Laughing, I let them lead me to distraction again. I was very inebriated again shortly, seated with the group around the fire.
"Fae?"
I giggle, flopped at an angle over a fold out chair. Hair distorted anything I attempted to see.
"Fae-Fae," I snicker in a higher tone. One sluggish arm swung up to mockingly flail before slapping my chest.
"Gurl? Ish you trashed?"
A male in the group chuckled, pulling the bong from his mouth as smoke billowed from him.
"Girl is a beast," the man states in a monotone brought about by the high he had. "Downed like a gallon of moonshine and who knows how many shrooms."
There was a whistle, hands reaching out to move hair from my face. I was smiling like a loon, giggling and muttering random things people were saying. Two hands grasped my cheeks, lifting my head to get a view. My eyes were half-mast, unfocused.
"Shrooms," I snicker, "Phhhht!"
One finger spreads my lids to view my eye. I attempt to focus with a groan of annoyance, hand batting up to miss. Tapping starts at my cheek, as if trying to sober me. I couldn't really feel the sting I knew should have been there. It was all a numbness that was slow to register.
"La-la-la," the sing-song comes out while I'm pulled up.
"Come on then. Can't leave you here."
I blink. Colors blurred and shifted before stopping to slow blurring forms. "La? That you?"
"Come on, Fae," Lafayette urges as he swings my arm up over his shoulder. He supported most of my weight, grasping the wrist of my arm over his shoulder and the other firm around my ribs. I stumbled along, feet not co-operating and joints attempting to go liquid on me.
With a bit of fighting, La got me in the Corvette. I'd started to sober by then. Shutting the door he crossed around to climb in. One mean mug look later, he spoke up.
"Don't chu think uh gettin' sick in my babe, gurl."
I giggle, limp in the seat. My head turned toward him, blinking slowly. One more look and the car started. He was moving toward Bon Temps, dialing on his phone.
"Come on, Sook. Answer yer phone," he complains as he dials again.
My hand lifts, startling him. He looks a bit wide eyed. "How are you still awake?"
A snort leaves me, hand pushing the phone from his ear. "I metabolize things quickly. Don't bother Sook."
"Right…." He puts the phone in his lap, sparing me a look at a stop sign. "Not saying you look bad, but why you dressed like that for that sort of party?"
I sigh, happy mood slipping away as my head tilts to look out the window. "Shit day. Left a meeting and decided that I wasn't wasting time to change."
"Tryin' tuh forget about it?"
I nod, watching as we came up to a house. A male stepped out on the porch, smiling happily at the sight of the car.
"Come on then, I'll have to call some'en if yuh don't sober up soon."
He hopped out. "Got a friend."
The male perks. "Friend?"
La nods, rushing to get my door. The male took in La's serious mood and was coming down the steps fast to help.
"What's wrong?"
I blinked, focus swimming in and out. When did I fall asleep?
"Come on, Fae," La says while slipping an arm behind my shoulders and another under my knees.
His head tilted to the man as he bounced me up to balance my weight. The man shut the door, stern worry on his Hispanic features. I giggle, hand lethargically reaching out.
"She may or may not need medical attention."
"What? And you brought her here?" the man urges. His head shakes, rushing ahead to get the front door. "Doesn't matter. Get her in here."
I may not have been sobering like I thought. In the span of a blink I went from a swirling sky to swirling eyes and cushions under me.
"Can you say your name, sweetheart?"
A goofy grin came, swallowing thickly. "Faewyn," it came out slurred and thick.
"Shit."
La and his boyfriend were ready to pump her stomach or force vamp blood on her when she slurred her name incorrectly and fainted. Jesus, La's Hispanic boyfriend, shot to his feet, rushing around to grab his stuff.
He came back as La nervously watched. Jesus put the stethoscope on and put the end to her chest that showed above the cut of the dress. His panic calmed as his head bowed. Air whooshed from him as he rubbed his brow.
"Where did you find her?"
La nods his chin. "When I was droppin' off a deal at that party."
He tilts his head to look back at La. "She was on her own? Dressed like that?"
La nods. "Fae's Sook's cousin. Stubborn bitch."
Jesus' attention snapped to Fae, alarm was in his eyes again. "Get ice!"
He'd not noticed the slow rise of her temperature at first. It was as he spoke to La that he realized his leg by her was rather warm, too warm. She was going to cook at this temp. Hours later, after a good number of failed attempts to reach Sookie and Jason, the two stood tiredly over her. The 'fever' seemed to level at well over 110. It'd stayed there and she seemed perfectly fine, smiling peacefully in her sleep.
Every attempt to cool her had met a swinging hand and growls. In Jesus' logical opinion, it was common for her. He'd long since accepted supernatural things. He'd heard of shifters, never met one though.
"She could be shifter. Or, what ever she is, could be trying to burn out the toxin of what she had. You said she had shrooms and a great deal of moonshine?"
"It's what the boy said," La nods, tapping Fae's phone they found in her top on his arm. "I didn't see her car there."
"She may have rode with somebody," Jesus offers, shrugging.
Music started, the phone in La's hand vibrating. Jesus looked back, curious as La looked at the screen. It was just a number, no name.
"Is that the Lord of the Rings theme?"
La eyed Fae while she slept on. "Gurl is nerdy."
He snapped the phone open after a moment, passing to Jesus.
"Hello?" Jesus answers, holding in a chuckle as he smiled at Lafayette.
There was a pause. "Hello?" The male had a Southern accent, sounding confused. "Is this the wrong number?"
"It depends," Jesus chuckles, lowering to crouch before Fae and check her temperature again. "Who were you trying to reach?"
There was a pause as if the male were checking something. "This is the number for Fae. Correct?"
Jesus sighed, rubbing his cheek as Fae's temp had seemed to lower a bit. "Yes. Sorry. Do you know her?"
"I'm her friend." There was a pause before he sounded worried and a little aggressive as if he were ready to threaten if needed. "Is she alright?"
"I think so," Jesus says truthfully. "I'm Jesus. Lafayette's friend. Lafayette found her inebriated at a party."
"Inebriated? On her own? Where is she?"
"Calm down," Jesus says to ease the man. "Lafayette brought her home. I'm not sure what exactly she had, but she's sleeping it off. Do you know how to reach her cousins? We've been unable to contact them."
The man let out a loud breath, his shifting heard over the line. "No. Where are you? I can come for her."
Jesus frowned a bit. He looked to La. "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"
"Ben. Ben Flynn. We've been seeing each other."
"One moment."
Jesus covered the speaker, moving to whisper to La by the door to the kitchen. "Do you know a Ben Flynn?"
La frowns back. "No. Aint heard the name."
"Says he's been dating her."
La gives googly eyes, showing just how odd that sounded to him. "Girl aint the type to settle. Thought she had a thang for Sam."
"He's asking to come get her."
La sighs, thinking. He gives a nod. Jesus looks back at Fae before putting the phone to his ear and giving directions. It didn't take too terribly long for the knock at the door. A handsome male with blue, grey eyes and a blond brown hair color stood there. Looked with worry around the men to the couch easily in view.
His shirt looked to only have a few buttons done, a rush. Jesus rose from checking her pulse again to look to the door Lafayette had opened. La eyed down the man.
"You Ben?"
Ben seemed a deal relaxed as he saw her, a hint of tension leaving his shoulders. Ben gave them an attempted smile, more of a polite flash.
"Yeah. Sorry. She's had a rough week. Mind if I come in and bring her home?"
La frowned, eyeing Ben again. "You a vamp?"
"What?" Ben shot La a look, confusion and a hint of annoyance.
Jesus stepped forward, hand out to politely defuse the air. One hand rested on La's shoulder. He gave a warm smile. "I'm sorry. Lafayette's just not used to polite people. Please come in."
Ben gave a nod, stepping in to move toward her. He sat on the edge by her side, reaching forward to brush the hair from her face. It was damp. He didn't look from her, leaning over her as he cupped her cheek. She didn't do more than lightly stir and shift in her sleep. Jesus stood on the other side, looking at his actions and over her.
"She was in and out of it from the car ride here. They say it was shrooms and moonshine, but there had to be something else," Jesus explains with a shake of his head and his arms crossing in thought over his chest. "She fainted when we got her in. But her body seems to be fighting off what ever it was. It may have been acid or something. Apparently she found a group at the party and they were sharing food and drink with her. They could have been lacing her food with it."
Ben let out a heavy breath searching her face. "She was alone?"
La gives a jerky nod of his head. "Was when I showed up. They was watchin' her."
Jesus uncrossed his arms, motioning to her. "We did have a scare over her temperature. It's gone down a bit, but it's still too high. If you could get her to her cousins or a doctor, they may know."
Ben glanced to Jesus. "Her temperature? It was high?"
He nods, frowning in thought down at her. "It spiked at 110 and stayed there for a long while, before you finally called. She started fighting us when we tried to cool her down. Her body isn't showing any signs of it negatively affecting her as it should have. I'm guessing, but it may be normal for her."
Ben looked back to her. After a moment he rose and scooped her up in his arms. She moaned in her sleep, shifting to snuggle her arms against his chest as if seeking his warmth. Her face hid in his neck.
"Thank you, very much. I'll take her home."
Jesus smiles, hand offering out Fae's phone. "We found it on her."
Ben frowns at him as he carefully accepts the phone to slip in his pocket without having to put her down. La nods at her.
"She keeps it in her top usually. Aint shy 'bout it at the bar when she comes in."
Ben eyes the two, as if ready to argue her modesty. Jesus chuckles, nodding his head toward La as his hands slip into his pockets.
"Lafayette is the cook at Merlotte's. Apparently Fae comes in for his cooking all the time."
"Gurl has a thang for gumbo."
Ben relaxes, shifting Fae once before moving toward the door with an easy smile to the men. "Thank you again."
A/N:
So I apologize for the long wait between updates. Please don't think I forgot about this story or all the amazing adds and reviews! I had at least the next twelve chapters written but hit a road block. I didn't like where it was. So, I had to delete about seventy or more pages of work in Word before I found where it went sour and shift again. I do have a number of chapter written. At least three of which will be posted today, including this one.
While looking over it all and finding the spot the muse sort of distracted at a request from a friend. Which led to like twelve other things. I tend to try to keep the muse in motion by working on at least a number of things at once until it shifts back to one or another. After lots of new fandoms and a deal of spoofs for a friend, I'm finally where I wanted on this and working as quick as I can. I really would love to post my other stories that range up into nearly 200 pages or more on Word, but I've sort of promised myself I wouldn't post a new story unless it was finished. I hate leaving the hang like I did with this one and others.
Please feel free to comment on how you think this is going or where you'd like to see it. I'm a bit stuck on where I want one or two things. But the biggest is if I want to keep it with Ben, turn it to Eric, or something a bit more complicated for her 'romance'. I would love to hear from you all on this.