Work Text:
The sun was shining in my window, a pale warm light typical of late December in northern Louisiana. I stretched slowly in my bed and felt a smile creep across my face. I’d worked the closing shift last night at Merlotte’s bar, where I am employed as a barmaid, then come home to sleep after a perfectly normal, near relaxing shift.
Somehow, for the first time since I had met Bill, Vampire Bill Compton, my first boyfriend and the first vampire I had ever met, I had had, mostly, a quiet year. Well. Quiet in the sense that I only almost died twice. And most of that in the beginning of the year!
For me, that was quiet now. A lot in my life had changed in those three years. My grandmother had died. My brother had become a were-panther. I had loved, and I had lost. I had a lover now. A husband, even, if you listened to him. It might not have been legal in any human sense, but according to the Vampires and according to Eric, we were married. Hogwash.
And it was Christmas Eve. Last year, I hadn’t been speaking to my brother, all my friends were celebrating with their own families, and I. I’d been lonely. At least until I’d rescued a were from my land and protected him through to Christmas day. And then my great-grandfather had come to have Christmas dinner with me even though he wasn’t a Christian. He was a fairy.
Hey, I said my life had changed a lot in the last three years .
Aunt Sookie! And that was one of the ways. Coming up my driveway, was my deceased cousin Hadley’s son Hunter and his father Remy Savoy, and from the impression in his mind, he was nearly bouncing in his seat. Hunter, like me, was a telepath. I turned to look at my alarm clock and was startled to see it was nearly 10 am. Not that late, really, but I’d meant to be up earlier.
Unlike last year, this was going to be a Christmas Eve full of family.
I hopped out of bed, quickly pulling on clothes – just jeans and a Bon Tempes football tee shirt- before heading into the bathroom for some quick morning cleaning.
I just had time to hurry to the front door to answer Hunter’s enthusiastic knocking. He launched himself at me, nearly bowling me over with the surprise of it. “Hey there Hunter,” I said when I had righted both of us, giving him a firm hug before smiling at his father, “Hi Remy. Merry Christmas.”
He still wasn’t quite comfortable with me, wasn’t quite comfortable with what his son was, really, but he loved Hunter and he knew being around me was good for Hunter. Really, it was good for me too.
“Hey there, Sookie,” he managed a warm smile.
“You want coffee?” I offered nearly automatically.
“Sure,” he agreed.
“Pancakes?” Hunter asked hopefully.
Remy made an embarrassed face, but I grinned, “Sure. We can do pancakes. If you can stay?” I asked Remy belatedly.
“His grandma’s not expecting us until afternoon,” Remy agreed. The plan had been for Hunter and Remy to stop by for me to give Hunter his present on their way to see Remy’s folks in Homer.
“I’ll start the coffee and the pancakes,” I said, before pointing to Hunter, “You, go wash your hands young man.”
He grinned and dashed for the hall bathroom. “How’s he doing?” I asked Remy once Hunter was-sort of- out of earshot and I was making the coffee while Remy sat at the kitchen table.
“School’s hard,” he said bluntly, honestly. It wasn’t anything Hunter didn’t know and I couldn’t guess. “But it’s not as bad as it could be, I think. Knowing he not alone.” It was awkward for him to say, awkward for me to hear, but still true.
“It’ll get easier,” I promised.
Sort of.
Hunter dashed back in, holding, in his slightly dripping hands, a box wrapped in shiny blue paper. Not from me. Despite being addressed to Hunter.
“Can I open it?” he asked, voice catching hopefully.
I caught sight of the ‘from’ tag and stifled a smile. “After breakfast.”
Claude really had liked Hunter a lot. Heavens knew how he’d found out about Hunter coming by this morning- I hadn’t seen a lot of my cousin Claude, the fairy., since he and my great-uncle Dermot (also fairy) had set up a house together in Monroe, the better to revel in their fairy-ness together.
It was a good start to the day, pancakes, sausage, and eggs with my family. Hunter’s unbridled joy at everything, Remy’s easy good manners, and my own happiness at having them made a simple meal a really great Christmas present- almost as good at Hunter’s hand drawn and Remy framed picture of the two of us together.
I waved them off to Remy’s folks after receiving a ton of thanks from Hunter for the legos I’d checked with Remy before getting for him. The rest what was left of the morning and the early afternoon was spent cleaning the house until it shone, making sure I had enough wood by the fireplace, then adding final decorations to the house- candles and the like. I took a long, hot shower, before starting on dinner.
Jason and Michelle weren’t going to stay long after dinner- they were spending he evening at Michelle’s work party, but I liked that Jason came. I liked that he planned to make time for me and family time at that. He was growing up, even if he was over thirty when it finally happened. They stayed for a little after dinner, Jason building a fire while Michelle and I chatted.
They were gone by the time night fell, which in early winter fell early. So they missed my final guests for Christmas eve, and that, I supposed, was okay. Jason and Pam got a long- Jason and Pam both had an appreciation for beautiful people of the opposite sex, though Pam’s appreciation was mostly aesthetic. I wasn’t sure how Michelle would get along with Pam, Eric, Bill, and Judith and I sort of wasn’t ready to find out. If that was cowardly, so be it, but I’d find out another day that wasn’t Christmas Eve.
Bill, my former lover, and his….girlfriend wasn’t quite the right word, but all the others were more wrong. Sister and lover? Replacement wife? Bill’s maker had turned Judith, a vampire who looked like Bill’s human wife, to placate Bill and had only succeeded in alienating them both all the more. But then, Lorena was a bitch. And a crazy bitch. After Lorena was dead (thanks to yours truly) Judith had been able to see Bill again and help him over a really bad bout of silver poisoning. A part of me was still angry at Bill, for a multitude of tiny and not tiny betrays, but most of me? Was glad for him. Was happy he had Judith. I’m glad the bigger part of me was the bigger person.
Bill and Judith arrived first, with a bottle of wine for me, and a bottle of high end synthetic blood for the others to share. Bill gave me a hug, and, surprisingly, so did Judith. Vampires weren’t big touchers, but. I’d gotten to like Judith in the 6 months she’d been living with Bill across the cemetery at the Old Compton Place.
Fangtastia, the vampire bar in Sheveport was closed tonight which was probably the only reason both Pam and Eric were coming- Christmas wasn’t really a holiday a lot of vampires celebrated, but they knew it was pointless to be open in the middle of the bible belt on Christmas. They weren’t likely to get a lot of business.
And I liked to think they knew how important it was to me and were coming out for that.
They arrived about 20 minutes after Bill and Judith in Eric’s shiny red car. Pam was in a pale green pant’s suit and holding, bizarrely, several dozen boxes, expertly wrapped and, on top, a holiday wreath. She put the boxes down under my tiny Christmas Tree in the living room, handing me the wreath with just a hint of pride. Knowing Pam and her strange love for handmaking crafts, I asked, “Did you make it?”
“Oh yes.” She said with a grin, just a hint of fang showing at her pleasure, “I thought you would like it, Sookie. It. Will match.”
I raised an eyebrow, but took it towards the front door while Pam joined Bill and Judith in the living room and I gamely tried to hang the wreath on the front door. After a moment, Eric took it from me and hung it correctly. He turned me then and softly kissed my mouth. I felt it all the way to my toes.
He smiled then and started to head inside before I grasped his arm loosely, asking, “What’s wrong?”
It wasn’t like Eric to talk.
“I don’t understand this holiday,” he said honestly, “But I know it is important to you and Pam was so…nostalgic. “
“Pam was nostalgic?”
“I was surprised too,” he admitted, smiling then.
We went inside then. It might not be cold to the vampires, but December temperatures were sure enough for me to be glad of the warmth.
Things were easier between Bill and Eric now that Judith was around and we all talked and drank and both the vampires and I grew rosier in the cheeks, though for different reasons before I asked something that had been poking around my subconscious for a bit.
“What did you do for Christmas? Back when you-celebrated it.” I was flushed all over now- it had come out unintentionally.
There was a quiet moment before Pam said, enthusiastically, “We made pomanders and exchanged gifts. We had a tree every yea r and decorated it with candies and candles and fruit. Not paper toys and glass balls like now. Everything was edible- that was the part I liked most as a child. We were allowed to see our parents much more than was typical for our ages. They gave us presents and church was almost interesting.”
Bill smiled, voice cool as always, “Our Christmases were quieter- our neighbors tended to be a bit farther so when I was a boy my father would shoot his gun off into the air to give a greeting to our neighbors for the holiday. We’d have our stockings at the end of our beds and our parents would fill them with treats. They were rarer and more precious for that.”
“We’d have carolers,” Judith said quietly, with a warm smile, “we’d feed them after they sung and give them a tiny gift for their efforts- my parents loved carolers.”
“We’d burn a log, every Yule,” Eric said quietly, “And have a feast.”
“There would always be a huge meal,” Pam agreed, “Pies and fruit.”
“A goose,” Bill agreed.
“Or ham,” Judith added.
“It was.” Pam started.
“A time for everyone to be together,” Eric finished.
“And wish for a better year,” Bill touched Judith’s hand lightly. That was a big gesture for a vampire.
“And be happy.” She said looking at him.
I looked around at them, a strange human surrounded by vampires on Christmas and felt, contented. I raised my glass, “To a better new year.”
“And many returns,” Bill added.