Eric cleaned the apartment in mere minutes while Bill left Jessica a cheery voicemail, telling her that he was going to be going away and to treat his palace as her own, and also allowing Layla the use of it as well, should she ever need it. Layla stood dumbfounded in a corner. Eric lifted her up off of her feet.

"Put me down." she demanded.

"You'll track blood everywhere." he said evenly. setting her down on the pristine desk and wiping the blood from her feet before he and Bill began to scrub the carpet. The both looked nervous.

"Please tell me what's going on." Layla asked, scared.

"The Authority is trying to kill us, that's what's going on." Eric said, looking over his shoulder. Eric and Bill's heads shot up at once.

"Sookie." Bill said.

"Fuck, Sookie." Eric said, glaring down at the carpet. Bill and Layla stared at him. Eric looked to Bill. "What? Did you not hear her tonight? She rejected both of us." Eric reminded him. Layla stared down and after a moment kicked Eric hard in the back.

"The fuck, Layla?" Eric spat.

"You stop caring about someone cause they hurt you? I guess I should take page out of that book." Layla said.

"I don't have time to argue this with you. This is the authority we're up against. If we're not gone by sunrise it will be our last." Eric said, returning to his scrubbing.

"Unfeeling prick." Layla said.

"Jealous wife." Eric countered. All three of their heads snapped up when a gunshot went off. Bill ran outside but suddenly all they heard were his screams.

"They're already here." Eric said. He suddenly spun and shoved Layla beneath the desk.

"Tell no one about this. Do not come out until dawn." he told her.

"Don't!" Layla hissed trying to grab his hand and keep him there, but he followed Bill outside, and soon he was screaming too. Layla shook beneath the desk, unable to move.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the first rays of morning sunlight finally reached her, Layla felt safe enough to crawl out from beneath the desk. Her mind was spinning and the house was silent. Bill and Eric were gone. It was a thought that Layla had been trying to wrap her head around all night.

Eric was dead.

Bill and Eric had been killed by the Authority, and she couldn't say a word.

"Stop it, Layla. You don't know they're dead." she told herself firmly. Then again, there was no way she would know if they were alive either.

Odds were, she would never see them again, and on the off-chance they were alive, she couldn't breathe a word about anything she had heard or seen last night. Numbly trudging up the stairs toward her borrowed bedroom she saw her cell-phone which Eric had bought her months ago had three missed calls on it. Her heart leapt, hoping it was Eric, but they were all from Alcide. She called him back, taking a deep breathe to regulate her voice.

"Layla?" he asked as he answered.

"How's my favorite wolf doing today?" she asked with false cheerfulness. Sometimes she lied as well as Eric, and to be honest it freaked her out.

"I need to talk to you." Alcide said seriously. "Can you meet me at Sookie's in like ten minutes?"

"Do I have to?" Layla pouted.

"Yes. I'll see you there." Alcide said before hanging up. Layla stared at the phone, shocked he had hung up on her. Layla shoved herself into a pair of jeans with the cuff rolled up around her ankles and an old t-shirt she had gotten from a concert years ago. She slipped on a pair of ballet flats and walked up the road to Sookie's house. She was sure that she looked like shit, she hadn't really slept and her hair was probably completely tangled. She reached the front door just as Alcide's truck pulled up. He jumped out and walked up on the porch, hugging her so tightly she was lifted off the ground. It felt good to be in the arms of someone who cared about her.

"I'm glad you're okay." he said, knocking on the door.

"Okay?" Layla said, confused as Sookie opened the door.

"Alcide." she said cheerfully. "and Layla." she acknowledged somewhat less cheerfully.

"We need to talk." Alcide said.

"Sure. Why don't you wait in the living room and I'll pour some lemonade." the blonde said. Layla raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Sookie seemed guilty and on edge. Maybe they had interrupted her masturbating or something. Layla shook her head to get the thought out of her head. Alcide ignored the invitation to the living room and followed Sookie into the kitchen. Layla sighed and followed him in as he apologized for startling her.

"I just thought you were waiting in the living room is all. Besides the kitchen's a mess, I was hoping you wouldn't see it." Sookie said, holding the pitcher of lemonade.

"Are you kidding? This is the cleanest kitchen I ever saw. It even smells clean. Like lemons on top of ammonia on top of bleach." Alcide noted. Layla wrinkled her nose.

"It smells like a hospital." she said dryly.

"Well you know me. Nothing's ever clean enough." Sookie said with a smile. "Glasses are over there."

Layla watched Alcide turn to get the glasses and then stared in horror at the cabinets or lack thereof.

"What happened here?" Alcide asked, running his fingers over a notch in the wood.

"I saw that open cabinet look in Southern Living." Sookie said. "What do you think?"

"I painted those cabinet doors like two months ago. They looked fine. It looks horrible without them." Layla groused.

"I think you wanna do the same on the other side." Alcide said, nodding at the other set of cabinets that still looked okay.

"You know you should build things for a living." Sookie said with a smile as Alcide brought her over three empty glasses. Layla sat down and accepted the lemonade, but only because the last thing she had put in her stomach had been soda yesterday afternoon with Alcide.

"Can we get this over with, Alcide?" Layla asked. "Why am I here?"

"It's Russell Edgington." he told them. "He's on the loose."

Layla began choking on her lemonade and Alcide thumped her on the back as she sputtered.

"On the loose?" Sookie asked. "Russell Edgington's dead." she told him. Layla raised an eyebrow.

"No he's not." she said with a small laugh.

"Those motherfuckers." Alcide muttered. "You mean they never told you?"

"Never told me what?" Sookie asked.

"Russell Edgington wasn't killed. Eric and Bill buried him alive." Layla said flatly.

"What?" Sookie gasped, flopping down into a seat herself. Alcide took a seat beside Layla.

"It was in one of my parking garages that was being built. That's why I showed up that day. They silvered him, and then covered him in concrete." Alcide explained.

"How do you know he got out?" Layla asked.

"Buddy at the garage called me yesterday. He'd been glamoured, and the concrete is completely torn up, only thing left in it was empty silver chains." Alcide told her.

"Fucking A." Layla breathed.

"He's 3000 years old, what were they thinking leaving him alive?" Sookie asked.

"I wasn't privy to that, I just poured the concrete." Alcide told her.

"Russell's gonna come after you. Which is why you gotta come stay with me. Both of you." Alcide told them.

"Okay, her I get." Layla said pointing towards Sookie. "Russell wants to pretty much use her like his own private juice box. But he's not interested in me."

"Layla you were there through it all. You lied your way through his home, you helped Sookie, Bill, and Tara escape. You helped try to kill him and then you went with us to bury him alive. You think he just conveniently forgot about you? You may not be at the top of his hit list, but I guarantee you're on it all the same." Alcide said firmly. Layla slunk down in her seat.

"Point made, Herveaux." she said quietly.

"I can't." Sookie said. "I have to stay here."

"God damn it, if this is about me declaring myself-" Alcide began.

"It's not!" Sookie assured him.

"Declaring yourself?" Layla asked.

"Cause your life is on the line here." Alcide reminded her firmly.

"You won't me to stay with you, once you've heard why." Sookie told him. Layla didn't know what Sookie was talking about, but she felt the same way. Sure, she wanted to stay with Alcide. Beyond the fact that she was scared about Russell, she needed a friend now more than ever. Eric and Bill were gone, and Alcide, well they have both made mistakes but if she had to pick one honorable guy out of all the ones she knew it would be him. But how would he feel when he found out that she was not only pregnant, but it was Eric's baby?

"I can't stay with you." Sookie told him.

"Whatever it is, I can handle it." Alcide assured her. Layla chewed on her lip. Would he be able to handle what she would eventually have to tell him. She didn't want to lose anyone else in her life, but holy hell if the idea telling him didn't scare the shit out of her.

"Last night, when I got back from Bill's, I-" Sookie began but was cut off as Lafayette thundered down the stairs.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Get the fuck up outta here wolf." he said. Alcide stood so fast his chair knocked over and Layla followed suit. Lafayette looked at Layla harshly. "You too, you little half-vampire."

"Lafayette." Layla said, hurt.

"The fuck is his problem?" Alcide asked.

"He just broke up with his boyfriend. He ain't exactly himself." Sookie said flatly. Layla shot her a look. Broke up? Jesus was dead.

"I'm really sorry about you and your boyfriend, but I'm here because Sookie's in danger." Alcide said.

"I heard. I been listening. But how the fuck you think you gonna protect her from an ancient, pissed off Vampire, when all werewolves do is piss of Vampires even more? We done with all this supernatural bullshit! You heard me? No Vampires, no ghosts, no witches, no maenads, and no mother fucking werewolves!" Lafayette said, going to far as to shove Alcide, who immediately pressed forward, growling.

"Don't fucking growl at me." Lafayette said.

"I make whatever fucking noise I want." Alcide said.

"Why don't you just the fuck up outta our lives? The both of ya'll." Lafayette said.

Alcide looked to Sookie but she just sat there.

"You should go." she told him. Layla rolled her eyes and grabbed Alcide's arm.

"I'm throwin' you a lifeline here. Please take it." Alcide told Sookie.

"Like I said I can't." Sookie said.

"Alcide, let's just go." Layla said quietly.

"You know where to find me if you change your mind." Alcide said. Sookie nodded. Layla dragged her friend out the front door.

Layla climbed into the passenger side of Alcide's truck and he looked at her sideways.

"You're not gonna give me some bullshit about how you can't stay with me either, can you? Cause I might have to kidnap you if you do." he said. Layla smiled.

"You do live alone now, right?" she checked. Alcide sighed.

"Yeah."

"Then let's just stop at Bill's and get my stuff. I'll come with you right now." Layla told him

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With all of Layla's things now in the back of the truck they drove to Alcide's house in Shreveport. The sun had set a little while ago and it was no dark. They stopped at a gas station on the way.

"You want anything while I'm in there?" he asked.

"Chocolate anything." Layla said with a smile.

"You still love snickers?"

"Oh you know me so well." she said with a smile. Alcide smiled back and then tossed her his phone.

"Here. Call Eric and fill him in. He's probably awake by now." Alcide told her. Layla sighed.

"Why do I have to?" she whined.

"Cause he'll probably take it better coming from you." Alcide said, walking into the store. Layla scrolled through the phonebook and dialed Eric's number. Did he still have his phone? Was he even alive to answer. It rang for what felt like forever before she heard someone pick it up.

"Alcide, my faithful friend. How are ya?" came Eric's voice through the phone. Layla became suddenly infuriated by his cheery tone.

"Wow. Sounding pretty good for a dead man." She noted.

"Layla? I'm out of town for a day and you're back with Alcide. Figures." he replied snidely.

"Fuck off, Eric. I have something you need to know. Russell Edgington is on the loose. The guard at the garage was glamoured, doesn't remember anything, but there is a busted whole in the concrete and the chains are still there but no homicidal maniac. Alcide wanted me to tell you." she said stiffly.

There was a moment of silence.

"So, you're staying with Alcide?" Eric asked.

"It's the safest place for me, right now." Layla told him.

"I agree. Well, thanks for letting me know." Eric said. They both paused.

"I'm glad you're not dead." Layla added and then hung up, furious that she had let that slip out. She tossed the phone onto Alcide's seat just as he came out of the store. She smiled. She really wanted that snickers.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

As they pulled into Alcide's driveway there was a pretty, dark-haired woman there waiting for him.

"Alcide, they have Sam. They think he killed Marcus. You have to tell them the truth or they'll kill him." she said.

"Shit." Alcide said, looking at Layla.

"Sounds like wolf stuff." she said.

"Yeah." he nodded.

"It's cool. Give me your house keys and go help Sam. Here, uh..." she trailed off as she held the door open for the dark haired woman.

"Luna." the woman said quickly, hopping into the car.

"Nice to meet you." Layla said, closing the door and waving as Alcide threw the truck into reverse.

Once upon a time Layla would have gone with them to make sure Sam was okay. However, she was thoroughly done with cleaning up other people's bullshit. Alcide could explain what had happened later. Layla went inside and then passed out on the couch.