Happy Easter! :)

This chapter is unbetaed. Sorry.

Disclaimer: Just messing around.

Previously:

My eyes widened.

"Do you think that someone was trying to hurt you?" If there was Fellowship involved, who knew?

"Oh no," she smiled indulgently. "I was just talking hypothetically, to show you how Eric could justify his intervening."

"How are you so sure?"

"If the point was killing me, they would have attacked during the day, not the night. No, Sookie, whoever did it and for whatever reason – they were after you."

After the display Bill had treated me with I was really glad that I had planned moving to Jason's ahead of time. While being exposed to the risk of overhearing suspicious noises from my brother's bedroom wasn't something I would normally appreciate, at least I knew that they were not created just to spite me, which might have been the case had I stayed at Bill's. It reminded me, though, that living with Jason wasn't a long-term solution. I ran into Crystal in the kitchen in the morning (thank God at least Jason had enough sense not to do anything to compromise that relationship considering his currently very precarious position in the were-panther community), so I made myself scarce after grabbing some breakfast.

I had planned to sort through the things that survived the fire for that day. I drove to my home in my new car to take a closer look at everything and then I got to work armed with gloves and trash bags. Sadly, there were many things that were just unsolvable.

Terry joined me soon – he kept his promise to help me and he started to remove the remains of the burnt ceiling.

Despite the scale of the destruction I felt better about the situation than before – at least now it felt like I was doing something to get things back to normal. Terry was just leaving to take all the trash away and I decided to take a break when a truck appeared in my driveway. Much to my surprise I recognized Alcide. I haven't talked to him since the funeral and I groaned inwardly when I remembered how we had parted.

"Why didn't you tell me what happened?" he yelled at me the moment he hopped out of his truck.

Wonderful. I was just dreaming for someone to yell at me.

I sighed.

"The opportunity didn't really present itself," I explained politely, if slightly sarcastically.

No matter what his imagination was telling him, he wasn't the first person my thoughts went to when faced with a crises. We weren't that close friends, especially not these days.

"You should have called me at once!" he scolded me sizing the damage with professional eye. "You could have died!"

Seriously?

"I know that," I said calmly and truthfully.

"A vampire had to save you," he said, distaste clear in his voice.

I was really over all those supernatural animosities.

"Pam," I corrected him. "It was Pam. Would you rather I burnt?"

"No, of course not!"

The half-demolished porch caught his eye.

"I could get the whole crew here," he said.

"Thank you, but there is no need. Terry already offered to help."

"I can get you a good deal on reconstruction, low costs."

"I hired a contractor."

"I'll lend you some cash."

"I have cash."

That finally managed to knock him off track.

"You do?" he asked surprised. "How did you…"

He paused before I had a chance to tell him to and then he answered his own question.

"Eric," he said heavily, as if Eric's name weighed a ton.

His eyes were alight with anger, though it wasn't clear if it was directed at me or Eric and I wasn't sure if I wanted to find out. In that moment my temper flared.

Whatever doubts I might have had myself before about the money from Eric, it wasn't helping me to look kindly on the expression Alcide was sporting on his face at the moment.

"Alcide Herveaux, you calm down this second. Yes, I have money from Eric, but I earned – that's right, I earned it legitimately (or at least I hope so – I added in my head) and you have no right to resent me for that. I didn't do anything wrong to get it."

I could say that only because I was pretty certain that killing Debbie was not one of the things Eric had paid me for.

I saw Alcide deflating a little.

"Vampires paid you for hiding Eric during the Witch War?"

"Yes. It wasn't my idea and I wasn't sure if I should have accept that, but Eric wouldn't take no for an answer. He was insistent that we had a deal and he was going to keep it – and frankly, now I am happy that he did, because I don't have to borrow money."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought that… we know each other well enough for you to call me and tell that something like that was going on and let me know if you needed help…"

"Thank you for your concern. Luckily, I don't need help."

I saw Terry getting back, so we put our conversation on hold, so the guys could exchange pleasantries. A few minutes later Randall Shurtliff, a man whom I had put in charge of rebuilding my kitchen arrived with his wife. I watched the men with irritation and amusement when they instantly switched to discussing details between themselves instead of me, so I decided to use the time to have a short, yet substantial chat with Delia Shurtliff. At the moment I was grateful that Delia was a straight to the point kind of woman – I managed to discuss most of the things I wanted to before her husband remembered that he was supposed to talk to me, since it was my house and my opinion that should matter to him.

"Sorry," Alcide said a little sheepishly after they left. It looked like he finally realized that it might have been rude of him to completely intercept my contractor's attention. "Habit."

We sat on the garden chairs under I had dragged outside.

"Where are you staying?" he asked.

"At Jason's"

I could see from the expression on his face that he was perfecting some kind of a plan in his mind. He put his hand on mine.

"I would like you to think about seeing me more often," he started. "Like, every day, at home."

My head spinned. I looked at him unsure if I heard him right.

"Um?" I grunted eloquently.

"I like you very much," he went on. "I think you like me too."

He leaned toward me and kissed me lightly to let me know without a doubt what kind of 'liking' he had in mind. I was too stunned to react in any way.

It seemed like everyone wanted to kiss me lately. It looked like this time it was turn for a 'Werewolf's Day'.

Some distant part of my brain wondered when was the last time a human kissed me.

"We have a lot in common. We like similar things," I wasn't sure what he meant, because we hadn't really had a chance to spend that much time together. "I want to see you in my bed. I wouldn't normally start this conversation now when we have some issues unresolved, but you need a place to live and I have an apartment in Shreveport. I would like you to consider moving in with me."

All I could think was if Alcide's speech meant that he was the kind of man that could be described by the mysterious phrase that sometimes appears in the dating profiles: 'romantic with a firm grasp on reality' – and how in the world had he managed to catch me so completely off guard with his declaration with me being a telepath?

His proposal, well-intended as it was, was quite possibly the most absurd thing I've heard in a long time.

I took a deep breath.

"Alcide," I said – and then I stumbled.

I meant to tell him that I liked him too, but I thought that accepting his proposal would be a mistake. I meant to explain to him that it wasn't a good idea, for many reasons. All the things that spoke against agreeing with what he was saying jumped in front of my mind like a jumbled mess – and then when I spoke again I replied him in the worst possible way:

"I killed Debbie," I blurted.

He didn't expect me to say that. So I guess we were even.

He opened and closed his mouth.

"We don't know that," he tried to contradict my statement, choosing to use a meaningful plural form. "Sookie, I know I said that and that the clues points to that scenario, but we don't know for sure what really happened… I know what kind of person you are and… I shouldn't have accused you…"

I decided to put him out of his misery.

"I talked to Eric," I cut him off. "I know what happened."

He needed a few seconds to process again. Then he asked (quite reasonably): "What happened?"

He seemed suitably cooled off.

"Debbie tried to shoot me. She hid in my kitchen and waited for me to come home after the battle. She would have succeeded if it wasn't for Eric. She wasn't prepared for him to be there, so it bought me some time to fight back… and eventually she was the one who ended up dead."

It all sounded a bit anticlimactic when I put it like this.

"And are you sure, that it wasn't Eric who…" Alcide started hopefully.

"No," I said firmly. "It was me."

I sighed resigned.

"What proof do you have that any of this is true?"

I looked at him surprised.

"Eric wouldn't lie to me about something like this," I protested quickly.

Alcide looked at me as if I had just told him that persuasion is the best way to deal with a pissed off viper. It didn't put me off in the slightest. I had no delusions about Eric having it in him to be a cold-hearted bastard, but I couldn't believe that he had made up this story. Despite all his deviousness a move like that would seem too… in a bad taste for him. It lacked class and my instinct told me that this wasn't something I should be afraid of where Eric was concerned.

"With all due respect, Sookie, we're talking about a vampire."

If someone told me I would be the one to defend Eric Northman's veracity…

"With all due respect, Alcide, but I don't see why I should not believe this story. I know a bit about Debbie, Eric and myself. Unlike Debbie, Eric has never attempted to kill me. That gives him some credit."

Maybe trusting Eric wasn't the most reasonable thing to do, but I wasn't about to let someone who had dated Debbie Pelt lecture me on that.

"It doesn't matter," Alcide tried again after thinking it through for a few seconds. "I abjured her. She ceased to exist to me. Whatever happened, she shouldn't have attacked you in the first place."

I shot him a side glance. Everything he said was true – except for his first sentence. It did matter who killed Debbie, especially if he was considering a relationship with me. I think we both knew that, but Alcide was trying to convince us both that things were different than they were.

"I can't do this Alcide," I said finally. "I do appreciate your offer. I just don't want to make a decision like this simply because I need a place to stay. We have too many unresolved issues. And Debbie… Whatever you say, all of that is so fresh…"

I really did appreciate his intentions, even though his offer was completely surreal. There weren't many men who would consider moving in with me.

"But we need each other right now!" he protested.

I shook my head.

"Not gonna happen. You're not going to convince me. I don't believe this would work."

His shoulders slumped in resignation.

"I'll be in Shreveport," he said. "Call me if you need me."

I nodded.

When he was leaving I wondered how everything would had played out between us had Alcide never met Debbie.

One thing in our conversation wouldn't leave me alone. Not really knowing what I was looking for, I went to my bedroom. It was settled in the better preserved part of the house. I opened the drawer in my nightstand. I hadn't thought to look into it before, because I had not known the whole story.

Wondering if I wasn't insane I took out the old cream container I had been using to keep an odd memento from Dallas in. I unscrewed the top.

Two metal balls fell out on my open palm. I felt my pulse quickening when I discovered that my hunch didn't lead me wrong. I put aside the bullet I already knew and carefully picked the other one. I lifted it in my hand and looked at it in the light.

What was it Alcide was talking about?

A proof.

I was absolutely sure that I was holding the bullet from Debbie's gun. The second bullet meant for me and willingly taken by Eric.

Well? What do you think?

Next time: Sookie finally runs out of luck...