Sookie awoke much later than usual. No job waiting for her, no pressing matters to deal with combined with the peace she'd felt after Bill's death allowed her to have the best night's sleep she'd had in a long time. She'd awoken to the sound of knocking on her door, so she quickly pulled on a robe and walked, bleary-eyed, to answer it. To her lack of surprise, it was a courier. She signed for the package and opened it to find the promised phone and contract. She put both down on the kitchen table as she set about making coffee and breakfast for herself. It felt strange to have no commitments during the day. Normally she'd find herself at work, or at a friend's house, or lately, at Bill's house. For the first time in a while she had the day to herself and had no one to answer to until nightfall.
Finally she could put it off no longer and she pulled out the paperwork Eric had sent her. It all seemed fairly straight forward. Eric would outline what he wanted when they met that evening, and she would fulfill it. She knew how to stock a bar, so that didn't worry her. She had a sense of Eric's taste when it came to the decorative theme of the club - and though she didn't agree, she could make sure it remained intact. The one stipulation that stood out for her was that she was to do no work past sunset. In fact, it specified that she must be back in Bon Temps before sunset. She frowned at this, wondering how she was supposed to communicate with Eric about issues if she couldn't work past sunset, but decided she would bring it up that evening when they met. That and the obscene amount of money he wanted to pay her, on top of what he'd already given her.
At an hour to sunset she decided she should get ready to meet with Eric and Pam in Shreveport, as it was about an hour's drive to Shreveport. By the time she arrived at Fangtasia the sun was a distant memory and she saw Pam waiting impatiently in the parking lot.
"Oh, look who finally decided to grace us with her presence. Sookie fucking Stackhouse. Won't you please join us?" Pam drawled, voice heavy with sarcasm and contempt, as Sookie got out of her car.
"Sorry, I didn't think y'all would be ready for me the second the sun went down. Don't you need to get ready, and, you know, eat?"
"You offering?" Pam asked, lasciviously.
"Not particularly."
"Too bad. It'd be nice to know what all the fuss is about. Anyway, Eric and I have been waiting here for you for an hour. So please, go inside and enlighten us on what you think you, of all people, can bring to this place."
Sookie stopped, finally getting fed up with Pam's general bitchiness toward herself, and rounded on her. "Pam, I get that you don't like me. I get that you don't think I deserve Eric's attention. But what the fuck have I ever done to you personally to make you hate me so much? Because I can't figure it out, and if we're supposed to be workin' together, I can't do it if you're gonna attack me at every turn."
"Look at you, growing a backbone. Not that I really want to share, but Eric has asked that I try to be civil to you. No, I don't fucking like you. You've put my maker in danger more times than I can count, and then you slapped him in the face by choosing Compton over him every single time. Even when you were together, you never gave him a chance once he got his memories back, not for a second. Even when he's always been there for you, ready to die if need be. No regard for his own safety or mine. That enough of a reason for you sweetheart?"
Sookie was taken aback, not the least because of Pam's candidness, but also because of how much of that was what had been going through her own head not two nights ago. "Thank you for being honest, Pam. You're right about a lot of things, things I've been aware of for a while now. Not to say Eric hasn't done anything to earn some of it, but still. The one thing you can't blame me for, though, is Eric's choices. No one tells Eric what to do, you know that better than anyone."
Pam smirked very slightly. "Well, don't start thinking we're buddies now. I still don't like you."
"I don't like you either. But to be fair, we don't know a thing about each other. Let's go in. I know Eric doesn't do 'patient' very well."
The smirk on Pam's face grew marginally. "After you, princess."
Eric had a matching smirk on his face when they entered his office, and Sookie got the feeling he heard their entire conversation. "Good evening, Miss Stackhouse," Eric greeted, his voice professional but his eyes playfully mischievous. "Thank you for joining us. Pam, that will be all for now. I will alert you when we are ready to begin the tour."
Pam rolled her eyes, but left the office.
"Sit, please," Eric said, gesturing towards the small couch. Somehow she didn't think that was a good idea, with the mood he seemed to be in. So she took a seat in one of the simple desk chairs instead. This only made Eric smirk again as he took a seat on the couch, stretching out exaggeratedly as if advertising how comfortable the couch was, attempting to entice her to change her mind. She was not unaffected, but remained where she was. "So, Miss Stackhouse. Have you reviewed the terms of our contract?"
"Yes. Everything seems fine, except for one thing, well two things. The first, what's with the not working at night? How am I supposed to get in touch with you?" she asked, frowning.
"While I cannot tell you where we will be going, I can tell you the time difference will be sufficient enough that it will be evening for us when it is early afternoon for you. This will not be a problem."
"Okay, but why do you not want me to work after dark? The club will only be open at night, so I should know what it's going to look like."
"We can work that out when you get farther along," he dismissed, then paused, deciding how he wanted to phrase his next thought. "Sookie, with Pam and I gone you no longer have any sort of reliable supernatural protection in the area."
Sookie pondered that momentarily and realized he was right. What with Bill and Alcide's deaths, Sam moving away, and her ability to get in touch with Niall being limited. "But there's Jessica, James and Keith," she voiced out loud.
"They have other priorities. While I believe they would come to your aid should you require it in Bon Temps, that would not do any good for you here in Shreveport, as they would not have time to get to you should anything happen here. Which is why I would prefer it if you were in Bon Temps past nightfall. The last groups of vampires and humans to occupy this bar were highly dangerous. I will hire heavy security during the day, this is non-negotiable. But there could be vampires passing through at night, looking in on the club. I don't want them to find you there, security or not."
Sookie meant to protest, but she remembered what Bill had said when he'd asked her to use up her light. Though she didn't agree to do it, she could agree now to his point about it making her a target to vampires. Eric was watching her carefully, waiting for her to interject, but she wisely closed her mouth and just nodded.
Eric's eyebrow rose in surprise. "No arguments, then?"
"No. You're right, I suppose."
"Mmm, could you say that again? It's such a rare treat coming from you," Eric teased.
Sookie just rolled her eyes. "The other thing I wanted to talk about is the salary. Eric, I assumed you wanted me to do this for what you'd already paid me. This is too much."
Now Eric rolled his eyes. "Sookie, the two are unrelated. The check was an advance for your share of the company, as I told you. This is a salary as compensation for a service you will be providing."
"But there is no company yet, so that's bull. How 'bout a compromise. I'll take the money for the work I'll be doing for you if you take back the check." Eric made to interrupt her, but she held up her hand, "I'm not saying I won't accept the 5% you offered me, but I'll take it when the company actually starts to make money."
Eric looked at her shrewdly for a long time. "You really do need to consider business school. If you would consent to work for us after, I would gladly pay for it. Think about this, please. As to your compromise, against my better judgement, I will agree to your terms with two caveats. A 20% increase in the salary, as I believed you would be accepting the other money when I set it. And you agree to a company car and gas card. Shreveport is a long drive from Bon Temps and I would prefer to know you are safe."
Sookie thought about it for a minute, then decided that seemed fair. "As long as the car doesn't have a GPS tracker, we have a deal." She had to laugh at his expression. As she thought, that had been his plan exactly. Eventually he laughed too, and she caught a hint of pride in his eyes before he got up.
"Very well, Miss Stackhouse. You drive a hard bargain but I agree to your terms. Let's go to Pam, she must be bored by now and a bored Pam is never a good thing."