AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do not claim ownership of True Blood or the Southern Vampire Mysteries – just of my original character and elements. This is also written in an Alternative Universe format.

"Sookie!" There was a pause, but no silence in the midst of the dinner rush in the small southern diner. The chatter and laughter of people filled the dining room and floated back toward the bar and kitchen, nearly drowning out the sound of the cook and order bell. "Sookie!" Lafayette Reynolds shouted in a throaty voice as he slammed his hand down on the bell once more. A flash of blond hair whipped by the kitchen window and he tapped the counter with his spatula. "Kendall? Where the fuck is your sister?" The porcelain skinned blond turned around and came back to the window. "Her order's been up for about five minutes."

"Oh, I think she's out at a table. She probably got to talkin' to the customers again. I'll take it." The woman grabbed the basket of fried food and the ticket attached to it and walked the order to the table. "I'm so sorry about the wait. Enjoy." She turned her attention from the customers at the table and glanced around the diner. Her blue-green orbs finally fell on the blond ponytail of her sister. She was right; her sister was chatting away to men at a table. It wasn't surprising though. The men were familiar – their brother and his co-workers and friends. They made it a habit to come into the diner every day after work for drinks or dinner.

Kendall approached and halted at her sister's side, looping her arm around Sookie's. "Sook, you're slacking off talking to these weirdos. I can't come away from the bar to deliver your orders again," she said with a smile. Their brother, Jason, scoffed.

"I'm pretty positive that I'm not the weird one here. That's Hoyt." The tallest and broadest of the trio of men dropped his mouth open in a bewildered response.

"What did I do?" he asked. "I'm not weird." Sookie pulled her arm from Kendall's grasp and gave her a warning look. Jason laughed. Kendall shook her head, and her eyes met those of the third man at the table. Rene Lenier smiled slightly at her then looked away, the way a shy school boy might have looked away from the girl he had a crush on.

"You're all weird. I gotta get back to the bar and help Sam," Kendall said, turning to step away.

"Kendall. Can we get a pitcher?" Jason asked. She nodded and continued to the bar. Her boss and the owner of the diner slid a duo of shot glasses to two patrons in front of them.

"Jason's table wants a pitcher," she said, grabbing a rag and wiping down the counter top.

"Alright." Sam shot a look toward the table of men and watched Sookie walk away from it. "Is Sookie okay?" Kendall's hand paused for a second and she looked at Sam Merlotte curiously. This man was a good decade older than she and Sookie. He'd lived in the small swamp town of Bon Temps, Louisiana just as long as they had. It was odd that he had developed a crush on her sister only after she started working for him – granted if it had happened before that, it would have been even more odd.

"Yeah, why?"

"She seems distracted." Kendall shrugged and went back to cleaning as Sam filled up a pitcher of draft beer.

"Sometimes she's just spacey. You know that." He gave up after a second and nodded, handing her the pitcher.

"I don't know where Arlene is." Kendall sighed and took the pitcher. It was Sookie that should have been coming for the pitcher. It was her table, not Arlene's. Kendall was fed up with Arlene anyway, so the less she saw of her, the better. She was a pompous woman who always thought she could belittle Kendall because she was the "new girl", but Kendall wasn't one to let people walk all over her, so there was a lot of cattiness between the two women.

The young blond grabbed three steins and walked the alcohol over to the table. She set it down in the middle and tapped her brother on the shoulder. "Sookie's your waitress, if she doesn't keep disappearing."

"I know. She's running food right now. Is she the only one working tonight?" Jason asked, watching Hoyt pour the beer for everyone.

"No. Arlene is here somewhere. She probably went off the floor again to take a break." Kendall took care to emphasize air quotes around the work break. "She always says her feet hurt. Bitch, we're all on our feet in here. You don't see me sneaking off to sit on my ass."

"Got a little hostility there, you?" Rene asked with a laugh.

"I don't like Arlene. Sorry. I know she's your girlfriend."

"Ex-girlfriend." The table was silent for a second. Rene looked at all of them. "What?"

"When did y'all break up?" Hoyt asked.

"A couple of weeks ago."

"Why?" Rene took long drink from his glass.

"Cheated on me with Terry Bellefleur." Jason and Hoyt looked at each other.

"Did you catch them?" Jason asked.

"No. She told me. Then she told me she didn't wanna be with me anymore." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Sorry, Rene," Kendall said.

"Kendall!" Sam called. She turned her head to look toward the bar.

"I've gotta get back. I'll see you guys later." Kendall scampered off, passing her sister on the way. Did you know Rene and Arlene broke up? She thought toward Sookie. Sookie paused and shot her a glance over the bar.

When? Was Sookie's returned thought.

A couple of weeks ago. She cheated on him with Terry Bellefleur.

That explains why she's been hiding in the office since he came in.

Are you shittin' me?

No, I just saw her back there. Now that I think about it, she seems to disappear when he comes in.

"Arlene is hiding out in your office. Might wanna get her back out here before Sookie gets swamped," Kendall casually said to Sam before turning her attention to a couple that sat down at the bar. The good thing about she and her sister was that they could have private conversations back and forth just through their minds, thanks to some strange genetic anomaly they inherited in their shared womb. The bad thing was that if they didn't protect themselves with concentration, Sookie could hear the thoughts everyone and Kendall could hear them and sense their emotions. Sometimes, things could be unbearable.

They were the freaky Stackhouse twins growing up, once people started noticing their peculiarities. Jason was always the normal one – albeit he could do weird things, but it was never anything out of the ordinary. He was older than them by a couple of years. The only person that ever understood the girls was their grandmother and by a tragic chain of events, the kids wound up living with her after their parents were killed in a car accident.

"Yeah," Sam said, excusing himself from the bar. Kendall smirked despite herself and focused on passing the hours.

"You're terrible at this game, Rene," Hoyt said, lining up his cue stick at the billiards table. Kendall pushed the broom around the floor in the game room, watching the men play. Last call had been nearly an hour ago and every customer except for her brother and his friends had called it a night. Of course, this was not unusual. Sam never minded if they hung around until he locked up as long as they didn't inhibit the staff from cleaning up.

"I'm not. I drank a lil' too much," he said with a laugh as his eyes switched from the table to Kendall's passing form. His arm went around her waist and her weight shifted into him as he pulled. His emotions flowed into her then, lust and anger, though she couldn't understand the anger part. He was a man, so she always understood the lust part.

"Rene?" she asked, resting her hand on his shoulder.

"You're so beautiful," he said. His Cajun accent was almost non-existent, his eyes half open and glassy. She didn't recall seeing Rene this drunk – if ever. Perhaps the conversation of Arlene's infidelity had struck a nerve and that was the root of his feeling of anger and spiral out of control that evening.

"And you are so hammered, Rene. Do you want some coffee?" He shook his head and smiled before he leaned closer to her.

"Dude, it's your turn," Hoyt urged. Rene looked over her shoulder and she tried to pull away from him.

"Remember when we first met?" he asked. Hoyt sighed and docked his cue stick on the wall before walking out of the game room. Kendall was confused for a moment.

"Was that directed at me or Hoyt?" she asked as he pulled her close and started to sway the two of them to the silence.

"You, Chére."

"Yeah, at the bank. What about it?"

"I should have asked you out when I first saw you." He went in to kiss her, and she leaned away from him.

"Rene!" He stood up straight and looked at her. "What?"

"Stop that."

"I thought you liked me."

"I do, but not sloshed off your ass and trying to force yourself on me." He let go of her.

"Whoa, it's not like that." Sookie came into the room then.

"What's going on?" she inquired. Rene shook his head.

"Did Hoyt leave?"

"No. I think he's waiting for you. He's gonna drop you home." Rene didn't let his eyes meet Kendall's as he started to stumble away.

"Sorry." Kendall watched him walk away and Sookie stepped closer.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. He's wasted." Sookie stared at Kendall for a moment, and then Kendall blinked. "Don't do that! I don't infringe upon your brain when you're vulnerable."

"Want me to kick his ass?" Kendall laughed.

"That'd be funny to see." She shook her head. "He's upset about the Arlene thing still. And he drank too much, which I've never seen him do."

"That doesn't excuse him."

"He stopped when I said to. Let's leave it alone." Kendall shifted the broom handle from one hand to the other. "Are we about done?" Sookie nodded. "Great. I'm beat."

"Then let's head home."