When Sookie's flight touched down in Stockholm, she was exhausted and ready to be off of the plane. Eric had spared no expense and booked her a private jet, but even a posh private jet got old after a few hours. She had assumed Eric would meet her at the airport, so she was disappointed to see a limousine with a stranger holding a sign with her name.

"Miss Stackhouse?" asked the man whom she assumed to be the driver. His voice was heavily accented, but she was pleased that he spoke english.

"That's me," she said, approaching the limousine. The driver went around and opened the door for her as one of the airport attendants loaded her bags into the trunk. Sookie peered into the limousine, hoping Eric might have waited for her inside, as it was quite cold on the tarmac, but it was empty. She sighed, but found herself excited for her first trip in a limousine. There was a bottle of champagne waiting for her, with a glass and a note.

"Dear One,

I hope you had a pleasant flight. Did you know there is an app for tracking flights? I will be watching your tiny plane on my phone all evening as I suffer through tedious meetings that keep me away from you. I assumed you would be exhausted when you got here, so I am having Isak take you to the hotel so you can rest. I hear 'jet-lag' is brutal for you humans. Rest well, we have a busy few days ahead of us.

Yours,
Eric"

Sookie smiled, she could tell just from the light-heartedness of his letter that he was happy, and eager to see her. She felt the same, and was only mildly disappointed that she wouldn't be seeing him right away. But she knew she needed to rest and refresh. She looked about as haggard as she felt after such a long flight. As the driver, Isak apparently, was returning to the limo, inspiration struck and she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the plane before they pulled away. She sent it to Eric with a brief text.

"Tiny plane has landed. Back to work!"

Her phone chirped within a minute.

"Not a chance. Limo has GPS. See you soon, lover. x E"

Sookie laughed, and decided to enjoy the ride with a glass of champagne. She was half tempted to open the moonroof and stand up, like she'd seen people do in the movies. Only the memory of how cold it was outside stopped her from acting on the impulse.

The limo pulled up in front of a gorgeous hotel overlooking the water. There was a hotel attendant at her door immediately, opening it for her before she'd finished looking her fill .

"Miss Stackhouse, welcome to the Grand Hotel," he greeted, helping her out. "My name is Lucas, and I am most happy to tell you I have been appointed as your personal concierge for your time with us. Mr. Northman and Miss du Beaufort are our most honored guests, and we are pleased to have you as their guest. If you will, please join me in a short tour of the hotel while your bags are delivered?"

"That would be lovely, thank you," she said, excitement overcoming her exhaustion.

Lucas took her on a brief tour, showing her where the restaurants, bar, health center and business centers were. "Mr. Northman and Ms. du Beaufort are off-site this evening, but tend to hold quite a few of their business meetings in our conference rooms here, if you need to locate them for any reason," he explained when Sookie looked confused about why he was showing her that area.

"Thank you. I'm a little tired, could we head to the rooms?" she asked, failing to stifle a yawn.

"Of course. Please, follow me. I have your room key. You will be staying in our most prestigious accommodations, the Princess Lillian Suite. This comes with access to all of our amenities. As well as a personal staff, myself during the evenings, Ida during the day, and Isak will be your transportation if you need to go anywhere during your stay. The suite has a fully stocked kitchen, but we also have excellent room service and the restaurants you saw on our tour. But if you require anything else, Ida or I will gladly provide it."

"Thank you, Lucas. I'm sure I'll be just fine," she said as they reached the doors to the suite, her exhaustion finally overcoming her.

"No need to thank me. And gratuity is taken care of, so you know. I'll let you rest, I know you had a long flight. The phone numbers you'll need are on the back of your key card. Good evening, Miss Stackhouse."

"Good night, Lucas," she said, closing the door behind him. She turned to take in the room. It was huge and luxuriously decorated. She had no idea where to even look for her bags. Thankfully, a door opened a minute later and a gorgeous blonde woman, roughly her age, entered.

"Are you Sookie?" she asked, pulling her dressing gown tighter. To Sookie's surprise, she had a British accent, not Swedish as she appeared.

"Yes, and you?"

"I am Astrid. I am a...friend of Pam's."

Sookie snorted. ''Friend' my ass' she thought, but said nothing.

"Pam asked me to show you around when you got here," said Astrid.

"That's real nice of you, but I'm exhausted. If you could just show me where I'll be sleeping, that would be great."

"Certainly, you're in Eric's room," she said, pointing towards a set of black doors on one end of the sitting room they were in.

Sookie laughed. "Oh, that's not presumptuous at all," she said, rolling her eyes.

Astrid laughed as well. "That is Eric, is it not?"

"Very true. I guess you've been staying with them a while?" Sookie asked, curiosity piqued.

"Yes. I am one of the scientists working with them."

"Business and pleasure, sounds like Pam," Sookie said, smiling almost fondly.

"Indeed. Your bags have been placed in there, there's an en suite with anything else you might need. I'll let you get some sleep, but it was nice to meet you, Sookie."

"Likewise, Astrid. Good night."

Sookie entered the bedroom and looked for her bags. She found them empty, in the closet. Her clothes were hung up or put away in the dresser, along with Eric's. Relieved to be free of that task, she made her way into the bathroom and had to laugh. It was horizontally striped, black and white, across the whole room. "The Swedish are weird," she muttered, but was glad to find her toiletries bag and use the large, circular shower.

By the time she'd finished everything, she was barely keeping her eyes open and practically had to crawl into the bed. She was asleep before she could even appreciate how comfortable the bed was.

A couple of hours later, she was awoken by a pair of strong arms wrapping around her. She couldn't help her sleepy grin. "Eric," she sighed, happily, turning over to face him.

"Sookie," he breathed, gazing down at her fondly. "I had planned only to fetch a change of clothes. But at the sight of you in my bed, I found I couldn't resist joining you for my rest. Is that okay?"

To both of their surprise, she simply said, "Yes," and snuggled further into his embrace.

"Good, because I really don't know if I could have torn myself away from you now that I've got you."

"Got me, have you?" she murmured, sleepily.

He tightened his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her hair, "Oh, yes. I'd say I have. And you're not getting away from me again."

"Works for me," she agreed, feeling sleep pull at her once again.

He laughed softly, "Back to sleep, dear one. We'll have plenty of time when you wake up."

When Sookie next awoke, she felt very disoriented. The room was dark, and her body told her it was night time, but Eric was still in his daytime rest, his grip on her even tighter in his lifeless state. She tried to wiggle free, and he moved behind her, tightening his embrace. "Do that again, lover, and neither one of us is leaving this bed any time soon," he whispered in her ear.

She startled, then laughed, pushing at his arms which loosened immediately. "Back to sleep, you. I'll be back before the sun goes down."

"You'd better be. I've got plans for you," he replied, grinning lasciviously, before going back to sleep.

"I'll bet you do," she muttered, rolling her eyes with a smile as she headed towards the bathroom.

Once she felt presentable, at least presentable enough for the people she would encounter during the day, she headed out to explore the suite. She passed a clock that informed her it was just shortly before noon, which would explain why it felt like night time, since her body was still on Bon Temps time.

She really hadn't taken the time to appreciate her surroundings the night before. The suite was extravagant, with a sitting room, dining room, office, kitchen, spa room, and even a small movie theater. "I guess Eric never is one to do something half ass…" she muttered to herself, or so she thought.

A trilling laugh came from behind her and she recognized Astrid's voice when she said, "No, no he does not. Good morning, Sookie. Or should I say afternoon, now? Are you hungry?"

"Good morning, Astrid. I'm starving."

"Let's order in, then, shall we?"

Sookie and Astrid got to know each other a little bit over a pile of pancakes almost taller than they were. The hotel, it seemed, also didn't do anything half ass and when she'd asked for a pancake stack, they delivered. In spades.

"Why didn't we order the fruit platter?" Sookie groaned, holding her overly full stomach. "I regret everything."

Astrid only laughed, also patting her stomach. "I know what you mean. Why don't we go down to the real spa and get pampered for a while until our stomachs are not so full? I know what Eric has planned for you tonight and I think you'll be happy for the spa visit."

This pulled Sookie's attention away from her aching belly. "Oh? And what's that?"

Astrid mimicked a zipper over her mouth, but said, "All I can tell you is it is a fancy dress night. Did you bring any? I can have the concierges bring you a selection if not."

"Good to know. No, I brought some. Eric's other progeny, Willa, helped me pick them out and she seems to have good taste, just like Pam."

Astrid smiled fondly, "She's not spoken of a sister."

"Oh! Forget I said anything. That's me, always sticking my foot in my mouth," Sookie rambled, awkwardly.

"It's fine. Pam and I don't talk as much as we, well…" Astrid trailed off.

"Fuck?" Sookie answered bluntly, laughing.

"How very American. But yes." Astrid replied, grinning.

"Come on, then. Off to the spa. Only you'll have to show me where it is because I was half comatose when he showed me last night."

"Yes. Let me make a phone call before we go. I'd arranged for the day off, but like Eric, I do not trust anyone to do anything right without my supervision," she said with a laugh. "Go on ahead, I'll meet you in the lobby."

"Sure," Sookie agreed, heading out the door. She paused halfway down the hall and decided she'd like to bring her purse in case she wanted to buy anything, or needed her phone. She let herself back into the suite, heading to the bedroom. When she had retrieved her purse and opened the door again, she could hear Astrid's voice, presumably on the phone. She made to cross the room quietly and exit, but something stood out to her. She closed the door to a crack and peered out. Astrid was pinching the bridge of her nose in what looked like frustration and pacing the room, listening to the other side of the call. When she spoke again, Sookie realized she wasn't speaking English. It took her a few sentences to recognize the language she was speaking, which was not Swedish, as she'd initially assumed. It was Japanese.

After her ordeal a few months ago, this alarmed her enough to dip into Astrid's head. But she was again met by a roadblock - she was thinking in Swedish. Astrid seemed to be wrapping it up as she strode fully into the sitting room and out the door. Sookie waited a couple of minutes to give her enough of a head start, then followed after her.

When she caught up to her in the lobby, Astrid was looking around with an annoyed expression on her face. It instantly changed to a smile when she saw Sookie approaching. "Sorry, got a bit turned around," Sookie explained, pasting on a smile.

"No matter, let's go. It's this way," Astrid said, leading Sookie across the lobby and down a side hall.

"So, how are things at work?" Sookie asked, as innocently as she could make it sound.

"Oh, fine, I suppose. I just have to make sure they're on the right track or no one ever makes any progress."

"I know what you mean, I just oversaw Eric's bar remodel and contractors are the same way."

Astrid laughed, "Yes, I suppose they are."

"So what is it you do for them?"

"Oh, well I'm one of the leaders in the field of synthesizing blood. I've been working in the field since before the vampires came out of the coffin, so to speak."

"How? You're like, my age."

Astrid laughed again, "Yes, well, I don't like to brag but there's a reason I'm at the top of my field. I'm a genius. A bit of a prodigy, really. Science came easily to me from a young age."

"That must be nice. To know the one thing you were meant to be doing, that you're the best at something so important," Sookie said.

"It's a gift and a curse, at times," Astrid replied, smiling sadly. "But, definitely a gift now. Pam mentioned you would be a business partner, so my gift is going to make us all very, very rich. And that's the dream, right?"

Sookie laughed, "Well, it was never my dream, but it sure beats waiting tables and wondering how I'm gonna pay my property taxes."

"That's the spirit!" Astrid said, grinning.

They had reached the spa and parted ways when they picked different things to have done. It was a weekend of firsts for Sookie. First time leaving the country, first time in a limousine, first time in a five star hotel, and now her first time at a spa. She'd booked as much as she could fit in the time she had free. By the time she exited - buffed, polished, and relaxed - she had a little over two hours to go before Eric would wake. She hurried back up to the suite, changed into a soft and short nightgown, then burrowed her way back into Eric's arms in the bed. She fell into a half sleep while contemplating what it was that had her alarms going off about Astrid's phone call. That was when it hit her. There was one word in her conversation that stood out because it wasn't in Japanese. She'd mentioned "Willa."