Decisions, Chapter 33

**A/N: This is a little something for the E/S shippers reading this primarily Godric/Cara fic.  Ms. Sookie (and Eric to a lesser extent) kindly decided that she (and he) had a couple of things to say and, well, it must be Thursday…  There’s even a wee sprinkling of Pam at the end, too.  Hope y’all don’t mind?**

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Sookie hid a smirk as she half-pulled Eric out of the room. Anyone with eyes could see how things were going to go between Godric and this Cara, well, she and Pam could at least, but apparently not the Viking. Eric was normally a bright vampire – after existing over a thousand years he’d have to be – but sometimes he was just about plain dumb.

The plan they’d invented to keep her out of the out of Sophie-Anne’s hands had proven his incredible skill at turning situations around to the way he wanted them, but when it came to interpersonal situations the guy needed a road-map and a magnifying glass.

And a navigator.

When she’d first met him, all she could see at that particular time was an arrogant, high-handed bastard in a magnetically sexy, extremely attractive package. There was no denying his attractiveness – tall, blond, muscular, cool gorgeous eyes in a stoic face…but that attitude had severely put her off. His subsequent actions and the ill-explained reasoning behind them had eventually wrecked that first image of him, however, and it wasn’t very long until she had seen him in a completely different light.

Eric “The Cold-Hearted, Stoic, Magnificent Viking” Northman had a marshmallow center.

He was still arrogant and high-handed, of course, but now she knew that his arrogance came from centuries of experience. And his high-handed attitude? That sprang from not only knowing what to do and knowing it had to be done quickly because that’s just how things went in the supe world, but doing what was right because he had an innate sense of fairness that even a millennia of vampire politics hadn’t managed to taint. Just because he knew the system didn’t mean he agreed with it, and Eric cared more about people in general than he would admit.

She knew he cared deeply about his Maker, too. It had been more obvious than he might have realized the rare times he had talked about the elder vamp. While he tried to hold himself seemingly above caring about most people, it was as though he let the loyalty and love he felt for his Maker, and his Child, too, seep through almost freely.  Well, he seemed to around her, at least.

Pam was cool.  She liked the broad, as she mentally described Eric’s snarky but secretly kind “daughter”.

Godric, though…  He kind of scared her a little but only because the old Gaul or Celt, well, she guessed that’s what he’d been before he was Turned but was too afraid to ask him, seemed to have a screw loose in his brain somewhere. When he was in his right mind, though, it was a true pleasure talkin’ to him. Judging by that twinkle in his eye sometimes she suspected he had more of a sense of humor than anyone guessed. He was deep in a way she couldn’t help but respect, and was so old that she could almost feel the waves of antiquity rolling off him.

She had watched his interactions with Cara and had caught how focused and alert he was with her – far more so than most of the other few times she’d been around him. Those other times…it had felt to her as though there’d been a wall between who he was and the real world. It had been kind of creepy, really. When he was all there, she knew he would never knowingly harm her, but when he wasn’t? Well, as Eric had said, Godric was known as Death for a reason.

That had worried her on Cara’s behalf, but the brunette seemed to know how to handle him.  She sure as hell wouldn’t fuck with him. Either Cara had balls of steel, or she just…got him. It had amazed her how easy, how nonchalant, the girl had been with him. She’d acted as if Godric were any other guy, had treated him kindly and with respect, but with humor and teasing and…normalcy.

It had boggled her brain…and had shown her Godric in a new light.

As she and Pam chivvied Eric along, she thought about that Cara and wondered about her and Godric and what exactly was going on between them.

Well, she amended, she knew what would be going on between them sooner than later, and laughed softly.

Eric glanced down at the quiet noise with a curious look on his face. Now no longer needing to be led, he had smoothly draped an arm across her shoulders, which she had allowed without comment.

Sookie wasn’t dumb – she knew what he wanted; she just wasn’t sure if she wanted the same thing, or more, or less, or…. She couldn’t claim she didn’t want anything, that would be a lie. She wasn’t going to become involved with him, however, until they knew each other better – a lot better. Maybe by then she’d know what she wanted.

“Just thinkin’ about Godric and Cara. She seems good for him,” she explained. That pinched look returned to mar Eric’s handsome features, a look that she didn’t like for some reason. “I had a chance to get to know her a little bit while I was waiting for you to clean up and move DeadGuy back there…what? You think I didn’t notice how suspiciously clean everything was?”

She loved shocking Tall, Blond, and Thinks-He’s-So-Sly, and judging by the look on his handsome features, she just did.

“It’s ok, Eric. Look, I don’t like the brutality and heartlessness I see in your world, but then I don’t have to.” An inscrutable expression crossed his face, so she continued.

“Even the human world is filled with cruelty and meanness. Look at what that stupid Nat tried to do to Cara. Hell, he even murdered her cat! It might be really hypocritical of me to think this considerin’ how I usually feel, but I’m glad she got her own back on him. From what all I saw in his mind, he totally deserved it,” she growled in a way Eric found adorable.

He was vastly relieved to hear evidence of this side of Sookie. The more he knew about her, the more he wanted her, and if he were to have her in his life, that meant she would be more and more exposed to the shitty parts of his world.

He would protect her in any and every way he could, but some truths were inescapable.  The harsh realities of his world bothered him more than he cared to admit, but he was thankful to be so skilled at navigating all the dangers inherent in vampire politics and age-old institutions.  That experience had enabled him to save her from what would most likely have been a lifetime of enslavement to a petty, childish queen who tended to throw tantrums rather than use logical thought.

Just because he tended to get along well with Sophie-Anne didn’t mean most did, and it certainly didn’t mean she wouldn’t turn on him in an instant.  His age, power, and experience were useful to her in her position that was becoming more and more precarious by the decade.  His abilities were convenient to that sometimes silly, sometimes stupid, but always personally powerful queen.

But…just because he was so damnably and blessedly able to navigate those treacherous waters didn’t mean he had to like the idea of subjecting his Sookie to them. Her gift might have shown her more about life than she should have known at far too young an age, but there was a peaceful, gentle quality to her soul that deserved shelter, not the vampire version of reality.

If life had been fairer, he’d have found her before…

She interrupted his thoughts.

“Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to stand around and watch what she was going to do to that asshole, and I’ve been around vampires enough to know what she and Godric were bound to get up to afterward, but good for her. I do like her style,” she unintentionally echoed Pam’s sentiments.

They slowly walked down the hall a few more paces, Eric’s arm now draped down her back with his big hand cupping her hip.

Unaccountably more at ease with the huge blond Viking than usual, Sookie leaned her head a bit more into him as she started speaking again. His scent was intoxicating and somehow the events of the evening seemed to have loosened her tongue.

“I wish both worlds were kinder, gentler places, that all the laws and actions and reactions were less harsh, that both cultures were more understanding and forgiving of those who deserve it. In a better world people in both places would be fairer to everyone and there wouldn’t be so much prejudice and cruelty. Somebody always has to be putting somebody else down because of fear or to make themselves feel superior, and that’s wrong no matter if you’re human or vampire or whatever. But for now,” she said with a sigh, “things are as they are. I appreciate that you try to shield me from the harsh realities of your world whenever you can, though. Thank you.”

She rose up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his jaw – damn he was tall – then quickly veered in the direction Pam had taken before he could turn his head and make the world undoubtedly fade away.

The moment Eric and Sookie had started in with the talking, Pam had continued on her merry little way.

First Godric and that Cara and now Eric and that Sookie… At least the men in her family had decent taste.

She shook her head. The world was coming to an end, wasn’t it, when everyone but she was working toward having a little sumpin’-sumpin’ that meant somethin’ on the regular.  Meals on heels, well, loafers if she had her preference, didn’t count.  That was nothing more than sexy blood times.

Maybe she should get another cat, one of those hairless blood-thirsty little beauties she could buy sweaters and outfits for?  One of her regulars was a vet tech…

Yeah, she’d get another cat. Cat litter had vastly improved in recent years.

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**A/N:  And there’s a bit of E/S for all you E/S shippers.  This Sookie has her head on straight, is thinkin’ her thoughts while walkin’ her walk, and other ultra-hip expressions designed to show she’s, yeah, smarter than the usual Sookie (unless I’m writing her, right? Can’t stand me a Stoopie…).  So, what did you think?**  

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