It was a cool sunny day in Bon temps , a light breeze shifted lazily through the tree's surrounding the Stackhouse family homestead , birds chirped happily in there woodland perches , bees bumbled from flower to flower in their never ending dance , nearly all was still and quite with nary a thing to intrude on the still of the day...all except Atticus Herveaux
Creeping from tree to tree the young were had steadily worked his way closer to his goal with no small amount of stealth , the scene surrounding him did not nearly seem to justify such caution but Atticus new better , and it was all ways better to ire on the side of caution , although caution was in effect exactly what he was throwing into the wind with the little mission he was on .
He knew it was a bad idea to get involved in anything that had to do with Vampires , but he just had not been able to get the events of a few days ago out of his head , he had just not been able to get Sookie out of his head .
He had reasoned and argued and remonstrated with himself , but all to no avail , he just had to see her again . Alcide had thrown up a stone wall when Atticus had causally tried to get further details regarding the job they had done on the drive way , all his elder seemed to care about was if a good job had been done and that was that , when he had become suspicious of the young were's questions regarding the house, Atticus had been forced to lie through his teeth when asked if he had been anywhere near the property , Alcide had believed him but Atticus took no satisfaction from lying to his pack master and had felt suitably guilty about it later ...but not guilty enough to sway him from his current course .
At first he thought it was just that Sookie was hot as hell and he needed to reign his hormones in, but after a while he realised his was also worried for the girl , how in god's name had the person he had met , come to have anything to do with Vampires ? . There was just no way she was a fangbanger or a pet , she just couldn't be , he had encountered the followers of the undead on a number of occasions , and they all fell into two categories , soulless hangers on with dead eyes and vacant expressions , or slutty spandex/ leather clad sluts with no self respect , man or woman alike they were all like that , all looking for an encounter with death , some ended up getting a close encounter and that was the end of that .
Sookie just couldn't be pigeon holed into ether of those , no matter how hard he tried she was a round peg that just was not going into that square hole . The girl seemed to have a brain , she also seemed to be possessed of a caring soul and crushing shyness that kind of reminded him of his days in grade school , so it begged the question how had Sookie come to be living in what could possibly be a vampire nest ? .
Was she being held prisoner ? , she had said the house was her's but he had seen vamps glamour people into an inch of their sanity , fangers could get most folks to say just about anything . The final straw had been on his last day off when he was wandering around the Golden falls mall , and seemingly by shear fate or serendipity looked into the window of a Barnes and Noble ...and there it was , a massive display in giant four foot writing '' Reconnect to the classics '' centre stage was a thick leather bound copy of ...'' To kill a mocking bird '' .
He had never placed much stock in signs' and fate but then and there he had made up his mind , he walked straight in and a few minutes later walked out with a book in a plastic bag and a plan in his head .
Said plan was now in the process of being executed , he couldn't just walk up to the front door of a suspected vamp nest and nock , that would be tantamount to suicide if they caught his scent come night fall , but moving through the back woods like this may help to dissipate some of his tell tale smell , when he got closer to the house ...well he hadn't really got a plan much further than that but it would have to do for now .
However if in some final cosmic confirmation of strange random chance and god sent destiny , Atticus's ears detected a sound coming from an open clearing just inside the tree line , it was a low whim sickle happy humming , the tune wasn't familiar to him but it sounded like a Childs lullaby , his nose then detected what he could only describe as a beautifully feminine and fresh scent , lastly after poking his head round the underbrush his eyes completed the confirmation of target .
Sookie was sat cross legged in the long grass basket in hand , she was picking wild flowers one at a time from her sitting position , and bringing them to her face to give a sampling small sniff before dropping them into the red and white cloth lined wicker holder , she already had a fair bunch of colours and types collected in neat bunches , the display was pleasing to the eye , but for Atticus what was far more pleasing was the sight of Sookie in her knee length off white shoulder strap Summer dress ,She was barefoot and he smooth looking slender legs were tucked underneath her , he thought she looked like a model for a new country and summer range of shampoo but even better as this wasn't a look or an act ...this was just her .
Her hair was raised in a high golden pony tail that bounced and lolled with her head as she gleefully inspected each new flower , Atticus felt a brief spike of discomfort at the thought that such an innocent display should be making him so aroused but there was no denying it was doing something for him , some parts more than others .
Closing his eyes for a few seconds he counted to ten to reign in his loins and begin to formulate some sort of greeting that didn't come across like a crazed stalker , when the melodic humming abruptly stopped , he opened them again to see those all to familiar black sun glasses looking straight at him , he froze like a dear in headlights .
As he was wondering how and indeed if she had actually known he was there, all doubt was put paid to when her small southern laden voice rang out '' mmmmm..Hello , is there somebody there?''
Her voice didn't sound frantic , but there were definitely tinges of Panic there , she had rose to her feet and begun backing away from her basket ,hands clutched together and twisted in front of her , Atticus felt another sharp spike of guilt that he was now scaring her .
Before anymore damage could be done he sucked in a breath and exhaled before breaking cover very slowly and walking into the clearing to join her , he was hugely grateful and encouraged that this time there was no screaming and no running .
'' Atticus ?...is that you '' Sookie's face still bore a little shock but the fear had been toned down
'' Errr yeah it's me , I was just passing and thought id drop by...and stuff '' Atticus felt like kicking himself for saying something so unbelievably stupid '' Just passing ? '' .
Sookie cocked her head to the side a little and frowned '' You...were just passing in the woods ? ...passing what ? ''
Raising his hand Atticus ran his fingers through his hair and coughed '' Ok...ok you got me I wasn't just passing anything , I came to see you ...and stuff ''
Sookie's face broke out into a smile that just about melted the young were from his core out
'' You came to see me ...I don't really get visitors that often , why did you come all the way out here to see me '' .
Atticus coughed again and put his hand behind him to fish out the package wedged into the back of his trousers
'' Well when we were talking and stuff you kind of mentioned that you liked this an all and I wanted to say thanks for not telling on me about our little err...mishap so I picked this up , and it's not much or anything but ..'' Atticus was broke out of his ramble by Sookie bounding over closer to him
'' You got me a book ! '' Stunned the young were stared open mouthed for a second before looking down at the still wrapped copy of Harper Lee's work .
Sookie quickly attempted to cover her Telepathic slip and repeated slower and with a slight questioning inflection '' You got me a book ? ''
'' Errr...yeah , I did '' Holding the present out for Sookie to take she hesitated for a second before excepting the packaged and eagerly unwrapping it to reveal the books front cover .
Sookie ran her fingers over the gold embossed lettering and brown leather ,opening it she saw on the inside front cover there was a neat little message in a flowing hand
To Sookie with Thanks ' Atticus
looking back up at Atticus she smiled even wider than before as she clutched the book to her chest and sniffled a little
'' Thank you '' Her voice was high pitched and strained and she fought back tears
'' Wow wow , why is there crying , there shouldn't be crying '' Atticus looked alarmed as he stepped forward to rub his hand awkwardly but still gently on the girls arm
'' I'm not crying '' Sookie insisted even as she wiped a stray tear off her cheek '' It's just you didn't have to or anything , but I really love this book and I haven't read it in years and ...well I don't know I'm just really grateful and...''
'' Your welcome '' Atticus interrupted to save Sookie from her loss for words , he couldn't help but smile at the display , tears from a woman were normal kryptonite to him but as long as these seemed to be happy tears then he guessed it was ok .
'' Do you want to sit down with me for a bit ? '' Sookie gestured to her previous small patch of ground and basket
Grinning Atticus nodded and followed her to sit in the grass
Once settled the young were stole little glances at the girl as she continued to inspect the book she had just received , becoming aware the silence was stretching a little he attempted to make conversation
'' Soooo...what are you up to out here ? ''
Sookie gently laid her new prize down and picked up her basket for Atticus to inspect
'' I make oils and lotions out of them , my gran showed me how , Pam buys me ones from the shops now but I still like these better , plus I like sitting out here , its peaceful and I get to lay in the sun ''
Atticus gulped as his eyes wandered down Sookies golden brown bare arms and onto the swell of her breasts .
'' It looks good on you ...the sun I mean ,... the sun looks good on you ..'' His voice wandered off before he could get himself into any more trouble ,or say anything else stupid , he hadn't been this nervous since the school disco when he was thirteen .
Sookie smiled happily '' It looks good on everyone ...it looks good on you to '' She wasn't exactly sure what that meant ,but he had said something nice about her so she thought it best to reciprocate , she was a little nervous about her guest but not in a bad way , his thoughts were so hard to read it wasn't even that much work on her shields even when he touched her , there was a grey mist moving through his mind that was just making it hard to make anything clear out , but what she could get all seemed to be friendly or good natured ...and that he liked her legs , she still couldn't believe he came all the way here just to bring her a book she said she liked it was so sweet , before she could start crying again she tried to change the subject .
'' Thanks for the work you did on my drive it looks great , I think Eric and Pam's cars would thank you as well , Pam said she might have had to buy a tank if it hadn't been fixed , but I think she was just kidding I don't think it was that bad...but I wouldn't really know , I can't drive ''.
Cocking an eye brow the were answered a little surprised '' You can't drive ? , I don't think I've met anyone who lives this far out who couldn't , isn't it a pain when you need to go someplace ? ''
The smile vanished from Sookie's lips as she dropped her head to stare at her hands as she twisted them together ''mmmm...I don't go out much ...but I get lifts sometimes from Pam..and sometimes Eric ''
Sensing he had somehow touched a nerve Atticus wanted to get off the topic , he wasn't sure what he had said that was wrong , but something in him just didn't want to upset her , he wanted the smile back .
'' So tell me...how do you make oils from flowers ? ''
The question had the desired effect and Sookie's head shot up with a smile slowly spreading soon after , scooting closer she began to impart the knowledge her Gran had given her not far from that very spot , overhead the sun slowly passed as the day and then afternoon drew on , its journey was ignored by the relaxed couple , they were far to engrossed in their tranquil and cheerful exchange to notice .