saturday night and the moon is out

[feel_human]

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.

 

Comments

[gavemea_45]

Sam pulls out a chair of his own and sits, so that she doesn't have to crane her neck to look at him. He holds out both hands, offering to hold hers.

"First things first. I'm so glad you're okay," he murmurs. "When I realized where you'd gone--"

He breaks off there and shakes his head.

[feel_human]

She takes his hands and curls her fingers around them, holding on. "I'm so sorry," she murmurs. "I know you said not to go out alone. I wasn't thinkin', I was so mad. I'm just so used to bein' able to take a minute in the parking lot, and I thought – since I had the silver – "

But it hadn't been a vampire that attacked her at all. "I'm sorry, Sam. That I made you worry."

[gavemea_45]

He squeezes her hands, gently, and holds on in turn. "You don't have to apologize. I'm just glad you're okay." Or alive, rather, not to put too fine a point on it.

"I know all of this is different for you." Something she'd said strikes him, and he backtracks to it. "Mad? Did Merlotte do something?"

[feel_human]

She glances down, feeling sore just at the memory. "He's never yelled at me like that before."

Sam has always been kind and considerate... maybe a little too considerate at times. "He brought me back to shout at me about goin' out to save Bill."

[gavemea_45]

"He did, did he?" Sam's jaw sets in hard lines before he shakes his head. "I'm sorry. He shouldn't have yelled at you."

[feel_human]

"It's not your fault."

If Sam hadn't been there, she really would have gone out alone. "He's been so edgy the last two nights, I... don't know what's goin' on with him."

[gavemea_45]

"He's not a fan of strangers," Sam says, dryly, then jerks as the pan on the stove hisses. He lets go of her and gets hastily to his feet. Sam moves the pan from the heat, eyes the tea, and wraps a towel around the handle as he picks up a mug and takes the whole thing over to the sink to pour tea for her.

"Milk and sugar? Or just plain?"

[feel_human]

"Plain."

She's not sure even sugar could save what he's done to the tea, but it'll still be hot and something to do with her hands. "Thanks."

[gavemea_45]

He fills the mug for her, a second for himself, and sets the pan back on a different burner and makes sure the stove's shut off before he brings her a mug.

"Here." Sam sets his own on the table beside them and sits back down.

[feel_human]

"Thanks, Sam."

She curls her fingers around the mug, glances at the tea, and decides to give it a minute to cool down. "How'd you figure out what happened, anyhow?"

[gavemea_45]

"Well, when Merlotte came back and you didn't, I asked him where you were." Sam grimaces a little. "I also probably caused a scene when he said you'd gone outside to clear your head. Your friend Tara might have some questions."

[feel_human]

"She'd have questions either way," Sookie points out. "But I'm glad you came out lookin'."

[gavemea_45]

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner." Soft and low. "I found where - it must have been where they jumped you. And followed the trail across the grass from there to the bayou."

[feel_human]

She nods, watching the tea leaves float around in her mug.

"Bill killed them, didn't he?"

[gavemea_45]

"Yes." He keeps his voice steady. "He did."

[feel_human]

She nods and looks up at him. "I know I should be shocked by that, but considerin' they were tryin' to kill me, I'm not feelin' all that broken up about it just yet."

[gavemea_45]

Sam leans forward a little and reaches out to cup her cheek with his hand. "There's nothing wrong with that," he murmurs.

[feel_human]

She turns her head into his touch and feels her heart kick over in her chest.

She'd almost died; maybe she can get a pass this once for just wanting, without worrying about how appropriate it is or not. "Are you okay?" she asks, soft. "I thought I heard y'all arguing."

[gavemea_45]

He lets himself brush his thumb lightly over her cheekbone.

"You did," Sam confirms. "When I came over that rise and saw you - you were lying on the ground. He was crouched over you and feeding on your blood." He touches his own head with his free hand to indicate where.

"I missed my first shot; he moved too quickly, but he backed off and started explaining before I shot again."

[feel_human]

She curls her fingers lightly over his forearm; not to pull his hand away, just to be touching him. Her expression contorts as he tells her what he saw. "Well, that's creepy."

But he didn't drain her, and he didn't kill her. "But I guess I should be grateful he was there and could heal me."

[gavemea_45]

"I guess I should too." Sam sighs. "I've never known a vampire to do that."

[feel_human]

"Maybe he just didn't want to owe me for helpin' save him before."

She trails her fingertips lightly over his forearm. "And now we're square."

[gavemea_45]

"You are. Which doesn't mean you should trust him not to be other than he is," Sam cautions, even as a faint shiver runs through him at her light touch.

"But I guess we'll talk with him tomorrow and see what else we can learn."

[feel_human]

"Uh-huh."

But she doesn't really want to talk about Bill, or even to think about Bill. She's grateful he saved her life, but she doesn't trust him further than she can spit, and it's clear Sam trusts him even less.

And he's not the one who saw her home, now was he? "I'll be careful." She realizes, and grimaces. "More careful."

[gavemea_45]

"Thank you," Sam murmurs. "I'd really like it if you did." He searches her face. "How are you feeling?"