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Here is the next one, so please enjoy and let me know your thoughts!
Where Love Will Lead
Chapter 29
Sookie
Sookie woke up, trying to blink the darkness out of her eyes, but she couldn't. It was then that she remembered that she was in Eric's day chamber. She tentatively felt around for the place a nightstand would be and finally after gentle reaches she found what she believed to be a lamp.
She clicked it on and turned to look at Eric. Sookie couldn't help the smile that made its way onto her face as she looked at him. He looked so...peaceful. And happy. She didn't know that one could look happy in their sleep, but he did. He seemed happy.
Sookie looked at the clock and saw she had slept for a good nine hours. She must have needed it. Sookie looked for her clothes, but instead slipped on Eric's discarded t-shirt and made her way for the bedroom door. She opened it quietly, even though she knew she wouldn't be waking Eric with a squeaky door.
Sookie walked out into the big living room and then to a small, tiny kitchenette. It didn't even have an oven. Just a mini fridge, a sink, a microwave, and a couple of cupboards. Sookie opened the cupboards, not really expecting anything edible to be in them since Eric was the only one that came here, but she was surprised to see a couple boxes of snack crackers unopened in the cupboard. Interesting.
Sookie grabbed one of the cracker boxes and then looked into the other cupboard and found a glass. She filled it with water and drank an entire glass before refilling it and sitting down at the two seater table to snack.
She munched and sipped her water, reliving last night. She looked to the bedroom and, again, couldn't help the smile from appearing on her face. Sookie grabbed another handful of crackers and popped a couple in her mouth as she thought things through. She didn't have any change of clothes or a toothbrush. Yuck.
Sookie briefly wondered if she had moved too fast with Eric last night. It was definitely not something she had seen on the agenda when she had left Preston's. Just thinking of him now made her feel guilty. He had actually been really understanding. He was hurt and disappointed, but he had understood. And then Bill had come. And it had all gone downhill from there. Until Eric showed up. When she saw him there, almost ripping the car door off of its hinges to fight off the blood lust, she was filled with relief and with a sense that she could get through it. That she was in some sort of control.
Sookie popped another mouthful of crackers as she remembered putting Preston back inside his house. He was shocked and beyond grief stricken. And she couldn't relate because her fairy godmother had been twisted and evil, so when she had died, it had been more of a relief than a tragedy.
Sookie took a sip of water and looked around the cabin. Eric had wanted her to see this place. His home. She now realized that he wanted her to know him. While she didn't regret last night, not at all in fact, she knew that he had made the gesture and she was going to reciprocate. In a non-sexual way that is. They needed more than...quite frankly, mind blowing sex for this to work. Although right now, as Sookie envisioned Eric completely naked in bed right now, it seemed mind blowing sex could only help this getting-to-know-you process.
Sookie closed the box o crackers up and drained the glass of water. She washed the cup and put the crackers back where she had found them. She then went back into the bedroom and went over to the bed. She brushed Eric's bangs to the side and smiled down at his face, then leaned down and kissed his lips lightly. She was probably crazy, but she thought she felt him react to her. She shook her head and walked to bathroom.
She peeled Eric's shirt off and climbed into the shower stall. It was a single shower stall that would fit Eric just perfectly. Not room for one more. Again, interesting.
Sookie quickly showered and got out of the shower. She wrapped herself in a towel she had found in the small cupboard and looked in Eric's medicine cabinet. She located the toothpaste and consigned herself to brushing with her finger when she saw it. A toothbrush. A second toothbrush. It was pink, leading Sookie to believe that it was not Eric's. Maybe Pam's?
Sookie put a line of toothpaste on her finger and worked her finger in her mouth as best as she could. She finished and put everything away. Sookie then quickly finished drying herself off and then put Eric's shirt back on.
She went back out to the bedroom and located where Eric had thrown her clothes. She found everything and folded it all up neatly. She was going back to the living room to read or something until Eric woke up, when she looked over at Eric. She yelped and jumped when she saw that his eyes were open. Sookie gasped, "What are you doin'? How long have you been awake?"
He sat up, slowly because he was fighting the sunlight and said, "Since you kissed me."
She gasped and said, "I knew I felt you respond!"
He smiled and held his hand out to her. She went to him and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her softly. "My shirt looks good on you."
"Yeah, I was just gonna figure out what to do about clothes. Sorry, I hope you don't mind," she said.
He shook his head and said, "I don't."
She nodded and said, "Why are you awake?"
He shrugged and said, "I wanted to make sure it wasn't a dream."
She smiled and said, "It wasn't."
Eric waited and then said, "It was though. The best kind of dream."
She smiled, his words turning her to mush, although she didn't want to admit it. "You sap," she mock scolded.
He smiled and kissed the top of her head as he pulled her into a tight hug. "Did you find the spare pink toothbrush?" he asked.
"Yeah, somebody used it though," she answered, now confused, "I assumed it was Pam's or something."
Eric frowned and then, with understanding and knowing crossing his features, said, "Nora. It was probably Nora."
Sookie nodded, tramping down the hurt. "It's not what-" he began, but she cut him off.
"That was the past. Don't explain," she said firmly.
Eric
Eric nodded, understanding she didn't want to know, even though when Nora was here, it was when they had come here before searching for Bill and returning to the fallen Authority. That same night Sookie had also returned to the area, looking for her shifter friend and the young Emma. Really though, while Eric had brought her here, him and Nora had never hooked up in this house. And never would.
Sookie disentangled herself from his arms and turned to face him, sitting cross legged on the bed by his side. She smoothed his bangs out and he resisted the urge to purr at her touch.
"You should go back to sleep," she murmured, her eyes filled with a touching amount of concern.
He nodded, but then said, "Sookie, I need you to know."
She was patient and quiet as she waited for him to tell her. "I never loved Nora. Not like that anyway. She is my sister, nothing more. Any intimacy between us was for comfort for one or both of us. But that's it. I want to be with you now and will only be intimate with you as long as you will have me."
Sookie looked down at her lap and nodded. "Eric...I...I know she is your sister, and I want to like her, but I don't trust her."
Eric replied, "I understand that it's hard for you...to trust unfamiliar vampires. But I think that in time you will grow to like her."
Sookie gave a skeptical look and Eric wondered where this was coming from. Was she jealous of his and Nora's relationship or was there more that he didn't know? It didn't seem like this resistance to Nora was more than jealousy from Sookie's side of things.
He leaned forward and pulled Sookie's face up to look at him. She seemed reluctant and almost nervous.
"What is it Sookie? Tell me," he asked.
"Well the other night, Nora came to me and attempted to glamour me. Her intent was to keep me away from you. She tried to glamour me to stay away," Sookie admitted softly, but her eyes told him she was telling him what she knew to be the truth.
"How do you know?" he asked, his fangs wanting to pop out and rip something apart.
Sookie only looked at him in confusion and he clarified, "How do you know that she was trying to glamour you? Is it possible she was trying to warn you?"
Sookie shook her head, "No. I feel the...push in my mind. The glamour trying to take hold, but my mind resists it at all costs. Nora was trying to glamour me away from you."
Eric remained silent, brooding, wondering what her motives were.
After a few minutes, Sookie grabbed his hand and said, "I am sorry. I just thought you should know why I ain't gonna become her bosom buddy anytime soon. I know Nora is your sister and I don't want to put you in an awkward position or anythin'. I don't want you to do nothin' or anythin'. I just thought you should know. I don't want any secrets."
He cupped her cheeks and said, "I don't either."
Sookie smiled in relief and hugged him, then reached up and kissed him. Sookie pulled away and said, "Day rest. Now."
He smiled and said, "Only if you lie with me as I go back under."
She nodded and cuddled up in the bed with him and he kissed the back of her neck and shoulder as they settled in the bed. She felt so amazing, tucked into his side the way she was. Eric hated to even think it, but he felt complete. And whole. And safe. Here with her.
Sookie yawned and said, "I will try and get some sleep too I think. It's so comfortable in here."
He buried his nose in her hair and whispered, "Stay with me, min kärlek (my love)."
She nodded and whispered in a sleep voice, "Always."
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