Time frame: Years after "From Dead to Worse"

This is a companion piece following "Family", "Bowling for Vampires" and "Leather Underwear" Please read the end of Family or you will be extremely confused.

Disclaimer: I don't have any claim on any characters in the Sookie Universe. Please don't sue me. The other characters are my own creation and just wanted to play with them for a while.

A/N: This is going to be a very short chapter, but there is a method to my madness, so trust me okay?

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Chapter 19

"Well this is...different." I said with a nervous laugh.

Eric sat in stunned silence, his eyes fixed on the remnants of the vase on the wall.

"Eric, are you okay?"

He nodded slowly.

"What did you feel when you moved the vase?" His eyes snapped to mine as he pondered for a moment.

"I was willing the vase to move and then when it didn't, I pushed harder."

"Did you feel a pull from deep within? From there?" I said, patting my hand on his chest.

"No. It was more from my mind."

"Hmm. I think you only have a sliver of my ability. Not a bad piece to have really."

"Why do you say that?"

"You are operating on the same level as I did when I was very young. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think I was linked with you long enough to give you more."

"Linked with me?"

"When I heal someone, I don't repair them directly. I actually absorb their injuries into me and then let my body heal itself. Kind of wacky, but the person injured gets better faster, which is the important thing. The less time they have to suffer, the better."

"But you suffer while you heal, do you not?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I don't mind. What's a little pain anyway?"

"You were in a great deal of pain, Ally. I know you were. You forget- I felt it first."

I gave him a pat on his hand. "Don't worry about it. Really. I don't mind." I thought for a moment. "I was afraid that I was losing you- that I wasn't taking your injury away fast enough so I actually let down my restraints and poured my healing into you in hopes of speeding up the process. That's probably when it happened- sorry about that."

"So by the time I was healed, your body's own healing ability was tapped out. I think I'm the one who should be sorry."

"Hey, no harm, no foul. We're both okay. That's all that matters."

Eric thought on that silently.

Wanting to change the subject, I waved my hands in front of me.

"Do you want to know how much of my ability you have?" He nodded.

I asked Eric to draw the privacy curtain. Even at this late hour, we couldn't afford to advertise my abilities. He did as I requested and sat back down next to me.

"Okay." I sat up and tried to reach his head but he was just too high up. I got on my knees and scooted to face him on the bed. He was now more or less eye level. Placing my hands on either side of his head, I told him. "Now you might feel a bit of a tingling sensation. What I'm trying to do is link us again. Since we seem to be sharing a bit of each other it shouldn't be too hard. Once linked I should be able to feel how much of me is still in me and how much of me is in you. If it starts feeling too weird, tell me and I'll stop okay?"

Eric nodded and put his hands on my hips to brace himself. I gave him a reassuring smile and then leaned in as I looked deep into his eyes...

I was pulled into him through a deep long tunnel. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but I had I feeling I would know when I found it. I just let my mind take me where it wanted to go, and where it wanted to go was to find it's missing piece. So I called for it. I called and it answered. I could feel the energy, it was faint yet powerful. Yup. Just like I thought. Eric only had the lowest rung of my abilities, but he would need help using them. I felt Eric grip me tighter as I began to retreat back into my own mind, slowly and carefully so as not to disrupt anything. I was soon out and all I could see was his blue eyes fixed on my green ones. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

"I think you're okay. It's as I suspected. You have a very small portion of my abilities. We'll probably both need to work together to train them though. I can see your mind doesn't work the same way mine does."

I could feel the back of my gown slipping. Eric's hand flew up to catch it as it fell past my left shoulder and my hand goes up at the same time covering his.

Of course as luck would have it, and apparently when it comes to things like this I have absolutely no luck at all, Bill and Sookie chose that particular moment to walk in.

TBC