I was a second away from ringing Jason's doorbell when Eric asked, "Do they know to invite me in?"

I'd forgotten Eric needed an invitation. I hadn't briefed Jason or Michele with the dos and don'ts of having a vampire over for supper—e.g. do stock True Blood, don't get a paper cut, do keep your distance, don't make sudden movements—and so on. Eric had started to feel so normal to me, I'd forgotten most people needed a primer. We had spent so much time together lately I'd gotten used to having him around. His presence felt like a given. I realized being with Eric felt comfortable to me, almost right, and tucked that away to think about later.

"They invited us to their house," I tried.

"Doesn't count."

I couldn't believe something as basic as the invite slipped my mind. "People usually invite you in without thinking about it."

"Or I glamour them."

I gave Eric the kind of look Gran turned on Jason when he got suspended for the fourth time in a school year, or stumbled home past midnight stinking of beer, or had yet another girl's father call the house demanding to know where his daughter was. "My family is off limits. We'll explain the situation, if we have to."

Eric gave me Gran's look right back. "Humiliating."

I stood my ground, stood up on my toes and gave him a kiss. When it came down to it, I knew Eric wouldn't glamour Jason or Michele. He might be highhanded, but he had a sense of boundaries. Even considering the stunt he pulled with Andy, Eric always had his reasons. Eric was rational and even if I didn't agree with him, I could usually understand why he chose to do what he'd done.

Eric kissed me back and gathered me to him. His hands swept down my back and lingered on my hips. I shivered, but not from cold, and balled my hands in his shirt as I kissed him. I took it slow, feeling his whole body move against me as he opened his mouth and let me draw out his bottom lip. The whole idea of Eric coming to family dinner at my brother's home seemed so ludicrous and unlikely I could hardly believe we were standing here making out like teenagers on Jason's front stoop. I knew I could always count on Eric in crisis, but there was no life or death with dinner at Jason's. He had come because he cared.

I broke off the kiss, but twined my fingers in his belt loops. "I really appreciate you being here."

Eric goosed me. "I'll hold you to that later."

I yelped, but then I laughed, and then he laughed, and then we were kissing again. I kissed him close-mouthed, his mouth soft against mine, and then forced myself to pull away. "We can't spend all night on the doorstep."

Eric looped his fingers around the belt of my dress and dragged me back to him. He basically enveloped me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Why not? I will glamour your humans into thinking we finished dinner, then you and I can entertain ourselves."

"Not happening," I said, although part of me—especially the part right below the belt Eric wasn't letting go of—was sorely tempted to take him up on his offer. I handed Eric the bottle of wine. I knew if I didn't start moving, I'd cave and let him drag me off to whatever love nest he wanted. "Give this to Michele. It will make a good impression." Hopefully, the wine could gain back any ground we lost from a potential invite fiasco.

I moved to ring the doorbell, but Eric caught my wrist. "Sookie, about the letter—"

My heart started thumping. I was grateful Eric had decided to come clean when I hadn't even asked. "Yes?"

Eric reached into his pocket and pulled out a ziplock baggy holding a slender silver chain. "I'd like you to wear this."

I looked from the chain to Eric and back again. There were all kinds of things I wanted to say to him, but curiosity skyrocketed to the top of the list. "You want me to wear this because of the letter?"

"Yes."

"Do you usually keep silver in your pockets?"

"I keep silver in the glove compartment of the corvette," Eric said, before adding, "with gloves."

I took the baggy from him. What I had thought was one silver chain was actually two. Both were long and thin, like lengths of rope, and neither was a closed loop. "What are these for?" They sure as hell weren't jewelry.

He smiled at me. "Tying up vampires."

I smiled back. I didn't know how often Eric was attacked by vampires, but I thought it was pretty clever of him to keep silver around. Most vamps shunned silver. They wouldn't get beyond the fact it burned to think about its potential use. I could think of a handful of times vampire restraints would have saved me a trip to the hospital.

"Thanks." I draped one around my neck, letting the long ends dangle. It was a little fashion-forward for my taste, but the functionality was more important than looks. I handed the plastic baggy back to Eric. "You keep the other, just in case." Eric slipped it into his pocket. "We're safe at Michele and Jason's, right? Because if there's any chance that we could get attacked, we should leave now. I can't get my brother into trouble." Jason did a good enough job of it by himself.

"We're safe," Eric said.

I stared at him. "How do you know?" Eric didn't say anything, so I tried again. "Tell me about the letter."

"You are too upset." I rolled my eyes. I wasn't upset, but Mr. Big and Blond was getting me there. Trying to weasel out of something he didn't want to do by turning attention back to me was a classic Eric move. The only good thing I could say with regards to him pulling it on me so many times was that I was finally wise to it.

"I'm not upset. I will be upset if you don't tell me what I need to know and I end up dead."

"That won't happen."

"Would you take my word on something like this, if our roles were reversed?"

"I would trust you, yes."

I crossed my arms. I stared at him. He stared at me. I wondered why our conversations always devolved to a silent battle of wills.

To my surprise, Eric caved first. "I will tell you after the meal. We came all the way here. You should enjoy your family time." Then he reached over my shoulder and rang the doorbell. Damn those long arms.

I was kind of pissed, but when Michele opened the door there wasn't much more I could do. She wore an apron and June Cleaver pearls.

"Hi, you two. Come on in. Jason's around back with the grill." And there was the invitation, slipping off Michele's tongue so naturally, she probably didn't even realize she'd broken a magical barrier. Michele beamed as Eric ducked his head through the door. "You must be Eric, it's so nice to finally meet you."

"You too," Eric said, and gave her a big smile I'm sure had never graced the inside of Fangtasia. Michele wondered where Eric's fangs were and then scolded herself for thinking about it. Eric held out the bottle of wine. "Sookie picked this out."

"Well, aren't you sweet?" Michele took the bottle from Eric. "Let me run into the kitchen and put this away for dinner."

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Eric tailed Michele. As he followed her into the kitchen he looked over his shoulder at me and winked. I had walked into my brother's house, but I felt like I trespassing in the Twilight Zone.

Watching Eric help out in the kitchen was too surreal for me, so I went looking for Jason. I found him on the back porch, bent over the grill, flipping steaks. "Wow," I said, coming up behind him. "You're really going all out." Growing up, we'd only had steak on special occasions: birthdays, holidays, that sort of thing.

"First time meeting the new in-laws," Jason said. He stopped what he was doing and gave me a peck on the cheek.

I picked up on the buzz in Jason's head as much as his odd turn-of-phrase. "So Michele's going to be an in-law?"

Jason shrugged and poked at the steaks. "Maybe. I think I'd like her to be."

It had been just two months since Crystal's murder, but Jason's marriage was over long before that. I just felt glad he found someone he could feel sure about. "Jason, that's great. Have you two talked about it?"

"We're playing it by ear," he poked the steaks again to avoid looking at me. His thoughts were jumbled, as they had been ever since he had been bitten, but I could tell that he was uncomfortable. "I haven't told her about…" Jason trailed off.

"The bite?" I said, since he didn't seem to be able to. On the night of the Great Reveal, Jason hadn't shifted in public like the other weres. He wasn't trying to hide his identity, but as I far as I could tell, he wasn't particularly open about it either.

Jason nodded. "She might know, because of all the time I spent in Hotshot, but I couldn't tell her when we started dating and now it feels too late. I'm not ashamed, don't get me wrong. But I don't want to lose her over something like this." He scowled and flipped a steak. "I wouldn't be this way if it weren't for Crystal."

"I'm sorry, Jason." Jason was thinking he would be better off if he'd never met Crystal. I pulled out of his head. His hurt was still really raw and it felt too personal to eavesdrop on. I was never one of Crystal's fans, but I didn't know if I agreed with Jason's total dismissal. It wasn't really my place to have an opinion. What I did know was, through no fault of Jason's, Crystal would probably still be alive if she hadn't gotten mixed up with him. "I guess we're marked by the people we love." I didn't know what else to say. After feeling Jason's anger, I couldn't help but think of the way Bill had hurt me—scarred me, really. The old pain I associated with Bill could just as find a corollary with Jason and Crystal, or, I was willing to bet, most any couple.

"Sometimes it shows a little more than others." Jason pointed to his head and twirled his finger. "Does Eric know about your—"

"Telepathy?" It may have been the first time I said the word out loud in front of Jason. Growing up, 'knowing things' was our family's euphemism of choice. "He found out the first time we met. But we weren't together then. Not even close."

"It makes a difference," Jason said. "Its harder when you're together. I want to tell Michele everything and nothing at the same time."

Jason had never really been this forthcoming with me. "Sometimes I feel like I know everything about everyone, but know no one, deep down." The words slipped out before I could think about them and once I said it, I felt embarrassed.

"What about Eric?" Jason asked.

I shrugged. "What about him?" I knew Eric as well as a human could know a vampire, but I had been afraid to learn what I now knew, and on some level, I was scared to know more. Was I afraid of what I'd find out about him or of what I'd end up revealing about myself? It was probably a bit of both. "I don't know if I want to know Eric."

I was surprised that Jason seemed to understand. "I've always had a lot of friends. Football team and that. And you know about me and the girls. I've been lucky. But that's just passing the time. Killing time isn't the same thing as spending it."

"What are you doing now, with Michele?"

"I don't know." Jason flipped another steak. "I care about doing right by her. I can't lose her, but I don't know what to tell her. You're lucky, Sookie," he said. "You and Eric are both—" The porch door swung open. Michele was out first, Eric looming behind her. "—Different," Jason finished.

"I think you should tell her the truth," I said, fast as I could, since Michele and Eric headed straight to us. "I never told you, but Bill kept secrets from me. His lies hurt me as much as what he was hiding."

"If we're giving advice, I think you should ease up on yourself," Jason said, "and your man too, probably." I glanced over my shoulder. If Eric had heard, he gave no sign. I looked back at Jason and he raised his eyebrows at me, as if to say 'Well?'

Well… maybe Jason was right. But he didn't know the full story. Jason didn't understand how dangerous Eric could be. Most of the time Eric and I spent together, we raced from one life-threatening situation to the next. The threats weren't Eric's fault, but he was always a major force bringing danger into my life. I was so deep in the supe world now, the target would still be on my back if I cut ties with Eric. And I didn't want to do that. I cared about him. I loved him. I wanted to wake up next to him, even though I'd smashed the light-tight shudders all over my front lawn. I sighed. On one level, I wondered what I was scared of. But when Eric wouldn't tell me basic things like who had written that letter, I didn't have to look far for the reasons to be afraid of life with him.

I dragged myself out of my head and back to the patio. Michele had apparently put Eric on drink duty. He carried a True Blood in one hand and two open beers in the other. He set one of the beers in front of me and pushed the other to Jason. Eric sat in the lawn chair next to me and draped his arm over my shoulders, avoiding the silver around my neck. I leaned into him. He felt almost warm.

"Thanks, man." Jason gave Eric a stiff, but not unfriendly, nod. "Glad you could make it." He took a swig of his beer as Michele dropped a bowl of fresh vegetables by the grill. Jason planted a kiss on her cheek. "Not drinking?"

"I'll have one with dinner," she said.

I shrugged off Eric's arm. There was something I had to do. "Jason, do you mind if I use your bathroom?"

"Down the hall to the right," he said, even though I had grown up in the house. I guess it was automatic.

Instead of going to the guest bathroom on the first floor I snuck upstairs to Jason's master bath. I hoped I was outside of Eric's range of hearing, but just in case I waited ten seconds, flushed the toilet, and then turned on the faucet. I took out my phone and dialed Fangtasia.

"Fangtasia, the bar with a bite." Thankfully Pam answered herself, so I didn't have to go through the dog-and-pony show of convincing one of the fangbangers I was worthy of speaking to a vampire.

"Hi Pam, it's Sookie."

"Hello my telepathic friend. Where's Eric?"

"He's with me, but I'd rather talk to you."

"Uh oh." Pam had a knack of knowing when I was going to get her in trouble.

I cut to the chase before she could hang up. "Pam, do you know any Roman vampires?" I wasn't dumb. That coin in the mystery letter had been old as dirt. I recognized Latin when I saw it, especially when it was next to something postmarked ROME. In my opinion, the whole unsigned letter-as-calling card shtick was heavy handed, but I figured that there must not be a whole lot of Roman vampires left in the world and when you'd clung to life for that long, you probably had an inflated sense of history.

"Of course," Pam said. "Eric's maker."

It was a real duh moment for me. Not only had Eric told me his maker was a legionnaire way back when, it made total sense. Who else would care enough about Eric to murder women with tangential connections to him? Why would Eric be so confident in his ability to sense impending danger? On one level, I could also understood why he hadn't wanted to tell me. The conflict seemed so personal. I felt almost guilty I'd gone behind his back to find out.

There was a knock on the door. "I've got to go," I hung up on Pam. "One minute." I called.

Eric opened the door and shut it behind him. Then locked it. That was his way of saying I was in trouble.

"You could have walked in on me."

"If you'd been doing what people usually do in here, I wouldn't have had to interrupt."

"You heard me from downstairs?"

"I heard the faucet." Eric reached over and turned it off. "No one lets it run this long."

So much for being sneaky. I was caught. But then again, so was Eric. "That letter was from your maker." Eric didn't say anything. His silence was as much of a yes as I would get. "You think he's trying to protect you?"

"He's reminding me of what's important."

I chewed that over, but I didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

Eric looked me up and down. "He's saying humans are disposable. Humans are a weakness." I shivered and I couldn't think of anything to say. Eric stared at me, seemingly deep in thought. "You are a weakness," he said. "I didn't realize how much of a weakness you are." I didn't want to listen to him badmouth me, but when I pushed past him to go downstairs, he grabbed my wrist. "They target you to hurt me because it does hurt me, Sookie. When they come after you, they come after me-- not just because of the bond, not just because of our connection. My feelings for you are--"

"Eric." I didn't know if I could hear him say it.

"Overwhelming. I love you, Sookie."

I froze. I felt trapped. I hadn't really let myself feel open to anyone since Bill, when I had given so much and seen it thrown back in my face. Eric on amnesia, who I still sometimes thought of as "my Eric," always had an expiration date. I'd let myself get drawn in because I knew it was a vacation and he'd have to go home. After that, I'd probably gotten the closest with Quinn, but I'd cut it off as soon as there was a possibility of getting hurt. I really hadn't wanted to fall for Eric-- I'd wanted to fuck him sure, but the emotions were always too problematic-- in general, and with Eric in particular. Between the bond and the marriage, I'd been bullied into forming a personal connection with him, but now that it was there and I was here and he was here and we were here-- god, I felt something unnamed within me break. I felt him. It wasn't the bond or any mumbo jumbo. I just felt painfully aware of him standing next to me, his hands on my face, and I let myself listen to him. It was the first time Eric had said he loved me out loud and I knew he believed what he was saying. I could almost believe it too. I thought of us laughing together. I remembered drinking water alone in his house and wishing he could be there with me, making love with him in my shower, listening to him talk about his human life in Fangtasia. I thought about his empty kitchen cabinets. I thought about the void I would feel if he wasn't there, if he were taken from me, and how much I'd come to just value his touch. I was already vulnerable. I'd already let him in. I couldn't control it anymore. Neither could he.

"I love you too." I said, and then I felt the bond. I felt joy and confusion, and I didn't know if the feelings were mine or his, but I decided a bit belonged to both of us. I loved Eric. But was it enough? It was because Eric and I felt something for each other that these dangers pursued us. His feelings made him vulnerable and made me the easy target for his enemies.

"We will beat him."

"How, Eric?"

"You and I will beat him," he repeated. Eric's lack of specifics worried me. He was always on top of the situation, so it scared me when he didn't have a plan. It was almost by saying it he seemed to be willing it to be true. He sounded desperate.

"Do we need to leave?" I said. "I can't endanger my brother—"

Eric buried his head in my hair. "Have your family evening. I will be able to sense him when he his close."

I put my hand around the back of his head and wrapped my fingers in his hair. "Eric, are you sure?"

"I promise you, Sookie. I will keep you safe."

I felt sadness wash over me and I realized what I though had been desperation in Eric's voice was really his feelings pulsing through the bond. I wanted to comfort him, but I felt timid. I wanted to tell him it would be all right, even though I wasn't sure it could be. "We'll figure it out together," I said. "You don't have to do this alone."

"He's two-thousand years old—"

"Sookie?" Michele's voice sounded from the bottom of the stairs. I realized with a start we had abandoned Michele and Jason. I wondered how long we had been up here. "Did you find the bathroom?"

"Yeah, thanks, I'll be right down," I called. I turned back to Eric. "Where did you tell them you were going?"

"Michele sent me for cloth napkins." It was strange Michele decided to send Eric upstairs in the thirty seconds he needed to find me. Eric must have seen something in the look on my face, so he added, "After I glamoured her."

Eric was like a dog you couldn't teach new tricks to. I suppressed a smile. On the grand scheme of glamour his latest one was pretty harmless. We'd always have these little fights, but as long as they were at this level, I couldn't force myself to care. "Napkins are in the linen closet." I pointed to the door at the end of the hall. "Wait two minutes. We can't walk down together." I caught his wrist. "Eric. I do love you." Saying it again felt easier.

He didn't say anything, but he smiled.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Michele was waiting for me. She wiped her hands on her apron, grabbed me by the wrist, yanked me into the guest bathroom, and locked the door. "Sookie, I'm pregnant."

People don't usually take me by surprise, but sometimes even I get gobsmacked. My jaw hung loose and useless until I remembered I was supposed to make words with it. "Congratulations, Michele, that's—" I was going to say something positive, but she cut me off with,

"Horrible." She sank on the toilet and buried her face in her hands. "Jason and I aren't even—I mean, we've been together for a little more than a month and his poor wife and baby just passed, god bless them. I love Jason, but he's—" she trailed off.

Jason was Jason, but, "He's changed a lot." Or so it seemed. He cared deeply for Michele, but I didn't know if I should tell her if Jason hadn't done it himself. She had to know already. "Have you told him?"

"No," she said. "I need to. I'd been worried for a week and found out yesterday for sure. I thought we were being careful." Michele sighed. "Sookie, I'm sorry to be laying this on you, but you know Jason better than anyone and I don't know who else I can talk to."

Jason and I hadn't been close for a while, but I was touched by Michele's trust. "It's all right," I said. "Have you thought about—"

Michele shook her head. "I couldn't."

I took her hand. "Jason might be pleased."

"I love Jason, but I wasn't hoping for this, not so soon at any rate. I like to think everything happens for a reason, but that's hard to keep hold of when I'm faced with living through it. Everything is going to change."

"You'll make it. You have a good job, a house, a man who loves you." I was giving Michele a pep talk I sometimes used on myself. "You've got good sense."

"I need to tell Jason," Michele said.

"Sure," I agreed. And I hoped he would tell her about being a were. I was wishing the double confessions would make them both understanding of each other. "It will be all right. He'll listen."

Michele pulled me into a hug. "Thanks, Sookie."

"You take care of yourself," I said, "and the baby."

"Right, the baby," Michele said slowly, as if she were trying out the words. I stayed out of her head. I wanted to give her space to work through whatever she was going through.

"Thanks for telling me."

Michele shrugged. "It's going to be your niece or nephew."

I shook my head at the wonder of it. "So we're family." I was going to be an Aunt. Hadley's mom, my Aunt Linda, had always been kind to me, but for some reason the person who stuck in my head in that moment was Claudine. She had protected me, trusted me, always been there, loved me unconditionally. I hoped I would be half as good to Jason's kid as Claudine had been to me. I had felt more ambivalent towards Crystal's baby, maybe because I simply hadn't liked Crystal. I felt a little guilty about it, but there was no use dragging myself through past mistakes.

"Congratulations," I said, and pulled Michele into a hug. She seemed kind of startled, but returned it.

When Michele unlocked the bathroom door, I could see through the glass porch to the deck outside. Jason stood at the grill, talking to Eric, who was leaned back in a deck chair, sipping on True Blood like it was a beer. I suppose, in a strange way, all four of us were family now, at least following normal legal and social connections. It felt improbable, inexplicable, and strangely comfortable.

Michele followed my gaze. "They're good guys," she said.

"Yeah." How would Jason do as a father? How would Eric be as a husband? I couldn't say with certainty. I could try my best as an Aunt, but there were no guarantees as to how good that would be. What I did know is that Eric and Jason deserved the chance. So did I. So did everybody. Wow, I was in a mood tonight. "They're good guys," I agreed.

We went outside to join them. "—deer mostly," Jason was saying, "sometimes I hunt ducks."

"We used traps or spears when I was alive." Eric patted the chair next to him for me to sit down. "It before guns."

I raised my eyebrows at Michele. Hunting? I was surprised by the normalcy of their conversation.

"Shotguns work pretty well, mostly," Jason said. "If its small like, I don't know, a duck or a squirrel, sometimes there's not meat left but you can usually get a sausage or two out of a little guy." I rolled my eyes. The last time Jason hand-made a sausage was never, but Gran used to stuff her own boudins. "You've never hunted with a gun?"

"No." Eric draped his arm over the back of my chair. "Sookie was going to teach me how to shoot."

I didn't remember that conversation, so I figured Eric was either being polite or it was one of those things he had decided privately, but never told me. I wasn't Annie Oakley, but I'd be happy to share my limited skills with Eric. In truth, he really didn't need to know how to shoot: any person a gun could hurt was someone Eric could handle using his bare hands.

"You can come with me sometime. I taught Sookie everything she knows," Jason said, which was true.

Over Jason's shoulder, Michele rolled her eyes at me. She was thinking about men and their toys. I had to agree. Eric was a thousand years old and he loved his muscle car as much as he would if he were only 40 with a mid-life crisis.

"There's a shooting range off the interstate in Bossier City," Jason said, intent on setting up his play-date with Eric.

Eric seemed just as keen. "Next week?" I didn't know if he was just being polite or if the thrill of violence was enough to rope him in.

"The ladies can watch," Jason said, nodding at Michele.

She crossed her arms. "No way, Jason. It isn't a bowling alley. There's never any other spectators and those places give me the heebie-jeebies. All those angry old white guys with guns."

Eric and Jason exchanged a look. "No women," Eric said.

"No women," Jason agreed, laughing and turning back to the steaks. It was deeply weird to watch my brother and Eric interact, let alone get along.

After a couple more minutes of Jason and Eric ragging on Michele and me, I pulled Eric inside to help set the table, which ended up being me laying out place settings and Eric sitting at the head of the table watching. Michele stayed outside to help Jason take the steaks off the grill. I think we both wanted some couple-time.

I set a plate and silverware in front of Eric, even though he wasn't eating. "They're keeping secrets from each other." I told him.

Eric's eyes narrowed. I guessed a discussion of 'secrets' set off a warning bell for him. "Why are you telling me?"

"Just thinking through it."

I hoped, and believed, that Michele and Jason could sort out their problems if they came clean. I knew normal couples kept secrets from each other—with my condition, it was impossible not to be aware of it. Michele and Jason had secrets, and big ones, but their secrecy didn't seem malicious. They both wanted to let the other one in, but didn't know how. In a way, their struggles made me feel better about Eric and myself. "They want to come clean, so they both tried it out on me."

Eric smirked. "You're easy to confess to."

That was enough to make me stop setting the table. I put my hand on my hip. "Are you kidding?" I had to drag every little fact out of Eric, kicking and screaming. I was pretty sure he was flirting, because he definitely wasn't stating a fact.

He beckoned to me. "Lover, come here. I have a confession."

After glancing over my shoulder to make sure we couldn't be seen from the patio, I let him pull me onto his lap. "What?"

"I've been hard ever since you locked me in that bathroom." He put his hands on my hips and showed me the evidence. Warmth pooled in my chest, and dripped lower. I smiled at Eric and ran my hand up his thigh.

"Actually, Eric, you locked me in."

"Details," he said, and kissed my neck.

I heard the porch door squeak. I just had time to jump out of Eric's lap and adjust my skirt before Michele walked into the dining room on her way to the kitchen, balancing a plate of steaks. "Are you sure you don't want one, Eric?" Michele asked. "We could cook it extra rare." Michele didn't know what she was getting into. The steak would have to be rarer than raw, and even that would be too well done.

Eric was on his best behavior, too polite to refuse outright. "Just True Blood for now, thanks." When Michele breezed into the kitchen, he flashed me some fang. "You're my steak for later, cupcake."

My cheeks burned. I couldn't wait.

"Eric, could you help me reach something?" Michele called from the kitchen.

"Sure." Eric said, but he took his time standing up. He swept his eyes up, down, and over me. As for my part, I oogled him right back. There were some men who really knew how to wear a pair of pants and Eric could have taught them all lessons. I wanted to divest him of his trousers as soon as possible, and soon as possible seemed all too far away, considering there was a civilized 'adult' meal standing in between me and the goal I had designated as dessert.

"Later, lover," Eric said, reading my thoughts.

As he walked into the kitchen, Jason came through the back door, smelling of charcoal. Jason handed me his empty beer bottle, proving that Michele hadn't reformed all his bad habits.

"He sure is handy," Jason said, watching Eric pull glasses off the top shelf for Michele. "Who knew a vamp could be so normal?"

"Who knew we could be so normal?" I gestured to the dining room table. It was like Thanksgiving come early, all gussied up with wine glasses, cloth napkins, and Gran's good china.

"She'd be proud, right?" Jason was thinking of Gran.

"I hope so."

----

A/N: Belongs to Charlaine Harris and HBO.

Calm before the storm! Thanks for reading and for the reviews.