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[onceaviking]

And so he returns, reentering Sookie's living room, once again in dirty jeans and with muddy feet.

He sits down on her couch, cautiously, and realizes that she must be on the phone with someone out in the kitchen.

Going "Pam? Pam?"

Then she hangs up and reappears with a basin of water for his dirty feet. Apologizing because it's grown cold by now, the water.

"I don't mind," he says, looking intently at her as she kneels down and wrings a washcloth.

Her touch is gentle and he pulls one foot back a little, surprising her with a suppressed giggle.

It tickles.

She seems sceptical as she returns her attention to his feet. As if he doesn't fit.

Like in Milliways.

He suddenly, urgently, wants to kiss her, but you can't. Not just like that.
So instead he leans forward , just a little, and says, "You're very beautiful."

She looks up. Even more sceptical.
"Uhm - thanks?"


{ooc: dialogue taken from season 4, episode 3}

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[onceaviking]

"Witches?" Sookie asks, incredulously, forgetting her budding trepidation for the moment.

And then she remembers just how messed up her life is and continues, sarcastically, "Oh, great."

Eric fidgets behind her.
He liked it better when she was washing his feet. She didn't seem all - angry then.

"Now I have to deal with witches? No! Not my problem!"

No fucking way.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam raises an eyebrow, planting a hand on her hip.

"Actually," she tells Sookie, preparing to lay the truth down, "you're living in his house. So it is your problem."

She's got her there.

[onceaviking]

Eric looks at Sookie, visibly surprised.

(Everything is visible on his face - every thought, every emtion).

"Uh - it's my house?"

It's his?

And Sookie is living there.

But -

Sookie on the other hand had much preferred Eric when he'd hesitated at the doorstep, waiting to be let in.

Him not knowing it was his house had just been so less - annoying.

"Thanks a lot, Pam," she says, irritable.
"I'll just go to Bill."

[lazy_but_loyal]

And then suddenly Pam is in Sookie's face with a snarl on her lips scarlet with lipstick and blood.

"Tell Bill and I will rip you to pieces."

[onceaviking]

Eric moves without thinking, pushing Pam away from Sookie (protecting her) with enough force to send her flying into the next room.

[lazy_but_loyal]

With a shriek of surprise Pam is suddenly sent hurtling, and she lands hard in a sprawling heap, skidding across the floor into the rug.

She lies still for a moment, in complete shock.

She isn't hurt, no, but--

Eric would never have disciplined her like that. The real Eric.

This actually hurts more.

And the humiliation.

[onceaviking]

Sookie looks up at Eric in shock.

This isn't like him. At all.

Sure he can be possesive, but -

this was Pam.


Eric stays put, shoulders drawn up. Looming.
He looks dangerous as he stands there, completely silent.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam flips her hair back, looking at the both of them over her shoulder, and then quietly and calmly gets to her feet.

She straightens out her dress.

And she walks back toward them. Almost meekly. Almost.

With a forced but pleasant smile on her face as she glances at Eric.

She mentally calculates that the best way to handle this is to go with it. She'll tear into someone else later.

[onceaviking]

He lifts a hand warningly and says, "Be nice to her."

[lazy_but_loyal]

Be nice.

Being nice was never one of Pam's strong points. Whenever Eric used to tell her to be nice, he usually meant it ironically.

She fixes her hair and smiles, waveringly.

"Sookie," she begins, leveling her voice to reason with her and...be nice. "I believe Bill set Eric up, and sent him into that coven in Shreveport knowing it was a trap. It wouldn't be the first time he tried to get rid of Eric."

Remember that, Eric? No?

[onceaviking]

Nope. No signs of recollection there.

Sookie says, "Yeah, because Eric tasted me."
She knows that Pam knows that.
And she has forgotten that Eric doesn't. Not anymore.

He perks up, "I did?"

"Yeah," Sookie says, turning to face him. Her voice is clipped with annoyance.

"Against my will, so, technically, you fang-raped me."

His face falls. "Oh. Sorry."

This is just like Milliways.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam sets aside her disbelief for the time being -- because how, how could Eric forget the moment he stepped into the sun?

"Promise me you won't go to Bill," she says to Sookie, and this time there is a sincerity to her plea. It's as uncharacteristic for her as apologizing is for Eric. Because Pam would do anything for him, say anything for him. Even if he doesn't remember her.

"I'm sure he would use this as an excuse to get the AVL to sign off on assassinating Eric. I know he wants to. Eric has to stay here with you, and no one can know."

Right now, Sookie is the only person, human or vampire, that Pam can trust. It galls her to do this, but it's the only way to keep Eric safe.

[onceaviking]

Sookie hesitates.

Then she says, "Okay."

Bill does hate Eric. And with him standing there, all puppy-like - she doesn't feel right just turning her back on him.

But if there is one thing Sookie Stackhouse have had to come to terms with it is the simple fact that if she doesn't look out for herself, there are no guarantees anyone else will.

So she continues, "But you are gonna have to pay me for babysittin' him. If y'all are gonna keep messin' with my life, I ought to at least get something out it, God damn it."

She is not taking advantage of the situation.
She is actually pretty sure that Eric - Eric in his right mind that is - would applaud her business sense.

And all the while Eric is standing next to her, his eyes moving between Sookie (He gets to stay) and the female vampire who's Pam. Apparently.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam...won't argue with that. Eric had always said Sookie was useful. Well, she's being useful now, and she can't deny that.

So she nods, a faint inclination of her head, a vampire agreement.

And then she looks at Eric, into his eyes. Big and shirtless and awkward and standing in a basin of water with his hair mussed and falling over his brow.

She wants so badly to talk to him. To touch him, to--

But she can't. Not with Sookie here. And Eric is obviously following Sookie's lead now like a goddamned puppy.

"Eric--"

She says his name firmly, but her voice catches, as she tries to pull him out of this.

[onceaviking]

He looks at her.

At Pam. (It's gotta be that Pam. The one they told him about in Milliways).

Wondering if that is how he looks to others.
Smooth and cold and cruel.
(He's never seen another vampire).

He clears his throat.

She is obviously expecting him to do something.
And Emcee did say that he would have to be careful. That there were rules and hierarchies hed have to respect.

So he says, "I'm sorry I pushed you."

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam blinks.

What?

For a moment she looks stunned.

No, no, no, apologies aren't what she wants to hear from Eric. It's all wrong. It's all so wrong.

Her expression hardens again, the very picture of a century of undeterred loyalty.

"Eric Northman, you are my Maker," she says, putting the fierceness back into her voice. "And I swear to you, I will find a way to get your memories back."

[onceaviking]

Eric blinks.

She's - very intense about this.
About him.

It's a little unsettling. Kinda a lot unsettling really.

"Uhm."

He worries his bottom lip a little. Darts a quick look at Sookie who looks like she really wants this conversation to be over - and says, "Thank you."

Earnestly.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam nods once.

Eric has no idea just how intense she can be about him.

As for Sookie, she'll have one of Eric's daytime people deliver payment in the morning. Cash.

Then with one last look at both of them, Pam is gone, leaving the front door wide open, curtains fluttering in the breeze.