[AU] knowledge is stronger than memory

[gavemea_45]

[Previously, in Bon Temps....]

He'd woken up before Sookie again, and after some consideration and a quick look at the number of messages on his phone, he'd pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek, drawn the sheet up over her shoulder, and slipped silently out of bed.

Sam dresses as quickly and quietly as he can, then takes his phone and eases his way out into the hall. Adele Stackhouse isn't anywhere in sight, which is probably good, all things considered. He opens the door to the guest room to make it look like he'd just come out and goes down the stairs, phone in hand.

Might as well go outside before he calls Bobby. He's got a feeling there might be yelling before all's said and done.

Comments

[feel_human]

She doesn't react when Sam gets up, except to shift into the warm space he leaves behind. She's too deep in a dream of sunlight that pours like milk, and fountains that bubble with crystal-clear water.

[gavemea_45]

He walks as quietly through the front hall as possible, keeping an ear cocked to the kitchen, then walks outside and over to his bike, thumbing through his messages as he goes.

--Missed call--

--Missed call--

--Missed call--

Sam, wake up already

What the hell time zone are you in, anyway?

You better not be dodging me, boy

Sam sighs and presses the button to call Bobby back. As he waits for it to ring through, he starts pacing slowly back and forth across the front lawn.

[feel_human]

When she wakes up, it's slow and relaxed, and she feels strangely refreshed. It takes a moment of blinking to realize she's by herself, and that Sam's phone and the clothes he'd brought in the night before are both gone.

She stretches and rolls over, trying to hold onto her dream, but it slips through her fingers like water.

[gavemea_45]

"Hey, Bobby," he says, as soon as the older man picks up the call.

"Don't you hey me," Bobby snaps. "What the hell have you gone and gotten yourself into?"

Sam sighs, and starts from the beginning. He explains that he'd stopped in at a roadside grill, and had a hell of a surprise when a vampire came in later, pretending to be human. "He was pretty bad at it, but of course no one knew why he gave them the creeps. And it's not like I could just walk away, now could I?"

Bobby harrumphs, and Sam's just grateful that he doesn't argue. John would have thrown it right back in his face, he knows.

"Anyway, he tried to corner Sookie after work that night, but he wasn't expecting me to be waiting for him too."

"What I want to know," Bobby interrupts, "is why the hell he's still alive? Or whatever they call it."

"I haven't found his lair yet. And things are a little complicated. Now," Sam counters, trying to forestall the next question, "tell me you've got an answer for me, Bobby. How do I get her free of this link?"

[feel_human]

Sam's on the phone outside, she sees, after she's gotten up and looked out the window. Padding to the hall, she can hear Gran's soft breathing in her bedroom. Sookie finds her soft pink robe and throws it on, then makes her way down to the kitchen and starts a pot of coffee before heading to the fridge for eggs and sausage.

[gavemea_45]

"You kill it, that's how," Bobby says, bluntly. "If there's another way, I don't know it."

"Fuck," Sam hisses. He scrubs his free hand over his face and lets it drop. "I was afraid of that. Can you keep looking? See if there's another way?"

"You know I've got to ask you why." There's something gentle about Bobby's tone of voice. Sam sighs. "I know. And it may come to that. But like I said, it's ... things are complicated."

"Just how much trouble are you in, Sam?"

"I'm not in trouble," he says, instantly. "Nothing that I can't deal with, anyway."

"Uh-huh. What do you want me to tell John?" Sam grimaces at the phone. "Don't tell him anything unless you have to." He's pretty damn sure that's not going to be an option, so he continues, "Just tell him I'm fine."

[feel_human]

She fixes a plate for herself and leaves the pan warm on the back of the stove for when Sam comes in, then pours herself some coffee and takes a seat at the table to flip idly through the paper as she has her breakfast.

It's not long before Gran's step sounds on the stairs and she's kissing the top of Sookie's head on her way to the coffee maker. "Mornin', honey."

"Mornin', Gran."

[feel_human]

Don't get too comfortable, Bill had said, when she told him Fangtasia was like what a vampire bar done by Disney World. iIt tends to get more authentic as the night wears on.

Wasn't that the truth.

She'd texted Sam to let him know when they were on the way home, not sure she could trust her voice, but then that cop had pulled them over, and...

When they pull into the drive, they sit for a moment in strained silence, before Bill turns and tries to excuse himself as she glares. "Would you have bit him?" she asks, undeterred, and when he stares at her without response, she throws her hands up and unbuckles herself, fuming. "You see? That's just crazy! You would have fed on him and tossed him aside like an old chicken bone! And don't tell me 'that's what vampires do'!"

She's reaching for the door handle when it opens for her: Bill's already there, looking apologetic but stubborn, and she gets out on her own, avoiding his hand. "You better get out of here, Bill," she says, frigid. "Thank you for the ride."

[gavemea_45]

“Sookie?” He’d waited outside on the porch, not wanting Adele to hear him coming back in without her granddaughter. That tone in her voice, the way she’d spat something at Bill while still in the car—-

“You okay?” Sam’s already coming down the stairs.

[feel_human]

"I'm okay, Sam." She's in a high temper, and Bill follows after her as she stalks across the grass. "You cannot be frightened of everythin' you don't know in this world," he says, and if that isn't just the last damn straw, she doesn't know what is. She whirls to face him, stubborn.

"Well, my world's openin' up mighty fast," she snaps. "And right now, I'm more interested in 'safe' than anythin' else. Don't call on me again until I ask you to, Bill. And I wouldn't hold your breath on that."

He stops where he is and watches her. "You will," he says, with certainty. "You may not think so now, but you will."

[gavemea_45]

He silently reviews everything he’s carrying or could get to quick, his expression setting dangerously as Bill tells her she’s not done with him. Sam takes another step forward, watching the vampire carefully.

[feel_human]

"Why on earth would I want to see you?" she spits, pushed beyond all limits.

He doesn't move, and he doesn't glance at Sam, standing beside her. "Because you will never find a human man you can be yourself with," he tells her, and stops her world cold.

[gavemea_45]

In that moment, he could kill Bill Compton without a single regret.

“She already has,” Sam says, levelly. He doesn’t let his glance flick away from the vampire’s chest and shoulders, watching for the faintest tremor of intent to attack.

“Sookie, come inside.”

[gavemea_45]

He wakes before Sookie, and lets himself lie there with her for a little while, just enjoying the quiet and her warmth beside him.

Eventually, though, he slides from bed as quietly as he can and gets dressed, then tucks the sheet back over her, kisses her hair, and makes his way downstairs in search of coffee.

[laissezlerouler]

Adele is up, with a basket of mending at her feet, the coffee made, and breakfast hot on the stove. She glances up from the button she's re-attaching and beams at him.

"Good mornin', Sam," she says. "Help yourself."

[gavemea_45]

"Thanks, Mrs. Stackhouse." He reaches for the coffee first. "Can I get you anything?"

[laissezlerouler]

"Oh, I have my coffee already," she tells him, pleased with his manners. "Sorry not to wait up for you last night, I just couldn't keep my eyes open. But was it all right?"

[gavemea_45]

"It was all right," he assures her, earnestly. It was, all things considered; no one's dead, Sookie's safe, and they found out at least a little information.

Sam gets his coffee and a plate, bringing both to the table to join her. "Nothing certain for sure yet, but we're narrowing things down."

[laissezlerouler]

"I'm so glad to hear that."

She finishes with the button and sets the shirt she's working on in her lap, then smiles over at him. "What do you have planned for today?"

[gavemea_45]

The downstairs of the house is as ready as it's likely to get, he thinks. Lafayette had pointed out that the town ghouls would be angling to get a look at anything in the kitchen that they could, so together they'd made sure there'd be nothing for anyone to find.

It hadn't taken much. Sookie had done most of it.

Sunlight's filtering through the trees and over the grass outside. Merlotte's gone outside to call Terry Bellefleur and send him over to the bar to hang a sign that they're closed for the day, among other things. Lafayette's on the couch, head leaned back, eyes closed.

Sam's pacing the guest room floor. It's ridiculous to blame himself, and he knows it, but he can't help but wonder if they'd been here - if he'd been there with her, where the killer wouldn't have expected anyone else --

-- but he wasn't, they weren't, and Adele Stackhouse is dead.

He takes a breath, then walks down the hallway to knock softly on Sookie's door.

[laissezlerouler]

Sookie had showered, and she let Tara blow-dry her hair, the way she used to sometimes when they were pre-teens and just starting to figure out that they wanted to look pretty, sometimes. They'd come down, all made up and dressed up, to twirl for Adele as she clapped and cooed over them.

Those days feel impossibly far away, right now.

Between the two of them, they find something for Sookie to wear, and now she sits at her vanity in the pretty white top and green skirt and slips a headband into her hair as Tara gets up and off the bed to open the door. "What?"

[gavemea_45]

"I wanted to see how she's doing," he murmurs. He doesn't try to push past Tara, although his glance goes over her shoulder before he looks back at her.

"If she's - if that's okay."

[laissezlerouler]

"How do you think she's doing?"

But he's got that hangdog look on his face, and even though it kind of reminds her of Sam Merlotte, she opens the door wider and allows him in before she goes over to her friend. "I'm gonna go check in with Lafayette," she murmurs. "I'll be back in a minute, okay?"

"Okay," Sookie says, soft, and accepts the hug Tara gives her, even though it's a little like she's sleep-walking. Tara gives Sam a meaningful glance, then heads out and down the stairs to find her cousin.

[gavemea_45]

He waits for Tara to leave before he comes over and crouches down beside her so that she doesn't have to look up at him.

"Hey," he says, and runs out of words.

[feel_human]

She feels like she's watching the world through a foot-thick wall of ice. Her eyes track Sam as he crouches, but her expression doesn't shift from its mild, polite interest.

"Hi."