AN: Phew, you guys are beyond awesome. Truly, thank you. I'm sorry I made a lot of you sad, but wait and see what happens next! I'm excited. Next chapter will be skipping some time and I'll try to get it to you guys this weekend, but it's shaping out to be a busy one for me, so we'll see! I'm at 400 reviews and couldn't be more happy! THANKS AGAIN!

Chapter 25: They Give it to Us Just Before Dawn

When the alarm went off the next morning, the only thing that pushed me from falling back to sleep was the memories of the previous night choking me of air. I jumped out of bed, my heart thudding painfully. I looked around and saw through the vampire-glass-safe windows that it was light outside. I breathed in and out steadily. No time for tears, I began tossing all my clothes into my bag, my make up from the bathroom, all of it. I pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and glanced back around the room to make sure everything was with me. Once I was sure, I left the room. I looked at Alina's and Pam's door, hesitating for a second before I threw open the front door and into the hall, only to see two men standing guard. They looked at me appraisingly.

"Hello," I said as cheerfully as I could muster, plastering my crazy grin on my face.

"Miss Stackhouse?" the man asked. They were both large, dark skinned, and had menacing looks, like they were ready for action at a moment's notice. They were ridiculous and very much human. What was Eric playing at? Where did he get these guys? Bodyguards R Us? I read their minds and saw that Eric had made a call to their agency early in the morning for the sole duty to ensure I didn't leave before dusk.

I was foolish to think this would be easy. "Yes, that's me," I said weakly, leaning against the doorframe.

"Mr Northman has hired us to guarantee you do not leave your room."

I stood up straight. Feeling a flare of anger at their order. "You can't tell me what to do. I'll call the cops." But as soon as I said it, I read their minds: they would get away with it. They had special leeway with the police enforcement of Las Vegas. Great, just great.

If Eric thought I was going to turn right back to bed than he was letting his new hierarchy power get to his head. "Listen, Tom, is it?" I said, cornering the larger of the two men.

Tom looked startled. "Yes," he said slowly. The other guy, J was just as alarmed. How did I know their names?

"I don't want you to get into trouble..." I realized I had a way out. I easily let myself tear up. "But I just broke up with Mr Northman last night," I said, brushing tears away. "He's making me stay when I just want to go home. I can't be here when he wakes up for the night." If that didn't work I'd manipulate them through reading their minds.

As a rule, most men are deeply disturbed by a crying woman. Tom and J were no exception.

"Miss Stackhouse...this is our job," they said. Alright, so maybe they wouldn't budge.

I nodded, breathing in sharply. If I wanted to get out of here (and I really really did) I'd have to play dirty. My grandmother was going to roll in her grave over my poor manners. "Well, Tom, I wouldn't want your wife Carla to know you're having an affair on her with J here, now. Would you? I know her phone number. Better yet, the more respectful way would be to go to your house and tell her face-to-face," I said. If I were in a better mood, I would have tact, but I was too miserable and too angry to even consider pacing in that damn hotel room all day.

J stepped forward, outraged by my words.

"If you hurt me Mr Northman will kill you," I said assuredly. Tom knew this too and held his lover back.

"He's going to be mad," Tom said slowly, referring to Eric's reaction.

"Step away, please," I said. I picked up my bags and was pleased that they didn't stop me as I quickened to the elevator. I collapsed against the wall when the doors opened and closed behind me. I tried to regain my composure but I found the moment I started to cry in front of those dumb bodyguards, really hadn't helped. At some point the elevator stopped and I attempted to straighten myself up as a man entered and immediately was flushed with embarrassment at entering in a confined space with a crying woman. Honestly. He pointedly looked away and I was just as thankful as he was when the doors opened to the lobby.

I went to the front desk where a young girl was on the phone. She held up a finger to inform she would be another minute she hung up and gave me her best, 'Hello, Customer!' smile.

"Good morning, ma'am, how may I help you?"

"Yes, I was leaving early –"

"Are you checking out?"

"No, I have friends still in the room. Basically I was just wondering if you could direct me to a bus depot or something."

She nodded knowingly, "Sure thing, just give me a moment." I smiled gratefully. I tapped my fingers impatiently on the front desk. I was very unsettled being here. She turned back to me and wrote down directions on how to get there. She said it'd be about a ten minute cab ride. I smiled and thanked her. I breathed out a sigh of relief once I was out in the humid Vegas day.

God it was hot here, and I knew hot. Luckily there was a cab outside across the street. I passed the valet and crossed the road. I asked the cab driver if he was busy and he told me to hop on in. I relayed where I wanted to go and he pulled a uey.

Luckily I had some cash on me and paid the man, then hopped out of the cab. I saw about fifty grey-hound buses and I really hoped one of them lead me to Louisiana. I wandered around past the tourists who were heading home, regretfully, and found the line to the ticket booths. I looked above to see a screen flash with prices and locations. There was a bus that was heading to Orlando but stopped in Albuquerque, Huston and New Orleans along the way. Great.

I haven't been anywhere but I was about to go through three states to get home. The travel time was estimated at thirty-three hours. What? Eric would probably be awake and hunt me down. I groaned as I got closer to the ticket lady, contemplating what else I could do. I didn't want to fly, although it would be much faster. Maybe Eric had already shut off the bond, and it would be too hard for him to find me. Or maybe he had finally let me go.

I reached the ticket lady and forced a smile. "I think I'd like the ticket to Orlando that stops in Louisiana along the way."

The ticket lady was a no-nonsense about fifty year's old woman. "You think?" she snapped.

I was a bit startled by her brashness and read her mind. She was not having a good day. "Yes, I want the ticket." She began making the proper arrangements.

"It leaves in one hour," she told me, not looking me in the eye. I nodded, pulling out my cards. I really needed to get back to work. I would call Sam on the long way back home. I would catch up on sleep. What I was dreading was trying to hold it together for the next day and a half. I felt my knees go weak and I really just wanted to hit the road.

I got my cards back from the lady and I said, "Have a nice day." She didn't give me a happy look so I moved on.

I was on the road by nine. The bus ambled along while I stared out the window, planning to see as much as I possibly could of the United States because I doubted I'd ever get the opportunity again to see it. Mostly, it was just desert. At least right now and probably would be for another twelve hours while this bus travelled across Arizona and New Mexico. At the next pit stop I planned on buying a lot of junk food and magazines. Chocolate, I needed chocolate. I let out a sigh, as I thought about everything that happened, without really wanting to.

Besides my current predicament of running away from the vampires who used to be a large part of my life, I was squished close to my window because a large, heavy-set man had decided, out of all the remaining seats on the bus, he'd sit next to me. He was pretty sweaty and breathing heavily.

"Whats a pretty girl like you doing here all sad and alone? Headin' to Huston?" I think he was slurring after staying up all night partying.

To help me with my low self-esteem, I had this guy. I really was in no mood to talk with anyone, let alone this guy, I just wanted to stare at the scenery.

"I'm not going to Huston," I said slowly, glancing at him briefly before returning my attentions to the window, to show I was against the idea of chatter.

"You're very pretty – did a boy hurt your heart?"

This is where I could get relationship advice! Oh boy, I was lucky! I wanted to cry just from the frustration of being on this bus. "Yes, actually. He's going to be very mad when he wakes up and finds out I left," I said, without meaning to confess to this freaky man. His mind was like mush. There were slurs and images of my breasts, so I angled my chest slightly away from his view.

"You don' need a man who'd be mad at you. You need a good man who can support you and love you for who you are," he said. He was completely insincere. He was envisioning me hopping into the small washroom at the back of the bus with him. How he believed he could fit in there was beyond me.

Men were disgusting. The fact that Bill was suggesting I settle with a human man, just last night, was revolting. That was out of the question. I might have had a silly fantasy of it working out before I met vampires, but now, it would be impossible. I knew what it was like to be with a man and not know what he was thinking.

"What did that boy do to make you sad?" If any man was not a boy, it was certainly Eric Northman – the epitome of sexiness, ferocity and intelligence. I closed my eyes, shaking him out of my thoughts. I was going to wait until I was back in Bon Temps that was my goal. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Pretty girl," he nudged me. I shuddered at his closeness. "Tell me. I ain't bad. I's curious is all," he smiled at me and I saw his horribly rotted yellow teeth.

"Excuse me, sir, but I am not in the mood to discuss it," I said as diplomatically as I could, without losing my temper.

"I'm a good guy."

Ugh.

"Please, stop it, sir," I said forcefully.

"Why you being like that?" he asked, regarding me, licking his tight, small lips. Oh, for the love of –

"Sir, if you do not stop pestering me I'm going to talk with the driver."

He scowled and I watched him hoist himself from his seat. "Cunt," he whispered harshly. My mouth was open in disgust and he left a nasty stench. I pressed my forehead against the glass and concentrated on the moving highway below us. The asphalt a grey-ish blur, and the occasional glimpse of the yellow line down the center of the road.

I was getting dizzy, and felt all my emotions crowding up at me and banging at my door, but I told them to come again another day and eventually I fell asleep.

I slept for a long time. When I opened my eyes it was darkening outside and we were stopped in Albuquerque. Wow, I must have missed a couple of pit stops. I jumped out of the bus when the driver said we'd be leaving in forty five minutes. I went to the convenience store and bought a few magazines and a flashlight since I had slept the whole day, I would be up all night. I grabbed some snacks, nothing nutritional and then I took my time, taking in the air.

I could help but eye the sun set over the desert horizon. The heat was easing up, but it was still insanely hot. As soon as that sun was down, it would be a matter of minutes for Pam to realize I was gone and then she'd tell Eric and then...

I decided to wait in the bus. If an angry vampire attacked, though, would he really break down a bus to get to me? Who the hell knew what they were thinking anymore? I sat in a different seat, closer to the driver, despite my fear that Eric might come, I didn't want to be harassed by anymore bus-weirdoes.

About twenty minutes after the sun went down and we were back on the road, I began to feel more unsettled and twitchy as I tried to see through the windows and into the dark. Maybe they would call me...I realized I had forgotten to turn my cell phone on this morning. I switched it on and waited for the signal to kick in and saw that I had missed three calls and five text messages.

Two calls from Pam and one from Alina. Two texts from Pam, two from Bill and one from Eric. Despite knowing that it would not be good to see what Eric had sent me, I did. I was just as disappointed as my brain told me I would be: Call Pam. Let her know you're safe.

I had a strong urge to throw the phone and had visions of it crashing through the window. I smiled at the thought, but then I was bombarded with reality. The phone would ricochet and probably hit my head. I scowled and called Pam. One ring later:

"Eric nearly killed those pathetic excuses for bodyguards he hired," she said immediately.

"I'm not surprised. What's up?" I said as quietly as I could, so not to disturb the resting.

"Well I was supposed to take you home tonight."

"I didn't want to stay another minute."

"I told Eric you would probably try and split," she sounded proud of herself. "He was sure that he could get you to stay. I suggested he get Quinn to guard you, since he is now in Eric's charge." Quinn! I turned cold at the thought of what Eric might do to my ex-boyfriend now that he had control over him. "Eric nearly bit my head off for suggesting it. You need weres to keep you at bay, Sookie. You'd destroy humans for being in your way. I like that about you."

"Is that all Pam?" I did not want to talk to her anymore, but the thought of never hearing her dry sense of humour now that Eric would purposely distance himself from me, reminded me of the fact that Pam was my friend.

"Where are you?"

"Just outside Albuquerque. The greyhound will get me to New Orleans by tomorrow night," I yawned for dramatics, maybe she'd let me go?

"You're on a bus?" she laughed. "Mmm-hmm, how's that working for you?"

"Some obese nut tried to seduce me to the back washroom," I said matter-o-factly.

Pam was truly laughing now. "I wish I was there. The thought of being on a bus disgusts me but it would be worth it to see you castrate a dumb human."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, how do you know I wouldn't go for it?"

Pam turned silent and said, "Eric would lose his mind."

I shrugged, although she couldn't see me. "I'm up for grabs now. Know anybody?" My heart thudded at the thought of resorting to anyone else after Eric. But I said it to try and test the waters and I had to say, it was too cold for me, even after being with a vampire. My life seemed to stretch out before me for eternity, when I thought about my life when I got back to Bon Temps. Funny, seeing as how my mortality was one of the many issues between Eric and I.

"I could never match make you with anyone, Sookie," Pam said very seriously. I was suddenly struck with the visual that Eric was probably listening in on this phone conversation. I started to fret over what I had just said, but realized – what did it matter? Not a whole lot, not anymore.

"Regardless. I'm safe," I sighed, wanting to get off the phone. "Goodbye Pam."

My words hung, alone, for an instant before Pam said, "Goodbye Sookie." I felt the tears fall from my eyes as I hung up. No, not now.

I cried till sleep overtook me, allowing myself this moment in the dark on a bus in the middle of New Mexico.

When I woke up it was morning and we were in Texas. I stretched my legs as much as I could in the confined seating and the driver announced we'd be stopping soon in San Antonio. When the bus stopped, I went to the bathroom, bought some breakfast at the McDonalds, and ate on a curb, as the heat increased as the minutes ticked by in this mid April morning. When I was done I retreated back to the bus. Soon, the creepy obese guy would be gone. I caught him eyeing me at the McDonalds.

We should be arriving in New Orleans within ten more hours. I realized that I had no way to get back to Bon Temps and was hit with the need to swear at myself for being so stupid. I got out my phone and called Amelia.

I heard her groan with a, "Hello?" Oh, it was still early in the morning and I was reminded about when I was last in the city and she did the same to me. I blocked off that memory quickly because I had been in bed with Eric and I was cuddled up to his cool form and...

"Amelia," I said a lot more sombrely then I meant to.

"Sookie?" she asked, disoriented. "What's up?"

"I'm on a bus coming back from Las Vegas."

She didn't answer for a minute while her hazy, sleep-induced mind tried to work out why I was in the situation I was in. "Did Felipe call you to Vegas?"

"Felipe's dead," I said, trying to disconnect myself from the events of the previous night – or the night before last.

"What? How do I not know this? You'd think these stupid witches would gossip some more! Tell me what happened! Is Eric king now? Wait, why are you on a bus?" Her regular energy was in full gear now.

I didn't want to say it. But I also kinda did. "Eric and I broke up."

There was a pregnant pause and then Amelia said, "Oh Sookie. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," I tried to brush it off. I was so close to the finish line and then I could collapse into grief. "Listen, I'm going to be in New Orleans in a few hours, do you mind if I stay with you tonight and then I'll find a way to get back to Bon Temps tomorrow?"

"Of course. What time will your bus be here? I'll pick you up," she said. I told her the estimated time and tried to settle back into my seat.

Knowing that I was getting closer and closer to home was riling me up. I wanted to crawl in my bed and have a good cry, get it all out of my system then head back to work and move on. I could do that. I did that with Bill and his act of betrayal was far worse than this...But this felt worse. I rubbed my eyes anxiously. Just a few more hours, Sookie.

Night was falling again. I had read my magazines, we had stopped in Huston and we were in that last stretch of an hour until we reached New Orleans. I already felt some relief when we entered Louisiana, my home, and was practically bouncing in my seat, eager to break free of this smelly bus. The traffic wasn't too bad, considering we were heading into the city, rush hour was easing up and I guessed we would be there soon enough.

When the bus pulled into the depot, I had all my stuff ready and I was staring out the window in search for Amelia. I saw her car before I saw her and I felt a little bit better since the night before. I needed to see a familiar, human face. It felt like it had taken the bus driver forever to park and to open the doors. He exited and I followed him to the storage where he opened it. I pointed my bags to him and he handed them to me and I thanked him. I went searching for Amelia.

She was standing on the sidewalk, a coffee in her hand. I walked over to her and as soon as I saw her sympathetic face I began to crumple. I don't know what it was, but I was crying hard by the time I reached her and she wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I'm sure some people were staring but I didn't care. I had held on for so long, those long hours on the bus. I was close to home and I was with someone who was my dear friend and didn't judge me.

Amelia let me squeeze her to death and I finally pulled away. She smiled softly, handing me a tissue, I followed her to her car where she beeped it unlock. I got in while she put my bags in the trunk.

We didn't say anything as she drove us back to her place.

"Sookie," she said carefully. I was too involved in my own anxiety that I couldn't concentrate on what she was thinking exactly. I looked over at her expectantly. "I'm gonna drive us back to Bon Temps tomorrow."

I gave her a confused look.

"I'll stay with you a couple weeks, okay? I miss it, I miss you..." she looked at me to see if it was okay.

As much as I knew I needed to get back on that, figurative, horse – I felt comforted at the thought of her being with me for a little while. "I'd like that. Thanks Amelia."

She smiled at me genuinely. She made me a cup of tea and I told her as much as I could through hiccoughs and sobs about what had happened. She listened and tried to tell me everything was alright, and I let her, even though I didn't want to hear that.

"So," Amelia hedged. I could plainly see what she wanted to ask me and she'd been holding it in for quite some time. She had finally mustered up the courage, "So you will never see Eric again?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so." I dabbed a Kleenex to my face, getting worked up again. This was awful, I hoped I could regain some composure once I faced Sam and my job in a couple days time.

"And what about the blood bond?" she asked slowly.

"He said I could block it off like my mental shields and he would be doing the same."

She looked puzzled. "That's it?" she looked sort of outraged. "I don't think that's right."

I shrugged. "I don't know much about it, but I hadn't had Eric's blood for three months before we started exchanging regularly and I could still feel him perfectly. I guess it'll either work or it won't."

Amelia already had an idea and I wanted her not to ask, but it was no use. "You know, Sookie," she had a twinkle in her eye. "I could get rid of it for you with magic." She was excited at the prospect of working out the spell.

"No. I'm not doing that," I said stubbornly. Amelia opened her mouth to protest. "No, Amelia. I may have considered it before, but I couldn't."

"He doesn't want that bond to be an issue anymore, Sook. This is good. I'll do the spell and then you can go back to normal."

I bit my lower lip at her words.

"Oh, Gosh, ignore me. I'll just put my foot in my mouth if you let me talk anymore. Here, you can have my bed tonight and I'll crash on the couch."

"No, the couch is fine for me."

She looked apprehensive. "You sure?"

I nodded, "Yeah." She set up a make-shift bed for me on the sofa and I sat down, exhausted. I began to run a brush through my hair, letting it soothe me, as Amelia cleaned up after us in the kitchen. I was struck a thought I had never had before. "Hey, Amelia? Do you think I should cut my hair?"

She gave me a surprised look. "Really? Sookie? Your hair is a huge part of you."

"It's always been so long," I frowned looking at it through my blurry, tear-filled vision.

Amelia thought about it for a moment before she said enthusiastically, "Yeah, you should do it. Just cut it all off."

"It won't be too short, just shorter than I ever had," I said. I wasn't so sure about this, but I felt like it was something I had to do.

I didn't want to think about anything else. I settled on the couch and Amelia shut off all the lights. I tried to clear my mind but I found that I couldn't. It was just like when I was at the hotel after Eric left, I couldn't sleep. I was awake all night and when Amelia awoke the next morning, I pretended I had slept just fine.

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