Chapter 5: Tighten Up

"Only now it had become indispensable to him to have her face pressed close to him; he could never let her go again. He could never let her head go away from the close clutch of his arm. He wanted to remain like that for ever, with his heart hurting him in a pain that was also life to him." –D.H. Lawrence

EPOV

"Where are you of to?" Pam asked when I tried to sneak out of the house. Of course she would catch me and of course she would want to know where I was going.

"Bon Temps," I said, not wanting to deal with her teasing.

"Is that where Sookie lives?" Pam asked as if she already knew the answer. "Never mind. That shit eating grin on your face already told me. Spending the night are you?"

"Just having dinner, Pam," I sighed and opened the front door since my car was still in the driveway. "Oh, and please don't park in my garage anymore. I hate it when you do that."

"I know," Pam said dismissively and headed back to the living room to continue doing whatever she was doing. My guess was cyber bullying, but I wasn't going to stick around long enough to find out.

I had tried to get Pam to talk about whatever the hell it was that had her crashing in one of my guest bedrooms but just as I expected, she wouldn't say a word about it. She was content to wallow in her misery alone. I suspected she would max out a credit card or two on designer clothes and shoes she would probably never wear, but it made her feel better. We all had our ways of self-medicating; I had no right to judge her. Although my chosen way—running- was an infinitely cheaper option than charging my way into the poor house.

I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a six pack of Heineken. I didn't know if I would drink it or not but I figured it couldn't hurt to have it on-hand. I also looked in the bakery section to see if anything looked good. Sookie hadn't asked me to bring anything but I figured a little something sweet couldn't hurt either. If we didn't get to it, she could keep it or send it home with me. I had somewhat of a dangerous sweet tooth.

I ended up picking up a small triple chocolate fudge cake since I was pretty sure Sookie would veto the idea of being used as the serving dish for a hot fudge sundae. I cursed myself as soon as I pictured it, knowing it was going to end up in my dreams later. Dammit. I paid for the cake and beer (I can only imagine what the cashier must have thought at seeing that particular combination so close to dinnertime) and went back to the car.

Tighten Up filled the car as I backed out of my parking space and I ended up singing quietly under my breath as I drove. I had to remind myself to slow the fuck down so I didn't get popped for speeding. I'd already gotten one speeding ticket in the last six months; I didn't need another one. I really should have bought a car that was less conducive to speeding but I just couldn't see myself behind the wheel of a pickup truck or, God forbid, a mini-van.

But thoughts of mini-vans got me thinking of carting around little blond haired kids with big blue eyes and that was a real kick in the balls. Did I want kids? Well fuck. Too soon, Northman, I told myself and shook the thoughts away. I mean, I guess that was an important topic to discuss, if only to find out if that was something Sookie wanted in the future. Why stay with someone who doesn't want kids if you're planning on being the world's best soccer mom at some point?

By the time I pulled into Sookie's driveway I had come to the conclusion that while I wasn't ready for it yet, kids would actually be pretty cool. I hadn't ever given it much thought in the past, except for when I was praying a broken condom didn't lead to one of those Maury Povich type moments where I'd hear the words, "You are the father." My stomach turned at the notion of it.

Somehow, I didn't think it would be so bad if it was Sookie saying those words and that was enough to give me pause. Seriously, what the fuck was it about her that turned me inside out like she did? I really wished I knew what the hell it was but the answer kept evading me. I grabbed the beer and cake from the trunk and then headed up to the front door. There was a note taped to the little window telling me to just walk right in, so that's what I did.

"Hello?" I called out once I was inside the house. I could hear country music coming from the back of the house and figured that was where Sookie had to be.

"Eric?" She called out in response and my brain immediately pictured her calling out my name in a similar fashion while she was trapped underneath me, writhing and moaning in pleasure.

Knock it off, asshole.

I really needed to cut that shit out. I wasn't doing myself any favors by going there and yet, I couldn't help it. I walked back toward the music to find Sookie in the kitchen, just as I suspected she would be. She was dressed in a pair of cut-off shorts and a tight pink tank top. Her hair was down, hanging in loose waves down her back. I cleared my throat and she turned my way to smile.

"Hi." She was covered in flour up to her elbows and it even dusted the front of her tank top, which had a big brown owl on the front that reminded me of the one from the Tootsie Pop commercials.

"Hi yourself." I smiled back at her. "Hope you don't mind, but I brought cake."

"Of course not. That was sweet of you, thank you." She smiled again and pulled her hands out of the floury mess she was working on.

While she was over at the sink washing her hands, I walked over to her and kissed her bare shoulder. "You're welcome."

She froze for a second and I heard her suck in a breath. A little victory cheer went up in my mind. At least I wasn't the only one affected by kissing her. Hell, I wanted to turn her around right then and there, floury, doughy mess and all and really kiss her but I figured letting her get cleaned up a little first was a good idea. As much as I might have liked it, I knew she hadn't invited me over for sex. If I behaved myself, that was a privilege I might earn soon.

"So, what's for dinner?" I handed her a towel to dry her hands when she finished washing up.

"Well, that's going to be biscuits over there," Sookie nodded toward the flour mess. "I was thinking to make chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes if that's okay with you?"

Uh, yeah. "Sounds good. Can I help with anything?"

"Do you cook?" Sookie asked curiously while going to the pantry to get ingredients out.

"Some. My mother tried to teach me when I was younger but I'm mostly proficient at grilling things. I guess it's leftover caveman genes or something. Men like fire and whatnot." I said and she chuckled.

"Does that mean I should be on the lookout for being clubbed over the head and dragged by the hair later?" Sookie teased as she came out of the pantry with what she needed.

"Is that your way of telling me you like it rough?" I teased right back and that blush of hers was remarkably appealing.

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see," Sookie shrugged it off and I fought the groan that crept up my throat.

If she knew what she was doing, and I was pretty sure she did, then baiting me was a bad idea. Although not any worse than her choice of wardrobe. Not that she didn't look good because she did, and that was the problem. Her shorts just barely covered her perfect ass and her tank top was low cut enough to give me a taste of the magnificent cleavage I knew she had. But before I could get too far lost in thoughts of how good she'd look naked on her kitchen table, I forced myself to look at the collection of cow figurines in a shadow box on the wall.

"Like cows, do you?" I asked, nodding to the figurines to my right.

"Oh, those were my Gran's. I just haven't got the heart to throw them away." Sookie explained while going back to the pantry for potatoes. "How are you at peeling potatoes?"

"I have ninja skills," I smirked as she approached me with her hands full of potatoes.

"Good. Have at it," she handed them to me. "I have a peeler and a paring knife. Which would you prefer?"

"The peeler." No way in fuck did I want to try and act all bad ass with a knife and end up in the emergency room when I took off the tip of my finger.

Sookie located the peeler for me and handed it over. I'd been relegated to the roll of potato peeler for my mother when I was younger. Thanksgiving morning meant peeling at least five pounds of potatoes. Even when we were living in Sweden, my parents had insisted on observing the holiday. It was the same for the fourth of July, which was particularly confusing to all my little Swedish friends.

"So what did you do today?" I asked Sookie while I got to work peeling the potatoes for her.

"Chores, mostly. I did laundry, dishes, vacuuming, sweeping, grocery shopping, dusting…you name it, I did it. I was going to go lay out in the sun for a while but there'll be time for that tomorrow. I'm having dinner with my brother." Sookie told me while she started putting together the spices for the breading on the steak.

"How's Jason with the two of us seeing each other?" I asked casually. Frankly, I didn't really care what Jason thought. He could be pissed off at me all he wanted to, but I didn't want him to be mad at her.

"He warned me that you aren't exactly the faithful type," Sookie glanced at me but quickly put her head down again. "I think he's a little worried you're going to break my heart."

I stopped what I was doing and set down the potato along with the peeler. "There are two things you should know, just so we can clear all this up. First of all, I've never cheated on anyone. I may not have been the most commitment friendly guy in the past, but I never made promises of fidelity if I had no intention of being able to keep my promise. Second of all, I can't make a promise to you that I won't break your heart. Shit happens in relationships that can't be anticipated and feelings get hurt. I'm taking just as much risk as you are by us being together."

"That's fair," Sookie nodded, a hint of a smile lifting the corner of her mouth just a little. "For what it's worth, I don't really take most of what Jason says all that seriously. I know he's just looking out for me but I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions, especially where relationships are concerned. And if I thought he was right in any capacity, I wouldn't have invited you over."

"Careful, Sookie, a guy might start to think you like him," I snorted quietly and resumed my task.

"Maybe I do," she shrugged and I stupidly kept right on peeling even though my head whipped around to look at her. Next then I knew, there was a searing, burning pain in my index finger and I realized I'd skinned myself.

"Shit!" I dropped the peeler along with the potato and headed for the sink, hoping I didn't get blood everywhere in the process.

"Ninja, huh?" Sookie smiled at me as she came over with a wad of paper towels so I could put pressure on the cut.

"You distracted me," I narrowed my eyes at her and she pulled my hand from under the water to look at it but I tried to pull it back.

"Eric, let me look! I see blood all the time. I'm a nurse, remember?" She reminded me and I suddenly had images of myself with a cold and Nurse Sookie hovering over me in white lingerie with a stethoscope around her neck. Oh yeah. Best. Cold. Ever. "It looks pretty superficial. Wash it and then keep pressure on it while I go get my first aide stuff."

I did as I was told, washing my hands and then wrapping my bleeding finger with the paper towels she'd handed to me before going to the kitchen table to wait for her. She came back a few seconds later carrying a little red plastic box with a white cross on the top of it. She pulled out the chair next to mine and sat down to patch me up. She was gentle in her movements and explained everything she was doing while she did it. She poured a little Bactine on the cut just to make sure it was good and clean, then put vitamin D ointment on it before wrapping a bandage around it.

"How's that?" She asked, her eyes looking up from her handiwork to meet mine.

"Stings a little," I admitted with a smile.

"Your adrenaline is wearing off," she scrunched her nose. But then she lifted my hand and kissed the bandage right where the cut was. "Does that help?"

I nodded since it really did seem to help. Even better was when she leaned over even further and kissed me on the mouth. "Are you this good to all your patients?"

"Just the good boys who don't cry," Sookie smiled and then started to clean up the mess. "I have some latex gloves if you want to wear one over your bandage. Although, I'm not sure they'll fit you, come to think of it."

"I'll give it a shot," I shrugged and Sookie pulled a glove from her first aide kit for me. The glove didn't exactly fit but it would do while I finished peeling potatoes. No way was I going to let a little cut sideline me.

We made it through the rest of dinner prep without further injury and by the time we sat down to eat, my finger didn't hurt anymore. I figured it would take about a week for it to heal enough that I didn't have to keep it bandaged anymore. I smiled at the realization I was most likely going to have another scar to add to my collection, but what really got me was knowing the story of it would always make me think of Sookie.

I cut into my steak and I swear, the second I put it in my mouth it started to melt. I groaned in appreciation and Sookie smirked my way. "Good, huh?" she asked while buttering one of the biscuits she'd made.

"Amazing." I said after I swallowed my mouthful of food.

"Good. I'm glad you like it." She drizzled a little honey on her biscuit and then lifted a half to her mouth to take a bite.

When she moaned, my reaction wasn't quite so tame. Instant hard-on. Of course that one moan had me thinking about what other noises she made and it turned out that eating meant Sookie conducted her own symphony of sex noises. I briefly stared up at the ceiling, glaring at a God I couldn't see and 'thanking' him for having such a great sense of humor.

"What are you looking at?" Sookie asked at my side.

"Oh, I uh, I thought I saw a bug," I totally lied but no way was I going to tell her I was trying to come up with ways to rid myself of the epic wood I was sporting.

The look I got from Sookie told me she wasn't buying it for a second but she didn't push for anything more. When we were done eating a short time later, I insisted on helping her with the dishes and did the washing while she dried and put them away. The domesticity of the act wasn't lost on me, nor was the feeling of how comfortable it all was considering I hadn't even been given a proper tour of her house yet.

"So, what would you like to do now?" Sookie asked once we were finished with the clean up. She grabbed my hand to check that my bandage had held up under the glove while washing dishes. "My, my, Grandmother, what big hands you have," she snorted and smiled up at me.

The better to feel you up with, my dear. Yeah, I kept that shit to myself so as not to get smacked. She would have been well within her rights and I knew it. That was one surefire way to put the evening in the crapper and I had no intention of doing that; not when things were going so well.

"Your hand still looks good. Does it hurt?" She asked with concern in those big blue eyes of hers.

"Not really." I shrugged and she looked relieved. "How about showing me around the house?"

"Oh my gosh!" Her mouth hung open and she shook her head. "I'm usually a better hostess than this."

Was she serious? In the two or so hours I'd been with her she'd made me dinner, offered me numerous drinks and bandaged my hand when I totally failed at peeling potatoes. If this had happened at Pam's house I'd be lucky not to have gangrene by now.

"Sookie, it's fine. We were cooking." I shifted my hand so it was holding hers and again, she seemed to relax a little.

"I'm sorry, it's just that my Gran raised me with this proper protocol for new guests and…" she trailed off, lost in her own thoughts.

"And what?" I urged when we hadn't moved and she hadn't spoken.

"I don't think well around you," she finally admitted and it was a bit of a stunner.

"You don't?" Could have fooled me. She was constantly saying things that were witty and smart without sounding like a know-it-all, or bitchy the way some girls did.

She shook her head but offered me nothing more by way of explanation. Instead she pulled me along and showed me around her house. It wasn't very big but all of her rambling informed me that the house was quite old. It had been in her family for generations, which I knew was pretty common in small towns like Bon Temps. Up until her, I'd never had a reason to set foot in Bon Temps and I still had yet to see the town in the daylight hours. I hoped that would change soon, even if there wasn't a whole lot to it, to hear her tell it.

I could tell what furniture had been recently replaced and I was glad to see some that most of the wooden pieces were old. Dad had gone on a restoration streak when we moved back to the States and had bought up a lot of antique pieces of furniture that he refinished himself. Everything I knew about the process, I learned from him. Where Dad learned it from, I wasn't entirely sure and until I was dragging my fingers across an old sideboard table in Sookie's dining room, it had never occurred to me to ask.

There were pictures hanging all over Sookie's house, some of them as old as the early 20th century. Family members she'd never met sat stiffly and without smiles on their faces. It always struck me how you never really saw people smiling in really old photos and I wondered when it was that trend had changed. Probably when pictures didn't take hours to develop like they did way back when and people would have to sit still in the same pose for longer than they could stand. I probably wouldn't feel like smiling too much either in those conditions.

"So that's pretty much it," Sookie said after we'd walked around pretty much the whole house.

"Pretty much?" I knew she'd left out her bedroom but I wasn't going to push to see that either.

"Well, there's the mud porch with the washer and dryer on it but that's not really all that exciting," she shrugged and nibbled her bottom lip. I wanted to know what she was thinking and as if she knew it she said, "I didn't show you my bedroom because I would be too tempted to stay there and I'm not ready for that yet."

"Sookie, it's fine. When you're ready, I hope you'll show me everything," I told her, hoping she would catch the little double entendre I'd used there.

She nodded and then hugged me. I wasn't prepared for it but it felt nice. I hadn't felt that much of her pressed up against me yet and I found I liked the feeling of it. My arms closed around her tiny frame and I was finally able to let my fingers comb through the silky strands of her hair. A little sigh escaped her and it felt like whatever tension had been in her body completely faded away.

She pulled back and looked up at me. "How about we go for a walk?"

"Sure, I'd like that." I took a chance and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

She let me and when I lingered a moment too long, she tilted her head a little further back and stretched up to kiss me on the lips. It was gentle and mostly chaste and definitely over way too quickly. She was so warm and soft in all the right places. Most girls I had dated in the past would be horrified by the curves Sookie had but I liked them. I liked that she wasn't afraid to eat or enjoy food just because it tasted good.

"I'm just going to go put on a pair of jeans and grab a sweater. I'll be right back," Sookie promised and then left me standing in her living room while she went to change.

I walked over to look at the painting hanging over her mantle and quickly determined it must have been a painting of her house. The front porch was the same, as was the line of trees to the left of the house. Just as Sookie had said, the house in its current state needed some work. With a little TLC and some time, I was sure the house could look as beautiful as it did in the painting. I was filled with thoughts of doing the restoration work together. I could just imagine what my old man would say if I told him about all this. Maybe a trip to his garage was necessary in the near future. Dad always had been able to help me get my head on straight.

"Okay, I'm ready to go," Sookie emerged from the back of house in a pair of tight jeans with a sweatshirt tied around her waist and a pair of running shoes on.

"Lead the way." I reached for her hand and she let me take it.

o.O.o.O.o

After a lengthy walk around Sookie's property, which included a tour of a centuries old cemetery, we decided to go back to her house and put in a movie. The warm chocolate microsuede of her sofa was begging for us to snuggle on it. Sookie led me over to the cabinet that held her DVD collection and told me to take my pick.

"You don't have a preference?" I asked her over my shoulder as she moved around the living room.

"I've seen them all, Eric. Sorry there aren't too many action films in there. I like the classics, mostly. And sci-fi/horror films. The bloodier the better," Sookie admitted, which was also a surprise.

It seemed like just about every girl I'd ever dated for even just a slightly extended period of time was deathly allergic to anything that couldn't be categorized as a romantic comedy. Not that I was completely against the rom com genre but the best movies were never romantic comedies—at least not in my humble opinion. I browsed Sookie's collection and grinned when I saw an entire row of Hitchcock movies. They weren't bloody but they were all innovative, suspenseful and just plain awesome.

"I think we have a winner," I grinned and pulled a copy of The Silence of the Lambs from the shelf.

"What'd you pick?" Sookie asked while retrieving a blanket from an ottoman with a hidden compartment in it. I held up the DVD for her and she smiled. "I do wish we could chat longer, but…I'm having an old friend for dinner."

All of the lines I could think of to quote were sexually based so I decided not to play along. Instead I handed over the DVD to her so she could put it in the machine. I went over to the front door and kicked off my shoes, figuring she wouldn't want them propped up on her clean couch. I returned to the living room and sat down at one end of the sofa and hoped she wouldn't sit too far away from me. I was serious about that snuggling thing.

"Do you snack while you watch movies?" Sookie asked while the DVD loaded.

"Not usually."

"Good, because I don't think I have any popcorn in the house right now. I forgot to pick it up earlier," Sookie untied the sweatshirt from around her waist and tossed it on the arm of the couch. "Lights on or off?"

"It's a scary movie." I said as if that should answer the question for her. Truthfully, I was just curious to see what would happen if we were alone in the dark with a movie playing we had each seen several dozen times. Sookie switched off the light and when she moved to sit at the far end of the couch, I reached out to grab her arm. "I promise to behave myself."

"You better. I'd hate to have to show you just how strong my kung fu grip is," she plopped down beside me on the couch.

My arm went around her shoulders and she found the perfect niche in my chest, as if we had been doing this snuggling thing for years. She grunted when she had to lean forward to retrieve the remote to start the movie. With her settled next to me, I was hit with a sudden wave of how right it all felt. The quiet sound of the movie score played and Sookie's little hand was splayed out on my stomach, her fingers scratching absently and lightly at my t-shirt. I wondered if she even realized she'd started doing it.

I wanted to kiss her again but that didn't seem to be on the menu. Instead, we stayed relatively still with the exception of the slight shift of our fingers as she scratched my stomach and I twirled her hair around my fingers. She actually purred at one point which made me smile to myself.

"You keep that up and I'm going to fall asleep," she said with a yawn.

"Want me to go so you can get some rest?" I offered and hoped like hell she didn't say yes.

"Don't you dare move. I'm quite comfortable just as I am." Sookie snuggled against me.

Kissing was good, but the snuggling was even better.

And I thought Sookie was the one who was smitfaced. Well, at least they seem to be on equal footing. So much for Eric's ninja skills...I kinda wonder if he did that on purpose, to be honest. He won't tell me. Oh well. Thanks for reading!