100 years from now was a long way away. Everything Tara knew would be gone. And as fucked up as it sounds she considered that it might be for the best. At the present their small band of human and vampire 'freedom fighters' had convened at Gingers to deliberate what to do about the new Bill. Sookie sat on the couch arm looking off in the distance with Eric not far away to lend silent support. Ginger with her pink and black polka dotted velvet robe stood in the doorway of the kitchen thinking if it was worth to work to clean up her furniture or if she should just buy a new set. Her blood soaked guests had made themselves at home while thoughtlessly staining her furniture. Jason was pacing talking to himself ignoring Jessica's large imploring eyes she lowered once or twice when Jason turned his head in her direction. Tara snorted, if they survived, this would be well worth forgetting. Well, maybe not all of it. She couldn't help the smirk staring at Pam's heaving chest. Beautiful, Tara playing the skin on the inside of her lip enjoying the view across the room. Blue eyes flicked up meeting sultry brown. Pam shifted uncomfortably.

"Three hours until sun up," Nora entered the room brusquely from the outside, "any bright ideas while I've been gone."

"I got one." Jason stopped pacing, "tell us about Warlow," he looked at Nora pointedly.

"He's the worst type of vampire you'd want to meet. I'm still unclear how you know him," she countered frowning.

"According to some contract in 1702 I was promised to this Warlow person so not only do I have Bill to worry about I also have the vampire who killed my parents after me." Sookie was just as surprised as everyone else that she managed that in one breath.

"Damn," Tara offered.

"Well Warlows not here and I dare say he's relevant when we have big bag Billilth to deal with," Pam darkly reminded everyone before Sookie sucked them into yet another one of her melodramas.

"Just like a fucking Vamp. Worried about your own skin. You know how many times my sister's stuck her neck out for your kind," he pointed to Sookie who seemed uncomfortable with all the attention.

"If she didn't stick her nose where it didn't belong she wouldn't have to elongate her neck." Pam's face was a constant portraiture of indifference Michelangelo would have loved to immortalize. But since she had the immortal thing covered she shared it with the world every chance she got and it came in handy when emotionally invested humans forgot about the big picture. "But if we're gonna to turn this into another crusade in the name of Sookie Stackhouse I'll take my chances elsewhere."

Tara pushed off the wall she was leaning on ready to follow Pam out if she was serious. Jason drew his gun stopping the high heeled blonde.

"What the hell," she glared down the barrel.

Sookie bolted up,"Jason!"

The blonde sheriff stared at the full lipped blond. She wasn't afraid of him. He didn't expect her to be afraid of him. That was there problem. They were so unaffected from being dead so long they couldn't understand their existence ruined lives. Hell, his sister was better off with Bill and Eric. Jessica , and in part his penis, ruined his friendship with Bubba. He felt his finger rub the trigger as he contemplated pulling it.

"Jason…" Eric drew out in warning. Everyone in the room was concerned about the outcome except for the vampire the gun was aimed at. If she was going to die she wouldn't give a Stackhouse the pleasure of seeing worry.

Jason squinted his eyes when tears filling them, but they didn't fall. His parents would be alive if a vampire hadn't taken them. "I don't get it Sook. They come into our lives and rip it apart. We coulda had mom. We coulda had dad. We wouldn't have come up so fucked up. And we are so fucked up Sook."

"Jason put the gun down," she pleaded closer now.

Tara had stayed quiet. Jason had his back to her, but she was very aware of his breathing. For a long time in her infatuation with him she studied him. One of those things happened to be his breathing before he pulled a trigger. Down south shooting was much of a bonding experience as shopping was for northerners. She watched his breathing and when Sookie stepped in distracting him from his count she took her advantage. In hindsight she didn't mean to hit him so hard. But she reacted in rage at having Pam's life threatened so soon after risking her life to save it. That was hard work she didn't want wasted.

Using her speed and supernatural dexterity she broke his wrist then she threw him into the wall behind Pam. His head connected hard and for the second time that night was knocked unconscious, hopefully for the better.

"Tara!" Sookie ran over to her brother. "Damn it Tara you didn't have to do that."

Brown eyes glared unapologetically at his slumped figure. In her mind he got what he deserved. She flicked her eyes to her maker who had an amused glint in her eyes long enough for Tara to glimpse it before she went back to the cold and distant.

"That's twice I saved your life and not even a thank you."

"I'm composing a thank you note in my head as we speak. It's all emotional and shit."

Tara rolled her eyes fighting her smirk. Eric ever concerned for Sookie and almost everything else concerning her by extension walked over to help.

Nora unimpressed with baby vamps in every form glared at the owner of the home asking. "Is there a room in this house the sun doesn't reach?"

Jerking from being addressed Ginger nodded her head pointing noiselessly to the kitchen. Nora gestured for her to lead the way. She'd let her brother and the others deal with their mess. Someone had to access the space they had to work with. Even if there wasn't enough room they still had the portable coffins Eric had Tara drag out before their rescue mission.

As an afterthought the ditzy blonde called out, "the sofa pulls out to a bed." Jessica jumped at the chance to be of use. Jason's behavior worried her so in case Sookie did get him to wake up she knew she would be one of the last people he wanted to see. She pulled out the bed with ease adjusting the pillows just right for his head.

Eric picked him up and deposited him quickly so no one would see how gently it did it. Sookie took her place beside her brother trying to get him up. She knew the seriousness of head injuries.

"Wha…." he groaned reaching his hand up halfway to his head before he gave up from the effort. "What happened?"

"You bumped your head," she tried to sooth him with a half truth. She didn't need him getting riled up again.

Nora came up from the basement asking for some assistance with the portable coffins.

"Tara— be a dear," Pam ordered without sounding like she was. Meeting the blonde's gaze Tara's gaze lowered to lips she wanted to revisit. Since this wasn't the time or the place for it she decided went outside to expend some energy she would have used to bend Pam over and claim her on the same sofa bed the Stackhouses sat on.

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The afternoon was just a friendly reminder of all the chaos Bill had started ordering the bombing of True Blood factories. Who knew the former advocate for mainstreaming would be at the head of the organization bent on destroying that harmony. As hard as it was for Sookie to think about killing Bill it was the only option if they were to salvage the unconventional order that was in place before he went crazy on Lilith blood.

She wiped her head over her face. Everyone had gone to bed when the sun came up. No one was in shape to be up during the day or at least that morning. When Sookie woke it was one o' clock and she hated that she slept so long, but she knew she needed all the rest she could get for the fight ahead. Where were the simpler times where all she had to worry about was reading people's minds and being called a freak? Now if it wasn't a physical threat it was an impending physical threat that occupied her thoughts and energy.

"He ok?" Sookie jumped.

Tara stood in the doorway of the room. It wasn't until her arrival that Sookie noticed the shutters of the windows were closed allowing very little light in.

"He still hasn't woken up yet," she offered tossing the remote for the television down.

Tara stepped further in the room shrinking away from the rays of light let in through the holes Ginger missed when she got up the morning. Tara had offered to vampire proof the house when they went to 'bed'. She took a seat in the corner of the room away from the light. She curled up checking her nails for dirt even though she knew she wouldn't find any. She had cleaned the blood and dirt from them before she went down for the day. Her mind had rested for a while.

"You still think about ripping my throat out?" Sookie asked the question refusing to take advantage of Tara wanting to be in the same room with her.

"Sometimes," Tara answered honestly. "But if I am going to live for an eternity I figure I can live it better if I don't have my former best friend's blood on my hands."

"Former?"

"You fucked up the trust Sookie."

"You were going to die. You were going to die because of me," she breathed painfully hoping she wasn't going to ruin this with blubbering. She had to tell Tara why. Why she turned her childhood friend, protector, and confidant into the very thing she hated the most. "I love you Tara. I couldn't lose you. You've always been there. And then in a second you could've been gone. How could I let you go if there was a chance to save you? Even if that chance was to turn you into a vampire."

Tara glared at the ground pulling her legs closer to her. She didn't interrupt so Sookie continued grateful she hadn't threatened her or stormed off.

"I can't make you stop hating me. I can only tell you I love you. What I did was out of love."

"Stop throwing that word around like you know what it means." Tara wanted to forgive. She couldn't bring herself to be convinced so easily.

This time Sookie stood up invading the space Tara had claimed as her own. She saw her push her back into the chair, but there was nowhere to go unless she wanted to go through Sookie. The blonde waitress fell to her knees reaching her hand out to the woman she still thought of as her best friend. Tara could crush it or fling her through the glass window. While all those possibilities of pain scared her she still sought out the hand closest to her to retrieve what they had lost.

"I didn't want to imagine a life without my best friend. I love you bitch," she tried to lighten the emotional moment. Tara could accept it or give her the same cold shoulder Sookie was growing accustomed to with the new Tara.

Surprisingly when she reached the hand and held it Tara closed her hand around it with a squeeze— a gentle squeeze that seemed too soft as if she were intentionally holding back so she wouldn't hurt Sookie. This was as good as she could do right now.

Leaving Sookie and Tara in a companionable stand still Jason woke up to the sight of the friends reconnecting. His head hurt like hell but he held it together with a minimal groan as he began to slowly sit up.

"I had the worse dream," his words were slurred in half sleep. "It was about fairies, vamps, and underground organization full of vamps wanting to kill us."

Sookie started toward her brother. Tara took that as her cue to leave. She didn't want to upset him anymore than she needed to by confirming that everything in the last month had indeed happened. She was amazed at it all herself. Human one minute then vampire the next. She headed back in the kitchen nodding her head at the scantily dressed Ginger who smiled in the middle of her breakfast/lunch.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The dawn brought the vampires out. Sookie hadn't been pleased to let her brother go out and get more supplies, but he felt safer if they restocked. He assessed the town and surprisingly nothing was any weirder than usual. Eric and Nora and Jessica made it upstairs to share their plan to deal with Bill.

Pam heard it once already and didn't feel the need to hear it again. Tara was on her way up without so much as a backwards glance. She stopped Tara's ascent to the common room with, "so you and Sookie back to being BFF's?"

Turning around slowly she eyed the blonde. "I risk my life for you. Kiss the hell outta ya and you want to talk about me and Sookie?"

Pam put her hands on her hips. Before they left Eric had the forethought to pack something a little more comfortable for Pam. Now she wore a t shirt with her black jacket and hood with blue jeans. She almost passed for normal. If someone didn't know any better they might go even further to call her vulnerable looking outside of the cold look she was infamous for. "She's my least favorite subject. I've got enough people in my life thinking her fairy dust don't stink."

"You jealous?"

"Don't flatter yourself."

"I don't need to if you're doing it for me."

"Never mind," the blond glared. She made an attempt to pass Tara uninterested in hearing the plan again, but too annoyed to stay down here with her dark skinned childe.

"Chicken shit," Tara growled loud enough to be heard.

Pam stopped in her tracks. With speed and strength Tara was too young to rival or question the older stronger vampire had pinned her to the wall with one manicured hand. The brick behind her bit painfully into her skin. "Don't get brave over one kiss." She dropped her progeny.

"Fuck," Tara held her throat.

Pam walked off.