VII.

I glanced straight ahead at him as he finished toweling off and got an eyeful, then looked quickly away, biting my lip with my incisors. He'd followed my gaze.

"Still? Still?" he chuckled.

"No, I was just… thinking about some logistical issues I'm having. Fangs and…" I made a face and felt that infernal stirring. "Oh, never mind," I said with a pissed off growl to myself. "Still! Geez Louise!"

He started roaring with laughter. He tossed the wet towel over my head and rubbed it playfully, then used it to pull me to him as he bent down.

"It's an issue of timing."

Yeah, and the opportunity to examine the timing thing was presenting itself all over again, or so it seemed. He kissed me and I moaned.

"Not helping…" I gasped, scrunching my eyes closed as if that conveyed the power to block out my thoughts, feelings and desires. Self-control. No sharp objects. Self. Control. It was my mantra.

"Mrs. Northman?"

I chewed my lip and unscrunched my face.

"Mmmm?"

"I neither want or need you to be all that controlled with me."

"And I'm trying to take in just how bad an influence that makes you, Eric."

He picked up and guided my hand and said with a randy smile,

"You thought you'd get away with only an hour? Lover, you can practice all you want."

"Okay, I am totally not biting you there, are we clear? That's my whole problem. You are not going to tell me that it wouldn't hurt like hell.."

"Sookie, just.. relax." He started chuckling at the whole thing.

"Maybe 3 am, if I really plow through everything as quickly as I can?" he said with an amused tone, after the forty minute delay to his evening.

He dressed while I showered. He came in while I was toweling off and said, reading from his phone,

"I have just received an irate text message from Amelia instructing me to tell you that 'if you ever want to speak with her again, that you had better get your butt over to her house and take a look at the dismal state of your shared business and explain yourself.' She also notes that she has plenty of True Blood on hand, so there's no reason to worry about getting hungry. Bronwyn has added a P.S. saying that you have to read her a bedtime story and that she wants you to play 'tea party with walruses'. I think it's walruses... the spelling is highly questionable. I'll spare you the email from Nan until later. Maybe about a minute before dawn, so you don't get all worked up about it. I'll give you the short version so you can start preparing yourself, though. It involves a hate crimes and murder trial. Yours. You're still into civil rights and being exploited by the AVL, right? Ah, yes... You'll be fine with it right before dawn, then. The best time to hear such information. And.. have you called Ahmed? He's been pretty worried about you. He kept hoping you'd contact him. He and Alla have both kept in touch. And I don't even want to get into Jason. You're going to spend quite a bit of time explaining things to Jason, Lover."

"Explaining?"

He sighed. "That I am not a careless bastard? He was, of course, upset. But then he was angry that I 'lost' you. As if this was very careless on my part. I have failed to keep you safe from harm in multiple ways in Jason's eyes. There was little I could say to argue with him on that point. Actually, I would have to say that several people are most definitely not my fan because of your disappearing act. I even received a condolence letter from Bert's mother that scorched my fingertips as I read it and which could only be read while being held." He paused as if thinking about something. "You should take Cadel with you to Amelia's. He'll like to see Bert. I'll tell Toussaint to watch Hunter. Maybe we'll stick to that for a while."

I felt a little puzzled by that one. As I combed my hair I said,

"But Hunter and Cadel really get along so well. Why? Toussaint's guarded me for years."

"I feel more comfortable having Cadel stay with you at present. Besides, he's really missed you." He kissed the top of my head and said, "Come see me before you go out?"

I looked at him. Black polo shirt and jeans tonight. Casual. I was aware of every muscle rippling beneath his clothes and felt even further internal stirring just looking at him. Still. After almost two hours in total since susnet. Okay, I guessed he trusted Cadel more with me. And I knew if I got all freaky and inappropriate because of no access to a switchblade, Cadel would make jokes about it and get me to cut it out. He thought of me like a sister. I looked like his sister, for gosh sakes. Good plan. I nodded to Eric without any further questions to his infinite wisdom on the matter. And he seemed to know exactly where my thoughts were.

"Sookie, I trust you. It's mostly just that Cadel is better at making you laugh and be yourself. I want you around people that make you happy. Cadel and Pam are both good at that. But it's true that Cadel is… safer, without question."

I nodded again and he went to go check his email.

He came back in to check on me as I was dressing, before leaving the room to go down to his office. He walked over to me, and put a fourth bottle of warm True Blood down on the dresser for me. He stood next to me and combed his fingers through my hair, looking at me with a touch of concern. He stroked my bare shoulder as he kissed my temple. I had just typed out an as yet unsent message to Ahmed on my phone, which I had been charging on the dresser. He glanced at the message, which was full of apology for worrying him, for being out of touch. I was having a hard time deciding what else to write.

"You'll be okay, yes? If you need more time before going back to everything, you should take it, Sookie. You don't have to tell everyone you're back right away. And if you don't feel up to seeing Amelia yet, she will understand."

"I'm… doing okay. I should go, Eric. I won't stay long. Just to catch up. I can see Bronwyn and see how much she's grown. Plus, I need to apologize and see what's going on with the business. I really left her in the lurch. I really should go."

"Okay," he said softly as he bent to kiss me again. He smiled at me as he gently held my chin in his hand. "Start thinking about an expansion of your list. More time with Hunter and Bronwyn. Jason. And friends. You have so many friends, Sookie."

My eyes teared up and I nodded. Hunter. Jason. Pam, Cadel, Jamie and Peggy and their twins, and Amelia and Bert and Bronwyn and even Branwen. Ahmed and Nicu. Alla and Mercan and Sasha, who was ten now. Sam and his wife. Bill. Rasul, even Dani was really a friend now. I had so many people I loved. Even Mathilde, Mattias, Beatrix, Anaïs and Chloë could be counted as reasons to be happy to be here. I had many reasons to try to be happy.

He hugged me again then left to go downstairs.

I saved the draft of my message to Ahmed and sat at my desk just thinking for a moment. I checked my email, ignoring my Sookie Northman account, which in the end had over two thousand emails that were going to require my filtering them into folders just even to get a sense of things. I was sure going through that account would take the better part of a week. Instead, I checked my Solsken Sookie account and found a reply from Yves telling me that my apartment was just fine. I also had an email from Anaïs that was really a message from Mattias, telling me he'd found a book that I'd been interested in. I tinkered around for a bit online, then wrote a quick reply to Anaïs and then looked at the time. It was already half-past 7 pm. I was stalling, worrying about seeing Bronwyn and getting hungry. Well, I had to get a move on or it would be past her bedtime. I heated a fifth bottle, just to be on the safe side.

As I drank, and dressed, I sent a text message to Cadel but he'd already heard from Eric that I was going out. He replied with jokes about wearing fireproof clothes because Bronwyn had been 'mischievous' recently.

After rereading my message several times, I sent it to Ahmed. Less than two minutes passed and he called me back, I heard sounds as if he was in a restaurant and then street sounds as he walked outside. The relief, and the happiness in his voice made me cry. We chatted briefly, since he was out for dinner with friends, and he said he'd call me back some time after midnight.

I went downstairs to the kitchen to tell Ruben that we needed more True Blood upstairs. He asked me if I wanted a donor and started to show me a list with blood types and I cringed and shook my head and said no thanks. I briefly chatted with him about how he was doing and headed back upstairs to Eric's office. On the way up, I ran into Cadel, who was headed down to the garage. He was looking chipper in his scally cap. He announced he was going to drive the Maserati. He spoke with a thick Welsh accent and grinned so broadly with his fangs partly down and dimples looking like craters. I told him I was seriously thinking about flying to Amelia's house and having him meet me there. He promptly replied that it was all too clear that it was Pam's blood that had turned me no matter whose voice I could hear in my head. He was taking suggestions for music and was intrigued by my choice of The Raconteurs. Or maybe he was taken aback. They were so 'old' according to Cadel. A rather odd statement coming from a man almost four hundred years old. I told him I'd be back in five minutes and that I seriously hoped he'd reconsider and drive my car. I got called a killjoy for the first time of the night. I was sure he was still going to have the Maserati ready, in spite of all my protests.

Outside the door to Eric's office, Andor was leaning against the wall. He nodded to me and glanced away with a sour look on his face. I paused before entering and looked up at him. After a moment, with something of a grimace on his face, he looked down at me.

"Ja?" he said sullenly.

"I wanted to say that I apologize to you, too. And that…" I looked down and my eyes kind of smarted with tears. I looked up and met his ice blue eyes, then leaned forward and rested my head against his chest. "Thank you, Andor. Thank you for always taking care of him. I am so grateful to you."

He seemed rather stunned and didn't reply at first. Finally he put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me away from him slightly and looked down at me. In spite of all our arguments and the fact that like Eric said, he didn't understand me, or us, at all, I just... loved him. Because he loved Eric.

"You should be grateful to Eric. And to Pam."

"I am, Andor," I said softly. "But also to you. I don't want to fight with you. I don't want you to be angry with me. It hurts Eric to see us fight. I just want you to stop trying to put me in some box that you think I should fit into, when clearly I don't fit. I've never fit much of anywhere, but I fit here better than any place else. And Eric seems to think I fit him. So… please let's not argue?"

He seemed to search my face and then nodded curtly. I pulled away and put my hand near the door to knock but stopped and said,

"Where's Markus? I haven't see him? Where is he?"

"I have released Markus. Whatever you did that night, you fixed something in him. He is more independent and has clearer thoughts. He started talking back. He told me off for being happy you were turned. He told me I'm too old-fashioned and that I ought to give people more space and let them have opinions. He told Pam off for being sarcastic with him. Then he told Eric that he was too happy being autocratic. So I released him, though he wishes to stay here. He is in Europe for another few weeks. Vacationing." He said this last part with a smile and then started laughing. "You really had to have seen him in the first month after you left. Eric actually told him to shut up on several occasions. Whatever you fixed it is of questionable benefit. He is almost like a second Cadel now. Everything is to be questioned or a point for humor. He is almost unrecognizable, except for his loyalty. He will be glad of your return."

"You don't really seem all that troubled by the turn of events…"

Andor smiled an amused though rather faint smile. Then the smile faded and he looked at me more seriously.

"Eric said you did not tell us that Ocella had a child there."

"A teenager. About the same age as…" I still cringed to think of it… "Hunter was, when he came to live with us. A child, at least in these times. Or to me, in any time. Maybe three years younger than you were?"

He looked down at me from his towering height with an odd expression on his face.

"Weren't you afraid? To go there, to be with him alone in his residence, with the plan you had? I know that Eric calls you his little shieldmaiden, but were you not afraid of him, Sookie?"

I hesitated as I felt the cool metal of the doorknob on my palm and met his icy blue eyes.

"I wasn't as afraid of him as I was of what he planned to do to you and Eric when he decided he wanted to find you, Andor. Trust me on that. Not even close."

I knocked briskly and entered, as I'd been instructed since we'd first married, leaving Andor in the doorway behind me, and my mind registering the shockwave of my words on him.

Eric was standing with Stefan, who smiled broadly at me. There was a mountain of paperwork on his desk, along with some building plans spread out over the tabletop. Two Weres I didn't know appeared to be talking about the design plans for some building in Area 2. Dani was on video conference through the computer. He looked busy and slightly distracted as I told him I'd be back by about 1 am and planned to spend time talking with Pam in her office when I returned. I reminded him that my cell phone was still charging upstairs and that he'd have to reach me on Cadel's phone or at Amelia's house. Dani said a very friendly hello and called over Rasul, who looked very pleased to see me as well. I quickly said I'd be in touch and excused myself, saying I was sure they needed to stay on schedule.

I was wearing a bright red V-necked sweater and black denims. It was the first time I had worn a bright color in almost a year. The leather choker and talisman from Mathilde was still around my throat, the turquoise standing out against the vivid red. Eric nodded and smiled, casting his eyes over me pleasantly, but seemed distracted by the plans on the table. Already so busy for the night… I turned and was almost at the door when he called after me.

Sookie?

Hmmm? I said, turning back, my eyes looking questioningly at him.

You look beautiful tonight.