A/N - All SVM characters belong to Mrs. Harris, I am just redecorating. A round of milk and cookies for all of the reviews and feedback. A word of warning, this chapters contains some extreme violence.

Chapter 14 - Hang Time

Scene 1 - EPOV - 'Pieces'

Pam asked if I wanted to share a donor with her and I politely refused, the blood that Sookie had offered earlier that eve had satisfied my hunger. I traveled in Sookie's footsteps to arrive at her suite where Indira stood watch. I waved her away and entered the living area, stopping a moment to shut down Sookie's laptop. I made a note to myself to show her how to be as security conscious of her data as she was with her person, then made my way to her bedroom.

I stopped in the doorway and took a deep breath, holding and tasting her unique scent while my eyes ran over her sprawled body. I could not help but smile at the soft snore that escaped her lips, she was deep asleep. I approached her dresser and took out a sleep shirt, just as I had the previous evening I stripped Sookie of her clothing and jewelry, slipped the shirt over her head, kicked off my own shoes and settled next to her so that she was spooned into my body. I relaxed and began to sort through the evenings activities while enjoying the feel of my bonded.

I was concerned that the human investigator that I had glamoured earlier in the evening was going to be the first of many to poke their noses into our business. Our little part of the nation was a hot bed of supernatural activity, and humans were getting caught right in the middle. The human politicians in the country were uncomfortable when dealing with the supernatural politics, more so when some of their own key players were coming out of various closets over their own supernatural roots. The various political entities were scrambling to solidify their power bases.

Sookie had proven tonight that she had a deep understanding of the etiquette required in the vampire court. I had been astounded by her offering of blood as a sign of submission; she had proclaimed before everyone there that she was mine by choice. She had offered council quietly when a human or were had been part of a dispute, easing some of the tedium of the evening. I held her tighter when I recalled her restraint when confronted by Bill; she was coming into her own by leaps and bounds. Andre's ignorance when dealing with such a precious treasure had assuredly been my gain. I released my bonded with reluctance when I began to feel the pull of dawn. I hoped that she would be comfortable enough with me soon to wish to share my bed, until then I would steal what moments of time that I could.

The next few days passed in a blur of paperwork and training with Sookie. She was becoming quite deadly with her staff and once she disclosed where she was getting all of her exotic jewelry from, I commissioned Janice to provide various items for the rest of the female contingents. Pam was ecstatic when Janice presented her with a new corset that allowed her to hide small silver stilettos in the boning. Sookie's power reserves were returning to normal and both of us were looking forward to her being back to her old self.

We were in my office at Gudrun, a room adjacent to the library with a large walnut desk, leather chair and sophisticated electronics, going over the documents of various vampires who had applied for residence or permission to work in the state when my cell phone rang.

"Northman"

"Hold for Mr. Davies please," said a pleasant voice.

Stan was to the point, "Eric I lost two of my sheriff's last night, Barry located one which was truly dead, and the other is presumed since his daylight resting place is nothing but slag at the moment and his child cannot feel him. Have you heard anything from Threadgill?"

"Arkansas is quiet, my eyes have reported nothing unusual in movements or conversations, and all my people are accounted for this evening," I said.

"Have you heard from any of the Queen's yet Eric, rumor is that Alabama is courting Threadgill and Oklahoma has been playing nicey nice with de Castro," asked Stan.

I looked over at Sookie who was still working on the laptop, running queries on the new vamps, before I answered.

"I had requests from three of the four Queens and turned them all down; I have no interest in such an alliance."

"I can understand turning down Alabama, she has some serious debt problems. I didn't know Phoebe was that close to being free of Ohio, knowing though that you gave Oklahoma the cold shoulder is entertaining, she has always thought of herself as irresistible. Watch your back Viking, someone else is on the move if Threadgill is still sitting pretty."

"I will Stan, let me know if there is anything I can do to assist you, and thank you for the information."

"No problem Eric, we have to watch each others backs, I am contacting Russell next, say hello to Pam and your Bonded for me."

I concluded the phone call and ran over the conversation in my head. The missing sheriffs were serious but not as huge a cause of alarm in Texas as they would be here, for Stan had five more Areas than I did, casualties were known to occur in the position, especially if the vampire had grown complacent, Stan had basically called to find out who I had pissed off by turning down their offer, one was bad enough but all three added potentially more pieces to the board. I was not concerned, I had no interest in any other Queen than the one sitting currently at my side, and of course Sookie was unaware of my intentions, for now.

Scene 2 - SPOV - 'Dervish'

It was a beautiful afternoon and I wanted to get out of the compound. I called Wanda and arranged an impromptu outing downtown. She was up and about now, still a little stiff but suffering from the same spring fever as I was. I changed into jeans and a burgundy v neck sweater, strapped on the harness for my staff and made sure that I had my throwing daggers stowed when I pulled on my leather boots.

I did not leave my room without being armed, both Texas and Mississippi had been victims of recent bombings and we were seeing an increasing number vampires immigrating to the state. Eric had spent countless hours with various diplomats from the southern monarchies in our area as well as a visit from representatives of California and of Nevada. I had found Victor Madden of Nevada to be unpleasant and Viola from Oklahoma to be insincere and annoying. The security force across the whole state at various essential locations had been doubled, including Gudrun.

I couldn't help the smile on my face as I stopped to enjoy the scent of the bouquet of flowers in my living area as I moved to leave my suite. They had been a gift from Eric for Valentine's Day, a combination of pink roses, lilies and one obscene looking flower that I could not identify but which smelled heavenly. I still couldn't believe that Pam had been able to get Eric to wear only a pair of crimson spandex pants to enthrall the vermin that evening. I had definitely enjoyed the view, since profits had almost tripled that evening, so did many others.

I was shrugging into my leather jacket when I met Wanda and another were in the garage, Eric had replaced my wrecked car with an exact duplicate. Wanda made introductions; the were-panther Crystal was joining us as an additional body guard. She made me slightly uncomfortable; she was from Hotshot a severely inbred were community near Bon Temps.

The three of us hit up various retail establishments where I purchased more clothing in expectation of the warming weather to come. I picked up some more DVD's and returned some books to the library. I still could not wrap my mind around the amount of freedom I now had and cherished every moment, not to mention my new friends. When I was not with Eric or Pam, I was spending time with Wanda and Janice who I had become extremely close to. While not that much older than myself, Janice filled a maternal space in my life that had been missing, and Wanda had become my best friend.

We had spent several afternoons discussing my past as well as what I may do in the future while I waited for the vampires to rise and the evenings work to begin. Wanda was concerned that I was not spending enough time among humans that it was going to be extremely difficult to reintegrate into the human society that I was a part of before I was taken. I explained to her that I was not accepted by humans because of my gifts and that I found being in their company exhausting, even with my shields at maximum. I felt more comfortable in the supes company. I admit that it took me several such conversations with Wanda or Janice directing to realize that they were prodding to see how I truly felt about my new circumstances. Was I content with the changes in my life or would I run and leave everyone behind at the end of my contracted year?

I would only say that in the here and now, while sitting with Wanda and gossiping about the Valentine Party over a chili cheese dog and fries, that I was very happy with my new home.

I caught the terrified thought while I was contemplating my last fry.

What do they want with me? Who are they, Oh God they are going to hurt me. No, Please God not again!

I snapped my head up and dropped my shields fully, trying to trace the location of the mind screaming at me. I caught Wanda and Crystal's attention.

"There is someone nearby who is being attacked, their mind is broadcasting panic," I explained.

"It could be a trap, bait for an ambush."

I agreed with Wanda, but I could not let another be harmed if I could be of assistance.

"Then we move slowly and carefully," I replied.

We stood and Wanda paid for our meal while I concentrated on the mind screaming at me. We moved out the door as a team, both Wanda and Crystal sniffing the air, once we were outside I was able to pinpoint the mind's location.

"They are back in the receiving area behind the restaurant, hidden in the delivery ramp," I pointed out.

We moved with caution to the area in question, Crystal taking point and Wanda behind me. I pulled out my staff and called power to me when I saw the man grunting on top of a young woman while three others cheered him on, from their minds I could tell that they were wolves. The girl had obviously tried to defend herself, her hands were bloody and I could see that she was covered in bruises.

"Get the hell off of her!" I shouted, slinging a braid of power over the abuser and yanking him off the girl to slam against the receiving dock, cracking his head. Crystal took on the were closest to her, Wanda had my back and I had my hands full with the other two attackers. I held one in vacuum until he collapsed and proceeded to beat the hell out of the third with my staff. It was all over so fast that no one had had a chance to shift.

Crystal looked after the girl while I held the attackers in stasis and Wanda called the local enforcer for the Longtooth pack. In the time it took the representative for Alcide to arrive, my eyes had fully bled to blue and I was having an extremely difficult time refraining from killing all of them. The image of the girl as we first found her was a continuous loop in mind. Wanda told me to release the scum who were then bound and taken away to be questioned by the pack authority. I promised to stand as witness if needed, and informed them that I would be caring for the victim, who they would be able to contact when necessary at Gudrun.

My decision had been made the moment I had seen the collar around the girl's neck, someone had bound her, and she was a shifter like Sam.

The girl, young woman actually that I had rescued said that her name was Delaney Petrov a shifter who was attending the university in Shreveport. She claimed that three weeks ago she had been attacked outside her dorm, raped and drugged then dumped near the high way. When she had regained consciousness she had found the collar around her neck and the inability to change form. Her roommate had taken her into the supe hospital for her injuries and later a blacksmith to try to remove the collar. The smith had lost some fingers during the attempt.

I offered her the hospitality of the compound and placed two guards with her at all times, not only for her safety. With her caramel colored hair and hazel eyes the petite woman appeared to be innocent, but I would not take any chances just because she shared similarities with my past.

While apparently made of the same alloy as my old collar, the one on Del was carved with scenes from the harvest, fruit, grain, and wine. I headed back up to the main house, Eric would be up soon and we needed to discuss the day's activities, he would not be happy when he learned that someone was collaring other supernaturals in his area.

A shower and clean clothes later I met up with Eric in his office, he was already on the phone with Alcide when I arrived; he must have read my text right away. We had spent so much time together lately either on administrative duties or in training, that I had become comfortable around him. He was just as manipulative, ruthless and arrogant as always but I was able to see the mischievous side of him from time to time.

The conversation finished with Alcide, Eric asked me for my version of the story then for my opinion of the shifter in question.

"Sookie what do you think of her original story, does it sound plausible to you?"

"Honestly Eric, I would track down her roommate and the hospital where she was treated to find out the truth. What did Alcide say about the strange wolves?"

"They are from out of state, but will not say from where, they carried no ID, his people are working them over at the moment, they should have checked in with him as Pack master when they arrived. So where is this Del now?"

"She is at the infirmary for the moment; I have two guards assigned to her. I will leave it up to you if you wish to inform her of the Stonebrook coven and their ability to remove that collar, of course they may have been the ones to place it on her in the first place," I replied.

"Quinn has been studying the collar from Sam, I will send her to him once she is able to travel, and she will be just as safe there as here. I have some financials to go over, then we will be meeting Pam at Fangtasia, I believe that she expects you to entertain the vermin tonight, so dress accordingly," he said with a leer.

I grimaced at him, and then allowed him to pull me close for a swift kiss before I headed back to my rooms to eat and get ready for the evening ahead. The unseasonal weather had allowed me to spend a few hours each afternoon on my balcony soaking up the sun, the result being a slight tan and a pool of magic fully charged. Consequently I was required to start working with my magic again as well as 'sparkling' for the vermin. Eric was not the only one who disliked that term, I did not sparkle.

I prepped my dinner of chicken and rice and popped it into the oven. I pulled out the book Niall had given me to see if any more of it would make sense to me. The book was a leather bound journal with brass tooling to my eyes, to anyone else it looked like a well worn copy of Gone with the Wind, a novel I had enjoyed as a teenager. The book was not one of spells, it was a book that explained the element of air, and the potential ways it could be manipulated or channeled. I learned what I might be able to do, but it was up to me to learn how to achieve it.

I had become very good at creating a vacuum around people to rob them of oxygen or holding them in stasis, but could only do so with a few people at a time as long as I was not distracted. I could do quite a few things on a one on one basis though, Eric kept coming up with devilish ideas that we hammered out until I could perform them in my sleep, offensively I could hold my own, defensively I was still having issues. I still could not shield myself adequately nor could I depend on my ability to 'push back' an enemy, basically an explosion of power from my body on demand. I had to be in a highly emotional state before I could gather that much magic, it was frustrating.

I cleaned up after dinner and proceeded to dress for the evening, tonight I would be wearing a silver lame dress with gold details that draped in a Grecian style from one shoulder to mid thigh. The dress was slit up both sides to the hip, so I wore a pair of gold lame boy shorts underneath. I belted the dress with a cord of ruby silk, inside of which was hidden a silver garrote, my hair was twisted up and held with a gold painted hair stick. The gold sandals with silver laces up to the knee were the finishing touch, I felt like the goddess Diana in the get up.

I met Eric in the garage. I wished I was the one dressed in the jeans and tank. He had looked bored until he saw my outfit, then he was at my side in a flash, tucking a bit of hair behind my ear, before he opened the passenger door for me.

"My dear I do believe you are au natural this evening, how delicious of you," he whispered in my ear. Leave it to the vampire to point out the fact I was braless. I ignored him as we made our way to the club, our usual security force traveling behind us.

Eric led the way into the club, taking his favorite booth and waving me over to the coveted throne to begin my evening. I rolled my eyes at him and made myself as comfortable as one could be wearing lame fabric while seated on fur, static anyone?

Longshadow was tending bar this evening and soon had a gin and tonic headed my way. Pam joined Eric in the booth and our evening was underway. I dropped my shields and scanned the crowd as usual, catching the occasional underage customer. I juggled half dozen balls of power to keep the vermin entertained while watching the booth out of the corner of my eye.

Eric and Pam were soon joined by Viola Torkel, the representative from Oklahoma. There was something about her that just annoyed the hell out of me; I wanted to take her apart to find out what made her tick. Maybe it was the way she watched Eric when she thought no one was looking, or maybe it was the fact she was drop dead gorgeous in a statuesque way. She was tall enough that Eric did not have to bend to look her in the eye with the body type that clothes loved, her hair was a darker blonde than my own or Pam's and her eyes were a soft violet. I wanted to poke her eyes out.

The fang bangers that were not hypnotized at the foot of my throne started to gather at Eric's booth. I know Eric caught my flash of annoyance from all the lustful thoughts they aimed his way, for he turned his head and gave me a wink. I had become so bored that instead of just juggling, I started tossing the wisps at the vermin who got too close to me. The power would pop in front of them like a balloon, startling them away.

I did not notice that one of my little creations had gotten away from me, until I felt the hint of amusement and curiosity in our bond from Eric. I turned to him and noticed that one of the little wisps was perched on his shoulder, when he would touch it, the wisp would dart away only to return to its former position. His eyebrows lifted at me in question, I just shrugged my own shoulders and whispered that it must like him. Eric caught the comment with his vampire hearing, laughed and went back to playing with his new toy much to Viola's apparent annoyance.

A couple of strange vampires entered the club, closely followed by a large group of humans. The vampires headed directly for Eric as would be the norm, but the way the humans spread through the crowd made me uneasy. I caught Pam's eye and she nodded, she had seen the pattern as well.

I threw a mental net out over the crowd and into the parking lot, what I found there had me yelling, "We are under attack!" I used the energy gathered in my hands to knock the strange vampires away from Eric, and his little toy expanded to hover before him like a shield.

Eric had his sword out and was decapitating one of our attackers while Pam and Viola took care of the second one. The rest of our vamps were dispatching the humans who had come in with now dead strangers. I had placed a wall of power over the front entrance to keep anyone outside from entering. Customers were shrieking everywhere, I adjusted the wall to grant those stupid enough the ability to leave the club.

"How many Sookie," Eric demanded

"Those two vamps and the eight humans inside, outside I count nineteen voids and another dozen wolves with a couple more humans," I replied. We were a crew of eight plus five other loyal vamps that had been enjoying the club, seemed like even numbers to me.

"This will be fun," said Pam, as she wrapped her hair up into a bun, Viola just glowered at us, what was up with that woman anyway?

Eric was as excited as Pam, "Sookie I want you to call out our little friends, do you think you can hold on to them when they are out of your sight? It only has to be long enough for us to flank our visitors."

I felt my mouth stretch into a crazy grin, "Just as we practiced? Yes I can do it."

Eric summoned Clancy and Chow to stand next to him and Pam, I had a moment of unease when I realized just how much Viola was going to learn about my abilities, but I trusted Eric.

My eyes bled into blue as I dropped the shields around the darkest part of me, the place where my pain and rage coil and seethe, the beast, my bloodlust consumes me and power flows over my body to pool into my hands like molten gold. I can feel Eric supporting me, pushing strength and confidence through our bond. I concentrate and the magic leaps forth to briefly touch Pam and Eric, then two forms began to coalesce next to Clancy and Chow.

They were doppelgangers of Eric and Pam. I linked them to Clancy and Chow by the barest of golden threads. When the two vampires moved, my creations moved with them. They could take half dozen blows before the magic would collapse and seek to find its way back to me.

"Good girl, they will do." Eric swelled with pride then gave instructions that Clancy, Chow, Longshadow and Indira with the fake vamps were to take the battle outside through the front door, Eric, Pam, Viola, myself and the other loyal vamps would flank from the employee entrance.

Only a few minutes had passed since my first alert, I checked the position of our attackers one more time, the majority were still in the front of the building apparently undecided in what action they were going to take since they could not find a way in that would not leave them vulnerable. Whoever planned this attack was naive enough to think they could dispatch Eric with only two vamps.

We were in position; two Eric's led the charge with double Viking war cries. I was on Eric's right side; Pam was on his left, the three of us split off to take the flanking position while Viola and the vamp customers took care of the attackers that were outside the employee entrance. Chow and Clancy had plowed into the main force with Indira and Longshadow right behind them, my clones didn't do any damage, but their distraction, the way a good portion of the attack was directed at them allowed the rest of us to slam into the enemy unawares.

Eric and Pam started into the Vampires while I forced various wolves into human form, and then left them to suffocate. As each wolf died, my power would fall from them and ripple in streams of light back to me, to be absorbed and used again. I had figured out how to recycle when I had dinner earlier. Four of the wolves were down by my hand, two others were coming my way, and they soon followed their pack mates. Eric was taking on three vampires, Pam was dancing with two, and I could see four more dead wolves and several piles of ash when a form hiding in the shadows caught my eye. I reached out with a braid of power to pull the shadow forward as the rest of my nest mates finished off their prey and turned to aid their King.

I froze when I saw my prisoner, that hesitation almost cost me my life when he sprang at me. I heard Eric scream my name, and then I ceased to exist. My beast barreled through me with a roar scenting its prey, the blood lust ripped open new channels of power across my body. Currents of air tore my prey off my neck where it had latched on to feed. A silver net, dropped by a pile of ash, disintegrated into silver dust and flew to surround and scour the creature I held in mid air. The sweet sound of Compton's voice begging was music to my ears, but it was not enough for the beast that I had become.

I drove the silver dust into his body, still holding him in midair, the air currents changed, slicing and dicing, first a finger then an ear. The wind around us filled with his blood and my laughter. The next breathe of wind cut from between his thighs that which he had once been so proud and then I took his eyes. His limbs were next and then finally his head, he was nothing but ash and then gone.

Without focus my beast turned back on itself, the power slamming back into me, dropping me to my knees, grappling to slam shields back in place. I became conscious of Eric's arms around me, his voice crooning in my ear.

"It is over little one, let it all go, come back to me, come back to us. Hold on to me, hold on to my voice, let me bring you back home."

I forced my rage and pain back into its cage and bled off the excess power into the ground beneath us, then followed Eric's voice back to the surface.

When I focused my eyes Eric's mouth slammed into mine, his fangs cutting my lip and a lust of another kind took control, he had me in his arms, across the parking lot and back into his office, slamming the door shut behind us in an instant.

We were clawing and biting at each other our clothing gone. I was wrapped around him, squirming to get him inside of me. He swiped his desk clear with one arm, and then was inside me the next moment, slamming into me. I screamed my pleasure when he filled me, rising to meet him thrust for thrust. There was no gentleness in this taking, only a clawing need for each of us to possess the other. He held my face, his eyes locked onto mine, our pleasure and need bouncing through our bond, feeding our desire, pushing us to greater heights. I clawed at his back, my hands reaching for that glorious ass, pulling him to me forcing him deeper, urging him faster, harder. His hands dropped to my hips changing the angle and I screamed my release at the moment he hit that perfect spot. He pushed me over the edge again when he took my nipple, his fangs piercing my breast.

I could feel another wave building, his own tension communicated in the increased power of his body thrusting into mine. I reared up and bit his chest hard as I came; breaking the skin and drawing at his blood, at the same moment he found his own release his fangs sinking into my neck. We stayed like that for a moment, feeding on each other as our ecstasy rolled back and forth between us.

I released him first as his wound healed, he took one more pull of my blood before he slipped free of me. I moaned at the loss of him, and his chest vibrated with laughter. He lifted me up and carried me over to the couch, holding me in his lap, his arms around me and his nose buried in my loose hair.

"This is not how I wished our first time to be," he whispered, "but I will never forget the moment my warrior turned from her kill with the same passion for me as I held for her. You were magnificent tonight my lover."

"It is true then, not an illusion, he is finally dead?" I feared that my eyes had deceived me.

"Oh yes, truly gloriously dead, I fear Pam will want to worship you."

Our hands began to roam each others body, searching for wounds from the battle. Eric leaned forward and licked what was left of the wound in my shoulder from Compton's attack, his ancient blood having already healed the majority of it. Eric's wounds had already healed.

"Come, as much as I would love to stay this way, we must check on the others. Their own blood lust should have passed by now." He lifted me once again and took me through a door I had never noticed, it lead into his own private office shower. The shower was smaller than I was used to, having been spoiled, but the two of us managed to get the grime of battle off of our bodies without too many diversions.

We toweled each other off and walked back into the office. Pam was there waiting for us, her fangs running down when she saw my nudity. She was in front of me in an instant, her hands cupping my face, bringing her lips to my own to kiss me deeply before stepping away.

"Sookie you were glorious, I just wish you had shared," she pouted.

She allowed me to hug her close for a moment, and then stepped into the closet to help Eric find me something to wear. Of course Eric emerged first, fully dressed in his worn jeans and signature tank top. He was stepping into his flip flops when Pam came back out of the closet with one of his Fangtasia t-shirts. I could have found the same thing to wear, and probably faster, but I let them have their bit of fun, having me nude in front of them. I didn't mind, at that moment I was blissfully happy, Compton was dead by my hand, the final tie to my past destroyed. I was free.

I tugged the t-shirt on and Pam quickly braided my hair using a leather thong from Eric's desk. Eric took one of my hands and Pam took the other, together we stepped from the office and headed back to the club floor. Eric walked us to his throne and seated us one to each side of him. Our warriors gathered before him to recount the battle. We had lost no one, and only Viola had received a severe injury, she had lost her left hand at the wrist to another vampire's blade.

Chow reported, "We received word that all of our Area's including the compound had been attacked, we suffered minor losses but otherwise came through the attempt unscathed."

Eric smiled with a flash of fang, "Excellent, have we confirmed whether it was Arkansas behind the attack."

"Not at this time your Majesty," said Chow

"Then we will let the pieces fall where they may, we will clean up and return to our life as normal and see who gets curious first, Texas and Mississippi were not harmed?" asked Eric.

"No, they report nothing unusual; we were the only state attacked."

Eric finished the debriefing then indicated that they were all dismissed. Indira was the first to step forward, kneeling at his feet.

"Your majesty if I may," she asked, waiting for a sign from Eric.

He inclined his head and she stood and turned to me, "Mistress you are truly one worthy to be our Queen, I pledge myself in service to you until my true death or until you release me." She waited for my response with her head slightly bowed.

I could feel elation pouring through the bond from Eric and I looked over at him with a question in my eyes, he nodded once.

I took a deep breath, "Indira I accept your service until my true death or until I release you."

The scenario was repeated by Chow and Clancy, Viola watched it all with her mouth slightly open and a dazed look in her eyes.

She confronted Eric, "You allow your officers to claim this human as their Queen? Are you mad?"

Eric stood up to tower over her, "Sookie is obviously not human, as you have already seen, she is a Queen in her own right and the only Queen for me. Please feel free to pass that information to your Mistress. Now if you will excuse us, it is getting late and I fear my Bonded is exhausted, we must return to our nest. You may stay and enjoy our hospitality for one more night Viola, but I want you gone from my state by the next dawn."

Eric flew us home directly to his quarters where we enjoyed another leisurely shower. I fell asleep wrapped in my lover's arms tucked into the largest bed I had ever seen.

A/N - She may have killed Bill, but the story does not end here, there are still many loose threads in the weave. Unfortunately I will not have another update until the end of next week, I have a seminar that I need to attend and will not have access to my computer. (I still work with a desktop) Never fear I will still be writing the old fashioned way, and will punch out the updates when I return. Thank you for hanging around for the rest of the ride. - J.