Chapter 1

The plane ride was quiet as she perused a stack of magazines on the table. Leave it to Pam to have charted them a private jet with all the perks to bring them back from the peaceful seclusion of Eric's humble castle to Louisiana. The plane, of course, had no windows and as a being who was part of nature, of light, she couldn't wait to see the sun again. Judging by the time on the flat screen TV display, it was well into the daylight hours and so she would be alone for some time yet. Entering one of the two small private bedrooms within the plane, she traced a finger over the coffin that held the one person who she knew she couldn't live without and after all they had endured recently, it was clear that she had made such a stupid mistake years ago when she hadn't stopped him from leaving her home after he had flown her home from Bellefleurs. The pain she had inflicted upon his heart, she knew, had been deep. That after all that time, after all their shared history, they were doing just fine today was nothing short of a miracle to her. Both of them had had some time to recuperate from revelations both spiritual and physical. She had come to learn of a light that she could summon, a devastating power that could literally bring down a building. And it did, along with saving her loved ones from injury. That Eric had been able to, and would forever be able to speak with the spirits of his parents and Godric who watched over the ancestral castle he once lived in was a miracle.

The room had a bed available as well and so she snuggled herself into the silk comforter, enjoying the coolness of the fabric on her bare feet. It had certainly been a interesting and eventful week and before they had departed on the plane, she had been taken for a tour of the lands around his castle and then for a few nights, she had been able to tour Stockholm, at the same time seeing the rebuilding process in full swing of the New Blood offices she had inadvertently destroyed. But that was no longer Eric's, having sold the company to the Japanese who had ran True Blood. With a promise to cause worse damage that Sookie had caused should they do anything to change what New Blood was, the Japanese eagerly sighed the contract and left the Viking even wealthier than he already had been. With that chapter of his life over, he could not turn his attention back to his bar, his family. Sookie.

Knowing that she had been a large part of the reason he had given up New Blood, Sookie was not taking anything for granted any longer, him especially. And so she sat awake, not really needing much sleep anymore, being a hybrid now. Still, she closed her eyes for a moment, thinking on their impromptu trip abroad. How she had always wanted to travel, but she also was eager to get back on home soil. Though the room was dark, she saw as well as if there as a light on. Slowly, she saw a familiar shape rise from the ground on which rested the coffin. And swiftly, she found herself joined in bed by a troubled and tired looking Eric. He clearly was not supposed to be up at this time and the bleeds were a sure sign of it. Ignoring the blood coming from his ears, she held a hand out to him as he settled in closer to her. "Hey you…..what is it? You really should be-"

"I know what I should be doing….." he replied testily, quickly looking abashed for lashing out at her. "Sorry. But I…..after everything that happened back home….my first home….I can't help but think that I am more fortunate in my life than I ever realized. I know I took things for granted and that I am not as perfect as I may think myself as being."

"Lord no…..as perfect as you look….you ain't perfect. What with having a tendency to make bloody messes all over peoples rugs and what not…" she replied with a smile. "When we get home I think maybe we need to figure out what's next for us. I don't want to feel like this is a fling like it was before when you lost your memory…..I mean, it wasn't a fling, I really came to care for you deeply but then I screwed things up and I was confused and-" she was stopped by a finger to her lips.

"I gave up my business for our future. I enjoyed running the New Blood business for some time….it kept me focused when you were out of my life. But now…..I regret nothing of giving that up. I don't want to risk moving too fast, Sookie. Not after everything. I have a very long time I can wait if you're not completely ready for this…for us again. If you are having doubts, I need to know. I don't want to go through those few years we were out of touch."

The pang of guilt of the past entered her heart again. "I know what I want now. More than anything in my life. And that, my tall, blonde Viking, is you.," she kissed his forehead and fluffed up her pillow, staring at the ceiling in the dark. But he could tell there was still something eating at her and he asked her what that was.

"Sometimes I wish I could read your mind like you can others." he said as she denied there was anything else she wanted to get off her chest. She remained silent as she fell back asleep, the last thing she thought of was a image she once had of herself with a child or two. A impossibility, to be sure and though she was surely happy, there would always be a small void. But she was not about to bother him about that, not after everything that had transpired. Though not telepathic, the vampire knew that there was but one thing that he couldn't ever hope to give her, and that was the one thing she wanted desperately. Somehow, he was determined to make her dream come true, no matter how impossible it seemed to be.

Pam met them at the airport and after hearing the tale of what had happened after she had been sent home, she sighed. "So you had a religious experience, huh?" she asked her passenger to her right. But he didn't look amused and her own smirk faded. "So you actually believe in something, I mean really believe that there's a place for me when I kick it?" Pam laughed derisively. "That's a hard one to swallow."

"Believe me or not, it is true and do you think I would truly tell you anything other than the truth? I always saw myself as going to hell if I were to believe in religion or whatever the hell it is you believe in….." Pam saw she was hitting a nerve in her maker and stopped the snark. "It sounds like a honor, that I would be allowed to go there when I do croak…..look, do you want me to drop y'all at her house or yours, not that you couldn't just fly or use fairy magic to get where you need to go but-"

"I need to stop at the bar for a minute and then, if she doesn't mind, I would like to spend the rest of the evening with-" he was stopped as Sookie reached up from the back seat and touched his shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I think you two need some time, go to the bar and make sure everyone and everything is ok. I'm fine, just a little….drained from everything and would rather be alone tonight. I don't want you to worry…I just….." she hung her head, her blonde hair hiding her face. "Everything that we just went through, I need to process things. I'll be in touch, ok? Just….please give me some space." and with a flash of light, she was gone, leaving the two remaining in the vehicle looking at each other as they sped towards Shreveport.

"Well, that was a exit, I'll give her that…" Pam said, but she didn't look happy, rather distressed for her maker. "Umm, when we get back, I can show you what you had me put an order in before all of this mess….." she felt painfully awkward at the moment and there was a long drawn out silence before he replied.

"I would love to give her what I had you procure….but I know what's troubling her and I think that with everything she went through back home…..she realized even more how important family was. I know I did." Eric gave Pam a rueful smile, which faded as he turned to face straight ahead. "I gave up the company for her, though I could still give her almost anything and everything she could ever want to live comfortable. But I know she isn't, nor will she ever be, materialistic. The one thing she wants, I can't give her and I think that's why she left so suddenly."

Pam nearly drove the sleek SUV into the other side of traffic as she heard this. "Kids? Surely you have got to be freaking kidding me…they ooze out of every hole in their body, most of them are filthy and the noise! don't get me started on the noise!"

"Things are not, and will not be the same as they were before when it was just the two of us, working in that crap video store. Or traveling the world….you have come to accept her as a part of my life and I am grateful but if you get in the way of me trying to help make this happen…I do not enjoy threatening you, Pamela."

She said nothing until they pulled into the parking lot of Fangtasia. "I would make an exception for my …distaste in kids when it comes to you two. But how in the hell can you…I mean, not that you don't have the stamina, but lets face it, you can only ever shoot blanks."

"Thank you for putting that so succinctly." he deadpanned. As amused as he usually was by her caustic remarks, this was not one of those times. "I will respect her space but tomorrow night, I am going to see her with that I do have for her." and once back at Fangtasia, they saw Ginger finishing up the cleaning, Willa assisting her in the mundane task, though with her speed and efficiency the task was nearing completion.

After briefly acknowledging his progeny and his long time employee, the two women could tell something was playing on his mind.

"You ok?" Ginger and Willa asked, almost in unison. "We heard there was trouble and…." Willa stopped as he gave her a look that shut her up. Then he seemed apologetic.

"Things….worked out. Sookie is fine, I am fine….why don't you two get along, we aren't staying here long, just had to pick something up I need." he was trying to be gentle with them, after everything that had happened back in Sweden. But he also didn't want so be cold, unfeeling to those he cared about. "Willa, you enjoying your new house?"

She nodded eagerly, having moved into a stately manor house in the same secluded, secure area where he and Pam also had large, imposing houses, ginger also being let into the very exclusive neighborhood of the three vamps with a gifted house of her own. "I love it but it was….too much, you really didn't have to-"

"I know I didn't but even though I released you, we are still family and I fully intend to make up for how you were treated after I turned you. Ginger, are you enjoying your home as well?"

The overlabored human nodded, a big grin on her face. "So glad to have you all for neighbors….I can't even begin to tell y'all how happy it's made me…I have so much closet space for my shoes, my clothes my…" she went on and on for several minutes before she was silenced by a look by Pam, a gently bit of glamouring that sent Ginger exiting the bar dreamily, off to her house in the gated community of four houses. There was not a set of homes that were as secure and well guarded as the ones the four resided in and though they had only just recently moved into them, they all had come to feel at home.

"I'll make sure she gets through the main gates alright, she tends to forget the password when she scans her keycard at the front gate." Willa said as she gathered her purse and headed to leave. "Are you sure you're ok?" she said, looking at her maker.

"I am fine." he replied and nodded toward the door. "You just make sure you and Ginger get home safe and sound. And if you need to get another keycard made u, let me know, I believe Ginger is on card number 4 already and she is fortunate they can be replaced. Maybe she should just rely on one of us being around constantly."

"It's not her fault her brain's mush…..you and I have put a number on her over the years." Pam quipped.

"Which is why I had a house built in our little neighborhood as well for her. I owe her for how we have treated her and if this helps make amends-not that she remembers much anyways-then so be it. Now. Where is it?"

Leading him back to his office, Pam went to the wall safe and in a few moments pulled out a small velvet bag and handed it to her maker, who took the object out from the box within and examined it closely, his face unreadable until he looked back at her. "Well?" she asked. "How did I do?"

Kissing her on the top of the head, Eric smiled. "You have done very well and tomorrow night, I hope that this finds its proper place."

"Like you have here? Is it too late to say "welcome home?" she asked with a smirk and after a brief hug, the two said nothing as they departed for their homes, far removed from the bright noises and lights of Shreveport but not so far that they were so removed from civilization. It was thanks to the billions made from his former business venture that the Viking had procured hundreds of acres to privately create a cloister of homes safe for him and his own. And soon, he felt that he should add another to the tight knit community he had formed there, though he knew that this had already been a difficult homecoming and not for the reasons most people would think.

Jason had come over to see her upon Sookie's phone call that she had come home. Naturally, Jason had learned where she had gone and the events surrounding her impromptu trip overseas. Needless to say, he was thankful she had come home and as he helped her clear the table from their dinner, he shook his head.

"What?" she said as she looked at his face. "I could dip into your mind if I have to but I would rather you come out and be honest with me. Is it the fact that I willingly let myself become a hybrid? I mean, I am still mostly faerie, I can eat still and am not dead…."

"You would think that would bother me? Jeez, no matter what, you're my sister and I love you and am glad you came home safe…I just…..I wish you could have a life like what I got….me and Bridget, we are doing great with the kids….never thought I would have one let alone three. And I have gotten a lot more intuitive…I know you want a family of your own too."

Nearly spilling the coffee she was pouring for the two of them all over her floor, Sookie was thunderstruck. She had not expected the conversation to take such a turn and never had she thought that the thought that had driven her from the vehicle with Pam and Eric the night before. Since that time, she had spent her time wallowing and thinking, wondering and hoping for the good spirits who she knew without a doubt existed to answer her seemingly impossible wish. "How did you….I mean, I am happy, you know I love him….that I made mistakes-"

"Yeah, I get that you love him. And I even have come to like the guy too. But let's face it, every time you get to watch the kids, I see that regret in your eyes. The one thing you can't have. There ain't any two ways about it. You stay with him, you can forget about kids because no one would ever adopt kids out to no vamp. Face it, things have gotten better for vamps but there is still a lot of fear and mistrust that ain't ever going to go away." Jason accepted the cup of coffee she had offered her, with a trembling hand. "Aw, Sook, I didn't mean to upset you….." he saw her tearing up and she shook her head.

"I know you want me to be happy, Jason. And I am. But you are right too…..I just-" she was stopped by a knock on her front door and as she tried wiping her tears from her face, she opened the door and was unsurprised to find her door being darkened by her significant other.

To Be Continued