A/N: Seeing as how it's my birthday, at least for the next hour, I've decided to give you all a present; an update! I hope you all enjoy it.

I wanted to get this chapter posted before midnight so I'm going to go back and answer reviews after this chapter is posted, and after I eat dinner because I am STARVING!

In the last chapter Sookie, Daniel, and Pam have finally returned after being on the run for 12 years. Eric and Sookie had a bit of tension during their first meeting but have agreed to a truce. For the immediate future, Sookie decided to stay with Ruth, and Ruth's charge, Amelia, Pam decided to stay with Eric, and Daniel decided to find his own place.

As always, I don't own the characters and any remaining mistakes are my own.

Eric's POV

After finally having Sookie and Pam back after so long, I did not want Sookie to leave my sight but I knew I would get nothing accomplished while she was around. If Sookie could not stay with Pam and I, her staying with Ruth was the next best thing.

"Are you sure we should be sending her with Ruth?" Pam asked while watching Ruth pull off.

"She will be fine. Now there are things we must discuss."

"We need to get rid of him first," Pam replied, staring at Daniel while he removed more luggage from their van.

"Don't mind me. It's not like I can hear you or anything," Daniel quipped.

"I will need you to come by tomorrow evening as well," I said to Daniel, through the mounting tension I felt between Pam and him. "We have many things to discuss after Pamela and I catch up."

"Of course, Eric. I wouldn't think to miss it," the other man replied with a tight smile. "Now if you don't mind. Pam, come and get your fucking luggage so I can leave."

"What's the matter, honey, you won't carry in my bags for me?"

"I think we both know you can lift more than I can. Now stop playing these fucking games so I can go. I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to. I have some things I need to do tonight. Or someone," Daniel muttered under his breath.

Without another word, Pam vamped to the van, picked up her luggage and vamped back to the house.

"Hope you make it to your hotel okay you asshole!" Pam called sarcastically before she went inside.

"Bitch," Daniel mumbled before he got into his van and left.

"What have I gotten myself into?" I questioned as I went inside to talk to Pam.

When I entered the foyer I did not see Pam so I followed the sound of her grumbled, "Stupid fucking Daniel" until it led me into the living room. It was then that I saw Pam pouting on the couch. Pam pouting…

"Pamela, are you pouting?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course not," Pam said, as she sat up straighter. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what, exactly?"

"About what a mess everything is. It's going to take time to reacquaint ourselves back into Shreveport and then we need to decide permanent residences and what we're going to do about Sophie-Anne and Sookie. There's just a lot we have to do."

"Why not start with what has got you in such a terrible mood? You were not like this five minutes ago."

"I've spent the past 12 years living exclusively with humans. I think I have a reason to be a little bitchy."

"You have never complained about it before."

"Of course not. It was easier living with them when all we could count on was each other. I just don't know how we fit in Shreveport anymore. Daniel and I have been… close, since we left and I've watched over Sookie like my own daughter. But all of that is about to change. This is the first night we've all been apart."

"So you miss being away from them already?"

"No," Pam answered a bit too quickly.

I could not believe it. My tough as stone Pamela was upset because she missed her telepaths. While I had the urge to tease her with her human like emotions, there were more pressing things to discuss.

"When were you going to tell me about Sookie?"

"What about Sookie?" Pam asked, whipping her head around to face me after the abrupt change in subject.

"Do not play coy, Pam, this is serious. How could you send her into Fangtasia alone smelling like that?"

"Smelling like what, Eric? Fucking say it already!"

"Smelling like a fairy!" I roared.

"What are you talking about?" Pam asked, almost in a whisper.

"You cannot smell it? I find that hard to believe, Pamela, seeing as how fairies are our natural prey."

"I've been with this girl for nearly her entire life. I think I would know if she smelled like a fairy."

"Well apparently not because she came into Fangtasia smelling like a fairy and everyone noticed."

"I don't doubt your sense of smell, Eric, but how is this possible? How have I been around Sookie constantly for 12 years and not have smelled it?"

"Maybe that is part of the problem. Sookie did not smell like a fairy when she was a little girl and I had not noticed the scent until she came into Fangtasia. Maybe you are not able to smell it because you got used to it over time."

"It would make sense if the scent developed gradually but I would still find it hard to believe that I could get used to the smell of a fairy."

"But that has to be the case. Every being in the bar was attracted to her as soon as she stepped foot in Fangtasia. I could barely stand to be around her. She kept talking with Ruth and all I wanted to do was tear into her."

"ERIC!"

"Of course I was not going to," I interrupted her, "but it was trying to be standing next to her when she smelled like that."

"Is that why you were being so snappy to Ruth and Sookie?"

"Well I certainly did not want to spend anymore time shut up in my office with Sookie smelling like bait. I would like to think I have a lot of self control but there is only so much even I can take."

"Well what in the hell are we going to do about her? We can't let her be around other vampires smelling like a fairy."

"There are a couple of fairies that I have a working relationship that I can consult about this. They must know something we can do to diminish her scent seeing as how they work with the public and there is no way they could possibly avoid vampires."

"You've been holding out on me?"

"You know as well as I do that I would not allow you to feed from the fairies so there was no point in you even having contact with them."

Pam's expression became somber and I knew she had something on her mind.

"Seriously, Eric, can you handle being around Sookie?"

"Yes," I said through gritted teeth.

"I need to be sure. You know how important she is to… to our cause. It would be a shame to lose a telepath."

I knew there was more into her concern for Sookie than Pam was letting on but I did not push her. Confronting her about her feelings for Sookie, or even Daniel, would make Pam clam up and not talk to me. Even so, I just had to ask her one more question.

"What happened between you and Daniel?"

The fire I saw flash in Pam's eyes was enough to make a lesser vampire back down, but I was not a lesser vampire, and I was Pam's maker.

"Nothing is going on between me and the telepath."

"Okay then, what had been going on before you returned, and do not lie to me. I do not want to have to use my status as your maker over you but this may be important."

I hated forcing Pam to do something by using my power as her maker but sometimes it was essential when she refused to open up to me, like she was doing now.

"I didn't trust to be away from Sookie while I was wake at night. She still slept some at night but eventually she became used to sleeping during the day. I could tell Sookie was getting anxious, she hated being trapped in the house all the time but I couldn't trust to let her out, especially by herself. I had noticed a few times when I took her shopping that she was a magnet for supes. They would come sniffing around but they didn't even know what they were looking for. I became paranoid and moved around a lot at first, until I discovered they weren't drawn to us because they knew who we were. It was something else. I could never figure out what it was but now I guess we have our answer. Sookie must have some fairy blood running through her veins.

"Anyhow, Daniel was protective of Sookie as well," Pam said, returning to her original train of thought, "and it became harder and harder to find time to feed from someone and sex was completely out of the question. I technically didn't need it to survive and I couldn't risk being away from them any longer than necessary. One day Sookie was especially restless and I didn't want to leave her alone with Daniel. She knew better than to try to leave the house while I was there but all she had to do was pout at Daniel and he'd let her do anything. The hunger wasn't too bad but I could tell that if I waited much longer I would probably kill the person I fed from. I had taken small sips from Daniel throughout the years before we left and he had drunken some of my blood. I would have never taken any blood from him but he offered it. He walked right up to me and slashed his wrist right before my eyes." Pam's eyes glazed over as if she was remembering Daniel doing exactly as she said.

"I couldn't not drink from him. Before I knew it I was straddling his waist and drinking from his wrist. I completely lost myself in the taste and smell of him but when I came back to my senses I jumped off of him. I had completely lost my self-control with him. I was furious and I refused to talk to him for the rest of the night. But then it happened again and again and I could no longer control myself with him than he could with me. We were always careful around Sookie but we couldn't keep our hands off of each other. Every chance we got we were together. It got to the point where Daniel didn't like me feeding from anyone other than him but I couldn't live off of one person alone. Once he got over his jealousy he would go find someone and lure them back to the house while I stayed with Sookie. I would feed from them and send them on their way and then Daniel and I would usually end up fucking. It was a perfect arrangement really. It was two less things I had to leave the house for."

"And now that you are back? How do you plan to handle your relationship with Daniel now?" I asked, curious for Pam's answer.

I was speechless by the fact that Pam had just admitted that she had essentially spent 12 years feeding from, and fucking with, the same man. Pam could barely stand to be with someone for more than a few days and I had assumed that sending Daniel with her would give them both an opportunity to spend some time away from Sookie to take care of their own needs. I had no idea it would push them together to satisfy each other's needs.

"I honestly don't know what Daniel plans to do now that we're back. We were only together because we had no other options. That doesn't seem to be the case now so I assume he'll take the first opportunity to fuck someone else for a change. I knew it would come to this so Daniel and I had been drifting apart a some time now."

"And how does it make you feel to know that he could be fucking someone else right now?" I had to ask because I knew Pam cared more about Daniel than she would admit. Pam strongly believed that having an emotional attachment to anyone was a human emotion, and a weakness, but she could not hide the way she felt about Daniel and Sookie. They meant a lot to her, she just would not admit it.

"I will kill the bitch," Pam growled in answer to my question. I could only smirk. "Do we have anything else we need to discuss?"

"No, why?"

"I'm feeling a little hungry." With that Pam got up and walked out of my house, no doubt in order to search for Daniel.

With Pam gone I was left to think about how I wanted to proceed with my plans. It became apparent that I would have to call Claude, Claudine, and Claudette. Three fairies I had known for a long time, and were easily accessible due to the fact that they lived in the human world. I had known their grandfather, Niall from numerous battles in the past and we had formed a camaraderie based on respect, rather than friendship. I would have to tread lightly when talking to the fairies. All fairies were either related in some way, or they were mortal enemies. If they had any indication that I had one of their own in my possession, they would want to meet her. If Sookie were related to them, they would want to take her, and if she were not related to them, they would want to kill her. I did not plan on losing Sookie either way so it was far better for me to hide the fact that she existed.

I went into my office and picked up the phone.

"Hooligans, how may we service you?" a seductive voice asked.

"I need to speak with one of the triplets."

"They're all a bit busy right now," the fairy on the other end of the phone replied tensely.

"One of them better get un-busy very quickly," I replied. The Cranes always had a fairy answer the phone incase supes called the main line and it was clear this fairy knew I was a supe. Exactly whom she thought she was dealing with, I did not know, but she was about to find out if I did not get my answers soon.

"Give me the phone Caitlin or you'll piss him off," I heard Claudette say before she answered the phone. "Northman, how nice to hear from you." Coming from any other fairy I may have thought her greeting was sarcastic but I knew Claudette took a liking to me.

"Claudette. How is business?"

"Oh the usual, can't complain. What's new with you? You seeing anyone?"

I could not help but to laugh. Claudette was a shameless flirt where I was concerned.

"Now Claudette, you know your grandfather would be out for my head if he knew I encouraged your flirting."

I heard her long sigh through the phone. "They never let us girls have any fun. A male fairy wants to sleep with someone outside of our race? Sure, why not? A female fairy wants to have a little fun with a certain vampire and she's put on house arrest indefinitely."

"They are afraid you would get hurt cavorting with a vampire," I joked. If I could stay on Claudette's good side, she may give me the information I needed without alerting anyone else.

"But you wouldn't hurt me, would you Eric?"

"I would try my hardest not to but you know how it is between vampires and fairies."

"Yes, I suppose I do." She paused. "So what did you call to talk about? Not that I don't love hearing your voice, but you've never made a social call and I can't imagine this time would be any different."

"I needed some advice about-"

"The great Eric Northman needs some advice from a little fairy like me? I never thought I'd see the day!" Claudette interrupted.

"Yes well, no one is all knowing. As I was saying, I am afraid that there may be a fairy in the area and my vampires are getting rather distracted by his or her scent. Is there any way to dilute a fairy's scent?"

"A fairy?" Claudette asked, but I could hear the change in the tone of her voice. This was not going to be easy.

"Yes," I replied hesitantly.

"Why exactly do you need to dilute a fairy's scent? I can't imagine one loose fairy could distract the entire vampire population of Area 5. Unless of course you have a fairy and want to hide 'his or her' scent in order to keep it hidden."

"Of course not."

"In any case, you know I can't tell you anything about the Fae. We are an extremely private group and I certainly cannot go around telling all of our secrets to vampires, no matter how attractive they are," Claudette purred.

"Is there not anything I can do to change your mind?"

"Oh honey, there's a lot you can do to change my mind."

"Not sexually, Claudette. I would be dead before I could even use the information you would give me."

"Fine. Hmm… what else could you give me that would make it worth giving up Fae secrets… OH! I got it! I want to come to your bar on the night of the reveal!"

"WHAT?!"

"Oh yes! It's been so long since I've been allowed to roam free and I would so love to see you. My grandfather won't do anything to you for simply letting me into your bar, and I would love to see how the humans react to the vampires."

Claudette was easily the best fairy to bargain with since she genuinely liked me but I could not let her get close to Sookie, could I?

"I do not know if that is a good idea."

"Well too bad because that's the only thing I want. You promise to let me in and I'll tell you how to hide a fairy's scent."

"Fine," I groaned. I knew Claude and Claudine would not tell me anything so it was either Claudette or no one.

"Great. You can't hide a fairy's scent," Claudette said, shocking me while she sounded bored.

"WHAT!?" I yelled for the second time in our short conversation. I could not believe I had agreed to her terms and she could not help me.

"I said you can't hide a fairy's scent," Claudette called louder, then continued. "Only a fairy can mask their own scent. If you have a fairy running around stinking up the place it's because they want to be scented."

"What if they cannot hide their scent?"

"I've never heard of a fairy that couldn't hide their scent," Claudette laughed.

"Let me rephrase that. What if the fairy does not know how to hide their own scent?"

"Northman, do you know of a fairy that I don't? You know grandfather likes to keep all of the Fae accounted for. What fairy would be running around without at least knowing the basics? Unless the fairy didn't grow up around the Fae. Unless the fairy didn't know it was a fairy."

Damn. For as carefree as Claudette seemed, she was smart.

"I am sure it is nothing like that. But assuming I run into this fairy, how do I get it to mask itself?"

"Alright, you don't want to tell me what's really going on, fine. I'll at least give you some information to help that rogue fairy. It's got to be one of ours if you called us. I can't imagine you'd be stupid enough to call about a water fairy," Claudette said. Honestly I did not know what kind of fairy Sookie would have come from but it was a pretty good guess that she came from the Sky Fae if her family's death by drowning was anything indication.

"A fairy's scent is tied to his or her emotions," Claudette continued. "If the fairy is feeling really strongly, its scent will be more prominent. The first step to masking a fairy's scent is to control its emotions. Covering a lot of skin is also a way young fairies try to hide their scent before they fully learn how to mask it. If it's a fairy bastard, rubbing lemon scents on it's body would help mask the fairy scent, but this only works for the bastards since you already know lemon would hurt a full blooded fairy. To learn how to mask its scent, the fairy's just going to have to work on it. Meditating worked a lot for Claudine and me, Claude never really got into it. Every fairy is different so experimenting and practice is key. I know that doesn't help much but it's all I can tell you. I've never had to train another fairy on how to mask its scent and I can't go asking around, it would raise too many questions."

"I appreciate everything you have told me."

"Yeah, yeah. You're lucky I like you. Now don't forget, I expect an invite to your party!" Claudette called into the phone before she hung up.

Glad to have that conversation over with my next call was to Ruth. She might be able to help me mask Sookie's scent and it would help to have her know what she was dealing with.

"Hello?"

"Sookie?"

"Eric? Do you want to talk to Miss Ruthie?" Even after all this time I found it endearing that Sookie still called Ruth 'Miss Ruthie.'

"Yes, in a minute. How are you?"

"Better. I made a friend!" I could practically hear Sookie's smile through the phone and I found that I was smiling in return.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, her name is Amelia and she's a witch. Isn't that so cool?! She's staying with Miss Ruthie and she's so nice."

I had met Amelia on more than one occasion and while I did not doubt that she would be a loyal friend to Sookie. It was Amelia actions that had me worried about her effect on Sookie. Amelia had tried more than once to get me into bed but I would never bed a witch, nevertheless one that worked for me.

"Op, Amelia's calling me. You want to talk to Miss Ruthie now?"

"Yes, please." I was pleased to see that Sookie was not as temperamental as she had been earlier. At least Amelia was serving to put Sookie in a better mood.

"Eric, I can't say that I expected your call but I'm not surprised," Ruth said once she got on the phone.

"I am calling with some news."

"Oh?"

"I trust that you will tell this to no one, not even Amelia or your daughter, Mary."

"Of course not. Conversations held in confidentiality shall remain confidential."

"Good. I have discovered something about Sookie that I think you should know. Sookie, is at least in some way, part Fae."

"How did you figure this out?"

"I could smell her when she walked into Fangtasia, along with every other vampire."

"Interesting."

"You do not sound surprised."

"Well of course not. All humans with special abilities are connected to the Fae since there is no other way to have a Halfling. You can't have a half vampire and half human any more than you can have a half were child. But the fact that you could smell it on her, that is what is interesting. Usually their smell in more prominent in their blood. You obviously can't smell the Fae in Daniel but his blood would taste richer than a human's. With Sookie, you can smell the Fae without an open wound?"

"Yes."

"As I said, interesting."

"What can we do about this? Sookie needs to be able to mask her scent. I called Claudette and she gave me minimal information."

"I know a lot of things, Eric, but I must admit, even my knowledge is limited when it comes to the Fae. What was Claudette able to tell you and what price did you have to pay for the information?"

After giving Ruth a rundown of my conversation with Claudette, she was silent for a moment.

"I will try to work with Sookie and I'll see if I can come up with some witchcraft to help mask her smell until she can control it."

"Thank you. Anything you can do will be appreciated."

"Ah, I don't need your appreciation, Eric. You know I'd be happy to help you in any way possible. Especially when it comes to Sookie."

Ruth and I disconnected but I remained sitting at my desk trying to decide the best course of action. Making sure Sookie smelled like lemons would not only mask her scent but also ensure the other Fae stayed away from her. I would need to make sure that Sookie smelled like lemons at all times. With at least some small plan in mind, I set out to the store. It was a weekend so stores were open a bit later than usual and I took advantage of this by immediately heading to a store that sold body scents.

Flying was faster than any car but it would be difficult to fly with shopping bags so I had to drive. I went to my garage and jumped in the nearest car, a black Range Rover. I drove straight to a shopping promenade to find a store that sold body products. I was clueless about what humans bought for their skin but anything that had a lemon scent was going home with me.

As soon as I stepped foot into a "Bath & Bodyworks" I was bombarded with an eager sales associate.

"Hi, do you need help finding anything?" a sales associate named Rosie asked.

I would have to have been an idiot not to hear the seduction in her voice. Unfortunately, I was there for one purpose and it was not to play with the human girl.

"Could you point me in the direction of anything lemon scented?"

"You're into lemon scent?" Rosie asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.

"Uh, not for myself. It is for my… girlfriend."

"Oh, it's that way." Rosie seemed to lose her manners at the mention of a girlfriend but thankfully I could fix that.

"Take me to the lemon scents," I said, glamouring her.

"Right this way, sir."

She led me to a section of the store that had lemon scented candles, body wash, lotion, soap, perfume, and anything else you needed that could be scented with lemon. I wanted all of it but my arms would not be able to carry it all.

"Give me your cart," I glamoured the nearest customer. Cart in hand I proceeded to empty the shelves of all of the lemon scented products.

The checkout process was slow considering the cashier had to ring up each product. I paid no attention to the price as I handed the cashier my American Express black card.

After the bill was taken care of, I pushed the cart to my car and proceeded to load my car with lemon scented everything.

On the way home I stopped by a supermarket and bought lemons. I figured if rubbing lemon scents on Sookie's body would help mask her scent, surely if she ate lemons she would smell like lemons from the inside out. Since this was the only thing I could do to help Sookie mask her scent, I wanted to make sure I did all I could. As soon as I arrived at my house I began unloading my purchases. I had decided that some of the items would stay at my house, some would go with Pam, some would go with Daniel, some would go with Ruth, and some would go with Sookie. That way, no matter where Sookie went, she would be able to cover her scent with lemons.

In the hours before dawn I finished some paper work that needed to be done for Fangtasia, and talked strategy with some vampires about the reveal. When it was getting close to dawn I decided to call it an early night and head to my room. No matter where I slept I made sure that my real sleeping chambers were hidden from sight. After I descended into my room, I undressed, and laid in my bed.

It was then that I really began to think about everything that had happened. Seeing Sookie for the first time definitely took me by surprise. The tomboy was still there in Sookie's attitude but her appearance had changed considerably.

Her blonde hair was long and looked silky in the light. She still managed to maintain a tan complexion even though she seemed to keep the hours of a vampire. Her figure was definitely something other women would envy and her beautiful blue eyes completely lit up her face. Sookie was by far the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, and despite our less than stellar reunion, I found that I was inexplicably drawn to her.

My last thought before I was dead for the day was that I was actually attracted to Sookie. The thought was unexpected and shocking but I could think of it no more. I was already out.

A/N: Ooh, Eric likes Sookie? What?! :P

Admittedly the story is progressing a bit slower than I would have liked but I don't like writing chapters that are 20 pages long and that will keep switching POVs. In the next chapter we'll hear from Sookie and properly meet Amelia and then we'll move along to their meeting. From then on it's on to the reveal!

Since it's my birthday for another hour, birthday love would be much appreciated, as would reviews… ;)

As always I'll work on the next Cop-Out update and then the next update for BOE will be after that. So… See you at the next update!