Just get your ass back home - Gym Class Heroes ft. Neon Hitch

I turn back to Eric, lean up to press a kiss to his cheek, and burrow back into his chest. "Why now," I ask quietly. "After everything that happened tonight, why do you need to know right now?"

He brings a hand to my head and starts working it through my hair. The movement is so different from when he was petting my head at the meeting when putting on a show for the King. "Everyone, even fucking Threadgill, seems to know more about you then me. Knows what Compton did to you," he says pressing a kiss to my temple. "That should not be."

"Are you sure you want me to tell you," I ask him. "I'm not trying to hide anything from you. You were there for some of it and know the rest of it. It's all still here," I tell him, taking my own hand and touching his head. He looks like he doesn't believe me so I reiterate, "Octavia says it's still in there."

He nods and says, "That almost makes it worse. It does not feel right that I do not know, especially because I should."

I close my eyes against his chest. I can't imagine how it would feel to not remember anything. Eric must feel so lost knowing that he should have these memories, but not able to access them. It wasn't too long ago when I felt completely lost. If discussing this with him could help that feeling, who am I to deny him that?

"I guess it all started with this project Bill was working on for the Queen," I start to tell him. He gives me a chaste kiss in thanks. "It is a database with information of all known Supernaturals. We can't tell anyone, anything about it," I tell him. I repeat the warning to stress the point for him.

"Supes are private. It would be dangerous to know that someone was collecting information on them," he says softly. Yeah, now his instincts appear to be back for him to know that. Where were they as he was claiming me in front of Threadgill?

"Yes," I tell him. "Bill told me he was going to Seattle." I explain to him that Bill then went missing. "At first he was presumed dead but then it came out that he was alive." I pause in my explanation. "He was in Jackson."

"How did you find all of this out?"

"Through you. I'm not sure how you learned it all." I repeat the information we talked about that night when he, Pam, and Chow came to my house to explain that Bill may have been kidnapped and taken to Mississippi. Or may have been called by his maker. Or may have went willingly to his maker. "Either way it doesn't matter. He was going to leave me for her. He was making plans for my care."

I leave out the part about him threatening torture to try to get information out of me. We had already had that conversation and settled that matter. No reason to make him feel guilty for something he doesn't even remember doing.

"This is why you broke it off with him?"

I let out a little laugh at the thought that it was that simple. "No, that's not the reason I broke it off with Bill."

I continue with the story, explaining how he had Alcide protect me in Mississippi and how he, himself showed up there. "I wanted to protect you."

"Maybe," I tell him. "Bill was important to the Queen. You may have been trying to get him back before she knew he was missing." That's probably what he was doing at the time. Nothing had really happened between us at that point. That's what it had to be.

Right?

"No," he says strongly and surely. "I would not have wanted you to be there without me. Without my protection."

I smile at the thought, wondering if and silently hoping that was really true. "It ended up being good you were there," I tell him, explaining the best I could when I had gotten hurt. Things were not absolutely clear the night I was staked.

"You had my blood. My blood made you stronger," he says with a proud smile on his face.

"Yes, I did," I say wearing a smile myself. I run my hand up his chest and down an arm as I tell him, "It's why you can feel me. You had my blood when you sealed a wound on my neck," I explain as I start to play with his fingers. "It started a bond between us."

"Why was there a wound on your neck," he asks, his fingers dancing with mine.

I start to tell him the story of why but he interrupts and asks if I knew who pushed me in the trunk. "Not for sure," I tell him. "But I am almost positive it is a shifter named Debbie Pelt." I briefly explain that whole situation.

When I get to the part of the story where I got locked in the trunk with Bill, I wait for the crushing pain to overtake me. When that never happens, I wait for the numbness that I felt that night to return. It doesn't. I wait for the tears that have always sprung to my eyes when even thinking about it. I had talked about it with Ludwig, of course many times over. My conversations with Pam also touched on it at points too. It got easier, but I would still feel the heavy darkness that came with the memories.

But here, lying in bed with Eric who has proven with or without his memories he will protect me, the tears never come either. For the first time, I am not weighed down with the emotions and feelings of the discussion. Of course they are there but they are not overwhelming. I find it telling that the first time this happens, it's not with the good, blunt doctor or her sarcastic sidekick.

It's with Eric.

Who is surprisingly calm after I am finished telling him what Bill did to me. I doubt this is a good thing. "I will kill him for you," he tells me keeping his voice slow and steady.

I let out a laugh and tell him, "That's not the first time you said that to me."

"And judging by the fact that you were worried about seeing see while meeting with the Queen, you did not let me do it."

"No," I tell him explaining the compromise we had agreed upon. "You are being surprisingly calm about this."

He nuzzles into my neck as he tells me, "I put us in danger with Threadgill. I cannot just yell when I hear something I don't like. I am working on my self-control," he says with a tinge of humor in his voice and I feel his hand that is not grasped in mine start to make its way up my leg.

"Self-control, huh," I ask him with a smile of my own.

"Distractions are a good aid when you find your control slipping," he says. My free hand joins his as it completes its travels up my leg and reaches my stomach.

"There is just one thing I do not understand. Why did the Queen care so much about what Bill did that she took him to punish him herself?"

'Here's to hoping he was working really hard on his self control,' I think to myself as I tell him about finding out Sophie-Anne's role in all of this. He stiffens when I tell him of the conversation I had with Bill in the basement of Fangtasia.

"And I just let her take him? I did nothing to her to avenge you," he asks his voice seeming to lose the control it had throughout the rest of my story.

"She's your Queen, Eric. To a certain extent your hands are tied. We have to be smart with her."

"I will not let her take you," he says pronouncing each word carefully.

"Yeah, you've said that before too," I tell him pressing a kiss to a part of his chest that's exposed with his unbuttoned collar. "I know you'll do everything you can to keep me safe. You make me feel safe, Eric," I tell him, squeezing where our hands have come to rest on my stomach.

"I am glad you feel safe with me," he tells me as I let out a yawn. "It's almost sunrise."

"Stay with me until you need to leave," I ask him.

"Of course," he tells me before kissing my forehead.

I turn over so my back is again pressed up against the front of Eric. His arms wrap around me and he places a leg over mine. As I close my eyes to try and get some sleep, I hear Eric start to hum softly and I can't help but smile at the sound. I feel a small part of me inside shift. He doesn't even know he has done this to help me in the past. This is the first time that I am hearing him hum or sing to me without it being about trying to get me back from some dark place in my mind. As I snuggle in closer, he wraps his arms tighter around me. I must go to sleep with a smile on my face.

When I wake up, I go into the bathroom to take a quick shower before we go, figuring that we have some time since Tray or Alcide hasn't woke me up yet. That's why I am surprised to see that it is after four in the afternoon when I get out of the bathroom. Quickly throwing in some clothes, I open the hotel room door planning to head to the two Weres room, worried that something had happened to them since we were planning on leaving hours ago however, Alcide is standing right outside my door.

"What's going on," I ask him. "Why are we still here? Where's Tray?" I am happy that he seems okay and he's relatively calm which means Tray probably is okay too. I am worried that we are still here though. That was definitely not the plan.

Alcide sighs before looking at me. "Tray is trying to find a way to transport the two coffins back to Shreveport."

This has me a tad confused. No, actually really confused. "We have a way to transport Eric and Thalia back to Shreveport," I say emphasizing the names of the vampires. "The same way we transported them here."

"Tray found a problem when he went down to get the car." Of course he did. As if last night wasn't bad enough. Alcide doesn't seem eager to tell me the issue though.

"Your not exactly being forward with information here, Alcide," I tell him. "Tell me what's wrong."

He sighs and says, "The tires on the car were slashed. The rental car we got last night in case you needed help isn't big enough to transport the coffins."

"How many tires," I ask him putting my hand to my head.

"All of them. We got two spares for it but with all four of them shredded, we won't be getting far on even if we out them on." His hand moves through his hair as he explains that he and Tray have been calling places all morning. "We have called every tire and rental car company within a 50 mile radius. They are all out of any tires that may work on the truck and any rental cars that would work." Damn. What the hell is going on?

"Moving companies," I ask. "They must have trucks moving large enough."

"Tried them too. No luck."

"That's a mighty big coincidence," I say out loud while I am trying to think.

"It's too much to be a coincidence."

"The Queen," I ask wondering if she could be behind this. She did ask if we were staying last night. Maybe she wasn't happy with the fact that we were leaving. Her words from yesterday 'for now,' race through my head. I shake that thought out of my head though. Sophie-Anne would probably take a more direct approach if she wanted us to say. Hell, she would have ordered it if that's what she wanted.

"We can't be sure and anyone who would know is unavailable for the next few hours." Of course and Eric really wouldn't know when he wakes up.

"I'll call Pam and have her call when she wakes up."

"Already done. Spoke with Bobby too. He said he'd have Pam call us as soon as he speaks with her."

"Great. I'll call Octavia and see how things are going over there. Can you call Tray and see if he's had any luck and see when the other tires should be here?"

I turn and start to go back into my room to call Octavia but Alcide stops me by saying in an angry tone, "Since when are you the one giving orders, Sookie?"

"What is that supposed to mean, Alcide," I ask him. Where the hell had that come from? What was his problem?

Alcide takes a breath and seems to be trying to calm himself down. "What are you doing being with him, Sookie? He's only going to bring you pain."

I think back to when Alcide and I had kissed in Jackson before we had both agreed it wasn't the time. Hard to think that was barely three weeks ago. It felt like three years ago. I sigh and tell him, "He's the only one that hasn't brought me pain in the last few weeks, Alcide. He's been really good to me."

"Are you foolish enough to think it will last?"

"He hasn't given me a reason not to."

"I would have thought the last vampire you were with would have given you enough of a reason," he says bitterly.

"Fuck you, Alcide," I tell him, going into my room and slamming the door. Or try to at least.

"Damn it," I hear him mutter right before his arm enters the doorway preventing me from closing it. "Sookie, I'm sorry."

"You want to know the why, Alcide. You really want to," I ask him upset at his words. "Eric would have never said that. He never would have used what happened to hurt me further."

"Sookie, I really am sorry. I'm just…"

"Just what, Alcide," I ask throwing open the door. "Jealous?"

"Worried, Sook. I'm worried about you. You have this horrible thing happen to you. Then Northman takes you to his house and doesn't really let you out for weeks. Now you're with him? I shouldn't have said that and I'm sorry but I am worried that you're going to get hurt in all of this," he tells me.

Looking up into his eyes, I see how serious he is. I take a deep breath and tell him, "Eric has been helping me Alcide. He helped me through all of it. He's the one who got me to speak with a doctor. He's the one who encouraged me to listen when the doctor told me it was time to stop hiding. That's why I was at Eric's for those weeks. I was hiding. Hiding from the Weres. Hiding from everyone really." I pause before saying, "I really don't know where I would be if he wasn't willing to help me."

Alcide looks at me and sighs. "Well then, I'm glad for you that he was."

"Alcide, I'm," I start never meaning to hurt him in any of this but he cuts me off and says, "Don't Sookie. You don't owe me an apology. I'm sorry for what I said."

"I'm not going to say it's okay, but I appreciate the apology," I tell him. Giving Alcide a tight smile, I finally make it back into the room so I can call Octavia. She doesn't answer when I call her but calls she back after a few minutes. "Sorry, I missed your call. I am preparing the locator spell," she explains.

"How's that going?" She explains that she should be ready to perform it right before sundown. That's good. That means we should know where Mark Stonebrook is when we get back to Shreveport. Hopefully he can lead us to his sister. When I ask how everything else has been, Octavia tells me it's been very quiet. "That's good," I tell her.

"I'm not so sure. They could be planning something or they may have already done something and we just haven't figured out what yet. It discerns me."

The problems that have been preventing us from getting home suddenly pop into my head. I had thought the Queen was behind it all. Maybe even Threadgill trying to keep us here until nightfall again. I ask Octavia if a spell could be behind all the coincidences keeping us from being able to leave.

She's quiet for a few seconds before saying yes. "It would take a powerful witch to cast it. A spell like that would need almost constant monitoring and would need would need smaller spells cast every so often to maintain it."

Well, that could explain why the witches have seemed to be quiet. Octavia's voice cuts through my thoughts as she says, "I would be concerned with why they are trying to keep you there. There's less protection away from Area 5."

I am quiet, as the meaning of her words hit me. They would place the spell for a reason. There would be a purpose to keeping us here. "Is there a way you could determine if it is a spell?"

"Not without being at either where the spell was cast or one of the places it affects."

Neither is possible right now. We end the call with me making sure she's okay with continuing and telling her we will call when Eric is up. She will call if she finds anything or something comes up.

As we hang up, I rack my brain trying to think of anything I may have seen or heard that could be a clue for why we are wanted here. It can't be a coincidence that the first time Eric and I leave Area 5, someone is making it pretty clear they don't want us to get back to the relative safety it provides. Right now, we are pretty much giving whoever this is the divide and conquer strategy. We may all be easier to find if we are in one spot but it is also easier to defend one spot.

I exit the hotel room to see that Alcide is still out in the hall. "I spoke with Tray," he says. "Tires should be here right before sundown." So it looks like we won't be leaving until sundown regardless.

"Okay. Can you call Tray and have him come back here? Then maybe move Thalia's coffin into my room?"

"What's going on, Sookie?" I explain what I had learned on the phone with Octavia. He curses under his breath before dialing his phone. Giving Tray a brief explanation over the phone and asks him to come back. I go back into the room to make sure there's enough space for Thalia. The two Weres bring in her in few minutes later.

Alcide gives Tray a more in depth explanation about what seems to be going on as I pack up making sure we can leave as soon as possible. We then try to brainstorm what they could be planning for us with the spell.

That's how Eric finds us when he rises. "Why are we still here," he asks. He's at my side before I can answer him asking, "Are you okay?"

Thalia exits her coffin as I start to tell Eric why we are still here and what the most probable cause is. "Let me go call Octavia," I say but Eric stops me.

"Call her on the road. We are leaving. I do not know why these witches want us stranded here but they are not getting what they want for a second longer," he says as Trays phone rings.

The driver Tray arranged to bring the extra tires is here. It's decided that Eric, myself, and Thalia will start the drive back now with the rental car. Tray and Alcide will switch out the tires then start the drive. With the two of them, they shouldn't be more than ten minutes behind us.

Eric, Thalia, and myself make it to the car without an incident. Thalia stops Eric before he can get to the door though and quickly zips around the car. I can only imagine what she's looking for and am happy as she simply says, "Clear," before getting into the driver's seat. Instead of getting in the passenger seat though, he gets into the back seat with me. He keeps his eyes on the windows though and I can feel how tense he is where his leg is touching mine.

Once we pull away from the hotel, he hands me his phone and tells me to call Octavia. I do but don't get a response. Figuring she may still be working on the spell, I try Pam's phone. No answer from her either, which is a bit weird, especially since she had gotten the message to call us. The sun has only been down for about 10 minutes though so she may be busy and will probably call as soon as she can.

I give Octavia's phone another call and am surprised to hear a male voice answer. Before I can question it though, I hear Eric let out of hiss of pain and he collapses onto my lap.

"Eric, Eric," I yell trying to move him to see where he's hurt.

"Not…me," he manages to grunt out before he screams in pain. "You…ok," he asks breathing hard unnecessarily which tells me how much pain he's in.

"Yes, I'm fine," I tell him before gasping when I realize whose pain he must be feeling.

Pam's.

Hello lovely readers. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This first story in this tale is starting to wind down with this chapter. Not exactly sure how many are left as the number has been changing as I edit. Thanks for taking the time to read and special thanks for those taking the time to review. And to all those celebrating have a great 4th of July!

To my guest reviewers I can't respond to – thanks for kind words. Hopefully, with the end of this part and into the next part you see why the amnesia was put in this story.