faster!
As promised, this chapter's longer and I'm a fan of it… hope you are too!
End of Chapter 10:
Still in my bathrobe, I quickly hung it up and slipped on a pair of dark jeans, a white lace bra and a white scoop neck shirt, going for casual but pretty. Hey, just 'cause Eric's sick doesn't mean I have to look like I am, right? I retrieved my brush and my romance novel from the bathroom and got my coffee and my toast from the dresser, and I settled on the bed to relax beside my poor, ill, shirtless and boxer-clad vampire.
Chapter 11
Three hours, my hair combed out and 7 chapters later, I felt the bed stirring and realized that it must be nearing sundown since Eric was obviously waking. I put my book down on the bed beside me and watched Eric slowly reanimate, and my heart sank when, after about 5 minutes from the first stirring, Eric began to groan. He felt miserable. I was sideswiped by the weakness, nausea and just general misery that were my poor blood-bonded vampire. I tried to send soothing vibes but I knew that wasn't going to do much good so I settled on lightly stroking his forearm with my fingertips to bring him back into the world.
Eric slowly came to, squinting at me with a frown on his face. I looked at him with eyes full of pity—I remember waking up miserable, either because of a hangover or because of the flu, and it's no fun at all to start your day (or night) like that.
"Sookie..." Eric said in a whisper. "What is wrong with me?" He tried to lift himself up and didn't quite make it, falling back on his elbows. I piled the pillows behind him and helped him to sit up and lean against them by heaving upwards with my hands under the vampire's armpits. He sighed as he leaned back, rubbing his face with his hands in an oddly human gesture.
"You're still sick, Eric, remember? The doctor said you would probably feel pretty lousy today. What do you feel?" I spoke in a soft voice since I knew he'd hear me anyhow.
"Ughhh."
"That good, huh?" I deadpanned.
"I don't remember ever feeling this sick, even in my days as a human… though probably if I were to have been this sick as a human I would have died as medicine was scarce back then." Eric said with a grim expression on his face.
Then he turned to me and annoyance prickled at the bond and I picked up on anger laced in his voice with his next words. "What did you do to me today? All I remember of my rest was feeling desperately cold…Couldn't you just leave me alone and let me sleep?"
Annoyed? I thought, my own anger building in me, How dare he be annoyed at me? I copped an attitude right back.
"Oh, well, you know, I just decided 'Hey, let's torture Eric while he's sleeping since I'm trapped in the house all day.' What do you think I did? You ran a fever of 93.5 and I had to get it down, so I propped up that fan," I said pointing to it and he took in his surroundings, "and wet down your whole body, twice, to drop it to the 88.6 it was the last time I checked."
Eric's weary body had turned his mood sour, which had in turn brought out the angry sarcasm in me. This was a slippery slope down, I thought, but to hell with backing down.
"So you had to freeze me to death while I was trying to recuperate?"
"First, you're already dead," I countered bluntly. "Second, I didn't know you'd even be able to feel it. Third, I had to get your temperature down somehow! And speaking of which, I need to check to see what your temperature is to see if I have to do it again now that you're awake," I said, sticking my jaw out and holding my chin up, waiting ready for his response.
He growled deep in his chest but said nothing, looking in a decided "other" direction in the bedroom.
"Hmph," I said under my breath, ignoring the menacing-sounding growl and grabbing the thermometer before I crawled over to him.
"Turn your head," I commanded unsympathetically. Yeah, I knew he was sick, but that's no excuse to be rude to the one taking care of you! Later I would recognize that I was showing my own form of immaturity, but hindsight's 20/20, right?
He growled again, glaring at me out of the corner of his eye but turning just enough so I could check his temperature. "89.1 Degrees. Fine for now." I said after putting the thermometer back on the nightstand, satisfied but still angry.
"Are you nauseous?" I asked.
"No."
"Yes, you are—I can feel it. I need to give you your antibiotics and the nausea medication so you can drink something. You're not going to build up any strength if you don't drink anything."
Eric crossed his arms, still not looking at me. "Where is my phone?"
Puzzled out of my stubborn anger for a moment, I thought where it could be. "I dunno… your jacket pocket maybe? Where do you keep it?"
"Pants pocket. Bring it to me." Eric said, toneless.
I sat still and lifted an eyebrow, crossing my own arms. Eric turned to me slightly, feeling I hadn't moved, and gritted his teeth. "Please."
I huffed, climbing off the bed and searching his pockets until I found it. I brought it over to him and placed it in his outstretched hand. Eric instantly began surfing through his various emails and text messages his shiny new Blackberry held for him, ignoring me completely. I sat in the ex-boyfriend chair in the corner, glaring at him, until I gave up and started to set up the syringe with the next dose of antibiotic. I had to get it in Eric in the next half an hour if I wanted to follow Dr. Ludwig's directions to the letter. While I was at it, I also loaded the syringe for the nausea medication because even without Eric admitting it, I could feel his queasiness plain as day coming through the bond, and quite frankly it was starting to make me nauseous.
When I was all done and ready, I looked at the clock. Twenty minutes until the hour was up. "Eric," I called firmly, standing next to the bed. He ignored me and continued to scroll through his phone. I thought he might even be reading absolutely nothing and just scrolling as an excuse not to look at me. At that moment, I didn't particularly care.
"Eric, put the goddamn phone down so I can get this over with."
Anger. From both of us. Swelling the bond. Fucking fantastic.
"Leave me ALONE, woman!" he yelled at me, his fangs partially descended and his expression looking threatening with his slightly glowing eyes.
I would not be intimidated by his little vampire fireworks. I put the needles, recapped, down and shifted my stance so I put my weight on one hip and my hands on both hips. Was I being stubborn? Yes. Was I going to back down and heel? Hell no. "No Eric. I don't follow orders like the rest of your retinue. I need to follow your doctor's orders—not yours—and that's what I'm going to do. I'm not your servant or your employee so stop fucking treating me like one."
"I'd rather have an employee right now. At least they would know when to leave me alone." He shouted back, eyes blazing.
"Oh?" I said, raising my eyebrows almost to my hairline. "You'd RATHER have someone who takes care of you ONLY because of the amount of money they're being paid? Really? That does NOT sound like the self-preservationist Eric Northman that I know. It sounds like the pouting 9-year-old boy that doesn't want to take his medicine Eric Northman has become this evening. The Eric Northman I recognize knows that if you pay someone for their loyalty, you could end up staked in your sleep if the other guy pays them more. Or even in your wakefulness right now, Eric-- 'cause I'll tell you, it sure doesn't seem like you'd be able to fight off another vampire right now."
Eric looked infuriated, confused, and frustrated, and all of these were coming in loud and clear through our connection.
I continued. "If you'd rather be taken care of by some employee, please, by all means, call them to come pick you up. I'd be happy to follow your instructions and leave you alone to your phone book." And with that, I stomped out of the room. Stupid proud, sick vampires.
I threw myself into the easy chair, frustrated with myself for losing my temper and with Eric for bringing me to that point. I felt Eric's unbridled anger coursing through him, but 5 minutes later I began to pick up on feelings of remorse, and I was sure that both of us were feeling our own share of it. I considered that Eric probably just lashed out at me because I was there and he wanted to take his misery out on someone. I resented Eric's choosing me to be that someone and that would be something we'd have to talk about.
But I was not making the first move—I would at least stand my ground on that. After all I planned to do to sacrifice to take care of Eric this week, I get it thrown in my face that I did just that? I don't think so. I felt in myself residual anger, remorse, frustration for losing my temper, and a sadness I hadn't expected. A tear slid down my cheek without my even realizing it was forming, and as it did, the phone rang. I swiped the evidence off my cheek, dragged my body off the couch and slouched over to the phone, picking it up without reading the number on the caller ID screen.
"Hello?" I answered impassively with a rough voice.
"Please come back in." said an even more listless and sad sounding voice.
"Why? So you can yell at me again for taking care of you?" I said snippily, though my mood lifted to hear his voice. As I talked I moved closer to the bedroom like a bee to honey.
"I am sorry, lover. Please come back in. I will be good, I promise." His voice sounded so soft and defeated that it damn near broke my heart, and I walked back into my bedroom, through the curtains, with the phone still in my hand.
My eyes fell upon him as I walked through the curtains, and he put down the phone as he saw me, relaxing a bit against the pillows propped against his back.
I decided I'd start talking first, clicking the phone off and leaving it on the dresser. "You know, I don't enjoy seeing you miserable, and even less do I like being the cause of your temporary discomfort. BUT since I kind of like you undead rather than finally dead, I'm going to do what I can to keep you that way, even if it means having to step on your pride a little." My face softened as I looked at him and his absolutely miserable expression. I walked to the bed and perched there lightly, looking into his face.
After a few minutes, Eric looked away and we sat in silence for a good 5 minutes.
Finally breaking the silence, Eric spoke.
"How did I get into this mess?" Eric asked to the room, very softly. It reminded me of when I asked a similar question sitting by the fire after an amnesiac Eric was placed in my care by Pam and Chow through the scheming of my brother, Jason.
"You fed from some exotic diseased fangbanger, that's how. Now you know how we humans feel having to deal with STDs out there." I said matter-of-factly, though there might have been a hint of something else in my tone I couldn't quite place.
Eric raised an eyebrow. "Are you…jealous?" he asked with a slight smirk.
"No!" I said with indignation in my voice. I paused. More softly, "…maybe."
"Ha!" Eric said, still quiet but looking slightly more cheered. He still spoke slowly but with more clarity. "She was nothing to me, Sookie. In fact, I haven't been feeding on anything other than True blood since the night of the takeover other than this one female—Victor was taunting me in front of an audience that I would not take a lover or feed on other humans because you had 'defanged' me." Anger and indignation flared in the bond. "I knew I must at least feed to keep my reputation and I chose her as she was the least objectionable in the crowd at my feet."
My eyes narrowed. Although the first part of that statement was extremely interesting considering Eric's well-known distaste for Trueblood, I overlooked this to make a point. "Doesn't it make you a little suspicious that she just happened to be there, infected with a rare disease that could kill you, begging for your attention at the very time that Victor Madden decides to publically torment you?"
Eric fell silent, contemplating my question. "I... I hadn't thought about it. I didn't fall ill until last night so I had no reason to question that there might be a connection."
"Maybe we should look into who the fangbanger is, where she came from, and maybe if someone paid her to be there? Maybe if you can get into her bank records it'll show if someone paid her a whole bunch of money in the last few weeks?"
"That is… a very smart move, Sookie," he said appreciatively. "Incidentally, this is why we all scoff at you when you call yourself a 'stupid barmaid'. You are anything but, my Sookie," he ended on a soft note.
I snorted. "Oh, so I'm your Sookie now? Ten minutes ago you ordered me to leave you and declared that you'd rather have some nameless employee taking care of you, and now you're all about claiming me? Were you bipolar in your human life too?" I said with a resolute determination not to let him off the hook so easily.
"I am sorry for my anger earlier. You must understand that it is difficult for me to relinquish such control to a human, no matter how significant of a human. You were… 'pushing my buttons', I think is the phrase," he said with a remorseful expression on his face.
"Eric, I'm sorry that the way I acted made you feel like I stepped on your big proud vampire toes, but I have to take care of you, and as much as you hate it, you need taking care of right now. As soon as this week is up, you'll be back to being the big, powerful, scary boss-man vampire of Area 5, but for now, give me a break and try to make my job of taking care of you as easy as you can, will ya? I'm begging you." I desperately wanted to get past this argument but I was NOT going to fight with a petulant Eric for the next 4 days.
Even in his exhaustion, Eric had a devilish twinkle in his eye for a moment. "Lover, when I am better, you will never have to beg," he asserted, grinning.
I laughed. Laughing felt good, and the mood finally lightened. I theatrically sighed. "Promises! Promises…" I said wistfully, winking at him.
We fell into a much happier silence, and glancing around the room, I saw the clock and my face fell.
"Oh, shit, Eric…" and stopped because I didn't want to start anything again since we just resolved the first argument, but time was running out if I wanted to follow instructions. I picked up the hypodermic with the serum in it and a swab, meeting Eric's gaze with a hopeful expression.
Eric nodded. "It is okay, Sookie. I understand." He leaned forward slowly and shakily and I quickly put down the syringe and swab so I could help get Eric on his stomach. I took the pillows out from behind his back, threw them temporarily onto the other side of the bed, and with two hands wrapped around him on his back I eased him down flat in as smooth a motion as I could manage with his bulky frame so he didn't just flop back on the bed. Eric looked up into my eyes as he lay down and I was on my knees leaning over him. I felt a sweep of melancholy pass through him and I couldn't help but lean down and kiss his cheek.
Staying there, I looked into his tense, guarded expression, put my hand lightly on one side of his warmer-than-usual neck and whispered, "It's okay, Eric. You'll be okay, and we'll be okay. Try to relax and just concentrate on getting better." I gave him a small smile and brushed my lips on his cheek once more. I did, thankfully, feel him relax, giving me a small smile in return.
He helped roll himself over onto his stomach and rested his head on his folded arms with a neutral expression on his face. I tried to get it over as fast as I could, quickly pulling the quilt down to Eric's thighs and bringing Eric's boxers down just enough to expose the top right half of his beautiful derriere. I swabbed the antiseptic over the area, feeling Eric shiver beneath my touch. I uncapped the needle and my left hand gently held the skin to the side of the area while I pushed the medicine into Eric. He flinched very slightly as the needle went in, and I could only assume that any affect at all it had was because of his weak and vulnerable physical and emotional state at present. Just as quickly, I pulled up his boxers and replaced the quilt.
"Eric, can you turn on your side for me please?" I said softly, hoping he wouldn't protest.
Eric did so without objection and I leaned over him and swabbed his upper arm and gave him the nausea medication I knew he needed, as I was feeling first-hand his queasiness. I gently coaxed him with my hands back on to his stomach, so he rested his head back onto his folded arms. I laid down on my stomach beside him, leaning my own head on my bent left arm, turning my face to his. I tentatively stretched my right hand to him and, when I didn't get a rejection of contact from him, I lightly raked my nails over Eric's bare back and shoulders. The act was one of the most comforting things I remember my Gran doing when I was ill, and even when I was well I always considered it a soothing feeling. I hoped it would have that same effect for Eric.
"Mmmm." Eric moaned softly and closed his eyes as I continued lightly scratching his muscular back and I reached out to our connection to see what he was feeling. I picked up first and foremost a weariness that I NEVER associate with Eric, whose very air is so typically grandiose and full of life that it sparked with energy. I was thrilled that I could detect the nausea ebbing away from his being—I would be happy to see him feed soon so that disconcerting weariness could go and I could have the bold, flamboyant and infuriating Eric that I loved, yes, loved, back. As we lay like this, I also felt him relaxing into the silence of our company and perhaps the feeling of my hand on his back. It pleased me that Eric felt secure enough in me that he felt that he could relax in my presence while he was so weak. If we were going to be in an equal relationship, maybe this blasted sickness could do exactly what Pam had alluded to—keep us together alone long enough so we could "work out [our] shit" while I had him "in captivity." Eric already learned he could trust me from when Hallow and her witches left him in a mentally vulnerable state in my care a year ago, but now he was completely in my care and yet fully aware of what was occurring. I had to show him that we could have an equal relationship—that if I was his, he could be mine too.
I suddenly felt guilty for yelling at Eric earlier. Yes, he lashed out. Yes, he hurt me because I didn't feel appreciated. But I didn't have to rise to that anger and respond with my own for as long as I did.
Still continuing my hopefully soothing motions with my fingers on his back, I softly started speaking and Eric opened his eyes to fix his sapphire ones on my grey-blue eyes. "I really am sorry, Eric, for … "pushing your buttons" earlier. I've just been really worried about you all day and hated having to make you uncomfortable, even though I didn't know you could feel that when you're sleeping. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I should have more patience when you're sick and hurting." A guilty tear slipped from my eye before I realized it was even there and I hurriedly swiped at it.
Eric turned on his side and gently pulled me into his embrace, enveloping me in his big hulking body and stroked my back in the same way I was stroking his.
"You are forgiven," he said into my hair and my breath hitched and began to normalize.
We stayed in the comfort of the embrace for at least 10 minutes but Eric eventually pulled away. We both knew there were important things to be done.
"Lover, I must call Pam to tell her about your thoughts of a connection between the fangbanger and Victor Madden." I nodded.
He sat up shakily on his own and speed dialed Pam.
"Hello, my child" Eric said warmly to Pam.
A pause.
"Yes, I am fatigued but fine. While discussing the cause with Sookie, she came up with the most intriguing theory."
Eric proceeded to explain to Pam the possible connection between Victor and the fangbanger and asked Pam to dig up as much information on her as she can, including bank statements if she can get them.
Eric turned to me as I sat next to him. "What do you require Pam to buy for you in preparation for the coming days?"
This surprised me out of my private reverie. I had completely forgotten that Pam was supposed to be coming over and getting me supplies. This afternoon seemed like so long ago. "Oh... uh... actually I looked today and I don't need anything. She can spend her time looking into that woman instead."
Eric nodded, looking very pleased. "Excellent…," he responded to me and continued his discussion with Pam. "She does not require any supplies. I expect you to find as much as you can about this woman."
He paused, listening.
"Excellent, Pam. Call me when you have more information." Eric said, hanging up.
"Pam remembers the name of the vermin from her identification at the door. She has an excellent memory," Eric said with pride in his voice.
"Oh, wow! That's great! … Hey, can I get you a blood? Are you feeling well enough?" I asked hopefully.
"Yes, thank you, Sookie," he said, relaxing back into the pillows and closing his eyes.
I slipped out of the room and while in the kitchen, I heated one of the 4 remaining vials of my blood and I made myself a sandwich for dinner and got a glass of milk. I toted them all back, pausing to grab a movie on the way in, too. I figured I'd spare Eric Pride and Prejudice for now. I chuckled to myself, thinking of Eric watching the long, long BBC production, and thought that before he watches that, I'd have to subject him to Gone with the Wind (the Southern staple) so he could understand my "Scarlett and Rhett" comments.
"For now, though," I mumbled to myself, eyes scanning the titles and selecting 'The 40-year-old Virgin', "something funny." I smiled at the purposely creepy smile Steve Carell had on the cover of the VHS and brought it in with our food.
I handed the blood to Eric who took it eagerly and, after a long sip, softly moaned and closed his eyes.
"Lover, I am sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but you are truly delicious."
"Uh... well... thanks Eric, I think," I said awkwardly, not really sure exactly how to respond.
"What did you bring in besides your food?" Eric asked, focusing on my hands.
"Oh, well, I figured if we're just going to be hanging out waiting for Pam to get back to us, we might as well watch a movie or something. Sorry all I have in here is this little TV—I'm sure you have a much bigger one at home but this was just a spare one Amelia gave me."
"Do not worry, dear Sookie. It is true, I have a large flatscreen television at home, but I very rarely use it now that vampires have revealed themselves, so the size of the television matters not. I have very good eyesight, after all."
"Oh, alright then! I grabbed a comedy," I said, trying to be cheerful for Eric, handing him the cover of the tape. "Have you seen it?"
"I have not," he said as I pushed the tape into the 20 inch TV's VCR and grabbed the remote. "An interesting title to the movie, though. Surely that is part of the… comedy?"
I hesitated, pressing the play button so the FBI warnings would play out. "Well, the movie is about a guy who's 40 years-old but is still a virgin."
I chuckled at the shocked look on Eric's face. "Forty YEARS? And he was not imprisoned during this time? He had his freedom and still went forty years without engaging in sex?"
I sighed exaggeratedly, trying to hide my grin. "You know, Eric, you CAN survive without it."
"Yes, lover, but what kind of existence is it?" he asked, grinning.
I lifted my own eyebrow. "Yeah, well, I can tell you that if you vampires didn't come along with your gloriously silent brains, I'd pretty much be, without a doubt, in this situation," I held up the box he handed back, "in 13 years. I made it 26 years without sex just fine," I asserted, slightly defensive of Steve Carell's character, though I couldn't explain to you why. "It's kind of a… well… you don't know what you're missing if you've never experienced it." I finished, blushing at my accidental confession.
What I didn't point out to Eric was that, one, I did vicariously know the pleasures of sex from hearing it play all too often in the minds of half the goddamn people in Merlotte's at any given time (and way more than half in Fangtasia), and that, two, that unlike Steve Carell's character's pathetic social skills, my reason for not finding anyone to bed mainly stemmed from my ability to hear every potential mate's every thought and desire. If you think about it, you'd realize how hard it is to focus about your own pleasure when you hear the musings of how your partner wishes you were thinner, or more muscular, taller… or male. VERY distracting. No thank you. Thankfully, the vampire revelation ended the possibility of my going my whole life without knowing the joys of really good sex, and if there's one thing vampires are good for, it's REALLY GOOD SEX.
Eric turned to me, surprised. "You were… a ... virgin... for Bill?" He asked with an edge to his voice.
My face flushed at the recollection of the first wonderful time in bed, and I scowled at the subsequent remembrance of his cheating on me with his maker, Lorena. My brain THEN so kindly reminded me that this first experience was actually on order and paid for by the late Queen Sophie-Anne. This thought depressed me even more so I tried to push it out of my mind.
"Yes." I said, trying to unclench my teeth.
Eric sensed that he was on rocky ground as he was fully aware of the circumstances of Bill and my relationship and subsequent break up. "I … I did not know that he was your first man." He said thoughtfully. If I had to guess, I would say a cog just slipped into place in his mind explaining why I still refused to speak at length to Bill except under the direst of circumstances.
"It should have been me," he said simply.
I turned to him, confused and a little annoyed. "Hey, the only reason you know me at all is because Bill brought me to you. Even though he was only with me because he was gettin' paid to do it," I spat out in disgust, "doesn't mean you would have even known of my existence without Bill."
"If my queen had informed me of that plan of hers," he said with his own distaste evident, "it would have been me, and I could have spared you the pain of the discovery you experienced in New Orleans."
"Coulda, shoulda, woulda. What's done is done. I'm glad you made him tell me though. I hate being kept in the dark," I said, shadows crossing the expression in my eyes.
Eric switched angles in the conversation, thankfully sensing my darkening mood. "So...how was he in bed?" He elbowed me lightly in the side and grinned.
"None of your damn business, Eric," I grumbled, wanting desperately to drop the subject because, knowing Eric, he'd without a doubt take anything I say and throw it in Bill's face or plaster it across a billboard somewhere (or both). I could just imagine the billboards now…
"Better than me?" He waggled his eyebrows, obviously knowing the answer.
I snorted. "I doubt Aphrodite herself is as good in bed as you."
He lowered his voice, looking around secretively. "Don't let her hear you saying that," he said conspiratorially.
I chucked. "Fine. You're the best damn non-divine lay a girl could get, I'm pretty sure. Better?"
He preened.
I laughed.
This little conversation we had felt so much like the real Eric that it made some of the anxiety I was feeling over his illness flow out of me. We settled back and watched the movie, slowly slipping from sitting up on the bed and consuming our respective dinners to leaning on each other, and eventually ending up laying down in bed with my head in the crook between Eric's shoulder and chest with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. It was such an intimate position and we both accepted it so readily, I marveled at how technically we still hadn't discussed any thoughts of a relationship formally. When he's better, I promised myself, and went back to watching the movie and enjoying the closeness and calm I attributed with Eric's presence.
A/N- Thanks for reading! I plan to finish this out even though Dead and Gone comes out tomorrow (Eeeeee!), so I hope there's still interest after it comes out!
Updates coming soon!
Reviews are (almost) as good as cuddling in bed with a sick Viking vampire… Please leave me some!