Author's Note: I keep disappearing on you all and I apologize sincerely for it. I'm back again. I have a bit ready to go and I need to write something happy for Sookie and Eric after the depressing ending they were given in the books. I'll try not to desert you again for such long stretches of time. I know it's cruel. This is a short one, but I promise there's more soon to come.

Disclaimer: Sookie Stackhouse and characters belong to Charlaine Harris. I'm only borrowing them to ease my own sorrow.

I woke up gasping for air after a nightmare I could only barely remember, that had something to do with being chased by my brother the werepanther. My arms groped the bed next to me before I realized it was light out and there would be nothing there. Involuntarily, my hand clenched around the sheet and my jaw tightened with the frustration. It was something I was going to have to address soon. I quickly realized what instigated my abrupt awakening when someone knocked on the door. And the manner in which they did it indicated they had been doing it for some time. I jumped up and threw on the first clothes I could find and ran to the front door. It took me almost a full minute to unlock the fancy new door. Jason was standing on the other side.

"Jesus Sook," he started, admonishing me for taking so long, but I threw my arms around him and practically took the wind out of him. Over Jason's shoulder I gave a small smile at Calvin who stood by his car, before pulling him inside. I pushed the door shut behind him and grabbed the sides of his face to share at him.

"Are you okay?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. I'd told myself all night that he would be just fine. It was only now that I realized I'd only half-believed myself. The bruises and cuts visible to my eyes didn't help calm my nerves.

Jason took my hands and brought down from his face, smiling just a little, "I'm okay." My shoulders sagged in relief as he continued, "I'm good, actually. That was incredible." I knew my eyebrows rose and betrayed the surprise I felt. Jason saw it before I could put my features back in place.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't-" I started to apologize, but he shook his head.

"I didn't expect it either, but it was amazing," he was smiling bigger now, "Feeling the magic of it running through my veins. Even though I didn't turn all the way like the others. What I was, it was awesome."

I allowed myself to smile with him, telling myself that while unexpected, this was a wonderful reaction for him to be having. "I'm really glad," was the most intelligent thing I could muster.

"Yeah. All that worrying and it wasn't so bad after all," he said, simplifying a much more complex situation, as he often did.

I gestured toward the kitchen, "Did you want some coffee? Breakfast?"

He seemed to contemplate my offer for a moment before shaking his head and looking almost queasy, "You know, I'm going to have to pass. I'm pretty exhausted after last night. I think I'll just head home and get some sleep." At first I felt disappointed, wanting to hear more about what had happened, but then I remembered I had had a pretty exhausting night myself.

"Okay. Well, I would like to hear more about it sometime, but you go get some rest. You surely deserve it."

I hugged him tightly before he turned to leave, "See ya, Sook."

As soon as he left, I went and crawled right back into bed. Realizing you've had only a couple hours of sleep and that you have to work the night shift, well it's a good way to convince yourself to take a nap.

When I woke up, it was late afternoon. I started getting ready for work with a lightness that I hadn't felt in weeks. The burden of fear that had surrounded me about what would happen to Jason had lifted. I didn't know a lot about what had happened to him, but for all intents and purposes he seemed much happier than he had been before the change, and that was what mattered. Maybe all of the worrying had been for nothing after all.

The bar was packed when I arrived and I hurried to get myself inside and available to help out. As soon as I saw Sam he nodded and asked, "How are things?" It was his subtle—to everyone but me—way of asking about Jason.

"Things are good. Much better than expected," I spoke loudly so that he could hear me over the drone of the clientele. Sam's face mirrored what mine had likely been as Jason told me how incredible it was, before he smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it," was all he said, but I could tell he had a lot more he wanted to ask that would have to wait.

"We'll chat later," I said before rushing back towards the kitchen. I threw my stuff in Sam's office and ran out to try and help get the bar under control. It was obvious that they had been understaffed for a while before I arrived by how backed up everything seemed.

I'd barely had a chance to scope out my section when I heard, "Hey barmaid, bring me a Red Stuff!" I didn't even spare a glance in his direction as I preformed the task. When I found the vampire who'd requested it, I saw that he was with Tara and then took note that he was definitively someone other than Franklin. It was reason enough to be concerned. I brought the now warm bottle over and placed it in front of him.

I looked at Tara and she spoke up quickly, "Sookie, I want you to meet Mickey. He's a friend of Franklin's." She managed to keep a tremor out of her voice, but it was easy enough to tell that there was fear there. I only nodded to Mickey, which was about all he would have accepted in greeting anyway. He eyed me as if I were an object, appraising me for value, as he took a long sip of his Red Stuff. I had a strong desire to get out from under his gaze, so since Tara had stopped speaking, I took his money and went back to work.

The rest of the night was a real piece of work, if you can call it that. Terry and I were on our own to take care of the bar after Sam left to go roam the woods and, of course, in Sam's absence trouble had to happen. It felt like there was something in the air; between the college kids brawling and a Drainer coming in, not to mention Mickey's presence. Mickey on his own was concerning. Paired with my friend Tara made me all the more wary of him. I wanted to find out what he was doing with her. Unfortunately, my best chance of learning about Mickey was in Shreveport and unavailable for the evening. I was going to have to wait at least until after work the next night to quiz him about it. If there was something fishy about Mickey, Eric would know.

I had hoped the next night, also a night shift for me, would be calmer. That was until Claudine showed up. My fairy godmother came in the bar near closing time and beckoned me over. As I walked towards her I started to smile and wave, but the grim look on her face nearly stopped me in my tracks. I continued my path to her with more reserve and at a slower pace.

"Sookie," she started, "I unfortunately come with bad news." I swallowed hard. My mind was racing through the many possibilities of what could have happened, so much so that I couldn't speak but only nodded for her to continue. "There was a shooting this morning," at the look on my face she clarified, "Calvin Norris was shot."

My hand shot to my mouth as my brain grappled to understand, "He's dead?"

"Not dead. He was shot in the chest and is in bad shape, but he's alive," Claudine assured me, reaching out a hand to touch my elbow.

"Who did it?" I asked, taking deep breaths to calm myself.

Claudine shook her head, "We don't know."

I sighed, trying to shake the discomfort I felt at that. Claudine filled me in on a few other details, such as how she'd found out in the first place and the hospital he was staying at so that I could go visit sometime if I wanted. As I thanked her and she hugged me, she mentioned the girl who was killed, Heather Kinman, was a shifter, too. This concerned me, but I didn't know what to make of it. After that, Claudine acted as if she were any other patron.

Sam and I closed up the bar together not too long after Claudine left. I told him about Calvin and he mentioned that we should send some type of gift basket to him. I gathered my things and followed Sam outside. As he was locking the door, I turned to say something to him about putting in an order for TrueBlood. He looked me in the eyes for a moment as my mouth opened to speak. But the words never came out. There was only blood and my scream as I saw Sam crumple to the ground.

The next chapter will be out soon. Pinky promise. Love to all my faithful (and newbies that join in) readers. You're all the best. - KO