feel_human | saturday night and the moon is out

Tucked away off the road in Bon Temps, there's a road house. Warm light spills from its windows, and the sound of a jukebox playing drifts out into the muggy Louisiana night. The regular assortment of trucks and Hail-Mary-please-keep-this-lemon-goin'-just-a-little-longer cars sit in the dirt parking lot; what amounts to about half the town's small population... or, at least, of those of the 'drinking age and above' persuasion.

Inside, it's a bar of the type scattered all across the American South: homey, no-nonsense. Booths and tables. A man in a plaid flannel shirt wiping the bar; a crossdresser in the kitchen singing Gospel hymns and rolling his hips in time with the words just to scandalize the prep cook. A handful of waitresses, bustling about.

Sookie makes her way briskly through it all, a tray balanced on her palm and her eyes kept stubbornly front, as voices swarm around her. Aloud, and... less so.

...I’m just going to have one beer tonight Jesus one beer that’s all...

...better not gripe about me eating fries not after what I did for him last night...

...I cannot wait to get the hell out of this podunk town...

"Well, make sure you do, and before it’s too late," she responds, thoughtless, to the young man. "Because every year you wait? You just get more and more stuck here. Believe me, I know."

He stares at her. So do his parents.

So does the other table. And she realizes, too little too late, that he hadn't said that out loud, not at all. She laughs, uncomfortable. "I’ll get y'all some ketchup," she says, brightly, and flees, ponytail swinging against the nape of her neck as she goes.

Stupid, Sookie, she chides herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

gavemea_45

He covers her hands with his, fingers spread wide, as the kiss breaks. Sam lets his other hand rest on her shoulder for a moment and gives her a small, bashful smile.

From:

feel_human

Her mouth is all unruly smiles that refuse to be tamped down, even as she tries to press her lips together. "Well," she manages, finally, giddy delight bubbling up through her head.

"Good night, then."

From:

gavemea_45

"Good night."

Sam steps back from her and turns to head back down the hall to the guest room, casting one quick glance over his shoulder as he does.

The smile fades as he walks into the room. He checks the window again, looking for signs of observation, then pulls it shut and latches it, drawing the curtains over the glass.

He sets the alarm on his phone for sometime shortly after sunrise.

From:

feel_human

Sometime in the deep of the night, she wakes, to some sound, maybe, although she can't tell what. Slipping out of bed, she moves to her window, the mild night breeze ruffling her curtains, and gazes out.

Somehow, it's no surprise at all to see Bill there, staring back up at her.

She lifts her robe from the back of her chair and slips it over her shoulders, tying it snug about her waist as she pads lightly down the stairs and opens the door to step into the screened-off porch. The grass is damp with dew under her bare feet as she steps onto it, and the night is thick around her as she turns.

Even knowing he was here, she startles to see Bill. He watches her, implacable, as she moves towards him. When he opens his mouth, she can see his two fangs, gleaming in the moonlight. "Bill – "

He moves faster than she can see, and in the next second, she wakes with a gasp, sitting up in her bed with her heart pounding. Tina, curled next to her, gives a prrt of annoyance and stretches, then goes back to sleep, purring as Sookie lays back down.

"What in the hell?" she murmurs, but the cat doesn't answer.

From:

gavemea_45

The house is quiet when his phone alarm goes off. Sam shuts it off fast and stays still, hoping it didn't disturb anyone else.

After a few moments, he gets up and dressed, and goes quietly downstairs. He looks at the angle of the sunlight, making sure, before he opens the front door and goes out to check around the house for any sign of visitors in the night.

He doesn't find anything around the house, or in the nearby fields. He looks in the direction of where Sookie had indicated the Compton house to be, but decides against going that far just yet.

From:

feel_human

She's not sure what time she hears Gran get up and dress, or when she goes downstairs, but it's earlier by far than when she wants to wake up. She rolls over into the warm spot Tina leaves behind to go pad down the stairs after Gran, in search of her breakfast, and by the time the scent of coffee drifts up the stairs, Sookie's fast asleep once more.

From:

gavemea_45

He's sitting on the front porch, watching the morning light angle across the distant trees, when he hears a cat meow inside. Sam turns to look over his shoulder through the screen door and sees Mrs. Stackhouse coming downstairs.

"Good morning," he calls, quietly, not wanting to scare her.

From:

feel_human

Adele comes to the door and peers out, beaming as she catches sight of him. "Well, good morning," she says, warm and gracious. "I see you're an early riser, too. Do you like coffee?"

From:

gavemea_45

"Yes, ma'am, I do," Sam tells her. He gets to his feet. "Need any help?"

From:

feel_human

"You could come take down the mugs for me," she tells him, opening the door for him to come back in. "My stars, you're so blessed tall, I could keep you busy just retrievin' all the things off the high shelves."

In the daylight, Adele Stackhouse's kind blue eyes hold a glimmer of humor and warmth not at all unlike her granddaughter's. She goes to the sink and fills the coffee pot with water, chatting cheerfully as she does. "How did you sleep? I hope the room suits you all right?"

From:

gavemea_45

He follows her into the kitchen and goes to collect the mugs where she points them out, setting three of them on the counter.

"I slept fine," he tells her. "It's a great room. It's really nice of you to let me stay like this."

From:

feel_human

"Oh, I prefer to have people in the house. It gets so quiet, just me and Sookie."

She sets the coffee to percolate and turns to smile at him. "And it's nice to have a man around again, even just for a little while. Now, you just set yourself down. I'll make you some breakfast."

From:

gavemea_45

Caught completely off balance, Sam just stares at her for a second.

"You don't have to - I mean, I can --"

From:

feel_human

Adele only turns as she takes out the frying pan and gives him an expectant, unyielding glance, the sort grandmothers everywhere seem to learn by osmosis, and which they expect to be obeyed without hesitation. "Go on, sit."

From:

gavemea_45

"Yes, ma'am." He pulls out a chair on the side of the table that'll let him sit without his back to the door, and watches with interest.

"Have you always lived in Bon Temps, too?"

From:

feel_human

"Oh, yes."

She bustles to the fridge and retrieves a carton of eggs and a roll of sausage, then comes back to check the temperature of the pan on the stove before she cuts a knob of butter into it. "We Stackhouses have been here since before Bon Temps was even a town! My ancestor, Jonas Stackhouse, built this very house, back in the 1840's."

The butter hits the pan with a hiss and a sizzle and she smiles over her shoulder at him before slicing up some of the sausage. "And where do your people come from, Mister Winchester?"

From:

gavemea_45

"Um. My people?" he echoes. "We don't, I mean - Kansas," he settles on, finally. "But we're not, uh, settled like your family."

From:

feel_human

Sizzle goes the sausage patties as she sets them into the pan, and the coffee maker beeps. Adele brushes her hands over her apron and goes to fill a mug, then sets it in front of him with a smile. "Milk is in the fridge," she tells him. "And sugar is on the counter, just there."

Going back to the stove, she picks up the thread of the conversation. "Well, I don't know as there's not something to be said for the freedom to roam about," she muses. "I imagine your family must be quite scattered, then."

From:

gavemea_45

"Thanks." He gets up and takes the milk from the fridge, adds a dollop to his mug, then puts it back before resuming his seat.

"I'm - um, it's only the three of us," he says. It'd be easier to just lie his way through it, but he's already told Sookie so much of the truth. "Me, my brother, and our dad."

From:

feel_human

"Oh, I see."

No one could ever fault Adele Stackhouse's manners; she takes this information and says, kindly: "Well, I have never been out to Kansas, but I expect there's a good amount of interestin' country between here and there. Sookie mentioned you've been traveling."

She cracks a few eggs into the pan and goes to a cupboard to get a plate, setting it near the pan to warm through. "Have you had any favorite places, so far?"

From:

gavemea_45

"St. Louis is pretty nice. And Chicago." He stops to take a sip of coffee. "But I like smaller towns, too. Usually we - I - stick to the side roads and state highways rather than the interstates, or anything like that."

From:

feel_human

"Well, now, doesn't that sound like an adventure?" She fixes herself a cup of coffee, then comes to switch off the stovetop and plate the sausage and eggs. Retrieving some silverware and a pressed cloth napkin, she sets the plate and utensils in front of Sam, smiling, then takes her own seat at the table.

"Well, I'm glad you decided to stop in Bon Temps last night. And I certainly hope you'll enjoy your stay in our little town."

From:

gavemea_45

"I am too," Sam tells her, earnestly, as he picks up the fork. "And I'm sure I will."

He pauses to take a bite of sausage and egg together and is nearly stunned by the flavor.

"Mrs. Stackhouse, this is amazing."

From:

feel_human

"Oh," she tuts, but her smile is warm and pleased. "It's nothing but a little farm sausage and some fresh eggs. But I'm glad you like it. I'll mix up some biscuits in a moment, after I've had some of my coffee."

From:

gavemea_45

"It's really good," he promises. Sam wages a short war with himself and loses. "I should tell you not to go to the trouble, but I don't know when I've last had homemade biscuits. So instead I'm just going to say thank you."