I felt Eric get close long before he dropped from the sky, landing effortlessly a few feet from us.
"I think I'll head back to the party, say my goodbyes. You'll hear from me soon" Claudine said hugging me again before disappearing with a pop. I turned and sat back down on the swing, looking at Eric.
"You are aware of how much I despise you running off like that" Eric said, leaning on the frame of the swing beside me
"Technically I teleported, I didn't run" I said but the look on his face told me he was not in the mood for glib comments "Sorry" I mumbled looking down "It's been a bit of a stressful night" I replied looking back at him. I felt so exhausted.
"I know lover" he said softly kneeling in front of me to look into my eyes "But you don't need to run from me" I smiled softly at him
"you're the last person I want to run from. I just needed to get out of there. Really it was an accident. I didn't mean to pop out I just got so overwhelmed and I guess this place popped into my head. I don't even know where we are" I said looking around
"I do" a voice came from behind Eric, I had been so caught up in my feelings and conversation with Eric I didn't feel Claudine pop back with another in tow. Jason stood there looking at me nervously so Claudine spoke.
"He returned to the club when I popped back looking for you" She said. It was quiet as Jason and I awkwardly looked at each other. He was visibly uncomfortable not to mention what I was getting from his brain
"Perhaps a walk" Eric said looking expectantly at Claudine who nodded and they walked off into the dark, it would have been amusing the distance they kept from each other if I wasn't feeling so down.
"You came back?" I asked simply swinging the swing back and forth gently
"Yeah, it didn't feel right. Leavin' you like that" Jason stood there awkwardly putting his hands in his pockets
"It was a lot of information for one conversation. I shouldn't have dropped it all on you like that" I said apologetically
"it wasn't that" he shrugged, kicking at the dirt "I just feel like I knew so little about our family, and you knew a lot but you didn't tell me" his eyes looked betrayed and I fought the tears behind my eyes
"I didn't want you to hate me" I said softly, lucky he has were hearing now
"I could never hate you sook" he said taking a few steps forward "but I had never even heard of these fae people until tonight and then everything else with mum and dad…" he trailed off
"I know, in my defence I only found out about that more recently. But I did know about our heritage from when I was away" I explained I felt so guilty for keeping this from him, he deserved to know just as much as I did
"I don't blame you sook, I get you were trying to protect me and after everything you told me about your other life, I get it. You didn't get to have a family so you wanted to protect me from what you knew" I nodded, a lot of people thought Jase was dumb but he understood people in a way many of us never would.
"I spent all my life keeping these secrets inside, being honest with you didn't even occur to me. And I'm sorry for that" I wished at that moment that Jason was a mind reader so he could understand how truly sorry I was
"It's okay" he shrugged "a lot of stuff is different these days" his eyes looked a little sad. Maybe a part of Jase still pined for the simpler life he had before as a human "I see the cross got to ya" he said moving in to sit beside me on the swing, smiling softly as he looked around
"what do you mean?" I asked my brows furrowed
"well this park" he said indicating around. He must have taken in my confused face "Don't you remember?" I just shook my head "You were 3 and it was mum's birthday. Dad brought the whole family out here for a picnic. Gran served some of her famous potato salad and biscuits" he smiled fondly at the memory and I put my hand on his arm, letting myself be immersed in the warm feelings and small age degraded images the memory of that day brought to Jason's mind "And for mums birthday dad gave her the necklace I gave you tonight. To be honest she wasn't that religious but dad also wasn't very romantic of a guy so when mum saw it she was so happy. I still remember the way they looked at each other. They were so in love" he finished, he was staring ahead of us at a picnic table where our family had once gathered. I could see us all there clear as day in his mind. He turned to look at me "We were a family back then" he said simply his face turning sad. I pulled closer to him wrapping my arms around his arm and laying my head on his shoulder looking at the table.
"We are still a family, just smaller now" I replied, we sat in silence both immersed in the thoughts of a life lost to us. After awhile Jason spoke
"We used to come here a lot" he stood and walked around behind me "and you'd spend hours makin me push you on the swing" he laughed and gently pushed. I smiled gently, lifting my feet as I swung. Suddenly Jason's voice got sad "I kept comin back here after you guys were gone. I thought maybe I'd come here and you'd be sittin on the swing waiting for me to come and give you a push" I felt the sadness in his mind, it was so intense and devastating. I had to put all my effort into not crying "But eventually I stopped. It got too much, ya know" he finished
"I know it probably doesn't help much but I was out there missing you just as much" I said softly, remembering the dreams I'd have of playing with Jason in the yard, only to wake up in some bed in a random orphanage. Every morning it was devastating, similar to what Jason had felt every time he would come here and see it empty
"It helps a bit…" he said "but it also doesn't" he stopped "I don't know if that makes much sense but I don't know how else to say it" I just nodded, I couldn't see his face but I didn't have to. Loss was something I understood, in one day both Jason and I lost our parents and a sibling. Even after being reunited there is still a craving for those years lost, the time not spent together, not being raised together.
Jason walked back around me and pulled the box that had our mothers cross necklace in it, out of his pocket.
"I saw this at the club and thought I should bring it with me" he said removing it from the box and putting it around my neck. Something about it felt so warm and comforting. Like I had known it so well in another life.
"thank you, I'll wear it as much as I can" I said running my hand along the metal "I'll have to take it off when I'm with Eric given its silver and all" I finished, still playing with the metal between my finger and Jason sat down beside me.
"Yeah I remember you telling me, so why do you think I can touch it?" he asked and I looked at him thoughtfully. Silver was usually not a good combination for weres either
"Well most weres can touch silver and just have it be uncomfortable, its more a problem if you are cut or shot with silver" I explained, it was feasible but still he didn't seem to be agitated by the touch of the necklace which I found very interesting. Jason just shrugged and grabbed the chain on my swing as he swung back and forth to keep us in sync. We swung there for awhile until I felt the return of Claudine and Eric. They looked as uncomfortable together as when they had left and I was willing to bet not a word was spoken between them. I offered Eric a small thankful smile which he returned.
"So what now?" Jason asked looking around
"well you have a choice, you can either pop back to the club with Claudine or fly back with Eric and I" I offered, popping can be uncomfortable for non-fae so I wasn't sure how he'd feel about it. Maybe the fae blood in him gave him a pass.
"Can't I do the pop thing with you?" Jason asked looking at Claudine suspiciously. I couldn't blame him, she was our fae cousin and he now knew what or other fae cousins had done to me
"Well I don't really have control of it. And I can't pop around like Claudine I need energy and I cant do it this close together. I need a few hundred years more practice" I laughed and Claudine joined in
"Oh. Hey that's something I just thought of!" Jason said excitedly and I looked at him expectantly "You'll be able to watch after my kid after I go, keep it safe" he said, a smile on his lips, I smiled back trying not to think of Jason dying
"Ill give it my best shot" I said lightly and stood walking over to Eric "You'll be fine with Claudine. You can trust her" I reassured and he nodded still looking at her suspiciously as she offered him her hand with a warm smile. She understood why he was nervous. In the next second they were gone and I turned to Eric "are we far from the club?" I asked
"no lover, we are not very far from Bon Temps, it will not take long. Which is fortuitous given you do not have your coat and the temperature is quite low" he lifted me from the ground, cradling me to his chest and vaulted into the air.
We landed at fangtasia quickly, thankfully since I was turning blue. Eric hurried me inside and put me on my feet, rubbing his hands up and down my arms, trying to warm me up. Claudine informed me that Jason had gone home as he had to get back to crystal. And then she too left given her cloaking magic was wearing thin and catching the attention of a few of the younger vamps. I hugged her and went to walk over to the table before Pam suddenly cut me off.
"Sookie I swear I had no idea all those ferals would show up" She said quickly, sneering at the mention of the panthers
"It's okay Pam, I know you had good intentions for tonight. It's just my birthday, I shouldn't have expected it to be normal" I smiled at her and walked past before mumbling "its cursed like the rest of my life" I put on another smile as I stopped in front of Godric
"So you informed your brother I see" he said simply and I nodded "Well I believe it was for the best" he said pulling out a chair at the table for me to it on which I took with a 'thank you'. "how is he taking the situation?"
"better then expected, not many people would handle all that information at once but he recovered quickly. At first I wasn't sure if he would ever speak to me again" I said taking the drink ginger handed me
"Well I am glad to see that is not the case" Godric replied, Ginger was making him uncomfortable with her lingering and flirting, I just smirked into my glass which earned me a look of amusement from him
"Only time will tell how he actually handles all this. Got to give it time for the shock to wear off completely" I continued and Godric nodded along. A moment later Eric sat beside me and Pam beside him, Amelia and Alcide who had been sitting in a booth most the night talking joined us as well. All the vamps had left, I guess when Eric had come to get me so it was just us. Eric put his arm around the back of my chair and I leant back against him.
'he's hot your vamp' Amelia thought to me and I smirked taking another sip of my drink, a slight nod along with it 'good in bed I bet too, is he proportionate?' I spluttered as I worked to not choke on the bourbon as I heard that. Amelia smirked at me over the table and I tried to hide my laugh
"Lover, are you okay?" Eric asked looking at me concerned, he could feel I was amused
"just fine" I replied kicking Amelia gently under the table, she giggled and wiggled her eyebrows at me "Control yourself" I said to her laughing, everyone else at the table was watching us curiously.
'Any info you can give me on whether Alcide is proportional too?' she thought and I rolled my eyes, shaking my head 'damn and here I thought I might get the inside scoop' she smirked. She enjoyed being able to say things too me via my telepathy, she enjoyed even more making me react in public too it to embarrass myself.
"Not unless you become a telepath yourself" I said out loud, ignoring the looks around the table, Godric was just smiling to himself and Eric had an amused look on his face, Pam was bored and Alcide looked confused
'Could happen, I was able to take away your powers for a bit maybe I could give it to myself. Take a peek around in peoples minds' she looked at me mischievously
"its not as fun as you'd think" I said simply sipping my drink
'probably not, but still I could find out if this gorgeous specimen beside me is single and interested' she thought and I smirked, I took a quick peek into Alcides brain before speaking
"yes and hell yes" I said simple and she beamed at me
"Care to let us in on the joke lover?" Eric said smirking at me
"nope" I smirked back, giving him a wink
"So how does this compare to other birthdays Sookie?" Alcide asked trying to take the conversation to an outside level
"Well no one died so I call that a win" I smirked "cheers" I held up my glass and Amelia and Alcide clinked their to mine. None of the vamps had any glasses
"Its nice to see you spend some time with humans" Amelia commented casually "Tara and Lafayette seem nice, although I had no idea your brother was a were" she said looking at me curiously wondering why I hadn'T mentioned it to her before
"That's a bit of a newer development" I mumbled
"Oh I get it, touchy subject" he said looking at me apologetically
"well his turning wasn't exactly consensual, so yeah really touchy subject" I replied
"Oh wow, I bet the were that turned him regretted that decision. I imagine you made him pay dearly" Amelia said but looked approving so I told her the story of what I did in hotshot "no wonder all those weres here were so jumpy around you" she laughed, Alcide looked at me curiously
"I hadn't heard anything about that" he said watching me carefully
"yeah well most packs don't exactly brag about all of them being brought to their knees by a lone 5 foot nothing girl with a shot gun" I said shrugging, I didn't expect that story to spread
"No I guess not but it was a ballsy thing to do. Pardon my phrasing" he replied still looking at me curiously
"not really, they were just weres" I quickly realised what I had said "no offence" I added taking another sip of my drink. I saw Eric and Pam smirk
"none taken" he replied but his mind betrayed him, offence was definitely taken
"nothing can be done now anyway, beside not only is Jason now a were, I have a little were niece or nephew on the way" I fought an eye roll but couldn't help the sigh
"Don't want a were related to you" Alcide said stiffly and then I actually did roll my eyes. Yep he was offended
"Not ones that force their lifestyle on my brother through torture and pain" I replied, meeting his eyes with a challenging stare, he just looked down at the table
"that's fair" he mumbled. At that moment Godric pulled my attention pointing to his watch. I looked.
"Almost over" I said, sipping my drink with a small smile "next year I swear I'm just disappearing and I'll see you all the day after my birthday" I laughed and they joined me but was only kinda joking. This evening had not warmed me up to wanting to celebrate my birthday again.
"do you think when you were born you could hear the doctors thoughts?" Amelia asked randomly and I stopped to think. Obviously I couldn't remember back that far and I wouldn't of understood what he was saying.
"maybe" I replied looking at my drink thoughtfully "It must have been hard for my parents in the first few years trying to figure out how I knew what I knew" I added, I hadn't really given this much thought and I wondered if Jason had any memories of them discovering my little secret.
"I wonder if you can hear the thoughts of your brothers baby" she wondered again, following her train of thought
"Well it wouldn't have a language yet so there would be nothing for me to hear" I replied
"Yeah but it will be a were so couldn't you feel its emotions?" she asked and I stopped to think. It was a possibility, not at this stage it was barely more then fused membrane but maybe closer to the birth. I sat in thought as I wondered what it would be like to hear a baby's emotions. I didn't have much or really any experience around pregnant people to find out for myself.
"Interesting idea" was all I said but it did give me some thoughts into how much of my gift had I not explored. I had dropped into Eric's mind once but it was so terrifying I didn't dare go back or explore the idea of going into vampires minds, I knew I could break barriers in glamouring or were's minds but what about other demons. There was a lot I still didn't know about my gift because I had always been too scared to explore but maybe it was time to start.
