A/N: We reached over 1,000 reviews! Thank you for the support, you guys are amazing. Hopefully this chapter keeps up with expectations! Enjoy xx

Beta: Simi Nightmares

Disclaimer: I do not own True blood; I just borrowed the characters for a bit of fun!

Chapter Twenty-Seven
Life Altering Decisions

He had brought her flowers.

Sookie stared at the bright yellow bouquet of flowers with a stunned expression, her lips parting in surprise as she reached out to gently caress one silky petal. No one had brought her flowers before.

It was sweet.

The realisation only made her frown as she was reminded of her relationship with Bill. She had not seen or heard anything from the Civil War vampire since the disaster that was Dallas and his relationship with Lorena. Finding out so publicly that she had not only been cheated on, but that Bill had chosen such a sadistic woman to do it with, was humiliating to say the least. And that wasn't even taking into account that he had tried to make it seem as if Lorena had basically raped him, even after knowing about her own past!

He was sick!

She couldn't help but be pleased that he hadn't made an appearance, or tried to contact her as she had expected. She had never been more relieved to be wrong in her predictions. He would be back some time, that she didn't doubt considering his ancestral home was just across the cemetery, but she was in no rush to confront him about his cheating ways.

She had enough on her plate already.

But Bill cheating on her didn't mean she was put off dating vampires in general, not at all. It was Bill's individual actions that had brought an end to their relationship; she wasn't about to put every respectful and polite vampire she had met in the same category as him.

Perhaps it was time for her to try again. She wasn't about to give up on finding her soul mate just because Bill had been an arse. Her Mr Right was out there somewhere.

Returning her attention back to the flowers Sookie quickly plucked the silver bordered card entwined within the stems, the logo of what she knew to be an expensive florist carefully positioned in the right hand corner so she wouldn't miss it.

Every beautiful woman should be brought flowers.

Let me spoil you.

~ E

Chewing on her bottom lip she blushed, flipping the small card over out of curiosity only to be greeted with even more delicately scripted text.

Dinner?

Tonight after sunset?

We'll pick you up.

xx

We'll?

Sookie shook her head before her eyes widened at the realisation that he had asked her out on a date. She should be upset, Eric had agreed to give her time to think about everything yet he was sending her flowers the following day.

Her heart melted against her will.

"Stupid Sheriff," she murmured fondly, a smile at her lips as she moved to breathe in the scent of the flowers. They smelled just as sweet as she knew they would. Muttering to herself she quickly went about finding a vase to arrange the bouquet in, not being able to help but find it flattering that he referred to her as beautiful.

He had been right when he implied she had never been brought flowers before.

Clearly her relationship with Bill wasn't as romantic as she had thought.

She was a smart woman, she could learn from her mistakes.

Arranging the flowers in no particularly order she hung the elegant card on her fridge a homemade magnet from her childhood. It didn't seem right to throw it away, not when it would serve as a reminder of Eric's sweet side long after the flowers had wilted and died.

What did spike her curiosity, however, was who would be joining them. She had no doubt Eric had chosen to use we'll instead of I'll on purpose rather than by mistake. He was a sheriff of a large area of vampires; he didn't have the type of personality to make such an easily avoidable mistake.

So who was it?

Her first thought was Godric, he was Eric's maker after all, but it could quite as easily be Pam since they had been surprisingly getting on very well lately. It wasn't that she had ever had a problem with Pam, just that it had just taken some time to work out when the vampiress was being sarcastic and when she wasn't.

Another option was it could be a business dinner. The possibility that Eric had only brought her flowers to soften her up, lull her into a false sense of security before asking her to provide her 'services' to one of his contacts, made her heart sink.

Shaking her head she pushed those negative thoughts from her mind, figuring she would deal with that when the time came. She had agreed to scan Fantasia when it was reasonable in her time frame, not get further involved into vampire politics even if her curiosity made her interested in going down that route. It was impossible to have a normal, vampire free life, and it would be expected that Eric would find more uses for her telepathy.

As long as what she screened didn't harm people, she would gracefully bow down and relent her rare skills, even if the thought of Eric desiring her company only for the sole reason of her gift hurt a lot more than she would have liked.

Still, going out to dinner would be nice. It had been a long time since she had been on a romantic date with Bill, having mostly visited Merlotte's or staying home on their 'dates.' She couldn't lie and say it hadn't been nice, because it had, but it wasn't until she looked back on it that she realised she wanted more.

Ring Ring

Heading over to her phone she hadn't realised how long she had been lost in her thoughts until a glance at the kitchen clock informed her as much.

"Sookie?"

Sookie had to admit she was slightly surprised at receiving a call from her brother so soon after the disaster that involved Amy and Eddie. Curling her fingers around the telephone cord she hoped to god that he hadn't gotten into more trouble. "Please tell me you haven't gotten into another bad situation, Jason."

"Give me some credit, Sook! I'm not stupid; I'm layin' low at the minute."

"Thank goodness for that," she sighed. At least her brother was playing it safe and keeping to himself rather than making the situation worse. "What's up then?"

"Eric called me."

Once again she wasn't surprised. "Yeah? What was he after?"

"Wanted to make sure I was still aware that I owed him," he grumbled. "Mentioned about me getting hold of Amy so he could deal with her sooner rather than later."

"He can't find her?" she asked surprised.

"Told me she hadn't left Louisiana, he didn't want ta wait until she made a go at tryin' to escape."

"Do you know where she is?"

"That's why I'm callin', Sook" he sighed. "She called me yesterday, surprised the shit outta me."

Trying to ignore his crass choice of language, "What did she want?"

"A way out," her brother admitted, not sounding pleased in the slightest. "Can you believe the bitch? First she apologises for leavin' me to deal with the shit-storm, mentions about lovin' me, and then asks for ma help avoidin' getting' caught and getting' the hell out of Louisiana."

"Even if she managed to escape his area, Jason, he would inform neighbouring sheriffs that she killed a vampire. She wouldn't be able to get away."

"Figured as much."

Playing with the hem of her dress, Sookie couldn't deny that she was at least relieved that Jason had called her rather than keeping it to himself. It would be a lie to say she thought Jason would willing turn Amy in, but the fact he had was more than a good surprise. Eric would be understandably more lenient if Amy was found sooner rather than later. She couldn't get away with murder, it wasn't right, and while she may not deserve to die that didn't mean she shouldn't be punished.

She had killed someone!

"Have you called Eric back?"

Jason was silent for a few minutes. "I'm actually callin' to see if you could do it for me?" he asked hopefully. "The bloke is scary."

Sookie rolled her eyes. Her brother was a grown man, older than her by years, and yet whenever he got into any kind of trouble he seemed to find it necessary to run to his younger sister with his tail tucked between his legs. "I'm meeting him tonight, did you arrange to meet Amy-"

"She said she was hiding out with a friend, layin' low by callin' in a few favours. I have the address."

"Give it to me."

Hopefully this would help to redeem her brother. As she wrote down the address on a scrap piece of paper lying on the counter she slipped it into her purse with a sigh. The unnecessary stress this entire situation was bringing was ridiculous. She was very much aware of how much Eric was bending his usual rules and protocols and for that she was thankful.

Glancing back at the flowers she smiled.

It wasn't more than twenty minutes after sunset that there was a polite knock on her door. Glancing at her reflection, Sookie frowned; concerned that she had put too much effort into her appearance. Eric's note was vague, not mentioning a place or any idea of what type of dress code she needed to follow. She didn't know whether that was meant to be part of the surprise or not, but if she was being honest it was more of a frustration than anything.

Did that make her cynical?

For all she knew it wasn't even a date, but it had been so long since she had been able to dress up that she hadn't been able to help herself but go a little further than a causal outfit. She just hoped she wouldn't embarrass herself and come to regret it.

For once she had decided to put more effort into doing her hair beyond scraping it back into a ponytail or leaving it down and naturally waved. Instead, she attempted to take a pair of curlers to the blonde strands and, as far as she was concerned, she had done a pretty good job piling the curled strands up on her head in a slightly more elegant bun.

Hopefully it wouldn't fall down while she was enjoying her night out.

It had been a conscious thought to leave a few curls free just so her neck wasn't completely exposed, but as she attached a small flower charm around her neck she couldn't help but run her fingers against the smooth skin of her jugular. Godric's bite marks had long since healed, leaving no sign or trace that they had been there to begin with.

She didn't know whether it was disappointment she was feeling or relief.

Shaking her head, she turned around in the mirror, her soft blue dress hugging her form tighter than she was used to. It wasn't an intentional move on her part, but the dress had been on sale. She couldn't really afford to ignore a perfectly fitting dress when it was eighty percent off. Hopefully they wouldn't notice.

She startled when there was a knock at the door. "Coming!"

Dashing down the stairs, Sookie paused just enough to grab a small pair of heels before she unlatched the lock on her front door, opening it with a bright smile before quickly scurrying towards the kitchen to collect her things. Hopefully neither of them were offended by her slight lapse in hosting skills.

"I just need to grab my purse!" she threw over her shoulder before catching sight of it on the edge of the counter. "Found it-"

Dressed in tailored black Sookie couldn't help but find herself speechless as she caught sight of both Godric and Eric standing at the entrance of her kitchen. Her lips quirked slightly against her will as she took in how both Maker and Childe were dressed to kill in form fitting clothes. Even if she didn't know them both personally, it was as clear as day that both Eric and Godric were highly respected vampires.

Attractive did not even begin to describe what she was presented with.

"Hi," she smiled shyly, a blush at her cheeks. Godric was first to reply, stepping forward before taking her smaller hand in one of his. He bent down, pressing his lips against her tanned skin. "You look ravishing, Sookie."

"Good enough to eat!" Eric added with his usual leer.

Sookie couldn't bring herself to scowl as she recalled their heated make-out in his office. She still couldn't remember how they had gotten from talking about nothing in particular to her being mauled on the edge of his desk. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't know if she wanted to remember.

"Thank you," she tried to ignore the compliments, hating the way they made her cheeks turn pink. "Do you want a Trublood, or are you ready to go?"

"We are ready if you are, Lover" Eric winked, an arm winding around her waist and causing her to jump. "I have made dinner reservations."

"Really? Where are we goin'?" she asked as they waited for her outside to lock-up. It didn't take more than a few seconds before she was following them towards Eric's frankly outrageous car, Sookie still brimming in excitement at the fact Godric was going to accompany them. She could trust Godric, not to mention she respected him very much.

"It is a small restaurant in Shreveport I have yet to see myself. Pamela spoke very highly of it" Godric held the door open for her.

"Really? Pam goes out to restaurants?" for some reason that shocked her.

"Pam finds it enjoyable to seduce young women away from their dates."

Staring at Eric in shocked horror, Sookie couldn't help but feel her mouth drop open in disgust. Eric laughed as he pulled the car into gear, his eyes flickering in the rear view mirror as he shot her a fangy grin. "You'd be surprised how often she comes back reeking of success."

Sookie cringed, shifting closer to Godric who had surprisingly chosen to ride with her in the back rather than sit up front. It was strange, but she couldn't lie and say she didn't enjoy the company. "Thank you for telling me that, Eric."

"You're very welcome, Lover" he grinned.

It was then that Sookie remembered the flowers. "Thank you for the flowers, it wasn't necessary but they were a lovely surprise." Her Gran would be rolling in her grave if she forgot her manners and didn't verbally show her appreciation.

"Have you been brought flowers before, älskling?"

Sookie shook her head at Godric's question, not being able to help frowning as she recalled her relationship with Bill. It hadn't been until last night, after they had turned up on her doorstep, that receiving flowers had even crossed her mind. Tara had never mentioned it, and thinking back neither had Arlene and she had dated more than her fair share of men.

"The men of this generation have clearly lost all ingrained manners."

Sookie frowned at Godric's statement. "What do you mean?"

"What I am referring to, älskling, is courtship and wooing were very common a few decades before your birth. A gentleman would never think as to treat a female he held interest in with disrespect or disinterest. It occurred yes, but it was a rarity."

"Wow." She had only studied the Victorian period briefly at school. "Do you miss it? Elements of your past, how society was run and such." She had to admit she was curious.

Godric thought about it before replying, "I do not miss the era I was birthed into as a human. It was not a positive time for those who were born weak, poor, or in a lower status position as I was."

Oh.

"Eric?"

"The increase in modern technological developments I have grown attached to, however, there are elements of my human life I find myself remising about."

That perked her interest. "You were a Viking, right?"

Eric's lips quirked, "I was, älskare. I was considered a prince within my tribe."

"Did you kill people?"

"Yes."

Sookie wasn't at all surprised at his answer, but she couldn't stop herself from asking. It wasn't every day that you could get the truth about history from someone who had been present there themselves, not to mention Eric for once seemed to be in a very sharing mood; she wasn't about to not take advantage of that. Bill had been involved in the civil war but it was hard to believe anything that came out of his mouth after he had pretty much destroyed all trust she held for him.

"Is it true about the raping and pillaging?"

"Humans have found ways to try and prove that we were nothing other than savage beasts who took many women against their will. Some tribes found nothing wrong with taking a woman against their will, yet within my tribe it wasn't considered to be a brave nor honourable thing. Only a small percentage of us were warriors who left in search of gold and territory, many were farmers, craftsmen and traders. Normal people who did what was necessary in order to survive."

Listening with rapt interest Sookie gestured for him to continue. Eric relented, indulging in her curiosity. "Were you rich?"

Eric laughed, "I was a prince, so yes I was considered to be one of the wealthiest members of my tribe."

"And you had a family?" she asked hesitantly, not wishing to open old wounds.

Her concern was unnecessary. "I had a wife and children. It was highly uncommon for a man of my age to be without either a woman or a child."

Relieved she hadn't insulted him Sookie couldn't help but continue her questions for the duration of the drive. Eric didn't seem to mind, rather finding amusement in her curiosity as Godric listened fondly to his Childe and hopefully soon-to-be lover converse happily.

He could not help but hope for more in the future.

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