She enjoyed her shower immensely, the water soothed her sore muscles and she could be alone with her thoughts about the night before. She was together enough to put her shields up so as to not here the broadcaster that now lived under her roof. Every room Amelia walked into she was thinking what she and Eric may or may not have done there. Active imagination that one. Eric had done a fantastic job cleaning up the mess. To the naked eye no one would have guessed that she had enjoyed the most incredible orgasm of her life right there on the bathroom floor. Her face was hot, not to mention some other area's as she thought about the words they had exchanged in the heat of the moment.

She was working the swing shift today at Merlotte's, not lunch and not quite dinner, but a combination of the two. It wasn't her favorite shift, but she would be home earlier than the expected 1:30am that was the usual from working dinner. Her note from Eric had read that he would be coming to her again tonight, she was relieved. She came out of the bathroom to get her clothes ready for work and she spied the note on her nightstand. She walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, took the note in her hand and reread it. She held it against her heart and thought about everything he had said to her. "Memento, memento, memento" she was hung up on what he took.

She dressed quickly and had her hair and make up done even quicker, she was never one to fuss over such minimal details. Not worth the time and effort she always thought. She came downstairs and saw Amelia reading on the couch.

"You working that funny shift today, Sook?" She asked, barely looking up from her latest novel.

"Yup, I'm taking off in a few. You coming down to the bar later for a few drinks?" She asked

"Thinking about it. Maybe if I do it will give Sam an excuse to ask me to fill in a little again. Oh, something came for you when you were in the shower. I left it in the kitchen." She smiled at her and watched as she walked slowly to see what awaited her. Before her on the kitchen table were 2 dozen blood red calla lilies arranged in a crystal vase. She had never seen such a deep red in a flower before. She grabbed the cared and ripped it from its envelope.

Lover,

Roses are too common for someone such as yourself. You are too rare and too special to have everyday things sent to you. Bring one of these to work with you so you can be reminded of me every time you see it. I have the memento I took from your house with me right now to remind me of you. I will see you soon, dreaming of you.

Love,

E

"When the hell did he have time to order these" She thought out loud and almost bitterly. She never really liked it when he spent money on her.

"Sookie, who cares, look at these, they are amazing. Besides, he probably owns the florist shop or something crazy like that. Can you leave them here, so I can look at them too, or are you going to be selfish and lock them up in your room?" Her eyes were fixed on the blooms.

"How about we share, I'll leave most of them here, and take a few for my room. They are beautiful, aren't they. Really, when do you think he had time to order these? He would have left here before dawn, and there ain't no flower shop I can think of that's open at that hour." She paused on her words, " Do you think he had this whole thing planned? That he knew I'd give in last night?" Her face was turning from it's admiring, gentle gaze to a more pissed off, and irritated look.

"Again with the questions, just be happy someone bought you flowers." Amelia was already retrieving a ceramic vase from under the sink to make sure she made good on her offer to share.

"I am happy, it just makes me wonder, that's all" There was also the mention of this memento again. She casually looked around the house. She began pulling a few of the stems out of the crystal and rearranging them into the much less sophisticated vase. "Hey, have you noticed anything missing?" She looked at Amelia as innocently as possible. "I'm not talking like a stereo or DVD player here, but something smaller. Something that I might not notice."

Amelia looked at her and didn't blink. She wasn't sure if she was accusing Eric of lifting something from the house without permission, or maybe she misplaced something, or maybe she was just plain crazy. Shit, she was going to have to elaborate.

"See Eric left me a note when he left this morning. You know, can't wait to see you again, thinking about you, yadda, yadda, yadda, oh and PS I took something as a memento...hope you don't mind. The problem is I have no idea what he took. He mentions it again on this card with the flowers. It's like he wants me to think about it, but knows I won't be able to figure it out." She was annoyed.

"Oh... he is just a huge, romantic, blood sucking, vampire, viking. You are a lucky girl, Sookie Stackhouse." She meant every word. "And, no, I have no idea what he could have taken. The place looks right as rain to me. If I can think of anything I'll call you at work, sound good to you."

"OK, I'm off, don't you dare take the rest of these flowers and put them in your room with one of those crazy ward spells." She smiled at her as she exited her bedroom from placing the vase by her bedside. On her way out the door, against her better judgment, she grabbed a stem from the vase and took it with her to work, just as the card had requested. She smiled at the flower as she pulled out of her drive and headed down the road to Merlotte's.

"Hey Sam, lunch been busy? Sorry I'm a couple minutes late, won't happen again." She was disappointed that she walked in five minutes late. Sam knew she had met with Eric last night and she did not want him to think that was going to be her excuse for becoming habitually tardy.

"No problem, not like this is a habit for you. Yup, been pretty steady, should shape up to be a good night. How did last night, you look to be in one piece." He smiled, knowing she would only tell him as much as she felt comfortable with.

"It went...well. We talked, cleared a few things up. I'd say that we are definitely on better terms today than we were a day ago. There's some other stuff that we need to get to, that will come in time I guess." She smiled when she thought about that. Time...they would have time together. She took the flower and put it near her bag behind the bar. Sam saw the bloom and nodded towards it.

"Let me guess, special delivery from him".

"Yup, delivered right before I was leaving to come here. That's why I was late. I needed to beat Amelia off of them with a stick to make sure she didn't play finders keepers." She laughed. It was so easy to talk to Sam, even if it was about another man.

"Looks like he has great taste." He said this looking at her and not at the flower. She took that as her queue to smile politely and start her work day. She knew Sam had feelings for her, she just couldn't return them the way he had hoped for.

Lunch was a bit busier than expected. There were the regulars that were there everyday of the, ordering the same food, making the same polite conversation. Then there were some businessmen that came in to have a meeting over beer's. From what she could read they were talking money, real estate, they wanted to put a new strip mall in Bon Temps. One that had a video store, nail salon, liquor store, run of the mill stuff. One of the men was more of a broadcaster than the others. He was not a very proper gentleman. I wonder if that's the blond that was screwing that vamp Nice rack Think she screws regular guys now that she's gone all dead dick Nice rack Nice ass. Not a gentleman at all. She dropped his beer in front of him and glared at him in a way that said,"Shut your dirty, filthy mouth." His eyes did not look her way for the rest of their visit to Merlotte's. She had a lot of practice learning how to perfect that look, the look that told anyone that she knew what they were thinking without her actually having to say a word.

After the businessmen left another big group came in, this time women. This group had been in before, they were like a monthly book club that goes out once a month to discuss this months can't miss novel over fries and sweet tea. Most of them were just fine as could be, but for some reason there was always one in the group that just didn't sit well with her. She was a clear broadcaster and she did not approve of the life that she had been living. That girl is going straight to hell allowing demons to touch her turns my stomach her grandmother would be rolling over in her grave poor child looks like she's put on a few pounds.

"Can I get you another sweet tea? Or maybe something... lighter, a diet coke maybe?" The last comment about her putting on a few pounds seemed to bother her most. "You know, the fried chicken sandwich basket you ordered, I can ask the cook if he can grill that instead." Her smile was as bright as the sun. She walked away before the woman even knew what to say.

She walked behind the bar to get some drinks and looked at her flower, she felt the tension drain right out of her shoulders. She was used to this kind of shit, just a different day, thats all. She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost 6:00, the day had flown by. She would be leaving within the next couple of hours. She could feel the hum of him stirring in her mind, she was instantly more comfortable. She hadn't even noticed the group of FotS members sitting in the corner booth.

"Thank god there in Arlene's section. I can't even stand to look at them, they just creep me out." Sam was standing next to her so he heard her whisper. "Sam, why do you let them come here, you know they're just doing it to cause trouble." She was looking him right in the eye.

"Sookie, this group hasn't done anything to threaten anyone here inside this bar. Yup, they're a bunch of fanatics that have no class, but until something happens, they're paying customers." He looked at her to make sure his words did not sound like he was disregarding her feelings.

"OK, but I'm warning you, if any of them say anything nasty to me, whether they say it to myself or not, I'm not responsible for what I do. You remember that." She pat him on the shoulder as she walked past him to deliver a new round of drinks to one of her tables.