Betaed by Breathesgirl.

The only character I own is Piggy.

I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. The night before I asked Pam to help me do the highlights as she had suggested before. It turned out that the prospect of making me her personal Barbie worked like a balm on Pam and she was willing to let go of our earlier argument about Mickey. I admit that I was a little nervous when she got to work by vigorously mixing various hair colour products with authority (she seemed to produce them out of thin air and I wondered if she had been planning that all along), but the effect was very satisfying. I still looked natural, but my hair seemed brighter and more vibrant, which in turn showed off my tan nicely. All in all, Pam had done a good job.

It was just a bonus that she told me many fascinating stories she had collected during all the years she had spent together with Eric while she was working on me. Some of them were even slightly embarrassing.

We ended the night in peace, bonding over watching some trashy action movie. I complained about the unrealistically quick romance and Pam complained about the unprofessionally choreographed fight scenes.

I thought that so far Pam was proving to be a surprisingly not-troublesome roommate. She was very neat (of course there was no danger of her leaving the sink full of dirty dishes for me), she had a sense of humour and she was good company. The lack of readable brain waves made it possible for me to relax in her presence after a long day and the vampire schedule assured that I would always have a few hours for myself to spend alone if I needed to be alone.

I put the brush on the dresser and finally turned away from the mirror after shooting one last pleased glance at my new hair.

There was something pleasant in removing the band from your hair and letting it fall loose after getting home from work. It meant than you could let go and relax.

The sound of someone knocking on the door rose me from my thoughts.

I found Eric waiting on the threshold. His presence was becoming less and less surprising these days. I suspected that my plans to have a quiet evening just went out of the window, no matter what the reason for him being there was.

"May I?" he asked politely.

"Hi, Eric," I said resigned to my fate. "Come on in."

I craned my neck to take a better look at him and suddenly all of the stories Pam had fed me before flooded my brain and I started giggling uncontrollably.

"Sookie?" Eric asked, confused by my behaviour.

I couldn't help myself:

"Is it true… that you had a-... a hamster once?" I asked, finally managing to catch a breath between two bursts of silly giggles.

Eric narrowed his eyes into blue slits and turned his head to look into my house in search of the culprit.

"Pam!" he called out sharply.

It was as good as admitting there had been some truth to the story so I nearly doubled over from laughing so hard.

Pam claimed that Eric had been so distraught when he had found out just how short the hamsters' life-span is that he had even started wondering if it would be possible to turn his pet into a vampire-hamster (a 'vampster'), but I personally suspected that Pam made up that part just for my amusement. Just in case, though, I made a mental note that if Eric ever got himself a pet I would make sure it wasn't bloodthirsty before coming anywhere near it.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Pam yelled back.

"She's in the shower," I explained, trying to calm down, while we moved to the living-room.

Pam was spending much more time in the bathroom than I would have guessed knowing that she was a vampire. I think part of the reason could be placed in her perfectionist inclinations in the make-up area. No matter how good you are at using the eyeliner, it always takes time for it to dry. Some things just can't be sped up. Luckily, there were two bathrooms in my house.

"Do you want a True Blood?" I asked Eric.

He nodded so I went to the kitchen and warmed up two bottles – one for him and one for Pam. When I returned, he was sitting on the sofa with a sour expression on his face.

"What brings you here tonight?" It was only then I could think of asking.

Maybe he hadn't told me everything I needed to know last time he'd been here? That thought sobered me up. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.

"I need to talk to Pam. I hope that's okay?" Eric was on his best behaviour.

"No problem," I surprised even myself when I realised that I honestly didn't mind his presence at my place.

I thought I would keep him company until Pam joined him and then I'd make myself scarce so that they could talk in peace. They probably had some business or something vampire politic related to discuss – nothing for me to poke my nose into.

"It was a guinea pig," Eric corrected unexpectedly, with a deadly serious voice, catching me completely off guard – and causing me to giggle-snort again.

"What was its name?" I asked.

He looked at me as if it was a ridiculous question.

"Piggy," he said, his tone suggesting that I should have figured it out.

I was snickering so hard that I was in danger of suffocating.

Eric stared at me darkly, obviously displeased that I was making fun of him – but then suddenly something changed in his face and his expression morphed into one I couldn't identify, but that seemed much more dangerous to me.

"When was the last time you laughed like that?" he asked unexpectedly.

I blinked, startled. My heart stumbled a little.

This was unfair. Eric wasn't supposed to ask me questions like that. When I evened my breath, quickened from too much laughter, the silence settled between us and something unnamed but very thick was hanging in the air.

I stared at him wide-eyed when Eric leaned forward and reached with his hand to my face to brush a strand of my hair away, very slowly, as if I was an animal that may bolt.

"I've been doing this wrong, haven't I?" he said quietly.

"W-what…?"

…in that exact moment Pam stepped out of the bathroom with her head wrapped in a towel.

That would be the full description of her outfit.

"You called," she said to Eric.

"PAM!" I shrieked.

Eric glanced at the younger vampire disinterestedly.

"Pam, stop hitting on Sookie," he scolded.

Pam snorted and stomped her foot like a moody two-year-old.

"This is unfair," she whined. "You're just jealous that you haven't thought about doing that yourself."

"Pam, please, put some clothes on," I groaned.

Eric smiled dangerously.

"Oh, I assure you, I' have made much better use of that shower," he said causing my eyes to bulge.

I glanced at him shocked and red as a tomato, just in time to notice him looking me up and down with hunger in his eyes.

"It's called a double standard!" Pam yelled - thankfully disappearing somewhere deeper inside the house.

I couldn't tear my focus from the last sentence that came out of Eric's mouth. He seemed to be fully aware where my thoughts were, since his fangs descended with an audible click while his eyes remained glued to me.

I thought that my shower would never seem quite the same again to me.

"Really, Sookie, you have no idea how much fun it is to throw you off balance," said Pam, who just came back into the room, this time dressed.

"Oh, thanks, Pam" I snorted, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You're welcome."

"Has she ever done this before?" Eric asked me suddenly.

"Has she been parading in front of me naked? Nah, that would be the first time," I said maintaining the same tone – and then, an inspiration hit me as to how get my payback on Pam for her antics so I added: "She only kissed me."

Pam stood very still, her face frozen in an unreadable mask.

The expression on Eric's face was priceless.

He looked as if he was fighting some internal battle over which one of his instincts was going to win and dictate his reaction.

"Pamela," he grunted finally, fixing her with a heavy stare.

Ladies and gentlemen: I hereby pronounce the victory of Greediness over Imagination.

Pam sent me an evil look for ratting her out, but I didn't feel guilty. She made her bed. I thought it a perfect moment for making myself scarce and leaving them to their own devices. I had an eerie feeling that Eric's next sentence would contain a possessive pronoun. I really didn't want to deal with that at the moment.

"If you break my living-room, you'll have to fix it," I said resolutely before backing inside my house.

I didn't hear any screams or slams so I assumed that they managed to somehow resolve their issues without physical violence and I made myself busy with my own business. The fragment of conversation I heard before leaving made me suspect that Eric might be heading toward the vampire version of 'Where did I go wrong with you?' which made me grin.

About an hour later, when I went to the kitchen to get myself a drink, Eric's booming laughter lured me out. I put the empty glass on the counter and curiously peeked inside the living-room, surprised with how pleasant the sound was.

Apparently the business part of the meeting was over and Pam's fault long forgiven. Both of them looked comfortable and in good spirits. They turned their heads to look at me at the same time, but it seemed that my presence didn't disturb them.

Eric smiled at me with some relaxed smile I'd never seen on his face before. It made him look… wait… was that… a dimple?

OhmyGod! I don't believe it! Eric Northman has a dimple?

Well, maybe not quite a dimple, it was not round, but more arch-shaped, like a growing moon, but it was there.

I thought that even though they had always had an air of confidence to them, I'd never seen them more at ease, even at Fangtasia. Pam looked younger than usual: you could easily tell that she couldn't had been a day over twenty when she was turned. I've never thought that I would live to see the moment when I'd envy the bloodsuckers the family relationship, but right then I was close. Pam and Eric seemed to share a closer bond than me and Jason.

I realised that they switched to the 'private' mode, which was a little odd considering that they were at my place and still in my presence. I couldn't decide if I was more flattered that they felt so good in my house, or irritated that they acted as if they owned the place.

"Do you want more True Blood?" I asked to somehow justify my half-conscious nosey gravitating toward them from the kitchen.

I sat on the edge of the couch with Eric sitting on the opposite end and Pam occupying the armchair. They both declined my offer.

Pam kept looking back and forth between me and Eric as if we were at least as interesting as Eric's guinea pig. If vampires ate popcorn, she would have probably ordered a big bag of it.

I suddenly felt like a late TV show.

Eric streatched one of his impossibly long arms and lazily took a lock of my hair in his fingers.

"I approve," he announced examining my new highlights.

I snorted quietly. Pam looked pleased with the praise.

"Sookie, did you know that Bill is wandering around your house at night?" she asked suddenly, though I have no idea why she chose that exact moment to share that fact with me.

If I was to guess, I'd say that she wanted to see how tossing that piece of information to the mix would influence her little science project, that was observing me and Eric as her subjects.

Eric raised his eyebrows. His hand was still resting on the cushion next to my head, his fingers playing slowly with the loose strand of my hair.

"I beg your pardon?" I asked.

"I had a chat with him last night when you'd already gone to sleep, but I have a feeling that these walks are somewhat of a habit of his."

"Wandering 'around' as if on the edge of the cemetery, or 'around' as if on my property?"

"Around your windows."

I sighed heavily. Sadly, I wasn't surprised.

"Considering the current situation with the shooter, there might be some benefits to Bill patrolling the neighborhood," Eric said reluctantly, his voice leaving no doubt that it pained him to admit it and that the fact irritated him greatly.

"Like what?" I asked, surprised that he was giving Bill more credit that I was.

Eric shot me a delighted look.

"Do you want me to run him off?" he offered not bothering to hide his enthusiasm at the idea.

"No, thanks," I said clearly spoiling his fun. "I'll handle him myself."

I would have stayed longer with them, but I felt a powerful yawn approaching. Normally my manners would have obligated me to stay to the end of the visit, even if I was sleepy, but technically Pam wasn't really my guest, but a roommate and Eric came to talk to her, so I didn't feel bad for telling them that I was going to call it a night.

"All right," I said. "Some of us are mere mortals and need to rest at this time of the night. I'm going to leave you to your own devices now."

"I'll be on my way too, then," Eric said in response.

I waved him off.

"Whatever. You can stay if there is still something you two need to talk about."

It seemed that it wasn't just them who had grown comfortable with my company, but me with theirs as well – or maybe I had just become so blasé that the perspective of having two vampires doing God-knows-what in my house while I'd be sleeping in the next room didn't bother me anymore?

I jumped off the couch and walked toward Pam.

"Goodnight," I said kissing her on the cheek, mostly to jerk Eric's chain.

"You can go," Pam told Eric, "I'll keep Sookie company."

She was very pleased with herself. Eric was staring holes in her head. I decided to take pity on him and still have some fun in the process.

"Eric," I scolded when I saw that his upper lip was curling up to show Pam his teeth. "If you don't stop threatening Pam, you won't get your kiss."

His head whipped immediately in my direction and he gave me a kicked puppy look.

I blinked. He was good. I wondered if he was playing it up because he looked pretty convincing, which was quite something considering that he was an over six feet tall male and vampire, not to mention lethal.

I closed the distance between us snickering and stroked his head. He stayed in character. Apparently, Eric didn't mind me making fun of him, as long as it got him me touching him. I smoothed back his bangs and, still smiling, pressed my lips to his forehead to plant a kiss there.

"Better?" I asked.

The mere look on his face told me that he wasn't going to let me go so easily. What I didn't predict was that he would turn the tables on me. Before I knew it, I found myself mysteriously moved onto Eric's lap.

"My turn," he said.

And then of course he kissed me. He didn't stop at the peck either. Just to make things clear, ignoring Eric's kiss is completely impossible.

"You should be selling tickets," Pam's voice broke me out of trance.

I jumped nervously.

She was sitting with her back perfectly straight and her hands folded neatly on her lap. One might think she looked like a proper young lady at a Sunday tea party – that is, until they noticed the way she was licking her lips.

Eric rubbed the tip of his nose against my neck, demanding my attention and I suddenly tensed, but also felt very hot. I gulped.

I thought hopefully that maybe it was just another dream and I was going to wake up any second… but if it was a dream, then I might as well…

Focus, Sookie!

"Goodnight, lover," Eric purred into my ear, his cool breath hitting a very particular spot on my skin. It was making funny things to me.

I stood up abruptly.

"Okay, okay," I said. "Everything is best in small doses."

Eric and Pam exchanged looks as if I said something amusing.

"Oh, Sookie, Sookie," said Pam shaking her head, "You really don't remember a thing, do you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said quickly, though Eric's resulting grin after Pam's remark gave me some ideas. "Goodnight. Have fun."

Only when I was already in my bed, clean and dressed in my favourite pyjamas, I realized the danger lurking in the way I phrased my last sentence. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what my guests' idea of having fun was; but even that thought wasn't as alarming as it should have been.

Next time: it's going to get hot!