I like to think of Bill like this. Sookie is lucky to be loved and cherished by so many. And this also makes me want to go to Budapest ;)

Poor Bill. He'll always love her. He'll never have her. But he'll never fully let her go.

I can't remember the last time i read a Bill that grew up and let go. Bravo!

One of the best stories I've ever read. Your writing style is excellent

Thank you so much for writing from Bill's perspective. He is so often maligned that it makes me hurt for him. I really think his character is the most complex in either True Blood or the SVM novels and that it deserves more contemplation. It is easy to hate him, but much more difficult to understand him.

I wonder is it wrong for me to feel sorry for Bill?

darn, I am not a Bill fan but this is sooo depressing... Sookie becoming a Vampire feels like the end of all we know, but is it really so? Doesn't it just start for her?

He was never going to tell her about the queen's orders... and THAT is why I have no love for Bill. He considers Eric the selfish one, when HE in fact has always been selfish when it came to Sookie... I'm just glad he's finally realized his mistakes towards her and has finally let her go...

It's amazing. You've made me like Bill again and I did not think that was possible.

Also, I've been unable to stop reading since I stumbled across your stories. Thank you for them. I've laughed, cried and loved a little more with each one.

Great.

Hi,

I really liked your story, it's good. I am also happy cause you seem to like Budapest, wich happens to be my birthplace. :)

Tanks for writing it:Arisa

Gorgeous. Thanks for doing Bill justice.

"Now that I’ve played that part, I’d like to go." My heart broke for him here and I was so happy to see him freed at the end- happy enough that I almost felt bad for Eric, who has seen everything, and Sookie, who hasn't even begun, being tied down to one another.

I didn't realize it would be this painful for Bill. Loving and letting go was more suitable for Bill not for Eric. I was afraid everything would change, but it did beautifully. Thanks!

We’re at Book 9 and I have been unable to forgive Bill for the betrayals even after he has stood in front of Sookie in his own weakened state to protect her from the onrushing fae intent to kill her. My heart tells me, ‘Eric is there, too, and he’s standing a LOT closer to the door.’

Still, you make me bleed thinking of how Bill has never gotten over Sookie and how her death would send him packing. Nothing left in BonTemps to stay for, just memories to jab and haunt him everywhere he looks.

But I also see Bill as so mired in his past he cannot move forward. His home in BonTemps is a relic. His mindset is irrevocably linked to his history. He has not adapted to this era with a lot of comfort. Immersing himself in his computer work, in the dulling routine of data input. I am not at all surprised to see the Bill in this story using a pen to write notes in longhand. The familiarity of pen to paper must evoke a good degree of comfort. Maybe it’s my age, too ... when I write I always reach for pen and paper. Very atavistic of me, I know, when I do everything else on a computer. I like the feel of pen to paper.

Your interpretation is food for thought. Your Bill leaves and he’s traveling, submerging himself in different cultures that afford him emotional distance he needs now. I am not surprised, though, to read he is numb to detail. He doesn't want involvement, he wants preoccupation without feeling.

I love Amy Lowell’s prose from The Letter. Looked it up online after I read it. Aching piece.

It bothers me, even now, in retrospect, that Bill is still thinking it would have been better to keep the Queen’s orders secret from Sookie. This is no foundation to a relationship. It’s about trust. I very ambivalent, at once feeling sorry but also feeling ‘you bastard! you brought this on yourself.’

“I was stopped by a hand on my arm and Eric circling into my vision, his other hand around my throat...He let go of my throat and didn’t lay another hand on me. 'Get out of here,' he said”

Love, Love, Love Eric. Even in his own immense grief, he spares Bill. And his child.

“I left without filing any requests or seeking official permission.”

Always the renegade.

I enjoyed his return to Merlottes, the feel of the place having altered, a positive thrumming with the acceptance of Sookie having been turned.

“It was me. Allowing this realization to finally break through brought with it an unexpected warmth. I was tired of these pointless feelings of longing and regret. They were rough against the surface of my heart.”

This cheers my heart. Bill can move on.

“In vampire, she said, instead of “in person.” Get it? I didn’t. I get to make jokes now, she said.”

Soft humor. Love it.

“I had no idea if Eric was even in the bar that night or if he had developed enough control over his own ego to sit in his office for a time while she talked with me.”

Sheesh! Bad feelings there. Bill needs to let go of this, too.

“Eric—that lucky son of a bitch—sits back in his booth, a finger hooked in the belt loop of her jeans as she leans forward over the table to speak to Pam..."

I like your intimate moments that don't have to be sexual in their reveal. This radiates for me.

“I do not belong here.”

Bill is not a part of a crowd or group. He’s separated by history, his blood, his actions, his words at this point. I feel Bill’s aloneness so much more keenly after reading this.

Thank you for another superb read.

OMG, poor Bill. I ache for him. I felt the pain.