True Blood/Southern Vampire Mysteries Fan Fiction ❯ Ooh Rah ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

SPOV
I finally pick myself up off the floor of the airport, and wipe my eyes. I can't be weak. I have to be strong for us. I sit down in a chair in the terminal so I can calm down. An elderly woman who witnessed the entire scene comes up to me, and rests her hand on my arm. She doesn't say anything—she just sits there with me, until I am calm enough to look at her. She is smiling at me sadly, with a knowing look in her eyes.
"I had to watch my husband go to Vietnam. My son went to Desert Storm. My grandson just left for Afghanistan. It doesn't get easier. It just becomes natural," she says, patting my leg.
"I'm so sorry," I say, my eyes filling with tears again. There are no words for how much she has gone through.
"Dear, I'm not the one that needs it," she says, fishing around in her purse. "Your man and my grandson just got on that plane together, so they're probably going to the same place. Here's my phone number if you ever need anything, sweety. Just call, and I'll answer." She hands me the piece of paper, and gets up to leave.
"Thank you," I say.
"Don't thank me, honey. I just wish I had a shoulder to lean on when I was going through it."
I sit there for a little while longer, and then will myself to leave the airport, and the awful memories there. I pick my head up, and walk out of the airport with a new resolve, to survive, and to make sure nothing gets fucked up in the process.
I make my way home, and find gran cleaning the house. She I walk in, and she immediately goes to hug me. I let her at first, but then gently extricate myself from her embrace.
"Gran, thank you, but I don't want sympathy from anyone. I just want to go on like everything is okay, and normal," I tell her, fighting back my tears. If there's one sure fire way to make a woman start crying again, it's to hug her.
When Gran lets me go, she goes back to her vacuuming and throws a dust mitt at me. "If you want it to be like every day, then get to work," she says turning around and finishing what she way doing.
EPOV
That bitch Dawn really couldn't take a hint. After the first incident, I got bumped into countless times, and she actually threw herself into my lap at one point, because of "turbulence". By the time it is time to get off the plane and lay over in Germany, I am on pins and needles. I didn't get any sleep on the flight, and I wasn't even able to listen to my music, because she kept pulling my headphones out.
When I reach the terminal where my next flight will be, I pull out my cell phone and call Sookie. I'm not sure what time it is over there, but I need to hear her voice. It's 11:00 at night here, so hopefully it's still early enough over there.
"Hello?" she says when she picks up the phone.
"Sookie. It's me," I tell her, happy to hear her voice, although there is a lot of noise in the background.
"Eric! I didn't think I'd hear from you this soon! Hang on a sec," she says. When she comes back on the line, it's quieter. "I got Holly to take over my tables. How'd your flight go?"
"It went...as expected. It was a long flight. What time is it over there?" I ask, curious.
"Oh, it's right after 5:00 in the evening. Why?" she asks, sounding worried.
"Nothing, I just was worrying when I called you, hoping I wouldn't wake you up. I'm going to be layed over here for another hour," I tell her, disappointed that she sounds like she's at work. I hear her huff quietly.
"Hang on Eric," she says, sounding annoyed. She must have though that she put the phone on hold, but she didn't. "Sam, can't you see I'm on the phone? Well, it's an important call. I'll get back to work when I can. Sam Merlotte, don't you talk to me like that. I'm your best damn worker and you know it. Now, I'm gonna take my dinner break now, and go back to work after that. Sorry, Eric, you still there?"
"Yeah I'm here. Boss mad that you're on the phone?" I ask, laughing a little.
"Oh, shit you heard that. Yeah, he don't take kindly to phone calls at work, but I can just take my thirty minute dinner break now, so we can talk until I have to go back," she says sounding happier than before.
"Alright then. Were you okay when I left?" I ask, hoping that it wasn't too hard on her.
"I...no, I wasn't really okay. There was a nice older woman there who sat with we for a while, and we talked. Her son left with you, so she said he might be in your unit," she says, trying to change the subject.
"Well I won't really know until we're set up at base, but I'll let you know if that's the case. What's his name?" I ask.
"Uhm, hang on, she gave me information. It's in my purse somewhere...there it is!" she says sounding triumphant. "His name is Barry Horrowitz. He's a private and she said it's his first tour," Sookie told me. I jot down the name on a piece of paper and stick it in my pocket.
"I'll keep a look out for him," I promise her.
We talk for a while longer about nothing in particular. I can tell she is trying to keep the subjects light, and I understand why. She needs more time to adjust. It seems like her time to talk to me runs out all too fast, and before I know it, she's telling me she loves me and she has to go back to work. I hear the the tears in her voice.
"Sookie, honey, I don't want you to worry about me. I need you to be strong, because if you're strong, I don't have to worry about you so much, okay?" I tell her calmly, holding back my own emotion.
"Okay," she say, and then takes a big breath. "I love you, Eric Northman. Please call me when you get another chance, so I know you're okay."
"I promise I will," I say sincerely. With that, we hang up. I just stare at my phone for a while, and throw it back in my pocket, punching the wall where I am standing. It stings like a mother fucker, but I don't care. I just want to be home with my girl.