Sorry its taken so long. I started a new job. Also had a few issues channelling Sookie. I'm sure I'll find her again. Hope you enjoy.

I woke up the next morning at almost noon, feeling like worn leather. Serves me right for drinking so much, all day. I lay there in bed a little while, watching the sunlight streaming through the window. I pulled myself up to sit against the wall and look through the window. The sky was a beautiful azure blue, not a cloud in sight. The birds were flying around, or sat in the trees, singing their springtime mating calls.

I slowly dragged myself to the bathroom to shower. I needed the setting on cold, what with the drunken recovery haze making me feel like my body temperature was close to boiling, and fragmented dreams involving a tall blonde prince rescuing me from a tower.

After I dressed, and moved my luggage to the door, I called Julie. She said she would look after my flat while I was away, and would head over to drive me to the airport. While I was waiting, I checked to make sure the fridge was empty and that nothing else as going to go nasty while I was away.

Soon there was a knock on the door, I opened it expecting to see Julie, but she was joined by Eric.

'hey, oh hey both of you' I stammered, surprised to see them both there.

'thought you might need a lift to the airport' said Eric,

I stood to the side to let them both in, Julie winked at me as she walked past.

'guess my services won't be needed' she said, with a large dose of amusement.

'I have to drop of my rental car at the airport' Eric continued, 'thought you might like to come with me'.

I handed my keys to Julie, who was smirking.

'that sounds like a good idea, it'll save Julie a trip' I told Eric.

We loaded my luggage into the back of Eric's car, I gave Julie a big hug and climbed into the passenger seat.

'take care, keep in touch' Julie told me through the window, 'and have a lot of fun' she finished, with a cheesy grin on her face.

'I'll do my best' I told her.

As we set off to the airport, I sat quietly not knowing what to say. I felt quite shy at the thought of spending couple of months working and living near this guy. His presence was kinda overwhelming me. I couldn't explain it, except that I didn't want to embarrass myself.

We arrived at the airport, and as we waited for the car rental man to check in the car, Eric looked over at me smiling at me softly.

'are you a little nervous?' he asked me.

'yeah, it's a very new experience for me' I replied, a lot quieter than intended.

'you'll be fine, we'll look after you'. he said, placing his arm around my shoulders and moving us towards the terminal.

We went through check-in smoothly, as a light packer, I had 10kg spare. Eric didn't, which amused me.

Moving through to the waiting area, we sat down near the gate and waited for it to open.

'so how long have you been working in that lab?' Eric asked, after a few minutes of silence.

'almost 6 years, I really love my job.' I smiled back, getting more nervous.

'what do you enjoy the most about it?' he continued

'I like the colour changes of my chemical tests, but mostly making companies pay for cleaning up the planet, that's what drives me' I said, with conviction.

'that's a good reason' he smiled and leaned back in his chair. I took a brief moment to admire him as he stretched. Quite a breath-taking sight. I had to pull myself together.

'I'm just popping to the ladies, I'll be right back' I said, and dashed off before I got any kind of reply.

I burst through the door of the bathroom and leaned myself up against the sink. I looked at myself in the mirror, seeing with horror that my face was bright red. I thought I might be blushing after my ogling, but this was traffic light red. I turned to face the mirror and stared at myself.

'get a grip, you're not this weak' I told myself firmly.

I splashed water on my face and smiled sheepishly as an old lady came out of one of the stalls and left hurriedly.

'you're better than this, there is nothing to fear, he's just some bloke' I told myself.

Thankfully the blush left my face quite quickly, and I made my way back out to where Eric sat, he looked relieved when he spotted me. I sat down next to him with my newly established confidence.

'glad you came back, I was worried you might have bolted' he said sitting up straight.

'me? Nah, I just needed a moment to gather myself, bit of a hangover.' I pointed to the gate, which had just started to open. We collected our bits and made our way on to the plane.

'I didn't realise you flew first class' I said to Eric as a stewardess showed us to our seats.

'well, its on company business so I think we deserve it' he replied.

We settled in, in very large seats next to each other, at the front of the first class area.

I was next to the window, and stared out of it as we began to take off. As the plane moved quicker down the runway I felt my grip on the armrests get tighter. I aren't scared of flying, I just don't like the take-off and landing. Just before the wheels left the ground, I felt a cool strong hand take hold of mine. I looked over, Eric was relaxing his head back, and had his eyes shut. Maybe he wasn't enjoying it either, I thought to myself. Thinking his method may work, I lay my head back and closed my eyes.

I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes, there was a hot cup of coffee in front of me.

'now that is a sight to wake up to' I said, reaching for the cup. I looked over at Eric, he had his laptop open and seemed deep in his work.

I quietly sipped the coffee and began to play with the screen attached to the chair. It had a map of the flight route with a little airplane to show us where we were. The little plane told me we were about 2 hours from Los Angeles. This was good news, flying is dull, I just wanted to arrive and get on with it.

After playing with the menu on the screen a little while longer I got bored and pulled a book from my bag.

I settled back with my current fave author, Agatha Christie, and continued to sip my coffee.

I'd just finished my second chapter when Eric closed his laptop with a bit of attitude and asked the stewardess for another cup of coffee.

'everything ok?' I asked.

'yeah, well not really. I was talking to my landlord and he has had to let the spare apartment out, even though I'd had it saved for you.' he said, briefly calming himself to graciously accept the coffee from the now clearly besotted stewardess.

'oh, well I have no problem staying in a motel, I'll be too knackered after work to care' I said, trying to ease his stress-out.

'there is another option' he said, turning to me and dropping his head he continued 'I have a spare room in my apartment. The door has a lock, so you'd have your own space.'

I sat there in shock for a moment, then I shook myself and answered him brightly.

'yeah, that could be fun.' I told him, and as he raised his head, 'you could show me what goes on in the area.' I finished.

'marvellous' he said, sitting back in his chair. He almost looked smug, liked it was all part of an elaborate plan. I pushed the paranoia from my head and settled into my seat for the landing.

The stewardess made her final round, clearing everything away in preparation for landing. As she gathered the cups we had she paused in front of Eric, after fumbling with her pocket she produced a piece of paper.

'scuse me, but if you'd like to grab a drink one night, you wanna give me a call?' she said, with a heavy dose of fake confidence.

'no thanks' Eric replied, and looked back down at the paper he was reading.

'oh' the stewardess mumbled and wandered off.

'that was a bit mean' I whispered to him when she had gone.

'I'm not interested in dating random people, I know what I want, and will happily wait until I get it' he whispered back, with a wry grin.

Stunning two women in five minutes is quite an achievement, so I sat back and braced myself for the landing.

After the seatbelt lights came on I grabbed my armrests, leaned back and closed my eyes. Soon I felt the soothing cool hand of Eric and I almost drifted off again.

When we slowed down to taxi speed I opened my eyes to see Eric watching me.

'oh, you can let go now, were almost there' I said jokingly.

'I guess' he said, slowly moving back 'you're just so warm.'

The plane arrived at the terminal and we moved through the airport. I kept close to Eric, he obviously knew where he was going.

When we emerged from the airport to get a taxi, the heat hit me like a blanket of steam.

'blimey' I gasped, pausing to catch my breath.

'not a fan of the heat?' Eric asked, taking my arm and moving out of the flow of people.

'I prefer to drink my water, not inhale it' I giggled, quoting a good book. Eric didn't get the reference.

'you'll get used to it, good job the lab is air conditioned' he laughed.

'yeah, otherwise I might just melt into the machinery' I said, I gathered my bags and headed with him to the taxi.

'maybe at least then we could guarantee they would work.' he said opening the door.

We climbed in and after Eric gave the driver directions, rather than an address, we sat back and I stared out at the alien scenery.

It was quite an amazing thing to think that me, little Sookie Stackhouse, was in LA working in my fave job with some very interesting people and one very handsome man. I had never left the country before, even on holiday. Now I was working in one of the most glamorous places on the planet.

I watched the world go by for about 10 minutes, until the driver pulled up at a pair of iron gates.

I followed Eric out of the taxi and up to the gate, he mumbled something into a little box on one side of the gate. After a moment the gate opened and we walked up to a very large house.