Decisions, Chapter 37

**A/N:  So, yeah, um, here:**

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Already showered and ready for the night, Cara wandered around the inner confines of the suite she shared with Godric at TSO.   He along with Eric had left on some sort of mystery mission not too long after full dark had fallen.

She wasn’t sure if anyone else had gone with them but she certainly hadn’t been invited…which meant there would likely be a body count at some point in the night.

Phooey…that could have been fun…

Although she wasn’t actively pouting, she really wished she could have gone, too. For her at least, glorious boredom had quickly set in along about the exact moment Godric had left.

While he hadn’t been overly forthcoming with the details, she was certain that their plans centered on the information given to him the night before by Eric, and probably some by the guy being held in the basement.

Judging by the feral glee in his eyes when he’d thoroughly kissed her before leaving, someone connected with either Cob’s or the trafficking ring was going to get their butts stomped.

Really, that could have been fun…lots of fun…and I really should have been included since I was…but yeah, no…

Cara knew that if she truly had insisted, and if she had been able to put forth a reasonably compelling argument for going on the outing he had yet to fully elaborate on, Godric may have considered…

Yeah, right. He’s a lot of things but when it comes to me, “reasonable” isn’t part of his vocab… Nice thought, though.

His brief “Eric and I have some business to attend to” – stated pseudo-calmly and everything – hadn’t been overly informative. The malevolent glee he couldn’t hide and the pulsing fire that even she had felt thrumming through him was what had clued her into the night’s probable mission.

Not much else would have caused such a fundamental anticipation and, from what she’d been able to sense through the now-closed bond, wicked glee.

As she straightened their bedroom, she thoughtfully adjusted her opinion.

Godric would definitely raise all kinds of hell to save Eric and, probably to a faintly lesser extent, Pam, but she would like to think he would exert his considerable strength on behalf of all humanity, too.

Maybe.

He was good at heart, she knew that down to her toenails and back, but he did have his quirks.

And he would definitely go to bat for Pam, too, of course, just perhaps not quite as ferociously as he would for his own progeny.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care about her; it was that Eric was his child and they therefore shared a connection that he simply couldn’t form with his grandprogeny.

She rolled her eyes as she fluffed his pillow after enjoying a long sniff.

Of course he would raise all kinds of hell for Pam.

Pam was…Pam…and she was Eric’s child. That automatically bought her an in with Godric.

The realization brought her a measure of comfort. Pam was her buddy, her partner in eye-rolls and snarky crime.

And beets.

The vampire was convinced Cara needed beets in her life.

She hadn’t been able to take/force “Gramma Cara” to go shopping with her yet as there hadn’t been time, an excuse which Cara took to mean that Godric hadn’t given the all-clear yet.

That vampire in question had yet to let her out of his sight for more than a few moments at a time as the threats had yet to be resolved, but it had been fun watching the family’s dynamics in play.

There were differences in Godric’s relationships with his progeny and his grandprogeny, and they were interesting to note.   In some ways he was more laid-back and tolerant with Eric than he was with Pam, but in other ways, he was the reverse.

She flopped down onto the somewhat carefully made bed.

From what she could tell, Godric did care for Pam, but it seemed that his care was based more on the fact that Pam was Eric’s child than because of who Pam was, although that would play into it, too, she guessed.

Maybe it was because everything about the blonde lady-vamp was a direct reflection on her Maker…who happened to be Godric’s beloved progeny. Everything she said or did would, by vampire custom, reflect back on her Maker, and since Godric cherished Eric, he would naturally want his child’s progeny to present the best possible image of her Maker.

Vicariously, Pam’s actions would reflect on Godric, too, and while appearances might not mean too much to him, they did mean far too much to the vampire world at large.

Cara stretched then curled onto her side. She’d already taken her shower, she wasn’t hungry yet, and no other pastimes appealed, so she thought about trying for a nap. When ten minutes later she still hadn’t been able to slip into whatever form of “downtime” her hybrid self might be capable of, she huffed in irritation as she rose from the now rumpled bed.

As she prowled the huge suite that felt smaller by the moment, she resumed her minute examinations of Godric and his relationships, and decided that they made sense in that weird vampire way.

Godric had “raised” Eric, so he knew exactly what his strengths and weaknesses were. He knew the quirks in his personality and he understood why and how Big Bro thought and acted the way he did.   Plus, as his Maker, he had chosen to accept the responsibility of teaching that new child everything about surviving in the vampire world, everything from how to feed and hide bodies to how to deal with vampire politics.

He hadn’t been the one who chose Pam so she simply couldn’t mean as much to him. They didn’t share that Maker/child connection or that history. What they shared was…Eric.

Godric was so close to Eric, had such a history with him, that it stood to reason that it would hurt him far, far worse if something happened Eric than if it happened to Pam, although that would hurt him, too, she knew. Pam really was a beloved grandchild of a sort, but Eric…Eric was his true child.

That was when Cara realized that, even more so than Eric, Godric considered her a true child of his heart…of a sort.

Although she had been partially changed with the blood of three vampires and seemed to share that Maker/child bond with none of them, she was certainly the vampire version of a child of his ancient heart…albeit of the mate variety.

That changed everything.

Within her own self she could already tell a noticeable difference in how she felt toward “the trio” who had changed her. Eric felt like a big brother. Although she still didn’t know him very well at all – certainly not well enough to consider him a brother in the human way of thinking – she felt pulled to consider him one anyway.

While it was fun teasing her about being her “gramma”, Pam actually felt like an aunt figure…certainly not like a grandkid.

Godric, though… Cara thought back to how she’d felt about Godric before vampire blood transfusion. She’d definitely felt something for him back then, and while it had been strong enough to get her attention, it was nothing like what she felt now. This pull was like nothing else in the world. It had to be one of those mystical vampire things, and if his pull toward her was even stronger…

No wonder he went feral at the thought of anything happening to her.

Woah…no wonder he reacted the way he did at even the thought of anything happening… Damn but I’m surprised he forces himself to let me feed my own self for fear a fork might attack or something!

The suite phones rang just then, their chimes dinging in an oddly harmonic unison somehow designed by Eric. A quick scan of the nearest phone’s caller ID proved it was from TSO’s in-house kitchen, so she answered.

A few moments later she replaced the handset with a small smile. Even while going off and doing vampire things, Godric had still thought of her and her remaining human needs. Although he had undoubtedly gotten Eric to make the actual call, “the kitchen” had been ordered to bring up an extravagantly full breakfast…with coffee, of course.

The call had simply been a security measure to reassure her that the forthcoming knock on the door would be legit.

Twenty-two minutes later, she regarded the service cart with mild disgust. After eating enough to fully sate two teenage boys, the remaining dishes held no further appeal, and in fact the smell was starting to…smell.

Having almost vampire-level senses is definitely both a blessing and a curse.

Considering how things tended to go, it was always good to have food on hand, though, so she quickly rearranged the contents so that she had two full plates covered and ready to place in the suite’s refrigerator. She snagged the impressive variety of whole fruit then gladly rolled the cart back into the hall.

Once she tidied everything up, with a gusty exhale she padded to the small kitchenette.

Her belly was full of human food, but breakfast wasn’t over yet.

After placing the plates into the fridge, she perused the other contents. Bless their non-beating hearts, somehow between Eric and Godric the fridge had remained well stocked with glass containers of fresh-ish human blood since they’d unofficially began staying there.

She didn’t ask where they came from and they didn’t offer the information, but the supply was constant.

That was great.

That was fine.

That wasn’t what she wanted., but it was what she had.

She forced herself to heat and swallow most of the contents of one of the containers, and told herself she’d be fine.

But it wasn’t what she’d wanted.

Only Godric – fresh, “live”, straight-from-the-source Godric – would do.

But as there was no Godric on handy tap…she sighed and rinsed the container before placing it in the drainer at the small sink.

Her agitation now beginning to inexplicably increase, she slow-blurred to the den.

Two minutes later the super-duper all-encompassing “had to have been bought and programmed by Eric” universal remote sailed through the ginormous flat screen on the wall.

Fucking House Hunter shows and idiots’ snobby demands about unnecessary and usually stupid-looking up-grades…

A slow-blur pace through the entire suite – even the bathroom for no good reason – didn’t seem to take the edge off, so Cara plopped back down on the sofa.

Something was going on.

She’d been bored, yes, but in the “nothing is interesting enough to actually do” way, not in the “I want to throw things at inanimate objects” way.

Determined to figure out why her mood had suddenly changed so much, she stilled her movements, closed her eyes, leaned her head back, and tried to name each emotion as she felt it. Boredom, of course, came to mind first, then irritation because of the boredom… Irritation made sense.

Being bored is irritating. True. But that couldn’t be it. Generic irritation caused by boredom would not make my hand toss Eric’s super-duper global-universal-whatsit remote through the poor ol’ TV, now would it…

She concentrated a little harder.

Ok, so, I’m also missing Godric, so I guess part of what I’m feeling is loneliness. We’ve been spending so much time together that it feels a little odd not being with him now. I wonder what Godric is…

Of course.

Godric.

Oh, fuck…Godric…

Once she realized that at least some of her present emotions were spillovers from him coming across the previously-closed bond, she was able to somewhat separate herself from their effects.

It wasn’t perfect, but it would do.

Unsure as to what he was up to, she didn’t want to risk interrupting him at a crucial time or anything of that nature, but figured sending him some calming vibes or whatever couldn’t hurt.

No one needed Godric going on a rampage. And if a rampage was warranted, my piddly little bit of calmness wouldn’t even register.

Just as she turned her attention back to the broken TV and whether this might be a job for Gorilla Glue, the phone rang.

Caller ID came to the rescue again; it was Sookie.

The interruption was appreciated – the poor TV would never work in Hollywood again anyway.

“I’m bored,” Cara said in greeting, eschewing mundane greetings as per her norm.

“Me, too,” replied Sookie immediately, “and for some reason Eric left a note saying that I shouldn’t go back home yet, or preferably even leave here. Do you know what’s up with that?”

“I think I do, well, at least some of it anyway. Come on over and we’ll talk. You can order dinner in here, too, if you want. What room are you in anyway?”

Sookie answered her, and with a grin Cara slow-vamped over to her own door. As she opened it and took a half step out, she replied, “Stick your head out your door.”

The telepath did so a moment later, and waved when she saw her friend smiling at her down the hallway.

Both disconnected the call and Cara kept watch over the hallway while Sookie gathered her purse and walked down. Considering everything going on, there was no such thing as too careful.

“I had a feeling BB put you up here with us,” she said as Sookie came in and plopped down on the sofa. She waggled her brows as she continued, “Heh, you’re in the in-crowd now, bay-be.”

Sookie tried to contain her snicker but quickly gave into the need. “I love the way you call him BB. Here he is all hard and cool and suave when it comes to his business and vampire stuff, but the way you two tease each other makes him seem even more real.”

Knowing exactly what the telepath meant, Cara nodded and shrugged.

“Eric is all that, he has to be, but he’s also, well… He’s so much more.”

She dug out the in-house kitchen menu and handed it over before taking over the other end of the couch.

“He’s a blast to tease like I guess any older brother would be, but he’s that whole other persona, too. We haven’t had any public dealings with each other since this happened,” she gestured to her canine teeth, “and while no one has actually said much of anything about it, I figure it’s to everyone’s benefit if I treat him like a respected elder. While in public, at least,” she tagged on after an obvious delay and to Sookie’s also obvious amusement.

Vampire hearing being what it was, Cara heard the other woman’s tummy grumble, so she encouraged her friend to go ahead and order and in the process slid in a request for a vat of coffee for herself.

“Caught the wrong news station,” Sookie asked teasingly with a nod to the dead appliance hanging on the wall.

Cara shrugged as she laughed at her friend’s wording. “About that… Nah, that was from a bleed-over of Godric’s emotions into mine when I wasn’t expecting it.”

The blank look on the blonde’s face told her that Sookie really didn’t know all that much about vampires.

Oh, boy… Time to educate a Sookie I guess. Not that I know everything there is to know about blood’n bonds, but if she’s considering getting involved with BB then she needs to know this kind of thing. Maybe I should wait for him to tell her? Maybe he should be the one to… Nah, girls gotta stick together and besides, it’s not like even I know everything…he’d still find something new to tell her anyway. Ok, time to test the knowledge-waters…

“Ok, so, what do you know about vampires and bonds and the power of their blood?”

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**A/N:  So, what did you think?  Should Cara help Sookie out by sharing the knowledge since she knows this is the kind of information her friend would be better off knowing, or should she withhold the knowledge and hope that Eric gets around to telling her at some point in the future?  Remember:  knowledge is power, and Cara wants to share what she has for Sookie’s benefit.**

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