Disclaimer: not mine, etc, etc, blah blah blah, you know the deal.

Thank you, wonderful reviewers! This is just a filler chapter, so Eric will be in the nest one…has lots of Pam-flirting, though, so read on! :k

Fortunately, I came back to consciousness again before anyone realized I had lost it, and after picking up the fallen rose and envelope, I quickly went back to my room. After firmly shutting the door behind me, I sank to my knees and struggled to keep from hyperventilating. This whole business with vampires was going to run me into an early grave, honestly. As my mind raced with the possibilities of what happened, I was dimly aware of my breathing speeding up and black dots threatening to cover my vision again—with an effort, I started to breathe slowly and the spots receded.

My mind was thankfully distracted from the pressing matter of Eric knowing about my dream by the anger I was starting to feel at him not only sending me a payment, but twice the amount we had discussed. The gall of that man! Did my word and deal mean nothing to him? And to give me twice as much—I felt like some sort of bought woman, and gritted my teeth in anger. What little money I had, I'd earned honestly, and I would not start accepting charity now. I resolved to give the money back when I nest saw him, which further eased my breathing—finally, something I could control.

Then another pressing matter occurred to me and filled me with cold dread. Sophie-Anne. How was it that I lucked out to have the one cousin who would have an affair with the one vampire that could do me the most damage besides Eric, and have that vampire visit at the same time Hadley was? Now, not only did I have to watch out for myself, lest the power-hungry vampire kidnap me, but I also had to keep the telepath-pregnant, ex-lover of that vampire hidden, too! Well, I thought, no use crying over spilt milk- I would do what I had to in order to keep myself and Hadley out of Shreveport, and really, how hard could that be? She was pregnant, for Pete's sake!

With a new resolution and calming breaths, I gathered my strength of will and marched down to breakfast. In the kitchen, Gran was bustling about the stove already, and turned to give me a smile as I walked in. "Good morning, Sookie, it is nice to see you up so early. Give me a hand, please?" I complied and soon we were working side-by-side making delicious crispy omelets, bacon, and preparing the table. About half an hour later, a sleepy and disheveled Hadley lumbered into the room and plopped down at the table pretty irreverently for a pregnant woman.

"Good morning," she said, wrinkling her nose, "What's for breakfast?"

Gran gave her a fond smile. "I remember how omelets and bacon were your favorite in high school, so I made those, dear."

Hadley grimaced and made a falsely apologetic face. "Now that I'm pregnant, that kind of food makes me a bit ill. Do you have any French toast instead?"

Gran looked concerned, completely disregarding the fact that her perfectly good breakfast would now be going to waste. "Of course, darling, I'll make some right away. Is there anything at all else that you would like?"

Hadley gave me an evil smirk that only I could see. "Well, my back is a bit achy…maybe Sookie could fetch me a pillow?"

I resisted the urge to bark and went out to find one under Gran's expectant gaze. This was going to be a long week, now that Hadley had revealed the nastiness she had been hiding yesterday.

Just as I had predicted, the next three days were hell. Gran, oblivious to the fact that she was being taken advantage of, adhered to Hadley's every whim, and made me do the same. While Gran usually had a backbone of steel, sometimes she was a little too soft on family—which surprised me, as she was far from blind to my and Jason's faults. Sometimes she looked at Hadley with so much pity, I wondered if she knew something—but like always, I refrained from reading her thoughts out of respect for her.

When on the fourth day of Hadley's arrival, I had to work a full-day shift, I had never been happier to don my uniform from Merlotte's. After fixing my hair and applying light makeup as always, I quickly got my keys and almost ran to my car lest Hadley figure out some new absurd errand I had to run for her. Thankfully, I made it without incident and got to Merlotte's in record speed.

As I opened the door to the bar, I spied Sam in the corner and waved my hand to get his attention to my presence. He almost looked relieved and greeted me warmly. I was still a bit miffed at him for tattling to my brother about my going to Fangtasia—but he looked so hopeful and relieved, I decided to forgive him just this once and gave him a hug. I realized this was a mistake when he stiffened, growled inaudibly, and forcefully led me to his office by the arm.

Exasperated, and knowing where this was going, I interrupted him before he got one word out, "Shut up, Sam. I know what you are about to say and trust me, you would regret it. I know what I smell like, but really, it is not what you think, not that it's any of your business. My life is my own, and I'm not going to let you dictate it in some misguided attempt to save me from the Big Bad Vampires. So you can take those little prejudices of yours and stuff them where the sun don't shine."

Sam looked surprised at my outburst—I may have vented some of my frustration with Hadley onto him, but still looked abashed. "I was only worried about you, Sook," he muttered softly, looking at the floor and rubbing the back of his neck like a misbehaving child. "You were nowhere to be seen and I knew you'd gone to Fangtasia…you can't blame me for that. What if those vamps had done something to you?"

I softened—after all, he just looked too adorable not to forgive. "All right, but did you have to get my brother into this? I mean, what did you think to accomplish? That Jason would kill the vampires with his 'stunning good looks' or bore them to death with his selfishness?" Sam looked embarrassed and I continued, "Besides, it's actually the opposite of what you think. Eric actually saved me from a rogue werewolf that night…"

Sam blanched, and grabbed my arm, demanding, "You saw a werewolf? Why didn't you tell me?"

I didn't appreciate being grabbed like that, and replied testily, "Well, excuse me for being a tad preoccupied with the wounds on my back."

Sam paled my words. "What? Were you bitten?"

Then he turned me around and lifted my shirt to examine my back. "There aren't any scars…"

I answered softly, "Eric gave me some of his blood to heal them."

Sam hesitated, and pulled my shirt back down; not without kissing the skin there, though, sending some goose bumps over my back. "I suppose that's good that he healed you, although I don't like you being bonded to him…"

I turned around, a little flushed. "You know about it? How does it work?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I know just the basics. Mostly, aside from increased strength, speed, and…um…sex drive," here he blushed, "you share an emotional bond and he can find you anywhere." Okay, nothing I didn't know before. He continued. "Also, if you consecutively share blood three times in a row, then it will never fade and you will be bonded forever."

Well, Eric did forget to mention that little detail. This was my chance to find out about the dreams, so I asked him, "What about dreams?"

Sam looked startled, "That's very rare. Basically, sometimes the human has some vague dreams about the vampire, but usually doesn't remember them. Why?" He peered at me suspiciously, "Did you have them?"

I bluffed, "Just once. But you mentioned emotions; is it possible that he could steal my thoughts, too?"

Sam looked doubtful. "I never heard of that happening. In any case, watch out for him and if he does anything, tell me, and we'll figure it out. Just try to stay away from the vampires from now on."

He honestly looked worried, so I lied again, "All right. I'll try." And I would; I just didn't think that they would stay away from me.

Sam didn't look convinced, but I left his office anyways with a little wave of my hand. Fortunately, the rest of the day passed pretty normally for a change, and I, in between worrying about the stronger bond and Hadley's child, and blocking the random thoughts of customers, had not been so relaxed in days. When seven o'clock rolled around, I was much calmer and very satisfied with the sheer normalcy of that day.

I should have known better than to think that when Pam arrived in all her pale glory at the doors. Making sure to catch my eye, she deliberately made her way to my section and sat down, seemingly oblivious to a full bar of suddenly drooling men. She was wearing a short form-fitting business suit, and sky-high heels—this must be serious.

I delayed seeing her as long as I could, taking orders at all the tables except hers—but this only gave me twenty minutes, and soon I had no choice but to make my way over to her, notebook in hand and nervous smile in place. "Hi, welcome to Merlotte's, can I take your order, please?" I asked, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Unfortunately, my pretend-to-ignore-the-problem-so-it-will-go-away tactic didn't work, and backfired on me rather hard. The first sign I got that something was wrong was when, after frowning a bit, her eyes lit up with mischief and her lips curved into a lascivious smirk. She decided to play my game, only definitely not in any way I expected.

Looking at me up and down and undressing me with her eyes, she licked her lips slowly and deliberately and said in a sultry tone, "Honey, I would love an order of that delicious ass of yours with a double entrée of those magnificent breasts and a side of your sassy mouth. What I would really like, though, would be to take you home with me and make you scream all night long. …However, since I doubt you would appreciate that, I suppose I will have to settle for a glass of wine. Red Merlot, please." Her words were clearly enunciated and, if the sudden barrage of graphic images of us together was any indication, very much heard by the bar.

Mortified, I closed my eyes and said, "Coming right up," before fleeing to the kitchen. Inside, I steeled myself, and, after pouring a glass of Merlot, walked back out. This time, I was prepared, and strengthened my shields before any of the dirty thoughts permeated my mind.

"Here you go," I said unceremoniously and, after seeing that my section did not need me, plopped down across from her. "Now, what do you want?" She arched a delicate eyebrow at my gracelessness and emphasized her own poise by crossing one leg daintily over the other and lifting the wine glass to her lips as if to drink it. Setting it back down, she replied with some of the old lust, "I thought I just established that just now," before turning more somber. "It's actually a matter of what Eric wants. What with Sophie-Anne visiting for another two days, he needs to make sure you and your cousin stay away and do not get in her sight. Seeing as he is currently under suspicion because of another sheriff accusing him of treason, he believes his phones and mail are now being monitored, so he sent me to make sure you understand. If the queen finds out about you, she will have no problem with kidnapping you away to her court. If she knows about your cousin, she might do the same to her."

I interrupted her, "How do you know about my cousin?"

Pam smirked. "Eric knows a lot of things. This one, he got in the records and recognized the name from a long-ago conversation with the Queen."

I almost slumped in relief. So he didn't get it from me, but from spying—"Are you saying he spies on my?" I cried in outrage.

Pam looked exasperated. "Silly girl, he needs to keep track of what happens in his area and to his favorite telepath. That doesn't mean he spies on you."

I nodded. "Okay. What else did he want? I'm sure he wouldn't send you all the way here just to tell me to stay away."

She looked surprised at my basic deduction skills and then gave a nod. "You are right. He also wanted me to tell you that he looked for the scent of the Were that attacked you—from what he could tell, it was only a rogue, but we think you should be careful just in case it was a planned attack."

I looked doubtfully at her, "You think some Weres might be after me? Why would they do that? They don't even know about me."

Pam considered my words, and said, "Still, be careful, you have proven much too amusing to die on us now." With those comforting words, she rose to leave.

I muttered, "Um, thanks. I'll guess I won't be seeing you then," I added hopefully.

She laughed. "Oh no, you can be sure that you will. Just not for the next two days. Until then, darling." Then, just to make some more trouble, she skipped to my side, planting a big cold kiss on my cheek, and walked away, swaying her hips. I could almost hear every man in the bar glancing from me to her to me again, exhaling heavily. I shook my head at her antics and got back to work.

It was pretty late when I got home, and the porch lights were off. Confused and with a slight feeling of dread after Pam's warning, I got the heavy flashlight and pepper spray from the car and made my way to the house. Unlocking and creeping open the front door, I flicked the light switch. No one was there. Making my way silently to the kitchen, I turned on the light and blinked at the sudden glare.

On the kitchen table was a small note saying,

Sookie, dear;

Hadley just went into an early labor today, and I had to call Jason to take her to the hospital, as I didn't want to bother you. When you read this, please come here, I think Hadley could do to have a friend her age there with her.

Love, Gran.

Exhaling in relief and laughing a little at my paranoia, I put on some more comfortable clothing and, taking some essentials just in case, left the house.

Ah-hah! I got you in the end, didn't I?

Anyways, this was a chapter with very little Eric, mainly to just fill out the plot a little. In the future, you probably shouldn't expect me to update as often, I just had this one written out already. Next time I update will probably be sometime next week—of course, everything depends on the amount of reviews I get, so review, review, review! (please…) :k

Thanks, all! :k