A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed and added alerts! As a new writer, it definitely made my day!

A couple of a character notes: Sookie, for me, is someone strong who sometimes gets pulled down by circumstance. My Sookie won't be like TV Sookie, Unfortunately, we won't get to see the full range of her for another couple of chapters, but I wanted to give everyone a fair heads up that this Sookie (along with eventual Bill, Sam, and some other characters) will be OOC.

And don't forget, CH owns everything.

Chapter 2

Sookie first became aware that something was different when the buzzing in her mind had changed. It was more like soft waves over sand, gently ebbing to and fro in a calm pattern than seemed to beckon her to leave her sleep.

Sitting up with a start, she became hyper aware of the scratchy fabric of her bed, the soft flannel of her uniform, the faint gurgling of the pipes through concrete. Even though the lights had yet to flicker on for the day, she could clearly make out the borders of her cell. Her home. Her nightmare.

The other minds in her section were still quiet. Still asleep, she mused, gingerly stepping down from her thin, hard bed. Sleep was the only escape from this place, and her only respite from the constant yammering thoughts. Automatically, she counted the minds she could reach. 15 weres nearby, as usual. But there was something different.

For the first time in months, Sookie actually felt good. Great, even. Her skin didn't feel cold, her hair felt like it had been washed and styled, her throat wasn't hoarse from screaming. Usually when they knocked her out, she was groggy the next day. Right now, she felt like she could run a marathon.

Glimpses of the previous night's events started resurfacing.

Her food, gruel more like, had that metallic aftertaste she knew meant drugs. They preferred doing it this way. Thought she didn't notice. And if she didn't eat, they would just come in and forcibly inject her. She ate half, hoping it was enough to stay alert in case she spotted an escape. Most of the other half was soon consumed as hunger overwhelmed her.

Everything was white.

She was in the lab, strapped down on a table.

She was being wheeled to another room.

A man lay on the table next to her. She smelled burning flesh and disinfectant. The sound of plastic gloves being put on. She wanted to gag. Her body wouldn't move.

Sookie shook her head. The memories felt like the remanents of a bad dream. There had been so many bad dreams since she came here, she could barely tell the difference some mornings. Since she volunteered to come here, she reminded herself bitterly. She should have listened to Bill's warnings. Moving over to the small porcelin basin, she filled it with water and began to wash. The small bar of orange soap left a waxy feel, but her Grandmother had taught her the virtue of cleanliness and routine. There was no way Sookie was going to let this place take those lessons away from her.

She heard one of the doctors think. If this works, we could save so many lives. We will be heroes. She had heard it all before. They were always just one great idea away from solving supernatural-human relations for ever. But at the same time, she was jealous of the man's naivety and innocence. She had been like him once.

The all too familiar sensation of having blood drawn pricked her senses. This nurse didn't care about being gentle. Maybe Jake will ask me to happy hour tonight. I bought that new bra too... Sookie wanted to yell at the woman to pay attention to her work, but her wouldn't move. She could never move.

"Sookie? You up?" She heard whispered through the vent. Moving to stand right below it, she cast out her mental net to make sure the guards were far enough away.

"Yeah, I'm up," she answered, smiling. She stood taller on her tip toes so that she didn't have to speak too loudly. The cold of the concrete floor permeated through her thin socks, and she shivered. "Everything's just peachy over here. How's the morning treating you, Alcide?"

Alcide had arrived here after Sookie, and had been one of the first weres placed in this section. His mind was a blur to her, but as soon as she could sense him that first day, she could immediately tell that he was kind. In the past couple of months, they had developed a friendship, keeping each other company, and keeping each other sane. So far, they had managed to avoid the guards from catching on to their conversations.

"Just peachy," Alcide answered with sarcasm dripping from his voice. "The food here gets better each and every day."

"I just imagine its my brother's cooking. Poor guy couldn't boil an egg without help. Granted, back home we could at least feed most of his stuff to the garbage disposal, and Gran would whip something up great instead."

"Didn't your grandmother ever try to teach him?"

Sookie pictured Jason in the kitchen with Gran, flour and eggs all over the place. The memory of the time he had tried to make her a birthday cake was still one of the happiest ones she had left, that was all hers and no one else's.

Jason had practically been covered in flour, and Gran had been shooing him away, tired of him turning her kitchen into a bomb site. But his every step just seemed to make the mess worse. He knocked over the buttermilk. He spread flour and sugar across the floor. But, a few minutes later, after Gran seemed to have given up trying to stop Jason's destruction, the two of them looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Spotting her in the doorway, Jason had come over and given Sookie a big hug, covering her in white dust and sticky egg. While Sookie had acted offended, it was one of the best hugs she had ever had.

Later that night, Jason had brought Sookie a vanilla supermarket cupcake, with a single candle. He told her to make a wish, and that as her big brother, he'd always take care of her. He'd keep her safe, and help make her wish came true.

"Nah. Jason was too distracted eating all the food to pay attention to learn anything. Plus, he always said that grandma's cooking was the best, so as long as he had her, why even try?" Sookie brushed a tear away from her eyes, determined not to cry. Were they alright? Did they miss her as much as she missed them?

"What did your grandmother have to say about that?"

Sookie shook her head again to clear it, and tried to smile. "Oh, she gave him a hard time about it. Even threatened to cut him off from the Adele Stackhouse buffet. But she always had a plate ready for him. Day and night."

This night was going to be different. Sookie could feel it from the human's thoughts. The vampire observing them stood with his arms crossed, observing her. She wished that she could move her eyes, and see who the vampire was. Did Bill know him?

"Is she awake?" someone asked Dr. Spencer, grabbing him by the arm. "I don't want her awake for this. We don't want it to influence the testing."

"Oh, don't worry. That's just a response to the medication." Dr. Spencer waved his hand above her. "See? No direct response to stimuli. We try not to put her under too deep, just in case it would damage something in that little head of her's. But she isn't conscious in any way that matters."

The voice pursed his lips. "Good."

"Sookie? You hear me?"

Sookie squeezed her eyes shut. An uncomfortable pit in her stomach knoted itself. "I hear you, Alcide. Sorry. Thought I heard a guard coming this way," she lied. She knew Alcide worried about her. No reason to worry him more.

"I thought as much. Hey, you learn anything useful when they took you last night?" he asked.

Sookie shook her head, before remembering he couldn't see her. "No, nothing new. Can't remember most of it. Nothing that could help us."

"Don't worry, sweetheart. We'll get out of here soon enough. You just wait and see," Alcide replied in a tone far more confident than she knew he felt. She could feel Alcide's frustration clearly. Swirls of anger, annoyance, self loathing, and determination flooded her senses. She was almost overwhelmed by the tidal wave. She gets taken almost every night, but they always have to drug her... How many months... Fuck, when we get out of here, I am going to make sure no one hurts her again...

Sookie gasped. Usually, she couldn't hear Alcide's thoughts so vividly. Curious, and afraid, she closed her eyes and listened to the minds waking up across the ward.

Man, what I wouldn't do for a juicy steak right... fucking fucking asshole... Then I'll rip his heart... Sandy probably took them to mom's. She's smart. She'll keep them safe... Poppa? Where are you? I want to go home... I am totally getting laid at the end of this shift...

The thoughts and feelings were too much, and Sookie slammed her shields up. She sat down on the thin bunk, pulling her knees to her chest. Usually she was lucky to get a thought here and there. But she knew that last voice was a guard, and they were far away. Weren't they? What was wrong with her?

Again, the niggling feeling that something had fundamentally shifted bugged her, taunting her with worst case scenarios. She pulled the thin blanket up over her, and lay down. If she closed her eyes tight enough, maybe she could wish this place away.

A/N: Poor Sookie! At least she has Alcide to keep her company. And how does Bill fit into all of this? Stay tuned to find out!