"Friend of foe?" Eric asked, taking in my reaction, the rest of the room had turned their attention to the door as well

"Both" I signed and walked over, taking in a huge breath before opening the door and plastering on a fake smile

"SURPRISE!" screamed the group of people. This was the last lot of people I wanted to see here. Jason stood in front a huge smile plastered on his face and Crystal under his arm, she like me had a fake smile as did the group of panthers behind them, and Calvin harris stood to one side watching me carefully. Real smiles were on the faces of Tara and Lafayette who grabbed me up into a three way hug, each kissing a cheek. I softened a little at that. Sam was also there and gave me a shy, apologetic smile.

"I cant believe you guys are here" I said trying to cover my nerves with my crazy smile

"So are you surprised?!" Jason asked excitedly pulling me into his arms for a hug

"Oh yes" I breathed out giving a quick look to Calvin conveying my displeasure at this situation

"I knew you said we could do it next weekend but I wanted to see you on your birthday and you said you'd be here so I thought why not celebrate your birthday with family!" his naive nature should annoy me but I found it so endearing to see this innocent boy who just wanted everything to be okay for everyone. It was hard to be mad at him but I also had a room full of vamps who would not only despise hotshot trash near them but weres as well. I was stuck for what to do. Thankfully in the next moment Eric was beside me. He held a pleasant smile that didn't reach his eyes

"Most guests" he stated looking out to the crowd, I watched him note Calvin and Sam specifically. Mainly because they were the two who should know better

"Hope you don't mind us party crashing" Jason laughed and smacked Eric's shoulder. I felt Eric suppress his natural urge to react aggressively and a strained smile took his face

"Of course not. Sookie's family is always welcome. Please come in" Eric had to pull me a little to get me to step aside with him. My whole being was rejecting the idea of these two very different sides of my life colliding.

They all walked in, the weres more cautiously then Jason, Tara or Lafayette who just took in their surroundings. I watched as the vamps looked at the panthers, some growling low. Eric shot them a warning look and they stopped. Thankfully Jason had not noticed, he was all smiles, walking up and putting his present on the table, Tara and Lafayette followed suit.

Suddenly Eric's body was in front of my but I didn't look up to his eyes, my stare was trained on the part of his chest that a second before was where I could see the table with my worlds colliding.

"Lover, can you do this?" he asked, I could tell he didn't completely understand but he understood enough to want to help support me in my total panic. I didn't answer for a moment "Lover?" Eric asked again, and gently put his hand on my face, looking into mine with concern.

"Yeah, ummm… yeah I can do this" I said uncertainly, fighting the knot building in my stomach "Its one night right?" I said more to myself, just at that moment, Ginger walked by and I grabbed her arm "double Bourbon, neat" before taking a deep breath and walking around Eric. My crazy Sookie smile in place. Godric and Pam were not fooled by my fake smile and I could see Amelia and Claudine were quite dubious.

"So how do you guys know my sis?" Jase asked, putting his arm around me, I thought this a good moment to chime in and basically lie. The truth would be way way too much for him.

"This is Godric" I pulled Jason over to him my mind reeling for all the lies I could think of for my connection with these people "An associate of Eric's and a friend of mine" I said lamely, Godric lifted an eyebrow but said nothing

"Nice to meet you" Jase said smiling widely, Godric returned his smile like an adult looking at a cute but oblivious child

"Pleasure is all mine" he said simply, offering me a sympathetic look

"This is Claudine, she's…" I stopped, I couldn't tell the truth not really "She's a good friend of mine from my life before Bon temps" Claudine greeted him kindly, thankfully all these people were well versed in hiding who they were so this was nothing new. Jason shook her hand but his eyes flashed a funny look. I moved on quickly before he could linger "This is Amelia, another friend from my former life" Amelia hugged him quickly, she was a bit of a hugger

"Its so nice to finally meet Sookie's family, you can really see the family resemblance" she said looking between us

"Well thanks, we got good genes in our family" He said tightening his arms around me affectionately

"And this is Alcide. He's a friend" I said simply, I saw Jason's nostrils flair

"I feel like we know each other" Jase said looking at him curiously

"Construction!" I said a bit too loudly, getting their attention "you probably met him doing work for the road" I explained, and not the real reason which was that you probably smelt him around the house or area while out hunting

"That must be it" Jase said shaking his hand

"Yeah probably, busy line of work we are in. meeting lots of new faces" Alcide glanced at me unsure but I just nodded

"and finally this is Pam, she works for Eric, she's his manager, runs everything here at the club" I said simply, which was kind of true

"its nice to meet you ma'am" Jase replied wide smile, Pam looked at him suspiciously until I felt something go from Eric to her and she smiled as close to friendly as Pam gets in a smile anyway

"And you" she said simply "I'll get some drinks coming" She took that moment to turn on her heel and disappear. I closed my eyes briefly

"Looks like a good group of friend you got here sook, wonder why we havn't met earlier" He looked around curious but not accusatory, that's what I liked about Jason, everything was assumed good not bad

"A lot of them are from out of state" I explained, knowing out of state was a bit of a shortcoming for Claudine

"why do they all smell so weird?" Jason's thoughts rang out

"Jase can we talk a moment" I asked, taking his hand and pulling him over to the side "look I know your confused given these people are a bit different but you should know none of them are human so just let it be okay?" I asked and he stopped for a second before smiling at me

"I'm not going to embarrass you, don't worry. I just want to celebrate your birthday with you, that's all" He said pulling m into his side and I smiled softly. He was so sweet, and oblivious and naive and I hoped to god he would never lose that, I could use a little more of that in my life.