a/n: I know, I shouldn't be starting another story while I have That Was Then, This is Now still going on. But I've had this idea for awhile now and can never seem to find the time to write it down. So I finally started it and have this intro done. Who knows maybe this has been done before, I have no idea. But it seemed like it could be fun to write so yeah...

Chapter One

I had been working at Brennan Hospital for two years now. It was the best decision I had ever made in my life. For the longest time I worked as a barmaid at Merlotte's, my town's local watering hole. However that was never what I truly wanted to do. So awhile back I took my Gran's advice and went back to school. I took mostly online courses when I could since it was easier for work as well as my disability. Unfortunately I was never quite normal and my entire life I have been able to hear people's thoughts.

Being telepathic was a curse for most of my life. But then I finished school and applied for a nursing job at Brennan Hospital in Shreveport. It was a psychiatric hospital and you would think being able to hear people's thoughts there would be the worst. On the contrary I discovered my ability could finally be useful. People that everyone classifies as crazy, or a lost cause, I could go right into their mind and see if it was true. I know if their meds are starting to work, or if we should switch them to something else because it's doing nothing. I can also tell that in some cases the people aren't crazy at all. Sometimes they just need a little extra help for a few months and they're back on their feet.

It felt so good to finally use my telepathy rather than trying to fight and ignore it. I still wished to be normal most of the time, but this was better than feeling useless at Merlotte's. Tonight I had the late shift at the hospital. I was stuck working from 11pm to 7am. So it was pitch black out and I was eating breakfast before making the drive from Bon Temps to Shreveport.

I made a sandwich and quietly ate dinner. The old farmhouse was a bit lonely these days. My Gran had been gone for a year now and it was still hard to think of her without getting misty eyed. But I still had my brother Jason who lived five minutes down the road in our parent's house. I noticed the time and quickly finished eating and packed some food to bring with me to the hospital. Then I hopped into my old Honda and drove down to Shreveport.

"Hey Sook!" Amelia greeted my cheerfully from the nurse's station. I smiled back at her and stopped to put my things in the fridge before heading over.

"Hi Ames, you working the graveyard shift too?" I enjoyed working with Amelia. She was quite the broadcaster with her thoughts but she was also a nice, genuine person.

"Yep, should be a boring night as always." She plopped down in the computer chair to start working on paperwork nobody ever wanted to do.

I got everything together to check on each patient and give them their medication if they were scheduled for anything. It always took awhile since if someone was awake I tried to be kind and take a few minutes to talk with them. Luckily we didn't have anyone who got very violent at the moment. So I didn't have to worry about that. It had happened in the past though and I always felt terrible seeing someone forcefully restrained. But it was for the staff's safety too.

Around 8:30 I finished checking up on everyone. We were a small facility with only one floor so I wasn't checking ten floors of patients like a huge hospital in the city. Everything was quiet and many of the patients were already in bed. I stopped at the supply closet near the entrance and grabbed a watering can. We had beautiful flowers out front that no one seemed to water. I loved seeing them on a sunny day though and made it a habit to water them whenever I came to work.

I filled the watering can at the sink to avoid being outside to long and being bitten by the bugs. It was summer in Louisiana, there were plenty of mosquitoes outside. When I opened the door I nearly dropped the watering can. There was a man sitting on the cement steps that lead to our front door from a path that meandered through the lawn in front of the facility. He had no shirt on and was just sitting there with his back to me.

Finally I cleared my throat and he turned around.

Let me tell you, I could only describe him as beautiful. His hair was dirty blonde and a bit messy. It was short but long enough to look wind blown from running or being in a convertible. His skin was fair but completely smooth. He had probably never had a pimple in his life. Then there were his eyes. They were this amazing shade of blue that made me think of a frozen lake.

"Hello… can I help you?" There we go, finally found the voice!

He looked up at me and seemed rather helpless. The man didn't say anything.

"Excuse me, do you need help?" What was he doing sitting on the steps alone with no shirt?

"I…." His voice was quiet and very cautious. "…don't know."

Okay so I had no idea how this man arrived here but it seemed like he was at the right place.

"What's your name?" I started off with the basics.

"Um, I'm not sure…" His forehead crumpled and his face turned into a frown. He seemed frustrated at not being able to remember his name.

"Okay well why don't you stand up and come inside with me?" This man needed help and hopefully we could find a way to ID him and contact his family.

He got up slowly and then I had to really look up at him. The guy was a freaking giant! The top of my head barely made it to his shoulder. I had to try very hard to not stare at his perfectly sculpted chest. Damn, whoever he was, I bet he worked as a male model. The poor guy still seemed so unsure. Instead of a grown man over six feet tall he was acting like a lost puppy. I felt bad for him. It had to be frightening to not know what was going on. I reached out for his arm but he automatically grabbed my hand. His skin was a bit too warm but it was hot and humid outside so I wasn't surprised.

"Come on, we'll get you inside and into some clean clothes." He also had no shoes and filthy jeans on. I led the way inside with the mystery man trailing a step behind me and still holding my hand. When I got to the nurse's station Amelia's eyes were wide as saucers.

Damn Sook doesn't usually have many boyfriends but this one is delicious. Wonder what they were doing outside for him to have half his clothes off. The thoughts in her head had that sarcastic but happy tone to them. The exact same as if Amelia had spoken them to me and was just glad I was having fun with someone. Unfortunately she was all wrong.

"Who is this?" She stepped out from behind the counter.

"I don't know. I just found him sitting outside. He doesn't even know his own name." I explained and Amelia quickly went into work mode.

We did a complete check up and all of his vitals were great. From what we could tell this man was in peak physical condition. But we both knew you could be healthy as a horse and something traumatic could cause your brain to just snap. I wondered what could have happened to make him lose who he was. We had asked him a bunch of questions and all he remembered was walking in the front yard of the hospital and then sitting on the steps.

When Amelia left to get him some water I decided to do a little digging. I had yet to hear a thought from him but some people were just quieter than others. I briefly touched his hand. "You're sure you don't remember anything else?"

Silence. There was nothing but the quiet around us and distant sounds of crickets outside. Strange. That had never happened to me before. Usually when I touched someone it magnified their thoughts and made them easier to read. But with this guy there was just peaceful quiet. It was very unusual.

"No, I'm sorry I just don't remember anything before fifteen minutes ago." He was sitting on the edge of the bed now in the white pajama pants and t-shirt we had given him.

Amelia dropped off the water and then we heard someone up and moving a few rooms down. "I'll check on him, it's probably thinking he's still playing minor league baseball."

Old had played ball for a couple years when he was young and for some reason he woke up in the middle of the night and would start pitching things.

"Alright thanks" I smiled and Amelia slipped out the door. I looked over at the man who had taken a few sips of his water.

"You hungry?" He shook his head and leaned back in bed. He made it look tiny.

"Okay you just get some rest and I'll check on you in the morning." I turned to go back to the nurse's station.

"Wait" He sat up some. "Can you stay? Just for a little while?"

I paused. It wouldn't hurt to sit with him for a bit and the poor guy just looked so startled. Sort of like when a little kid had a nightmare and wasn't ready to face their dark room alone.

"Alright" I sighed and pulled over the only other chair in the room. I took a seat and he gave me a small smile. I tried to not think about how adorable his grin was.

"What's your name?" He asked quietly.

"Sookie" I realized then that I hadn't told him.

"Nice to meet you Sookie" He laid back in bed again and I couldn't say the same back to him. Since I still did not know his name or who he was at all.

a/n: I think we all know who the mystery man is...