Being a school day and work day meant Merlottes was fairly quiet. Even with only a handful of people it always managed to have a great welcoming atmosphere that I loved. I rarely come to Merlottes as a paying customer but as our burgers were delivered to us I was glad I had thought of coming here. Jason inhaled his burgers like there was no tomorrow, finishing before either Hunter or I had finished our half. I stared at him in astonishment and he merely shrugged giving me a shit eating grin. He was all too impressed with himself. It was my turn to grin when he started getting a stomach cramp, "that's what you get for not chewing your food properly."
Jason had to go back to work but we weren't ready to leave yet. Hunter was still picking through his burger and his share of the chips. He was absorbed in dissecting his burger, eating different sections at a time, mangling it on his plate. Some bits he wanted cut up which I did for him. I just let him have at it.
Sam handed me my pay check for last week which was ready when Hunter was finished with his food. "Thanks Sam, you didn't have to wait until we were done to come over." I'd noticed he had been hovering for awhile.
He scuffled his feet, looking abashed, "I didn't want to interrupt."
"Nonsense, you're my best friend Sam, I'd never shoo you away, you're always welcome to butt in. Now since no one is needing your excellent bartending or boss skills you better mosey that butt of yours into this booth right this instant to make up for it."
He did as I ordered, wiggling his butt a bit more than necessary into the seat. "So what brings you two in here today, not that I'm not flattered," he winked.
"Well it was time to explore the town, give Hunter the grand tour. We need a lunch break and I wanted to show him where I worked so we hit two birds with one stone. Of course it also gave us an excuse to see the wonderful Sam Merlotte." I saw him blush. One point to Sookie.
"How do you like Bon Temps?" Sam asked Hunter.
"It's fun. Claude and Uncle Jason are funny," Hunter said absently. He had brought in one of his toys and was too busy playing with it.
I leaned in closer to Sam to try and keep Hunter out of it as much as possible with him sitting beside me engrossed in his toy. "The funeral is next Tuesday. We are driving out to Homer with Claude for it. It's being run by the Fellowship."
Sam looked stunned; I didn't blame him, "was Hunter's father a member?"
"Nope, he didn't seem to have any grudges against Supe's. He met Eric in Red Ditch and was good about leaving Hunter with us overnight. But it seems his family are, even though Remy was the one whose wife ran off to become a lesbian vampire which could have become a reason to dislike vampires but didn't. Hunter has been taking it better than I thought he would but I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous about next week. Remy's family despise him and even with a fairy, telepath and the Were guard, I'm not sure I can protect him from that."
He rubbed my arm soothingly, "Don't worry cher, you'll figure something out to help him the best you can. Do you get to keep custody of him?"
"I really don't know. I haven't heard from anyone since Saturday when Andy and Bud dropped by. If I have to I'll battle it out in court, but I'm not letting him go where he isn't wanted."
"I'll help you where ever I can. How much longer do you need off work?"
"At the moment I'm thinking I may be able to come back in at the end of next week after the funeral but at this stage I really don't know. It may be an extra week after that. I'll keep you posted."
"Take as long as you need cher. Know that you'll always have a job here, you're my favourite employee."
"Thanks Sam," there was a faint tugging on my shirt, "what is it Hunter?"
"Can we go dance?" he said.
"Sure thing," I looked at Sam, "Please excuse us Sam, we have a song to catch."
He smiled, "you go on, I have a job to do anyway believe it or not."
I love to dance and it turned out that Hunter did too. I used some quarters to change the song and Hunter put on his own little show requiring very little of my presence, just an audience to dance for, so I brought a chair over to sit and watch. I had picked an upbeat song but it didn't matter, he was all out of time anyway. He was just grooving and shaking like his pants were on fire, his arms flapping wildly.
"Hunter, do you want to try shielding?"I asked after he had danced to two songs and was starting to another.
"Yes please! Can I do it after this song?" he kept dancing and no one would suspect we had a private conversation going on in our heads.
"You can do it now and keep dancing."
"Cool! What do I do?"
I wasn't sure how to explain but I gave it my best shot, "imagine building a wall around your head. The wall is magical because it knocks away what everyone is thinking. It's a big wall that nothing can get past inside your head."
His dancing slowed while he concentrated but he didn't stop moving, "This is hard."
"That's okay, you might not be able to do it by yourself until you're older. We can try another way though."
"What do I do?"
I opened my own shields so I could hear everyone in the bar, "Keep dancing but hold my hands." He did what I said, never breaking in his dance moves on his way over. We held hands but moving around. "Do everyone's thoughts feel louder when you hold my hands?"
"Yes, why?"
"Because contact makes telepathy stronger. You hear my thoughts better with touch but my head also has everyone else's thoughts in it which makes them louder and stronger because you can already hear them by yourself. I want you to focus on only my thoughts now, feel my shielding wall go up, learn what it feels like."
Without breaking a beat in our dancing I put my shields back up with ease after so many years of doing it. "Did you feel it?"
"Yes."
"One day you'll be able to do it too. Now I want you to concentrate on the shields in my head until you can't hear anyone else's thoughts."
His face scrunched up in concentration but he kept dancing, "Wow, I did it!"
"Good boy. Now that you know what it feels like I'm going to let go of your hands but keep focusing on my shields so you can't hear anyone else still." I let go of his hands, "I'm all danced out! Let's go get a drink."
"Okay," he said. I could feel him tapping into my shields so I knew it was working as we walked back to our booth. I could feel it wavering and then, "I lost it."
"That's okay. You did really well. We'll try again another time."
We stopped talking telepathically after that. The other customer's may not notice (there were only three left now that the lunch hour was over) but Sam and Holly might if we just sat in silence for too long. Our facial expressions would be changing too and if they were looking they may work out what Hunter was. Claude and Eric were the only other people who could be in on Hunter's secret.
I was drinking the last of my iced tea and Hunter was guzzling his chocolate milkshake when Lacey and Darcy came in together hand in hand giggling like a new couple in love. I knew they had feelings for each other but they didn't realise that; this was just a show. They said they would keep out of the way unless they had to so I did not like seeing them. I shut my eyes and let my telepathy cast out. The muscles in my stomach tightened and I caught Sam's eye. He took a deep breath through his nose, using his extra sensitive sense of smell. He nodded in my direction confirming what my telepathy told me. There were at least six Were's in the area and who knew how many more were coming.
