It could not have been a second before a smile erupted on Sookie's face, but for some reason it felt as if I lived my entire thousand years over again in that one, short moment. "Someone's being a very silly vampire tonight," she told me while she shook her finger my way.
That was the second time Sookie had described me in such a term that I could not ever remember having been called before. I do not recall ever being told I was silly; I have been called many things, but that was certainly not one of them. Nor did I recall the last time someone had shaken his or her finger in my face as had the little person at whom I was staring. If it had been anyone else, he or she would no longer be attached to his or her finger.
The ease at which she said it relaxed me a bit though. I knew Sookie seemed all right with our conversation. I wondered if that was just Sookie or because somewhere deep within her she knew all of this already. I was relaxed with how calmly she had taken everything, but I still needed her to say the words. I still needed to hear her say it.
Sookie's eyes suddenly looked much older than she appeared. I was abruptly staring into much more familiar eyes. "You don't scare me, Eric," she told me as she placed her hands on my cheeks. "You fixed my boo-boo and made me a clean fishy and took me flying. You won't hurt me. I'll stay here with you if you still want me to." Even though her words did not show confidence, her tone and expression showed what the words lacked. She did not question the fact that I wanted her to stay with me, not really. It was as though she knew and understood that her being with me, that her living with me, no matter where we were, was something that I wanted desperately.
I had nothing against Sookie's current form, but it was something I wanted adult Sookie to crave as much as I did. I was starting to realize that one of the biggest problems was I might not have let her know it was what I desperately wanted. I was not going to make that mistake now, and it was something I would rectify as soon as I had the opportunity.
I only hoped the opportunity would come soon.
"I want nothing more than for you to stay here with me," I told her.
She crinkled her nose at me and asked, "Was that a yes? Nothing is usually a no, but it didn't sound like a no."
I barely managed to hold in my laughter over her confusion at my words. Pam's face finally relaxed too. She had been almost as nervous as I had throughout this entire conversation, and I knew the prospect of being turned away from teacup Sookie was something that weighed heavily upon her.
"That was a yes," I told her. "That was a very big, gigantic, yes."
"Yay!" Sookie said, and suddenly launched herself at me from the chair. With my vampire speed I had no problem catching her, but I was lucky that my heart no longer beat. If it did, I might have had a heart attack as I imagined her falling to the floor or hitting her head on the chair. I caught her and clutched her to my chest as she wrapped her arms around my neck. "More slumber party!" she yelled, right in my ear!
Ouch.
She picked up her head off my shoulder, and I could feel the excitement creep out of her body and I looked down at her, confused as to what had happened. It was not me that she was currently looking at; it was my child who was still leaning up against the cabinet. "Pammy, come and give us a hug," Sookie said, and I felt one of her arms leave my neck while she held it out for Pam.
I was surprised when my child did not correct Sookie for having called her by a name she vehemently disliked. Pam was in no way shape or form a 'Pammy,' yet, when Sookie invited Pam into our hug that did not matter. All that it told me was that Sookie wanted her friend. Pam did not let her down and I soon had two blond females wrapped in my arms.
"I have one more question," Sookie told us when she started to pull away from the hug.
"Now what would that be?"
"Can we go flying again?"
I did not take her flying again, at least not at that very second. I did make her wait a few minutes. Well, she had to eat two carrots, and then wait a few minutes. I did not know how her stomach would take it. It was not easy staying strong as she looked up at me with those pleading eyes. I knew it was important not to give children what they want when they wanted; they needed to learn control.
I just hoped that in the four minutes and twenty seven seconds I made her wait that Sookie learned some semblance of whatever control making her wait was supposed to have taught her.
After flying, it was coloring time. I had been able to pick up some materials from the store for Sookie to use for coloring. I stayed away from the markers labeled permanent for many reasons. One was that I did not need multi-colored walls and floors. I also did not need a multi-colored Sookie. She usually had decent motor skills, for a human at least, but I had heard that children did not hold the coordination of adults. That left Pam, Sookie, and I coloring with crayons. With Amelia out with Tray, I was happy for the time that it was just the three of us.
"Can I see Jason?" she asked suddenly as she lifted her head from coloring her little green and brown blob. I thought she was coloring a tree, but I could not be sure yet. I had been waiting for this question and others similar to it. I was concerned she would include her parents in the question as well. We seemed to have covered the topic of Gran over milk, but not her parents, not in any definite way at least.
Again I was left wondering just how much she remembered. Did she not ask for her parents because she already knew the answer? Had she not asked simply out of pure luck? Was it only just her brother she wanted to see? I was getting more and more questions each night and the answers seemed to be getting further and further away. I hoped that Cataliades would arrive soon and that he might have some of the answers that I desperately needed.
Like how to answer Sookie's question.
I did not want to keep her from Jason, but I did not know how she would react to the fact that he was a grown man and she currently was not an adult, not in body at any rate. She had been handling everything with more than ease, but anything had the potential to become the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
Moreover I could not take any more crying. I hated seeing her cry. I hated witnessing the physical proof of her distress.
I looked to Pam who shrugged, and then brought my attention back to Sookie. We both knew that Sookie meeting Jason was not something we could be delay forever. Neither of us wanted it said, but the reality was that Sookie could spend years like this, with the hope of aging naturally if it was to be so. There was no chance that I could not keep them apart for that long. It would do neither of them any good.
"You would like to see your brother?" I asked in return, attempting to give myself even more time than I had already.
"That's what I said," she responded, and then returned to her coloring. Apparently she still thought I was a very silly vampire while as she muttered the words under her breath. "He must be lonely," she said, using her normal volume. She obviously cared more for younger Jason than the adult version.
"I will see what I can do," I told her, and I would. I would try to figure out a way to get the two siblings together without either of them reacting badly what they would see. I knew that I had been lucky so far; no one from Sookie's life had come looking for her, well, not loudly enough yet to have caused notice.
"Can you do it soon?" she asked. "Jason's annoying and stinky, but I miss him."
I watched Pam struggling not to laugh at Sookie's words. Though they had humor to them, I could actually see the Sookie that I was more accustomed to dealing with as she spoke of her brother in the same manner. It seemed to summarize their relationship perfectly. You did not speak that way unless you loved someone.
"Sookie," I called, which caused her to once again look up from her drawing. "I will arrange for you to see your brother as quickly as I can."
"Good, because I am drawing this picture for him!" she said as she switched to a black crayon, and then started to draw a black blob that was in the approximate shape of an animal. I could not identify what animal she was attempting to draw, but it had five legs or four and a tail. I was just going to assume that the fifth leg was actually a tail.
Pam looked over Sookie's shoulder at her drawing and asked, "What is that?"
It was a legitimate question, but judging by the look that appeared on Sookie's face, it was not the way to ask what she was drawing. Before Sookie could tell Pam just what she thought of her question I said, "It is a great picture. Could you tell me about it?"
Sookie looked back and forth between Pam and me, and I saw in her eyes that she was determining whom she wanted to answer. Once the smile appeared on her face, I knew she had decided on me. "It's the woods behind my Gran's house," she started to explain. I was right about the trees. There were many little green and brown blobs. The blue was a lake that was somewhere in the woods. I thought it was closer to her parent's house than her grandmother's though. It was when she pointed to the black creature she had drawn that I felt as if my blood stopped running.
"This is a panther. He's a friendly one though. He won't bite, or scratch, or try to eat me." Pam and I risked careful glances at each other so we would not bring Sookie's attention to us. I did not know much about children, but I did not think a panther would be high on the list of animals they might know, not at the age that Sookie appeared to be. A lion or tiger, yes, but it did not seem as though a panther would be recognized.
Maybe she had seen panthers out in the woods before, especially with the population in the area. Maybe she had animal books and knew all sorts of animals. Or maybe, just maybe, she remembered Hot Shot. We were talking about Jason. She even said it was a picture for him. Perhaps somewhere in the recesses of her mind she remembered that her brother now had a panther form during full moons?
I hoped Cataliades had some answers about this situation and some ideas on how to revert her to adult Sookie.
When Sookie could not go fifteen seconds without yawning I told her it was time for bed. I did not get any arguments, but I had also learned that meant nothing until she was asleep.
Hell, even that meant nothing.
"Will you tell me another story?" she asked when she took my head and I led her to her bedroom.
"Absolutely."
"Can Pam come too? She might have some fun stories."
"You bet I do," Pam told her, getting up from where she had been sitting. "I can tell you many funny stories of Prince Eric before he came to America."
"Did he get into trouble?" she asked as she pushed through the door to her room. She held up her arms, which I had learned meant that she wanted help taking off her shirt. There were times when she wanted her independence and times where she wanted to be looked after.
It made me wonder if I had missed certain cues from Sookie in our lives. Little Sookie might be a little less subtle in her demands, but something told me her wants were not all that different.
"Would I cause trouble?" I asked before Pam had a chance to answer. I took off her shirt and slipped another one of mine on her. I would not be able to put off buying her more clothes much longer. Between my shirts and the things Amelia brought with her, we would not get much further.
I got a little giggle in response and Pam said, "You really don't want me to answer that."
When Sookie was dressed, had brushed her teeth, sent Pam down to get a drink of water, and had used the bathroom, she was finally tucked into bed. Pam was in charge of the story that night. She kept it relatively clean and did not completely embarrass me, but Sookie learned the story about how Prince Eric saved Lady Pam from an overzealous farm owner. Pam had been snacking off the farmhands though she left out that part. Thankfully, she also left out what happened with the cows when I came to her aid.
We left a lightly-snoring Sookie and were back in the living room when my phone rang. I saw it was Victor. Again. It was only the second time that he called me tonight though; that was better than usual. When he did not leave a message and immediately called back, I knew I was pushing my luck by ignoring him any longer.
Tonight, I was willing to push my luck. Even with Sookie asleep, I was not going anywhere, not tonight. I had made a promise and it was one I intended on keeping. Sookie had already shown me that just because she was asleep in bed that certainly did not mean she would remain sleeping in bed. I did not want to be gone if she awakened again.
"I'll go," Pam said while she took the phone out of my hand. I was about to argue with her. I knew that she had to deal with Victor as my second and as my child, but that did not mean that I wanted her to volunteer. She did not let me get a word in though prior to saying, "What do you want me to tell him?" Both her tone and facial expression left me no room for argument. I could have commanded her to stay, but doing so would have only made the situation worse, both with Victor and between my child and me.
"You will not be alone with him," I told her before answering her question. That was something that I would not allow, ever. I would have a couple more assurances in place that Pam probably would not like when she arrived at Fangtasia, but I refused to endanger my child.
Not any more than the current situation already had.
She rolled her eyes at me, but I knew I would not have to give her a command for that. She may not have liked it, but she did not want to be close to Victor no matter what.
She repeated her question. "Tell him that in order to serve both him and our King effectively, I need to make certain my own Area is running smoothly. Some things simply cannot be run efficiently from the club."
"So, when that doesn't work?" My child had been paying close attention and that made me most proud. She knew that Victor would not be mollified by that explanation; hell, he would not be mollified by any explanation.
"Let him know that when I made sure all was right in the Area that I saw my wife," I hated bringing Sookie into this and saw that Pam did too by the narrowing of her eyes. I explained that he would believe I was handling an issue with her. As much as I hated it there might be one positive in this, if Victor assumed things were bad between Sookie and me, he might not feel the need to interfere as much, let us run our own course and all of that.
That was what I hoped at least. Something would have to work at some point, right?
Pam was about to walk out the door. I was proud that she wanted to do this, that she was able to do this. That did not mean that I actually wanted her to do it. Still, I was learning from the little creature that I hoped was still sleeping upstairs in her bed.
I caught her arm and pulled her into a hug. It was one that we both needed while she clung to me as well. With the Fae War, the takeover, and now Sookie, our lives had been upended so much in the last few months. We had been each other's constant for so long and that would never change, but this was something we needed. We needed it in that moment, for the moments that came before it, and for the moments that would follow.
I kissed her forehead as we pulled out of the hug. "You taught me well, Eric."
"Almost everything I know," There were just some lessons that I did not want her to learn. I hoped she would not learn them tonight.
"This is why vampires make children."
"It is not why I made you."
"I know," she said with a smirk she may have learned over our centuries together on her face. "I gave you many added bonuses."
"That you did," I told her, yet my voice did not hold the playfulness hers had held.
"I will be fine, Eric."
"I know."
"I'll call you when I am leaving," she said and gave me one last look before she went out the door.
I knew that she would call me when she left. There would also be at least two others who called me when she left to report what had happened while she was there. She may not like my concern, but I knew she would appreciate it if she ever found out and ever admitted it to herself.
When the door closed behind her, I was left alone with my thoughts. Sookie did not awaken before I needed to go to my rest and though I knew that was a good thing, she needed the rest and it showed she was comfortable, I would be lying if I said I did not miss it, miss her.
I had postponed going to my rest without Amelia there, but I could not put it off much longer. The reports I received on what occurred at Fangtasia were not astounding. It actually sounded as if Victor had behaved, at least more than he did with me. I would have to wait and discuss with Pam what the conversation regarded, but by all accounts it was good.
Better than what I usually received.
The door opened and Amelia walked through it. Pam left the club too late to return here and would be staying in her own home tonight. Amelia probably would have joined her if she did not have to take care of Sookie. She had cut it a little close time wise and though I did not say anything, the look on my face must have. "I set an alarm," she said. "I would never not return to be here with her."
I just nodded and continued to make my way downstairs. I hoped tomorrow night would bring more answers.
Hello dear readers. I do hope you enjoyed the interactions in this chapter. Eric is learning quite a bit through them. As always, thanks to MsBuffy for her editing and for working with me on this chapter.