"…Do not worry, enjoy our closer connection."

I exhaled and moved myself so I could rest on his torso. His body went rigid beneath me and for a split second I thought about the premonition once more, but his sleep grabbed me and pulled me under with him before I could give it another thought.

Dead To Me: Chapter 21

I woke up around two, realizing that we were both a bit smelly. I was curled up against him, and would eagerly admit that I'm a woman that likes a manly man rubbing against her, but this was a bit much. I kissed his cheek before getting up to go shower, rubbing out the muscles from standing on my feet even off the work schedule!

We were waiting for date three and had made it through date two with lots of heavy petting but no Nookie. I was always a believer in sleeping with a man without having sex, it could really up the intimacy, but that's when you can wake up to cute kisses and pillow talk which with a vampire, you really can't do.

After stepping out of the shower, I sat down in the corner chair to wait. Of course, if you give a woman enough waiting time, nothing good can really come from it. So here sat Sookie Stackhouse with a wandering mind, trying to figure out what her life could mean, become, develop into, etc.

Mostly, I was just frustrated about waiting. Would I be sitting my whole life waiting for Eric to wakeup? Basically living two different lives, wanting him, and being with him while he was doing god knows what in Shreveport. What were we going to do about that? And so the wandering mind went. All I could do was sit subjected to my relationship worries, amping myself up for a huge blow up argument on the ride home. We were going home, weren't we?

Who knew? Because yet again, here sat Sookie Stackhouse, unaware of anything going on in her vampire's life. Did he have more meetings tonight? Was I supposed to find my own way home? Surely, not. To distract my mind, I started to do some maintenance work. I brushed my teeth, flossed, scrubbed my nails, drenched myself in lotion, and started picking at my split ends but as the clock rolled around to 4:30, unsurprisingly, no waking Eric, and nothing left to do but fry my brain with the television, or snuggle with my smelly beau which would only end up getting me gross with no guarantee of sex despite the fact.

So really, there was only one thing left to do. Snoop.

Flipping open his suitcase, I found a wide variety of Eric-like wear: two pairs of blue jeans, several Fangtasia t-shirts, one pair of crumpled khakis, a set of three ties to match the suit I had discovered in the closet only moments earlier, and no underwear. I wasn't surprised, only deciding that my Viking was wearing his silk boxers from the night before simply because he didn't want to risk me jumping him.

So his black, inconspicuous suitcase was rather boring with the few exceptions: a blue tracksuit, a dark wig (with hair dye to match). I searched my mind for an explanation of the two items that were so very un-Eric but couldn't seem to find a scenario that fit. Was there something dangerous that Eric was trying to keep under wraps?

I returned to my chair, leaning over the desk, searching for more or Eric's little clues. My leg made contact with soft leather. I pushed the chair back before getting on my knees to pull out a dark brown somewhat rusty colored briefcase. Sneaking a peak at my Viking, I made sure he was still asleep. Sunset wasn't for a good thirty-six minutes but I knew he wasn't always precise. Maybe all that good active soul work would keep him under for awhile.

I pulled open the briefcase and discovered lots of scraps of documents, a few floor plans, and lots of napkins with girl's phone numbers. Great! I thought. Go figure, he would keep something that I'm sure he gets hundreds of every day. Perhaps, they are the only ones he was thinking of calling back? Paranoia was definitely setting in. I pulled out a white, shiny photocopy of a dark green t-shirt that seemed to match the one of my premonition. I folded it up without thinking and stuck it in my jean pocket. The last compartment was tightly zipped, but well padded. An open, gold, lock was sitting at the bottom of the briefcase.

I took a deep breath, sneaked a look at Eric (still sleeping like a baby) and ripped it open thinking of ripping off a band-aid. Inside the pocket were two things: an envelope, and a black velvet box. I let down my shields to be aware of any inkling of Eric's mind. Of course any girl would open the box first. This is what we fantasized about. I closed my eyes, and opened it. With one eye still shot I peeked through my lashes to see it. There it was: a silver (white gold?) ring with a huge square diamond with two medium sized yellow topaz stones hugging it's sides, and two slightly smaller pink diamonds touching them. It was unbelievable, both in beauty and my estimated price. Considering I always underestimated things of great value, I doubled the numbers in my mind.

Marrying Eric? Was that a possibility? How long has he had this? And why is he carrying it around with him in New Orleans? I let myself relax and soak in the idea of a perfect relationship with my vampire, my bonded. Maybe this wasn't such a fairytale? This ring was definitely proof of Eric not fearing commitment. I tucked the box back into the briefcase compartment, then took it back out, looked at it one more time, and then put it back before he could catch me. Remembering the envelope, I picked it up from where I had thrown it carelessly on the desk in my eagerness.

On one side of the envelope were two signatures over the sealed closure, Pam and Eric's. I flipped it over and on the neat, clean white paper were the words, "The Last Will and Testament of Eric Northman, In The Event Of My Final Death." My mind couldn't catch up with my heart, a sudden lurch after beating so quickly after the discovery of the ring. I settled my breathing, and couldn't let go of this overwhelming emotion of loss. Was he expecting his death? Was he doing something dangerous that I hadn't been told about? That I hadn't even sensed through the bond or his mind?

I freaked. I stuffed the envelope into the pocket, slammed the zipper closed catching the white envelope in the metal teeth. I couldn't worry about that at the moment. I needed to get out. I didn't have the time to look for shoes, a purse, a sweater, I needed to get out, so I did what I've practiced so well, I left.