Bill nods at her, inclining his head seriously, manipulatively, telling her in word and manner that she is now a part of the elite, responsible, special. A very special girl. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't share this information with anyone. We don't like for our weaknesses to be made public knowledge." She nods seriously, worthy of this secret, and puts her hair absent-mindedly behind the ear. She stands slowly, and he stands with her, and she excuses herself to go back to work. Walking away, smiling to herself and at herself, glorying in the silence, loosing the silver cord from her throat. He stands in the darkness; he watches her go into the light.

Sookie Stackhouse, you are a charmer! Sam's standing outside the bar when she returns, obviously concerned for her welfare. Her smile and posture are the self-satisfaction of a girl in love. "I'm fine. And for your information, not all vampires can take care of themselves." She breezes past him, back to work, and he stares out into the night like he can smell something coming. For the record, of the three major hotties of the show, I have to say Sam's my favorite. Once Eric shows up in a month, everything is going to go nuts, but for now: Team Merlotte all the way. Mutual adoration is really the only relationship I can manage to deal with, with my employers; anything else is too complicated. Plus, dude is fine and gets zero credit.

End of the shift; Arlene says an easy goodnight to Sam and Tara before heading home. Foremost on Tara's mind is how much she's getting paid for the twenty minutes of work she put in, and Sam offers her twenty bucks. "Sam! How do you expect me to work here for twenty bucks a night?" He points out the million different ways of disaster even saying it aloud implies: "-- It'd be a matter of time before you went off on somebody. I don't wanna drive my customers away." Tara protests that she only goes off on stupid people, and Sam hilariously reminds her that the majority of his customers are stupid people. She presses, in a way that's not even really pushing or manipulating or untrue, but insincere nonetheless: "Yeah, but... I could help you keep an eye on Sookie. You see the way she was looking at that vampire? That is just trouble looking for a place to happen. And she means too much to both of us to let anything happen to her." Sam is, of course, immediately defeated. He hands her a bartender's guide and tells her to report back at six. "I was mixing whiskey sours for my mama when I was in first grade," Tara assures him. "It's just like riding a bicycle." They agree that this is a fucked up thing to have be true in one's life.