Hello all. Tigerlily XOXO here with the next installment of Forgetting. I'd liketo thank all of you for reading. I'd also like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or is following. There are too many to name individually but you are all appreciated and adored.

I'd like to thank nordiclover for being awesome. She reads all the Sookie/Eric fanfictions both the tv series and the books. This is awesome because I can just visit her page and spool through her favorites. Its way easier because they are all awesome stories. She also reviewed and favorited me but that's beside the point. If you love this ship check out her page to hit a gold mine of awesomeness.

I'd also like to shout out to Suzuma, my True Blood buddy. She has a Sookie/Alcide one-shot called Romantic Connection. Its a great little ditty that you should check out if you have the time.

Chapter 1 She's Back

Eric

All of a sudden on a fine October day in a rush of lightning and summer heat I could feel her again, she was back. Even in my sleep I felt her return.

*Forgetting*

Things had not ended well between us. I had used her in my attempt to kill Russel Edgington. I had put her in terrible danger. I was not completely blinded by revenge and that made it all the worse.

Cold and calculating I used her to make the older vampire vulnerable so I could kill him. I cared for her and my callousness in that moment concerned me.

I shook myself to stop the train of thought. Guilt was not something I was accustomed to. I had done many things to many people and rarely was it deserved. That's who I was.

Godric, my maker, wanted me to change though, to be a better man. He wanted me to treat humans with respect, to no longer engage in cruelty for sport. I was not a fan of toeing the party line but perhaps it was for the best.

After what Russel had done being a vampire was only getting harder. Doing things humans frowned upon only made my life harder. Tru Blood was disgusting compared to the real thing but I found myself drinking it more and more when I was too busy to feed properly.

That's what it was like now. Never ending protests and other headaches all fallout from Russel's very public rampage. It all just made more work for me. Not to mention I had to clean up my act more than I was comfortable with even as far as vampires were concerned.

I had missed Sookie greatly. She was an exquisite creature who was not easily replaced.

I had no idea what to expect when I saw Sookie again but I knew she would likely be less than happy to see me. Forcing myself upon her would only make the situation worse so I would wait for her to come to me.

As mad as she was she couldn't avoid me forever and when our paths crossed again I would begin to redeem myself to her.

*Forgetting*

Such were the thoughts that rattled through my head as I rested.

During the day we needed to sleep or we would become weak and get what we vampires called the bleeds. In order to avoid this sleeping was necessary but lately I had found sleep impossible and turned to the less ideal resting.

Lately my dreams had been so horrible that I could not bring myself to go to sleep. I found that I could make do with resting which I had been doing that day. Until that is my body betrayed me by falling asleep.

I had no bad dreams the day Sookie returned, after the jarring of her return I settled back into my coffin and slept the best I had in weeks.

Sookie

I was devastated as I watched my grandfather die and fade away right before my eyes but I was home and that was something at least. After the day I'd had all I wanted to do was sleep in my own bed and read or watch stupid tv til my brain was numb.

I wanted to hug my friends and eat ice cream. I wanted to do normal things so I could forget that crazy place. I had almost died so many times and been in so much danger lately that I just needed to forget the crazy mess my life had become.

So I started walking towards my house to implement my plan.

*Forgetting*

When I broke through the clearing and looked upon my house, I felt a rush of relief I had never known.

But something was off. The house was too nice, it had been fixed up. As I walked closer I could see people still working on it.

When I tried to go inside one of the men on the porch tried to stop me saying I couldn't go inside. Then when I kept going he said he was going to call the cops if I didn't leave. I said, "Go ahead call 'em cuz I'd love an explanation."

There were even more people inside my house, some were moving things others were lifting cloths off the furniture in the dining room. Someone was in the process of renovating my house.

I was only gone for a few minutes, maybe an hour, this made no sense. The changes to my house were so many that they had to have been done over a matter of weeks. The only explanation was that something similar to what had happened to my grampa Earl had happened to me.

*Forgetting*

I was glad when I heard the sheriff's department pull up. It was Jason, he was ecstatic but I was still stuck on the whole cop thing. He looked different too, he had a mustache and some chin scruff.

We hugged tightly before he pulled back to have another look at me, almost like he couldn't believe it was really me. "Oh my God Sook we thought you was dead. Figured a vampire musta done it, Bill or that crazy tall one-"

"Hold on, stop a second. What is today's date?" It was October 21st. I was relieved I had been gone only two weeks. Shocked that I had been gone even that long I said, "I've been gone two weeks?"

The way Jason looked at me I knew something was wrong, he thought something was wrong with me. "You been gone 12 and a half MONTHS."

Just when I thought my life couldn't get any nuttier. I shoulda known better though. In hind sight when has anything been that simple for me?

Since I'd been gone a full year we sat down at the table to catch up. I wanted to know what I'd missed and he wanted to know where I'd been. Sitting and iced tea were mandatory for this conversation.

"Jason, I can't believe he sold my house."

"Your stuff is all still here...I packed it but I didn't get around ta..."

Somehow that does not make me feel better so my 'I saw' was a bit snappish. He snapped back "At least I didn't thrown it away. Sook you'd been gone a YEAR and it killed me but I couldn't take it no more. I kept thinking about all the people that should still be livin-"

I cut him off, I know me disappearing had been hard, coming back was probably even harder. Here he was just getting used to me being dead and moving on the way he should have and I just pop up like I had gone out for coffee. It wasn't polite but I needed to know who bought my house.

"Some real estate company with a bunch a initials, AIK I think. Look they had the cash, they was offerin' more than I was askin' and I jus' wanted to be done with it."

My eyes were misting now. I was thinking about all the grief I had put my loved one through. I could tell he had taken it hard by the way his voice cracked. He was trying to be brave for me and that was the only reason he wasn't tearing up with me.

Hearing about him selling my house was the last straw, I couldn't take any more, not now. I needed to rest. I have so much to do I can't even face the magnitude of it right now.

"I can't believe you gave up on me."

"What was I supposed to do Sook? You ain't exactly the type to just run off. Plus you been all mixed up with vampires; I put up fliers, went to tv stations, everything I could think of. I even made up a website. But after you were gone for so long..."

"I swear it felt like I was gone for 10, 15 minutes tops. The place I was; time just works differently."

"Look I believe ya but if you tell people you time-traveled to a land full of faeries, they're gonna put you away-"

Despite what he said he gave me a look that said he thought I was nuts. I had proof and while he was still speaking I got up to get it, he stopped short when I put granddaddy's watch on the table in front of him.

He looked at the watch then at me, "Where'd you get that?" he asked in wonder.

I replied, "I saw granddaddy, he was THERE. He wanted you to have it. He swore he'd only been there a few hours. Jason, he looked just like we remember him." he opened the watch to see the inscription our grandmamma had put in it when she gave it to him, it was his pocket watch.

While he was still looking I continued. "Time stands still there and no one knows it. That's how I lost a year of my life and granddaddy lost twenty."

Finally looking up at me, he said. "Well where is he? Ya didn't leave 'im there did ya?"

I wanted to break this to him easy, but sometimes their ain't an easy way. "Jason, he's gone. I'm sorry but he wanted you to have that watch so you'd always know that he never meant to leave us."

Smilin' he asked me what time I had. I looked at the oven and told him it was 6:35. Which means sundown. Bill and Eric are connected to me, they'll come for me. I had recended both their invitations so I went out on the porch to meet them. I was still plenty mad at them but they no doubt thought I was dead, they cared about me and mourned me for over a year. They deserved to at least see me.

Bill was there on my walkway almost as soon as I got out there. He whispered, "Oh my God, Sookie!" before moving to stand directly in front of me. When I stepped back he said as he reached for me, "Forgive me. I know I am not welcome. I have not felt your presence in over a year."

I could NOT do this right now. I hated him with more passion than I knew I was capable of. Seeing him brought it all back and all I wanted to do was run away. Curtly I said, "Well I'm fine."

"You were with Claudine..." he asked me.

Now I could no longer hold in my ire and disgust. "It's none of your business where I go or what I do."

He looked hurt and his words confirmed it, "For a whole year I was so empty. It was like you had died-" Eric arrived then cutting him off by saying, "Well I knew you weren't dead."

I had expected this but now I was looking at two smitten vampires who I now hated who were trying to curry my favor like it was suddenly ok.

I looked around Bill to watch Eric advancing toward me. Bill turned around and spat at him."Eric not now!" It almost sounded like an order but Eric ignored him and kept trying to woo me with pretty words.

"They had all given up on you. Even Bill who claimed to love you thought you were dead but not me. I never gave up hope that you would return to me."

Bill was trying to get him to leave and they squabbled for a moment. Then Bill ordered him to leave. An order? I was very confused, my confusion compounded when Eric obeyed with out a word against him.

He said goodbye and left. Well...more of a we will meet again, it's not over goodbye but still. He left and now I could scream at Bill in peace.

He had hurt me, betrayed me in a way I had never thought possible. I thought he loved me and maybe he did but that didn't stop him from manipulating me, using me. I almost would have preferred Eric at the moment.

I always knew what to expect from Eric, he never disguised how he felt about me, what my value to him was. Bill had done nothing but and I was sick of it. I still loved him and that just made it worse, I could never allow herself to go down that road again, it was too painful.

I thought I knew Bill, I thought I had all the better parts of him, only to find out that like every vampire I had ever met, he would use me if he had to. I knew there was darkness in him but I looked away, I saw that as a grave mistake now.

You can't overlook the darker parts of a person, no matter how much you wish they didn't matter or that they would just stay buried. They never did and remaining ignorant just left you unprepared when the darkness reared its ugly head.

Realizing that I had been silent for too long I said, "You just gotta give me time. I don't know if I'll ever be able to love you again, not like I did before. Right now what I need is space, just GO."

Tears of blood were leaking from his eyes as he turned away from me and walked toward the cemetery at human speed. No doubt hoping I would call him back but I would not, he was no longer welcome to me.

The space between us had never felt so large. In this moment I don't think there is a way to span the distance no matter how hard we try. I can't help but feel a little sad, its over, broken never to be fixed.

Suddenly I felt heavy. I had stopped crying but I had never felt so sad. Maybe I had reached a point where I was too sad to cry, maybe the only way I could deal with what I was feeling was to shut it off.

Letting myself go numb I walked upstairs to get ready for bed.

Eric

As the sun set is was already bursting from my coffin. I had to get to Sookie.

Once outside I flew as fast as I could to Bon Temps, to Sookie's house (which I now owned) where she would surely be.

When I got there she was outside and talking to Bill. It made sense he got to her before I did since he lived so close to her. As I got to the edge of the steps I could see her cheeks were glistening. She was crying. Sookie was telling Bill to leave. Begging him to understand that her heart was still broken over what he had done.

Trouble in paradise I thought once more as I relived the moment waiting for my chance. I could feel her pain and sadness through our bond. I was angry at Bill for hurting her like that. He was the one who held her love and tender affections and he spat on them, trampling them into oblivion.

She was not ready for me to declare myself to her. She needed space and I would give it to her but there was something that I must tell her now. She might not like me taking her protection in my hands, in fact I anticipate she will be quite angry about her house but I must tell her none the less for she no longer controls who enters her house.

Her ignorance of the situation could put her in terrible danger.

Sensing her winding down for the night I tell Pam to handle the bar and return to her house.

*Forgetting*

This was not going as planned. She was almost as mad at me as she was at Bill, almost. Dimly I reminded myself that I had also betrayed her.

Then she recended her invitation and I was still standing before her. Her words no longer had such power over me. As she sat there on her bed in her silly frumpy night clothes looking at me like I had grown several more heads I calmly pulled out my set of keys to her house.

"The reason you cannot eject me from your house is simple, it is no longer yours. It belongs to me now."

Stuttering in shock she finally manages to find her voice and croaks out, "No...no it can't be. Some corporation bought it. AIK something."

"Yes, a corporation owned by me. Feel free to continue living here as long as you like Sookie."

With that I flashed out of her house at vampire speed. Whatever she had to say to that I had no desire to hear.

I had faith that it would all work out, in the meantime I had to protect her at all costs.

Ok so obviously this isn't going to follow the show religiously, as time goes on it'll get more and more different. Most of the same things will happen but they will be dealt with in vastly different ways according to my own design because I want it to have a vastly different outcome. Next chapter she goes to Merlotte's to start rebuilding her life.

Let me know how you think it should change. I have a plan, kind of, but I like keeping my readers happy and if one of you gives me an outstanding idea I'll definitely use it(and credit the inspiration).