Wow, another chapter so soon. I got inspired, reading a story called 'changing it all' by FODforever on the communities section. I didn't copy, I promise. It just showed me Sookie's possibilities, and I guess my Sookie is more like theirs then Charlaine Harris, maybe my Sookie is more like 30 years old….

I digress, hope you enjoy the chapter, let me know what you think, even if it that I've lost my marbles J

Within seconds of me reaching my bed, unsure of what to do with the vision, the was a light tapping on the door.

'Sookie? I'm sorry, I'm not used to sharing my place, I thought you were in bed' Eric said quietly through the door.

'its fine' I called, a little panic in my voice. I had rarely seen men naked, and they never looked that god before.

'can I come in a moment?' Eric asked. Oh, hell. Could I talk to him without seeing his bare flesh?

'sure' I called out. Apparently my head thought I could. Eric opened the door slowly and peeked his head around.

'I'm clothed now' he smiled, and opened the door wider.

'I'm not used to sharing space either' I said to him as he walked slowly towards me.

He sat down on the bed next to me and all I wanted to do was kiss him.

'guess that's something we can lean together' he said quietly, 'hope it didn't scare you too much.'

'scare? No' I said, 'surprise, would be closer'

'you get some sleep now' he said, leaned over and kissed me on the temple. He stood and moved towards the door. 'oh, why were you looking for me?'

'not important, night night' I said, wishing I had a valid reason to keep him here.

He left my room and I heard him close his door. I lay down and pulled the sheet over me, it was going to be difficult getting to sleep after that encounter. Every time I closed my eyes, he was stepping out of the pyjamas, not in.

After what felt like hours, I resorted to my old sleep starter - Dr Who dreams. I closed my eyes and thought about the tardis appearing in my house, running down corridors, talking scientific jargon, meeting weird aliens. It helped, but in the background I could still see a glimpse of the man sleeping in the room next to mine.

I must have fallen asleep, because I was woken by the sun streaming in through the window. I looked at the clock by the bed. 6am, that seemed like a reasonable time, at least I won't forget anything today.

I got showered, and dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt, the tipped out my suitcase to find my trainers. It felt insane, going out in the heat wearing anything that wasn't utterly necessary. I had worn less in the past, but when your working in the lab, every layer counts. I had a few scars to prove my point.

When I'd gathered all the things my boss wanted me to take, which probably wouldn't leave my bag, I got my personal notebook and wallet and quietly went into the living area. It didn't seem like Eric was up yet, it was only 6.30am though.

I put the coffee machine on and checked my appearance in the oven door.

By the time Eric emerged, I was perched on a stool by the counter. He looked a little rocky, maybe the jetlag was hitting him now?

'you feeling ok?' I asked, 'fancy a coffee?'

'yeah, that sounds good. I didn't get much sleep, weird dreams.' he sat down at the counter while I made him coffee.

'really?' I said, hoping he would keep talking, he looked even hotter with tousled hair and sleepy eyes.

'yeah, corridors and aliens, its was all very strange' he said taking his cup and drinking in steadily.

Eek, did my dreams broadcast? That hadn't happened before, I think.

'Well you take it easy today and I'll cook when we get home' I offered,

'hmm that's sounds good' he mumbled into his cup,

We finished our coffee's quietly, Eric hugging his cup, and me watching him look adorable.

It got to about 7.20am and neither of us had made a move to leave. I collect our empty and cold cups and put them in the sink. Eric look up, startled at the movement.

'this isn't how I had hoped your first day would start, I was going to get up and make you breakfast' he said, slowly standing.

'that's a sweet thought, but you can't help it if you don't feel great' I walked around the counter and patted his shoulder. I went and grabbed my bag and double checked the contents.

When I looked back at him, he was slowly moving from the stool and putting his jacket on. This was going to be a long day for him, I may have to plan something else to chill him out tonight.

We made it to the car, I almost offered to drive, but Eric seemed to be perking up a bit. Maybe it was the coffee. The journey was quiet, Eric occasionally pointed out things, and talked a bit about the building we worked in. He managed to slip in how to get to the offices from the lab effortlessly.

We arrived at the building, and Eric walked me to Pam's office. Before he opened the door he gave me a one-armed hug and said he'd see me later.

I knocked on Pam's door, it was answered very quickly but a short man, looking annoyed he'd been interrupted.

'you must be Sookie' he said with distaste, 'Ms Ravenscroft is waiting for you'. he said pointing to a door across the room.

I moved forward and knocked on the door indicated. A small noise came from within telling me to enter, I opened the door slowly.

Pam was sat behind her desk looking gorgeous and breezy. I stepped inside and closed the door.

'had a good weekend?' she asked before I sat down,

'yeah its lovely here, so beautiful.' I told her, asking myself if I should quiz her about Eric, or whether that was too personal for the work place. I soon found out.

'I hope Eric has taken care of your every need' she said, emphasizing the 'every'.

'he has been very helpful, and thoughtful' I said, stalling. 'what did you mean about what you said on Saturday?'

'Eric is quite a good friend, for an employee, I find myself caring about his feelings and whether or not he is content'. said told me, looking confused. 'he seems to have really take a shine to you, and you to him, I'm simply nudging you in the right direction' she smiled a wicked scheming smile.

'now lets get you to work, I didn't just hire you to flirt with my office manager' she stood and led me out of the door and across the hall.

'grab a labcoat, they are hung in size order' she retrieved hers from a separate locker, it was shockingly white. 'follow me, I'll give you a tour and get your security sorted.' I followed her down the corridors, having a brief flashback to my dreams last night. After I had become completely lost, we halted at a door.

'this is the lab you will start in, I'll take you in shortly,' she began, and explained her main reason for needing me was to sort out what about the lab was working and what wasn't. if that meant I worked on the samples or retraining the staff that's ok, implementing method changes would have to be approved by her. This seemed fair, so we walked into the lab. I saw the most of the people within had been at the BBQ last night, I smiled at them all and let Pam say her thing.

Pam left me in the capable hands of Bill, who showed me the different tests, I had a chat with each person about what they did and got to know them a bit better. Time seemed to fly past, I managed to look up at the clock between machines and noticed it was already 11am.

I had a look at their sample storage and had just opened up one of the broken machines to have a tinker when there was a cough from behind me. I turned to see Eric smiling down at me.

'just can't keep you from dismantling machines, can we?' he asked,

'just teaching the machines who is boss, I can fiddle with their programming and there is nothing they can do, except behave' I said, turning to the machine for the last half of my speech.

'I must remember not to annoy you' he said as I stared out an inanimate object. I turned to wink at him,

'you're ok, I don't do organics'.

'you fancy some lunch?' he said, looking at me as I expected after letting my geekyness dribble out.

'yeah sure, you seem a lot perkier' I replied,

'I think it was that coffee you made me this morning, really livened me up' he said, leading me out of the room. We moved down a couple of corridors, as I giggled quietly to myself, and reached an outside door.

We walked down the road a little and into a cute little café, it was just how I imagined an American diner to look. Bench seats around little tables, and a long counter lined with stools, it was all a bit beige like the inside of a posh car.

We sat down at a table and a waitress dropped by with the menu.

'this place is so cool' I whispered across the table

'thought you might like it' Eric whispered back.

'hey guys, didn't expect to see you here' came a voice from across the room. Sam walked over with his normal enthusiasm. 'mind if I join you' he said as he sat down next to Eric. A girl followed his movement and sat down by me.

'hi, I'm Lynn' she said, I introduced myself and we returned to facing the men as they talked.

'so Sookie, how's your first day going?' Sam asked,

'great, everyone is so nice, and I already have a few ideas to run past Pam' I said, mirroring his enthusiasm.

'she is gonna love you, she won't want you to go home' Sam told me.

'I heard that already, she asked what it would take for me to consider staying' I said, confused 'I don't understand I hadn't been in the lab half an hour when she called me out into the corridor'

Eric's face went slightly pale.

After that little incident the lunch moved along normally, talking about our lives, work, people we'd worked with. We all walked back to the building together, and I didn't get a chance to talk to Eric due to being ushered into the lab still discussing technology.

The afternoon flew by as quickly as the morning had, I managed to fix one machine and had solved a software problem on another, feeling pretty pleased with myself I walked down to Pam's office half an hour before the end of the day to give a quick report.

Her secretary, Bobby I'd been told, greeted me with as much affection as this morning. I had to wait this time, she was in a meeting.

After a short while her door opened, Bill emerged looking annoyed. Pam then appeared in the door way.

'Sookie, perfect timing, please come in' she said moving to allow me to pass, but not taking her eyes off Bill for a moment. Something had surely happened there, but it was none of my business, and I really didn't want to piss Pam off.

I walked to the chair near her desk and she moved around it to hers.

'Have you thought about my offer?' she said as she gracefully seated herself.

'um, yeah, but that's not why I'm here' I said, slightly thrown by her urgency.

'oh, your report. What have you found so far?' she asked. I filled her in about the minor things first, and then the two major things, comparing the upheaval to the amount of cash it would save her. Talking business, I learned that it helped them do the right thing a few years ago.

'well, that's very comprehensive' she said, 'just think what you could accomplish with more time'

'Pam, can I be frank?' I asked,

'I prefer Sookie, but go for it' she smirked, ahh a sense of humour.

'Pam, why are you so eager for me to stay, you have barely seen my work but seem desperate to spend money on getting me to live and work here?' it felt better to get that out.

'Frank, Sookie, whoever. I spoke to you team leader, manager, co-workers all who assured me you were an excellent worker and an amazing person all round. You have enthusiasm for the job, you know all the technical stuff, you can save me thousands of dollars, and Eric is falling in love with you, do I need to think of any more or is that sufficient?' she paused, not out of breath like she should have been. 'from what I have seen to this point, everyone is correct and I wish to procure your perfection'.

'oh' was all I managed. My brain had heard the Eric word but was refusing to acknowledge its existence.

'you just think about the opportunities for you if you were to stay' Pam said, 'and I'll stop bugging you about it.. For a while'

'thanks, ok so do I come in and do the same thing again tomorrow?' I asked as I stood to leave.

'ah yes, I meant to mention, you'll be in Sam's lab tomorrow, until further noticed. He's had a few issues appear over last week' she replied, like she hadn't just chewed up a bit of Bill and spat it out.

'ok, I'll head there in the morning, night Pam' I said and left her office.

'night Bobby' I said as I closed the outer door, that's the ticket, kill him with kindness.

I had just closed the door and spun into Eric's chest,

'ah, I was just coming to look for you' he said, 'you ready to go?'

'I will be in a minute, just wanna grab my bag and we can leave' I said. We walked back to the lab together in silence, I retrieved my bag, said my good-nights and walked to the car with Eric. Somehow the silence was more uncomfortable this time, then I remembered his face in the diner.

We were about half way home when I summoned up enough courage to talk.

'is everything ok?' I asked timidly.

'yeah, maybe the coffee is finally wearing off, I've been on fire at work today' he said, staying very focussed.

'its just you seemed um… shocked, in the diner at lunch' I was going to try the gentle approach.

'shocked? What when Sam started telling dirty jokes?' he replied, clearly covering…

'when I said Pam had asked me to stay' I said, filled with determination, but still sounding like a mouse.

'oh, that' he said, I could tell he was thinking, so I gave him time.

'I wasn't surprised she asked you, jus that she hadn't waited to see if you liked it here' he stammered, 'it makes a big difference, if you were to enjoy yourself here, you might be more likely to stay' he continued, totally bluffing his way through this one.

'did you tell her this?' I asked casually, relaxing back in my seat and looking out of the window.

'yeah' he replied, 'she was pretty adamant she could tell you already were'

'oh' I said.

We didn't talk for the rest of the journey, but upon entering the apartment the whole day seemed to lift off our shoulders.

'so do you have any preference as to your evening meal?' I said, doing my posh accent. It seemed to amuse Eric.

'surely as the guest, you should be relaxing with a glass of wine while I tend to your every need.' he replied, trying out a posh accent, and sounding more scottish.

'certainly not, you have provided me with a roof, I must show my appreciation by showing off my skills' the end of that little speech was less posh and more 'street'. Eric laughed again.

I walked behind the counter, and looked in the fridge. Eric sat on a stool to chat.

'so what are the options?' he asked, I opened up a cupboard to survey the supplies. Feeble, and basic.

'well, I can do Italian, Chinese, burgers, English or maybe Mexican' I said looking into another cupboard and finding some spices.

'oh, wow' Eric replied, 'um, I guess Italian would be good.'

'marvellous, what shape? Spaghetti? Lasagne? Cannelloni? Or pizza?' I asked, watching his face drop in surprise. 'told you I could cook, consider it rent'

'ok, how about cannelloni? I haven't had that before' he said,

'great, you go relax, I'll get it sorted.' I told him, he followed my order after getting a beer from the fridge.

'I could get used to this' he said as he sat on the sofa. So could I, I thought to myself.