Disclaimer: The Sookie Stackhouse Series is the creation of Charlaine Harris. Don't sue me Charlaine! I love your books.

A/N- This is a really short one, sort of like a vignette. I couldn't merge it into the final two.

Sookie's Revelation

IV.

Sam informed me when I returned that I would be working only two nights a week, on weeknights no less. Well, that just stinks because tips are better at night and best at night on the weekends. I asked him why and he just stared at me and shook his head.

"Sookie, you got what you wanted, right? Sometimes, what you want is not what you think it is," he said in a somewhat annoyed tone of voice. His meaning about the source of my new schedule was all too clear.

"Sam, Pam told me that Eric was really unpleasant with you. I'm sorry."

"Pam told you he was unpleasant?"

"Well," I said squirming internally, "she told me Eric said some rather harsh things to you. I'm so sorry, Sam. He was very upset."

Sam just stared at me and shook his head. "Sookie Stackhouse, I swear sometimes that you haven't got a lick of sense in you. I really hope that you know what you've gotten yourself into," he said sharply. He turned on his heel and walked away back to the storeroom.

It felt, in spite of my lack of sleep, good to get back to work, to my own little corner of the world. Customers told me that I looked better after my "vacation", but that I still looked tired. If they only knew… Sam gave me a couple of odd looks through the day, but no more sharp words.

Later that afternoon, just as I was getting off, Sam called me over and gave me a hug. He told me quietly that there were just no words to convey how sorry he was that he'd let me get so bad off. His eyes conveyed that he truly felt terrible about the whole thing. He said that next time, he'd be the first to call Eric and Claudine if he thought something was not right with me. It seemed that Claudine had visited him while I was off, and while she hadn't exactly given him a piece of her mind, she'd lectured him a bit and provided a contact number. I'm sure that went over much better than Eric's tirade had. Claudine just had that soft touch. Unless you were attacking her, of course.

Two nights later I was working late and Bill came in at 11:30 pm. He looked my way and I nodded toward my station. He sat down and without even waiting for him to order it, I heated a bottle of O neg. I brought it over to his table and he looked at me with a somewhat sad gaze.

"So, Sookie, I promised Eric I'd come and look in on you and be sure you got home alright." He looked as if something about the request had pained him. I could just imagine what and how Eric had told him about this little responsibility.

Even though I knew that Bill had had no choice in the matter, I was grateful to him. "Thank you, Bill. I really appreciate it."

"So you're doing much better it seems. Though you do still look tired at the end of the day," he said with a gentle smile.

As I readied a reply, like a whisper across the ether came,

"… never gonna set it right now, he'll never let her go. Maybe it's better. Maybe he truly makes her happier…."

I literally jumped and almost dumped my tray on the floor. Bill glanced up at me oddly.

"Sorry, I am really tired. I guess I kind of faded there for a minute." Good save Sookie, good save, only it doesn't look like he's totally buying it. Damn, Bill knows me too well for some things! Faded out, indeed. I smiled my usual empty brained barmaid smile at Bill and excused myself. I glanced back at him and he was giving me the oddest look.

Shit! I really just did get all the luck, didn't I? I still had another 30 minutes of work to get through in spite of this latest little revelation. I thought about what Bill had said. It made me sad for him. He loved me, but was sounding quite resigned to my loss. Probably for the best, considering.

I gave Bill another True Blood and he continued to act ever so slightly odd with me. I tried very hard to act as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. Before we left, I even had a cup of coffee and sat with him a minute to talk to him briefly about some historic preservation on the Bellefleur Mansion.

When I got off work, Bill silently rode home with me in my car and kissed me chastely goodnight on the cheek as I walked toward the house. As I watched him melt into the cemetery, Eric seemed to have appeared on my porch. Keeping track of Bill, I suppose, and likely the reason for Bill's abrupt departure before I even was in my house.

It was easy to put aside my latest concerns as soon as I felt and saw Eric. I was so happy to see him. I hugged him, burying my face in his chest and enjoying the feel of his chin rubbing the top of my head. I closed my eyes and soaked him in. Looking up at him, my heart just swelled with pleasure. We went inside and I showed him the light proofed windows in my room and Amelia told him that she had warded the room so that only he and I could enter it and that nothing could penetrate the light shielding without the ward's release, a release to which he had to agree. I was still a bit nervous about the safety aspects when I was at work, although Amelia would be home and the alarm system had been installed. Part of me couldn't believe that he was so trusting of me, and of my friend. More than a thousand years on this earth, I thought to myself, and calmly putting himself into my safekeeping yet again. I chided myself, thinking that his wasn't well placed trust in at least one small respect. It really hurt me to think this way of myself.

I spent another night lying in the arms of the man I loved more than anything. In more ways than one.