A/N: When Kitchycoo bought me at the Support Stacie Auction, I asked her what she had in mind for a story. She came up with the idea of a story in which Sookie sees how broken and devastated Eric would be when she dies and she realizes she loves him too much to allow that to happen. I gave her the choice of a dramatic and serious story in which Niall takes her to the fairy realm to see into the future or a silly parody of Back to the Future where Pam plays Doc and escorts Sookie through time. Kitchy liked the first choice, which resulted in A Diffferent Path. But of course, I couldn't seem to stop my little fanfic wheels from turning, and before I knew it, I was also writing the second choice. So, Kitchy, consider this a twofer special. Hope you like it.

Charlaine Harris owns these characters. I'm not sure who owns Back to the Future, but I know it's not me.

It was like most nights. I had finished a long late shift at Merlotte's, soaked the ache from my feet and legs in the bath, and was snugly tucked into bed, waiting for my vampire. Eric and I had settled into a fairly normal routine since the whole fairy mess. My wounds had healed, the fairies had disappeared through the portal, and Eric and I had established a pretty serious romance. He usually came over after closing Fangtasia and spent some time with me before he had to be back in Shreveport for the break of dawn.

I was perfectly happy with our little routine, but Eric kept saying he wanted me to stay at his house in Shreveport some. I had never seen it and was a bit curious, but I was just fine at my own house and didn't really want to change things. Eric also kept saying that someday I'd have to make the decision about being turned. He wanted us to be together as a vampire couple, but the whole thing was just too completely weird for me to even think about it, and I told him so.

I was drifting in and out of sleep, kind of halfway listening for Eric's car in the driveway. I heard the motor but saw the flash from the headlights in my room, and wondered how that was possible since my window didn't face the driveway. I opened my eyes and sure enough, the room was filled with light from moving headlights. I jumped out of bed and looked out the window and couldn't believe my eyes. The Corvette was hovering above the grass, slowly being lowered to the ground like a spaceship. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, but it was no illusion. The car finally settled on the lawn (and I hoped it wouldn't mess up the grass) and I watched the door open and Pam step out of the car. She stood and looked up to the house as if she'd never seen it before, then began walking around to the back door.

I threw on my robe and ran to the back porch to let her in, so many questions racing through my mind. She was beaming at me when I opened the door and invited her in. "Sookie! How lovely to see you! I have missed this old house and your sweet face!"

"Hi Pam. Um…actually, I just saw you last weekend at Fangtasia, remember?"

"Uhhh….no."

I turned on the kitchen light and offered her a True Blood, but she just wrinkled her nose and shook her head. She pulled two chairs out from the kitchen table and gestured for me to sit down as she sat in one. "You probably want to know why I just landed on your lawn like that, and may be wondering where I got these fabulous shoes." She stretched her legs out and admired her very odd footwear.

I just nodded, at a loss for words.

"Well, my master sent me to fetch you."

"He's not coming over tonight?"

"Well, I have no idea, actually. I don't really know what the date is, and really didn't keep up with his social calendar anyway. But, I'm here to fetch you to take you back to the future."

"Excuse me?"

"Eric has invented this time travel thingy that he installed in his old Corvette—I guess it was a good thing he held onto that old relic after all. All the science of it is really beyond me and of little interest, but I volunteered to be the first to travel back in time in it to fetch you. He wanted to come himself, but I convinced him that I would freak you out a lot less, plus there was less of a chance of me running into me here than him running into him. It's all too weird to explain—but I'm supposed to avoid myself at all costs—something about ripples in the time-space continuum and changing the future. Whatever."

"So, you're telling me that Eric sent you from the future to take me with you? I'm not there already?"

"Oh no, of course not. You were a big stubborn baby and wouldn't let Eric turn you and then went and got yourself killed in some stupid were war over in Hot Shot. You were trying to protect that stupid brother of yours and battled some really fat were bear. You actually kicked its ass, but when it died, it fell on top of you and smothered you with its big fat bear ass. It would have been funny if it weren't so tragic. Okay, maybe I did laugh a little, but not in front of anybody. Abby would have said it was in poor taste."

My mouth was hanging open and I couldn't think of a thing to say. Pam just shrugged.

"Anyway, Eric's been all heart-broken ever since. That's why he went to work inventing this time-travel thing-a-ma-bob. He wants you to come back with me and be with him in the future. If you won't let him turn you, the least you could do is pop back and forth through time to boink him once in awhile. The guy's just lonely."

She seemed to be through with her little speech, and stood. She took me by the hand and led me to my bedroom. "Okay, let's get you dressed. Believe it or not, jeans are still in style. They just never quit. So, pull on a pair and let's see…maybe just a plain sweater or something. Too bad these fabulous shoes haven't been invented yet." She pointed her toe and flexed her foot dramatically. "Oh well, just some tennies, I guess."

I got dressed in silence, still in shock from her story. I was trying to absorb all the information and couldn't get past the image of a fat bear lying across my face. Once I was fully dressed, Pam took me by the hand and led me out the back and around to the Corvette. I got settled in the passenger seat, pulling my seatbelt on while Pam sat in the driver's seat and fished a little plastic bag from her pants pocket. I finally found my voice to ask a question. "What are you doing?"

"I have to refuel the fucks capacitor."

"What?"

"The fucks capacitor. It's what makes this puppy fly through time. It's fueled by vampire semen." She pulled a used condom from the plastic bag and began to squeeze its contents into a little hole in the console between our seats. "I know, it's pretty gross. But what can I say—it's Eric invention."

I probably had a look of horror on my face. "Fucks capacitor? Are you kidding me?"

"Hey, don't forget—he's the guy who named his bar Fangtasia." She rolled her eyes as the condom was emptied. She tucked it back into the baggie and into her pocket before turning the ignition. "Hang on to your boobies, girlfriend."

I thought she was making a joke, but she really did grab her breasts and so I did too. Suddenly the car seemed to jerk forward and was filled with blinding white light. We kind of bounced along and had I not been holding my breasts, they would have been bouncing up to my chin. Within a few seconds, the light diminished and we came to a stop. Pam and I both let our breasts go.

"Welcome to the future!" Pam beamed at me as she opened her door. We stepped from the car and faced a huge beautiful mansion.

Eric emerged from the front door with his arms open wide. He grabbed me and squeezed me so tightly, I had trouble breathing. He kept repeating my name and smothering me with kisses. He finally pulled back and smiled into my eyes. "You can't imagine how I've missed you, lover. How was your trip? Boobs okay?" He gave them a gentle squeeze. "I need to work out some kinks there. Didn't consider the effects of time travel on women's parts."

"I'm fine." I wondered when my brain would catch up to all this.

"Please come in!" Eric led me inside to an opulent and expansive living room. Pam excused herself to go "have a bite to eat" while Eric and I sat on the sofa. I looked around the room and there were framed photographs of me on every tabletop and some were mounted on the walls. Over the mantel hung a giant oil portrait of me standing on a windy bluff overlooking the ocean. I could make out the Fangtasia parking lot in the far background which was completely out of place. There was a huge bear skin rug in front of the fireplace. I looked back to Eric and he nodded. "I guess Pam told you how you died?"

"Yeah."

"He sure was a fat fucker." He seemed so solemn. "Anyway, ever since you died, I've been working on the idea of time travel so I could bring you back to the future to be with me. I know you never wanted to be turned, but surely you'll agree to at least an occasional visit with me here. I miss you so much, Sookie."

"Of course, Eric. I'm so sorry I went and got myself killed in that stupid were war. I guess I didn't really think about how my death would affect you, but I see now that you do miss me."

"Oh lover, some nights I just want to wait for the sun. It gets so hard sometimes. The only thing that's kept me going is my invention and the hope that it could bring you here to me. Every time I make a little fuel for it, I think of you."

"Uh…yeah."

"Speaking of which…" Eric waggled his eyebrows at me and stood with his hand out. I followed him up a huge flight of stairs to his bedroom where we made love like there was no tomorrow. Oh wait, does that make sense now? Anyway, it was spectacular.

We lay together in each other's arms and he talked about how miserable he'd been without me. I was so touched and overcome with emotion. I really had no idea that I had meant so much to Eric and felt really awful for leaving him all alone. I suggested he turn me so we could be together, but he said that would be impossible—something about a gap in the space-time continuum after my death. He said he'd be happy if I would just agree to come and visit, but I could never stay more than twenty-four hours at a time. He spouted more space-time mumbo-jumbo that I kind of ignored while my thoughts drifted to a new solution.

"Eric, what if I went back to the present—um, I mean to when Pam picked me up, and let you turn me then? Would that work?"

"I'll have to think about that, Sookie, but yes, nothing would make me happier. It might cause some sort of temporal tear in the fabric of time and I would certainly be without that rug in the living room, but I think it's worth a shot, don't you?"

We hugged and celebrated but not before rolling on a condom. I'd need some fuel to get back to the present. I had a new mission in life.