Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Southern Vampire Mysteries universe.

Theme 16: Questioning

POV: Sookie

Rating: K+

Twenty Questions

I never imagined when I agreed to try a relationship with Eric that he would want to be so involved in my somewhat normal, everyday human life. Case in point, I can hear him coming down the hall from the hidey hole now that the sun has set. He is going to try and ask me every question he can think of about what might have happened during the day.

"Good evening, Dear One," he said as he entered the living room, "How was your day? Everything went smoothly? Any trouble during your shift at the bar? You look tired; are you feeling okay?"

I put out my hands to stop the questions, "Slow down, Eric. What do you think this is, Twenty Questions?"

Eric gave me a quizzical look before replying, "Of course it wasn't twenty questions. Clearly, I only asked you four questions. I never understood why humans always use the number twenty when they think someone is asking a lot of questions."

"Oh, Eric," I laughed, "Are you telling me you've never played Twenty Questions? It's a game children play."

"I've never played. How does one go about doing so?"

I had to smile. How many people get to teach a thousand year old Viking vampire how to play a children's game? Breathing deeply, I answered, "You need two or more people. One of them thinks of something; it could be a person or a place or an object. The other person, or people, gets twenty questions to help them figure out what the first person is thinking of. Often there is a rule saying that the questions have to be ones that have a yes or no answer."

"Can I try playing it?"

I shrugged, "Sure, why not? Do you want to think of the thing first or ask questions first?"

"I'm going to try the questions first. Isn't that the point of playing this game?"

I couldn't argue with that so I glanced around the room, looking for something he could ask about. Finally, I found something I thought would work, "Okay, I've got one."

"Is it…" Eric smirked, "in this room?"

"Yes."

He glanced around the room, "Is it closer to me than to you?"

"Um…no," I had to think about that one before I answered.

"Is it the sofa?"

"No, and most people don't actually try to guess what it is by the third guess," I answered.

His next question made me laugh, "Is it bigger than I am?"

"What do I have in here besides my sofa that is bigger than you? No."

"Is it near the TV?"

"Yes."

"Is it…" he leaned over to grab at the video sitting on top of my old VCR, "Gone With the Wind?"

He had me there, "Yes. I can't believe you got it in five questions. Are you sure you've never played this before?"

"Of course," replied Eric, "But I've always been a pretty fast learner. Now I believe it is your turn to ask the questions.

"Oh, alright. Just let me know when you're ready."

With his most charming smile he replied, "I'm ready now."

I briefly wondered if there was a double meaning in that reply before I asked my first question, "Is it a place?"

He shook his head, "Definitely not."

"Is it solid?"

Eric nodded.

"Is it yellow?" I decided to go with a wild guess; you never know when those will help.

Eric looked thoughtful for a moment, "Part of it."

"So, it's multicolored?"

"Yes," smirked Eric, "I think that would be a good description."

A streak of mischief caused the next question to pop out of my mouth, "Is it smaller than you are?"

With a smile on his face, Eric nodded.

"Is it smaller than I am?"

Eric laughed. He was actually laughing at my questions. I felt slightly offended before he managed to control himself enough to answer in the negative.

Now I was really confused. What was taller than me, shorter than Eric and multicolored? I was drawing a blank. I was grasping at straws, "Is it a type of tree?"

All I got in response was a shake of his head.

"Is it an animal?"

"Technically, yes" I could tell that he knew how confused I was and he was finding it highly amusing.

"Technically, yes" I muttered, glaring at him, "Is it a shifter, then?"

"No," he replied, laughing even harder.

I'm sure my face was completely screwed up in concentration by this point, "Is it an animal that makes sounds that humans can hear."

"Definitely," he didn't laugh this time, but the smirk didn't leave his face.

"Is it native to the U.S.?"

"As far as I'm aware," he replied, "and I'm pretty knowledgeable on the subject."

"The Southeast?"

"Uh-huh."

"Is it…" I paused as I tried to think of another question, "something I've seen before?"

"Quite often.."

Now I know I'm lost because the next question out of my mouth was, "It's not Pam, is it?"

His response was his loudest laugh so far today.

"Jason?"

No response this time. I didn't need one, I knew the right answer. There was no reason Eric would have thought of Jason. It was time to try to redeem myself.

"Is it the full length mirror in my room?"

"No," he answered, "but that was not a bad guess."

"But, I've seen it often?"

"If you haven't, you must be blind," he said.

I sighed, "You know, I'm out. I give up. I don't know what you're thinking of."

"You're only three questions away but, alright, I'll give you a hint," he told me,, "it's something I think of very often. Most often. Sometimes, I can even believe I dream about it; though I have never clearly remembered dreaming."

I smiled, finally having some idea what he was talking about, "Tell me."

"It's you."

A/N: Next theme is: "Blood."