So, this is me officially venturing into True Blood land. This story will be slightly AU, but only in the sense that I want to play with the original plot and time lines of the show. Not too much, but I though I'd give the warning anyway. This takes place just between seasons 3 and 4.

Please, let me know what you think or if I totally fuck something up.

Also, writing something based off an HBO show finally gives me the freedom to swear as frequently and as creatively as I want. And in spirit of the show, each chapter will be titled based on a song, and said song will be given at the end of the chapter.

Cameron unblinkingly stared through the tinted window of the microwave, following the dish's circular path. Her trance was broken by the sound of the beeps, signaling the end of her eight-minute wait. Grasping the edges with her fingertips in a feeble attempt to not burn herself, Cameron transferred the dish as quickly as she could from the microwave to the countertop. She shook her hands out to distract herself from the temporary burning sensation.

"Dinner!" she yelled, still shaking her hands loosely.

"Look! Cammie, Look!"

Cameron looked up from the steaming mess of microwavable frozen lasagna to see her eight-year-old nephew holding her poor cat upside down.

"Jackson…" She sighed and frowned.

"Bo likes it. See?" he said, defending himself. Sure enough, the cat was still and calm in the little boy's arms.

"How come when I try to pick Bo up, he claws the crap out of me?" Cameron chuckled, turning her attention away from the rambunctious eight-year-old boy and the good-natured cat to cut the lasagna. The edges were burned, but the middle part was perfectly fine. She scooped a portion onto a plate for Jackson and pushed it down the island to the barstool that he was trying to climb. Bo recovered well and sat beneath Jackson's chair, licking his paws.

"Mama says "crap" is a bad word," Jackson admonished, stirring his lasagna around the plate with a plastic fork.

"Mama says a lot of things," Cameron laughed. She scooped a piece of pasta onto a fork and blew on it, waiting for it to cool down enough to eat. Jackson did the same. He was a mimic. Cameron hated this phase. He copied everything he saw. She knew he would be repeating her language later to his mother. He would follow her around the house, doing exactly what she did. When that got boring, he even copied the cat. The humor in that was not lost on Cameron.

"When will mama be back?" he asked.

"God knows, babe," Cameron sighed, taking another bite of lasagna. She was eating straight from the original container. Anything to reduce the number of dishes she would have to wash later.

"Mama says you shouldn't say the Lord's name in vain," Jackson continued to scold his aunt.

"Has your mama met the Lord?" Cameron waited for Jackson to shake his head. "Then how would she know that? God has bigger things to worry about." That seemed to appease Jackson. He dropped the matter and focused on his dinner. Cameron rolled her eyes. Her sister never attended church.

Bored, and desperate to not have a conversation with an eight-year-old boy, Cameron switched on the little TV above the kitchen sink.

"Spongebob!" Jackson cried as Cameron flipped through the channels.

"Oh hell no, I am not watching that shit," Cameron muttered. She finally landed on the news. She liked to stay informed on what was going on. Some woman with blonde short hair and a string of pearls was arguing with some prick in a suit about vampire rights. Cameron had seen both of them before, but couldn't be bothered to remember their names. She was sick of the whole debate. All she wanted to hear was the weather and local news.

"Is that lady a vampire?" Jackson asked.

"Yep."

"Mama says vampires are bad and to stay away from them. Did you know you have to invite them into the house or else they can't come in? And that the sun burns them?" Jackson was eager to show off his vampire knowledge, but it was all stuff Cameron already knew. Even before the Great Revelation. Some of the vampire lore had actually turned out to be true.

"Yeah, but not all are bad. That lady doesn't seem so bad, does she? Besides, you've never met a vampire."

"So?" Jackson argued. Cameron hated that about children, too.

"So, you hated edamame until you actually tried it. You wouldn't even look at carrots for a while," Cameron countered. She knew comparing vampires to food wasn't a very strong argument, but when dealing with a child, it was good enough. Jackson shrugged and went back to his food. He knew he had lost the argument and when to shut up.

When Cameron couldn't stand the bickering between the AVL representative and the Jesus freak, she switched the channel to some show about hillbilly exterminators and pulled a popsicle out of the freezer for Jackson.

Jackson liked the guy on the show, and liked the creatures even more. He licked his popsicle happily as the guy trapped raccoons under some woman's house. Cameron considered taking a few shots as she marveled at what passed for television shows.

Bedtime couldn't come quick enough for Cameron. Jackson was a pill to put down, but Cameron fought with everything she had to get him to bed. Bedtime was her favorite part of babysitting. She had the rest of the night to watch TV and drink without anyone bothering her. Knowing her sister, she would have hours to herself in the big house.

Cameron curled up on the large couch with Bo by her side and watched reruns of 'The Nanny' until she fell asleep.

She woke up to the sound of her sister stumbling through the back door at three in the morning. Cameron pretended to be asleep as her sister pulled herself up the staircase and into her bedroom. She didn't want to have to deal with her drunken sister after a hard night of partying.

Cameron went around the house and turned off all the lights and locked all of the doors. She grabbed Bo and left the house, locking the back door behind her. She hopped from stepping stone to stepping stone until she was at the base of the wooden staircase leading up to her apartment above the garage. Once inside, Cameron dropped Bo on the couch and slid into her own bed.

Cameron hated the apartment. It had a tiny bedroom, a tiny bathroom, and one large room that functioned as a living room, office, dining room, and kitchenette. Cameron hated living on her sister's property. But it beat living in the house.

Sighing, Cameron reminded herself that her living situation was only temporary. She would get to go back to Dallas, or wherever else interested her, soon enough. Melanie was a terrible landlord, and was difficult to get along with, but Cameron was obligated to help her. They were sisters, after all. No matter how much they fought or disagreed. Melanie needed her, so Cameron came. She just hoped she would be able to leave soon.

Cameron woke up far earlier than she wanted to. Unable to go back to sleep, she rolled out of bed and tripped over the cat on her way to the kitchenette. She opened the refrigerator door in search of something to eat, but it was empty, except for a jar of grape jelly and a bag of shredded mozzarella cheese. She had been putting off going to the store for days. It was hard to muster up the motivation to run errands when there was a fully stocked kitchen just across the yard.

Cameron left her apartment dashed across the dew-soaked back lawn to the back porch of the main house. She opened the back door with the spare key hidden underneath the grill that hadn't been used in months. Once inside the main house, Cameron helped herself to a couple of frozen waffles and grabbed the jug of orange juice. Satisfied with her loot, Cameron exited the house and ran across the lawn, up the stairs, and into her apartment. She ate the waffles frozen and drank out of the jug. These actions would have earned a disapproving look and lecture about proper table etiquette from Melanie. That is, if she wasn't too hung over from her late night out with the girls.

It wasn't until nearly six o'clock that evening that Cameron saw her sister. She honestly wondered how the house ran with someone like Melanie in charge. Cameron knew it would be ten times worse if she wasn't living on the premises.

Cameron abandoned her book to venture down to the main house's kitchen to find out what sort of night her sister had.

"Christ, Mel," Cameron attempted to stifle her laughter at the sight of her sister slumped over the granite countertop, her face pressed firmly against the cool stone, her arms spread out.

"Why do I do this to myself?" Melanie whined, lifting her head to look at her younger sister. Her eyes were red, her face was puffy, and she had dark bags under her eyes, which looked worse than they really were because of all of the smeared, left over eye make-up.

"You either had a really good night, or a really bad night," Cameron smiled, resting her elbows on the counter, across the island from her sister, and resting her chin in her hands.

"Oh, it was awful," Melanie groaned. Cameron rolled her eyes. Melanie had always been the party sister. She couldn't turn down the promise of a good time.

"I guess this means you're not cooking anything for dinner," Cameron sighed. She hated cooking, and looked forward to every time her sister prepared meals. Cameron had limited funds, and could only afford so much take-out.

"Oh, don't even mention food." Melanie picked herself up from the countertop and sighed. As she stretched out her arms, Cameron caught a glimpse of something on her neck.

"What the hell did you do last night, Mel?" Cameron demanded. The something on her sister's neck was either a hickey or bite marks.

"Nothing," Melanie pulled her hair over her shoulders to hide the mark.

"Shut up. What did you do?"

"Kell, Cee, and me went to a bar."

"Which one?" Cameron prodded.

"Hey, I don't need my little sister interrogating me. I'm almost thirty years old. You're not mom, I don't need to tell you where I go or where I've been," Melanie got defensive with her sister, trying to deter the attention away from her neck.

"Fuck you, you went to a vampire bar, didn't you?"

"Who cares if I did?"

"I don't care what you do, just don't be such a fucking hypocrite about it," said Cameron.

"Stop swearing so much. And how am I a hypocrite?" Melanie placed her hands on her hips in a challenging manner.

"You tell Jackson all the damn time that vampires are bad. And you go to a vampire bar and let one of them bite you just for kicks. Hypocrite." Cameron always enjoyed pointing out her sister's failures, but sometimes she really wished she didn't have to point out things that were so obvious.

"Chill out. We all did it. Kell even took one home with her. I just want Jackson to be careful about vamps," Melanie said, trying to defend her actions.

"Your friend Kelly is the most stupid girl I have ever met. And where the hell do you expect Jackson to meet a vampire? You're logic is so screwed up, you know that, right?"

"Just shut up, OK? I don't want to argue with you. I hate it when we fight," Melanie sighed and gave up the fight. Cameron resisted rolling her eyes, but conceded. Melanie moved to rummage through the refrigerator for something to press against her puffy face.

"Have you seen my phone around?" Melanie finally asked, breaking the silence, as she turned to face her sister with a bag of deli sliced cheese pressed against her forehead.

"No," Cameron shook her head. She didn't bother pointing out that she hadn't even been in the house in an effort to avoid another argument.

"Dang, I think I left it at the bar. Either that or Cee's car…" Melanie moved around the island to the portable phone resting on the breakfast table. She dialed a number, and called who Cameron assumed was Cee. She didn't much care to listen in on Melanie trying to talk to her idiot friend. While her sister talked on the phone, Cameron made herself two peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

"Fuck me. Cameron, I think I left my phone at the bar," Melanie whined as she put the phone back in its cradle next to the toaster.

"Sucks," Cameron shrugged as she bit into her sandwich. She didn't really care.

"Will you go get it?" Melanie asked, putting on the pouty face.

"Oh hell no! It's not my problem you can't keep track of your shit!"

"Please!"

"No!"

"Reckless" by Tilly and the Wall