Chapter 12

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Eric walked into the house carrying Sookie in front like a small child. His arm under her butt bearing her weight and her legs wrapped tight around his waist.

She was licking both sides of his neck and debating which side was tastier when she saw something new out of the corner of her eye.

"What's that?", Sookie asked, pointing to the huge package leaning against the far wall in the living room. It was about seven feet tall and at least four feet wide, maybe four and a half.

"I have no idea." Eric answered and walked over to the plain brown paper wrapped package. There was a post it note attached. Sookie pulled it off and read it aloud. "This was delivered to the office today. You left before they could get it to you. Bobby"

Eric sat Sookie down and touched the package. The paper rippled. Clearly not a box. Eric ripped the paper. It was a life sized portrait … of Sookie. She was wearing the cobalt blue dress she wore to King Felipe's party the first night they were in Las Vegas. And the background was all lights and iridescence, just like the ballroom. A note card hung from a string attached to the beautifully ornate, gilt frame. - A gift on behalf of the vampires of Nevada and Louisiana –

For the second time tonight, the skills of Javier Ortega-Aznar stunned them both to silence.

"It's so much prettier than me," Sookie said quietly.

"No," Eric said, his eyes not leaving the portrait. "It is you precisely. I remember that exact moment. It was between dances. A speck of something had landed on your skirt and you had leaned to brush it away. The music started. I asked if you would like to dance another. You didn't speak. You looked up at me and smiled. This smile. A perfect moment in time, made timelessly perfect."

"Just listen to you," Sookie said as she blushed bright red and shoved at his hip, causing him to teeter off balance for a second. "You better be careful. Flattery can get you anywhere with some people."

"Can it, indeed?" he chuckled. He leapt at her, causing her to squeal with surprise as he snatched her up and swung her around in a circle. "I might have to put that theory to the test." He carried her, laughing, to the bedroom.

Their luggage sat next to their open closet doors.

Eric put Sookie down, but kept hold of her hand as he led her into his closet. He went straight to the back and pushed gently on the wall. "Here, next to the tie rack," he pointed out. There was a very low, almost undetectable, whooshing sound. Sookie looked to her left and saw a section of the wall, or at least what looked like a section of wall, hanging ajar.

"Bond, Eric Bond," she said in a very bad imitation of a posh British accent.

Eric smiled and nudged her through the door and down the stairs. He took her hand and pushed in the security code with her finger, whispering the numbers in her ear as he did. The door opened automatically.

It may have been the same type of room Pam had, but it looked completely different. It was a very large room, furnished for function rather than comfort. Like Pam's room, the oversized king bed was positioned in the center of the room. No head or foot board, it sat on a wood frame. Unlike anything else, the bedding looked soft and inviting, all burgundy and rich navy blue with gold tasseled trim. It stood out almost comically against the plain off white of the rest of the room. This wasn't a place anyone had used as a place of pleasure or happiness.

There was a large computer desk in the far corner, beside a set of six built-in security monitors. The wall to the left as you entered was plain, with only a large flat screen TV mounted there. The other three walls had built-in bookcases from about four feet up, all the way to the ceiling. The other glaring difference from Pam's room was this one had no bathroom.

"You're free to make any changes you like, to make it more accommodating for you. Different color, furniture, whatever you want." He paused for a moment then added, "I should have had them install a bathroom for you. I'll call Bobby -"

Sookie turned to face him, reached up and put her fingers over his mouth. "shhhhh" She smiled up at him reassuringly. "You show me your trust by inviting me into the place where you're most vulnerable, and you expect me to react by complaining about the color or having to walk upstairs to use the bathroom?"

Eric was stunned. Not so much by Sookie as by the fact that he had no idea what to say. Thankfully, she had only paused.

"Fortunately for you," she teased, "you have qualities to more than make up for your lack of decorating skills."

There we go, disaster averted, he thought. "And speaking of other qualities," He removed his jacket and took a CD from the inside pocket. "There's the matter of a recording I want to discuss with you."

"Is that my song!" Sookie squealed excitedly. "I thought about it earlier tonight and wondered how I would go about getting it." She stared after him as he walked over to the bookcase housing the sound system and popped in the CD. But rather than start it, he simply closed the tray, picked up the remote and walked toward the bed, pulling off his shirt. He sat down and held out his hand to her.

When she reached his hand, he pulled her into his lap, so he was facing her back. He unzipped the long zipper of her dress with one hand and brushed her hair all to one side with the other. He pushed the dress down so it settled near her hips. Then brought his hands up, cupping one of her breasts in each

Sookie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. His chin nudged her hair aside and he lightly kissed her neck. "Tell me about the recording," he whispered.

"What?" she asked, as his hands began to move, alternating tender squeezes with his thumbs swirling around her nipples.

"Tell me about the song. Why did you choose it?" His tongue was licking small circles on her neck, then he kissed below her ear and blew faintly down her neck. As his cool breath touched the wet circles, waves of chills echoed through her causing her to quickly suck in a breath of air and shudder in his lap. With her sudden movement she felt a twitch against her upper thigh. She responded immediately and began gently rocking her hips against the growing pressure in his pants.

"It's a pretty song," she breathed. His fangs grazed across her shoulder and he pinched her nipples. She swallowed hard, arched her back and reached behind her with both hands. She clutched his waist for leverage and pushed down forcefully against him "And I can't get enough of you."

"And?" He clicked the remote and the opening bars of Insatiable began. Sookie's body found the rhythm of the music. She could feel him, rock hard beneath her as her voice sang breathlessly through the speakers.

~~ turn me on ~~ never stop ~~ wanna taste every drop ~~ my love for you ~~ insatiable~~

"And I want you," she whispered. "I need you."

His hold tightened as he stood and pulled her dress and his pants off in what seemed like the same move, but surely even Eric couldn't have done that, she thought. Maybe he could. God he knew how to make her body react.

~~ coz the world they don't understand ~~ but I grow stronger in your hands ~~

"Insatiable," he said, and sat them back down.

"My love for you," she replied.

His hand slipped between her legs. She gasped and a spasm shook her as he entered her with two long fingers and rested his thumb on her clit.

"Insatiable," he repeated and began kissing his way between her neck and her shoulder.

She attempted to respond, but his hand moved and her words became a moan. Tiny waves of quivers began rippling through her as his hands and mouth moved more powerfully.

"You love me?" he asked.

"Ahh!" she cried as she swelled against the motion of his thumb. "Eric!"

"Yes, my love?" he whispered into her neck. He felt her body tense and contract against him. Her orgasm would come soon. "Talk to me," he encouraged.

"I -" she couldn't breathe. "I -" a loud moan as a heavy shudder of pleasure ripped through her and she writhed against his arms holding her in place.

"I love you !" she screamed as gave herself over to the rushes of her orgasm.

That was what he was waiting to hear. "And I love you, min älskar," and he bit her neck. He moved his hand to her stomach as he drank. Then he licked the small wounds as he waited for her shudders to subside and her breathing to slow.

"I love you, Eric," she said softly between heavy breaths.

"I believe you do, my love," he said, lifting his head and looking at her. He dragged her onto the bed raised her legs and mounted. His climax came quickly and he fell to the bed beside her and pulled her close.

After a few minutes, Sookie turned over and snuggled into Eric's chest. "Tell me what to do," she sighed.

Eric pulled her close and kissed her head. "What's troubling you, my love?" She didn't answer immediately and he waited. Then he felt her breathing begin to get labored and a stream of warmth run across his chest. He pulled back in alarm and stared into her face.

She was almost violently sobbing now, gasping for air and torrents of uncontrollable tears. "Sookie! What's the matter?" he pleaded.

"How can I leave you?" she wailed, and threw herself back into his chest.

"Leave me?" he questioned. "My love, what are you talking about?"

"How do I go home? How do I go back to Bon Temps tomorrow? How do I go away from you when the thought of it already hurts so much I can't stand it, and I haven't left yet?"

Eric smiled and wiped her tears, then brought her back to him. "shhh," he whispered as he stroked her back. "You can never leave me, my love. And I can never leave you. We are together, always. No matter where we are." He picked up a corner of the sheet and wiped her face again. "This is your home, Dearest. You do not ever have to leave this building, if you do not wish to."

"Do you want me to stay? Are you telling me to stay?" her eyes were open wide and the look of desperation in them was breaking his heart.

"Sookie, you know I love you. And I want you with me every minute. But do you really want me to tell you to stay? To order it? I could, you know. I could post guards and demand you be kept within these walls. How long could you love me then?"

"I don't know," she said weakly. "I only know I want to be with you."

"But there are people and things you love and want to be with in Bon Temps as well. You must visit them. See them. Know they are well. I will be here. And I will be yours, always. Bon Temps is less than an hour away by car and I am at your disposal by phone or text. If necessary, you can call me and I will come get you myself."

"Really?" she said. He felt her anxiety easing.

"You have my promise, Dearest," he said reassuringly, and he warmed her with a kiss, and another.

He hadn't had near enough of her, nor she of him. She would go back to Bon Temps in the morning, at least for a few days. They needed to have one another as much as possible before then. They rested and had sex, and rested and had sex until sunrise.

Being alone in the house was different now. Somehow just knowing where he was made it less lonely. Of course she'd always known that he had to be somewhere in or under the house, but knowing exactly where he was made all the difference in the world.

By the time she was up, she already had a dozen messages and texts from Amelia. She called back just to make sure there wasn't some actual emergency that merited so many messages. Nope. Just Amelia being Amelia. It was already nearly noon, so they agreed Sookie would get to Pam's house by two to pick Amelia up and they would head home.

Sookie went through her suitcases and put away most of her things, leaving the things which needed washing in a small heap in the corner for the laundry elves who seemed to frequent this house. She suspected it was Belladonna or one of Pam's other pets who saw to the laundry, since it seemed to be them who did everything else around here, but she wasn't sure.

She was feeling particularly domestic today, so she decided to unpack Eric as well. She went to his closet and rolled a large suitcase into the center and opened it. Before taking anything out, she walked around to see where things were. Before she even made it all the way around the closet, she looked back at the open suitcase and decided that putting his things away would not be a good idea. Everything in there would have to be left for the laundry elves. This was the neatest closet she had ever seen. Hangers, shelves, drawers, everything was perfectly placed. No wrinkle would dare enter here. Not even in the exactly aligned stacks of underwear. She re-closed the suitcase and put it back where she'd gotten it.

Oh well, she gave herself credit for at least trying to be helpful. She took a nice long shower, got dressed and went to pick up Amelia. Apparently Oliver had already gone. Amelia didn't know how, but Sookie figured that he called Mina and her come get him. That way they would have a little time together before Sookie got back to Bon Temps and Mina got sent back to Fangtasia.

First order of business. She had to make Amelia promise on everything she held dear, not to tell anyone about her illness. No one in Bon Temps knew about it and it was over now, so it didn't matter. And Lord knows, Sookie didn't want to have to put up with all the pity and questions and having to go through everything over and over again. Better they just say they had a great time and couldn't wait for a chance to go back.

They rode home with the windows down and the radio blaring. They sang along, sometimes very badly, when they knew the words and often made them up when they didn't. They garnered many odd looks from people in other cars. Especially when Amelia caught them staring, because her reaction was inevitably to begin dramatically acting out the song. Sookie laughed so hard she felt lucky she didn't crash more than once.

When she turned on Hummingbird Lane a smile came to her lips, as it always did. Only the accompanying feeling was different. Not bad, just different. She still felt welcome and warm. She still thought of Gran when the house came into view. Thankfully, she had gotten past seeing her laying in the kitchen floor. Now she saw her in her beloved gardens and flower beds. She saw her apron and her smile and she could almost detect the smell of fresh baking in the air. No matter whose name was on the deed, this would always be Gran's house. And it would always be filled with all the comforts and joys of her childhood.

Sookie helped Amelia get her things into her bedroom. Sookie had only brought one suitcase back with her. She rolled it into her bedroom and unpacked.

When she tossed her brush over onto her dresser, she proved her bad aim and hit the stack of small envelopes containing all the cards from all the bouquets and flower arrangements Eric had sent her. She picked up the few which had fallen to the floor and re-straightened the stack. As she did, she noticed the larger envelope on the bottom of the pile. She smiled as she opened it, remembering well the treat it contained.

She removed the card and there was Eric in all his glory, grinning seductively back at her. Extending his hand to her and offering her his bed. "And I asked him for a poster," she whispered to herself with a laugh. "What an idiot I am. If I was him, I don't think I'd even take my calls."

Calls, that reminded her. She dug her phone out of her purse and sent Eric a text. - made it to bon temps i miss you - She took another look at the picture and carefully returned it to its envelope. But rather than put it back with the other cards, she tucked it into the bottom of her underwear drawer.

When Sookie came out of her bedroom, Amelia was already cleaning. "Good grief, Amelia," Sookie said. "Nobody's been here. There's no need for a cleaning frenzy already."

Amelia smiled brightly and simply said. "Dusty, always dusty." And she merrily went about the business of picking up almost everything within her reach and wiping it with the cloth she was carrying.

Sookie checked the messages on the answering machine. Three sales calls and a message from Jason asking if she planned on ever speaking to him again, that he hadn't spoken to her in forever.

Actually, forever had only been a few days, but it was longer than they usually went without talking. She decided to call and ask him to come have dinner tonight. She hadn't cooked for him in a long time. In fact, she hadn't cooked for anyone in a long time. Another good thing about vampires. You never had to waste any time wondering what they liked to eat or how they liked their eggs.

Jason was still at work, but he picked up anyway rather than letting the call go to voicemail. They agreed dinner would be at seven.

Very good. She had something to do. She told Amelia the plan and together they decided on the menu. Broiled pork chops with blackberry sauce, red potatoes, green bean casserole and yeast rolls. They opted for no salad since it was highly unlikely Jason would eat it.

Dinner was ready, promptly at seven. Jason and his larger than life grin arrived fashionably late, at seven fifteen.

"Hey Sook. I was kinda surprised to hear from you. I thought you'd gone and moved to Shreveport," was his greeting.

Sookie was a little surprised, but not shocked. Nothing Jason did or said could shock her any more. "And exactly what made you think I'd do that?"

He sniffed the air and headed straight for the kitchen to investigate what was for dinner. "I hear you're some kinda vampire princess or something' now. I just figured you'd be doin' whatever it is vampire princesses do, up in Shreveport," he said, turning the full force of his charm in Sookie's direction.

Amelia burst into giggles and Sookie laughed so hard she thought her stomach would cramp.

"Oh my god!" Sookie laughed. "Where did you get a ridiculous idea like that? A vampire princess? Jason, you can't be serious. And I refuse to believe that you would've believed something like that."

"Smells great!" he said as he sat down at the kitchen table. "I'm starved. And I'm tellin' ya, that's what people are sayin'. That you married some big whoop-dee-do vampire prince and now all the vampires do what you say." He put his hands behind his head, leaned back in the chair and looked at Sookie as if he had her dead to rights.

Amelia began moving food from the oven, where it had been warming, to the table.

"Eric is a sheriff, not a prince. You know that, Jason," Sookie said from behind her gritted teeth. "Do you suppose anyone confuses Bud Dearborn's wife with a princess?"

The issue of titles completely left his head. "You married Eric?" Jason asked, bringing his chair back to a level position. "Hell, Sookie, that ain't even legal is it?"

To say this wasn't exactly the topic of pre-dinner conversation she'd had in mind would've been an understatement of monumental proportions.

"It was a vampire ceremony, so no, it's not really legal. Only in vampire society."

"Huh", Jason said, as he stabbed two pork chops with a fork and shook them onto his plate. "So you married a rich vampire. I guess that's almost as good as a prince. So what're you doin' here, if your rich vampire husband is in Shreveport? You're not movin' him here, are you?"

Sookie sighed loudly and dropped her face into her hands to keep from screaming. "Who would keep you fed if I moved away?" she snapped.

"I wouldn't starve," he said with a wide smile. "He didn't marry Amelia too, did he?"

Amelia's eyes got wide and she started giggling all over again. Jason had never flirted with her before and few women could resist him when he chose to be charming.

"I told you, he didn't really marry anyone. Vampires can't marry humans in Louisiana. Now shut up and eat."

But Jason wasn't going to give it up. "But you said it was a vampire ceremony. So it's legal to him."

"What do you know about vampire ceremonies? Jason, when it happened I didn't even know what was going on until it was over. It's no big deal. Would you please just eat?" Sookie shoved a piece of potato in her own mouth hoping to set an example he would follow.

"What's your point, Sook? I don't need to know anything about vampire ceremonies. I'm a man."

When Sookie looked at him like he'd lost his mind, he continued. "Eric may be a vampire, but he's a man too, and believe me, when a man goes through a marriage ceremony, especially if it's his idea, it's a big deal. You may not think you're married, but believe me when I tell ya, he does."

Sookie had no response, so she just stared into her plate. Amelia finally came to the rescue and started chattering about something or other. Sookie couldn't concentrate any more. Her mind was swimming. She had only been gone a few days, but the rumor mill had kicked into high gear. What a nightmare.

When Jason was finally gone and the dishes were done, Sookie took her cell into her bedroom and checked her messages. One text - good evening dearest youre in my heart –

Sookie smiled and typed back - i miss you so much i love you –

She fell asleep thinking of Eric.

Her day passed uneventfully. No one came up to her and started strange conversations like the one she'd had with Jason. And no one had even treated her particularly freakishly. So all things considered, the day went pretty well.

Tuesday nights at Merlotte's were mind numbingly boring as a rule and there had been no reason to believe this particular Tuesday night would be any different. Then Oliver walked in, with Bill. Sookie felt a twinge in the pit of her stomach.

Of course Sookie had never told Oliver not to bring Bill into Merlotte's and she had never asked Bill to stay away. Did she really need him to stay away? She felt a twinge, yes, but it wasn't screaming at her to go jump his bones. She went to the bar and asked Terry to warm two O-negs.

As she turned to deliver the bottles of True Blood, the real trouble came strutting in the door.

There were four of them. All between twenty-five and thirty, and all already well on their way to being drunk. And like most young men who travel in packs they were out to impress, each other.

Sookie caught the thoughts of one of them. The one with the darkest hair, probably the youngest. He was nervous. It was his turn.

Sookie tried to shake the guys out of her thoughts. "You're looking a lot better, Bill," she said. She realized she was wearing her fake plastered on smile, but she couldn't help it. It was her standard face when she was trying to stay out of people's heads. "Good evening Oliver. I'm glad to see you'll have company tonight."

"I am improving, thank you," Bill said formally.

"Well, you boys just give me a holler if you need anything else," she said in a ridiculously chipper tone.

As she approached the pool table she picked up on the dark haired one again. Probably because he was thinking about her. She gave him her standard, painted on smile. He read it as flirting on her part. Great. Things always went bad when that happened.

"What can I get y'all tonight?" she asked. Straight to business. No cute small talk. She wouldn't work this group for tips. She didn't need the money that bad.

"Two pitchers, four glasses," the biggest one said without looking up from the pool table.

"And a date for our friend here," the blond said with a sneering laugh and he backhanded the dark haired one across the chest. "You're up, Canton."

"I'll be right back with that beer," Sookie said and headed toward the bar.

Canton. He was the one with the dark hair. And it was his turn. Oh crap. They were going from bar to bar showing off how seductive they were by hitting on a woman until she agreed to leave with one of them, then congratulating themselves, laughing at her and moving on. Canton didn't really want to play, but his need to fit in with this group outweighed his desire to be decent. And they were well on their way to drunk now, so they were much less likely to be forgiving than if Canton's turn had come at the beginning of the game.

Canton was watching Sookie walk away. He had chosen her. Fabulous. Everyone was gonna get to play a round of their least favorite game. In Sookie's case, how to keep Oliver from killing the idiot. What fun.

On the way back to the pool table with her loaded tray, Sookie took a detour by Bill and Oliver's booth. "Everybody doing all right here?" she asked brightly. Then under her breath, she said, "Oliver, do not get up from this booth for any reason." He looked confused and she glanced over at the idiot quartet. He followed her look and nodded.

Sookie plastered her, I'm just the ditzy waitress, smile back on her face and headed over with the beer. She had decided that since the point of their game was to get someone to agree to leave with them, that she would be the easiest mark in the history of their game. She would fall for Canton's charms in record time, clearing the way for them to have a good laugh at her expense and quickly be on their way. It might even serve to give insecure Canton enough of an ego boost to stiffen his spine, so he could dump his current company.

At least, that's the way the plan went in her head.

"I think your girl here's a keeper, Canton," Big Guy said, looking up from his pool cue. "She can already fetch and carry real good."

Blondie hung his hands in front of him like a begging dog, as he barked and panted.

"Always good when ya don't hafta train 'em," the forth guy said, in a slithery voice that made a chill run up Sookie's spine. "Go ahead and pour mine for me, baby." He put his hand on the back of her thigh, causing her to jump. She yelped as she bumped into the tray and beer sloshed onto the pool table. She didn't see Oliver reach across the booth, putting an arm out to keep Bill in place.

It's okay, Sookie told herself. No harm, no foul. He didn't hurt me. I just got jumpy. Nobody's dead, so Oliver is controlling himself. If he can do it, so can I. Much better. She took a deep breath.

"That's enough, guys." Canton to the rescue. "I think I'll keep her with me." Or not.

Canton put his arm around her waist and guided her over to the bar rail along the wall. He thought he was being protective, but Sookie could see from their thoughts that the other three were seeing it as a challenge. It might have been Canton's turn, but three drunk idiots weren't gonna let him take a win without working for it.

Canton had led her in the wrong direction. He'd taken her to the wall, rather than into the open area of the bar. She wiggled and ducked under his arm and started back to her tray at the other end of the pool tables. "I appreciate the attention and all, but my boss is gonna kill me if I don't see to my other tables."

To her surprise, she heard their attention redirect. Poor Canton. He had failed to keep her there and they were going to be unmerciful. But better him than her. She felt bad for him, but they were his friends. He'd have to deal with them himself.

And then it happened.

Such a tiny thing, really. At some point, the lace on her left shoe had come loose. And now, just as she picked up her tray and turned, she stepped on it with her right foot. She fell forward slightly. Only slightly. She caught herself without losing her balance and her little mishap had gone completely unnoticed.

Maybe that was the problem. Maybe if she had tripped more clumsily so everyone knew it was her who had tripped, things wouldn't have happened quite the way they did. Maybe Big Guy would have looked up rather than shoot. It was one of those moments where the undetected motion of a butterfly's wing causes a hurricane that changes lives forever.

Sookie's well caught, unnoticed, slight trip, tilted her over the edge of the pool table. Just enough to place her over the field of play for a split second. Of course, the vast majority of the time that wouldn't matter at all. Unfortunately it was during this exact same split second that for the first time in his life, Big Guy completely missed the cue ball when he took his shot.

From Sookie's perspective, what happened next was a blur of slow motion action scenes, all stacked on top of one another and all playing at once.

Big Guy's follow through propelled his pool cue straight into Sookie's stomach, leaving a puff of blue chalk in the center of her white Merlotte's T-shirt. It knocked the wind out of her and instantly doubled her over in excruciating pain.

Unable to breathe, she couldn't call out to Bill. To tell him it was an accident, not an attack. He was on the pool table, fangs bared. He kicked Big Guy, who sailed into the wall.

Sam rounded the corner on his way from his office to the bar. He saw Bill move, made his own wrong assumptions, based on Bill's actions and ran to join the fracas. But Sam ran to Sookie. He yanked her up, to look at her and check her for injury.

Bill only saw that a man had grabbed Sookie. He jumped down from the pool table, knocked Sam to the ground and lifted Sookie up. She sucked in a deep breath of air and screamed for Oliver, just as the slimy voiced one broke a chair against Bill's back. Canton cowered in the corner and Blondie was bouncing in place as he debated whether or not to join in. Bill made his choice for him. Bill backhanded the man into a table.

While Bill was distracted with bitch slapping slimy, Oliver pried Sookie from his other arm and sat her in an empty booth. "Make him stop!" she screamed.

"Sookie!" Bill called. "Sookie, are you alright?" Sam grabbed him by one arm and pulled.

Big Guy was scrambling to his feet with a broken chair leg in his hand. "I got a stake with your name on it asshole," he growled and lunged at Bill.

Sookie screamed as Oliver grabbed Bill's shirt and yanked, sending him careening into a table in the main area of the bar. Customers who had been transfixed by the action, now felt personally threatened and they scattered. A couple of women actually ran screaming from the building.

Oliver disarmed Big guy and blocked him from leaving the pool area. Oliver made no attempt to injure him. Canton was still in the corner and when Slimy and Blondie saw how easily Oliver restrained Big Guy, they made no attempt to challenge him.

That side of the bar was calming.

In the middle of the floor, Sam was attempting to do the same with Bill, to much lesser effect. "Sookie!" Bill yelled.

"Bill, leave!" Sookie cried from her booth. "Go!" she emphasized.

"Sookie, I love you!"

"WHAT?" she shrieked. "Oh my god. I gotta get out of here." She ran from the booth holding her sore stomach. She glanced at Bill in disbelief and burst into tears as she made her way to the exit.

Sookie crashed out the back door and stumbled into the parking lot sobbing hysterically. Oliver was close on her heels. Before she reached her car, she tripped and lurched forward. Oliver reached out to catch her, but she managed to keep from falling on her own.

"Don't you touch me, Oliver! If you do, I'll send you to Fangtasia to work for Eric. Get away from me and leave me alone!" Sookie grabbed her stomach. It was churning unmercifully. She felt like she would puke any second.

She dropped into a heap, on all fours in the gravel. Her tears were now flowing freely down her face. Despite her request, Oliver began to kneel at her side but he was stopped by the icy look on her face. "You can't help me, Oliver," she said. "Some things are mine alone to deal with. Leave."

"But, La -", he tried.

"GO! NOW!"

Oliver reluctantly bowed his head and walked away. As he rounded the corner to the front of the building, he literally ran into Bill, who was on his way to the back. The two vampires shook themselves off and Oliver stared angrily at Bill.

"You won't have to wait for Eric," Oliver said to him. "If you hurt her further, I'll kill you myself."

"If I hurt her, I'll let you," Bill responded without emotion.

When Sookie heard the sounds of crunching gravel getting closer to her, she looked up and saw Bill approaching.

"Haven't you done enough for one night? Caused enough of a spectacle? Wouldn't it have been easier for us all if you'd just stripped me naked and stood me on a table?" she asked. She began to choke and heave, but nothing came.

Bill knelt at her side and gently pulled back her hair.

She shook him off a little too violently and she fell sideways into the gravel. "Get off me!" she screamed from her splayed position.

"Sookie, please," he said, and he offered her his hand to help her get up. She didn't take it.

He looked genuinely hurt by her rebuff, but it wasn't enough to compensate for what he'd done. "Exactly what part of acceptable social lines and boundaries is it that you just can't seem to get through your head?" she asked as she brushed as much of the dust off herself as she could. She noticed she had scraped her elbow when she jerked away from him, but it wasn't bad so she ignored it.

"Sookie, those men were being abusive toward you. I was protecting you," Bill said.

Sookie scrunched up her face and stared disbelievingly at Bill. "What's wrong with you? I don't need your protection. Not from them. I've been protecting myself from idiots like them since I was ten. And I already have more protection than I need. And I have it from people with a right to provide it. You gave up that right. Remember?"

"Will you never forgive me, Sookie?"

Sookie shook her head as she pulled herself upright. "Is that what you're looking for? Forgiveness? Is that it? Fine. I forgive you. Better? Or are you looking for absolution of your sins? Because I'm not a priest, Bill. And I'm not a saint. And some wounds just won't heal, ever. Not even if we want them too."

"Do you want the wounds to heal?" he asked with sudden hope in his voice.

"I used to," she said. "When every path to happiness I knew of led to you. But I've found other paths. Paths that lead to other places."

"To Eric?"

"Bill, why are you doing this? Please don't force me to say things to hurt you."

"If you're concerned about being hurtful, it means -"

"It means I don't want to hurt you. It means I don't like hurting people. Even people who have hurt me. It means you were my first lover. The first man who showed me there was a world outside the tiny little life I was living. It means I care about you and your feelings.

But Bill, if you think the fact that I don't want to hurt your feelings means that I don't love Eric, you couldn't be more wrong. I love Eric, Bill, body, mind and soul. Is that really what you wanted to hear? Do you want to hear more?"

He didn't meet her gaze. "Thank you, no, Lady Northman. I've heard enough." He turned and Sookie watched him walk away.

Hot tears began a fresh assault on her makeup. It wasn't until she sat down in the driver's seat of her car, that she realized she didn't have her purse, so she didn't have her keys. "Damn it!" she shrieked and slammed both her palms against the steering wheel.

Well, she wasn't going back into Merlotte's. Not now, maybe not ever, purse or no purse.

"OLIVER!"

He was standing beside the car almost before she had finished screaming his name.

Seeing him didn't improve her mood. She rolled her eyes up at him. "That figures. Why is it none of the men in my life listen to a word I say?" she complained. "Don't answer that. I don't think I could stand to listen to it. Go get somebody to get my purse for you and come drive me home."

"Yes, Mistress," Oliver said as Sookie got out and walked around to the passenger side of the car.

Sookie stared out the window as Oliver drove. Nothing here would ever look the same again. Everything quaint and charming now seemed restrictive and confining. Sights she'd seen and loved since childhood were unable to fill her with that feeling of contentment they had always given her. Bill had made her turn a page in her life. Forced her to let go of things she'd been holding onto for dear life as if they were the only anchors available to her.

As Oliver began to make the turn up Hummingbird Lane, she grabbed his arm. "No, Oliver, not here. Take me home."