AN: Thanks for the reviews! I'm anxious to get to the fun stuff. Hopefully not too much more building needed. As always, the Southern Vampire Mysteries and all characters therein belong to Charlaine Harris. No offense or infringement intended, I'm just playing in the Sookieverse.


"How's the prettiest mom in the whole world?" Sam asked as he carried a bouquet of wild flowers into the hospital room. Linda Merlotte Davidson sat at the end of the hospital bed, dressed for her trip home.

"You shouldn't have come all this way, Sam. I'm fine, really." She said. "You know as well as I that I really didn't need to come to the hospital anyway. I wouldn't have if I'd been conscious when the paramedics showed up. I'm convinced they kept me here overnight just because I was the first two-natured they came across knowingly."

"That's ok, I'm glad I made it here in time to take you home. We need to talk about Don and what you're going to do about him. Have you seen or heard from him at all since you got to the hospital?" Sam asked. What Sam really wanted to do was find Don and show him what real fear is like for daring to shoot his mother. Sam just couldn't understand how anyone could look into the face of someone they claim to love and pull the trigger.

"No, I haven't seen or heard from him. The police just got done asking me the same question not more than a half an hour ago. My guess is that he's taken off. Who knows if he'll ever come back." She said. "Oh, just forget that a minute and give your momma a big hug. It's been way too long since I've been face to face with my oldest." Linda wrapped her arms around Sam. "Son, why do you smell of fairy?"

Sam chuckled, "That's a long story, mom."


Amelia walked into Sam's office, "Ready to go, roomie? Night shift has arrived and I'm ready when you are."

"Yeah, I'm almost ready. I just need to make sure these order forms get signed and sent out. Can't have the bar running out of booze, can we?" Sookie said with a grin.

"You're getting good at this sort of thing," Amelia said. "So, how did the interviews go?"

"Well, they both seem nice enough and aren't hiding any deep seated need to hate shifters or Weres or Vampires. Lois, the second one, seems to be a bit more serious about working here long term. So, I'm going to call her back before we leave and let her know the job is hers. I'm hoping I can still talk you into working until Sam gets back. I don't think I ever really appreciated just how much Sam does around here. I've got my hands so full making sure his job gets done that I can't keep up with my own job."

"You got it, Sookie". She said, "I'm not saying I'd like to work here for a long period of time, but for a few days it's a nice change in my routine."

Sookie considered pointing out that Amelia's routine generally consisted of cleaning, shopping and talking about spells with Octavia but thought better of it. Sookie smiled at her friend. Sometimes she found herself slightly envious of Amelia. After all, Amelia has never really had to face being poor. Sookie sincerely hoped that she'd never have to.

Sookie called Lois back and told her the job was hers and arranged for her to come in for lunch shift tomorrow. It was always easier to train a new waitress on the lunch shift. Just then Terry knocked on the door, stuck his head in and said, "Someone out here asking for you, Sookie". Terry had shut the door again and gone before Sookie could ask him any questions, so she sighed deeply finished up what she needed to in the office and went out to the main area of the bar.

Terry pointed to a booth in the corner where the Sandy, the vampire, sat. Sookie wondered what Sandy could possibly want to talk to her about when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Hi, babe"…


Octavia looked down at the tarot cards again. They still weren't telling her anything that she wanted to hear. In fact, the cards pointed to someone close to her being deceived and hurt. It is hard to tell specifics from the cards, but she'd almost bet on Sookie being the one the cards were talking about. Bless her heart, the child was as sweet as she could be but she drew danger like a magnet.

She had finally gotten her FEMA money and decided that she liked Bon Temps well enough to stay here instead of going back to the Big Easy. She rented one side of a nice little duplex from Sookie's boss and was dating a charming widower by the name of Jacob Beck. Jacob's son Alcee was a policeman and occasionally passed by her duplex to check on her and make sure she was all right. It had been a long time since Octavia had been this happy.

She had enjoyed staying with Sookie and Amelia at Sookie's old farmhouse. Even though neither would say anything, still she knew that the younger women felt a little like they were being babysat with her around. It wasn't their fault. Octavia remembered what it was like to be young and free.

She looked back to the cards and frowned. She went into her temple room and got her bag of runes. She cast the runes and they said much the same thing as the tarot cards had. There was danger coming, danger and lies.

Octavia put the runes and cards back into their silk bags and stuck them into her purse. She grabbed her cell phone and called Amelia as she walked out to her car.

"Amelia, this is Octavia. Something is up and I'm coming over to see you girls don't go anywhere but home". With that, she hung up the phone, got in the car and headed over to Sookie's house.