A little bonus chapter for you - technically it's like an outtake, but I figured it would be easier to find it if I post it here. A few words of explanation: I started to write it after watching the first two episodes of this season of TB and hearing some ridiculous statements about what awaits us at the end of the show. It made me so frustrates that i needed to let off some steam. That's how this chapter came to be.

As always, big thanks to my Beta, Breathesgirl, for making it more readable!

Disclaimer: It takes me by surprise every time too, but I still don't own SVM.

Have you ever done something that you knew you really, really shouldn't, but you just couldn't help yourself? Like when you were a child and you were told not to pet stray animals, but there was that kitty with a funny tail you just had to touch? Yeah, that's how I felt.

"Sookie, I'm sure he deserved it. Even though you never told me exactly what it was that he did to you, and part of me was happy to watch you putting him in his place, but you can't do that when you're at work.

I'm not mad at you and I won't fire you but this can't happen again. Not in my bar, not when you're waitressing. I need to know it was a one-time thing. Can you promise me that?"

"Yes, Sam," I said meekly.

***twenty minutes earlier***

I was cleaning the table after a group of customers left when I felt what was slowly becoming the familiar buzz of my cell-phone against my hip.

I smirked to myself. I got a text and I could bet it was from Eric. He claimed that he just wanted to give me some practice in typing on my new phone. That may have been the truth but it sure wasn't the whole truth.

I carried the tray with the dirty dishes back to the kitchen before fishing the phone out of my pocket. It was a slow night so I could afford to check my texts between customers.

I guessed right; It was from Eric.

'I'm bored'.

Seriously? He was bored?

'What r u doing?' I texted back.

'What I'm best at'.

I raised my eyebrows. Some of my favourite of Eric's skills were the ones that he'd better not be practicing without me present. I simply sent him a question mark before going to take the order from the new patrons that had sat down at one of my tables. My phone buzzed again a few seconds later.

I read his explanation, 'Sitting and looking pretty'.

I snickered. I guessed he was on throne duty at Fangtasia.

'You poor thing' – I typed quickly and went back to work. I was busy for the next five minutes so by the time I was able to check his reply I already had not one but three more texts from him. My, it looked like he really was bored.

'You can make it all better,' read the first one. I could almost hear the tone of his voice. Typical Eric. The next one was a cross between demanding and whiny:

'Why are you not here?'

And then…

'One night I'm going to kick everyone out, lock the club and fuck you on this stupid throne. Then I'll think about that every time I look at it rather than how bored I am sitting here without you to amuse me'.

I blushed furiously. My ears were on fire. My mouth was dry. My… okay, maybe I don't need to describe the condition of my other body parts. On fire. Not dry.

I wanted to hide the phone immediately but it buzzed again before I managed to

'If you keep texting him the crawling ones will notice he's getting hard on the stage. By all means, keep it up;)'

Oh, God. I'm sure I was beet-red at that point.

And did Pam just send me a smiley face?

The sound of the bell announcing a new customer entering startled me and I jumped. I quickly looked up, all flustered, and saw the person at the entrance: Bill.

I stared at him like I was a deer caught in the headlights – or a kid with a hand in the cookie jar – phone still in hand. Everyone in the bar stopped talking but their thoughts were anything but quiet. It was the first time Bill had been to Merlotte's since he returned from Jackson and he sat in my section. Bastard.

Maxine Fortenberry huffed indignantly from the nearby table, "Some people," she said loudly, seemingly to no one in particular, "have no shame."

Then she gave Bill the evil eye and was thinking about the audacity of him showing his face in public as if nothing had happened after he cheated on me with some girl who was also his relative. My eyes bulged and then I remembered the town gossip that Jason had shared with me one night. Bill looked at Maxine a little surprised but blissfully ignorant. Oh boy, he had no idea. I may be the town freak but I'm their freak.

Maxine considered asking me for the bill and leaving because she didn't want to sit in the same space with a creep like Bill (her thoughts, not mine) but she decided against it since it would mean that she might miss all the juicy gossip.

"Do you want me to handle this?" Sam asked me worriedly.

I didn't even notice him coming out of the back.

"No, thanks. I got it."

I stuck my phone back in my pocket and walked stiffly to Bill's table: Every pair of eyes followed me.

"Bill," I said simply. "Can I get you a True Blood?"

"Sookie," he breathed. "It's good to see you."

Oh, for fuck's sake.

"I'm afraid we're out of O neg," I informed him, ignoring his statement. I couldn't exactly say 'likewise' because it wasn't.

He waved his hand, dismissing the synthetic blood. The whole bar was still hanging on our every word.

"I don't care about the blood. Listen, I know that things didn't exactly go well the last time we saw each other."

No shit. He almost raped and killed me and he called it 'not exactly well'?

I didn't say anything, I just stared at him.

"I was hoping that we could talk," he said when he realised I wasn't going to reply.

"No," I said.

He was a little taken aback.

"No?"

"No, Bill, we can't. I'm busy. Sorry," I added not quite sincerely, but remembering my manners. "What's your order?"

Never mind that I was so busy that I still had time to sneak around to play with my cell-phone and read naughty texts from Eric before Bill arrived but he didn't need to know that.

"Please, Sookie, I want to apologise to you. We need to fix this."

I stared at him disbelievingly. Fix it? Was he delusional? I opened my mouth to say something but at that exact moment the door opened again and my brother walked into the bar.

"Motherfucker," Jason said when his eyes landed on Bill – and a few locals wondered if he meant it literally. The rumour was clearly out of control. Well, considering Lorena… "Get the hell away from my sister!"

He angrily marched toward us. He didn't even know what Bill did to me a few days ago, or that he'd been working on procuring me for the vampire queen. He was only aware that Bill cheated on me and dumped me for another woman. I was a little touched by his brotherly concern but I needed to stop him.

"Jason, I can handle this," I told him, stepping to block his path.

"I'm gonna rip his dick off!"

"Too late for that," I muttered to myself.

Jason didn't catch it but Sam's eyes widened and he turned a little green.

Bill wisely stayed quiet.

"I appreciate your concern but I'm fine and I don't want you to get into a fight at my workplace, especially a fight against a vampire," I told Jason calmly, stopping him by putting my hands on his chest. "He's not worth it."

Jason looked at me confused, disagreement plain in his eyes. Bill's worthlessness was exactly why he wanted to beat him.

Suddenly he got worried.

"You're not taking him back, are you?" he asked. "Sook…"

"NO! No. Jeez, Jason, of course not," he looked relieved. "I'm not a pushover. Besides, I'm with Eric now."

Bill snorted when he heard my last statement. There went his temporary silent wisdom. I stiffened and turned slightly to shoot him a deadly glare.

The customers' minds buzzed with excitement and curiosity.

"Do you have something to say, Bill?" I asked icily.

"Let's be real Sookie. I understand that you wanted to get back at me by going to Eric but you can stop pretending that you are in any kind of relationship with him now. It worked, I learned my lesson. I know that Eric is very attractive but casual sex is not really your thing and Eric doesn't do relationships. This isn't you, Sookie. You already punished me, you don't need to keep it up."

I saw red. I was guilty myself of doubting my relationship with Eric too many times in the past, but for some reason when someone else tried to question it I got furious.

I let go of Jason's jacket and turned fully toward Bill.

"You think everything is about you, don't you?" I asked flatly.

He sat there, in all his Billiness, with his snotty voice and bad haircut, pissy attitude included, and he somehow thought that he was better than Eric, even after everything that happened.

I balled my fists, "You're right," I gritted out. "Eric is attractive. He's loyal, honourable and trustworthy. All very attractive qualities but you wouldn't know about those."

He gave a look that was simultaneously doubtful and wounded and that just made my blood boil more.

"You can't seriously be so naïve as to think that there is anything more than sex in this for Eric," he said.

"Why? Because vampires don't have feelings?" I mocked. "Or wait, maybe you're the only one who does?"

"I just don't want to see you get hurt."

I almost forgot about Jason until he spoke before I could reply:

"Then you shouldn't have hurt her yourself!"

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Bill hung his head. At least he realized that he was supposed to look ashamed. All too soon his show of contriteness ended.

"What I meant is you don't know Eric like I do." Yeah, well, I highly doubted that Bill knew Eric the way I did – in the biblical sense. "You're kind-hearted and you want to see the best in humans and vampires alike but it makes you blind to the ugly truth."

"Did you just call me stupid?" I blurted.

"No, Sookie," he sighed patiently. "I called you good."

Which was probably the same thing to him.

"But stupid," I pointed out stubbornly. My lips twitched, "And did you just call Eric ugly?"

"Hey, man, that ain't cool," my brother unexpectedly sided with Eric. He frowned and thought hard about something before adding: "Or true."

I almost cracked a smile hearing that, but I was so mad at Bill that I refrained. My phone buzzed again and I was sure it was my pretty vampire wondering what got me so riled up. I ignored it for the time being.

Apparently, Bill just couldn't shut up.

"Eric is not the man for you."

"Funny. I distinctly remember that you weren't trying to make Eric into a monster when met him for the first time at Fangtasia. In fact you were trying to push me at him with your words." I said with cold fury. Yes, Eric had his flaws but who doesn't? It made my blood boil hearing that Bill, of all people, had the gall to bad-mouth him. He was in no position to judge him! "In fact, I think you said that he was pretty decent for a vampire – which makes me suspect that you just use whatever line you can think of whenever you get jealous, without caring if you're keeping your story straight."

"I understand that Eric has a certain… allure to him, " he said it as if allure was a dirty word. "He's handsome and he has a similar zest for life as you – but do you really believe that he's going to settle down and play house with you? That he'll listen when you want to talk to him about your day or hold you as you sleep? Let's face it, Sookie, he's not exactly a guy that would spend holidays with you or let you cry on his shoulder when you need to."

That actually made me pause but not for the reasons Bill intended – as ludicrous as it sounded when Bill painted the picture of the bad-ass vampire sheriff acting the way he described, didn't Eric do all those things for me? More so, wasn't that how he acted around me from the beginning?

I swallowed. Oh, Eric.

"You're wrong," I said quietly. "You don't know Eric. It would seem you don't know me either, so don't tell me what is me and what isn't. I have a feeling you'd be surprised with many things that I find myself enjoying." My eyes turned into slits. I had to bite my tongue when the memory of an ice-cream covered Eric surged into my mind: I barely managed to keep myself from sharing details of that adventure with Bill. It didn't mean, however, that I was going to restrain myself completely. I had a bad habit of losing control of my brain-mouth filter when I was pissed. "For the record, I seduced Eric, not the other way around. I went to Fangtasia all dressed up and dragged Eric to his office to fuck his brains out."

"Ooo-kay, Sookie, I think…" Sam started coming around from behind the counter.

"Jesus, Sook!" Jason shouted at the same time, covering his ears. "I didn't need to hear that!"

The bar was buzzing excitedly but I didn't pay them any attention. Bill and I were staring each other down and judging by the look on his face, I got to him too, this time.

"Eric is cunning, ruthless and dangerous," he said clearly, his eyes shooting daggers at me. "He's also a self-serving, manipulative, cold-hearted man-whore."

I felt my blood rushing hotly to my face. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been so mad. I guess my expression mirrored my feelings because somehow everyone, even my brother, knew not to say anything this time. It was suddenly so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. That's why I (and probably everyone else in the bar) heard Sam's soft 'shit' in the background. He froze waiting for what I would do next.

I took a step forward and slammed my empty tray on Bill's table.

"Eric is a good man," I said gravely and for the first time I didn't feel a twinge of doubt about this statement. Eric was dangerous. He could be ruthless, too. Inhuman, even – and unapologetic about it. But he wasn't evil. No, he was fierce, but just – passionate about the people he loved and the things he believed in. He could also be kind and caring and generous. He was… he was…

That was when Bill made his final mistake: he snorted.

I tried to stop myself. I really did – but when I looked at his priggish smirk, my hands literally itched. I had to do something. It was like watching a car-crash: I couldn't do anything to get myself under control as I stepped aside, as if compelled, and with a false sweetness said, "Excuse me," to the couple sitting at the next table before taking the guy's chili and calmly pouring the contents of the bowl on Bill's stunned head. After a split second of consideration I topped it with a basket of fries.

"Don't mess with the people I love," I said loudly enough for everyone to hear me.

Oh, shit!

What the hell did I just say?

I looked around wildly only to see everyone staring right at me. My eyes searched desperately for something, anything, I could use as a diversion to turn attention away from what I just said. I froze when I found it. Sam leapt forward and, noticing the direction of my gaze, caught my wrist. He dragged me away before my hand started darting toward a toothpick I could stake Bill with.

I sighed.

Eric was never going to let me live this down once he heard about it.

I'll use the time while Bill still has his head covered with food to make an announcement: I'm working on translating one of my Polish multi-chap stories and it should be up soon. I'm still not sure what the title is going to be in English, so just look for the new story with my name attached!