Holy crap! Fanfiction dot net is alive! So, since it's tomorrow here, I thought I'd post the next chapter. Thanks so much for the mad mad love you're giving this fic. I really do appreciate all your little comments and thoughts on where this is going, and while some of you have had some good predictions, I don't think anyone has gotten it 100%. Keep guessing though!

Thanks to Missus T, for keeping this thing going...she's a beta machine!

We tramped through the woods for about an hour, before Corinna dropped to the ground, her hands over her mouth. "We fucking found it," she choked out when she was finally able to speak.

"What are you talking about?" I looked around. I couldn't see anything besides trees, and forest, and the moon, through the trees and forest.

"It's a literal door." She shook her head. "Seriously? You can't see it?"

I shook my head. Maybe she was a bit nutty. I'd always given her the benefit of the doubt. "No."

Slightly exasperated, she grabbed my hand, and my eyes went wide, as she took it and ran it along the frame of a door and over the knob. "See?"

I'd never seen anything like this. Obviously, because I wasn't Fae. And I still couldn't see it, but I could certainly feel it. "Shit."

And then the rattling started. To anyone else, that didn't know there was a door there it would have sounded like the wind, or some wild animal. But it was definitely something trying to get out. Corrina's eyes went wide.

"Do we try and open it? It sounds like someone's trying to get out. We have to open it." It was times like this that her age really showed.

"No. I don't know. It depends on who is trying to get out." It could have been any number of things, from any number of realms. All the things, from other places, were known to share doors.

"How will we know? What if it's my dad, or your Sookie?"

"I don't know what to do." And I didn't.

We sat there on the ground for a while, looking at one another and at the door. Finally, Corrina had had enough. "This is crazy. I'm going to try and open it."

She pulled herself up, and I grabbed her arm. "Let's not rush into anything here. We need some iron on hand first, at least. Maybe some lemons."

She sighed. "But it's almost dawn. We don't have time to get all those things."

"Then we'll come back tomorrow. We need to go to ground."

"Ground?" She wrinkled up her nose. New vampires knew nothing of sleeping in the ground. "I'm not sleeping in the ground. This dress cost nearly a million dollars."

Fucking inflation. Vlad was right though, she was more like Pam than I'd initially thought. "Take it off. We don't have time to get back to the vampire hotel in Shreveport."

She sighed. "Fine."

"I'll even dig you a hole, gentleman that I am." I winked, as I created a hole big enough for both of us, and gestured to her. "Ladies first."

She sighed. "Vlad's not going to like this."

"Vlad's not going to care, if it means you aren't going to meet the sun."

She jumped in. "Fine. Get in then, and let's get this over with."

"There was a time, not long ago, when you didn't mind sharing my bed." I winked at her as I covered us up.

"I know, and believe me, it would be no hardship now, save for our little arrangement."

She fell asleep first, and I pulled her to my chest once she was out for the night.

The next dusk, we dug ourselves out, and went to Shreveport to pick up an arsenal of Fae fighting tools. A dozen lemons, every garden trowel we could find, and some iron nails. And then we realized that we couldn't open the fucking door.

"It's magic. I can feel it," Corinna grunted, as we pulled and pulled.

"I guess we should have known." I leaned back, after I realized that we weren't getting anywhere.

"Now what?"

I shrugged. "I guess we wait until someone opens it."

100 years after Dead and Gone

"Eric, what the fuck?" Pam stalked in and looked around. "You rebuilt her fucking house?"

I shrugged. "I built a house, here. There was already a foundation. I told you about the door."

"Oh, this looks an awful lot like her house," She walked into the kitchen. "Only nicer. You have far better taste."

"Thalia helped, in exchange for my enthralling the vermin at Fangtasia, or as she calls it the Blood Bank, once a week." She could have made me do it, since she was sheriff now, but she didn't force it. True, the floor plan of the house was as I remembered it, but I couldn't bear the thought of paying for antique southern shabby chic shit. It was a compromise. I wasn't dreaming of her any more often than I had, but it still felt better, being on somewhat sacred ground to her. Lately, when I dreamt of her, we spent a great deal of time brainstorming, sometimes about how the hell to get her out of Faerie, and sometimes about ridiculous things, like how to bring Bill back from the dead. Stupid dreams. No sex. Ever. It was probably for the best. I didn't need dream sex. I could just have real sex.

"So what are you waiting for? Her to show up, so you can play house?"

I shrugged. "I don't even know if she's really over there. I feel better though being here, and that's all that matters."

"You're happy, being the guardian of the door to somewhere." She looked at me, deadpan. "Wow."

"What else would I be doing?" It wasn't so bad. I had lots of company, and I enjoyed being solitary from time to time. I felt at peace in a way, being here. "We liked living here."

"You liked living here. I despised it and you for making me come."

"That's bullshit, and you know it." I got her in a headlock, and she sighed, exasperated.

"I'm not staying long." She dropped her enormous suitcase by the door. "Los Angeles calls."

"I paved the driveway. And built a fence between here, and Compton's house." Looking at how it had ended up, an absolute dump, it was almost better that Sookie's place had burned down. It was a mess, with holes in the roof, and any number of animals calling it home.

"So you made it how you would have wanted it, when she lived here. I see you bought a corvette."

"I needed a car." I sat down, on the black leather couch. "It's electric."

"Fancy." She rolled her eyes. "Are you still in the hidey hole?"

I snorted. Although I had rebuilt the hidey hole, for visitors that I didn't care for, like Clancy, I certainly didn't sleep there. "Come on. I'll show you the basement."

She stepped out of her shoes, and followed me down the hardwood stairs into what Thalia had taken to calling my batcave. She glanced around, a bit more impressed. "This is more like you."

"Your room is over there."

"I have my own room?"

"Of course." I smiled. "Here's the door surveillance." I nodded at a series of monitors, which were kept in a little room off the living space.

"Thrilling." She raised an eyebrow. "Are we going to Fangtasia tonight?"

"I told Thalia we would. You're quite a draw. She put up posters."

Pam smiled broadly. "Then let's not keep my public waiting."

After two hours of eye rolling and kicking vermin with her six inch heels, Pam looked at Thalia. "How the hell have you done this for so long? Thank God we left."

She shrugged. "I take lots of vacations." Pam and I laughed, as Thalia put a wall of a man, who bore an uncanny resemblance to John Quinn, in his place, by knocking him down, and pouring a bottle of beer all over him. "You'll pay for that too, and tip your waitress." She stood up, smiling. "You're on your way then?"

I looked at Pam, who nodded eagerly. "Yea, I think we are." We'd both fed on Shreveport's finest, which wasn't so fine. "I'll be by on Thursday."

She nodded. "Fine. Until then."

Pam and I got into the Corvette, and it wasn't until we turned the bend at Hummingbird Road that she spoke. "I'm worried about you, getting all tangled up in the past."

"I'm fine Pam. When I'm not, I'll do something else. I'm quite self aware, and this is probably what I should have done when I first lost her. Grieved and taken some time. So here I am. I have no expectations of her walking through that door."

"I hope not. Who knows what's on the other side of that door? Who knows how all that shit works? It's so much easier just being undead." We walked up the steps onto the porch, and I punched the security code into the door.

She followed me downstairs, and I tossed her a bag of blood bank blood. "No True Blood? God, that stuff was awful."

"No kidding. No, I avoid it at all costs, especially after the silver poisoning scare of 2063." That had been terrible. Almost killed the synthetic blood industry. Somehow, after issuing vampire made testing strips, it had made somewhat of a comeback, but vamps that could afford it never drank synthetic, even for show.

Pam chuckled. "Please. You've avoided it forever."

"True. I'm going to retire for the evening and do some reading. Make yourself at home." I'd been reading through the entire Oxford Worlds Classics catalogue. I'd read most of them, but it was interesting to read them again. Human literature was so droll at times, but I couldn't resist it.

"Goodnight, Eric." She picked up a magazine and put her feet up on my couch.

I checked the clock a little while later. It was only 3 a.m. I rolled over and flipped the television on. Lots of news, a minor war here and there. Things never changed.

I'd gone into downtime, when I was snapped out of it by Pam's screams. I grabbed my sword and whipped the door open, to see her, slack jawed in front of the monitors, red tears streaming down her face. She turned and looked at me. "You were right. Eric, you were right."

I pushed her aside, and dropped to my knees, as a dark haired man, and someone that was unmistakably Sookie Stackhouse appeared out of thin air, slammed the invisible door and started running.

Sookie

"Jesus Dave, run faster." I gripped his hand after we slammed the door and secured it the best we could. "Who the hell knows if they'll be able to follow."

"Where are we running to?" He gasped as I pulled him along.

There was no way I was going back. Not alive, or in any form of alive. It was here, or finally dead. Dave and I had both sworn that before we came through the door.

I hadn't thought that far ahead, not really. "Fangtasia."

"Back to your vampire? Seriously?" He slowed down a bit. "Sookie."

"He's not my vampire. He's a vampire. And he'll be able to help."

"Why would he want to help?"

That was a good question. "Because I can help him, with my telepathy, if he keeps us safe." I just knew Eric would help. There was no way after all this time, that he'd turn me away, even if there was no way we were ever going to be together. Who knew if we would have ever been together? It was unlikely, and would have been most certainly short lived. What I did know though, was that he cared about me. I'd felt it that night, when Niall had taken me back to Faerie, half dead, when the bond had been severed. He'd fought it until he couldn't anymore. It was more than sex, with him and me. In all the time I'd had to think, I'd realized a lot of things. He was a friend to me, probably the best friend I ever had.

Dave stopped completely. "Sookie, I think we need a better plan than that."

We'd just spent so much time planning to get the hell out of Faerie, that it hadn't even crossed my mind what we'd do once we actually did. "What year do you think it is?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Shit." Did I still have a house? Did I know anyone? I'd thought for a long time that I didn't. I somehow knew that Eric would still be alive.

I hadn't told anyone about the dreams. There were rumours, whispers, that those who were not full fae were able to still communicate with those they knew before, through blood, on earth, but it wasn't something that was discussed. Full Fae were threatened by the idea of any part-humans, or faemans, as we were called, having any contact with the outside world. They needed us, to have their babies, and do the menial jobs that they thought they were too good for. It was hell. If the Christian ideal of heaven actually existed, I'd really wished that Niall had just let me die that day. "Well we have to start there. I don't know where else to start." And then I started to cry. Fuck, I was such a mess. This had been one hell of a week. It had all happened so quickly, Niall's death, getting married, and getting the fuck out of Faerie before the hundred year spell expired, and I was trapped there for another century.

I looked at Dave, and then collapsed on the ground. If they were going to catch us, then they were going to catch us, five minute break or not. He sat down beside me. "It's okay Sook. Hey, I got you." He wrapped an arm around me, and wiped the tears from my eyes.

I could tell him almost anything, but the turmoil I was feeling about being back, and even saying Eric's name, in a way that related to the present, and not the distant past, wasn't a kink I wanted to put into the giant mess we were already dealing with. Thirty years of sneaking around. We deserved a minute, just to be. "And I've got you."

He nodded, gave me a half smile, and kissed my forehead. I hadn't seen him smile in a long time. "Hey. We'll figure this out. We're free, Pokey, after all this time. The rest is just details."

I glared at him. "You can't call me that anymore."

"Why?" He chuckled. "It's cute."

"No it's not. It's lame." I'd gotten the nickname about five years ago, on the day of my second arranged marriage, when after twenty-five years of our very secret and outlawed relationship, Dave swooped in and killed husband number two, and we'd officially become outlaws. I couldn't run in the huge dress, and he'd called me that, after Gumby's little orange horse. I'd had one, so I knew what he meant immediately. I'd never been pokey again, but he still pulled it out quite often. It was good encouragement, and a reminder of what I was running from. The Fae that Niall had wanted to marry me off to was repulsive, and ancient, and the way he looked at me terrified the hell out of me. Niall hadn't spoken to me for a few years after that, but softened when his end was near.

"Pokey stands." He pulled me to my feet. "I like it."

"Fine. But try to come up with something cuter. It's not nice to compare your wife to a plastic horse." I punched him playfully.

He nodded, brushing the dirt off the back of my dress. "I'll think about it. Now show me how very un-pokey you are, and let's get the hell out of here."

Wait! Before you hate me too much, take a deep breath, and trust me, this is an Eric and Sookie fic. That I can promise you. Say it with me, an Eric and Sookie fic. Eric and Sookie...feel better now?

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