Author's Note: Sorry for the delay on this one, it's been a busy few weeks.

After Quinn left, I stripped my bed and put my sheets in the wash. I wanted a fresh start. And I wanted my room to have one too. I fished out a set of spare sheets from the linen closet. They were a faded floral pattern, so worn they were whisper soft.

Amelia entered my room as I was struggling to put the fitted sheet on my mattress. Wordlessly, she took the other side of the sheet, helping me make the bed. She looked around at my room, empty of Quinn's belongings and the bags that had been stacked neatly next to my drawers.

"Quinn's gone?"

"Yeah," I said, feeling my face warm. As much as I knew it was the right call, part of me still felt like I'd let everyone down.

"What happened?"

I finished tucking in my side of the fitted sheet before I answered. "I realised he wasn't the one for me," I said steadily.

"Good riddance."

Amelia was outspoken and a loud broadcaster, so it wasn't often that she surprised me.

"I thought you liked Quinn!"

"I did, I do," she amended. "Maybe good riddance is too harsh, but I think you made the right call. You two had nothing in common."

I frowned. "I liked Quinn."

"You liked having sex with him," Amelia countered with a grin.

She grabbed the top sheet and unfolded it, giving me half to help out. I took it dutifully, mulling over her words. I didn't think she was being entirely fair.

"He was a good match for me."

"Sure, he was perfect. Except for the fact that you didn't actually like him. You didn't like spending time with him."

"I liked spending time with him!"

"Sookie," Amelia half-laughed, exasperated, "What did you two talk about? Tell me something about Quinn. Something you talked about that was real."

I frowned at the pillow as I slipped a pillowcase over it, stalling for time, but eventually the bed was fully made and I was none the wiser.

"I don't even know why I'm arguing about this," I admitted. "I broke up with him." I sat down on the end of the bed, looking out the window. It was a beautiful day outside. There was barely a cloud in sight.

She sat down beside me. "How did New Orleans go anyway?"

"No one died." I said drily.

She raised her eyebrows. "That good, huh?"

So I filled Amelia in on the whole political saga about the Queen, Andre becoming regent, Jonathan and the sale of Arkansas. I left out any mention of the Queen's prosthetics. I had a feeling the fewer people that were aware of them, the better.

Inevitably, my mind wandered over to the thing I'd spent the morning avoiding thinking about: Eric.

"There's something else. You know how Eric and I were kind of… together a while back?"

I'd hadn't talked to Amelia much about my time with Eric, but she knew the bare bones. Although, the abridged version conveniently cut the emotions out of it.

"When he was hexxed?"

"That's the one. Well, he told me on the drive home that he's starting to remember parts of it."

"Oh," Amelia said. "That's good, right? Is that a good thing?"

"I think…I thought that maybe he was starting to have feelings for me. Like, not just wanting to sleep with me but actually wanting to be with me. But now I think he just felt obligated after he started to remember."

My throat tightened. I smoothed the bedspread, waiting until I could speak again.

Amelia was uncharacteristically quiet and I took a moment to make sure my shields were reinforced—I was not up to her unfiltered thoughts right now.

"And, should I take it that you like him?"

I just looked at her, not trusting myself to speak.

When she spoke her voice was soft. "I don't know Eric, but from what you've told me about him he wouldn't do something that he doesn't want to do."

"He's got a lot of honour and pride. Not in a showy way like Bill does, but he does. He keeps his word."

"Well, have you asked him? You said he's straight with you when it really comes down to it."

"I guess I could," I said, but my stomach churned at the thought. "How has everything been here? How did Cindy go?"

"Cindy's going great. You should come in and see her in action. I think you two would get on." I refrained from rolling my eyes. "We're both on tonight in fact."

"I'll think about it," I promised, but I doubted I would go in. This was the first time in an age that I'd had a few days without work in Bon Temps, at least without being forced to take the time off to recover from some injury.

Amelia went back upstairs as I turned to my suitcase from New Orleans. I emptied it out, separating the things that needed to be washed and putting away the rest.

Amelia's words rolled around in my head as I put on a load of washing. She was right. I'd be hard pressed to get Eric to do anything he didn't want to do. And even if the last few weeks he had been behaving differently out of a sense of obligation, then I wanted to know about it.

The thing was, regardless of how Eric felt, I knew I'd made the right decision with Quinn. The last few days, more than anything else, had reminded me about the time we'd spent together here. How easy it had been. With Quinn… Well, things had been good. But we'd been seeing each other since I met Amelia, on and off, and something had always been missing. I'd thought it had been the distance, the fact that we'd never had time to spend together, but after the last few weeks I didn't have that excuse anymore.

I'd persisted with Quinn, waiting and hoping for something to grow because it would have been convenient. But that hadn't been fair to either of us, least of all him. If I had one regret about how everything had gone, it was that I hadn't been braver to call it quits earlier.

Even if Eric was interested, wasn't I thinking about taking Russell up on his offer? I mean, I had to. It seemed stupid to start something with anyone if I was leaving. But on the other hand, Eric was hardly just 'anyone'. What if that meant now was my only chance to see what this was?

With that thought, I pulled out my phone and texted Eric. I pressed send before I could think it through.

2.48 pm Would you like to come to a wedding with me on Saturday night?

I had the urge to claw the text back, snatch it from the ether, scrunch it up and throw it away. But it was gone.

I waited with bated breath, but there was no instant reply. It was still too early for Eric to be awake, anyway.

Now that I'd sent it, the text felt measly. Why hadn't I asked him to come over and talk? Or apologised for how I'd left things the night before? It wasn't even clear I was asking him on a date, necessarily. Heck, I'd asked Eric to come to an orgy with me as a friend—he might not realise I was asking him out. After a good minute of staring at my phone I snapped it shut and stuffed it under my pillow.

A watched pot never boils, and staring at my phone certainly wasn't going to make a text appear sooner. I decided to take a leaf out of Amelia's book and set to work cleaning the house. After all, if I felt like a fresh start there was no point limiting it to my bedroom.

I flung open the windows, making sure to get a nice breeze through the house. I dusted and polished the wooden furniture, then I set about vacuuming the floor boards and mopping them.

I put the sheets out on the line and put on another load of washing, washing all my clothes from the last few days. I hand washed my dress I'd worn to the wedding and hung it in the shade so it could air dry. Amelia said good-bye to me as she left for the night. She didn't ask me about the cleaning, she only gave me a curious glance.

I went out to the store and got some groceries to top up the fridge. On an optimistic whim I decided to get a pack of TrueBlood. After all, I reasoned, it never hurt to have some in the house.

As the sun lowered in the sky, there was still no text. A hard lump formed in the back of my throat. I had assumed that Eric would come running if I made it plain I was interested, but maybe I'd been right. Maybe the last few weeks had just been Eric's guilt for breaking his promise, or his attempt to keep his promise. Maybe what I'd said last night had freed him from that.

And if that was the case, then at least I knew.

I decided I needed to take my mind off of it. I got changed into my red and white polka dot bikini and grabbed a book. I poured myself an iced tea and, after a moment's hesitation, added in a splash of vodka from Amelia's stash. I wasn't a big drinker, and I almost never drank alone, but today was a special occasion. After all, it's not every day you break up with someone and get rejected by another all in the same day.

I made my way into the late afternoon sun. The sun was beating down on me, I probably only had an hour or so left of sunlight. But after twenty minutes of reading the same page, I couldn't have told you what happened.

I jumped up and ran inside, fishing my phone out from underneath the pillow to check again. There was still no response. I pulled on a faded butter yellow sundress and found one of Amelia's magazines. I topped up my spiked iced tea and sat back down in the chair I'd set up outside. I flicked through the magazine, but set it aside after a few minutes. I had a feeling the articles titled 'Seven ways to please your man' and 'How to know if he likes you or really likes you?' weren't going to help me keep my mind off things.

I took a long drink from my iced tea, closed my eyes and laid back in the chair, listening to the wind in the trees.

The bond trembled in my chest, rousing me from my sleep.

"The tiger is gone."

I opened my eyes, feeling that strange disorientation that comes when you fall asleep in daylight and wake in the dark.

"Eric?"

My eyes found him as I said his name. He was standing before me, impossibly tall. His skin gave off a faint glow, making him appear almost ethereal in the darkness.

"The tiger?"

I shook my head, my breath catching in my throat as my eyes adjusted. His hair was windswept; he was wearing the same clothes I'd left him in last night. He looked beautiful.

He took a step toward me. "Will he be back?"

A fluttering started somewhere under my ribcage.

"No."

I swallowed, apprehension bundling inside me as I swung my legs over the sunbed and stood. I needed to say my piece now, before I lost my nerve.

"Eric, what I said last night, about your memories and promises. What I meant is that I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything because of something you said under a hex. That wouldn't be fair on you. We had a deal, and we both kept it, as far as I'm concerned."

He took another step toward me. He was close. If I reached out my arm, I'd touch him. His expression was indiscernible. The bond was silent.

"You said you do not want me to keep the promises I made."

I swallowed, is that what I'd said?

"I don't want you to keep a promise for the sake of some crazy vampire sense of honour. If I'm with someone, I want it to be because they want to be with me."

Eric took another step toward me, a smile playing on his lips. "You want to be with me?"

I felt a spark of irritation. "You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?"

"Lover, you have not made it easy for me." Eric grinned and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, before leaning in to murmur into it. "If there is anything else you want to say before I claim you, do so now." His hand stroked the smooth skin at my outer thigh, sliding up and down it appreciatively. Desire flared to life in my stomach, and the bond lit up.

Longing and anticipation, desire and restraint. The last one, wearing dangerously thin. I was reminded, sweetly, that despite Eric's words I was not the only one wanting.

I stretched up and held his face gently between my fingertips. My fingertips tingled with the contact, and I had the sudden urge to consume him. I wet my lips before I spoke.

"I want you."

The bond burst with emotions, too many for me to follow and before I could say another word Eric's mouth captured mine. His mouth pressed into mine fiercely as he curled around me, his arms holding me in place. With a mind of its own my tongue darted out, tasting him. He growled my name into my mouth as he met my intensity.

We kissed ravenously, his hands dragging over my body. He palmed my breast through my sundress and I shuddered as the heat in my belly burst into flame. I pulled his face closer to mine, kissing him deeper and longer, and nicking my tongue on his fang in the process. Eric groaned into my mouth as hunger crashed through the bond, and his hands slid up and underneath my dress, skimming the curve of my ass.

He pressed against me, backing me into the sunbed. In a flash we were on the sun lounger. His mouth pressed back into mine and we kissed, desperately, as his body hovered over mine. I reached around and squeezed his butt appreciatively, pulling his body toward me in the process, craving the closeness. His erection pressed into my leg and desire became a solid thing in my stomach. A tide of lust took over the bond. His or mine, it didn't matter any more.

We kissed hungrily as Eric continued to tease me. His fingers brushed up and underneath my dress, finding the tiny strings that held my bikini bottoms up and deftly untying them, growling appreciatively as the scrap of fabric fell away, exposing me. I didn't do a thing to stop it.

He skimmed the swell of my hips and the dip of my waist, the soft and sensitive skin between my thighs. His hands travelled up further, finding me slick and wet and wanting. I shuddered as he inserted a finger, then two, rubbing his thumb along another sensitive part in a slow, languid way.

"You are already so wet for me, lover," Eric said. His tone was playful, teasing, but I could feel his want, his need in the bond. I knew I wasn't alone in my desire. Besides, a certain piece of Eric's hardware was pressing into my leg as delicious evidence of that fact.

I reached down, rubbing him through his jeans and watching as his eyes glazed over in response. I grabbed his shirt, pulling him in so he would kiss me again. And he did, hard and deep. His left hand found my breast, while the other returned to the sensitive spot between my legs.

In a moment of daring, I pulled away and lifted my arms, pulling my sundress over my head and tossing it to the ground beside me. I reached around to the back of my bikini top and undid the ties holding it up. Eric's eyes only left mine to scour my body as I lay bare before him. His eyes raked over me, and he murmured something unintelligible under his breath. I was too far gone to ask for a translation.

"Eric," I sighed his name like a prayer, tugging him toward me. I felt an insatiable need for him.

He wasn't close enough and I pulled away, confused until I realised the armrests for the recliner were in the way.

I felt my chest heat, and not from lust. Eric's mouth tugged upwards as he saw realisation set in: I'd been about to have sex on my lawn. And if I was honest, it was only the impracticality of having sex on the lawn chair that was talking me out of it. It only took me a second to figure out my new plan.

"Take me to bed."

Eric looked up at the house, his expression unreadable, but I could feel him through the bond. Hesitance.

"I washed the sheets," I said, wondering if it was Quinn's scent that was giving him pause.

"There will not be a surface that smells like the tiger by the end of the night."

My stomach tightened at the promise. Good lord.

"Then what's the problem?"

For a second I thought he wasn't going to answer. "If I go in, I may remember everything."

"You don't want to?"

He leaned down and gave me a languid kiss, only answering once he'd kissed away my fears. "I do, but if I remember I don't know whether I will ever be able to let you go."

The intensity of his words, their gravity, gave me pause. I didn't know whether I'd come to regret this down the line. All I knew was that I wanted him, needed him now, consequences be damned.

"One way to find out," I said finally.

Eric seemed to agree with me, because he scooped me up and the next moment we were inside. I was sitting on the kitchen table with my legs wrapped around his waist, and he was kissing me thoroughly. I slid my hands over the line of his hips and up the hard plane of his stomach. He helped me with his shirt and I kissed the bare skin on his chest, taking his nipple in my mouth and biting it the way I knew he liked, eliciting a groan in the process. We made our way to my bedroom as we kissed and touched and tasted, until I fell backwards onto my bed, pulling him with me.

Eric's fingers were rubbing slow, tantalising circles over me until I swatted them away and reached for his jeans, undoing the buttons. I'd need all my wits about me for this. Taking my intent Eric stood, pulling his jeans off and stepping out of them. He wasn't wearing anything underneath and for a moment all I could do was stare.

But then he was descending on me and his hands were between my legs, testing and stretching, and his mouth was on mine, and my body was on fire. I grabbed onto him, stroking and squeezing, anticipation building in my stomach. Want bounced between us in the bond. It was boundless, bottomless. A mirror facing a mirror, an endless tunnel.

His mouth met the swell of my breast and I felt a surge of hunger, no—bloodlust. Eric's.

He groaned again, and the sound rumbled pleasantly in his chest. When he pulled away his expression was awed and his eyes were glazed. His fangs were down and I found myself transfixed. His eyes met mine and when he spoke, his voice was husky. "You smell like sunlight."

"You can bite if you want," I breathed, surprised by the arousal the thought elicited in me.

But instead of biting me, he reached out and brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. I took it into my mouth, feeling the sudden and inexplicable urge to bite down. Instead, I sucked, biting gently enough so as not to break the skin.

Eric's eyes darkened and he uttered something in another language.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"You bewitch me."

My heart was thumping in my chest and I gave his finger a long suck before taking it out of my mouth and leaning up to kiss him deeply. His fingers were drawing lazy circles still, keeping me in a delicious state between and before. His mouth left mine and pressed wet kisses into my neck, at the sensitive spot below my ear, to the swell of my breast.

"Still so wet, my Sookie," he mumbled, between kisses.

"Eric," I couldn't contain the plea in my voice as his fingers stroked me. "Please…"

And if Eric wanted to tease me for begging then he didn't show it, instead I felt a surge of longing in the bond as the tip of his penis found my entrance.

"Don't close your eyes," he whispered. "Look at me, lover."

I looked up, transfixed, and taken back to a moment a lifetime ago. Eric's eyes met mine, they were heavy with desire, but something else flickered behind that. He hesitated, his eyes on me and beyond me.

I murmured his name again, a question this time.

I knew as soon as he remembered.

The bond was rippling with emotions. Confusion. Shock. Awe. Joy, I thought. Others, too fast for me to follow. When Eric's eyes found me again there was a new recognition. A friend. A lover. Once lost, found again.

He pushed into me as his arm slid underneath me, holding my body flush with his. I gasped as he entered, the fullness and the familiarity. His mouth found mine. We moved together, our bodies flush, our breaths becoming ragged. All conscious thought abandoning me until all that was left was the feeling of pure pleasure, and the lust and love and joy and desire in the bond. I wrapped my legs around him, wanting, needing him closer. My movements became jerky as I climaxed, Eric following closely behind, crying out before collapsing beside me, our limbs entangled.

The bond was wide open. It was awash with wonder. And for a moment, it was all I could do to bask in it.

As my breaths evened, I turned to look at Eric, feeling suddenly shy. He was lying on his back. His expression was unreadable. At some point in our love-making he had flicked on my bedside light, and the room was lit in a warm glow. In this light, his skin looked almost pink.

As I watched him, he turned his head toward me, and his eyes were so bright and blue and clear that they hurt to look at. So I didn't.

Through the window behind him, I could just make out the dark trees of the woods silhouetted against the sky.

I could feel Eric's eyes on me, but I couldn't bring myself to meet his gaze again just yet.

"You remember?" I asked.

A finger found my chin, angling my face so I would meet his eyes. Eric leaned in, kissing me on the lips, pushing assurance into the bond.

When he pulled away his voice was gruff. "I remember everything."

I felt the sudden urge to cry, and I wasn't sure exactly why.

His thumb trailed my lip. It was almost warm.

"Sookie, look at me."

I looked up, his eyes were blue and wide. Not quite amnesiac Eric, but not quite regular Eric either.

"I am sorry I left you. I did not want to."

Eric never apologised. Something dislodged within me and my eyes welled up. Stupid. It was stupid to cry about this. It was stupid to even think about this.

"You don't need to apologise. You were cursed."

He shifted, his hand coming to hold mine between us, he kissed the back of my hand, interlacing our fingers. He studied my face. "I hurt you."

I thought back to the moment I had walked into the spare room only to find Eric's memories had returned. His dismissal of me. His sudden transformation from my Eric into someone more distant than he was before. A tear spilled over and ran down my cheek.

He seemed to know where my mind had gone. "After I realised something had happened between us, I thought I had it worse, not knowing. Now I realise you did."

I shook my head. "I should have told you earlier."

He kissed the tear from my cheek, licking his lips afterwards.

"No, you were right. I wouldn't have understood. I didn't until I began to remember. And even then…"

I focused on the timbre of his voice, the feel of his hand, the warmth of the bond. Eric's words soothed a part of me, I had been so scared that his memories would return with a sense of embarrassment. That he would distance himself from his behaviour over those days, disown them. That I would be left with the confirmation that none of it was real.

"I would not have believed it without remembering it myself." He brushed the hair back from my face, running a thumb over my cheekbone absently.

"Believed you were sweet as pie and wanted to be with me?" I'd meant to be teasing, but a hardness had slipped into my tone.

His hand stilled. "Sookie, my time with you," he paused gathering his words before speaking, "I was happier than I've been for hundreds of years. How I felt with you, how strongly I felt for you, how strongly I could feel for anyone—I wouldn't have believed that."

"Maybe without your memories, without all the politics, you were happier." If someone took away all my knowledge of my world. All the loss and grief, and the fear and anger, all the disappointment and rejection, maybe I'd be happier too.

"It was not that." Eric said firmly. "It was in spite of it."

I wondered at the meaning of his words. I couldn't help but notice he was speaking in past tense. I didn't know exactly how I felt about that. Relieved, disappointed. Both. On some level I felt exasperated. Couldn't a girl just bang her vampire honey without getting into all this?

"I was right, you know," he continued, his voice quiet, husky. I looked up at him, wondering what he was talking about. "You are the best I've ever had." His hand skimmed up my stomach.

Warmth crept up my chest. Eric hummed appreciatively and leaned down to my flushed breasts, taking a nipple in his mouth. A small gasp escaped me. His fingers found their way to the brush of hair between my legs and began their ministrations. I was pleased to note he'd recovered quickly.

"You never said whether I was the best you ever had."

"Didn't I?" I managed. Heat was spreading from my centre. "I guess I was still thinking it over."

Eric growled at the challenge. His fingers found a steady rhythm, until he replaced his fingers with something much more impressive, a gracious plenty you might say. This time it was slow and low and sweet. When I was close to coming I arched into him. Eric's mouth found my nipple once more and he bit, the sweet sting turning to a fire that rushed through me, tipping me into oblivion as he drank.

Afterwards we lay in a tangle of limbs, Eric playing absently with my hair as I lay in a languid heap against him. "So? Have you come to a decision?"

I shifted my head from where it rested on his chest, looking up at him. "Best I've ever had." I planted a kiss just above his nipple. The bond hummed, and I realised, belatedly, that I had kissed the same spot that I had drunk from that night in Rhodes. I brushed the thought aside. I wanted to rest in this moment, in the sweetness of it. I owed it to us both.

"So, am I to take this as a yes?"

Eric's eyes raked over me. "Yes," he leaned in and gave me a deep kiss. By the time he pulled away I'd almost forgotten what we were talking about. "I will go to the wedding with you."

Author's Note: !