So I've had some positive feedback! Thanks so much. I'm going to keep going with this little experiment, but I always want to hear from you.

Pixiegiggles made me giggle and also happened to whip my commas into shape… again.

I don't own them, but if Sam were Ken and Sookie were Barbie, they would totally be rocking the dream house right now.

PS FF is a total fail with the spacing, sorry this all looks so scrunched. Also, it doesn't want to accept things being underlined, *sigh*

Sam POV

July 1999

July 4th was amazing … July 5th was shit.

I don't know how, but I convinced Pam to let me have July 4th off. Not that July 4th was so busy - most people were away. But Pam liked making people work on holidays, made her all tingly inside. A friend who lived just outside of the city had a house with a pool and was throwing a BBQ. The second I mentioned it to Sookie she lit up. She hadn't been outside of the city since she got there and hadn't been to a BBQ since the previous summer. We had been on a couple of dates – easy simple dates. I didn't want to be pushy; we hadn't gone past the chaste goodnight kiss, but I was ready for more. More tongue, more skin, more of Sookie in any way I could get her. I hoped July 4th could be the push we needed.

I picked her up in a rental car at nine. As I drove up, I could see Sookie was wearing a white sundress, a pair of sandals that wrapped around her ankles, sunglasses on her head, a massive straw bag, and had a huge red, white, and blue bowl covered in foil in her arms. She looked good enough to eat, but then again, she always did. She opened the car door and handed me the bowl, which was cold and damn heavy. She threw her bag in the back and settled into the seat, buckling her belt.

"Ya'll ready?" I asked, amused by her wiggling and shifting before she snapped her belt buckle in place.

"Yup, just hand me the bowl. You can't drive like that."

"Yes ma'am. What is it anyway?" I asked as I handed it over.

"Ham salad."

Bless her southern heart. I hadn't had ham salad since I left Texas. Well, that wasn't true. I suffered through a friend's attempt at ham salad one night early in my New York days. I'd spent the night moaning and wondering if I had made the right choice, went on and on about stupid things like decent coleslaw and cornbread. She knew I was home sick and thought she'd make something to cheer me up. Oh I ate the stuff, but I couldn't rightfully tell you if it was actually ham salad or not.

"You know you didn't -" before I could even finish the sentence she cut me off.

"Sam Merlotte! Gran would roll over in her grave if she even thought for one second that I would go to someone's house for a BBQ and not make something!"

Was it too early to say I love you?

When the twenty pounds of ham salad got too heavy for her, (which couldn't have been more than about 15 minutes), she twisted and shifted until she could reach to set it on the back seat. Once we got on the highway, we stopped for some coffee and muffins and made it to Terry's house just after eleven.

Terry had been my first friend in the city. He was my next door neighbor. We met when he helped me assemble my new bed. I think it was the third round of cursing and banging that got his attention. Now, don't get me wrong, I could build you a house complete with a porch swing given the time, but putting together a Swedish designed bed with Chinese instructions was not one of my talents.

When Terry knocked on my door with a six pack and a bucket full of nails and a hammer, it was all I could do not to hug the guy. We got through the beers quickly and with good ol' American determination and a fuck load of nails, we got the sucker together … eventually. We'd been buds since then.

Terry wasn't exactly a happy guy - he was a desert storm vet with shot nerves. He'd had years of therapy, been on anti-anxiety pills for just as long, and still had a hard time keeping it together. He didn't seem to have very many friends; I think he made people nervous. He never spoke about family and I never asked. He made it by on odd jobs, but just barely. I never did understand why he lived in New York - it was too loud and fast for him. A guy like Terry belonged in a house, on a nice quiet piece of land where he could tinker and fix and build things.

So in 1997, when Terry met Arlene at a diner outside of New York, it was life stepping in to help out a once-shattered man. He was on another odd job, restoring an old barn on farmland in Duchess County and had found the diner off the side of the road for lunch. Arlene was a head of kool-aid-bright red hair with a personality to match. She had two kids from a previous marriage and lived in a huge rambling old house that was falling to pieces. I think it was no more than three months before Terry told me he was moving, marrying, and becoming a daddy.

I was thrilled for the guy. I'd never seen him happier or more at ease. Something about the big old house, the kids who he took to him immediately, and Arlene, of course, made him whole again. He had a purpose, something to wake up for now. He slowly but surely restored the house that had been in Arlene's family for almost 200 years to its original glory. He put in a pool, fixed the garden too. I'll be damned if that place didn't belong on the cover of a magazine. After that, he started his own little restoration and fix-it business out there – and he did pretty good. They weren't rich, but they were comfortable and happy.

When we parked in the driveway, it was little Coby who came running to greet us as we got out of the car. He was now eight, and his older sister Lisa was 10.

"Uncle Sam!" he ran toward me and damn near knocking me over. I twirled him around as I grabbed him.

"Coby, you little monster," I set him down, "lord you got heavy!"

I put him down and noticed him staring at a certain blonde. "Coby, this is my friend Sookie."

Sookie handed me the bowl and kneeled down to greet Coby.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Coby."

"You're pretty," he said, grinning from ear to ear. Sookie laughed wholeheartedly.

"I wish everyone said hello like that! Can you show me where the kitchen is Coby?"

"Sure can!" He said proudly as he took Sookie's hand and dragged her away, leaving me with the twenty pound bowl of ham salad.

I trailed behind and found Sookie in the kitchen getting hugged by Arlene – she hugged everyone. I opened the fridge to set down the salad, but it was too full to fit another thing.

"Sam, why are you in my kitchen?"

"I'm just here to deliver the ham salad, ma'am."

"How much ham salad is there? And since when do you cook?" She looked a little worried thinking back on it now.

"'Bout twenty pounds I'd say, and it was all Sookie."

"Sookie, you know you didn't have to."

"Of course I did!" and she went on about her Gran rolling over in her grave. After that, there was a fork and a taste and Arlene's eyes rolled back into her head. Somewhere between what kind of mayo to use and how much salt, I stepped out back to let the women be.

I found Terry by the grill lighting the coals.

"Sam, she here?"

"Yeah, talking to Arlene about her ham salad recipe."

"She cooks too?"

"Seems like."

"Hold on to her, man."

"You're the second person to tell me that."

The rest of the day was amazing. It wasn't too hot, the food was great, the ham salad made me cry it was so good, and then came pool time. I was sure Sookie would look good in anything, even a Mumu, but when she went inside to change into her bikini? Good lord. She was every pin up, every fantasy that any red blooded American boy ever had. She was Farah Fawcett and Cindy Crawford. Curves and smooth skin as far as the eye could see. I'll never forget it (and I don't think Coby has either).

She was perfect for me. Ham salad, southern charm, feisty, beautiful, and a body that made me wanna fall to my knees in thanks. I wouldn't be letting her go – she was special and I knew it. Everyone she met knew it too. Absolutely everyone.

It was dark by the time we left, laden down with leftovers that would last us a week at least. Sookie loved Terry, Arlene and the kids as I hoped she would, and I knew the whole family felt the same way about her. Lisa wanted to go to Bon Temp to swim in the lake down there and see Sookie's old house. Colby was in love, Arlene thought she was great, and Terry was just happy that he saw I was happy. I wasn't nervous about it, but Terry and Arlene were the closest thing I had to family outside of Texas, and it meant the world to me that they liked her so much.

I dropped her off at about ten later that night – it was a long but great day. I was nervous as a teenager. Did I kiss her? Did I walk her to the door? I wanted more, but I didn't want to seem too eager. Sweet Sookie helped me on both counts. She unbuckled her belt, leaned over the console, and kissed me square on the lips. Before my body and mind could coordinate to grab her, not let her go, kiss her back, anything … she had left the car and was making her way through the lobby. I sat there like an idiot, in awe, giddy like a fool before a cabbie behind me started in on his horn. I'm shocked I didn't crash on my way back to the rental place that night. I called her the very next day. I left a message on Amelia's machine asking her to come to the bar that night. I was gonna make a major move. I wasn't sure what that move was gonna be, but I was thinking along the lines of bare skin and heavy petting. I was already cursing myself for not making the first move on the kiss— I wasn't gonna miss the chance again.

Sookie showed up early on in my shift. She was wearing a black dress with a ruffled skirt and bright yellow heels; there was a yellow flower in her hair, too. She looked all dressed up and I couldn't help but smile that she had done it for me. I puffed my chest out and made her a coke with a cherry in it before winking at her and helping some other early customers.

I watched as she turned down other men's advances. I listened to her laugh with another woman who sat down next to her – Sookie was pointing to some lady's bag, the woman was pointing to her flower. She could talk to anyone, and everyone seemed charmed by her.

I came by to check on her whenever I could. She seemed content to just be there talking to me and others as they came by. As the night went on, we got more and more flirty. Winking, smiling, laughing, exchanging knowing little head nods. She wasn't mine yet, but I was gonna do everything I could to make sure she would be.

It was just past 11 when Pam came to find me.

"Enough flirting with Scarlet, Sam. Eric's back."

"He's not supposed to be back until the end of July, though!"

I didn't mean for it to come out panicky, but Pam's warning was looming in my mind. Keep her away from Eric, he'll eat her alive. He was supposed to be in Bali or Tahiti, or someplace, with the latest love of his life. She was yet another of the many tall, leggy, size zero actress or model types who wore the latest, most expensive clothing and was a complete no-brained mindless robot. He had a type all right, but that wouldn't stop him from moving in on a short curvy blonde from Louisiana.

Eric was over six feet and broad. He had long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. He wore the latest fashions, spoke four or five languages, had a penthouse in Soho, was wealthy, and had a driver. He was hard to resist, I got it. Although he had been in New York most of his life, he was actually from Sweden and could lay the accent on real thick when he thought a girl would get hot under the collar for that kind of thing. Mr. Perfect found the love of his life at least three times a year. The rest of the year was spent bedding the two percent of the female population of New York that he hadn't fucked yet. Sookie was in that two percent.

Sookie was giving me a quizzical look. I reminded myself that Sookie wasn't like that. She wouldn't be dazzled by the money and cars. She was a simple girl with simple tastes. I needed to have faith in her and in myself. I was right for her, and we would be great together. There was nothing to worry about, right?

"Hey darlin'. The owner just got back from vacation, apparently he just pulled up front."

"Oh. I can leave Sam, it's no problem. I don't want to distract you after all," she said, a sexy little smile playing on her lips.

I struggled not to moan. Instead, I leaned over the bar and kissed her – quicker than I would have liked. She looked a little surprised but then winked, smiled again, and gathered her bag.

"Call me tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes ma'am."

I turned away to tend to some customers. A moment later, I heard her ringing laughter. I turned to see Sookie looking up at Eric. He was smiling his best come-and-fuck-me smile at her, a smile I'd seen hundreds of times. It almost always led to his latest victim following him to his back office where conveniently there was a black leather couch. Eric had Sookie's purse in one hand and his other arm was snaking itself around Sookie's waist.

Like I said, July 5th was shit.

A/N

Dun dun dun! You knew they had to meet sometime right?

I'd like to institute a recommendation policy. Let me know your favorite stories or authors and I'll post every 25th review. Feel free to self promote! I'm always up for reading something unknown and wonderful, or maybe there's an established story you need to sqee about – give it all to me. SVM, Twilight, Harry Potter? Anything goes, just let me know.

So… umm want more? Questions? Concerns? You know what to do.