Wow...two story updates in two days? You'd think Fanfiction broke and gave me some time to write! Anyway, I hope you like, and thanks for all the love!

Bones

I pulled myself up, and pressed my lips against hers, not questioning this turn of events. If a beautiful woman wanted to make love to me, I would never argue that,despite the fact that she was a bit of a prude even when she was drunk. I couldn't believe she'd slept on the floor.

Behind her confidence though was a sort of nervousness in a sense, a bit of hesitation, even though her body was all over mine, and her hands in my hair. It was odd. "What's wrong, Luv?" I whispered in her ear, before running my mouth along her neck, eliciting a shiver.

"Nothing," she almost snapped. "I'm fine. Keep going."

"I'm not a whore, Kitten. I have feelings too." I chuckled, as she slid her hand down my shorts. "And I feel right now, that I like that."

She grinned, wrapping her fingers around my cock. "I can tell."

I closed my eyes, focusing on the way her hand felt on my cock. Bliss.

And all of a sudden it was gone, and the weight on my lap as well. I opened my eyes, and she was gone. "Kitten?"

I was met by a most unpleasant serenade from the bathroom. Had she drank that much? No wonder she'd been nervous. I grabbed a pair of pyjama pants, and leaned against the bathroom doorframe. "You alright?"

She looked up at me, and she was most certainly not alright. "Yea, I'm just hungover."

"Still?"

She glared at me. "I'm a bit of a lightweight. Cut me some slack."

And then it hit me. A huge wave of nausea. "Move. Now."

She looked at me, confused, as I shoved her aside, and emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet as well.

"And I'm the lightweight?" She chuckled, rinsing out her mouth at the sink. "How many drinks did you have last night?"

"Only four. I shouldn't be sick from four." I wiped my mouth with a bit of toilet paper. "Bloody hell."

It was apparent, a couple of hours later, that being hungover had nothing to do with how we were feeling, as the worst flu I'd possibly ever had in life set in. We fought tooth and nail for dominance over the toilet, as our eyes became more and more bloodshot, and our skin became paler and paler.

After what seemed like a day in the bathroom, I finally crawled into bed. Cat stood in the doorway, looking at me, and I thought to myself that she looked like death warmed over, her almost luminescent skin a ghastly shade of grey. "I should go home."

I shrugged. "Or we could be in this together." I patted the bed. "Hop in."

I wasn't generally the caretaking type, but I wasn't sure I wouldn't need a hand getting to the bathroom later. She lingered for a moment, apprehensive. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Hey, you propositioned me, and I plan on collecting on that, as soon as we're both capable. The only way I can ensure that is if you stay put, so get in bed. I won't bite, at least not while I'm incapacitated."

She pulled my robe tight around her, and did as I requested, crawling in beside me. "Fine. But I'm only staying because I don't want to infect my mother, or even know if she's infected herself. There's no way in hell I'm taking care of her when I feel like this."

I rolled on my side and looked at her. Even looking like a corpse, she was still lovely, and if anything, sickness made her skin more ethereal. "Are you going to call her?"

She groaned. "Yea. When I can move again to get my phone."

We both rolled around a bit, trying to sleep it off, before finally coming to terms with the fact that we were too ill to sleep. "I can't believe you gave me the flu, Kitten. I thought we were getting along so well."

"I think you gave me the flu."

I snorted. "You're the one that's surrounded with teenagers all day."

"I didn't give you an STI. It's not like they carry the flu."

"They carry lots of things. Why were you tense earlier?"

Her eyes flew open, and then she started justifying. "I was fine. And then I was sick. That was why."

I shook my head. "I don't think so. And why did you want to shag me, when you didn't so much as want to sleep in a king sized bed with me the night before?"

She swallowed. "You're really over thinking a flinch."

"You flinched?" I hadn't noticed her flinch.

She blushed. "Wasn't that what you meant?"

"No. It wasn't anything specific. You just seemed uncomfortable, but like you were trying really hard not to be. Does that make sense? I'm feverish." I reached over and grabbed some more water. Even a sip made me feel ill.

She rolled onto her back, and put her arm over her eyes. "I don't like sex."

"You. Don't. Like. Sex." I enunciated each word, just to make sure I'd heard properly. "I'm sorry, Luv, but you're not making any sense."

"Yea, well, I don't make a lot of sense sometimes," she mumbled.

"Let's forget the obvious question here for a minute. Why did you want to have sex with me, if you don't like sex?"

She rolled away from me. "Leave me alone, Crispin."

"You've seen my head in the toilet, Luv. It's Bones. Call me Bones. And I won't leave you alone. We're stuck here, together, so you might as well spill. You've got me curious now, and I'm relentless."

"You're sex personified. I was curious."

"So you thought I might make you like sex, so you could what all the fuss was about? Is that it?" I chuckled, and rolled her over, so she was facing me. "Wow, I don't know if I should be insulted that you were planning on using me, or honoured that you thought enough of my sexibilities to give me a ride."

"You're so crude."

"I could say the same about you, hopping on top of me while I was asleep. Now, why don't you like sex?" I thought about how the two of us would have looked to anyone that saw us, lying here in bed, looking like death. It would have been amusing, likely.

"I don't know. I just don't enjoy it. There's something wrong with me."

The hurt and sadness in her bloodshot eyes was quite moving, in an odd way. "I doubt there's anything wrong with you. More likely there's something wrong with your selection of sex partners."

"Partner," she said, so quietly I barely heard her.

"How old are you, Luv?"

"Thirty-one next month."

"Are you divorced?"

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Long term boyfriend?"

She shook her head again. "I was like eighteen. Now, after the research I've done, I'd probably call it date rape, but I wanted to make him happy at the time. I don't know. I just got really into my schoolwork and never had the time for much else. It didn't seem worth pursuing, and honestly, after spending time with rapists and rape victims, I don't usually feel sexy."

She hadn't had sex in over ten years? "But you're such a flirt, and you're gorgeous."

She laughed weakly. "I'm not really. I don't know what got into me with you."

My eyes met hers, and we didn't say anything for ages, hours possibly.

Sometime later we woke, and I realized that I needed to get my car before it was towed. I rolled out of bed, and tried to stop the room from spinning, by steadying myself against the wall.

"Bones?" Cat croaked, concern in her voice. "Where are you going?"

"To retrieve my car, Luv. I'll be back. Want anything while I'm out? A Big Mac, perhaps?"

She turned a terrible shade of green. "Maybe some broth? I guess we should eat something. Are you going to work tomorrow?

I shook my head. "I don't believe. I'll call in in the morning. How about you?"

She shook her head. "I don't even think I can get out of bed."

I returned about an hour later, and it looked like she hadn't moved. "Luv, you should drink something."

She nodded weakly at the water bottle beside the bed. "I did, and then I threw up."

And we went on like that for another two days, trying to eat a bit here and there, quite unsuccessfully, and laying in bed together, usually quietly.

It was the most intimate thing I'd ever done with anyone.

And then I woke up Friday evening, and she was gone.

Two Weeks Later...Well, two weeks, and twelve hours later.

Sookie

"Eric, please be careful."

Max rolled his eyes at his sad, sad mother. "Mom, we're not even going ice fishing because of the thaw. We'll be fine."

"Listen to your Dad, and call me." I kissed his forehead.

Eric gave me a knowing grin. "Lover, there's no cell signal up there. We'll call when we're heading home. It's only one night. Two days. I'll call if we need to."

I don't know why I was being so funny about them going. It wasn't as though I hadn't been apart from them before. I guess it was probably more that going fishing was such a man thing to do, and I wasn't ready for Max to be a grown-up. "Okay. Have fun." I hugged him again. "And stay off the ice."

"We will, Sookie," Eric kissed my forehead. "And we'll bring you back some fish."

I wrinkled up my nose. Fish was a lot of work to prepare. "Can you bring me back some honey instead, from that place we like?" There was this place upstate that made the most amazing honey.

"Fine. Honey it is."

After a round of Ce snuggles, they were out the door, and I was left to have a girls weekend with the tiniest Northman. "What do you want to do, Ce?"

"Go shopping," she said, like it was the obvious answer.

A couple of hours later, we headed out into the unseasonably warm March afternoon, and headed downtown. I wanted a new spring jacket of some sort, and Ce needed some new shoes. Well, she wanted new shoes. Red ones. With bows. She was very specific.

I was a little bit afraid of what might happen if we didn't find them. She was a lot like Aunt Pam at times.

Despite her tiny fits, I loved Ce at this age. She was just starting to come into herself as a little person, and I was very pleased with how she was turning out. She was very polite, almost chatty to a fault with strangers, who couldn't not pay attention to her because she was so darn cute. We were at the Gap on Fifth Ave. when I looked up and saw Appius's wife heading towards us.

I knew her a little through Pam and the Hamptons crazy lady circle that I avoided at all costs, but still sometimes got swept into. I stood in place, a stupid smile on my face, and my hand wrapped tightly around Ce's, when it was evident that she was heading straight for me. "Belinda. How are you?"

Belinda was not an attractive woman, and it has nothing to do with appearance. She had this sour, bitter look about her, which didn't get any better as she aged. Ce tugged at my arm, obviously sharing my disdain for the woman that was quickly approaching us. "Let's go Mom. I want to find my shoes."

Her eyes grew dark and her nostrils flared, as she crossed her arms over her chest. She was the epitome of a socialite bitch, in an overpriced cashmere sweatsuit and a huge Chanel bag. "How do you think I am, Sookie Northman? Your husband is attempting to ruin us."

So much for friendly formalities. I scooped Ce up. "My husband didn't need to attempt anything. Yours did quite fine on his own, and if I recall correctly, he's the one that started this by shipping mine off to Paris against his will."

"We are getting kicked out of the East Hamptons Country Club," she hissed. "This is unacceptable."

I looked at her, deadpan, before fixing Ce's little hat. "I don't even know what that is. You're disrupting my afternoon with my daughter."

"I'm getting red shoes," Ce exclaimed, her nose a bit up in the air. "And a cookie from Starbucks."

I hadn't agreed to that. Oh well. I'd want a cookie after this too. "We'll be on our way."

She didn't move, even though I could have broken her. Ce probably could have done some serious damage. She was tiny. "Have your husband drop the lawsuit."

"No."

"This will not stand."

I controlled myself from laughing, but snorted a little. "What does that even mean? I don't even know the context of what you're saying. It won't stand that your husband made his own bed like a grown-up? Because I think that will stand. Have a lovely afternoon, Belinda."

And with that, we shuffled past her, to freedom.

We found Ce's red shoes at Target, which was awesome because they were like seven bucks, and it meant that Pam hadn't yet affected her with her brand whoring. After we got home, and did dinner and bathtime, and stories, I found myself kind of lonely, so I did something that I might have considered a bit intrusive if I hadn't had a glass of wine.

I knocked on the basement door.

Cat answered a few minutes later, in a pair of oversized sweats and glasses, her hair thrown up in a messy bun. "Oh, hey. Is everything okay, Sookie?"

I nodded, a little embarrassed. "Sorry, I was just having some wine, and Eric's gone, and I thought I'd see if you wanted a glass. Because I don't want it to go bad, and I shouldn't drink the whole bottle."

Lies. I had an air pump thingie to keep it fresh.

"Uh, sure. I was just working on marking some essays. Let me just blow out my candles."

It did smell nice down there. "I hope its not too musty down there."

She walked upstairs, and closed the door behind her. "Sookie, it's awesome, and it smells like independence. Seriously, I owe you guys big time."

"How's everything else? Is your mom adjusting?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yea, she's fine. We had dinner last night. I got an 'I miss you', and be careful lecture, which was kind of ridiculous at my age, but other than that, we were good. Where's Eric?"

"Fishing with Max. He promised him a fishing trip while he was in Paris. I ran into Appius' wife earlier with Ce. She was a total bitch."

Cat giggled. "She looks so sour. I met her at an NYU psychology luncheon."

"One of their country club memberships is getting revoked. Did you know that people pay like a half a million bucks a year to belong to some of the Hamptons clubs?" I'd done some googling when I got home. I was a small-town Louisiana girl. That was absurd.

She snorted. "Hey, I can hardly afford to pay New York rent. Hopefully his salary will get distributed if he's making enough to afford that."

"She's old money. I doubt he's making anywhere near that." Professor salaries were usually far less than the public thought. "But, yea. It would be good to get him out for that, and for so many other reasons."

We sat there, smiling at one another for a minute. "Sookie, can I ask you something personal?"

After a couple of glasses of wine, I loved talking personal. "Sure."

She tucked her legs in under her on the couch. "How did you decide to start dating Eric, even though you knew it wasn't quite kosher, with you working on his book?"

I smiled, like I always did when I talked about when we met. I was such a suck. "He was relentless, and it finally got to the point where I could think of nothing else. I crossed a lot of professional boundaries with him in the beginning, that I probably wouldn't have done now, but with he and I, at times it was like neither of us had a choice in the matter. We have some intense chemistry."

Cat looked up, considering carefully the next question that she was going to ask. "Because he, well, knows a lot about sex, was it, well, intimidating, being with him at first?"

And this was where my loose lips always got me in trouble after a couple of glasses of wine. "We just fooled around for months. You've seen him, well, not naked, I hope anyway, and I was a bit nervous at first, and I was also afraid that he was going to fuck and chuck me, and then we were going to have to work together for ages on his book, so I pulled the everything but card. I got hurt pretty badly in my previous relationship, and I was hell bent not to have that happen again. Was that too much information?"

She shook her head. "Well, the size thing was, but the rest was useful. I met someone, but I'm afraid he's going to chew me up and spit me out."

"You know, Cat, I think that our behaviour determines how others treat us. And I don't think you behave like a slut. So you'll be fine." I patted her on the back. "So, who is he? Another professor?"

She looked like the cat the swallowed the canary. "He's no one. I think I managed to ensure that he'd never call me again. I was just curious for next time."

"Is he intimidated because you're a sexpert?" I grinned at her. "I'd never thought of a female sexpert having that problem."

She snorted. "I may specialize in an area that relates to sex, but I assure you, I'm no expert."

I laughed. "Well, I mean, I guess when you've been doing it for as long as you and I have, almost everyone is an expert. I know it can feel like you're out of practice though. I nearly died when Eric was away last fall."

She shook her head. "I'm actually pretty fail at sex."

I snorted. "It's tab one into slot two, and repeat. How can you be fail at that?"

Cat shrugged. "You'd be surprised. I guess my research has the opposite effect on me that Eric's does on him. I'm rarely in the mood, after spending time at prisons, or shelters. Sex can be good, sure, but it also creates a hell of a lot of bad."

I preferred never to think about that. "I guess so. But you can't throw the baby out with the bath water. It can be a really incredible way to connect with someone."

Cat smiled. "You're lucky to have had that experience."

I nodded. "I know."

At about two in the morning, I woke up to a phone call from Bill. I fumbled with my phone. "Sook, do you have power?"

I looked around the room, which was in complete darkness, save for a tiny crack from the window. My alarm clock was off. "No."

"Shit. Us either. Selah is freaking out because we just bought half a cow for the deep freeze. Organic meat. It cost a fortune."

I groaned and sat up. "Why is the power out?"

"You didn't hear? Huge storm. It's dumping record amounts of rain for this time of year, and winds are gusting at well over a hundred miles an hour. It's like a spring hurricane. It's been all over the news for days."

It was cool in here, but I usually turned the heat down at night anyway. I hated when the power went out though. It made everything harder with kids "I wasn't paying attention to the weather."

"Shit, I don't know what to do."

"Bill, I can't help you with your meat." I wished Eric was there, because he would have pissed himself at my slip of the tongue. He never missed things like that. "Sorry."

He sighed. Bill was cheap. He hated losing money, and we fed the kids organic too, and it was bloody expensive. I had no idea how much a half cow cost. "Well thank you anyway, and sorry to wake you."

And then I remembered something. "Wait. Pam's condo has a generator, and a deep freeze." Pam hardly ever ate at home, so it doubted it would be in use.

He perked up. "Really? And she wouldn't mind?"

I figured it would be better to take Ce there anyway, since it was likely to be cold if the power didn't come back on, and it would be nice to wake up and be able to cook something. "Come pick us up. We'll go stay over there. She's in the Bahamas."

"I'll be there in an hour. Thank you, Sookie. We were on a waiting list for that bloody cow. I'll bring you some steaks."

"No problem. See you in a bit, Bill."

I pulled myself up out of bed, packed an overnight bag, and left a voice mail for Eric letting him know where we were in case he beat us home. I peered out the bedroom window, and it was indeed pissing blowing rain out.

Ce was grumbly when I woke her up, but was quite excited about going to Pam's. I grabbed Lily and was almost out the door when I remembered Cat. I scratched out a note letting her know we were gone, and stuffed it under the door.

Cat

It was early, maybe around seven in the morning when I heard a knock on the outside door. I pulled on my robe and peered out the peephole.

Bones.

How the hell had he found me?

"Go away," I said, trying my best to sound exasperated, but really wishing I hadn't been so freaked out by how attached I'd gotten to him a few weeks ago after our little self-imposed quarantine session.

He shouted above the wind. "It's bloody pissing out. Let me in. I just want to talk."

I opened the door a crack. "How the hell did you find me?"

"I work with your landlord, remember? She mentioned she had a new tenant and it wasn't hard to put the pieces together, especially after I went by your home in Brooklyn and your mother told me off. She's a horrible bitch, she is. No wonder you weren't eager to get back to her." He inclined his head towards me. "I thought you liked me."

I sighed, and opened the door fully, and made a mental note to call my mother. I did like him. Fuck, he was gorgeous. The kind of gorgeous that was distracting. "It's like seven in the morning."

He shook his head. "It's half ten."

I stared at him, confused. "But I set my alarm."

"Power's been out since midnight. I brought croissants, but no coffee, well, for obvious reasons, and I have the feeling you're a bit high strung anyway." He held up a paper bag. "I've debated coming here since I found out you were living here on Friday, but I have my pride."

"So why did you come?"

He sighed, and locked eyes with me. "Because I couldn't stop thinking about you. You're like crack, Kitten. Gorgeous crack. You're looking healthier than the last time I saw you, before you left without so much as a goodbye."

I blushed, embarrassed. I'd kind of freaked out. "Yea, I don't like awkward goodbyes."

He moved closer to me, invading my personal space. I found myself not bothered like I usually was. "I might have let you leave, but I wasn't saying goodbye. I like you, Cat, and I'd like to get to know you better. But no running. I told you, I'd find you."

I sighed at his words. "You're like a creepy stalker."

He shook his head. "No. I've never been sick with someone before, like that. It was horrible, and wonderful all at the same time. You know there's something there."

His hand brushed mine, and my breathing hitched. "I don't know that."

"Give me a shot," he whispered, "and I don't just mean today. You won't regret it."

I closed the door behind him, and took a step back, quite unable to resist the handsome Englishman in my living room, looking like he belonged there. "I told you, I don't have a lot of experience with men."

He nodded. "I know. And I'm okay with that."

I thought back to the afternoon before I'd gotten sick, the way his hands felt on me, the way my body had reacted to his touch, the way his firm body had felt against me. "Show me what you would have done if I hadn't got sick," I whispered, taking his hand and showing him the way to my room, leaving the croissants on the kitchen table. I had the feeling that if Bones had his way, we'd need to refuel later.

His voice was low and gravely, and sent an amazing shiver down my spine."With pleasure."