As Sookie rested on Bill, she resumed caressing his skin with her fingertips, first over his stomach, gently pulling the trail of black hair between her fingers as she passed by, lingering for a moment at his belly button, and then continued down; only to stop right where the trail became dense. The contact only aided to further relax him, nearly enough to allow him to fall asleep, although it was still night-time. She continued her lazy movement across to his hip, traced the prominent bone and then traveled up his side which caused goose bumps to spread over his flesh as she touched him. When Sookie reached the spot under his arm covered in hair, Bill jumped and brought his arm down quickly to protect himself.

Completely caught off guard by his reaction, she quickly sat up and looked down at him with a quizzical look.

"Are you ticklish?"

"NO! Do not be silly, vampires are not ticklish." was his reply.

Sookie quickly reached down to his other armpit and tried to tickle him again before he clamped that arm down to his side.

"YES, YOU ARE!" she yelled out in awe.
"How did I not know that? I'm sure I've touched you there before."

"Well…I do not recall ever being so relaxed before." he replied self-consciously.

With a new found excitement, she decided to try out other spots and focused her attention on his sides. Immediately, Bill began to squirm and tried to block Sookie's attempts, but she was relentless.

As he laughed like she had never heard him do before, nor did he ever remember doing, EVER, he tried to yell out "Sookie!...Sookie stop!...Stop! Stop!...Please, Stop!", but she was having way too much fun. In the blink of an eye, he had her flipped onto her back and gave her a taste of her own medicine. Unfortunately for her, Bill could tickle her everywhere at once with his vampire speed. All she could do was curl up into a fetal position and try not to pee herself as she repeated his pleas to stop.

Finally she cried out "William…Thomas…Compton…STOP!" in between laughs and gasps for air while tears ran down her face from all the laughter; Bill did as she pleaded and sat back to rest on his heels.

"See, how do you like it?"

"That's not fair, Bill. Your hands move too fast. I only wanted to test out the new discovery, anyway." She replied with a pout.

"Fairness does NOT come into play when you tickle someone, any advantage can be used." He retorted.

They sat a few feet apart, just out of arms reach, as they tried to get some semblance of composure. It took a good long while for Sookie would have fits of giggles overtake her as she tried to catch her breath, which would make Bill laugh all over again. She could not help to notice how good it was to hear him laugh so much, there was not a single time that she could recall of them being together, when he seemed to just let go and enjoy the moment as he now did.

"So, vampires aren't ticklish, huh?" she teased.

"No. We normally are not, or at least that I am aware of; I have not made it a habit to try. We are always on guard to when around others."

"Even when you are around me?" she asked with some hurt in her voice.

"Yes, to an extent. I always seem to find myself in a protective state of mind when I am around you, whether it is toward you or for you."

"Toward me…what's that supposed to mean?" she defensively asked.

"Sookie, I have never been able to let down my guard completely for reasons you are now aware of. I had a good many secrets that I was trying to keep. One tends to look over one's shoulder, waiting to be discovered, which by definition means I was far from relaxed. While I probably was my most relaxed with you, I was not completely."

Curiosity got the best of her "I see your point…So, why now?"

Bill thought to himself as he wondered the same thing, and came to the only conclusion he could.

"At that moment, I was the most peaceful I can remember ever being, honestly."

"Oh, now that can't be true. You've had a long life Bill, what about before you were turned?"

"I think the only time I could say I came close was as I played with my children before the war."

"Oh, Bill…I'm sorry."

"No. Do not be sorry. It has been a very long time since I felt so carefree!" He exclaimed. "For the first time, I feel like I have nothing to hide any longer."

"Well, it sounded good to hear you laugh." Sookie commented sincerely.

"It felt good." He responded with a big grin.

Sookie began to make her way back over to Bill on her knees, but stopped suddenly, afraid he would grab and tickle her again.

As she looked at him cautiously, she asked "Truce?"

"Truce."

She just could not help herself though, and broke that truce when she got the urge to tickle the bottom of his foot as she approached it. Before he had time to react, she had given into the urge and then jumped to her feet to run as fast as her vampire-infused blood could take her.

Instead of just grabbing her with his own vampire speed, he decided to let her go, as the thought of a hunt interested him.