AN: First, this is only my second fanfic, so please don't be too hard on me. I've only done a one shot so far and depending on the response, I may or may not be adding to this. I do welcome criticism and reviews.

Second, this idea came from the second SVM book where Sookie mentions only travelling out of Louisiana once, and that trip was to Dallas, I think. Not very significant to book Sookie really, however in True Blood, we all know Dallas as the home of Godric, Eric's maker. So I wondered what would happen if they ran into each other and how that meeting might affect their relationship when they meet again. And I know I could have done the teenage Sookie falls for Eric thing, but even with how much our Viking enjoys Sookie's blood, I still think he has standards and would never do anything with a girl still in school.

Third, if this does go longer than this one chapter, I wouldn't expect to see Bill in a positive light. I probably won't bash him like some of my favorite stories do, but I definitely do not look at him as the tortured hero that Alan Ball sees him as. In my opinion, William Thomas Compton is a douche.

Well, enough from me, and if you read this I hope you like it.

Oh yeah, I own nothing. But as soon as Fangtasia calendars are for sale….;)

Six Flags Over Texas

A little over seven years ago….

It was a warm spring evening in Texas, and Sookie Stackhouse was not having a good day. Rubbing her forehead, eyes closed with the mother of all headaches weighing on her, she wondered how it ever got into her head that going on her senior class trip was even remotely a good idea. Probably just her desire to be normal for once instead of 'Crazy Sookie ' as the entire town of Bon Temps knew her as, she thought.

She wasn't crazy. Not really. Though the fake smile she often plastered on her face and her tendency to answer people who had only thought something at her did leave many to wonder.

No, Sookie was a telepath, a person with the ability to read minds. That's what Jason, her older brother, said she was. He knew because he read comic books when they were younger. Her Gran, the woman who had raised them both since a flash flood took the lives of her parents when she was seven, called it her quirk. One she had shared with a deceased great uncle.

Sookie called it a curse, for that was how she truly felt about it. Not being able to block out the thoughts of those around you, hearing things you were never meant to, being privy to information and desires that were better left hidden, afraid of touching a boy because physical contact made her telepathy that much stronger. All this wreaked havoc on her young mind, which was currently throbbing. Being trapped in a bus full of her classmates for most of the day while they visited The Grassy Knoll and the infamous Texas School Book Depository, then taken to an amusement park where kids on sugar highs and unchaperoned teens ran around like wild animals had taken its toll. She wanted to just curl up and die on the bench she sat on.

"Hey, Sook." Sookie looked up to see her best friend since she could remember looking at her with concern. Tara Thornton was one of the few people that knew for a fact that she could read minds. She also knew that her friend didn't like to. "Gotcha some aspirin." She held out her open palm, showing her the little pills.

Sookie brushed some of her blond hair from her brown eyes and did her best to put on a smile, and croaked out a "Thanks, Tar." Holding her hand out, she accepted them from her friend, popping them into her mouth and washing them down quickly with the slowly warming can of pop in front of her.

Tara took a seat next to her and rubbed her back. Of course she knew what touching did to her friends mind reading, but comforting her took priority. And besides, clothes were usually an effective barrier. "You could go take a nap in the bus."

A sigh escaped her lips, "No, Maudette was heading over there with that boy that transferred from Monroe a few minutes ago. I don't need to be a witness to that."

Tara's face twisted in disgust, "I hope she don't think of using our seats to get all kinds of nasty on. Skank." She swept her dark brown beaded braids over her cocoa brown skin and huffed,"I'm gonna need some Lysol just to be safe."

The thought made Sookie giggle a little, which set Tara off. In moments they were both laughing hysterically. Their fellow classmates passing by merely shrugged off the girl's odd behavior; chalking it up to Sookie's all around weirdness and Tara being the child of a crazy drunk and being related to a confirmed homosexual. Such were the minds of their peers.

When they had calmed down enough to breath normally, they found they were not alone. A large handsome teen wearing a letterman jacket covered in patches for various sports honors and a simple grin stood next to them. "Hey, Sookie. Hey, Tara. Would ya'll like to go on a few rides with me?"

Both girls smiled up at him. J.B. DuRone was a good natured boy, a star athlete, and quite handsome, but he was not a thinker. Tara's cousin had said he had "As much brains as a box of hair", and sadly it was true. Neither girl mentioned Sookie's quirk, he would have too much trouble with the concept. They took turns helping him with homework and keeping him away from trouble, he paid them back by being their muscle at points and their escorts at others.

Tara beamed up at him, showing off her dimples. She like-liked J.B. much more than Sookie ever could. The blonde liked him fine, but couldn't fathom being with someone whose thoughts reminded her of an overgrown four year old. But then again, Tara also had a crush on Jason, another guy with little more than hamsters running around on wheels in his mind.

"Why don't you take Tara, J.B.? I don't really feel like going on a rollercoaster right now. I think I just need to take a few minutes to just sit and be quiet." Sookie said, knowing her friend would appreciate the alone time with him.

His forehead crinkled up, and he frowned, "Are you sure, Sook?" From his thoughts she grabbed that he was worried about how frazzled and tired she looked, was secretly happy to be able to take Tara alone on a ride where she could grab onto him for safety, and that Sookie's boobs looked good in her snug tee shirt.

Blushing from his last thought, she mentally rolled her eyes and physically hunched her shoulders. "Yeah, I'm sure. You two go have fun."

Though he was disappointed in her movement to minimize the view of her cleavage, he nodded. "Okay then. C'mon, Tar." He held out a hand.

Tara took it eagerly and stood up, brushing off the dust on her jean shorts, another sight J.B. liked. She turned back to Sookie. "I'll make him win us matching pandas. Pink for me, blue for you."

Sookie smiled broadly, "Thanks, Tara. If I'm not here, I'll be disinfecting the bus seats."

Tara giggled as she left, dragging a confused J.B. with her.

Alone again, Sookie slumped to lay her aching forehead on the table, grimacing when she felt how sticky it was. "Ewww…gross!" She pulled away and reached for what appeared to be a clean napkin, wiping it across her skin. It felt strange, and she gave it a look. A large swath of yellow mustard coated it. "Son of a B!" she exclaimed.

"Smooth Stackhouse!" a classmate sniped as they passed, receiving high fives for his razor sharp wit.

Spotting the nearest bathroom, she sighed and got up, trying to ignore the kids pointing and laughing at her along the way.

A few minutes later, Sookie emerged with a clean face and hands, ready to take her place at her bench. This is what would have happened if not for the group of jocks rushing past her and knocking her into the ground. None of them stopped to help her up or see if she was all right and just continued on their way, leaving her to pick herself up.

She growled in frustration and righted herself, wincing when her hand touched the ground. "Ow," she said, looking at a piece of glass piercing her palm, "dang!" Blood was beginning to pool in her hand, and even though she knew the cut wasn't life threatening, it was probably going to need stitches, and a lot of Neosporin judging from how dirty everything around her was.

"Are you all right?" A deep voice with a hint of an accent she was unfamiliar with spoke up. The voice, decidedly masculine, came from behind her. Sookie turned around and looked up, and up, and up, until her eyes caught sight of the very large and unbelievably sexy man that had asked her the question. He was easily a good foot taller than her, with broad shoulders, muscles like a Greek god outlined by his tight fitting black tee shirt, shoulder length blonde hair that was a match in shade for her own, a rugged jaw dusted with stubble, high cheek bones, and blue eyes the color of the ocean. His kissable lips were turned down in a frown, looking at her cut.

If the man had asked her to rob a bank with him at that moment, or engage in treason even, she may not have had the fortitude instilled in her by her beloved Gran to say no. She would blame it on the blood loss. The only thing she managed to do was swallow and say, "Huh?"

He smirked. She melted a little bit more."You seem to be bleeding." He gestured to her hand.

Once again, she had trouble focusing on his words, instead wondering what it would be like to kiss those lips, wanting to feel what that stubble felt like against her cheek. She owed the fact that the man seemed to be glowing to the idea that he must have been an alien from the planet Washboard Abs, sent to retrieve lonely teenage girls and kidnap them into some sort of breeding program holding her captive to help with the propagation of his dwindling species.

All of which was highly unlikely. She'd so go willingly.

Without another word to her, he took her small hand in his gigantic one and leaned down to examine her cut. His brow was furrowed a bit, and she swears she saw him inhale a deep breath. "The glass is quite deep." His voice seemed to be strained,

Sookie's heart skipped several times as his cool fingers brushed away the dirt on her palm. "I…I'm So…Sookie Stackhouse." The words spilled out of her like a child's marbles from a little hand.

His blue eyes caught her again and she noticed they had dilated a bit more. "I am Eric."

A strange name for an alien she thought briefly.

"If you will let me, I will help you."

She nodded, her eyes never leaving his. "Uh,….sure." He'd already made her forget the pain with just the sound of his voice. He could probably stitch her up with an industrial sewing machine and as long as he kept holding her hand she was positive she wouldn't feel a thing.

Eric gave her that panty dropping smirk of his once again, the phrase coming from Tara's cousin, Lafayette, and proceeded to do something she never expected him to do, even with being the sexy alien that he was.

He pulled the shard of glass out and licked her bleeding palm.

If anyone else on God's green earth had done this, she would have hauled back and hit him in the gut. No one had done something like licking her palm since she was nine and Jason had licked her arm on dare. When the initial shock factor wore off, Sookie had chased her older brother with a spiral bound notebook in hand intending to do as much damage as possible to the idiot, only to be stopped by Gran. She'd threatened if he ever did it again that she would tell Gran that he had seen Mrs. Fortenberry in just her under things through an open window late one evening and didn't look away for a long time. Needless to say, Jason hadn't licked her since.

Her mouth was too dry to voice her protest. His tongue was rough like her kitten, Tina's, and with each brush along her sensitive palm, she shuddered, not noticing Eric doing the same. Sookie closed her eyes and imagined that tongue lapping at other points of her anatomy, her tanned skin taking on a rosy hue at the thought.

A set of hands on her shoulders, jerking her backwards broke whatever spell she had been under. "What the Fuck do you think you're doing?" That voice was an upset Tara's.

"Uh…..I ...I don't know?"She sputtered out, suddenly realizing she had been alone by the empty bathrooms with a complete stranger in an unfamiliar city and amusement park and letting said man lick her. Where the hell had her sense of self preservation gone off to?

"Not you, Sook. Mr. Licker over here!" Tara pushed her back so that she and a fairly riled looking J.B. holding two giant stuffed pandas could stand between her and her handsome new friend. "Why the Fuck were you licking my girls hand like a cat licking a saucer of milk you pervert?"

"Tara, it's okay. He was just helping me with the cut on my hand." She held her palm up so her friend could see the deep cut. "It already feels better."

Tara looked at her hand and then at Sookie as if she had suddenly began speaking in Korean. "Sook, there ain't no cut on your hand. We need to call security on his ass!"

Blinking a few times, she looked at her hand and was amazed to see that there was not only no cut, but the blood that had been oozing out of it had disappeared as well. She gasped, "Jesus Christ, Sheppard of Judea!" She looked up at Eric again, her eyebrows about to reach her hairline, "How did you do that?"

Eric gave her a wink just before his gaze intensified. Sookie felt a strange tingling in the back of her mind as he spoke to her and her friends, "You will remember nothing of me or my actions when I leave you. You will continue with your evening and have a very good time."

While her friends just stared vacantly at him, Sookie wondered why he was saying that.

He leaned down and took her hand in his once again, bringing it up to her lips. She was much too stunned to protest when he kissed her knuckles. "Miss Stackhouse, it has been a great pleasure to meet you. I must thank you for the blood. It is the sweetest I have tasted in my long existence."

"You're welcome, Eric." Her Gran would be ashamed if she did not thank him for the compliment, weird as it was. "It was very nice meeting you, too."

Her beautiful new friend let go of her hand and took a step back, giving her another smirk and saucy wink. With that gesture he launched into the night sky.

"Wow." Sookie breathed, watching him go. "He was an alien."

"Alien?" Tara had woken from her stupor to look at her with concern again. "Are you sure you don't want me to get a nurse for you, Sookie?"

"But the cut on my hand, Eric healed it already." She showed her the hand again.

A worry line creased Tara's brow, "Eric? Who are you talking about?"

Sookie's eyes widened in shock,"The guy that was just here." Tara and J.B. looked at each other. "You know, tall, blonde, and sexy….. Licking my hand?"

"Okay, who the fuck spiked your pop?"

Sookie shook her head. "No one, Tar."

Tara didn't seem to believe her and began pulling her to the buses, "Uh huh. When I get my hands on whoever did this to you, I'm gonna make sure they walk funny for the rest of the school year."

With her friend pulling her along, Sookie did begin to wonder if she had imagined the whole thing. Why would such a gorgeous man stop to talk to her, let alone help her by licking a bleeding wound? Maybe everyone was right, maybe she was crazy. Not only could she hear peoples thoughts, now she was imagining flying alien hunks at amusement parks.

She so wanted to be home right now.

The present day…

Sookie took a seat at the booth that Bill had led her to and took a sip of her gin and tonic. The shields that she had built over the years to block peoples stray thoughts were holding up well in the Vampire bar, though an undercurrent of sex seemed to be thrumming around, much like the music being played.

She took a look at her escort for the evening, sipping a bottled blood; he looked uncomfortable amongst his own kind. If the trio she had met earlier at his house and the two she had met tonight were what they considered normal, then she could see why. Bill Compton was a good man. Physically, he was of average height and build and had a handsome rugged face. His dark hair and eyes contrasted with his pale almost glowing skin, adding to his mysterious nature. That and he had the charm and manners of a true southern gentleman made Sookie's stomach do flips when he said her name.

A tiny itch at the back of her mind though wondered why the man made her swoon. Though she didn't date because of her quirk, she never went for men like him. He was polite, true, but he was also stiff. She wasn't sure if he had a sense of humor. She liked guys that made her laugh, ones with a roguish charm, like Rhett Butler as played by Clark Gable, the gold standard of such men. Plus, he kept on mispronouncing her name. She wanted to ask him to say 'cookie' to see if it was just how he thought it was supposed to sound.

All the doubts she had flew out the nearest window whenever he looked at her.

Through the crowd of dancers and fangbangers, Sookie saw the woman Vampire that had carded her earlier step up to the stage and what looked to be a man sitting on a throne in shadows. The beautiful but deadly blonde leaned down and said something into his ear, and she was sure they both looked in her direction.

Bill said something, but she would never know what, because when she looked at the man on stage, she knew she had met him before. Setting her drink down and picking up her purse, she left the table and walked directly up to the stage, despite her escorts protest, with a smile on her face, stopping on the raised dais. She looked at the man sitting on the throne recognizing him as her mystery dream alien licker.

"Eric?"