A/N: I apologize in advance about my characterization of Dr. Ludwig. I hadn't intended to include her until I got a couple of suggestions from y'all. And I don't have my books anymore (I just moved) so I had no reference for her voice. I hope it's okay!


From the Waist Down

Chapter 17

"I prefer Louisiana," I replied simply. It hadn't been what I was expecting. I'd expected to put up a fight, to defend Sookie, to do…something.

"I cannot say I understand, but…" he shrugged. "It is what it is."

"If that is all, your highness…?" I interrupted him, looking at the clock above his desk. I did not wish to subject Sookie to any more travel. If we could get home before dawn, I would go to any lengths to do it.

"Yes, yes. Race the sun back to the swamp." He waved his hand at me, a gesture of our release.

"Where is Sookie?"

"In the waiting room," he answered, disinterested.

"Thank you, your highness." I ended the formalities there and swung open the door to the adjoining room. There she was: my lover. She was slumped upon a sofa cushion, staring straight ahead, conscious but not lucid. I knelt on the floor in front of her and lifted a hand to lightly brush her chin. She did not look at me, but she brushed away my hand with a flick of her head. It was long past time for us to leave. And again, I felt like a failure to her, dragging her here when it was not necessary. I lifted her into my arms and she did not fight me. We were driven back to the plane and boarded a second time. She rode in my lap, her body tight and restrained. She never looked at me. She never spoke.

We arrived in Louisiana only a half-hour before daybreak. Pam sat with my car on the tarmac and we sped to my home, nestled among the boxwood hedges and perfectly manicured lawns of suburban Shreveport. Even when I carried her into the house, she did not look at me. She did not make a sound. She did not do anything. If I had not felt the ache of sleep upon my shoulders, I might have urged her more. Instead, I took her to the bedroom and fell upon the sheet. Though I worried for her, I could barely keep my eyes open. I fell asleep beside her, my arm tucked around her waist.

"It is time to call her," Pam frowned, standing in the bedroom an hour after sunset. I sighed and touched Sookie's knee. She stared straight ahead, as subdued and vacant as she'd been when I'd fallen asleep that morning. I wasn't even certain she'd moved since I'd placed her on the bed.

"Get the number," I sighed in agreement. I moved my hand to brush her hair back from her neck, but she pulled away from me. It was the only movement she displayed. Movement away. But she wasn't consistent, not even with that. I was worried. I was more than worried.

"Sookie, you are stronger than this." I tried to find her eyes, the fire in her that had always exhilarated me. "Look at me."

But she didn't. She didn't look at anything.

Beside me, Pam handed me the phone, which had already begun to ring. It picked up and a short-tempered voice answered on the other end.

"Dr. Ludwig's office," it squeaked.

"This is Eric Northman."

"Just a moment!" On the other end of the line, there was some shuffling and general chaos. The phone exchanged hands.

"This is Dr. Ludwig," she answered in a deep earthy voice.

"I need you at the house. Sookie Stackhouse is…" I paused. What was she? Comatose? In shock?

"Poisoned again? I'll bring the treatments."

"No, she hasn't been poisoned. She is…"

"A vegetable," Pam offered. I sneered at her.

"In shock," I guessed.

"Post traumatic stress disorder is certainly the least of Miss Stackhouse's many problems. However, I am on my way." The phone clicked off and I handed it back to Pam.

"Have you tried giving her pie? Maybe bringing her a beer? How about whipping it out? You know that makes her happy." Pam smirked at me and it took a great deal of self-control not to kill her on the spot. Perhaps my face gave away my intent.

"It's a joke, Eric. Where's your sense of humor?"

"I must have left it in my other pants," I replied flatly.

"Yes," she muttered. "I guess so. I'll just…wait by the door."


"All right then," Dr. Ludwig began, waddling into the bedroom and tossing a stool onto the floor so she could see over the lip of my bed. Sookie was still sitting there, unmoving. She was barely breathing. "What has happened to her this time?"

"She was attacked by another vampire."

"Attacked in what way, Mr. Northman? I am a doctor, not a mind reader."

"He assaulted her," I replied, trying not to use the word that stuck in my throat like a razor.

"I see the wound on her throat. However, it looks as if nature is taking its course in correcting the issue. You may feed her some of your blood to make the transition faster, but it should not have this kind of psychological effect."

"She was sexually assaulted," I clarified, my throat suddenly feeling dry and scratchy. Guilt swept into the room like a hurricane.

"I see." Dr. Ludwig pulled a few instruments from her bag, including one used to hear a human's heart beat. It was definitely beating, a steady sound that always seemed comforting. "And how long as she been like this?"

"We were summoned to Las Vegas yesterday to address de Castro. She was out of my care for a time, and when we were reunited, she was like this."

"So, a day or so?"

"Yes."

"Physically, I would say she is fine. Her body is healing, which is what it is supposed to do. Has she sustained any other physical traumas?"

"A bite at the femoral artery, yes."

"And it is healing as well?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"There is not much I can do for her, Mr. Northman. What she is experiencing is commonly referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder. All creatures experience it in different ways, and this response is clearly Sookie's. I would suggest, if you are concerned, sending her to a psychologist. However, humans have a very poor understanding of their own psyche. I doubt that, in this state, they can do much for her."

"Then you are saying there is nothing to be done?" I stared at her.

"Try to get her to eat something, drink fluids."

"She is suffering!"

"Do not raise your voice at me, Vampire. I am a busy woman and I took time out of my schedule in order to help your human. If you had been more specific as to her condition on the phone, I could have avoided wasting your time and mine."

I couldn't think of anything else to say, and when I finally lifted my head to confront the short-statured troll, she was gone. Anger replaced my feelings of guilt. Feelings. Before I'd met Sookie, I'd had no concept of the word. Now I was so obsessed with feelings and feeling them that I could barely think of anything else. I wanted to be angry with her, to release my aggression on the girl that had caused me so much frustration to begin with. But when I turned back to her, she only stared ahead like a doll. My soul sank into my gut like a stone. She was broken, and I hadn't prevented it. I had failed her.

"Sookie," I begged her, trying to take her face in my hands. She snapped away, but made no other sound or movement. Her torment radiated into me like the rays of the sun. "Tell me what to do."

"Eric," Pam said from the bedroom door. I turned to look at her, already glaring.

"What?"

"Let me talk to her, woman to woman or whatever."

"You expect me to leave," I assumed.

"You haven't eaten in almost a week." It was true, but I didn't feel hungry. "There's blood in the fridge."

"Trublood?" I groaned, disgusted at the thought of it.

"We still have some of the good stuff on the door shelf."

"Fine," I grunted, absent-mindedly looking forward to it. "But if you harm her…upset her…"

"I know, I know. You'll kill me where I stand. Where would you send my head? I mean, just out of curiosity."


He left without responding and I shut the bedroom door behind him. Sheesh. He was so uptight these days. Ever since he'd bonded with Sookie, he'd gotten to know that stick that was always shoved up Bill Compton's ass. Sookie seemed like a lot of trouble, but she was certainly cute. Not really my type, you know, but a decent human. I liked hanging out with her from time to time.

"So listen," I shrugged as I sat down on the bed next to her. Girl talk time. I could ask her all about what Eric was like in bed and she'd ask me all about how loud Amelia screams when I bite that juicy tit of hers. Except that this wouldn't be one of those times. I missed those times. We never had them really, but I always thought it would be fun. If she kept up this acting-like-a-frigid-zucchini thing though, we'd never get to have those times. Something had to be done. The stick up Eric's ass needed to be loosened.

"I was like you once. All happy go lucky and had the pretty boyfriend and was totally head over heels in love and everything. Being a human is strange. Everything happens so fast and it's all very dramatic. Like a television show."

I expected her to laugh or something, but all she did was sit there. It was getting annoying.

"Anyway, it happened to me too. The thing that happened to you. It wasn't a vampire, and my big Viking vampire boyfriend didn't come in and save me from him, but it happened and that's the same. I won't forget it, not even after hundreds of years. I've been a vampire since 1779, Sookie. That's a long time, a long time to be dead, a long time to forget about all those stupid things I did when I was a human. But that thing that he did to me? I never forgot it. I never will. It was so…okay, let's be honest. It was horrible, that's what it was. I didn't mean anything to him and I was just the closest thing available. And I knew him, Sookie. I'd been introduced to him and we traveled in the same circles. I couldn't even tell anyone because if I had, I would have been ruined. So, I had my time where I was all worked up and sad and everything and then I just…had to stop doing that."

"I'm just not very good at this kind of thing, Sookie. But I like you. So I'm trying. And Eric more than likes you. I've known Eric for three hundred years and he's never been bent out of shape about a human in all that time. Maybe ever. But here he is, whimpering like…like someone who's name we won't mention. He's acting like he just turned and doesn't know he isn't one of you anymore. It's sick. But kind of cute. Annoying though. I can't say I ever expected it. Anyway, you have to just…just…"

I paused. What are you trying to say, Pam?

"Just stop acting all weird and tell Eric to stop treating you like you're going to break. You're better than that, Sookie. You're pretty tough, for a human."