bitten_notshy | Secret Squirrel Fic for Nic

Title: Four People Raven Never Slept With, and One She Did
Rating: Probably PG-13
Notes: Written with the sincere hope I didn't butcher anybody in this too badly. All mangling was done with love.

1. TARA

"Raven?" Tara sounded uncertain as she leaned into Raven's dorm room. "Are you in the middle of anything? I -- I can totally come back."

Raven shut her laptop guiltily before Tara could see the Gossip Girl message board. "Nothing," she said with a gentle smile. "What is troubling you?"

Tara wandered in, sat on the bed next to Raven. "So ... there's this spell I'm working on. It's, um ... a present for Kennedy." She flushed and said the rest of what she had to say to her shoes. "It's not exactly a lust spell, it's more an ... enhancer. For certain, um, moods. And I think I have the spell worked out but I ... wanted to test it with somebody I trusted there."

"All right," Raven said, uncertain why she was being told about this.

"So ..." Tara practically turned purple before she got the next bit out. "I was hoping you'd stay with me while I tried it. Then you could sort of ... neutralize whatever it did to me. That's a p-power of yours, right?"

"I can try," Raven said. It wasn't something she'd been asked to do often, but she was willing to make the attempt for the sake of Tara and Kennedy. "I could also manipulate your emotions and sensations more directly, if that would help you both."

"Oh my god no," Tara squeaked, then worried it sounded rude. "No offense. Just, um ... we'll test it tonight? Kennedy's not around, and I'm free."

Later that night, Raven came to Tara's dorm room and watched as Tara downed a shot of something hot pink that smelled like pickle juice.

"Your feelings are not changing," she observed a few minutes later.

"Not at all," Tara agreed. Then, very suddenly: "Except ... that thing on your forehead? I really want to lick it now. And you have the best eyes. And --"

Overcome by emotion and not trusting mere words to express it, she leaned in for a kiss.

It was probably the best for everyone that her reverie was interrupted by a fire alarm. The blare caused Raven to spring away before Tara's lips landed, and anything more that might have happened was lost in the chaos of getting onto the front lawn.

2. KENNEDY

"God, Raven."

Kennedy said it a lot. She said it when she tried to convince Raven to spar and got told it was too violent.

She said it when Raven mentioned her "netherverse" and didn't seem to understand why everyone else in the group looked like they were choking on the urge to laugh.

She said it, and rolled her eyes, when Raven seemed to believe all the villain of the week needed was love, understanding, and a little empathetic healing.

And each time she did, Raven blushed and dropped her gaze. But deep inside her, Pride was talking.

That inner voice wanted her to reach her hands under Kennedy's clothes for a few adroit caresses. That might make her see what "God, Raven," could really mean.

3. ERIC

A few simple rules about the management of humans made it much easier for Eric Northman to run his clubs. He did not serve drinks to the underaged; he did not go home with clients; and he certainly did not go home with underaged clients.

But if he was ever going to make an exception, and he didn't consider Sookie's friends more or less off-limits to begin with, the tall brunette with the red chakra -- the one who seemed to be allergic to pants -- might just be it.

He'd been around a long time. The chance to sleep with a demon just didn't come up that often.

4. JACK PRIEST

It wouldn't have ever even come close to happening, except Andy and Jack made the not-terribly-characteristic choice to move the furniture in their dorm room on the same night as Raven got a little silly at a party and decided to crash in her boyfriend's bed. Or -- more accurately -- the bed closest to where Andy's bed used to be.

Jack felt the new warmth next to him, dimly thought girl and then Rose?, and offered a drowsy kiss to whoever-it-was.

At first, the empathy made it a very nice kiss indeed. Then Jack realized this girl didn't taste or smell like anyone he expected in his bed and pulled away. His eyes and Raven's were equally panicked when they met.

"Raven," he said in a hoarse whisper, and licked his lip. "What--?"

She was already standing up. "This is not Andy's bed."

Jack shook his head. "He moved under the window!" he managed, then remembered: "I'm sorry."

"I know you didn't mean to kiss me," she said, and turned to slip out of the room, far too self-conscious now to cuddle in next to Andy. "I will not tell anyone if you do not."

Jack rubbed his eyes, still half-asleep. "No, no, this definitely counts as our secret."

5. KARLA

"He's really gone." Raven's voice was flat, and she didn't look up as Karla entered the throne room and sat next to her.

In a way, a battle would have been easier to take. A death, or something equally catastrophic, would at least justify how awful she felt. But no, it had just been a long series of petty fights that bled into each other. Jono had finally said, if that was how she was going to be, he had better things to do, thanks much.

Raven had fled to Glacia to lick her wounds. Weeks later, she was still there.

"He's gone," Karla repeated, as she had dozens of times the last several days. "I can feel how sad and angry that makes you. But -- you aren't alone." She reached out to grope for Raven's hand. "You kept me together when Warren went away. Darkness take me if I do less for you."

Raven took her friend's hand -- her queen's hand -- and smiled sadly. "You will help. You have always been my friend."

"I think maybe," Karla said, after a moment that was almost a lifetime, "I might be able to be more than that."

"Oh?" At first, Raven simply didn't know what Karla meant.

Then she did, and suddenly she felt some hope for the future.

~The End~