When Eric appears in the kitchen for breakfast, he finds himself alone. He hears the shower running, so he guesses Sookie's helping his father bathe, though he's rather surprised when both his father and Sookie emerge from the bathroom, both with wet hair and in robes.
Sookie pushes his father's wheelchair up to the table. "Could you get your father something to eat while I go change real quick?" she asks. "Some yogurt maybe?"
Eric nods. He grabs a single serving carton out of the fridge and fetches a spoon. "Can you feed yourself?" he asks, unsure what his father is able to do.
Jack nods, holding out his hand for the cutlery. He stares at the lid forlornly for a moment, until Eric opens it and places it down on the table. He sits down across from his father.
"You shower together?" he asks. That seems unorthodox.
"Bathing suit," Jack shrugs, like it's no big thing. He tries scooping the contents from the cup, but the container moves with the spoon, scooting from one spot to another. Eventually he tries a different approach, simply dipping his spoon into the tub then into his mouth. It works.
Eric considers how difficult it would be to lather up and soap down a man his father's size, sitting or standing. You might get just as wet outside of the tub as in it. Maybe wearing a suit and getting the shower sort of makes sense. "Do you wear a bathing suit too?" he asks.
Jack shakes his head and waggles his eyebrows suggestively.
Eric screws up his face. "Boy, do I feel sorry for her."
"She doesn't complain," Jack smirks.
"She doesn't complain about what?" Sookie asks as she enters the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, her hair swept back in a ponytail.
"Having to see my old man's old man penis," Eric says.
"I'm a nurse, so of course, I don't sexualize these things," she says as she winks at Jack. "However, if I did, I'm pretty sure I'd say your old man's old man penis is just fine."
Jack preens a little.
Eric's not sure if he thinks it's appropriate for a nurse to joke about such things with the patient. It occurs to him that she's been bathing his father for several months now. Bathing suit or not, she's been seeing his dick on the regular. One probably needs to have a pretty good sense of humour to cope with such things. He thinks about the kind of man his father is. His Dad would probably be the first one to crack a joke. He'd probably encourage Sookie and Anne to do the same. Come to think of it, if Eric was sixty and he had two attractive younger women who were willing to touch his dick without puking, he'd probably tolerate a joke or two. It's better than crying, he supposes.
Sookie places a shaving kit down on the counter. "I figured there's more space in here to do this," she says to Jack.
When she notices how Jack is dipping his spoon into the cup and then into his mouth, she suppresses a grin. "Hey Eric," she says. "Your dad still has limited use of his other hand, so he can't stabilize the container to scoop stuff out of it by himself. If you put it in a bowl, it's heavier and doesn't move around as much... so it's easier for him to feed himself."
Oh. Right.
~0~
Eric watches as Sookie shaves his father. She does it old school, with a straight razor and a brush. She moves the blade with singular focus over his father's face in efficient, neat swipes.
"I didn't realize nursing also required the skills of a barber," he observes.
"I learned this for a boyfriend, actually," she confesses shyly. "It just happened to come in handy when I started working."
"It does give the closest shave," he says as he wipes his hand over his own jaw. He hasn't shaved in a few weeks. Years ago he'd dated a makeup artist who knew how to give a straight shave. She'd made it an erotic, exotic and intimate experience. The trust involved in letting someone have a blade so close to one's throat, their body pressed against yours... He found he was no longer able to enjoy a trip to the barber, for fear of embarrassing himself.
"If you're nice, maybe I'll give you a shave later," she offers.
His dick hardens at the thought. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. She smiles at him. He can't tell if she's messing with him or not.
~0~
Throughout the morning, Sookie's phone chimes over and over.
"Sorry," she apologizes. "It seems everyone who knows me is trying to get in touch today."
"Everything's okay?" Jack asks.
"Yeah," she blushes. "I think it's because of the whole Eric thing..."
"What?" Eric demands, immediately suspicious. "Have you been telling people about me?" He's angry, rising out of his seat.
"Eric," Jack says. "Calm!"
"Are you serious?" Sookie cries. "I've signed a confidentiality agreement, alright? I'm not telling anyone anything."
"You'd better not," he says, voice threatening.
"Sookie would never," Jack insists.
Eric is anxious and agitated. It's clear to Sookie that he's got a temper and she doesn't want to be on the wrong side of it. She needs him to stay cool for the sake of his own sobriety, her sanity and for his father's health. She blows out a long breath to release some of her own tension.
"Someone at the grocery store sold a picture," she explains. "It was on the web yesterday afternoon, anyone with eyes and an internet connection could see it."
"Fucking smartphones," Eric mutters.
Jack laughs. "It was easier before such things."
"I think it's pretty natural that people are curious why I'm suddenly in the tabloids. My friends are cool, but I'm not surprised people are suddenly trying to find out the dirt. That's why the gossip industry exists, right?" she says. "I'm being respectful of your privacy, of course, but you need to understand that it's actually my life that's being impacted right now, not yours."
She has a point. Her picture wouldn't have been splashed all over if she hadn't been seen with him.
"We cool?" she asks.
"Yeah."
~0~
While his father is having a nap, Eric joins Sookie outside on the deck.
"Why is it that sometimes he seems so out of it, and others he seems fine?"
"The meds," Sookie says. "It's a real bitch to get the dosages right."
Makes sense, he supposes. It's like the fine balance between pleasantly tipsy and intoxicated, between being coked up and coked out: a razor's edge. This reminds him he was a total jerk this morning.
"About before..."
"It's fine Eric," she says. "I get it."
He stares out at the water thoughtfully.
"I'm here if you need to talk," she offers.
That's the first time he's heard someone say that in a long time and he thinks she actually means it. Probably because of her job and all.
"What got you interested in nursing?" he asks.
"I've just always wanted to take care of people," she answers.
"I think having to bathe people and dress them would be the worst thing ever," he says.
"I feel the same way about the idea of pretending to be someone else all day."
"Touché."
~0~
Eric can't recall when he last spent any quantity of time with someone who wasn't in the business. Aside from the people in rehab, of course, and they were all focused on talking about their recovery and shit. One of the nice things about Sookie, Eric discovers, is that she doesn't want to talk to him about any of that stuff. She doesn't want to talk about acting, or getting ahead in her career. She doesn't talk to him about how she's building her image, of how she needs to spend hours in the closet getting ready. She doesn't need to convince some designer why she'd be the perfect face for their brand. She doesn't ask him about what projects he's working on hoping to find a way to use her connections to him. Well, if she does, she's so subtle about it he can't tell.
In Hollywood, there is no one who is really 'safe' to talk to. Everyone wants to sell you something, or pitch their script, or get your help. They might sell your secrets, or blackmail you. There were a few people around who could probably be trusted, but you couldn't know why they were talking to you. He never felt like he could speak to the crew about anything serious. They were all busy doing their jobs, trying to get ahead. They've probably all been told not to talk to the talent anyhow. His co-stars, some of them are okay. They don't have to like each other, they just have to show up and act like it. They're busy with their own stuff.
Life on a set isn't very real, he realizes. It's very artificial, from the lights to the plants to the windows. It's all fake, every last bit of it. The people are nice to you not because they like you or respect you, but because they're frightened for their own jobs, or they're paid to be nice to you. You can get people fired for looking at you wrong, if you want. He's never done that, but he's seen it happen, many times.
He thinks back to his time in the military, having to live in a room with a bunch of other stinky guys who didn't shut up when you just wanted some peace. You had to learn to deal with it. He imagines trying to go to his commanding officer to complain that a peer was annoying him. It would probably result in getting himself beaten up. You didn't get to fire someone because they fucked up - and this was in a situation where people's lives were actually on the line. What was on the line at a television program if your coffee didn't come with two creams and two sugars? Nothing, but you could act like it was the end of the world.
No wonder people fucking hate actors.
A/N: I'm not saying nurses get in the shower or tub with their patients in real life, however, comedian Jim Breuer talks about how as his father's caretaker, he took showers with him because it was easier that way. Nurses certainly do see their client's naked bodies though. It wouldn't bother me if the nurse who was washing me wore a swimsuit or got wet too, but I mostly did it to make the scene funnier.
