A/N: Yay, a quick update (though it's not the longest of them)! And I've already started on the next chapter. It seems I'm over my writer's block, and there are only going to be a couple more chapters. Thank you guys so much for all the love and support you gave me after the last chapter. And hi to all the newbies to this weird freak of a story.
As per usual, I own nothing. Except my TV which has been glued to the Olympics coverage for the past week, especially figure skating (yay Evan Lysacek! And how awesome is Johnny Weir?) There are quite a few yummy boys in that sport. Hmmm... Sookie Stackhouse and Eric Northman as a pairs team (or solo-skaters) – Eric in tight sparkly clothes showing man-cleavage. Yum!
Ahem: Anyways, on with the show.
***
Pam's POV
I laughed at the whole situation. "The two of you fared quite well in that situation as each other. Master, I never thought I would see you so kind and caring. And my telepathic friend, you never cease to amaze me. This whole situation is so very amusing."
Eric and Sookie exchanged a look with each other before Sookie turned to me. In Eric's deep voice she said, "Pamela, as your maker I demand you tell us what happened to us and how to fix it."
I felt the magic of the maker/child magic pressing on me. It made me want to tell the truth but because of Niall's magic I physically couldn't. "I'm sorry, I can't."
"Yes you can," Eric demanded angrily, "your maker demanded you."
Sookie kept glaring at me as I looked back at her with sorrow in my eyes, "I wish that I could tell you, but I can't tell you anything about what's going on. It's the truth."
Sookie looked at Eric sadly. "I can feel it in my blood. She can't tell us. I think she knows something though, because there's guilt, but she can't tell us."
"Magic," Eric said to Sookie. "Powerful magic is the only thing that could possibly prevent compliance."
The two looked at each other with sadness in their eyes. Deciding that they should be left alone to discuss the situation, I quietly took my leave from the office.
Heading out into the bar, I surveyed the vermin as made a call on my cell phone.
"How's it going?" Amelia answered. "I'm just leaving Merlotte's now to head there."
"As well as can be expected," was my reply. "Victor staged the whole thing by bringing a fangbanger Eric fucked months ago, in attempt to make Sookie jealous and convince her to leave him."
"Is he really that stupid?"
"Apparently," I replied, waving away a particularly skinny and slutty fangbanger, dancing her way towards me as I sat in Eric's booth.
"Any news on our project?" The witch asked.
"It's not yet completed, but they're progressing. I have a feeling it won't be long."
***
Sookie's POV
I was vaguely aware of Pam leaving the room after my attempt at taking advantage of the maker/child relationship. Her guilt made it obvious that she was a part of this, but could not divulge any information.
"Damn it," Eric said, punching the wall. "Ouch!"
Even though he was harming my body, I couldn't help but laugh at him hurting himself in such a stupid way. Until the smell of my part fairy blood hit my nose and I was suddenly standing in front of him, fangs fully extended, eyes on the bloody hand.
A smirk came across Eric's face as he held out the hand for me to clean. I couldn't help myself. The blood was delicious! Of course the scent and taste made me harden, which in turn made Eric laugh at me.
"One good thing about being female," Eric said, "is that arousal is not quite obvious."
I smiled back at him, "One good thing about being male is that one does not need to use tampons. Or need to change them." I made a show of sniffing the air. I was embarrassed with myself for not being too embarrassed to make such comments. 'I'm turning into Eric!'
Eric blanched and headed to the employee washroom. I assumed that they had any required products in there, as he came back just a few minutes later.
"What are we going to do?" I asked him. "No offense, but I don't want to be stuck in this body and life forever."
"I wouldn't mind being stuck in you," he said with a devious smirk that just seemed weird on my face, "but not in this manner. We need to figure this out."
I nodded and we both sat down, neither of us speaking for a few minutes. However my thoughts were not taken over by ways to fix the situation. I was thinking about the things Eric had said before.
'He acknowledged that he doesn't own me. That's a huge start; he recognizes that if we are together I'm still my own person. And it did make me happy this time when he mentioned our pledging. It does seem kind of obvious now that he was looking out for me. And he mentioned maybe having it legal some day in Louisiana? I guess that might mean he didn't just do it for that reason... maybe he really does care and actually want to be married to me? And he said he's dedicated to me. I already know he hasn't been with anyone else since he remembered our time together, that kind of proves he cares, doesn't it?
But what about all of the concerns I've had about us. What about when I grow old? I can't have children if I let myself love him. I'd only be able to see him at night time. And all of the politics. Is it worth it?'
I decided we needed to discuss these things. I was finally ready to talk about our relationship.
"Eric..."
***
Eric's POV
I didn't notice when Pam left my office. I was so furious that she could not tell us anything. She was obviously involved in some way but some form of magic. I had already surmised that the witch was involved. I knew she was very talented, but could she have done this all on her own?
My anger at everything took over me. The body swap, Victor's insolence, not knowing how to deal with a situation. I barely knew what I was doing before I heard Sookie's sweet voice shout out "Damn it" and felt pain in my hand. "Ouch!" I shouted. Apparently I had punched the wall. It wasn't quite as effective as a human.
Before I knew it there was a hungry vampire in front of me, fangs extended. Knowing how much I loved Sookie's blood, I smirked and contemplated not letting her clean it because of the times she had refused me her blood, but relented and held my hand out to her and let her clean up the injury. I knew it was just cut, no broken bones.
She had the usual erection that came with tasting blood and I couldn't help but laugh. "One good thing about being female is that arousal is not quite obvious." Though I was never embarrassed when I was hard. I knew I was impressive and that women quite enjoyed knowing how my body responded.
Sookie just smiled back at me. "One good thing about being male is that one does not need to use tampons. Or need to change them." I was surprised at her being so calm about discussing her period but I then blanched. It had been a few hours since I had changed the god forsaken tampon at McDonald's. Knowing the human staff kept personal products in their cubbies I left the office.
I searched through the individual cubbies until I found what I was looking for and went through the uncomfortable process and returned to the office.
Sookie looked dejected when I came back in. "What are we going to do? No offense, but I don't want to be stuck in this body and life forever."
I completely understood. As much as I enjoyed Sookie's body, and wanted to be stuck in it, it wasn't in this way, and I said as much.
We took seats at opposite ends of the office to quietly contemplate solutions to the problem. I wanted to fix things as much as possible, but I could not help myself from thinking about the things Sookie had said earlier, and the pros/cons she had thought about pertaining to our unique relationship, whatever it may be.
'She smirked when I mentioned our pledging. Has she begun to accept it? I was looking out for her, though I did want to bind us together. She even acknowledged it when reacting to Victor's foolish plan. She said she would only have sex with people she had feelings for. I knew she had feelings for me, but what exactly are those feelings? She thought she loved Compton. She didn't know yet if she loved the tiger, but she could have ended up there. Is she falling in love with me? Is she already there? She said that she would only work for other vampires if I accompanied her. That seems to imply she wants me to be connected to her in some way for a long time. And she also said that she would only be having sex with me.
But there were still issues. I was involved in vampire politics, which would undoubtedly drag her into them. And what about when she grows old? And children? And how would she feel about a part time relationship, since I'm only among the living for a part of the day.'
Though we needed to discuss the body switch, we also still needed to have our talk about 'us'. I couldn't believe that it was the man in our situation who wanted to talk about feelings and the woman who kept avoiding it. Wasn't it usually the other way around?
"Sookie..."
"Eric..."
We both said each other's name at the same time and smiled at the awkwardness. "You first," I said.
She nodded. "I know we need to fix this, and the timing is probably the worst possible, but I think I'm ready to have our talk."
My eyes widened. She was ready to talk as well? My smile also widened and I motioned for her to sit beside me on the couch. She tensed.
'Has she decided against us? Does she not want to be near me?'
"Come sit, Lover. I will not bite. You are the one with the fangs, after all."
She relaxed and smiled again and sat with me on the couch, though she still kept her distance.
"I have some questions, if you don't mind," she started.
I nodded for her to continue and she took a deep, unnecessary breath. "What do you want from me?"
***
A/N: Up next – The talk!
