You're the best listener that I've ever met

You're my best friend

Best friend with benefits

What took me so long

I've never felt this healthy before

I've never wanted something rational

I am aware now

I am aware now

You've already won me over in spite of me

And don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet

Don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are

I couldn't help it

It's all your fault – Alanis Morissette

A small warning for this chapter. We do learn a little bit more about Thalia's past, which could be upsetting. Not a great deal of detail but our little vampire was pretty down in her past.

Sookie POV

I plan on taking a quick shower but of course, Eric still manages to be done before me. Got to love that vampire speed, or maybe not as a nice, lengthy shower would have been nice. Anyway, I want to spend as much time with Eric before sunrise and that is causing my need for a quick shower.

That and the few words I need to have with Pam.

So I am out of the shower and dressed quicker than usual and I wander out to the living room where I hear their voices. Pam is explaining why she just had to rush over here and I feel a little of the anger I had at her leave as I hear her reasons. I can't fault her for that. The peace on Eric's face was something that I had wanted to see for the past few months. Pam has been waiting to see it just a tad longer than that. Though I inwardly cheer when Eric tells her to call before she comes over, I can understand her needing and wanting her to see Eric happy.

That doesn't mean I will excuse her doing it again.

But I also saw the look on her face when she started to see that I was angry. She was genuinely sorry at that. The vampires in my life have understood when I react to things like a human does; the least I can do is be understanding when they ignore barriers like vampires tend to.

As long as she calls next time at least.

But then I hear something Eric says that takes me out of my thoughts. It's something about a pledge and I can tell by Pam's reaction that this is a big deal. So I make my presence known by asking what a pledge is. The two vampires' heads swirl right to me and they both look like a deer caught in the headlights. If I didn't know any better, I would say that neither of them had the unbelievable hearing of a vampire if I can surprise them like this.

The two look away from me and I swear they are both suddenly the mind readers in the room and are having a conversation telepathically. Pam gets up as Eric looks back to me. "I will leave you two alone to discuss this," she says and the smile never leaves her face. I would assume that means this pledge thing is something good but with Pam, you can never be sure about that.

Before she leaves though, Pam comes up to me and apologizes for barging in. "I will call before coming over from now on," she tells me looking sincere. I throw my arms around her in a hug and tell her she better be calling a lot then. Well, if Eric and I aren't otherwise busy.

It's still a little bothersome that she may be able to know when that is.

Pam leaves rather quickly and I for one am happy that the interruption didn't occur because something bad had happened. Another crisis is the last thing we need.

Eric hasn't left the couch and is looking at me with a hopeful look on his face. There may be a touch of worry there too and I am determined to find out why. I walk over to him and sit as close to him as I can without actually sitting on him because that is a quick way to not have a conversation. As fun as that would be, I still want my question answered and Eric looks like he is more than willing to have this conversation and that makes me happy. In fact, he is the one to start it as he says, "As you can imagine having you overhear this conversation is not exactly how I wanted you to hear my feelings."

"Well then you should have used your super senses and known I was there," I tell him trying to get the serious look off his face. I succeed but just barely. I know the way to get it off his face completely is to just get him to continue to talk. He may not be used to talking things out but I have come to realize that he already feels better when he does so.

"What exactly is a pledge, Eric," I ask him in an attempt to keep him talking.

He looks at me with a little confusion on his face. "I know nothing has happened to your memory," he says the confusion on his face entering his voice. "You did see the pledge between Russell and Bartlett. You also know of Sophie-Anne's and Threadgill's."

Coldness runs through me but this is not one of fear; it also not one that is causing me to worry. Instead, I am being filled with excitement at Eric's words as I think I understand what he is actually saying. I do my best to keep the excitement in control so there is no misunderstanding going on here. "Those were marriages, Eric," I tell him.

He doesn't hesitate to tell me, "A pledge is a marriage, Sookie. It is a marriage in the vampire world." Though excitement still fills me, now it's warm instead of cold.

"You want to marry me?" I ask, half in confusion that this wonderful man in front of me has chosen me of all people. As much as he has made his choice clear and has more than showed me how much he really does love me, I am still surprised by it every day. Though Eric is just starting to understand his worth, it has been something that I have seen, albeit grudgingly at times, almost since I laid eyes on him that first night of Fangtasia. Though it was impossible to know his true worth with our little interaction that night, something told me that I could trust him. I had trusted him even before we were together.

He gets a goofy smile on his face that is just adorable as he nods at my question. I throw my arms around his neck and repeat, "You want to marry me!" This time there is no confusion in my voice. There is only excitement.

"Absolutely," he tells me. "Do not ever doubt that. I am only sorry that it is not yet legal to marry in your world, on your terms. Until it is, I hope you will be willing to marry according to the terms in my world."

"Hey," I tell him not liking the sadness that appears on his face with his words. "You are asking me to get married in your world, in your terms. I know that it would mean a great deal to you." He nods at my words and I knew he would. Eric holds the law and procedures of his world strongly; they mean a great deal to him. "The fact that you are willing to do so in a way so important to you is important to me," I tell him. "The fact that you are willing to marry me in my world when we are able to makes me so happy but the fact that you want to marry me in a way that is so important to you, that means so much to me."

"I would marry you according to the customs in any world you wish," he tells me. "I want every being in this world and any others to know just what I feel for you."

This vampire who just weeks and months ago was denying and confused by his feelings now seems ready to shout them from the rooftop. I press a kiss to his lips, showing him better than I ever could with words, just how much I appreciate everything he is willing do to for me. When I pull back before we can get too carried away, I smile when I see him, the one that doesn't need to breathe, panting a bit.

I can't help but be happy at the way I affect him.

"What would this mean?" I ask, getting back to the discussion. I know how the vampire world views humans. I have seen how they treat humans and that has been with Eric trying to shield me from it. I am no longer naïve enough to think that if Eric and I marry according to his customs that everyone will just be all right with that.

He takes my hand in his and brings it up to his lips and kisses it. "It means that in the Supernatural world, in my world, you will be considered my wife."

Yeah, I got that part when he explained the pledge was like a marriage. That still doesn't stop a shiver of excitement from traveling through me again at his words, at hearing him say that I would be his wife. But that doesn't tell me exactly what that would mean in his world. I don't know what, if anything would change. That's what I am wondering about. That's what is worrying me and I ask him again explaining my thoughts and concerns.

He looks happy as he says, "It will make it much more difficult for anyone who wants to, to separate us. As husband and wife we have the right to be where the other is at all times. Much of the grandstanding and showboating will be able to stop once it is known your station in my life. You will no longer be seen as subservient to me. I will finally be able to make it known just how much you mean to me."

"Even with me as a human?"

"Even with you as a part-fairy human."

Hearing that just adds to my excitement and happiness. I would continue to behave like I have had to around certain vampires in order to try and keep all of us safer. Of course, that doesn't mean that I liked having to behave like that. I know that Eric hated that he had to treat me like that as well. This is something that will be appreciated by us both.

Eric continues to explain a few things about what being pledged would entail. He does warn me that others would think it peculiar that he would remain faithful to me; that simply wasn't the standard operating procedure especially adding the potential life spans of vampires.

"But Threadgill and Sophie were only going to be married for a hundred years," I say to him. "Would that be how it is with us too? A hundred years and we're done?" I don't like that idea at all. I know some would think us, me specifically, crazy because of how quickly this has moved between us. We have known of each other for mere months and have been together for even shorter than that. But what Eric and I have been through in this short amount of time is more than other strong couples go through in their whole relationship, and it certainly feels like we have been made stronger for it. I'm not naïve enough to think it will all be rainbows and butterflies from here on out but I also think that we have learned how to deal with the storms life can throw at us.

"No," he says strongly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "You will be my wife for as long as you will have me and not a second less than that," he tells me getting impossibly closer on the couch. "But your question, does it mean you are leaning towards being around for more than a hundred years?" he asks, his face so hopeful.

I think back to the discussion we had about me becoming a vampire. I still feel like it would be unfair for me to want or expect any type of future with Eric if I can't even consider becoming a vampire. But with everything else swirling around in my head right now, I can't even picture what the next hundred minutes will bring let alone the next hundred years. What I can say, and what I tell Eric after explaining the swirly vortex that is my mind, is that I can picture being around in the next hundred years if he is around with me. The look of happiness that appears on his face at that statement is something that I will not forget in those hundred years.

"I am looking forward to potentially spend the next hundred years and more with you," I tell him honestly because if I do decide to become a vampire, I know who I want to spend my undead life with. I know it's not the definitive yes he is hoping for but it is more than the definitive no I was saying only months ago, and that is enough to bring a smile to his face.

"So we are getting married," I say to him leaning into his chest.

"Whenever you want to," he tells me.

"How soon could we?"

He thinks about it and tells me that he has what he needs. "I have you, which is most important. I have the ceremonial knife that you would present to me," he says before explaining its use in the ceremony.

"The knife we used earlier?"

"No. Do you remember the knife I used when I preformed the ceremony for Russell and Bartlett?" I nod and he explains that the ceremonial knife is used in vampire pledges. He also adds with a smile that he still has it in his possession.

"How long have you been planning this?"

"Planning? I have not been planning otherwise you would not have overheard me discussing this with Pam. Hoping, well I have been hoping ever since the knife has come into my possession."

Knowing that sends tingles down my spine. "You obviously can't marry us."

"I know a few who could," he says and I know by the smile I shouldn't expect any more than that. "I think I would need five nights to arrange things."

"Five nights it is then," I tell him not wanting to waste another night. I know it's sudden and I know it's soon but I have learned not to take anything, especially life and time, for granted. This is something I, something we, want and I will make sure that we get it.

"You will be by wife in five nights," he says with a smile on his face and with the kiss he gives me, I am happy that Pam left.

Thalia POV

The room is filled with pink. I didn't know there were this many different shades of the color. I didn't know there were this many different things that could be colored pink but the amount of flowers alone are staggering. I understand that for the pledge we will obviously be using real flowers but couldn't Pam get fake samples? The scent of them alone is killing my Supernatural sense of smell.

At least I don't have to breathe, especially if I don't plan on saying much during the night. Because the last time I opened my mouth I had some of those marvelous flowers thrown in my face. Of course, she threw ones with thorns. Nasty little buggers even with vampire healing.

So I am keeping my mouth shut and trying hard not to breathe. If it was just Pam, I would have been out of here. But it's not simply her. Sookie has requested my presence and though I am wondering if she simply wanted me to be here or wanted me to run interference with Pam, I still would not have said no to her. I would gladly endure the explosion of pink and the pungent odors that bleed into each other for this little human that has managed to worm her way deep into our lives.

And I have not been this happy in centuries and much of it is due to her.

Sookie has had her struggles and she has refused to let them keep her down. I have seen what she has been through since I have arrived and I have heard what happened to her before I did. She has been through a tremendous amount of things in such a short period of time yet she is still here laughing with and scowling at Pam, depending on the words that come out of her mouth. She has had so much strength through everything and I find that very inspiring.

Inspiring enough, to change a few things in my own life.

Loss is never easy. That's why it's called loss. You lose something, someone, often when you aren't prepared to. It's too easy to fall into and to give into the darkness when this happens. The loss drives you to sadness and it's hard work not to let it completely envelope you. I can admit to letting it consume me for far too long. I didn't have a reason to crawl out of it.

Until the Northman asked for my assistance, however.

I owed him, and it looks like with how much I have benefitted since I have come here to help him, that I will continue to owe him a debt.

I had met Eric at the lowest point of my life. I had just experienced the greatest loss of my life, both the human and vampire one. Vampires like to consider ourselves immortal. We are not; in truth with certain situations we can be just as fragile as humans. Needless to say, this loss was not one I expected, as we both were vampires and it is not one that I was prepared to deal with.

When Eric came across me, I was cornered in a barn by the local villagers who had seen me feed and kill a human. I may have been purposely caught and I also may have let myself be cornered in the barn as they worked on keeping me there while gathering the supplies to burn the barn down. It was Eric that came to help me, even if I didn't ask for it at the time. I will never forget the look on his face when he realized that it was me, my reputation proceeding me even then. It was one of almost disgust at what I had let myself become. It was seeing him work through the villagers, all to save me when I wasn't even sure I wanted to be saved, that caused something to click in my head.

I may not have been happy living my current circumstances, but I was not going to let that weigh me down any longer. I knew of Eric's past with his maker even then; Appius didn't try to hide his cruelty to his child. If he was able to move past that, as I thought he had at the time, I could move past my issues. So I left the barn, determined to remain in this existence. Eric found me two nights later to make it clear that I owed him, so when he called I came.

And though I will admit that I did enjoy my reputation amongst my own, I enjoyed the looks of terror, I am enjoying my life more now and I can't remember the last time I said this. And even as Pam looks like she is going to cry as Sookie announces that in her head right now pink equals death, I can't help but smile.

The two of them fight, I mean discuss, the plans to turn Fangtasia into the best place for the pledging ceremony. I know they would both like to have it elsewhere, the place outside that they disappear to, but unfortunately it isn't safe enough for that at the moment. When it is legal for them to marry in the human world, I will make sure that place is safe enough for them to do so, even if I have to hire an army to make it so.

Sookie comes over to me bringing me out of my thoughts, which quickly shift as she looks a bit hesitant, which confuses me. She hasn't looked at me like that since a few days after I got here, and that was only because Pam had filled her heads with lies about me. Okay, most of what she told Sookie was probably true. Honestly, all of it was probably true but I would not do any of it any more. Well, not to Sookie at least.

"You know," she says her voice shaking like she is nervous. "Pam is going to be up there standing beside Eric. I have a different role planned out for my brother," she starts out and I think I know where she is going with this.

"I will be more than happy to be outside and ensure your safety during the ceremony," I tell her before she can ask. I was hoping to watch the pledge between the two of them but I will be sure to keep them safe if that is what I am delegated to do.

But Sookie looks confused at my words. "What? No," she manages to get out. "Thalia we would really like for you to be here, for you to be inside here during the ceremony. In fact," she says, her voice getting a bit more nervous. "I'd be honored if you would consider standing up with me, for me," she adds her voice almost a whisper as she finishes.

I, meanwhile, am stunned at her question. "Like Pam is for Eric?" I ask, knowing the importance of the relationship between the two. I can hear the incredulousness in my own words and the smile on Sookie's face suggests to me that she does too.

"Yes. Exactly like that," she tells me. "You, Thalia, have been a great support to me, a great support to us since you came here. But you have become so much more than that. You have become my friend, our family. You've been excepting of me, a human, a part-fairy in your world since you got here. I can think of no one else that I would like to stand up there and celebrate this with me, with us."

I have no words. Literally, there are no words in my head right now although I am sure that there is plenty that I want to say. With my life the last few centuries, acceptance is not something I am used to. Terror, yes; dread and panic, absolutely. But acceptance is something I haven't felt from someone in a very long time. And Sookie is looking at me for an answer, the excitement leaving her face a little bit as my answer has been delayed for a few seconds. Still with no words in my head I do all I can and wrap my arms around Sookie who quickly hugs me back. With my sensitive hearing, I can hear a camera going off and I don't even care that Pam has caught this moment on film.

In fact, I am happy that she has.

I pull away when I hear the door open ready for the potential issues it could cause. But I smile when it's only Eric. My smile gets bigger as Sookie bounces over to him, yes bounces, and immediately says, "She said yes," while wrapping her arms around Eric, obviously understanding the words behind my hug.

Eric looks at me over her shoulder and mouths, "Thank-you." I nod letting him know the pleasure is all mine. "That is great," he says as she lets go with one arm so she is standing next to him but still has an arm wrapped around her. "Our family should all be up there with us," he adds and I feel warmth in my stomach that I am included in this family. I know he is upset that we are missing a family member in his first child, but I can't help but be honored that I am included.

Eric then looks around the room and takes in all the pink. Looking straight at Pam, he simply says, "No," which causes her to pout and Sookie may stick out her tongue at that, like family tends to.

"Ready to go home," Eric then asks Sookie and with the look in their eyes I know that I have to make sure Pam doesn't call them the rest of the evening. The two take their leave, with plenty of night left to enjoy themselves, and Pam takes out a different book as they do so.

She opens it and pushes it to me and I gasp at the beauty of the pictures. "She'll love it," I tell her. In this book are decorations more to Sookie's taste. They are simple and classic and well, less pink.

"I know," Pam says with a wink.

And I don't even have to ask why she even bothered then with the putrid pink. Quite the teaser our Pam is.

Hello dear readers. I do hope you have had a good week and enjoyed this latest chapter. We learned a bit about the pledge, about Thalia, and Pam got to have some fun. The next chapter might be a bit delayed but it will be up before the Christmas holiday. I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season. Thanks so much for reading and thanks to those letting me know their thoughts. I really appreciate it.

Jackie69 – So glad you enjoyed this chapter. Yes it's great that they finally completed the bond; it was along time coming. So happy you are enjoying this Pam.

Jsm88 – So happy you are continuing to enjoy this story. I hope you liked this chapter.

Tanseynz – It has been great reading your thoughts as you have found this and gotten all caught up. I think you're not the only one looking forward to that. I will see what I can do.