A/N: Homestretch time.

Chapter 39

Four Years Later

Pam had booked the flight. Eric had given her no choice. Sookie had been an impenetrable and invisible wall between them ever since Sookie had brought Pam back. She couldn't stand it any longer. And it was damn time that she spoke to Sookie, anyway. They had never even been in the same room together since Sookie had been turned.

The closer she'd gotten to the night of her trip, the more nervous she became. Nervous and anxious and… excited. She was afraid that Eric would notice, so she tried to ignore him even more than usual. She hadn't wanted him to get suspicious. His bonds were always locked down tight now, at least, so she didn't have to worry about him feeling anything. He mostly kept to himself, but he'd moved in with her after he'd been well enough to travel back to Area Five, so she couldn't avoid him completely.

As far as Eric knew, she was on her way to visit her friend Maude, the queen of Minnesota. Instead, she was thirty-five thousand feet in the air, headed west to California. Her private investigator had traced Sookie to a house in Malibu where she was living with her Weres. Eric's poor choice of words in his maker's command in those early days had only forbidden Pam from going to see Sookie in New Orleans.

She was too amped up to spend much of the flight in downtime. She had a seat in first class and occasionally looked out the window, jealous that Eric could see a view like this whenever he liked. Of course, he hadn't done any flying in a long time. Or much of anything else, for that matter. Mostly, she tried to distract herself from how she was feeling. She picked up the in-flight magazine and found an article about Alcide Herveaux and The Werewolves. She read it, despite herself, and checked for any mention of Sookie or Sunshine. There wasn't. When Sookie was mentioned at all, she was just their manager Tray's girlfriend.

Pam had been following their career closely. Six months after the ball, an agent saw them playing a gig and the rest was history. They were quickly signed and their first hit — Sunshine — went straight to number one and stayed there for six weeks. They'd had seven more in the top ten since.

Alcide, Jake, and Maria-Star were the ones with the fans and adulation, of course, but Pam only had eyes for Sookie. She always checked the backgrounds of any pictures she saw, looking for her child. She'd only gotten a couple of glances. They kept her well-hidden.

By the time the flight was touching down at LAX, she was a bundle of nerves and her anxieties had come into focus. She was nervous because she was finally going to meet her child, but also because she wanted to make a good impression and to be accepted. She realized that she wasn't in Los Angeles for Eric or because she could no longer stand to live with his suffering. She was there because she desperately wanted a relationship with her child.

Her anger at Sookie for making him miserable was turning to anger at the circumstances keeping them apart. Eric was Pam's maker, and he deserved her respect and care, but this was her child, and he had forbidden Pam from seeing her. Pam had been pushing her needs and feelings aside for years because of him. She didn't think that she would ever be able to again, unless he made her.

She was staying with Eric's friend William, who was now the King of California. He had been keeping an eye on Sookie at Eric's behest, but was happy to keep Eric in the dark about Pam's visit; William was worried about his old friend as well. And he was the only other vampire who knew that Sookie was Pam's child and not Eric's. She and William talked about Eric and their worries about him until nearly dawn. They had sex and Pam spent the day in his room.

The next evening, she soothed her nerves with a couple of donors and then headed for Malibu in one of William's many cars. She rehearsed what she might say in her head on the way. She knew that this wasn't going to be a happy family reunion, but she hoped that it would be civil. And maybe even leave the door open for a better relationship down the road. She knew that the likelihood of that happening was close to nil, at least for a very long time, but it was a lovely thought.

She nearly turned back twice. She had never felt so unsure. Then again, she had never been on her way to meet her child who had used a wish to bring her back from the finally-dead before, either. There wasn't really a manual for this sort of thing.

She glamoured her way into the gated community and found their house easily. She didn't have to worry about Sookie sensing her emotions, but she couldn't feel Sookie either. She was forbidden from using their bond.

She walked up to the house and had to pause again before she knocked. A very handsome Were swung the door open a couple of seconds later.

His big, friendly smile immediately fell. He was shirtless in just a pair of jeans and smelled like wolf, sex, and vampire. Like Sookie. The bite marks on his neck were very fresh, only a few minutes old.

"Oh. It's you. We were wondering when you would show up."

"May I please speak to Sookie?"

He opened his mouth to say no, but Sookie walked up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"It's fine, Jake."

Pam could tell that she and the Were were having a private conversation in their heads. He obviously claimed defeat and kissed her before leaving the room. Pam tried to rein in a shudder. Sookie caught it and her eyes hardened a little more. She didn't just smell like that Were; she smelled like several, inside and out. She looked at Pam.

"It's Sunshine now. Would you like to come in?"

"Yes. Please."

She followed Sookie through the house to a seating area on the patio. The waves crashed below them but Pam could still hear the wolves close by, shuffling and talking quietly to each other just inside.

They both sat down and neither of them spoke. Pam didn't expect Sookie to, but even though she was the one who had come to see Sookie, she didn't really know what to say, despite her practice runs in the car on the way over. She decided to go with something easy.

"I've been following your wolves' career. They are doing very well."

Sookie smiled. "Yes. They deserve it. They worked hard and sacrificed and have tons of talent. I always knew that they would be successful."

She cocked her head just a little, like she was listening to something, and then sighed and spoke out loud.

"Come on, guys. Scram. I'll be fine." She looked at Pam. "They're overprotective."

Sookie didn't seem like she needed any protection at all. Not only because of what she'd done — Pam knew as much as Eric did, which was too much and not enough — but because of how she carried herself. She would always look like the adorably perky seventeen year old that Pam had turned only a few years before, but she had the presence of a vampire who'd been dead for much longer. Centuries. Her eyes were old. She trained them on Pam, waiting for her to speak.

"I would have come sooner, but Eric forbade me."

"I suppose he would have."

Pam could read nothing on Sookie's face. She tried again.

"I… I'm sorry for the circumstances of your turning. I lost control—"

One of Sookie's shoulders barely lifted in a shrug. "I know."

Pam had been furious at Sookie almost as soon as she'd opened her eyes in the doorway of the penthouse suite, right where she hadn't finally died a few months before. Eric had been inconsolable. Losing Sookie and then getting Pam back had broken him. That one final proof of Sookie's selflessness had torn away his last shred of dignity. But she had nothing to be angry at Sookie for. Sookie hadn't made Eric the way that he was; he had done it all to himself.

She had known this all along, of course, and she had spent a lot of the last four years angry at her maker, but sitting there, looking into her child's face, it hit her how much she'd blamed Sookie for things completely out of her control. Not only that, but for things that had also harmed Sookie.

Pam had so many more things that she wanted to say but none were coming out.

Sookie sat up a little bit straighter but didn't shy away from Pam's gaze. She swallowed but her expression didn't change. "Are you here to command me to go back to him?"

Pam realized that Sookie wasn't as calm and cool as she'd seemed. She was very afraid, but unflinching, sure of what the answer was going to be and resigned to obey, no matter how much she didn't want to.

"No. I won't deny that the thought has occurred to me once or twice, but no. Even if I could, I wouldn't. But it really doesn't matter. I have been commanded to never command you, regardless."

Sookie closed her eyes and her shoulders relaxed just a little. Pam thought that she was communicating with her wolves again.

Sookie opened her eyes and they were, perhaps, just a bit softer than they'd been before. "Then why are you here?"

It was Pam's turn to almost shrug. "Because you're my child. Because it was time. Because I finally could."

Neither of them spoke for a minute or two before Pam asked the question that she wanted the answer to most. "Why did you bring me back?"

Sookie smiled a little, her lips barely curving up. "Because it was the right thing to do."

There was a long pause again. Sookie's composure broke a little. Her deep breath was shaky.

"How is he?"

This was why Pam had come, or at least the reason that she'd told herself that she had. She'd planned to plead his case. And, of course, she did want to see him happy again — for her own sake as well as his. And, if they reconciled, she would be close to Sookie, able to forge a relationship with her. She realized that being able to be the mistress of her child was something that she wanted desperately. But not like this. Not through guilt.

"My blood healed him quickly."

Sookie nodded a little. "And now?"

Pam sighed. "He isn't doing well. It will take time."

Sookie nodded again. Eventually, she said, "I won't agree to see him. Not if I don't have to."

"I understand." After a few beats, Pam continued, "He didn't send me, you know. He doesn't know that I'm here. He'll be furious when he finds out, but I needed to see you for myself. Thank you for speaking with me."

Pam wanted to say more but she was too unnerved. She was Sookie's maker but, in a way, Sookie was also hers. They had both brought each other back from the dead. Their dynamic was strange, but Pam was glad she'd come, even if this might be the last time they'd speak.

Sookie nodded. After a moment, the tiny smile was back. "I won't say that I'm happy that you're here — I'm sure that this is only the first domino to fall — but I've been expecting it for a long time. Dreading it. It's been much more pleasant than it could have been, so thank you."

They both stood up and Sookie walked Pam back through the house to the front door. There were no Weres in sight. When Pam got outside, she turned back to her child.

"I'm sorry that things turned out the way that they did."

Sookie shrugged one shoulder and smiled again. "So am I, but I guess nobody can change the past. Not even with a magic wish."

Pam turned to walk back to her car but then stopped and looked back. "If I don't see you again, please know that I don't regret that you are my child. I would take it back if I could, under the circumstances, but I am proud to be your maker."

Sookie sighed, resigned. "I'm sure that not seeing you again just isn't in the cards, Pam. Still, thank you for coming. I am almost glad to have this part of the worry over with."

Pam nodded and got back in William's car and drove back to his estate. She didn't know whether to be pleased with the meeting or not.