Author: NightVowl

Title: Warning

Pairing: Pam/Tara

Rating: T (cause Pam be cursin')

Synopsis: Tara and Pam's first holiday with Nola is full of surprises.

Disclaimers: Ion own nuffin'

Chello:This was supposed to be a holiday gift to you guys when I got Blu's message some months back, but I didn't have the time (or motivation, I suppose) to do it properly. Well, precisely two million years later, I still don't have the time… but Imma try to quickly finish it anyway. Same universe, you know the deal. No extreme jumps in the timeline. Takes place a few weeks after where "Baby" left off. Thanks for all of the reviews on that story, by the way, if I didn't thank you personally. I dig hearing from all of you. This was going to be a cheap and cheery little one-shot a few months ago, but I'll make it a two-parter for reasons. Props to Biggie for the title. Enjoy!

Warning

Carefully climbing atop her target, a shadowy figure clad in black produced a ridged blade that shimmered beneath a full moon's light. There would be many who would want her dead for what she was about to do. The thought bought a wry smile to her face. It was no matter. She was no stranger to human indignation.

Wasting little time, she carved her target mercilessly, leaving smatterings of red to pool around her feet. The deed was done.

Leaping off an iron perch, the dark figure plummeted to street below with the velocity of an anvil only to land with a feather's grace. Lightly tapping a button on the small remote in her hand, she unleashed an explosion of light.

Voices rang out immediately, sounding off in awe and horror.

"It's terrific!"

"It's…terribly festive, isn't it?"

"Terribly American, more like."

"It's tacky. Tara, take it down," Pam demanded drolly, her wintery blue eyes taking in the colorful calamity that Tara had made of their home.

Long white lights imitating melting icicles were draped neatly in carefully laid horizontal lines on the townhouse's first and fifth stories, while an enumerable number of tiny colorful bulbs speckling the structure flickered in tune with a cheery midi rendition of "This Christmas".

On the terrace stood a six-foot tall, wood sculpture of a mahogany, salt and pepper bearded Santa Claus.

"Fanta," Nola half questioned and half asserted in her amusement.

"Yeah, baby girl, It's Fanta," Tara reassured her, unable to keep from grinning.

It was as though the girl's excitement was infectious. Never before had the cynical vampire gotten so swept up in the holiday spirit.

As a human child, the Louisianan was never moved by Christmas. While other kids eagerly awaited Christmas throughout the year, Tara dreaded the day that would inevitably begin with a long lecture about the biblical origins of the holiday and end with a warning on the evils of materialism.

So while many of the other children in Bon Temps played with their newly gifted toys, Tara busied herself with old library books and attempted to avoid drunken tirades. With time, she grew more and more jaded. The mere thought of the holidays filled her with disgust.

As a vampire, however, much of Tara's bitterness over the ghosts of Christmas past seemed to subside. Rather than dread the most festive time of the year, she accepted it with cordial indifference. And that was why she'd surprised even herself when she suddenly felt compelled to buy the biggest Douglas fir, the brightest LED lights and turn her once understated townhouse in holiday central. The result confused her partner and delighted her toddler, who seemed to marvel at everything she did, which only drove Tara to create an even greater spectacle.

"You know, I never took you for the festive type," Pam and Tara's human neighbor Winston remarked hoarsely. In her excitement, Nola's tiny hands playfully tightened around his neck with the force of an MMA heavyweight.

"Oh, she's just full of surprises," Pam quipped snidely as she easily took the toddler into her arms and freed the mortal from her piggyback grip of death.

"I bet," Lark cosigned almost quietly while subtly appraising her workmate.

"Fanta," Nola exclaimed and pointed at the huge Santa Tara bought off Ebay from a seller who called himself Malcolm X-mas. The baby vamp was learning new words every day. Yet it seemed there wasn't a single one that she could pronounce correctly. Try as she might, Tara couldn't get her to distinguish Saint Nick from a soft drink.

"It's Santa, Nola," Winston corrected the toddler kindly.

"Fanta!"

"She's just a baby for heaven's sake," Winston's wife Aminah complained. "Must you always be such a pedant?"

"Yes, actually. I must," Winston said almost apologetically, seemingly nonplussed by her critique.

"Is it me or does Fanta look like Mr. T?"

"It's just you," Tara said firmly, shooting a slowly approaching Eric Northman a dirty look.

It had been Tara's idea to invite him to spend time with his progeny for the holidays. But his attitude was quickly making her regret that decision. It didn't help that the cocky Swede brought Pam extravagant gifts that made Tara's presents look like defective Super Save-a-Bunch closeouts, an endless supply of snide remarks, and his obnoxious sister Nora.

"No. I think I see it as well," Nora agreed all too happily.

"Okay, show's over," Pam chimed in brusquely. "Time to get inside before the angry mob shows up to stake us."

Tara looked on as Pam led everyone back inside their brightly decorated home. Taking another long look at the Santa, she realized he did in fact have a startling resemblance to Mr. T.

Entering the house, the young vampire was overwhelmed with the smell of the eight-foot tall Douglas Fir she'd purchased several days prior. With her heightened senses, she felt as though she was walking through a dense forest on her way to the dining room where Pam, Nola, and their guests were preparing to have their meal.

From the doorway, she observed the odd, yet vaguely quaint scene.

"I hope ya'll are hungry," Ginger announced in her down home accent as she set bowls of gumbo in front of Winston and Lark before handing Eric, who was seated at the head of the table, a huge champagne bottle of O negative.

"Drink up, big boy." She urged, blatantly coming onto the ancient vampire.

Nodding his thanks ever so slightly, Eric popped open the bottle and drank from it like he was at a Viking celebration.

Rolling her eyes, Tara turned her attention to Nora and Lark. The elder vampire's predatory gaze was fixed on the mortal's cleavage. Fortunately, the Halfling was too busy observing Winston and Aminah's every interaction to notice.

"You know, if anyone ever told me I'd be sitting down to eat with humans a few years back, I would have ripped their heart from their chest and played it like a bagpipe," Nora imparted casually to a distracted and grinning Lark.

Turning to see what had garnered such a smile, Tara caught Aminah shooing her husband's hand away from a bottle of lager.

"I was only going to have a drop," Winston defended.

Without a word Aminah passed him a glass of water.

"Serves me right for marrying a doctor," Winston complained before drinking his water like a chastised little boy.

"I'm sorry, but I have to say," Lark began. "You two make a nauseatingly adorable couple."

"Hear that, sweetheart? She thinks your controlling nature and obsession with my mortality is adorable," Winston joked before kissing his wife's flawless umber hued cheek.

Pam turned and met Tara's studious dark gaze in that moment. Tara could almost hear the message she saw in her maker's eyes.

You will pay for this.

Tara shrugged off the look with a smirk as she entered and moved to sit beside Pam's chair. From her spot on Pam's lap, Nola greeted her as though she hadn't ever expected to see her again.

"Up," She demanded, already in the midst of making her transition to Tara's arms.

"Hey, baby girl," Tara replied happily, hugging the squirmy toddler while looking over at her maker. "Why aren't you ever this happy to see me?"

"You're never gone long enough," Pam responded simply, just as she caught the full bottle of O+/A+ Nola dropped accidentally on purpose.

After weeks of experimentation, Tara discovered that the combination of one part O positive and three parts A positive was the best way to wean her finicky toddler off of her usual favorite of B+. The blood type had previously done wonders for the girl's disposition, but was becoming more and more difficult for Pam's suppliers to secure. Especially in the quantities needed to keep a young vampire sated.

As Tara kissed the girl on the cheek and spoke soothing words into her ear, she could see her small fangs were drawn. Concerned, she looked to her maker for an explanation.

Pam simply nodded at Lark, who had seemingly captured the attention of all the vampires at the table. Tara thought it might be unwise to let the toddler take her meals around the Halfling, but her coworker had all but invited herself to dinner. And she couldn't bring herself to say no after the way she'd helped to cover for her on Nola's case.

For her part, Lark seemed to either be unaware or unmoved by the effect her fairy blood was having on her fellow diners. She was too engrossed in asking Winston and Aminah all about how they fell in love.

Tara didn't know whether to think Lark's fascination with her neighbors cute or creepy. In over a year of knowing her, Lark never asked how she and Pam met.

No one did, thankfully.

She could only imagine the slack-jawed expression they'd get as they recounted the whirlwind romance that followed Pam's efforts to murder her after her face began melting off from a witch's curse, and Tara's demise at the hands of a cracked out werebitch with a shotgun.

It would be so much easier to explain they'd met on a dating site like V Meet.

"We met in Uni," Winston informed the table. "Aminah was pre-med and I was working in the English laboratory."

"He used to help me with all of my essays."

"My wife is nothing if not brilliant, but her writing leaves much to be desired."

"Wife," Nora exclaimed incredulously. "You're married to a human?"

"Happily," Aminah supplied proudly as she pulled her thick black hair into a ponytail.

"What could have possibly possessed you to do that?"

"I'm guessin' the same thing that possessed you to wear those shoes with that top," Pam jibed easily before taking a sip of her drink. "We all have lapses in judgment."

"Yes, well, that would explain your little bundle of… whatever she is," Nora volleyed, nodding uncomfortably in Nola's direction.

Tara could see Pam's demeanor shift ever so slightly at the insult. Her arched brows lowered over eyes that suddenly looked a lot like encapsulated lightening

"Sister," Eric interjected coolly. "Please refrain from insulting our gracious hosts-and Tara," he continued, bestowing a slight yet apologetic smile upon his progeny, who relaxed immediately.

Tara found herself wondering for the umpteenth time that night why she'd invited the arrogant blonde. But she was soon reminded by the content smile on Pam's face. It was the same one that appeared whenever Eric looked kindly on her.

He was an asshole who took pleasure in slighting her, but his presence made Pam happy. As much as she wanted to, Tara couldn't deny her that.

Nora's presence, on the other hand, was a consequence she did not anticipate.

Across the table, she could hear the brunette arguing with her neighbors about the futility of vampire-human relationships.

"All I'm saying is one day you'll wake up and want to drain him."

"Oh, I've had the urge before," Aminah admitted nonchalantly to the astonishment of her husband.

"You have?"

"I'm joking, darling," She soothed kindly before launching back into her argument with Nora. "Honestly, it's vampires like you who make it tougher on the rest of us. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to help children when their parents are convinced you'll eat their young?"

"Ah, the struggles of a mainstreamer," Nora scoffed. "There's nothing I despise more than a toothless vampire."

"Well, what do you know? We actually agree on something," Pam remarked blithely.

"Don't tell me you're siding with her," Aminah exclaimed, her face contorting with equal parts amusement and frustration as she looked at Pam.

Over the past few weeks the two vampires had gotten to know each other more than they had in the years they'd been living as next-door neighbors. A neurologist specializing in pediatrics, Aminah had taken it upon herself to offer Pam and Tara what insight she could on what to expect from Nola's development or lack thereof.

"Workin' an eight to four and drinking bottled synthetic blood won't change who and what we are. We're hunters, killers by our very nature," Pam declared, her practiced Southern accent mellifluous and sharp all at once.

"See, rhetoric like that is why humans will never trust us," Tara said as she tried to coax Nola to drink her meal.

"Humans are right to fear us," Pam continued, licking a stray drop of blood from the corner of her mouth. "And I, for one, prefer it that way."

" So says the bourgeois, happily married mother of one," Nora laughed.

Pam swirled her drink around her mouth before swallowing the jibe.

"Bourgeois, perhaps, but I am neither a wife nor a mother."

"You're caring for a child and you're in a committed relationship," Aminah reminded Pam. "How is that any different?"

Tara sighed, knowing all too well what a touchy subject they were about to get into. Like few others, she knew all about her maker's human youth; how the former debutante spent years dodging marriage proposals from well-to-do merchants her father was keen to establish business partnerships with. Unlike most Victorian women of her status, Pam refused to enter into any union out of expectation or expediency. For her, becoming a wife to a man she didn't love and mother to children she would most likely resent was like contracting an infectious illness - one that would render her completely and utterly immobile.

"Everythang doesn't have to black and white, okay" Tara spoke up impatiently, a noticeable edge to her voice.

"Tara's right," Winston supplied amiably. "Relationships are complex. Not everyone aspires to partake in the lovely tedium that is marriage," He finished with a smile that was soon vanquished by his wife's chastising expression.

"Of course not," Lark agreed quickly. "Although, you have to admit, there is something beautiful about making a formal commitment. "

Pam chortled loudly at the Halfling's remark.

Lark appraised the blonde with ill-disguised distaste. "You know, what you may find funnier is the fact that Tara feels the same way I do. "

Tara's head snapped up at the mention of her name. She barely had a chance to open her mouth to respond before Pam seized on the comment.

"You read her mind, FernGully?"

"No, unlike you, I simply listened to what she had to talk about; dreams, desires, aspirations…that sort of thing. You aught to give it a go sometime."

All at once, the table seemed to quiet. Brown, blue, hazel, and grey eyes all settled on Pam, whose lips slowly curved into an ominous simper.

"Lark," she called out in an almost delightful timbre. "I'll pretend you aren't desperate to have what is mine until the evenin' is over. And you can pretend I'm not an immediate threat to your overall safety and well being. Sound like a plan?"

Without warning, Nola sent her full bottle flying dangerously fast across the table at the Halfling. Hardly missing a beat, Tara reached forward and caught it before turning her attention back to the cranky baby vamp.

"Nola!"

The weepy doe eyed stare she received from the toddler made Tara immediately regret her tone.

"I'm gonna go get her settled down," Tara offered abruptly, sliding her chair back away from the stately dining table. Dinner was quickly turning into a disaster and any opportunity to get away was one she would happily seize.

"I'll come with," Pam said in an exaggeratedly demure cadence that let Tara know she was far from pleased.

Perfect.

"That fucking fairy has got to go," Pam spat the moment they entered the kitchen.

"Hey! Language," Tara exclaimed, shielding Nola's ears to no real effect.

"Fucking fuck language! You should be happy I'm giving her the chance to leave here alive. The kid wants to eat her."

"She does not wanna eat her," Tara said, tickling Nola's tubby stomach. "Do you?"

Nola stopped blathering her muddled toddler rendition of Pam's "fucking fairy" and giggled sweetly.

"What child is going to want to eat their peas when there's a jar of cookies in full view?" Pam asked as she grabbed a sippy cup labeled "B+" from a small wine fridge.

Nola's fangs retracted as soon as she saw pam with her favorite cup. Looking up at Tara with her probing honeydew tinted gaze, she began to speak in the exceedingly curious tone the elder vampire found irresistibly cute.

"Mama get my cup?"

Before Tara could react to the child's words, Pam seized upon them. Head tilted dramatically and hand on hip, she spoke.

"Did she just say what I think she said?"

Tara looked up in surprise to see Pam's tongue pushing against her teeth in the way she only did when she was annoyed enough to eat a small village. The amused vampire nodded tentatively as her maker crossed the kitchen and handed Nola her meal.

"Let me get this straight," Pam began, her slinky Southern affect tinted with disbelief. "I make sure she's fashionably clothed, fed, well manicured and entertained every night while you're off do goodin' with Titania, and she's calling you 'mama'?

Gulping down the remainder of her meal as though she hadn't a trouble in the world, the toddler in question sighed contently as Pam pursed her lips.

"More mama," Nola demanded shoving her empty cup in Pam's direction as if she was a mere scullery maid. Tara bit back the urge to laugh.

"You were sayin'?" She asked raising her dark brows at her conflicted maker.

Taking the cup, Pam shrugged dismissively at her progeny before gently lifting the toddler's chin to looking into her eyes.

"Aww," Pam cooed. "We may be playing house, princess, but I am not your mommy," Pam said sweetly. Turning, she sauntered over to the kitchen sink.

The entire week of Eric's visit, Pam had affected an air of indifference when it came to their unconventional little family. Tara tried to ignore it, tried to remember that actions spoke louder than words. She was done trying.

"You are such a bitch," Tara spat, more incensed with her lover than she could remember in years.

"Language," Pam mimicked, a cheeky expression on her face as she turned around to face her progeny.

"Would it kill you to admit that you care about her? Or us, for that matter?"

Pam pretended to think about the question.

"Yes," She drawled. "I think it would."

"Ladies," a deep male voice sounded as Eric Northman entered the room. "I hate to interrupt your petty lesbian squabble, but I'm bored. Nora and I are leaving.

"Leaving?"

Eric shifted slightly to reveal the beleaguered bleach Blonde who was all but hidden behind his tall figure.

"But you just sat down," Ginger complained, her face the very picture of disappointment.

"Yes, very observant, Ginger," Eric quipped condescendingly. "Pam, you're welcome to join us, of course.

Tara's eyes darted over to her maker, who was smiling the smile she was beginning to hate. She knew instinctively what Pam's response to the invitation would be, but she wasn't about to stick around to hear it.

"Ginger, do me a favor and let everyone know I'm gonna be upstairs with Nola a while. I'll be down when I can."

Nodding at the young vampire's orders, Ginger stepped aside as Tara quickly walked out.

Oookay. So what did you all think? Digging it so far or nah?