A/N: Okay so some of you were confused on the whole timeline when it came to the great revelation and I said that it had happened a year before Bill met Sookie on the show after re-watching the first episode I realized they actually said it had occurred two years before hand. That means Sookie would have been 23, I'm sticking to that timeline, sorry for the confusion. Once again thanks to those who favorited/followed and a special thanks to those who reviewed, today this story officially passed 100 reviews and I am blown away. I love that so many people are reading and enjoying this and it really motivates me to write and update and you guys are just awesome readers. Okay I'm done with my ramblings, hopefully you guys like this chapter!

Realization

She had let him hold her, comfort her, he had felt her need for him. When he had left her with promises of seeing her soon the day before, so she could get ready for her shift, she had seemed reluctant to leave his embrace. His heart wanted to explode it was so full of… hope. She needed him. This was what he had been waiting for, this is what he had done everything for, for her to be his and her to be hers. He wasn't alone anymore, she had said as much the day before.

So he hadn't given it much thought the next day when he simply headed over to her house sometime in the early afternoon. She hadn't invited him over but she also hadn't said to stay away.

"Man Sook your sweet tea sure is good!" The male voice catches him off guard for a moment, but then he continues his walk up the road to her house, after all it was probably just Jason.

"Thanks Hoyt, it's Gran's secret recipe." Or not. He can't help himself he has to search this intruders mind, Man Sookie's so pretty. No stop Hoyt, this is Jason's little sis.

Oh hell no. He zipped up to the front porch, he wanted to barge in and rip this boys throat out, Sookie is mine! No one else was allowed to even think of her like this.

He can feel his fangs click into place and the wood crack under his skin as he grabs the knob on the front door. I can rip out your heart and feast on it. He's about to do it, about to satisfy this demon that constantly vies for his attention but then he hears her laughter.

"Aw thanks Hoyt there's no better reward than seeing someone enjoy the fruits of my labor, at least that's what my mama used to say." Her laughter was pure and honest. She enjoys this boys attention? Well that won't do. He loosens his grip on the knob and instead knocks politely, making sure to retract his fangs.

"Oh 'scuse me a moment Hoyt." He hears her heartbeat come closer and tensely smoothes down his shirt, calm the fuck down.

"Wa…Ben!" She catches herself quickly and greets him with a hug before pulling him inside. "I wasn't expecting you," I can tell. "but you're always welcome to stop by." She leads him into the kitchen where a young boy sits. He's not that young, he's probably a few years older than Sookie. That doesn't please him at all. "Ben this is Hoyt, Hoyt, Ben." She motions between both of them with a smile on her face.

"Nice to meet ya." The boy stretches his hand out and reluctantly Warlow shakes it.

"Same here." He smiles back without showing his teeth. She likes this guy? The boy is dressed in some flannel shirt with jeans, and though he looks put together the air is permeated with cologne particles, he wanted to gag.

"Shucks Sook I didn't know you were having company over I would have made myself scarce."

"Nonsense, you know Gran's doors are always open to you." The boy adoringly looks at her and she smiles back. Hi Sookie, I'm standing next to you, you know I'm the one whose waited for you all these years. Then the boy… Hoyt finally looked at him properly.

"New in town?"

"That obvious huh?"

"Eh Bon Temps isn't exactly a big city."

"No it's not." I could kill you easier in a big city.

"I just met Ben, yesterday. He was wandering around all lost I had to help." She smiles knowingly at Hoyt. "Gave him a proper welcome." She's so nice. Her Gran raised her right. The boys thought's were feeding his darkness and he just wished he could let loose.

"Sit down Ben, let me fix you a cup of sweet tea." She ushers him into a chair and begins to move about the kitchen.

"You staying long?" Hoyt asks while he makes himself more comfortable on the wooden chair and sips his tea. He comes here often.

"Absolutely, figure it's as good as place as any to settle down."

"That it is." The boy takes another drink from his glass and he looks calm enough. It should be easy enough to dig a little without there being any issue. He wants to scour the boys mind and find every little detail he's noticed about Sookie, every interaction they've had together. Did they date, are they dating? He knew dating was the latest fashion, one simply didn't court anymore, relationships before marriage had become much more involved.

"I was just thinking Ben, I have tomorrow off, I should show you the town." Sookie grips his wrist to get his attention, the touch settles him. She would have mention another… wouldn't she have? There's a loud bang from the front of the house but Sookie doesn't seem fazed by it.

"Hoyt you here?" A gruff voice calls out that's followed by heavy footsteps.

"In the kitchen Jason!" Sookie calls out. "You can meet my brother… don't mind him too much." Before she can say anymore Jason enters the room still buttoning up his shirt.

"Hey Sooks, Hoyt." He doesn't even look up as he adjusts his clothes. "Sorry hope you weren't too bored Hoyt…" Sookie cuts off whatever explanation her brother is about to give,.

"Jason this is Ben he's new in town." Startled brown eyes narrow on him.

"Ben?"

"That's my name." He tries to be nice, he wants Sookie's family to like him or at least accept him. After all he plans to be with her for eternity, he's sure she'd want someone who got along with her family. So he extends his hand, which Jason reluctantly takes not too unlike how Warlow had just taken Hoyt's hand a few minutes ago.

"Nice to meet ya." He looks around as if expecting someone else. "Where's Gran?"

"She went to the store she'll be back soon." Sookie's voice lowers as if she's trying to break this to Jason in the best way possible.

"Well Hoyt and I gotta go, the game's almost starting…" Jason looks at Sookie expectantly.

"So go." She waves them off but though Hoyt gets up Jason stands still.

"Uh actually can I talk to you real quick." He grabs Sookie's arm and hauls her to her feet and pulls her into the next room. Warlow's first instinct is to stand up and take Sookie back, but Jason is her brother, and though Warlow never had any siblings of his own he's seen how tumultuous those relationships can be. I probably shouldn't interfere. Not unless she really needs me to.

"Sookie I'm not going to leave you alone with some guy you don't even know!"

"I don't need a babysitter Jason or have you forgotten I'm an adult!"

"Psh barely."

"Either way, I know him, the problem is you don't know him." Their voices are hushed but harsh, they're trying to be 'polite' because of company but though Hoyt can't hear everything as clearly as Warlow does the boy does shift uncomfortably in the seat he's reclaimed. Thankfully Hoyt doesn't try to start conversation.

"Sookie it's not right, people will talk."

"What people? The only one's who know are you and Hoyt so unless you two start runnin your mouths there should be nothing to talk about."

"What if he tries something?"

"What if I want him to." He holds back a grin, I would be more than pleased to oblige.

"God damn it Sook don't start with that bullshit!"

"Don't talk to me like that Jason if you can have a life why can't I!"

"So what you just want everyone thinking you're some kind of a loose woman? One who'll just give it up for a smile." There's a hard slap and he can't help but grin. She's so feisty!

"Get out Jason you don't even live here anymore and you know Gran wouldn't let you talk to me like that. She trusts me!"

"Well isn't that just a mistake. Hoyt lets go!"

"Uh… nice meeting ya." Hoyt awkwardly gets up in a rush and with a nod of his head is gone. Well at least that one's finally left. When Sookie doesn't return to the kitchen he heads into the living room to find her sitting on the couch face in her hands.

"Hey, don't worry, it's okay." He rushes to her side and rubs her back soothingly.

"Ugh, I know it's just… he gets me so angry sometimes thinking he's so much older I mean he's only three years older. That doesn't give him the right to boss me around." She looks up and he's grateful to see she's not crying.

"No it doesn't. But I'm afraid overprotective brothers will tend to do that." She cracks a smile at that.

"Yeah I guess so." She runs her hands over her face as if trying to physically remove the last couple of minutes from her. "I'm sorry you shouldn't have seen that."

"Hey that doesn't bother me."

"Why did you come over anyways?"

"I just wanted to see you."

"Aww that's sweet."

"I figured you would be alone I mean usually your Grandmother isn't home right now."

"Yeah her group has been up in arms recently I guess some new book about the civil war is very inaccurate or something. I'm not even sure." She smiles. "They have a letter writing campaign going on right now."

"So.." He doesn't want to bring it up, but he needs to. The darkness has been swirling about his body the entire time and though she's smiling and sitting near him everything just does not feel okay. "Hoyt's nice."

"Huh, oh yeah he's a sweetheart, the only one of Jason's friends I can actually stand." Sweetheart?

"Is he… are you.." He can't even say it. "What are you two?" She looks at him curiously as if he's gone mad.

"He's human I'm sure, more than I am at least." She assures him with a smile.

"No I mean… have you been intimate together?" He knows she's still innocent he could smell that right away when she was in his arms yesterday. Foolishly he had assumed she had waited for him. But he knew there were other things possible that she could have done that would have left her innocence intact. Do I want to know… no, but I need to.

"Excuse me?" There's fire in her eyes and it should be a warning telling him to back off. He was never one to listen to warnings.

"You two were just so friendly." He tries to hide his distaste but he knows the tone his voice is taking isn't helping.

"Because we're friends and even so that's none of your business. What I've done and who I've done it with have nothing to do with you." She had just calmed down from the argument she had with her brother but he could tell she was still angry.

"Sookie he wants you."

"He does?" Her cheeks flush with color, guilty! The monster rages inside him, he wants to tie her down and show her exactly who she belongs to. "Hold on how do you know this?" He doesn't even get to answer before her eyes widen in realization. "You read his mind!" She's scandalized as if he did something shameful.

"I didn't know who he was, I needed to know his intentions." Sure he had taught her to block out other's thoughts but not because of any sense of privacy for them, it had been because they were causing her pain. They had a gift and it was meant to be used.

"He was sitting at my table having tea, not plotting to kill me!" She pushes at him before getting up and moving away from him.

"How do you know? Do you ever scan other's minds just for your own protection?" He had figured she would be tempted at some point, whether it be simply to know what someone else truly thought of her or even to help her out in any other way.

"I don't do that, it's not… it's not nice! You stay out of other peoples minds especially my friends!" She chastises him and it angers him. He had done nothing wrong, nothing that should warrant this kind of aggression from her. I'll do what I need to in order to protect us.

"Why do you care? I didn't even go through his head that much the boy was projecting his thoughts about you loud and clear." She rolls her eyes at him. "Why do you care about Hoyt so much?" He can see her body tense as he questions her. What are you hiding Sookie?

"He's a friend." She states, her voice is even and her eyes meet his but her arms cross in front of her defensively.

"Is that all?" Just tell me, just tell me the truth. I won't hold it against you. That wasn't entirely true his heart ached at the thought of her touching, kissing, caressing, loving another. The darkness rose and spread throughout his body while the light fought to control it. He couldn't lose himself, not while she was around smelling so good.

"I don't have to answer that!" She's so defensive about the topic that it's a clear sign something is obviously going on.

"Sookie you are mine!" His fangs click out without any thought from him and their sudden appearance has her gasping in surprise. Hips bruised by his hands as he thrusts deeper into her, her cries are full of pain and pleasure mixed together while he feasts on her neck. The image comes and goes swiftly reminding him of where he wants her, where she belongs.

"I am not! You don't own me Warlow, I am my own person. Now you put those away and stop acting like a donkey!" She quick to get over her surprise and chastises him again like an erring school boy. He retracts his fangs feeling a little shameful he had even lost that bit of control, you're making my head spin Sookie.

"What about yesterday?" Had it not been this very room where she pulled him as close as possible, clung to him and begged him to stay. Didn't you say we weren't alone anymore?

"I…" She looks down and pulls at her shirt while a blush overtakes her face. Obviously she did remember what had happened. "I didn't promise you anything, I didn't say yes to this whole "intended" business." Her voice is more confidant that he would have liked. "You're my friend, you are… you're Ben and… you can't come back as Warlow and just… we have to be friends first." She looks at him with pleading eyes. Friends? He realized then how foolish he had been, of course she needed time, time to adjust to him and his presence. I'm an idiot.

"Friends?" Is this really what you want Sookie?

"That's all we were." Perhaps it was a bit too much too soon for the young girl. If she needed to be friends first then he would be that. He would fill whatever role she needed him to have.

"If that's what you need." It's not ideal, but she's not kicking me to the curb either.

"It is." She smiles gratefully at him and finally it seems that their argument is over.

"Okay, friends." He submitted to her request because he knew he had to please her in anyway possible if he one day wanted her to submit to him. If that is what you want that is what I will give you, how hard can it be?

A/N: Feel free to ask me questions you have, I'll answer the best I can. Please review and tell me what you think!