~Rachel~

The rest of the night almost went by without any confrontations from anyone. Eric, Sookie and Bill were still talking – or yelling rather – in his office while I sat in the back room with a trusty magazine. I don't think he even realized I was gone for quite a long time. Suddenly I heard someone calling my name. The door opened and I glanced up to see Pam standing in an intimidating posture in the doorway.

"Eric wanted to know where you wandered off to." She said and looked at my magazine with slight amusement. I sighed and continued flipping through the pages absentmindedly.

"Really? He noticed I was even missing? I thought he was all wrapped up in Blondie." I scowled and wouldn't meet Pam's eyes again. I heard her heels clack on the hard cement floor as she walked closer to the bed that I was sitting on. I felt hands on my hair and long fingers run through my long ponytail. I tried very hard not to wince away from her.

"Eric wouldn't like to hear you talking like that." She remarked.

"Well I don't really care, I can talk however I like." I spat back. My angry was misplaced I suppose. She wasn't the one I was upset with. She just snorted and removed her fingers from my hair. I thought she was going to leave when suddenly my chin was thrust upwards and I was forced to meet her eyes.

"I really quite like you Rachel, don't make me change my mind about you. Besides, Sookie will not hold Eric's attention for long where as you have captured it completely for longer than anyone he has ever met before." I wasn't sure why she was acting so nice but I threw her a grateful smile.

"I'm glad." I admitted and turned my head to the side to look away. I thought about Eric's accounts of his other so-called relationships. They hadn't lasted long, the fascination wore out quickly. We'd been together an eternity in comparison.

"So then don't mope around in the background." She snatched the magazine away from me and threw it across the room, "Go be with him." I stood up with uncertainty and walked towards the door. I looked back at her, mildly shocked by her behavior, but all in all rather pleased that she took to me so kindly.

"Umm… thanks a lot Pam." I said and walked towards Eric's office.

"Don't mention it. I mean that, don't." I heard her calling after me and I laughed and nodded in agreement knowing that she'd see the gesture. I skipped quietly down the hallways and into Eric's office. He was staring at the laptop on his desk and running a hand through his hair. I smiled to myself and came up behind him. I leaned over and wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my lips to his jaw. He didn't turn but I saw his lips turn up into a smile.

"Where have you been?" He asked. His eyes continued to run over the screen filled with incomprehensible text. I shrugged.

"Around." I replied vaguely, "Nothing too exciting. I just didn't want to interfere with your business." I looked around the empty office, "What time did Sookie and Bill leave?" I asked and moved to lean on the edge of his desk so that I could watch his expressions closely. His emotions were so hard to pick up without extensive scrutiny.

"Not too long ago. You weren't interfering. I was simply working out an agreement with Ms. Stackhouse concerning her powers." He grinned, "She's a very special girl." I bit my tongue at that. Not saying what I wanted to.

"Is she now?" I mumbled and sat down on the couch and leaned back, twiddling my thumbs. I didn't really want to hear about how special Sookie Stackhouse was.

"You know she has the capability to read any human mind in the world. She can read yours for example and know that you are extremely scared that my interest in you will be stolen by someone else, someone like her." The way he said it was so casual that it gave me a delayed reaction. I didn't fully comprehend what he was saying until a few moments of silence later.

"She read my mind and then told you about it?" I stood up so fast I got a head rush. I ran up to his desk and slammed down the laptop on it. Making him look up at me in irritation.

"It was part of our agreement." He gave me a toothy smile, "You know I don't know why you think such things. I know you believe it's likely that my affections towards you will suddenly end as soon as another pretty girl comes into my life but you must realize that you mean somewhat more to me than that?" He cocked his head to one side and literally looked concerned. My mouth was gaping open and I had no idea what to say to him.

"You are such a jerk sometime you know that?" I yelled and tears brimmed my eyes. I moved away from him and paced restlessly around the confined room.

"I simply wanted to know what was going through that beautiful little head of yours. It was simply curiosity." Eric defended himself, "She wasn't digging through your mind or anything that sinister I just wanted to get to know you more. In the last couple of days I realized just how little I know about the woman I am living with. It was quite disconcerting to me how much I trust someone I hardly know."

"Then you know what you do Eric?" I retorted angrily, "You open your mouth and ask me about my life! You ask me what I'm thinking about and what I'm feeling! You don't simply get your mind reading friend to find out for you! You could have asked me, I would tell you anything, you know that!" I finished shouting with a huff. Eric stared at me and it seemed that he was at a total loss for words. As if the thought of talking to me had never even crossed his mind, "Unbelievable!" I stormed out of the office and out of the bar as well. I started walking down the road along the trees, it was probably not the smartest thing for a girl to do late at night but I didn't really care. I was shaking I was so angry. It felt like a complete violation of privacy. He knew my private thoughts. Gotten a private tour into my mind. It was chilling and surprising how much that bothered me. I held back tears as I reached into my bag for my cell phone. I dialed a familiar number.

"Hey, I hate to bother you but it's kind of an emergency and I didn't know who else to turn to." I could hear a car coming up behind. I told him quickly where I was and he agreed to come pick me up immediately. I turned around to watch the corvette pull up beside me.

"Get in the car Rachel and we'll talk about this." He yelled after rolling down the window. I shook my head and kept walking, "You're being ridiculous. Where are you planning to go?"

"I called a friend and he's coming to pick me up." I stated self-righteously.

"Oh really who? Jason Stackhouse?" I shook my head, "Godric?" I shook my head again, "Then who?" He demanded, starting to get angry.

"Why don't you get Sookie to come and read my mind and find out?" I spat at him and crossed my arms over my chest. Eric sighed and his head lulled to one side.

"Fine." He conceded. My head shot up in surprise and I looked up at him. He was grimacing, "I will allow you to spend one night with your friend but after that you have to come home. No matter how angry with me you are." I continued to stare at him blankly.

"You can't order me around like that Eric! I'm not yours to control!"

"Rachel…" He sighed and leaned his head back on the car seat. For once he actually looked defeated, "Please come home tomorrow night. I'm asking you to please come home to me." My anger diminished a little bit.

"Is this your way of actually admitting that I am right to be mad at you?" I couldn't help the victorious smile that appeared on my lips. He had never once admitted that he was wrong to do something. And in our volatile relationship we have had many battles. He glared at me for a moment before shrugging.

"However, I am waiting here until this so called friend arrives. I'm not leaving you on the side of the road in the middle of the night just to be dragged back to save you from something. Are we clear?" I nodded and stopped walking along the road. He turned off the car engine and leaned back in his seat again. There was a long silence. Although I was completely furious at him I had to ask him something.

"Why do you want me back so quickly anyways?" I asked. Whenever we had a fight and I stayed with Godric, he never told me to come back by the next night or to come back at all actually. It was always Godric who convinced me that he wanted me to return. Godric, the thought still left a dull pang of hurt when I thought of him.

"Because we are going to Dallas tomorrow." Eric stated, "A vampire in Godric's area has gone missing and we need to find him. He's very important to the Vampire League of America."

"Oh." I stated letting a little bit of hurt show in my voice. Eric let out a long and exaggerated breath.

"And…" He continued hesitantly, "Because I truly want you to come with me." He let out a frustrated sigh and decided to wait the rest of the time in silence. Thankfully it wasn't long until a rusty old truck pulled up beside us. Eric wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Him? You called the shifter?" He said in disbelief but I just rolled my eyes.

"Who else could I call Eric? Jason? Cassidy? Godric?" My angry was building again, "No, Sam is the only half decent normal guy left in the world that doesn't hate me or isn't being a total dick, I'm convinced!" I climbed into Sam's truck and slammed the door shut behind me.

"Thanks." Sam said with a lopsided smile, "I think…" I smiled at him and leaned over to give him a small kiss on the cheek. My phone beeped from within my pocket. I reached to dig it out from my pocket.

If you ever do anything like that again I will rip his throat out before the sorry mutt knows what hit him. I'll pick you up tomorrow after sunset. –E

I smiled to myself at Eric's empty promises and then turned my attentions back to Sam who was pretty interested to hear what Eric had done to make me so mad. I told him vaguely about Sookie and Bill coming and the mind reading thing. He nodded and agreed a little too enthusiastically that Eric was a jerk.

"I just don't get in Rachel." Sam said with a small grimace on his lips, "Why do you stay with him?" There was a small pause before he continued, "I mean I know you and me never had a shot in hell of working out but I always thought you and Jason would go the distance."

"What made you think that?" I asked curiously.

"When you were with Jason he used to talk about 'getting you a ring one of these days, a big diamond one'." Sam laughed in remembrance, "You stuck by him when he was in jail for killing those women he slept with. You have no idea how much that meant to him." I shivered and looked away. That had probably been the hardest decision of my life when I decided to support Jason through that whole investigation. One that nobody else understood at the time and that included Sam.

"But he never did get me a ring Sam. He could never commit long enough." I gave him a sad smile but then laughed, "How do you know you and me weren't going to make it?" He gave me a sideways glance and raised one eyebrow, "If I had been a couple years older I like to think that we would have been fine." I smiled proudly at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Stop teasing me Rachel."

"No I'm serious." I insisted, "We were good together, remember?" Sam face was suddenly serious and he turned his eyes back towards the road.

"Yeah, I remember."

We pulled up to Merlotte's and I got out of the car. Sam wrapped his arm around my shoulders and grinned at me mysteriously.

"You called on the right night 'cause I was taking care of some people that I know are just dying to see you." He smiled.

"Coby and Lisa are here?" I asked excitedly. I adored Arlene's kids. Way more than their mother. In fact I adored kids in general.

"They're asleep in my office right now but they are all mine tomorrow. Arlene and Terry went on a romantic getaway just for two." I smiled and thought about how romantic that was. I guess technically Eric was taking me away, but it was to find a missing vampire so it probably wouldn't be very romantic.

"I can't wait." I smiled back at him and looked around the bar. There were still a few customers around. In fact it was pretty packed for so late in the evening. Usually there were only a few drunk patrons waiting for the last call at this time. Sam stationed me behind the bar and said he was going to check on the kids. I chitchatted with the usual customers until I saw the last two people I wanted to see come into the bar, Bill and Sookie Stackhouse herself. As soon as I noticed them I ignored them. Rage forming at the pit of my stomach at the thought of her reading my mind and tipping Eric off on my jealousy. Bitch.

"What are you doing here?" I heard her but didn't look up instead I kept my gaze focused on the counter top I was wiping off.

"Eric and I got into a fight." I replied with as little emotion as possible, "See he got someone to read my mind and then tell him all about my inner workings and now I can't stand to be in the same zip code as him." I looked up at her slowly.

"Does that mean you're not going to Dallas?" She asked. I could actually feel my heart sink into my chest and I looked down again, "Oh, Eric didn't tell you I was going too. You thought he just wanted you there to help him."

"Excuse me." I mumbled and walked from behind the bar towards Sam's office. Sookie ran after me.

"Oh no, look I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way." She called after me but I had already disappeared into the back of the bar. I got out my phone and angrily texted…

Good luck in Dallas. I don't think you need me there. Sookie will keep you company.

Sam came out of his office with two little ones asleep in his arms. He hastily handed me Lisa and ushered my out of the building through the back, so not to wake them up. He put us all in his truck and went back to tell Sookie to lock up when it was time. There was ringing coming from my pocket but I only took out the phone to turn it off.

I thought that the next night was going to be stressful but it really wasn't. I was having way too much fun playing with Coby and Lisa who were literally the cutest kids I had ever met. We were currently sitting at one of the booths at Merlotte's with Sam. Coby was devouring his third serving of french-fries while Lisa was quietly sipping on a vanilla ice cream. Sam and I were talking about the latest drama in his life when the whole bar went silent. It was eerie and I looked around to see what had made everyone go quiet when I saw him. Eric Northman. His eyes found mine immediately but I averted my gaze. Sam stiffened and his eyes narrowed slightly. He was walking towards us.

"Rachel." He said simply. I shot him a nasty look.

"Eric." I spat back in the same tone.

"I think you should leave Northman." Sam said and glanced over at the two children staring curiously at Eric. Only then did Eric seem to notice them and how they clung to me. Lisa instinctively moved closer to me.

"Can we see your fangs?" Coby asked and Eric's fangs popped out. Lisa held me closer and I smoothed her hair out.

"Eric, Sam's right, you should go." I said and stared coldly at him. He shrugged nonchalantly and grinned.

"I'm not going anywhere without you." He told her and gave her a cold stare. She returned it but was forced to look away eventually. There was a long silence, "Let's talk about this in private shall we?" Eric indicated towards the door and I nodded. I detached myself from the children. Eric escorted me outside curtly. Once we were away from all the prying eyes I stopped.

"Eric there's nothing to talk about anymore. I'm not going anywhere with you." Just as the words left my mouth he grabbed me and just as quickly clamped a hand over my mouth.

"If you won't go willingly, you have left me no choice but to take matters into my own hands." I tried to scream in protest and struggled profusely. It was to no avail. Eric shot up into the air and suddenly I was clinging onto him for dear life, "You'll enjoy Dallas darling."

That was my extra-long chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. I'm glad that you all like Rachel and Eric as much as I do… for all you Cassidy and Godric fans I'm really stuck so if you want me to write about them you'll have to give me some ideas. They're all going to Dallas and will be there for the next few chapters!

PLEASE REVIEW

XOXO

Summer Jane