Touch the Flame

Summary: This is the sequel to Comfortably Numb. Eric and Sookie may have decided to fight against Appius's influence in Eric's life, but that doesn't mean smooth sailing for them. New challenges and tragedies will befall them. Will they find a way to stay together through them? Or will Appius drive them apart—or worse?

MUST READ: This story will make no sense at all without Comfortably Numb. If you've not read it, I hope that you will.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to True Blood or the Southern Vampire Mysteries novels. Those items provide the inspiration for the story; however, I do not own or profit from the fanfiction I produce using that inspiration (except in the form of your kind comments and reviews).

Story Title: The title of this sequel is from lyrics of the U2 song "Where the Streets Have No Name." (I own no rights to this song.)

I want to run

I want to hide

I want to tear down the walls

That hold me inside

I want to reach out

And touch the flame

Where the streets have no name

(from "Where the Streets Have No Name")

NOTE: The "flame" will be very hot in this story and the angst will be high. But there will be joy too—and a whole lot of love. Remember, that if you need to know the endgame in order to go through this journey with me (I know that I like to read the last page of a book first), then you can PM me. I have no problem letting you know the destination if it will help you to come with me.

Chapter 01: Appointment

Bobby woke up to the feeling of soft lips on his cock, and he sure as hell didn't mind that.

"Mmmm," he sounded roughly. "For a self-proclaimed hater of dicks, you do that so well."

Pam looked up from her task. "Well your cock is one of the few I've liked," she grinned as she moved her hand up and down his member.

"So good," he panted, holding her hair in a pony tail as she took him into her mouth again. He knew enough about Pam to know that if he thrust upward, she would stop, so he kept his body still.

"What has you so wound up at," he glanced at the clock, "5:00 in the morning?"

"Mmmm," she hummed around his cock. "A good dream."

"Oh God," he murmured as she took the hand that had been playing with his balls and pressed a finger—hard—against his perineum.

"You like a little kink, don't you?" Pam purred from around his dick.

"I like your kink," he reminded as she moved her finger to stimulate his rear entrance.

Forty minutes later, they were both sated and showered, though they'd settled back into bed.

"You're the only one I've ever let do that," Bobby commented as Pam leaned over him to grab one of his cigarettes from the nook behind the bed. She didn't smoke often, but she did enjoy a post coital cigarette every now and then.

"I've figured that out," she winked, "though you've seemed to enjoy it every time I've done it."

"I gotta tell you—the first time was a real eye opener," he chuckled, remembering the first time Pam had decided to make it her personal mission to find his prostate gland and then stimulate it until he came only from that. Bobby had never been attracted to men, but in that moment, he had understood the attraction of anal sex. Of course, Pam's thin finger was as far as he was willing to go in that arena.

She leaned against the headboard and lit up her cigarette.

Bobby grabbed one and did the same. He chuckled when Pam glared at him. "Hey—you know I never smoke in your house unless you're smoking."

Pam—in all other situations—hated cigarettes and hated Bobby smoking them, especially around her. In fact, she required that he brush his teeth and gargle mouthwash for a full minute if he wanted to kiss her at all after he'd been smoking.

"I don't like you smoking in my house," she said, taking a big puff of her own cigarette before grabbing a beautiful ashtray and setting it down in the nook of the headboard—where they could both reach it.

"You're the most infuriating woman I know," Bobby said, though he was still chuckling. "Who else would take a cigarette from a smoker, light up after sex with him, and then deny him the same privilege?"

Pam shrugged. "I don't care."

Bobby smiled slyly. "You know—you only want one of those when I really get you off."

Pam rolled her eyes but didn't contradict him. In fact, Bobby had been able to tell that he'd gotten her off a couple of times. After she'd brought him to a mind-numbing orgasm, he'd returned the favor, and Pam wasn't shy about telling him exactly where she wanted him to be and what she wanted him to do during oral sex. If she weren't so goddamned sexy, he might have been annoyed by it.

"Like I said, I woke up from a hot dream," she smirked, trying to deflate his ego—no doubt.

"Must have been a good one. Was I in it?"

"No," Pam answered, her smirk growing. "Wrong gender."

Bobby chuckled. "Let me get this straight. You had a dream in which you were having sex with a woman and then you woke up and felt the need to give me a blow job?"

Pam shrugged. "You were the only thing available."

Bobby snorted. "I'll try not to take offense."

"You shouldn't—not really," Pam said her face falling a bit as she took another drag of her cigarette.

"What's wrong?" Bobby asked perceptively.

"Nothing," she tried.

"Bullshit," Bobby returned.

"Fine," Pam glared at him. "It's just that I've been dreaming of this person a lot."

Bobby's lips curved into a half-smile/half-smirk. "Pammy, are you in love?"

"God no!" Pam protested quickly, her voice a bit squeaky.

Bobby's smile widened. "I think the lady doth protest too much."

Pam took a drag of her cigarette and blew the smoke out slowly.

Bobby's playful demeanor, as well as his impulse to relentlessly tease his "friend with benefits," faltered when he saw the serious look on Pam's face. "Tell me about her," he requested sincerely.

Pam sighed. "It's Sookie's Brooklyn roommate."

"Amelia?" Bobby asked. "I thought the two of you were just having fun."

"Yeah," Pam said. "We decided to keep things casual and to continue seeing others. She's a lot more 'bi' than I am."

Bobby took a drag of his cigarette. "And that scares you?" he asked perceptively.

Pam sighed. "You know I'm a lesbian."

He looked at her skeptically.

"I make an exception with you. But I don't have an interest in trying other men anymore. However, I've been with a lot of so-called bi-sexual women who don't know what they want. They like to 'play' with other women, but only until they find their Prince Charming, but that usually doesn't bother me because I'm just playing with them too."

"But you really like Amelia, and you're afraid she's just dallying with the idea of being a lesbian, so you're afraid to commit."

"You're an asshole sometimes," Pam said, reaching over to put out her finished cigarette and take another.

Bobby shook his head a little. In Pam-speak, those words meant that he'd hit the nail on the head with his assessment of what was going on.

"The worst part," Pam said, "is that I woke up from my dream feeling a little guilty that I'd slept with you."

"So you decided to alleviate that guilt by blowing me?" Bobby asked with a chuckle. "And then by fucking me again?"

She glared at him. "I'm trying to be serious here."

"Sorry," Bobby said as he too lit another cigarette. He got another glare for that, but just rolled his eyes and motioned to the lit cigarette in her fingers.

"Anyway—yeah—I figured that getting off would stop those pangs of guilt, especially since you're very good at distracting me."

Bobby grinned. "Well—you've trained me well."

"Damned right," Pam snarked as she raised a perfect eyebrow. In fact, she had taught Bobby many, many things about pleasing a woman with oral sex.

"It didn't work—did it?"

"What?" Pam asked evasively.

"The guilt came back after the orgasm—I mean orgasms."

"Yeah," she admitted.

"You should go for it then," Bobby advised. "From what I've seen, Amelia's nice—a little too 'new aged' for my taste, but nice. And she's my cousin Claudine's best friend. And when I asked about Amelia, Claudine had nice things to say."

"Why would you ask about Amelia? You're not interested in her—are you?" Pam asked a little jealously.

"Down girl," Bobby chuckled. "No. I checked into her a little because of her connection to Sookie. I wanted to try to gauge her trustworthiness in keeping Eric and Sookie's relationship a secret."

Pam bit her lip a little. "So you investigated her?"

"Just enough," Bobby answered. "And I asked Claudine about her, but that's all. She seems like a good person, Pam, and I don't think she'd yank your chain if she wasn't into you. So if you want something more exclusive, ask for it," he counseled, bringing his hand to her cheek in a tender motion. "I'd miss the hell out of our little rendezvous, but I know I'm not the one for you—at least not in the long run."

"Yeah," she said bringing her own hand up to stroke his cheek, "but sometimes I wish you were, Bobby."

Not wanting things to become too serious, he lightened the mood. "But I'm not willing to get a sex-change operation for you, and since I wasn't made with a vagina, you find me lacking."

"A nice pair of tits would help too," she said, her usual sarcasm rising into her voice.

"Those too." He leaned over and kissed her lips softly. "Try with Amelia, Pam. Just tell her what you want, and see if she wants it too."

"And if she doesn't?" Pam asked a bit insecurely.

"Then you'll have to decide whether to keep seeing her—because if you really like her, but she sees it as casual, she'll hurt you without meaning to. And I wouldn't want to see that."

Bobby kissed Pam one more time and put out his cigarette before getting out of bed.

"Hey—where are you going?" Pam asked.

Bobby glanced at the clock. "I have an appointment at 8:00," he said as he put on his pants. He'd decided it was better not to tell Pam about the listening device Nora had planted. He'd leave it up to Eric to decide who to tell about this latest piece of his father's duplicity.

Bobby sighed. If he thought that Eric would forgive him for doing it, Bobby would arrange for Appius to have an "accident." God knows—Bobby had met enough nefarious people in his line of work to set something up. However, Bobby couldn't do that to his friend or to the woman in bed in front of him—at least, not unless they asked.

Moreover, he still felt that death would be too damned good for Appius Northman. After all, he'd been the cause of decades of pain for his "brother," and—make no mistake—Bobby truly thought of Eric Northman as his brother, more than ever.

And as the older "brother," Bobby felt damned protective of Eric. Since Sookie had been in his life, Eric had been opening himself up more than he ever had before; he was no longer holding back the part of himself that was most important.

It had almost broken Bobby's heart to see Eric sunken onto his knees and looking into his half-empty closet as if his world had been taken from him. In truth, that had been why Bobby had needed to seek out Pam. He'd needed a little comforting of his own after seeing Eric so distraught.

Bobby intuited that it wasn't even the bug being planted that had ultimately broken Eric down like that. If it were just Eric living in the house—if it had been the Eric of a year ago—he would have likely "accepted" his father's surveillance of his office without putting up a fight. After all, unlike Bobby—and certainly unlike Appius—Eric was truly an honorable man. Thus, he had very little to hide.

Of course, before Sookie, Eric had allowed himself nothing that would have needed to be hidden.

Bobby sighed. He could tell that what had truly crushed Eric was the thought of losing Sookie—the thought that his relationship with her would have been discovered by that listening device. And then Appius would have known what would hurt Eric the most. And Sookie's being hurt had obviously caused great fear in his friend.

Bobby shook his head a little. He couldn't help but to share Eric's concern, and he cringed when he thought about Appius learning of Sookie and Eric's relationship, but what truly worried him was that Appius would find out just how much Sookie meant to Eric. Appius would do anything he could to hurt Sookie if he knew the depth of Eric's feelings for her. And Sookie had plenty of things in her past that could hurt her, even though she wasn't to blame for any of them.

"What's got you so frowny over there?" Pam asked as she got out of bed and pulled on her robe.

"Just thinking about my appointment."

"What kind of appointment do you have at 8:00 on a Sunday morning?" she asked, her hands on her hips.

"Proctologist," he grinned.

"Didn't you already have your proctologist appointment this morning?" she deadpanned.

He chuckled as he moved toward her, and then he dipped her into a toe-curling kiss.

"What the fuck was that for?" Pam asked breathlessly when he lifted her up.

"Just in case things work out with Amelia, I wanted one last kiss," he grinned rakishly.

Pam shook her head a little, but then looked concerned. "Bobby, if things do work out, I don't want to lose you as my," she paused, "friend. You get me—probably better than anyone else does or could," she admitted begrudgingly.

He pulled her into a warm hug. "You and I will always be friends, Pammy. It's only the 'with benefits' part that's variable."

For once, as Pam tightened her arms around him, she didn't even mind that Bobby had called her "Pammy."

Bobby walked from the elevator straight into the parking garage. Both Eric and Pam had three parking spaces that came with their homes, and since they never used them all, Bobby always parked in the garage when he came over.

He was a little surprised to find someone waiting for him next to his car.

"Henry," Bobby said as he approached the car and saw Henry Jiles there. He'd developed a friendship with the head of security over the last couple of months. Henry had a wry wit and a subtle quirkiness that appealed to Bobby. Plus, the ex-Navy SEAL's work—and his fast thinking the night before—had made Bobby admire the chief of security for Eric's building even more. Right then, however, Henry's face told him that he'd be saying something Bobby didn't want to hear.

"Bobby," Henry returned, "are you heading to Brooklyn?"

Bobby nodded. "Yeah. I was planning to go home, change, and then head over to the Brownstone."

"I'm riding over with you," Henry said, his tone brooking no argument.

"When I saw you, I kind of figured you might," Bobby smirked. He pushed the button to unlock his car and wasn't surprised when Henry beat him inside.

"Where do you live?" Henry asked.

"A loft—on the Lowest East. What's all this about?" Bobby asked. "I can't imagine that you're just trying to save on gas money."

Henry nodded. "I'll tell you on the way. Blake and I aren't sure, but Eric and Sookie might have a bigger problem than we thought."

A/N: Well—that's the beginning! I know that you probably wanna see what Eric and Sookie are doing right now. We left them last in post coital bliss after having decided to fight against Appius. I decided to give them a couple hours of sleep. ;) They will need it.

As I said before, I'll be rotating this story and my other new one Uninvited. (I'll be working on each a week at a time.) Thanks to everyone who has followed me to that story too! I don't say it enough, but I think my readers are the best in the world. And you come from all over the world too! Congrats to my Chinese fans, by the way, about Li Na winning the Aussie Open. I love her (she's so funny). I was pulling for her when I watched the match live. (Yep—3:30 my time!) Sorry to my Aussie fans about your players getting knocked out early. I always pull for Leyton. And—yep—I'm a huge Tennis fans. (I'm still upset that my Djoker is out, though I'm pulling for Stanislas in the final.)

Anyway, I'll stop my little tangent.

Thanks for reading and following me to the sequel!

I'll get you at least one more chapter before I switch back to Uninvited next week.

XOXO,

Kat

Remember that their are pictures of the cast, etc. (made by the lovely Sephrenia) available over on my WordPress site. (californiakat1564 . wordpress . com).