Disclaimer
All rights go to Charline Harris and Allan Ball. I only own my original plotlines and characters.
❝ You are a murderer,
no matter how beloved. ❞
- Unknown
THE SOUND OF voices roused Juliette from her sleep, and she let out a groan. Her whole body ached; with every inhale, she felt pain in her chest, and her face throbbed.
"Fuck, did I get hit by a truck?" Juliette grumbled.
The sound of light chuckles made her open her eyes to see three worried her also relived faces peering down at her.
Suddenly everything rushed back to her, and Juliette's eyes widened, "Sookie—" She forced herself to sit up, wincing at the sharp pain that went through her ribs, "Motherfucker."
"Hey, hey, she's alright," Sam reassures.
"Baby girl, you gave us all a scare," Lafayette smiles weakly.
He looked at her unsurely; the last time he had seen her, she had still been mad.
Juliette glances at Lafayette, and she lets out a sigh, her hand gently coming to pat his. She didn't say anything; it would take some time to completely forgive what he had done, but nearly dying seemed to make her more forgivable.
"Is that Jules? She sparkles like the sun," Her sister giggled, and Juliette carefully stood up and made her way over to her little sister, perching herself on the side of the couch as she sighed in relief when she saw that Sookie was alright.
"Pain meds?" Juliette questions, and Sam nods.
"You had refused any of the hard stuff, so it's why you ain't loopy as her," Sam explains, and Juliette nods, remembering.
The last thing she wanted was to get addicted to the numb oblivion of little tablets. She was aware of her drinking problem, and she could manage it, but drugs were a whole different ballgame that even she refused to go near.
Arlene rushes in a few seconds later, mascara running down her face as she held a large bouquet of flowers. She froze when she saw the state of Juliette and Sookie and burst into sobs.
Gritting her teeth, Juliette stood up and shuffled her way to Arlene wrapping her arms around the older woman, whispering comforting words as Arlene sobbed her apologies.
Eventually, Juliette let Sookie and Arlene talk as she went to the kitchen for some water. Sam and Lafayette immediately jumped up to help, but she waved them away.
"I'm banged up, not crippled," She huffs.
The cold water soothed her aching throat, and now that she was alone, Juliette allowed herself to think back to what she had done. The glass hit the counter with a light thud as Juliette looked down at her shaky hands. She had killed him, killed him with her bare hands.
She didn't regret what she had done, no Drew had been a bad man, but she had taken a life, and that was something she was trying to come to terms with.
The crack from underneath her hands as his neck snapped, the way his body suddenly went limp. Silent tears fell down Juliette's cheeks but she ignored them as she continued to stare blankly at her trembling hands.
It took a few minutes to compose herself, but when she did, she made her way back to the living room and saw that Arlene was gone and instead, Jason was here.
"Family reunion without me," Juliette teased weakly, and the second Jason saw Juliette, he immediately shot up and ran towards his twin, pulling her into a light hug.
"Jules, thank god," Jason breathes, running his hand through her golden locks as he kisses the top of her head, making her smile. "Thank god you're okay," He repeats, "If that son of a bitch weren't dead already, I'd kill him myself."
Juliette sharply grabs Jason's cheeks with her palms forcing him to look at her, "Don't say that," She snaps before her voice softens, "Please, Don't say that."
Jason seeing the desperation in her eyes slowly nods, pulling her back in for a hug, "Alright, I'm sorry." Hearing the apology, she relaxes, letting out a shuddering breath.
Eventually, the twins make their way back to Sookie, where Sookie was sitting, Jason in the middle with Sookie and Juliette on either side of him. Juliette immediately curls up to her brother's side, her eyes fluttering as she drifts off.
A few days later, Juliette found herself at Fangtasia. Showing her ID to the bouncer, she made her way straight to the bar, where coincidentally was where Pam was working tonight.
"My, what the hell happened to you?" Pam drawled out, looking at Juliette's bruised up face.
"Don't ask. All I want is a drink," Juliette waves off before ordering "Five shots."
Juliette immediately downed two shots with a content sigh before she felt a presence beside her.
"Juliette Stackhouse What brin-" Eric cuts himself off as she turned towards him, revealing the bruises. "What happened?" Eric demands when he sees her face.
"Hm oh, these?" Juliette asks, feigning innocence before shooting him a playful look, "You should see the other guy, oh wait, you can't cause he's dead," She mocks bitterly before downing her shot.
"Juliette... who did this to you?" Eric once again questions, his voice dropping dangerously.
Juliette just once again waves him off, "Not important," She replies dismissively.
"Juliette..." Eric growls warningly.
Juliette ignores him and downs another shot before giving him a lazy smirk, "Like I said, not important besides I already told you he's dead."
Hopping off her barstool, Juliette faintly hears Eric curse in Swedish as she joins the dancing bodies on the dance floor.
For the rest of the night, Juliette just let herself forget. Forget that she had metaphorical blood on her hands. Forget that every time she closed her eyes, she saw Drew sneering back at her. Forget that if she hadn't done what she had, he would've killed Sookie, Sam and herself.
Two weeks later, Juliette found herself at work. Her ribs well enough for her to get back to work, as long as she didn't strain herself.
Juliette grinned from the other side of the bar as she watched a dejected Andy frown his sorrows.
"Juliette Stackhouse, you should not be happy with another person suffering!" Sookie scolds, moving up beside her.
Juliette spares a brief glance at her sister, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, well, if the persons a piece of shit who tried to get your brother arrested, you can make an exception," she snarks.
"Juliette Agnes Stackhouse!" Sookie exclaims.
"Fine! Fine! Jeez, woman, not the full name, makes me feel old," Juliette huffs, grudgingly walking away.
Juliette let Sookie and Tara deal with Andy as she cleaned up the bar, taking swings of the bottle she held in the other hand. Thankfully no one had noticed anything off her behaviour these last few weeks, and the only time she really dropped the act of acting like she was fine was in the confines of her own room where she could drink herself to sleep.
Suddenly two shrill bloodcurdling screams were heard from outside, and bone-chilling fear entered Juliette's body as she realized those screams belonged to Sookie and Tara.
