Chapter 16: Take It Off

Olivia got the keys to her house only 5 days ago and she was already overwhelmed by all of it. Being a homeowner was no joke. The inspection had passed without major problems - the chimney had to be cleaned before the winter, and the water heater would have to be replaced next year. She had paid Eric's contractor extra on the side to do some work on her house. She got them to paint the inside, get rid of the old carpet in the bedrooms, install a glass shower door (she hated changing mouldy plastic curtains) and refinish the hardwood floors throughout. It was a bit costly, but she promised herself this would be the extent of improvements she would be doing to this place. Part of her feared growing any sort of attachments to this house, this town and even (especially) this job. Rule number 9: no personal belongings.

It was finally move-in day. She hired a cleaning company to wipe down the place before she moved all 3 boxes of stuff she owned (would have been more if she had her clothes goddammit). She put away the linens and towels and a few clothes she had purchased since her self-eviction. Later today the mattress and bed frame she bought would arrive. There was a lot she would have to buy still: kitchenware, garbage bins, cleaning supplies. She would have to get internet and cable hooked up, plus a landscaping service to keep her citrus trees and vines in check. Changing the locks on the front and back door would be a good call too - who knows who else had the key?

Standing alone in the empty house she came to the dreadful realization she'd have to buy furniture too, even if it were just the bare minimum. Olivia had procrastinated this task as much as she could, as she was afraid she would get carried away with decorating the house that was supposed to be very temporary. It was meant to be a safe house, not ever a home. One day she would be picking out curtains and matching dining room chairs in her real house - a villa she planned to buy after retirement, facing the ocean in Costa Rica or perhaps Belize. It would have a pool, a veranda off her bedroom. Only then she would allow herself to nest to her heart's content.

Speaking of curtains, she probably should buy something to cover all the windows here - for privacy purposes. You never know what creatures lurk in the dark.

The front doorbell rang as she was breaking down the last box. The mattress had arrived - good timing! She would open the plastic package right away and let it air out all day. Hopefully, the new mattress smell would fade before she had to go to bed tonight. There was indeed a large but unlabeled moving truck parked out front and a man with a clipboard standing by the door.

"Sign here ma'am," the nice round man asked while chewing gum. He had small sweat beads on his forehead. Despite being a cloudy day, the air felt muggy.

Olivia complied, surprised the mattress store was so fast. She had bought the bed and mattress just the afternoon before. Two other men hopped out of another truck and opened the container.

"You want 'em according to the box labels, or everything in the living room?" He asked. The mattress delivery guy was a loud chewer.

She wasn't entirely sure what he meant by labels. "I'm just, ah, expecting a bed and mattress?"

"Yeah, there're some mattresses in there. Plus the rest of your stuff."

Before she could ask what stuff he was referring to, she watched the moving guys take a velvet navy blue couch out of the back of the moving truck. She recognized the couch instantly, from her previous penthouse apartment - the one Queen had put her in, and Eric had bought. Soon she watched the moving guys haul all the furniture, appliances included, from what was now Eric's apartment - and into her house. She was never so thankful for pitching Eric the reward system. Or at least she hoped that's what this was. She loved the decor of that place. The moving guys even took away her old appliances and installed the new ones.

Her little house was going to look sophisticated and utterly chic, much more than she had ever planned for it. Olivia had to actively keep herself from doing a happy dance in front of the movers. She now realized she owned furniture too. Olivia felt awfully like an adult. But it was… Nice too? It was weird. With the delivery receipt, there was a little note in an envelope which she instantly recognized as Northman's stationery.

"Of course." She muttered anxiously to herself.

Reward or not, nothing from Eric Northman was free. The note said: the King mattress goes in my room.

Olivia flipped the little card which was blank on the other side, and then back again. His room? All her bedrooms had windows. No space here was light-tight enough for a vampire.

What the hell?

Whatever joke this was, she didn't get the punchline. Olivia tipped the movers as they finished an hour later and she started arranging the furniture around the house. Most of it suited the house well. The 6 person dining table was way too large for the small kitchen nook, so she moved it into a bedroom, the one she was going to use as her office. She had only ever used the table for work anyway, and she could eat on a bar stool off her kitchen peninsula.

Soon she found a place for almost everything. To save the money, she cancelled the bed and mattress she had ordered over the phone. Olivia made note of where she was going to hang all the abstract artwork, and where she was going to mount the TV.

But indeed, the movers had brought an extra mattress, a King size one that did not belong to her old apartment (her old bed went into her own bedroom). It was one of those that came rolled up in a box; like in the subway ads. She put it against the wall in the hallway until she had a minute to ask Eric about this white elephant gift.

Now for the fun part: installing her pole in the spare bedroom. It was a bit of a pain in the ass to install it by yourself because you had to hold it dead straight while you tighten the tension screws, but she managed after a lot of swearing and sweating.

Olivia was exhausted and hungry, and she wasn't even done. She still had to run to Walmart, and buy groceries, and deal with the internet and cable people. How do regular people do this? She had gotten too used to living in the luxuries given by the Louisiana Queen. But for whatever reason, having accomplished all of this on her own (sort of) felt really good. Like, really good.

The front doorbell rang once again, and Olivia opened up the door only to find a stranger on her doorstep holding a basket of biscuits. She had big blonde permed hair and was dressed in a pink floral shirt and a pink tank top underneath, fake pears and white capris. She was a short and stout woman, and about as wide as she was tall.

"Hello there sugar, I'm Maxine Fortenberry your next-door neighbor! My Goodness, you're a pretty young thang-"

"Oh, thank you," the smell of this lady's biscuits hit her like a million deliciously buttery bricks. "I'm Olivia, I'm-"

"You new in town, hun? Couldn't help but notice the nice car you got in your driveway. It got a New Orleans license plate-"

"Ahm, no," Olivia scanned the street and felt the urge to slap herself on the forehead. Her BMW did not match her neighborhood's income level, not by a long shot. People here drove pickup trucks and Camrys, making her luxury german sedan stick out like a sore thumb. "My car actually got rear-ended a week ago, and this is the insurance rental. Would you like to come in Mrs. Fortenbery?"

"Oh, you poor soul!" She handed her the warm basket of biscuits, and Olivia instantly wished she could dive right into it; she was so hungry. "You got sum lucky driving a BMW around in the meantime!"

"Too fancy for me," she chuckled, forcing her best humble smile. She was crying inside at the thought of getting rid of the last bit of luxury she had. It's like this place was sucking every bit of joy she had. "I'm scared to death I'll put a dent in it."

She followed Maxine's eyes around the house as she curiously studied her fancy furniture. "Well by Jesus your home is real nice! It looks straight outta magazine!"

Liv dove right into the nice woman's mind. She was green with envy and thought Olivia had either come from old money or was a politician's mistress due to the lack of a wedding ring on her finger. How else would someone explain someone like her having nice things like this, without a man? Maybe she was just one of those yuppies who took her ring off to not scratch it while doing housework. It was probably a huge rock.

Turns out, Maxine Fortenberry wasn't nice at all.

"Where are ya from dear, and where's your husband?"

Olivia had done this so often she became quite good at improv. "I'm from Maine, and he's overseas, still deployed."

"Ah, a military wife! Barksdale Airforce?"

It's imperative to let other's fill in the blanks for you. Makes your backstory more believable and your image more likeable. "Yes! We are being relocated from Virginia, so I moved first to get us settled before his return. Adjusting back home is stressful enough, ya know?" She was already dreading having to memorize all the details of this elaborate story.

But according to Maxine Fortenberry, she wasn't going to bug her for much longer. She was hoping Olivia was single and would go out with her son Hoyt, even though Olivia looked to be a bit out of her son's league. Oof, she had to get this woman gone.

"I'd offer you some tea Mrs. Fortenberry, but I just got my fridge and haven't done any groceries yet. I don't even have a single glass to offer you water-"

Luckily her neighbour got the hint that Olivia wanted her gone and she was out in a couple of minutes. She promised to return her biscuit dish full of her famous cookies, and her neighbour seemed cheerful on the outside but doubtful on the inside - Olivia was just too skinny of a woman to bake well. Maxine was right too, Liv couldn't bake or cook for shit. But this was the south and manners were important for the people here. She was going to have to video call her aunt Suzie and get her to walk through the baking of some cookies. Her aunt would love every minute of it.

It was dark when Olivia returned from Walmart. She had takeout before coming home and had to make two trips from the car with the amount of stuff she got. She decided to park her car inside the garage which was in the very back corner of her backyard, in hopes it wouldn't attract much more attention from the neighbours. As soon as she shut the garage door (it sadly was manual) and turned around, a familiar tall figure was waiting for her. There were no lights in the backyard (she should probably get a safety light installed) but all the lights from the house were on, bathing the two in a soft yellow glow.

"Eric," she nodded. The vampire was in his regular dark wash jeans and black V-neck t-shirt with a brass chain necklace tucked in. His muscular arms and shoulders were fully exposed. Hot as always.

"How's settling into your new home?" His voice was cold, smooth and calm.

"As it turns out, having a house is a money pit. I spent so much money into this goddamn place today I'm pretty sure I'll have to push back retirement."

"You didn't have to do it, you know? You could have stayed in that apartment. It's not like I was going to charge you rent or anything,"

She remembered the feeling of finding Eric seated at the head of the dining room in the dark, the fridge light revealing his beautiful face. His pale blue eyes watching her like prey. Eric Northman invaded her routine, her veins, her dreams. Reclaiming her house was not to take back her pride, but her sanity. Perhaps her control. Much of what keeps Olivia in control is the fact that she can keep vampires out of her house, no matter how strong or old they were.

"Yeah, no thanks. What do you want Mr. Northman?" Olivia crossed her arms.

They both stood in her small backyard, which she realized she had no furniture for. It would remain empty and sad looking, she decided, pushing away the idea that it would be nice to read on the patio in the summer on a lounge chair. Maybe tan her legs a bit.

"An invitation inside, of course."

Olivia let out a loud short laugh and walked past him, towards the back door into the kitchen. The nerve, the gall, the audacity-

"Need I remind you that you are my responsibility, Olivia? People can use you against me, they know I have to protect you-"

"Well, I didn't ask to be your burden, Eric!" She slightly raised her voice. She could see him hesitating on an answer, but all he managed to give her was silence. "Staying out of trouble is part of my job. So either you aren't telling me something, or you don't think I am competent. So I'm going to ask again, what do you want?"

By the look on his face, he did not care for her tone. "A little gratitude to start would be nice," he nodded to her living room through the glass sliding door. It sure did look nice in there.

She took a full breath, trying to let go of all the anger he automatically caused whenever he was near. "Thanks for all the furniture, Mr. Northman. I really appreciate it."

Olivia meant it too, the place looked great and he had saved her a ton of money. Do you even know how much it costs to furnish a house when a damn couch cushion costs 50 bucks?

"You dealt with the Queen this week," he said plainly.

Indeed she did. She spent a whole day bouncing money around the world twice, making it untraceable before the Queen received it. Now it was up to her new accountant to make it look legit. It was risky, but Eric was protected. Olivia was starting to realize Eric Northman didn't do thank-yous like normal people. This was the close as he managed to get. Like the time he asked to stay for Godric's party. God, he was so different from his Maker.

"What's with the extra mattress they brought?"

"Didn't you get the note?"

So it wasn't a joke. "A bit bold of you to assume I'd give a whole spare bedroom to you. Plus they aren't suitable for vampires, they have pretty large windows-"

Eric slowly approached her by her door and looked down on her with a smirk only he could do. "Invite me in and I'll show you."

Olivia was just too intrigued by the mystery not to find out where Eric's supposed secret room was. "I'm rescinding your invitation right after."

"Only if you want to," his voice sent shivers up and down her spine.

She hesitated. Things with him always had a catch. She made a living by seeing the catch a mile away. But when it came to him, for whatever reason, she couldn't. "Would you like to come in Mr. Northman?"

The two entered the small kitchen, and she let Eric lead. He walked slowly but purposefully as if he had been here before and was familiar with the layout of the place. Was he? Had he been in this house before? He stopped right in front of her bedroom.

"Ha-ha, very funny," she squinted and crossed her arms.

Calmly he put his hands on her arms and moved her a step into the bedroom and out of the hallway. "What-"

She watched him reach up high in the hallway ceiling, into a little door - the attic door. Just last week Liv had watched the home inspector open the scuttle and pull out the raggedy aluminum attic ladder and crawl in it with his flashlight and clipboard. This door now was new - it was bigger and had a special flush finish that imitated the ceiling. Other than the small latch and the door outline you could barely notice it. Eric opened the door and pulled a much studier and quieter ladder. He picked up the mattress box down the hallway and carried it up the attic without much effort.

Olivia did not say a word and quietly followed the vampire. She stood in the ladder and peaked her head into the ceiling space - she'd never been up here but from the little she saw from the inspector's visit her attic had changed a lot. This level was more of a crawl space, Eric himself couldn't stand up. He was crouched on the floor unboxing the large mattress using a little pocket knife. The slanted walls had been finished, nice sconces had been added, flooring had been put down and it was actually nice. It was clean and spotless, just a bit stuffy from the heat.

"You paid my contractors to turn my attic into a secret light-tight room?"

"You mean my contractors? Yes. It's always good to have backup sleeping spaces. It's off the books too, no one knows it's here."

She had no words to express the blatant invasion of privacy and boundaries and- this was her house! That she bought and paid for! And he had the gumption of building himself a room?! As if her house was just an extension of his property?! "You are so unbelievably-"

"You should take it as a compliment. My previous number one backup was Ginger's house." He said it with a bad taste in his mouth.

"A compliment?! You are never sleeping here!"

Eric turned off the attic lights and made his way down from the attic, making Olivia step out too. He pushed the ladder up and closed the attic door gently. "Not until you get me linens, obviously. I like high-thread Egyptian cotton or pure satin, and firm pillows. Let me know if you want to christen the bed too-"

"I rescind your goddamn invitation! Get out!"

Eric slid out of her house and out the back kitchen door where he came from. But his expression remained unchanged - a soft smirk, showing he was quite satisfied with himself. She closed the kitchen door and let the screen door slam shut. She was furious as she glared at him through the door's window. Liv didn't know how else to describe his eyes - they were sharp; cut right through her.

"I'm never getting rid of you, am I?"

"Good night Olivia," he said with a tiny pleased smile on his lips. Then he melted right into the dark.

The next day Olivia woke up normally in her own bed. No dreams, just sleep. She took a deep breath, relieved that the effects of Eric Northman's blood were finally wearing off.

However, her day went downhill from there pretty quickly. She managed not only to overcook her eggs but also burn her toast. Liv should have just gone out or eaten cereal. Trying to cook was absolutely pointless - she was so bad at it, it was embarrassing. The rest of her day wasn't much different. Everything sucked but worked out in the end. She managed to get internet after spending 3 hours on the phone with fucking Comcast. It was like pulling teeth.

She finally managed to do some work and get her paperwork in order (despite her printer jamming up) before her 3 PM appointment with Portia Bellefleur. She had to upgrade some liability insurance for Fangtasia and Olivia needed to pick up some documents from her office on the two restaurants they had acquired.

All of Eric's businesses were closed for renovations for the next 3 weeks. It was major embezzlement, fraud and laundry time for her and she wanted to check off this last meeting with Portia off the list. Even if it was just to say that something had gone right today. Eric had brought in an exorbitant amount of drug money to be washed (from God knows where) and Olivia's mind had to be focused on the task at hand, and not on handling odds and ends with their lawyer.

The office was downtown but quaint, she had been here before many times. The receptionist was new but was a familiar face. It was Debbie Pelt.

Shit.

"Do you have an appointment Miss...?" Debbie asked with a different tone than she heard before. She wasn't pissed off or yelling, for once.

"I do, 3 PM with Portia Bellefleur?"

"Miss… Carson?" Debbie looked up again with a small smile, blank-ish eyes.

Olivia nodded and looked into Debbie's mind as she dialled Portia on the desk's phone. It was still cloudy, but calm. Not murky red like last time. The werewolf had a good impression of Olivia and liked her purse a lot.

Debbie Pelt had no memory of Olivia's face at all. She looked into the woman's head again - it had been meddled with. Pamela must have erased her memory, made Debbie forget Olivia's face. Why?

"Go right in," her voice was peppy and gentle. It was unsettling. "Third door on the right. Would you like some tea, coffee or water?"

"Coffee would be nice, thank you."

Olivia walked away and into Portia's office. She was a loud broadcaster. Behind her laptop screen, she was browsing wedding dresses and was conflicted on what silhouette to get. She wanted to look a bit sexy but was afraid to look cheap or worse, offend her grandmother. Liv glazed at Portia's hand and indeed, a brand new small diamond ring sat on her ring finger. The one Olivia had gotten from Jaimie was way bigger, but that relationship had gone down the shitter so diamond size didn't really matter, did it?

"Congratulations are in order, I see?"

"Oh, thank you! It happened just this past weekend, I was totally surprised," Portia was all giddy.

The lawyer pointed to a picture frame of herself and the presumed groom. Glenn, as she told her, was an accountant too. He was nerdy-looking, short hair-going-bald, with thick glasses and wore a plaid shirt buttoned all the way. Liv wanted to think they made a cute couple, but judging from the photo alone, she thought Portia could do better.

"You must be so happy!" Olivia smiled big, trying to be nice. Seeing others getting engaged always brought bittersweet memories. "And you are planning it already?"

Portia closed her laptop and started going through the files on her desk, as she knew what Olivia was here for. "I am! I know it sounds stupid but I'm totally one of those girls who dreamed of her wedding day since she was little," dumb dream but ok. "It's going to be at my grandmother's Estate out in Bon Temps at the end of the summer."

"Wow, so in like, 2 months?" Olivia raised her eyebrows. She had only half planned a wedding, and could not imagine having it done in 2 months. Suddenly Portia Bellefleur just made sense to her. She took the old-fashioned approach to marriage, like a good southern woman. Even saved herself for her wedding day. This was really important to her. Olivia had a hard time accepting views like that, she thought it was so anti-feminist. But at the end of the day, feminism was being the choice of being true to yourself no matter what that is. To Portia, being a picture-perfect virginal bride was her idea of what she wanted to be. Olivia just hoped it was her choice and not the societal pressures of the south brainwashing her.

Debbie Pelt quietly entered and gave Olivia her coffee and brought Portia green tea and multivitamins that came in a bottle labelled bridal glow.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I really want it to be perfect." Plus I don't think Glenn could wait any longer to have sex than he already has, she thought as she swallowed her pills.

Olivia became really good at controlling her face, and even this instance was testing her. She just sipped her coffee, hoping the mug would conceal her disgust. Out of all the reasons to get married, this was probably the worst one. This woman was in for a world of misery. Portia gave her the rundown of all the documents Olivia was for in a very quick and professional manner. The lawyer delivered everything that was asked of her after all. Despite their little argument over that transfer title, Olivia was actually really impressed Portia and the quality of her work. She left no stone unturned and did all the due diligence Olivia herself would have done. It was even more impressive especially considering she was planning a whole wedding in 60 days on top of it all.

They shook hands and Olivia was about to leave when she had an idea. She reached inside her bag for her car keys and took them out of the keyring.

"Hey Portia," she tossed the car keys to the lawyer and she caught it with a confused look on her face. "You did some outstanding work for me and my client. Consider it a bonus."

She looked at the logo on the key and her eyes went wide. "Are- Is this real? Are you sure?"

"That's what I told you it would happen when you delivered the kind of service I asked of you,"

Portia got up from her office chair and looked out of her office window. She pointed the key fob at the cars in the parking lot and saw the shiny BMW's light flash. "Glenn is going to freak out when he sees this!" She had a smile from ear to ear.

This had all to do with rewarding good work, and giving credit where credit was due. It totally wasn't about Olivia refocusing Portia's happiness from her upcoming nuptials to her career, where Olivia thought it ought to be. No, it wasn't that at all-

"Enjoy it," Olivia said, but Portia was in another world of her own, imagining herself pulling this car into her driveway. She felt like a real successful lawyer, a force to be reckoned with, a real woman, a BMW was just the icing on the cake. Yes, this is what real happiness should be.

But then the feeling almost instantly withered at the thought that Glenn, her fiance who only drove a Honda Civic, would feel jealous or emasculated. No, he wouldn't be happy at all.

Portia's sadness stirred a mix of pity and anger in Olivia. She had seen that movie before, with Jamie who acted in a similar way the one time Olivia got ahead. She would never accept a man that small who would shame his wife-to-be for being successful. Not then, not now, not ever. And if she had to spend the rest of her days alone, then so fucking be it.

Glenn was a fucking CPA, he could easily find a job that paid well enough for him to drive a BMW too for fuck's sake. What happened to 'don't ever let a man's mediocrity snuff out your own happiness'? Guess they don't teach girls that in the south. That's when Olivia decided she had heard enough of the lawyer's thoughts and left Portia's office before slapping some uncalled-for sense into the woman.

She headed to the reception and asked Debbie Pelt for the number of a reliable cab company, as she would need one until she got herself a new car. It was really strange for Debbie not to have any memory of Olivia whatsoever. She had bailed her out of jail. Liv tried to push away the bitter and sad feeling of saying goodbye to her BMW. Her cousin Tommy, who was a sales manager at an Audi dealership in Newark and who would probably marry an Audi if it was legal, would forever roast her for whatever piece of shit car she was about to purchase. And part of her sadly agreed with him. Good Lord, this was so not the life she signed for when she agreed to work for vampires.

But hey, at least one thing went smooth today.

"Gotta take the wins where you can," she muttered to herself while riding down the elevator to the main floor where a cab was waiting outside.

However little did Olivia know that she had just made the biggest mistake of her career. If only she had stayed in Portia's office 30 seconds longer Olivia would have found out the reason why Glenn would feel emasculated, and why he only drove a Honda Civic. Yes, the lawyer's fiance was a small insecure man who was self-conscious that his bride made more money than him. But he did so because he was a public servant.

He did so, because Glenn Costa was a forensic accountant who worked for the DEA.

A.N.:

Ooooh no.

Things are about to get SPICY y'all, so buckle UP

xoxo