A/N: Sorry this took so long but this chapter is here now.

Thank you to txclamityjane1, ciasteczko, outinritefield1, Kate, Shantigal, vmhsnancy, Perfecta999, ashmo2000, 34ken, MsNorthman, LostInSpace33 and the guest who reviewed the last chapter. A big thank you to everyone that has followed, favorited or just read the story.

Thank you for kelpie169 for editing this chapter, you rock my socks.

So this chapter is from Eric POV. It takes place a couple days after the audition.

I hope you all like it.

Thursday, October 10, 2002 - Sookie Stackhouse's Home - Bon Temps

Our first practice as the new and improved band took place at Sookie's house since she had a large detached garage where we could play as loud as we wanted.

Usually we practiced in Bill's basement, much to his mother's trepidation. When we played at Bill's house we were never allowed to plug our instruments in and there were no drums allowed. It didn't really matter considering Terry never showed up anyway.

I was late for the rehearsal. My mom stopped me just before I left and had me do a bunch of chores. If I had enough time for practice, I had enough time for chores or so she said.

I pulled up the long drive way off of Hummingbird Road and stopped when the gravel ended in front of a modest white and yellow farmhouse. I grabbed my guitar as I unfolded myself from the car and headed for the battered garage. The light blue paint was peeling off the wood making it look more brown than blue.

As I approached I could hear music drifting from our new practice space and I cautiously opened one of the barn like doors and stuck my head in.

They were playing 'Stranglehold' by Ted Nugent. They had all the equipment set up and a microphone stand was left empty for me. A keyboard sat off to the side but within Bill's reach, he was watching Sookie play guitar in the dark denim jeans and basic blue t-shirt he had worn to school that day.

Sookie's eyes were closed and her head was angled to the ceiling as she let her fingers dance over the neck of the guitar. She was wearing a red tank top and black jeans. Her feet were bare and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the smallest grin lined her lips.

Alcide was all smiles as he supported her every step of the way with the strong bass line. He was wearing his standard plaid shirt and light blue jeans.

Tara Thornton was behind her drum kit playing confidently, effortlessly. She was wearing a dark green t-shirt and had pulled her micro braids into a ponytail. She made eye contact with me first, looking up at me through her lashes as she concentrated on the song. She smiled and nodded her head back, inviting me in.

I slipped inside and placed my guitar on the old ragged couch that sat against the side wall. The ceilings were high and the floor was covered in old rugs. Bikes, tools and lawn grooming equipment lined the walls and several windows were letting in the late afternoon sunlight.

Bill finally noticed my presence and nodded in my direction before jogging over to me. "Hey man, I'm glad you made it." He smiled widely at me. "You know this song right?" He asked me getting right down to business.

I nodded.

"Good, we need rhythm guitar." He ran back over to the microphone. He was always about the music, even if nothing was happening with the band he always wanted to know what was happening with the band.

I took out my guitar quickly, plugged it into the amp and looked over at Sookie to find my place.

She finally looked down, opening her eyes and directing her attention my way. She smiled widely as we fell in sync with each other and she took lead guitar.

Vocals were coming up and Bill looked at both of us. "Sookie first," he looked over at me, "then you come in, kay?"

I nodded as we made our way up to the microphones. Bill started singing a series of 'C'mons', and when she was queued Sookie joined, harmonizing perfectly. I jumped in at the very end before the start of the last verses which we all sang together.

Road I cruise is a bitch now/Ya know ya can't turn me round/And if a house gets in my way/Ya know I'll burn it down

You ran the night that you left me/You put me in my place/I got you in a stranglehold, baby/That night I crushed your face

We finished off the song and all took a step back looking at each other. "Well that was promising." Sookie said excitedly before she frowned. "I never realized how violent that song was before though." She looked over at me with wide eyes. "Yikes."

"Whatever it's just a song." Bill brushed her off.

"How many times did you guys practice that before I got here?" I asked.

"That was the first run through. We spent the first forty minutes arguing about the placement of the microphone stands and which cover we should do." She shot Bill an annoyed look.

"Don't look at me like that," he pointed at her, "instrument placement is very important." He walked towards the fridge and took out a bottle of water.

Sookie looked over at me, rolled her eyes and approached me, tugging on my hand and heading towards the drum kit. "Eric, this is Tara."

"Hey." Tara gave a quick nod and shook my hand over her instrument. I had seen Tara before, it was impossible not to know everyone in Bon Temps, I had just never spoken to her before. She had a beautiful face, smooth dark skin, a luminous smile and big, bright brown eyes.

We were five good looking people who knew how to play our instruments. This was a promising mix, all we needed was a little hard work, some luck and we'd be playing arenas in no time.

"It's nice to meet you." I smiled at her. "You're a good player, much better than the other guy we had." I laughed awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck.

"Anyone is better than Terry." Bill dismissed as he walked up to his backpack and took out his notebook. "I've written two new songs." He declared sitting down on the floor letting the book fall open.

"Oh, I've been writing too!" Sookie exclaimed as she pulled a notebook out of her bag. She looked back at all of us. "Have you guys been writing?"

"No, no. I write the songs." Bill interjected as I went to grab the journal I wrote all my lyrics in.

"Is that right?" Sookie stared at him. "How many songs have you written, like ever?" She jutted out her hip and placed a hand on it.

"Including these two, five." He said triumphantly.

"How many years have you guys been a band?" Her lips pulled into a cocky smile.

It had taken Bill two years to write five songs, he was going to lose this round. "Fine, whatever, what do all of you have?" Bill asked motioning for all of us to sit down.

We sat down, Sookie and I grabbing our guitars, Alcide gripping his bass and Tara grasping her drum sticks as we began to see what Bill had.

"'In the Meantime' is your best out of all of these." Sookie said after going over all of Bill's lyrics. She ripped the pages out of the book.

Bill snatched the book from Sookie's hand. "What are you doing?" He exclaimed.

"It'll be easier to change things if the lyrics aren't tied to the book." She smiled at him as she stood up going to grab more pens.

"What do you mean change the lyrics?" Bill did not handle criticism well.

"I mean," she handed out a pen to Alcide and Tara who didn't have anything to write with. "This is a good song but it's not a great one." She sat down. "There easy fixes too, like here, if you just repeat this lyric, it'll sound more full. Not all songs need to make sense Bill, they just need to sound good."

She picked up her guitar and began playing the chords I heard her playing in the hallway the day of her audition.

"What is that?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "Something in my head."

"We could apply it to this." I said looking down at the words Bill had written. "There should be four lines in this chorus though, not three." I said looking over it. I don't know what it was, the promise of our new members or just the completeness of the band but I was more vocal than I had ever been at one of our practices.

Sookie looked over my shoulder as we began to think of something to insert.

"Maybe, but all in all were just like you?" Tara suggested pointing at the paper. "If we are going with the repeating of words in the first line, I mean. Put it here, in between the second and the last lines."

"Hey!" Bill whined as we changed his work.

"Okay Sook, when I point at you play the hook." She nodded.

We love the all the all of you

I sang and pointed at Sookie and she played the riff. It worked but Bill wasn't convinced."This is not what I had in mind when I wrote this song." He admitted clearly distressed.

I huffed and Alcide pointed his pen at Bill. "Dude if you want to be a solo act go ahead but you wanted a band, so here we are and in a band this is what the song writing process is like. So get on board or get out." Alcide was calm when he said these words as he looked at Bill. Alcide was almost never serious, he never took anything too heart and he rarely got annoyed, so the fact that Bill was irritating him was a big deal.

He stared at Alcide and let go of the breath he had been holding in. Bill was a type A personality, he liked being in charge and he liked getting his way. "Can you plug the guitar into the amp and try again?" He asked.

Sookie stood and plugged herself in and looked at me, waiting for me to sing.

We love the all the all of you

The sound of the music filled the garage. She stopped and looked at me. "Can I just keep going if I can hear the chords in my head?" She asked and I nodded. "Okay I'm not going to stop so keep singing." She smiled and rearranged herself so she was ready to play.

We love the all the all of you/where lands are green skies are blue/but all in all were just like you/we love the all of you

I smiled at her and then at Bill. "That's not a bad chorus."

Bill nodded with a faint slime on his lips. There was nothing like hearing the words you wrote being put to music, it could make even the grumpiest person happy. "Can I sing it this time?" He asked walking to the microphone as I nodded.

"I think having a second guitar would really build the sound." Sookie said looking at me.

Alcide stood and plugged his bass in. "Let's go again." He smiled as he gave Tara a high five as she passed him on her way to her kit.

We spent the next three hours sorting out his lyrics and finding the right chord progression, backup vocals, percussion and discovered a heavy bass line was perfect for the verses before we decided to take a break.

"I think we should learn to play some covers so we have filler when we play gigs." Sookie stated as she put her guitar on the couch and sat down beside it. "Maybe we can all pick a song and learn how to play it."

"Gigs?" Bill questioned.

Sookie's brow furrowed as her eyes darted around the space. "Yeah a gig. You know where we get up on stage and perform the songs we worked so hard to produce. We'll need to learn some covers to take up time until we write enough songs."

"I know what a gig is but I've never been able to book one in Bon Temps. The only good place is Bellefleur's and he won't even listen to me." Bill's tone was discouraged as he shook his head. He wanted this band, he wanted to make music, he wanted the success more than any of us and the fact that he couldn't make it happen weighed on him.

"Let me handle Andy and maybe we'll have to look outside of Bon Temps. Other towns and cities." She yawned.

"Outside of Bon Temps?" He questioned.

"Yeah if were going to make it we're going to need to play in towns and cities bigger than Bon Temps but we'll figure that out later. Your goal is to create a successful band, right?" She asked.

Bill nodded.

"Okay so you're going to have to get used to traveling. In terms of covers I think we should learn 'Welcome to the Jungle'".

Bill didn't fight her on the playing outside of Bon Temps subject any further and instead put forth a suggestion."I think we should continue to learn 'Stranglehold'."

"'Are You Gonna Go My Way'." Tara piped up.

"'Stuck in the Middle with You'." Alcide said excitedly.

Everyone looked over at me as I went through the endless list of songs I'd would have loved to perform with these guys. "Um, how about 'I Believe' by Stevie Wonder."

"Awe, I love that song." Sookie cooed, the sweetest shade of pink creeping up into her cheeks. I couldn't help but smile at her.

Her eyes went wide and she looked towards Bill. "Oh, what is your band name?" she asked pulling her hair out of it's ponytail.

"Suicidal Canyon and the Thirteen." Alcide said proudly.

Tara and Sookie looked at us like we were nuts. "Seriously?" Tara asked.

"That's one the worst band names I've ever heard." Sookie said. "That needs to be changed."

"How about Tara and the Giants?" Tara suggested. Tara was short, well at least seven inches shorter than Sookie and Bill who were about six feet.

"Ooooo, I like that." Sookie said with wide eyes looking between Bill, Alcide and myself.

"No." Bill said firmly. "Although I agree we need to change it. I want a rock name not a emo- eyeliner band name." He went to the microphone and grabbed it. "Should we do a full run through of 'In the Meantime'?" He asked looking at all of us.

Just then a tall scruffy blonde guy entered the garage. I recognized him as Jason Stackhouse, Sookie's brother. He was shirtless, slightly overweight, a pair of ripped jeans were hanging off his hips, a beer was in his hand and bags were under his eyes. He was a senior when I started high school as a freshmen. Back then he was quarterback of the football team, most popular guy in school, everyone loved him and then one day he just stopped showing up. "Sook, Gran wants to know if these people are staying for dinner." He burped, rubbing his stomach and picking at his belly button.

She looked over at all of us. "You guys want to stay? My Gran makes a really decent lasagna."

Tara and Alcide nodded in unison. "Sure." They said at the same time.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I don't want to put you out."

"Gran wouldn't have asked if you were putting us out." She cocked an eyebrow.

"I have to call my mom but it should be okay." Bill said fishing his cell phone out of his pocket. He was the only one of us who had one but he was the only one of us who came from a family who could afford to give him one.

She looked over at her brother. "Yeah, they'll stay."

He turned and left without saying anything as we all started to put our instruments in their cases. "What are you all doing?" Bill shouted frantically.

"Putting our shit away." Alcide said like Bill was a control freak, which he was. "You need to relax man, get laid." He smacked Bill on the back.

"How's that going anyway?" I asked him. "Lorena?" Bill and Lorena had been dating for nearly three years, since she was a sophomore and he was a junior.

"I think she's cheating on me." He said running his hands through his hair.

"Why?" Sookie asked with a inquisitive tone.

Bill directed his attention towards her. "Because we had," he struggled with the next word, looking away from all of us.

"Sex?" Sookie said loudly and confidently.

Bills cheeks flushed and I couldn't help but grin. "Yeah, we did it a handful of times and now she doesn't want to do it anymore. I assume she's getting it elsewhere."

"Do you pressure her?" Sookie asked opening the garage door waiting for everyone to exit.

"What?" He spat at her. Bill didn't like questions and the one thing I knew about Sookie was she was full of them. Questions and opinions.

"When you ask her if she wants to have sex and she says no do you whine and complain like a little bitch? Do you ask her why not? Do you tell her that if she loved you she would do it?" Sookie looked at him with an expectant look on her face moving backwards towards her home. The sun was just starting to set behind her.

His face went even redder. "Sometimes."

"You're her boyfriend, I'm assuming she loves and trusts you and she probably feels insecure and threatened now that you're pressuring her. Like all you want her for is sex." She hopped up the stairs to her front door. "So instead of pestering her ask her about her day and actually listen. Cuddle her, make her feel safe and learn what she likes in bed so she enjoys sex too, so it's not thirty seconds of you thrashing around on top of her before you blow your load like a bottle rocket." She grinned, proud of herself.

I bit my lip to suppress a laugh.

"Listen to her Compton, girls love it when you make them think you care what they think." Alcide chuckled entering the house.

Sookie rolled her eyes as Tara smacked Alcide on the back of your head. "You be sweet, Alcide Herveaux."

"And this is how many men have pleased you in the past?" Bill challenged, not breaking eye contact.

"People don't really find me attractive." She said holding his gaze.

"I can't imagine why." He said sarcastically.

I pushed him into house. "Lay off Bill." He looked at me before going inside. I looked down at Sookie. "Sorry about him."

"I can handle myself." She said emotionlessly as we both entered the house. "Dining rooms there." She pointed around the corner as she went into the kitchen.

I came around the corner and nearly knocked Adele Stackhouse over. I managed to prop her up and keep all the plates in her hands from tumbling to the floor. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Stackhouse." I took the plates from her. "Here let me set the table."

"What's your name, young man?" She questioned pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose smoothing a wisp of white hair back into her ponytail.

"Eric Northman, ma'am." I said placing all the plates in the proper spots.

"Ah, yes I know you parents. They haven't been in church lately." She chided me.

I didn't know what to say to her. I was an atheist and I think my parents just started loving their Sunday mornings in. "Yes, ma'am."

"Gran!" Sookie said reprimanding her grandmother as she entered the room. "That is not your business."

Adele nodded her head and looked at me with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Eric." Her attention was torn away from me over to Bill. "Bill, forks go on the left!" She shook her head as she walked back into the kitchen yelling Jason's name.

"Sorry." Sookie said flushing red. "I always forget how crazy my family is until strangers are around." She pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

"I like your Gran." I said sitting in the spot beside her. Bill flanked her other side. "She's funny."

"Well I'm glad someone thinks so." She smirked.

"I hope you like lasagna," Adele said with Tara and Jason following behind her. "I made three of them."

"Three lasagnas are my favourite meal." Alcide beamed up at her.

Adele grinned down at him pinching his cheek. "Aren't you sweet."

We dished up and ate in silence for awhile. "This is really good Mrs. Stackhouse." I said with a smile.

"Well when Sookie told me she had people coming over I wanted to do something nice. She's never brought friends over before."

"Gran." Sookie moaned in embarrassment sinking into her seat.

"That's because she doesn't have any." Jason teased.

"Fuck you." Sookie said throwing a piece of bread at him.

"Both of you stop right now!" Adele bemoaned. "Jason a dollar to the asshole jar and Sookie a dollar to the swear jar." She said pointing at both of them.

"Asshole jar? Swear jar?" Tara asked with a chuckle.

"I decided one day that something good was going to come out of the fact that these two act like animals. If they swear a dollar in the swear jar and if they are an asshole to each other then a dollar in the asshole jar." She took a bite. "A little money to help send them to college."

"To go to college you need to graduate high school first." Sookie shot at her brother.

"Asshole jar, Sookie!" Adele shouted at her.

Sookie let her head fall on the back of the chair and growled in discontent.

Adele asked about the band and Bill proceeded to talk about it for nearly fifteen without taking a breath or at least that's what it felt like.

"But what are your plans if it doesn't work out?" Adele asked, "from what I understand getting into the music industry is very difficult."

"I haven't really thought of a plan B." Bill said wiping his mouth with a napkin. "This is my only option."

Mrs. Stackhouse nodded her head slowly and looked to Alcide. "And you, young man?"

"Football." He said, his mouth full of food.

"And if football doesn't work?"

"Dentistry." He took a long sip of the grape juice he had poured for himself.

Adele looked over at Tara. "Um," she swallowed whatever food she had in her mouth quickly. "I was thinking about getting into computer programming."

"I figured I'd probably become a music teacher." I said without being prompted.

"Sookie doesn't know what she wants to be." Mrs. Stackhouse said.

"I want to be a writer." Sookie said quietly pushing her remaining food around on her plate. "I've told you this about a hundred times."

"It's not very realistic Sookie." Adele said patting her hand. "I want her to be a doctor."

"I hate blood." Sookie's nose crumpled in disgust.

"You'll grow out of that." Mrs. Stackhouse breathed in deep. "Alright, lets clear the table. Sookie and," she scanned the table. "Eric, you're both on dish duty. The rest of you will help clean up here and then you can all disperse."

All the dishes were collected and it was decided that I would dry and she would wash. I could see the steam rising and her skin was turning pink since the water was so hot. We worked silently. I watched how pieces of her hair fell out of her ponytail and grazed her cheeks, the nape of her neck and upper back. Her lips were slightly parted and her eyes were intense, focusing intently on her task.

"What do you want to write about?" I asked her, the broken silence startled her.

"Um, I guess I mainly write poetry." She took her hand out of the water to push some of her hair away from her face with the back of her hand. "Poetry that I turn into music but I also like fiction. I have an idea for a book series."

"About what?"

"Aliens, I guess." Her cheeks flushed. "I've always felt pretty alien myself."

"Aliens isn't really a plot." I smiled at her. It was nice that I didn't tower over her. I liked that I could look her in the eye without having to lower my gaze or change my pose or posture. I could stand tall for once, I was eternally slouching to bring me down to everyone else's level.

"Well maybe I'll tell you about it someday." She smiled.

"And that." I pointed at her tattoo. I could see it more clearly now. It was Alice falling down the rabbit hole and some text underneath it.

She let out a laugh. "Oh yeah, I just got that. My father's favourite book was 'Alice in Wonderland' and I got this to remember him, in honour of him. I added the 'we're all mad here' to make me feel less alone. We're all freaks and eventually I'll find my place."

"So you were close with your father?" I asked as she handed me the last plate.

"As close as an eight year old can be with their dad." She turned to look at me as she wiped her hands dry with a dish towel.

"And your Gran was alright with you getting a tattoo?" I asked mildly shocked.

"She says it's my body and I have to live with what I do to it. It's not really her business."

"Did the tattoo hurt?" I asked.

"You ask a lot of questions, you know that?" The corner of her mouth pulled into a smile.

"I'm curious." I shrugged.

She stared at me for a moment before shaking her head. "Okay, lets get back out there before Compton blows a gasket."

She turned around and went out the back door. The moment her feet hit the lawn she started sprinting to our rehearsal space.

Once we were in the safety of the garage we plugged in our instruments and played 'In the Meantime' for the first time.

It would eventually become our fifth number one hit.

So what did you all think?

I don't know anything about song writing or a lot of music terms so I am doing my best. I've been told that a song can take minutes or years to write so I'm going off what others have told me. If you know things about song writing or music please feel free to review or PM me with your comments and knowledge on the subject.

The two songs in this chapter are Stranglehold by Ted Nugent and In the Meantime by Spacehog. I have left links to them on my profile if you are interested.

As for Summer Nights, I'm having a lot of trouble with the new chapter. It's written but the editing process is killing me. Also it's really hard to write a story about summer when it's minus 30C but it'll happen. I swear. I also have a thousand other ideas in my head and I'm so distracted.

Anyway please review if you have a moment, reviews are my life blood.

Thank you so much for reading!