Charlaine Harris owns all the characters used in this fanfic. I am just borrowing. please don't sue

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A/N This all takes place Sunday

Chapter 3

After an unexpectedly peaceful night of sleep I woke up to slivers of sunlight creeping in between the window curtains onto my face. I really thought that my sleep would be tense and restless considering the events that happened the previous day, but surprisingly it was wonderful.

After drinking my coffee and dressing in my favorite long black slacks with a light pink V neck sweater I was ready to leave the house. I had worked the past 3 Sundays in a row at Merlotte's and now with the revelation that I was Eric's secret wife I decided church at noon should definitely be one of my top priorities for today. It seemed like I was going to need all the help I could get.

Reverend Thomas Campbell's service was shorter than I expected but then who wants to have exceptionally long sermons? Afterwards the congregation moved outside to catch up on town gossip. It seemed to be a tradition for our church. The women flocked together to talk about hair and men and cooking and the men got together to talk about cars and women and hunting. I always thought it was strange to gossip after church considering that the same people who are here you will most likely see every day in town.

After talking to Maxine Fortenberry about the latest sale on jackets Tara had at Tara's togs, Reverend Campbell came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Sookie Stackhouse it is such a pleasure seeing you here today!" he said with a smile. "Well thank you, I really wish I could come every Sunday but I have to work most weekends."

"Well you are here now and that is what counts. I must say Sookie, you have given this town a scare in the past couple of years with your…relationships with the vampires. We thought for sure that when you were dating that Compton you would forget about the church and all of your family and friends. But through the grapevine I have heard that you have cut ties with them and now living freely."

"I have always lived freely." I said directly. I didn't want to get too upset with the reverend because he was just showing his concern for my well being, but to say that Bill or any of the others had taken away my freedom rubbed me the wrong way.

"I am just saying that for awhile there you always had a vampire around you. Whether it is a boyfriend or a houseguest. Merlotte's always seemed to have some sort of vampire stop by every day. But for the past couple of months it's been nice. Vampire Bill has stayed to himself and you have been socializing more in the daytime. Even your brother is married with a baby on the way. You two have really turned a corner."

Oh Tom if you only knew. Eric and Pam had stayed away because of being busy with the new regime and hadn't had the time to visit. I imagined they had more important things to do in Shreveport. Bill was staying to himself and away from me because I told him that I didn't like that every time I saw him he would just look at me painfully and tell me how much he misses me and still loved me. Jason's story he had much more backwards. Jason and Crystals marriage was not ideal. Last I heard, since I was still not speaking to him more than a few sentences here and there was that he and Crystal were still in my parents house but sleeping in separate bedrooms. The baby would be due in a matter of weeks and Jason, having the same upbringing as myself knows that Gran or myself would never forgive him if he did not take care of the baby. Hoyt had told Holly who told me that once the baby is born Jason is going to get a paternity test to make sure that it was his.

"I wonder if she would want to go out with my nephew next week when he comes into town... She needs a man with a heartbeat… Christopher would be good for her… Show her that those damn vamps want nothing more than her blood…Such a good girl, such a shame she had to be ruined by the damn bloodsuckers…I don't know if he would want vamp leftovers though…"

I was appalled at his thoughts. I am a not leftover. At that moment I wanted to slap him across the face. But I couldn't. He didn't say anything out loud that called for that kind of come back. People were all around and if I slapped him they would just think I was Crazy Sookie attacking the reverend on Sunday after services. I would never live it down. Why anyone would want to be telepathic is beyond me.

"I'm glad you think so. Well I better be taking off, I have to run a few errands before I get home. " I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible before he could bring his nephew into the conversation. I couldn't imagine going on a date with some man and when he would ask about previous relationships telling him "Oh yeah, well right now I am sort of married to a vampire, but don't worry I can still date." I don't think that would go over too well. Maybe I was ruined. Eric and I needed to talk about this.

"Alright Sookie, you have a blessed day. " He was thinking if he should bring up Christopher as I started walking away. Too bad I couldn't run. "Um, Sookie, My nephew from Baton Rouge is coming into town next week, maybe you might want to show him around town? He's a real nice man. I bet you two would hit it off." He had such a sincere look on his face I almost forgot what he was thinking a few moments ago.

"Oh. Well..." I didn't know what to say to get out of the blind date. "I don't think I'm ready to start dating yet. I am enjoying time by myself." That should do it.

"Probably waiting for a vamp... Damn girl is gonna be made into one of them one of these days… she's crazy enough as it is, to be a murderous monster on top of that…poor girl never had the chance…too bad there aren't enough stakes in the world to get rid of them all.."

My eyes went wide and I looked at Reverend Campbell with an equal mix of hurt and anger. I scoffed at him, turned and started walking away without saying anything.

If this man of god was thinking such unkind words, I didn't want to know what others were as well. I walked over to my car and started to drive away. I went to church today to try and clear my head and do something nice for myself since I woke up in such a good mood. But instead I felt worse than yesterday and I was angry with our pastor on top of it. This weekend was not the happy, carefree weekend off of work that I was hoping for.

I went to the grocery to pick up food for the week, and scowled at Vampire Monthly magazine once I was in the checkout lane. That one magazine with the one article ruined my weekend. Now after talking with Pam last night I have to prepare for Eric. Oh no, I forgot TrueBlood. The liquor store is on the way home I can just stop there. Since I hadn't had many vampire visitors in the past few weeks, I let my supply dwindle to nothing. I noticed this morning that Pam had finished off my last two bottles that I had in the fridge while she was waiting for me last night.

Eric was going to call me tonight, and I was going to see him tomorrow. I had always been nervous and kind of sad around Eric after last new years but I always had the upper hand because he couldn't remember our time together. After I told him of what happened, he didn't use the fact that I shot and killed Debbie Pelt or the fact of us having sex over every square inch of my house as ammunition for me to do his bidding in which I had an amazing sense of relief. After Rhodes I had been a strange combination of being giddy as a schoolgirl on Christmas Day, with newfound uneasiness of being able to feel his emotions along with my own mixed in with my own whenever I was around him.

Since the night of the Nevada takeover though and he actually remembering in full detail of both emotional and physical intimacy that we shared I catch myself missing being around him from time to time. I had been so angry yesterday I forgot about that. I have only seen him 3 times and talked to on the phone him a few times more for less than 10 minutes.

Almost a month ago was the last time I saw Eric. Bill had a get together at his house to show off a photo slide show of his trip to South America and a recent 2-week trip to India. He told me that he was sick of always telling the same story and showing the same pictures over and over to everyone he saw that he just wanted to get everyone in a room and do it all at once. There were about 15 vampires, almost all of them I knew of, and then about 10 humans myself included so I could understand Bill not wanting to tell the same story 25 times.

Amelia, Octavia, Tray and I had come a little early to see if he needed any help setting up and he had Octavia and I layout finger food for the people and Amelia arrange bottles of TrueBlood for the vampires on the table he set up in the kitchen. He wanted Tray to go outside and tell the first few people where to park so the others would follow and everyone would be able to leave easily. Once we all had finished the first guests began to arrive so we took some of the prime seats available in the front so we would knew we could get the full view.

He had taken the time to move all of his furniture out of the living room since it was the biggest room in the house. With vampire strength it couldn't have taken him long. He built or bought some kind of collapsible wall that he spread out over the back wall of the living room with a projector that he actually strategically placed in the ceiling opposite the screen. He set up chairs so organized that we were all very close to each other but we weren't sitting on each other's laps and had plenty of space.

Eric and Pam came in together through the front door dramatically opening both doors from the middle about 15 minutes later. Pam dressed in a khaki pant and a beautiful rose-colored expensive looking sweater. Eric was dressed in jeans of course but tonight we was wearing a plain black shirt under a leather jacket. Saying loudly so everyone in the room could hear "So how much are tickets tonight going for tonight Compton?" with a very Eric smile.

"Always has to be fashionably late." Bill commented lightly to me. He wasn't angry with Eric, he was just stating the fact that when Eric comes enters a room everyone has to be aware. "You know he always has to make an entrance." I said back with a little laugh.

What Bill didn't know was I was already aware of Eric's entrance 20 minutes ago after I sat down. I could feel his presence in the back yard of Bills house. He was just waiting there not moving. I am guessing Pam was with him. He wasn't fashionably late at all. He was either right on time or a little early in fact, he just didn't want to show that it because he was Eric and Eric only plays by Eric's rules and he just cannot show up to a get together on time. Since I was in such a cheerfully good mood all of a sudden in his presence I thought I wouldn't ruin it for him and tell Bill that he was here all along. I would let Eric have his fun.

Pam sat in the seat directly behind me and Eric was to her right. He was emotionally having a strange mix of boredom (Eric doesn't seem like the slide-show watching kind of guy) and excitement.

"Its good to see you Sookie." He said leaning in putting his hand on my shoulder. His touch had sent a wave of warmth down my body. I almost shut my eyes to take it all in.

"Good to see you too, you must have been so busy tonight seeing how you were so late to arrive. " I said sarcastically with a smile raising my eyebrows.

"Nothing I do gets past you Dear one, but you know I have an image to uphold." He said. He smiled and widened his eyes to look directly into mine, which made my heart flutter in happiness. He could feel that and he liked that he could make me feel that way. I have to admit I kind of liked it too. He then sat back because Bill got in front of the crowd.

"Now that everyone is here," Glaring at Eric. Of course Eric just made an 'I don't know what your talking about' kind of look with a big grin. "Lets get started." Bill pulled out his projector remote and began.

His pictures were amazing.

Bill is a natural storyteller so hearing him speak of the mountains and ancient ruins he saw and about the vampires he met was like watching a great movie. Everyone was silent and completely focused on him and the screen. I don't know if it was because we were all in his house on his land so he felt #1 at the time but that night he was incredible. I would get lost in his words and he would talk like you were actually there. He stood tall and looked great in a pair of dark slacks with a button down white and blue shirt. He seemed so relaxed talking and everyone in the room was relaxed listening. With that many vampires and that many possible vampire meals you might think there would be tense moments but there weren't any at all. We all visited the Taj Mahal and Elephanta Island. Every one of us stayed in the incredible hotel he was in. When it was over everyone was talking with another like we all were on the same trip. The only thing that I found strange about his presentation was that at every other slide show I have been to there were daytime pictures. The lack of sunlight on every single picture was somewhat strange. I knew of Bill's dabbling in photography and knew that a few of them he put a lot of time and effort into lighting effects.

It was the normal meet and greet, having small talk with everyone for about an hour after Bill finished the picture show. I had to work early the next day and it was already almost 2 in the morning so I said my goodbyes to everyone, thanked Bill for the wonderful evening and made my way to the door.

I got down the front steps when Eric suddenly appeared in front of me. "Let me walk you home." He said offering his arm. I took it. If it weren't for the fact that I could feel him getting closer seconds before he appeared I would have shrieked in freight. "Too bad. It seems as though I cannot sneak up on you anymore. That was always one of my favorite things, giving you a little scare, then seeing your face." He said with a mischievous smile.

"Too bad for you, not for me, I never liked that way to tease me."

We walked in silence for most of the way but it was very enjoyable. I am still amazed at how calm I feel when I'm around Eric. When I am by myself later I don't always feel the same way. It is a weird feeling not being completely sure of your emotions.

When we got to my front door we stopped before I opened it. He looked me directly in the eyes again. He looked like he wanted to kiss me and I could feel his desire. The last couple of times he looked like that he did kiss me. But I was dating Quinn at the time then so I had a very good reason to pull away. I had no reason that night. I didn't know if I were going to be able to pull away. He put his hands on either side of my face and just held my focus. I put my hands on is arms and slide them up to his shoulders and kind of nuzzled his palms. I was thinking there was no way to back out now. I was ready to take him on the porch right then and there and to hell with Amelia and Octavia when they walked home. They're grown women.

"Not tonight." Was all he said. He leaned in and kissed me so gently on the lips. The kiss lasted long enough to be amazing, but too short to feel completed. The only thing that could complete a kiss like involved the bed. He pulled back and held my hands in his own. "Nevada is keeping me very busy and away from you. I am not sure how much longer this will last. We will finish this soon. I promise."

Snapping back into reality, taking in the groceries I bought into the house I became really nervous about seeing Eric tomorrow night. I haven't seen him since the night of Bill's party and now thinking back on that night and how much I wanted to continue kissing him who knows if we would even talk. But we needed to talk. Now I know what I am to him in his eyes. This is a very big conversation we need to have.

Once the groceries were put away I snuggled up in the couch and turned on TV. I only really watch TV on my days off any more, and yesterday I was gone for most of the day so I didn't have the chance. I picked a crime movie that was on about people trying to steal money from a Las Vegas casino. I had never been to Vegas and always wanted to see the lights and hotels. Now the King of Nevada was also the king of Louisiana, I only imagine there will be a time soon where I'm going to go. Too bad I will probably have to work instead of play.

I heard my phone ring in the kitchen, the movie had just finished and I was still thinking of all lights and buildings.

"So where did you go yesterday?" Eric asked into the phone.

"Honestly? To Texas. I crossed the border to say I went."

"You have been to Texas before. I have been with you to Texas before. Why would you want to go again?"

"Well obviously I had a rough day yesterday and I needed some alone time. Going to Texas sounded like a good idea at the time to me so I went. I'm back in one piece so what's the big deal?" What I left out was the feeling of seeing how far could I go before I had to turn back.

"Sometimes your logic baffles me Sookie. Do you want to go with me to Texas again tomorrow night?" I'm guessing he did not want to elaborate on why yesterday was a rough day. I hope he really didn't plan on taking me to Texas tomorrow.

"No I think I have had enough if it for the time being. I will be sure to alert you of any urges I may have to go back to the Lone Star state."

"Make sure to alert me of any other urges you may have." He said ever so smoothly that it could make you melt and barf at the same time. The words sound like a sleazy pick up line in a bar but coming from Eric's mouth was a totally different story.

"Will do…so what do you want to do tomorrow?"

"Are the witches still living with you?" He asked .

"No, they are both in New Orleans for a few days. Amelia will be back on Tuesday and Octavia whenever her secret witch business is taken care of." Was he planning on being alone with me in my house? Uh oh. I was starting to get excited about seeing Eric alone.

"Good... then I will be arriving most likely around 7. Does that give you enough time to get ready?" He sounded almost nervous. We were both avoiding talking about the magazine article. I sure was not going to bring it up on the phone first. In person maybe, but having important talks like that on the phone just did not appeal to me.

"I don't know, you haven't even told me what we are going to do or where we are going to go."

"I want to talk to you Sookie. We have much to talk about. It does not matter to me where. If you could, you could come up here or I could come to you. Pam told me that you were working during the day so I assumed 7 at your house would work best for you." He still sounded a little off but I wasn't going to press.

"Oh, Ok. Well then yes. 7 here would be just fine." I said cheerful to try to lighten the conversation.

"Very good. I will see you then. Have a good night Dear one." He sounded so sweet and sexy at the same time.

"You too Eric. Goodnight." I tried to sound just a sweet but not as sexy.

We hung up and I got butterflies. I always loved that feeling. With the butterflies also came uneasiness. I now knew almost everything he knew about our situation. And he knew that I knew. Tomorrow night would change everything I knew it. I have barely come to grips with the fact that I really did like Eric, and this Eric, the one with all the strings and power. After realizing that the Eric that I thought I more than liked at one point, the Eric that had stayed with me so long ago, was now a part of the other Eric. And I was about to be completely alone with the whole Eric in my house for the first time. I went to bed happy.

Mwah ha ha! You'll have to wait for the talk until the next chapter! Please review I love hearing your thoughts on my story! Like I said I will try to write as fast as I can!