This is a big 'un! Hopefully that makes up for the super long delay? Hehe. Thank you for your reviews, I heart them big time. Hope you guys like it! CH/AB own all this stuff.

EPOV

I woke up the next morning in a totally satisfied haze with Junior at halfmast as opposed to his usual rip roarin' ready to go morning status. Before I even opened my eyes, I reached my arm out to locate Sookie in the huge bed. After a few pats, I realized I was the only one in it and grunted in disappointment. Another minute and I sighed, pushing myself up onto my elbows. I blinked a few times, taking in the room before cracking an 'Aww how cute' shit-eating grin.

She had tidied up the mess we'd made the night before and I knew this because it no longer looked like I'd be robbed by blind burglars. We had busted into the room in full speed ahead mode, all over each other, bumping into stands and knocking over suitcases, lamps, you name it. We'd even collided with the desk, I remembered, rubbing absently at what was sure to be a record breaking contusion on my thigh.

You would have never known it now, though, by looking at the room. She had righted the lamps, pushed the desk back, even stuck my things back into my suitcase. Oddly enough, I didn't feel the urge to take an inventory and see if she'd swiped anything. She was unlike anyone I'd ever met and while I'll admit I didn't know her, I did know she wasn't a thief. Or a liar. No way can anybody fake the kind of sincerity I'd gotten from her over the couple of days I'd known her.

I also knew she was amazing in bed. .Zing. We had been in every position I knew about and I'm pretty sure we invented a couple. She certainly was not shy but not in a porn star 'what-do-you-want-my-name-to-be' kind of way. Even with her boldness in bed, she was genuine. Sincere. Just thinking about it had Junior getting a little taller and I smoothed my hand over him unconsciously through the blankets. She'd said 'one night only' and we'd sure as hell made it count. Although I found it hard to believe that she would stick to her 'wham bam never see your face again' plan after the utter awesomeness that had gone down last night. I threw the blankets to the side and hoisted myself up, stopping to grab some boxers out of a suitcase on my way to the bathroom. Plan was to brush my teeth and then call her room to see if she wanted to grab breakfast. I remembered the number from the night I'd carried her up after the bar. I made short work of the whole toothbrush scene and headed out to grab the phone off of the nightstand by the bed.

I dialed the number, let it ring about seven times, then hung up. Maybe she'd walked down to her room and gone back to bed. I so should have gotten her cell phone number last night but I was a little preoccupied. Sighing, I meandered around the room while I thought of a new plan. Maybe I could go to her room and knock? Yeah, and run the risk of looking stalkerish. I mean, I was past the point of pretending I wasn't a stalker when it came to Sookie but she didn't need to know the extent of my tendencies. Hm. I pulled the curtains open, hoping some sun would aid the thinking process.

Unfortunately, my run of good luck as far as English weather was concerned had apparently run out. The sky was a bland, dreary gray color and there was a steady drizzle raining down. Damn rain, I always found it to be an instant depressor. I studied the parking lot, watching people with no umbrellas run toward the building from cars while those with umbrellas took their time. There was a taxi pulled up against the curb near the entrance with a doorman loading suitcases in the trunk. Two big black umbrellas hovered near the rear door for a moment.

When one of the umbrellas closed, I realized Sookie was the person underneath it. She exchanged a quick hug with Amelia (who was Umbrella #2) after she'd tossed it in the backseat, then jumped in herself. Amelia stood on the curb waving as the taxi pulled out and my heart attacked the inside of my chest. She was leaving. Correction: She had left.

She'd been serious on the way back to the hotel when she gave me the whole spiel about how her 'one night only' plan was genius in it's simplicity. She'd confessed that she was no good at relationships (not that she was suggesting we would have a relationship, she clarified) anyway but with the connection she felt with me that last night would be a, what had she called it? An X-Rated Cinderella Story. I'd had a hard time keeping up with her last night, what with all my blood circulating in my pelvic region as opposed to my brain, but I was pretty sure that was what she'd said.

I stood staring out the window long after the cab was gone and Amelia had disappeared from the curb. She'd really left. I just couldn't believe it. No goodbye, nothing. Not even a note. Wait, was there a note? I spun around, eyes scanning every surface of the room but finding nothing. Even after a more thorough check of the area, I found nothing.

I shouldn't have felt as hollow as I did. It definitely was not the first time I'd had a one night stand, not by a long shot. At the same time, though, I wasn't really the heartless player type either and even if I hadn't liked Sookie as much as I did, I still would have felt a little off about it. I thought for a little while, sitting on the edge of the bed like a zombie, and then grabbed the phone again.

It rang twice this time before Amelia's voice chirped on the other end. She was entirely too chipper, in my opinion. I tried my best to be as cheerful as possible, asking her if she had any contact information for Sookie. The wind was majorly let out of my sails when she told me the only way they interacted was on some fan website. It took a while to extract the details from her and I realized once she'd filled me in that she was embarrassed. It was a fanfiction website, where they both wrote stories about the show I was on and the book series it was based from. I thought it was kind of sweet and harassed her until she gave me Sookie's pen name, which gave me a serious case of the OMGs; she wrote as EricsNumberOne and didn't that just inflate my ego to ten times it's normal size.

After wrapping up the conversation with Amelia, I got my laptop out and hot-fingered it over to the website. Pulling Sookie's profile up, I read the details and clicked a few links she had listed with captions naming the corresponding stories. The links were all to various pictures of me and the actress who portrays the leading lady of the series. I was too enthralled (and relieved that I wasn't the only one with a gold card to the stalkeratzi club) to pass up on reading the stories she'd written and I was shocked to find how good she was. And creative, too. Some of the scenarios she had dreamed up for the characters were so original, it was a shame she hadn't written them with her own characters. She definitely could have been published, in my opinion.

I was also scandalized (read: turned on) to see that she had written some sex scenes, especially when I realized that we had done a couple of the moves she'd described. I was all kinds of hyped up that I'd actually acted out some of her fantasies with her but that didn't help my current sitch. Which was me, alone, in a hotel room. I had no idea how to find her. Amelia thought she lived in 'Mississippi or Louisiana or Alabama or something. One of those southern states,' she'd said, which was oh so freaking helpful.

I didn't realize I'd spent the entire day reading her stories until I glanced up and saw that the sky through the window was totally dark. I was too bummed to give a shit, so I just ordered up some room service and continued reading. When I realized I could leave comments on the chapters she'd written, I actually fist pumped in my hotel room. Yes, yes I did. Then I signed up for an account and got to work.

SPOV

I was a total wreck on the way to the airport. The poor cab driver probably thought I was schizophrenic. Every two or three minutes I would order him to stop, only to tell him never mind as soon as he hit the brakes. I wanted so badly to turn around and go back up to Eric's room for one last kiss. God, the night before had been mind-blowing. I hadn't even known sex could be like that! And I had been as brazen as all get out, I blushed at the thought of some of the things I had done. And we were like animals, crashing into his room like there was no tomorrow, demolishing furniture left and right. I was pretty sure my spine was bruised, like the actual bones, not just the skin of my back. And there was a good five minute stretch where I'm almost positive I was speaking in tongues. Speaking of tongues.. Again with the blushing.

My flight was miserable, with me alternately turning beet red as I remembered bits and pieces of being with Eric and tearing up with the overwhelming sense of loss, which was stupid really since I had never technically had him in the first place. Further proof why it was better for me to have my 'no relationship' policy. Especially with Eric Effing Northman, who I had been obsessed with for more years than I cared to count. And especially not with the strength of the connection I felt to him after only a weekend. Yep, leaving like I did was the best policy. People in my family get too attached for their own good, which I had learned the hard way. Definitely didn't want to go that route.

When I finally landed back in Louisiana, Lafayette was waiting for me by the baggage claim. He was holding a cardboard sign that read 'My Bitch' and wearing one of his signature smirks. I simultaneously cracked up and burst into tears, which he absorbed in stride. Once we got my luggage, I realized that I had left my car in extended parking and didn't need a ride. When I reminded him, he told me he had gotten a taxi to the airport because he didn't want me to 'get home to nobody' and I told him how much I loved his guts.

He drove us home, which was awesome since I was utterly exhausted. Not too exhausted to fill him in on my weekend of woe, though. Or 'whoa', depending on how you looked at it. Lala went with 'whoa,' of course. He was impressed that I'd done it and refused to listen to my self pity, reminding me that a clean break was best in that situation. It's not like it could ever work out anyway. I mean, how in the hell could Eric have a successful acting career in Bon Temps? And I'd just bought my house, there was no way I was leaving it and relocating. Not that there was a chance of us being together anyway, especially since I don't do relationships. Yeah, I had to remind myself of that thought a couple hundred times over the next few weeks. Not to mention that I was sad at leaving Amelia, too. I'd been surprised by how well we'd gotten along and I was going to miss her sarcastic ass being around. Although, we still at least had the fanfiction connection and could chat to our hearts content in the fan chatroom. Plus with her dad being filthy rich, she could always come visit me some day. I hoped that we would be able to see each other again and not drift away like some friends do.

Getting home was like slipping into a pair of favorite jeans. Everything was familiar; my friends, my house, Gran. And everybody was waiting for me at home that first day, too, with barbecue galore. I got back into my regular routine immediately but couldn't shake the hollow feeling I had going about my daily activities. It was especially challenging because we'd put a hold on all training at work, so I was reporting to the local office every day and had no plans to travel for a while. And then major shit started happening and it was like a domino effect.

Gran fell and broke her hip at her new apartment. Since she didn't have anybody to take care of her, she moved in with me. I only argued with her for four days before she finally agreed. Then Lala's landlord got busted for selling whatever kind of drugs he sold and next thing you know, he was out on his butt. So I argued with him until he agreed to move in with me too. I had plenty of space, honestly the entire second floor and attic of my house were not being used for anything except scary ass sounds in the middle of the night. I really only used the kitchen, den, bathroom and one bedroom on the first floor. So when I finally talked him into moving in, he took up res on the second floor. Gran was in the guest bedroom on the first floor after adamantly refusing to take the master back over. Which I have to admit I was thankful for. I know it was my house, but I would have given the room up for her out of respect for her as a person and for her age.

Shortly after the three of us got into a routine, Tara's crazy ass mother threw her out and she showed up on our doorstep one afternoon. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world to have her there as well. Two weeks later, as fate would have it, a fire broke out in Sam Merlotte's apartment complex in Shreveport. Which is where Jason and Jessica had just moved. Which left them without a place too. I can't say I was too crazy about Jason moving in, only because I wasn't yet convinced that he'd changed his ways and that it would work out between him and Jessica. But seeing the two together, it was hard to be pessimistic about their future. They just seemed so in love. So they took the attic, which Jason and Hoyt did a lot of refinishing on. Realizing my life had spun out of control and feeling bad for him being the odd man out, I offered the last bedroom on the second floor to Hoyt. He immediately took me up on the offer, more than ready to get away from his Mama. I can't say I blamed him for it, either. Bottom line is, within two months of my return from England, we had turned into a really fucked up, dysfunctional (but ultimately happy) Bon Temps Brady Bunch.

Now, with that many adults living in one home (regardless of how big that home might be) there are bound to be some issues. So we established what we dubbed 'Family Meetings' and held them every Sunday afternoon. The first meeting was where we figured out rent and whatnot. And despite my best efforts not to, I was making a huge profit with everyone paying what I considered to be far too much per month. They were all adamant, though, and got insulted when I tried to lower the rent. Gran paid less but that was because she made less and I refused to hear otherwise from her.

We also had to buy a second refrigerator and a couple of other new appliances (like a spare coffee pot - I went homicidal one morning when I didn't have my brew and Tara came home with a Keurig that evening), which we all pitched in for. Grocery shopping was done twice a week. We kept a community list on one of the fridges; when you emptied something, or got a craving for something, you wrote it on the list. Going twice a week meant we never had to get too huge of a grocery haul, and it kept us stocked pretty well. We made a rotating schedule for that, putting two of us on each trip. As far as cleaning, we obviously kept up after ourselves but in addition scheduled a monthly cleaning date. Everybody was expected to be there with gloves on and we gave the whole a house a thorough once over. We also got a pool put up out back. Nothing fancy, just an above ground five footer, but the boys built a pretty kick ass deck off of the back porch that surrounded the pool on one side and gave us a place to lay out in the sun and grill and whatnot.

Now I don't mean to make this sound like it happened overnight or without any growing pains. My life breezed past over the next ten months during which all of this stuff was established, ironed out, changed and reborn. And there were more than a few occasions where one or two of us had tried our damnedest to kill each other. But Gran kept us in check for the most part, settling into her role as Mother Hen and thriving in it. Her hip healed perfectly and she became the mother figure a lot of us had grown up without.

At first, I was a little overwhelmed and pretty freaked out as my friends started invading my space one by one. I had always been pretty independent, though I did love each and every one of them, and losing that personal space was hard to adjust to. But I knew they would all do it for me if they could and once I got used to it, I couldn't remember what life had been like without them up my ass 24/7. It was nice to come home to people who cared about you and share a meal with them. And compliment them on their cooking (Lala). And bitch at them for stealing your make up (Lala). And accusing them of trying on your clothes (Lala). What I guess I'm trying to say is, it was nice to have a family. And that's exactly what we were.

The only thing missing was Eric, who I stalked relentlessly online. I could not stop thinking about him or reliving that night we had spent together. I'd hoped that time would make it fade but it only got more vivid. I even talked my fool self into believing that he was reviewing my damn stories on fanfiction! Honestly though, I think that was just some creeper who enjoyed my stories and was trying to flirt with me in their weird, wayward fashion. I mean, their handle was CreepHole212. Creep hole? Seriously? Anyway, I was always polite to him (please let that have been a him, I couldn't handle a girl writing those ridiculously suggestive reviews) but unfortunately had been so busy falling into my new lifestyle that I had neglected fanfiction to a criminal degree. I hadn't updated for about four months and had even forgotten to make time to read the updates on my favorite stories.

Which is why I shouldn't have been surprised to hear an obnoxiously sexy sounding motor pulling up my drive on that fateful Sunday morning.

"What the hell is that?" Jason asked, fork frozen halfway to his mouth. We were all assembled for breakfast and none of us knew how to answer his question. After a few seconds of ping ponging our eyes at one another, we heard a car door shut and apparently that was our cue. We all dropped our silverware and ran to the front door, pushing each other out of the way. Grown adults, let me remind you. Gran, bless her heart, was calling out for us to take it easy before we knocked a hole in the wall but we could barely hear her over the stampeding of our own feet. We all came skidding to a stop on the front porch and froze for a second. Then the boys were off the porch like a shot, practically licking the car that was parked in the driveway, completely ignoring Amelia as she backed away with her hands up.

"Ames?" I called, rushing down the steps.

"Oh thank God," she muttered, meeting me halfway in a hug. "Who the hell are these people?" I squeezed her for a second, laughing at her words of greeting.

"My family, I'll introduce them as soon as they get done drooling all over your car," I said loudly, hoping to get their attention. No dice. "Not that I'm not ecstatic to see you, but what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, you dropped off the face of the earth for one," she admonished, eyebrow raised. I gave her a sheepish grin. "Number two, I was bored of the UK for the time being. I found you on Facebook, FYI. Only so many Sookie's in the world and when I saw the name of the town listed on your profile, I looked it up. Realizing the grand population is seven, I knew if I got here I could ask around and find you," she explained. "By the by, is there a reason a very large, orange haired woman at the local Bar and Grill thinks you're the devil in disguise?"

I cracked up at that. "That would be Mrs. Fortenberry and she's bitter that her son Hoyt moved in with me and out of her house," I told her. Before her eyebrow had the chance to get any higher, I explained. "Not what you think! As you can see," I gestured to the house behind me, "I have more than enough room here. So my friends aka family moved in, each one for their own reason. Hoyt was one of them and his Mama has been bitter ever since," I finished.

"More than enough room, you say?" she asked, pointedly straightening out the skirt she was wearing. Her hair was a really pretty fire engine red color and much shorter than the last time I'd seen her; it now graced her chin in a sleek bob cut. Her clothes were basically the same, though. Tight black pencil skirt with a black silk shirt and bright red heels.

"Yes," I said slowly, giving her an inquisitive look.

"Room for one more, do you think?" she fidgeted some more before finally meeting my eyes.

"Well there is one bedroom left on the first floor, but it's pretty small-"

"I'll take it!" she interrupted me. I laughed out loud.

"Well, you're welcome to it, I suppose. Can I ask what's going on?" There was no way I could deny her after she'd flown from England to ask. I just hoped she wasn't in too much trouble.

"Oh just my father being himself, as usual. We got into an argument a week ago and he bet me that I could not make it on my own. So I told him I could definitely make it on my own and to up the ante, I would do it in another country," she puffed her chest out a bit there.

"He cut you off?" I asked, concerned. I knew they didn't get along but according to what she'd said before, he adored her as much as he was annoyed by her.

"God, no!" she shuddered, apparently repelled by the thought. "I just wanted to show him that I have my own connections and don't necessarily need him. Plus I plan to leave his bank accounts alone as much as possible to underline the point," she finished. I snorted. Way to show him. By this time, everyone was gathered around. Even Gran was on the porch, shading her eyes with one hand to see what was going on.

"Well, come on in. We'll figure it out," I told her. She exhaled in relief. "We're in the middle of breakfast so I hope you're hungry. You can meet everybody inside," I added. I couldn't help but grin as we all made our way back into the house. I'd been missing Amelia too and as Gran would say: If it looked like fate and smelled like fate, well, it just might be.

A/N Sorry about the gigundo fluff monster that possessed me for this chapter with all the Brady Buch stuff lol I thought it would be kind of fun and plus, she was all alone in that big old house. Also sorry for cutting out the lemon like that, it was a total a-hole move, I know! I'm just all lemon-ed out for some reason! They're so hard to write, which is weird because in RL- Ok let me stop there lol. Up next, more interaction with all our favorite characters (aka Sook's honorary family) and of course, more Eric and maybe Pam.