AN: Once again, thanks for reading, favoriting, following, and (especially) reviewing. I'm eager to see what y'all think about this one. Also, I don't own anyone or anything in the SVM series. I wish I did. Unfortunately, that honor goes to Charlaine Harris, the lucky wench ;-)

Pam P.O.V

I look up at the TV and see a picture of the "dead girl." I look over to the couch and examine Sookie. Yep, definitely the same mini-being. I'm no longer referring to her as a human, because I no longer think she is one. Now the question becomes – what exactly is she?

First option: ghost. Perhaps that is why she smells so different; are ghosts especially delicious? I'd always imagined that they'd be more transparent and flavorless. Maybe she just appears this way to us because we are Vampire… When I was human, my nursemaid always said that only the dead can see the dead.

I run out of the office, grab the first waitress I see (Veronica or Vivian or something like that. One of Eric's "special" hires), and pull her into the room. I point at Sookie and ask, "Do you see that girl?"

"Um, yeah. I mean, she's sitting right there." Her reply is distracted because she's staring at Eric while simultaneously lowering her top, hitching up her skirt, and licking her lips. Sookie isn't really paying any attention, but Eric shoots me a dirty look and adds his free hand to Sookie's other shoulder.

Damn, not a ghost then. I glamour Vicki into believing that she came back here for the usual reasons and send her away.

Next option: zombie. I haven't heard of an actual zombie before but – despite Eric's insistence to the contrary – I've suspected that they exist for years. Besides, I also didn't know hobbits were real until I met Dr. Ludwig, and I was well into my 100's by then.

I think back to everything I've ever heard about zombies. In most movies they are shown to be rather stupid creatures, but humans are always getting facts about the supernatural wrong anyway. With this in mind, I ask, "Sookie, do you find that you are having strange cravings? For example, did you see the humans in line out front and think to yourself 'I'd like to crack their skulls open and sample some grey matter'?"

Sookie, who'd been leaking again, wipes her eyes and looks up at me. "No, that's nasty! Why would I do that?"

Eric interrupts before I get to answer and says with a scowl, "For the last time, there are no such things as zombies Pamela! She is alive; I'm touching her, remember? She is warm and has a pulse."

"It was a perfectly understandable question master. She is not human. Humans don't smell like her, or read minds, or have visions, or miraculously survive car accidents and appear at vampire bars." I don't add that she can't be human because I'm fighting the desire to brush the hair out of her face and wipe the tears from her eyes. Though I'd never give in to the impulse, just the fact that I have the inclination proves she isn't human. I'd never have these feelings about vermin!

Eric looks like he wants to scold me again, but can't deny that I have a point. He removes his hands from Sookie's shoulders and takes her tiny hand in his. "Young one, I know today has been hard for you, but Pam brings up a good point. We could better help you if we understood your nature."

Sookie just looks at him with her little face scrunched up in confusion.

"What he means, my pretty petit four, is that we need to know what you are." Seeing that she still doesn't understand, I add, "I'll go first. Me Pam, me vampire. You Sookie, you…" I gesture at her.

She looks thoughtful for a moment and then answers, "I don't really know. My brother says I'm a mutant like Professor X, or a witch like Hermione, but most people just think I'm crazy."

Eric looks thoughtful, "Though they are rare, I suppose that you could be a natural witch. I don't know of these mutants however, and who is this professor you speak of?"

Oh. My. Fuck. How many times have I told Eric that he is behind the times? Aside from his strange obsession with rap music (He claims to be the "original gangsta"), he completely ignores pop culture. I admonish him, "They are fictional characters Eric; they aren't real. Which you would know if you ever let me pick the movie!"

"You lost movie choosing privileges when you made me watch that one with the Californian Chihuahuas! And there is nothing wrong with documentaries or foreign films. However," he glances over at Sookie, who is yawning, "Now isn't really the time for discussions about the cinema. We need to be finding a way to return Sookie to her relatives. The news program mentioned a grandmother…"

"What? You can't do that!" Sookie yells, suddenly very awake. "They need to think I'm dead. Nothing good will happen if anyone knows I'm alive! Please!"

"Sookie, they will realize that you are alive when they do not find your body. And do you not want to see your brother and grandmother? You aren't thinking clearly small one." Eric's gentle tone just seems to make the girl angrier.

"I am too thinking clearly! Bad things will happen to everyone if I go live with gran. And I already looked it up on the computer in the school library; it said that the creek feeds into a swamp, so they'll just think I floated away and got eated by a gator. Plus, that's why I left my shoes in the car and called my gran before we left so that she knew I was with them. I thought about it lots!"

I sucked in some unnecessary air. "You mean that you purposely faked your death?"

"Yes, and the only person who saw me after was the taxi man. I had him waiting at the gas station and walked to him so that he wouldn't know where I came from. Plus, now he's mind magiced, so it should be fine."

"That's some Jason Bourne shit right there," I say with an impressed nod.

Eric looks considerably less impressed and much more confused. "How long have you known that this would happen? And how did you survive?"

Yes, I'd been wondering that also. I eagerly await the tiny 007's response.

"I've known for as long as I can remember. It's the first special dream I ever had, and I've had it more than 20 times." Sookie stops there and looks at the ground.

"And…" Eric prompts her to continue.

"And, I don't remember how I got out. I just did it." Sookie finishes lamely and, though I don't know why, I'm absolutely sure she is lying. I'm rather surprised to realize that, of all the fantastical things Sookie has told us today, I only really question this. She seems to be truthful about everything else.

Eric also looks disbelieving, but he doesn't press the issue. Instead he asks, "If you are supposed to be dead, where will you go? Do you have a place to stay?"

Sookie doesn't answer and it displeases me to see that her eyes are filling with tears again. I roll my eyes at Eric, "It is obvious that she intends to stay with you master. She can have my old room."

Eric appears aghast, but I don't know why. Why else did he think she showed up here? Sometimes males are just oblivious. He avoids looking at Sookie and hurriedly commands, "My I-Pod."

Ever the obedient child, I fetch his I-pod, though I have no idea why he wants to listen to music now. His purpose becomes clear, however, when he takes the ear buds and places them into Sookie's ears. "Little one, I know that you can't go into another room now, because the voices will hurt you. Is this correct?"

Sookie nods in agreement.

"Well, Pam and I need to talk about grown-up things privately for a moment, so I want you to listen to the music ok?"

Before Sookie can even nod her assent, I hear music begin to play. Uhh, uh uh uh. It's big pimpin baby…

As soon as the volume is adjusted to the highest setting, Eric lays into me. "What the fuck Pam? You are acting as though you believe that I should raise this child!"

I shrug, "You have done it before."

"Times were different back then. Men hardly had anything to do with caring for the children. I told them stories sometimes and had begun to train Anir on the sword, but that was as far as my child rearing went." His eyes take on a frantic gleam that I've never seen on his face before.

I simply shrug again, "I wasn't even talking about your human children. I was talking about me!" Obviously!

He looks at me as though I am insane and states sarcastically, "Oh yes, you are correct! I'm sure it is exactly the same. Do you think I should begin by burying her in the ground for 3 days or should I skip that part and go straight to hunting? Without the fangs, biting will be a bit more difficult, but I'm sure we'll manage."

I growl, "You are such an asshole." I can't manage much else, because he might have the smallest of points.

Correctly guessing my thoughts, he smiles and says, "See, you don't even have a response to that because you know how ridiculous the idea of me having a human child is."

I hiss back, "It's not ridiculous! Besides, she said that she couldn't go live with the humans." And didn't he see how upset she was about it? Not that I cared about such worthless human emotions…

"Ok Pam, if you want her so bad, why don't you take her?" His tone is so smug that I know he thinks he has ended our discussion. Well, guess again master!

Without even a second's thought I reply, "You know what, have it your way. I'll keep her!"

"What?" Gob smacked – that's what he his. Ha, fucking, ha!

"I had a cat that one time, it can't be that different." Can it? I put on my "confident bitch face" so my uncertainty doesn't show.

He runs his fingers through his hair, mussing it. "If I recall correctly, your cat died because you went on a vacation and forgot to leave food out for it. That's very encouraging Pam."

Shit, he had to bring that up! I sass back, "Sophia talks, so she can remind me to feed her. And look how small she is; I bet she doesn't need much food anyway." That should take care of that. Plus, she's small enough that I wouldn't even need to lose one of my rooms; I could just stick her in the walk-in closet in the guest room. Though, I suppose it would be fun to decorate for a girl. I'm sure they have pink furniture for such purposes…

While I'm already listing the pros and cons for various room themes, my maker seems to be stuck on disbelief. "You can't even get her name right! How exactly are you supposed to raise her?"

"I can get her name right! I'm just changing it because no child of mine will be called Sookie. Sophia sounds much more sophisticated." Eric's eyes bulge when he finally realizes that I'm quite serious.

Eric lowers his voice and starts speaking to me as though I'm some human he's trying to talk down from a ledge. "I don't understand why you want a child. You normally hate them. I promise you can visit Sookie at her grandmother's house. How does that sound?"

I shake my head no and reply, "I like this one – she smells good and can do fun tricks." And think of all the cute little outfits! She'll be the best pet ever!

"Smells good? Is that what this is about?" He looks livid now. "I absolutely forbid you to bite her Pamela!"

I'm actually getting angry; I don't want to bite Sookie. Much. So I huff, "I'm not going to bite her Eric! You've been telling me not to bite children for almost 140 years now. Message received. But children are always falling down and getting injured, surely you wouldn't begrudge me a lick or two?"

His gaze becomes more assessing as he orders, "As your maker, I command you not to intentionally injure Sookie in any way. No 'accidentally' tripping her on the sidewalk. No 'unfortunate mishaps' with the scissors. I swear, I'll be on you like wine on rice."

His mauling of the phrase only enhances my growing anger, because I know that if Ginger was here he'd be one point closer to victory. I'm about to rip into him when I realize that he has cause to be suspicious. How can he understand the effect the girl is having on me? I don't really even understand it myself – I just know that I must help her. So, I let go of my anger and meet his eyes, "It's white on rice. The saying is WHITE on rice. See what I mean, you're always getting them wrong! Besides, I wasn't going to hurt her anyway. If she scars up, it would completely ruin her looks." My tone is joking, as usual, but the feelings that I'm sending through our bond are not. I know that Eric can see I'm not letting this go unless he makes me.

Eric shuts-up and stares at me for a few moments. The only sounds I hear are Sookie's calm, steady breaths and that horrid rap music coming from the I- pod. Comin straight up out the black bar-rio, makes a mill' up off a sorry hoe. Then sit back and peep my sce-nawr-e-oh, Oops, my bad, that's my scenario...

Finally, Eric gives a barely perceptible nod.

I walk over to Sookie, rip out the ear buds, and proudly state, "Come on my little bon-bon, let's go. I'm going to be your adoptive maker."