A/N: A million apologies for the delay. I have not abandoned this story. Sadly, if you haven't visited my "udpates" page on my homepage, our family recently suffered a loss a few months ago. RL can be a real hag. Anyhow, between a much needed hiatus to grieve with my family and my awesome beta graduating, my updating schedule took a temporary back seat. Rest assured, I'm still writing Unwrapped. Currently, I'm making last minute edits to Chapter 25 and also revising Chapter 26. The other chapters are currently getting beta'd. Hopefully, if life doesn't throw any more curve balls, updates will be back to a weekly basis. So without any further delay, here's the beginning of Part Four.

PART FOUR

Where the Heart Is

Several hours after Preston had disappeared between the trees, Crystal's body was carefully removed by the county coroner's office, and was now being transported to where ever Sookie assumed people ended up after things like this.

It was only moments later that the yellow crime scene tape had been removed, and the authorities gave the all clear. That's when Sookie found herself in Sam's office making phone calls, scheduling a few shifts, and she even caught Sam on the phone. That call was the hardest for her to make. With all that Sam had to deal with, with his own mother's brush with death, Sookie felt he shouldn't have had to deal with hearing about Crystal's murder in the parking lot of his business.

The last call Sookie made was to Eric. She knew he would be dead to the world, which is largely why she made the call then. It was easier to speak to his voice mail. She apologized for not being able to meet him, explained the situation about Crystal, and informed him that she would not be available to take on any work with her running the bar for Sam.

"Oh," she quickly added. "The knife. I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to go to Shreveport, so if you need it right away, I'll be closing Merlotte's tomorrow and you can send someone to pick it up. Well…" she paused awkwardly. "Ok. Bye." Rolling her eyes at herself she hung up the phone.

With all the phone calls she needed to make taken care of, Sookie just sat quietly in the office staring off into space. She was too exhausted to feel anything anymore; maybe it was just acceptance, she wasn't sure. Without work, it left her too many hours with her mind idly pondering on things she shouldn't. But Sam was right in telling her not to open the bar until tomorrow.

"Sookie," Jason's voice came from the direction of the doorway. He had left only to come back to check on her. "You need a ride?"

"Ugh," Sookie glanced up at him, "Yeah." Preston had teleported her to Merlotte's, so she didn't have her car with her. Slowly she stood, gathering her purse before following Jason outside.

Glancing at the parking lot, she found the peacefulness surreal. An entire life had ended. It somehow felt wrong for the sun to be shining down on the asphalt, for the trees to be gently rustling in the breeze, and for the birds to be chirping spring's coming arrival.

Everything around her had gone back to living; back to normal.

There were no signs of the tragic scene that only hours earlier had branded itself on to Sookie's memory. She tried not to think about it, but she feared that when she closed her eyes to sleep, she would have to relive the terror in her dreams.

Mentally and emotionally sapped, she silently opened the door to Jason's truck and situated herself inside.

"Sookie," Jason's tone was soft. "Is it true?" he cryptically asked.

"What?" Sookie sighed. Jason pulled onto the dirt road that would lead to her house.

"Your new man…he's a fairy?" Calvin had pulled Jason aside and warned him about the fairy.

"Where did you hear that?" Sookie's affect was unreadable.

"Calvin," replied Jason. She didn't answer him. Instead a sharp silence fell between them. "The fae are bad news," Jason was grim. "They may look all pretty and sweet, but they're not Sookie."

"Don't be mean," she cautioned him.

"Sookie there's stuff about them you need to know," Jason was adamant. "The stories Calvin's dad told him would scare the shit out of a grown man. He said his dad always told him the world would be a better place if they all died out."

"Enough." Sookie chided her brother. She was weary of all the hate and intolerance people carried around toward each other. There had been Rene who killed all those women, the vampires in the next county who had been burned in their own home, the Fellowship of the Sun terrorist attack in Rhodes earlier that year, Sam's mom getting shot because she shared with her husband that she was a shifter, and now Crystal. All those deaths.

It had to stop.

"I never said noth'n untoward you when you started seeing Vampire Bill," Jason was steadfast. He believed firmly in Calvin's warning. Jason truly thought bad things would happen to his sister if she didn't cut off her association with Preston. "And I kept my mouth shut when you were with that blonde vampire," he continued, "But I can't keep quiet this time Sookie. I'm your brother," he said with a measure of dignity. "And I'm your elder. I don't want you seeing this fairy. You end it, and you end it straight away."

Sookie huffed with bewilderment. "You don't get a say Jason Stackhouse," there was an edge to her voice. "There's a lot I'll put up with from you, but not this. You don't know Preston. And truth is you don't know me." Jason visibly bristled. "You haven't known me for a real long time, and you know I'm telling the truth." The tension in the silence that fell between them was palpable. It was a few moments before Jason spoke.

"I know right now you feel like you care about this fairy," Jason's voice though low still had a grim quality. "It won't end good Sookie and you'll be the one suffering, not him."

"Jason," Sookie's jaw tensed, "I don't want to argue with you."

Jason didn't want to fight either, but he also felt it imperative that he save Sookie from Preston's influence. With every fiber in his body, he believed whatever happiness Sookie might feel now was only an illusion. Jason felt Preston would use his sister badly until she wouldn't be any good to anyone. He'd wipe her mind clear of her identity if he thought she was a threat, and he'd walk away in search of another distraction. Fairies were selfish and brutal. They took what they wanted from those around them while the world looked the other way. Based on what Jason was told by Calvin, who he respected, the fae made the devil look like a third grade bully.

On some level, Jason was right.

Fairies had the capacity for the greatest goodness the world has ever seen and possibly would ever witness, but they were also capable of the greatest atrocities that all the species of the worlds combined could ever imagine.

Jason pulled up into the driveway leading up to the house. The gravel crunched under the tires. He carefully brought the truck to a stop behind Sookie's parked car.

"Thanks for the ride," she said, not looking at her brother. She pulled up on the door handle.

"Wait." Jason reached out touching her shoulder. "I know I may not have always been a good brother to you," he conceded. "But I do love you and I want the best for you."

"I know." The majority of the time though, Jason left her wondering if he really did love her.

"I want you to be happy." Jason was sincere. From the look on his face she could see he was really worried. It was this expression that troubled Sookie. "That's why you really need to stay away from the fae," said Jason. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Bye." Sookie opened the door and climbed out of the truck. She closed the door and walked away holding Preston's clothes tightly against her chest.

Not once did she turn to look back.

Jason had never pried into her love life. It bothered her that he did now since it was so unlike him. Her resolve fractured ever so slightly, but it was enough to give birth to self doubts. The misgivings she had first felt over starting a new relationship with Preston resurfaced. She loved him more than she felt she should; needed him more than she thought was good for any person to need another.

Alone in her house, her mind imprisoned her. Confusion; agony; it advanced upon her like a mist forming over warm ground meeting cold air. She was torn about her present and her future, and the implications.

As the hours passed, her mood didn't improve. Over dinner, her gloomy disposition didn't go unnoticed. Amelia and Octavia were worried. They didn't know what had brought about this change in Sookie. In their own way they each felt the horror of Crystal's death. Yes, it had been brutal, but they were both taken back by Sookie's reaction, knowing that Sookie wasn't especially fond of Crystal. Heck, she despised the woman. But Amelia and Octavia decided not to pry.

Sometime during the evening each of the women had drifted to their respective parts of the house. Sookie occupied her hands with laundry. She stood next to the dryer, pulling out Preston's clothes. From the doorway into the laundry room, Amelia watched her friend. She was unsure how to console her best friend, but she felt compelled to say something.

"Sookie," Amelia's voice was soft and gentle. Her eyes trailed to Sookie's hands. She was lovingly folding Preston's clothes. "You want to talk?"

"I'm just really tired." Her voice was low and lifeless. "Crystal's murder; it affected me more than I would have thought possible." There was some truth in her reply.

"I think I understand." Though Sookie didn't like hugging, Amelia wrapped her arms around her friend and kissed her lightly on her cheek.

"Thanks." Sookie forced herself to smile. All of Amelia's worries bombarded her mind. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath until Amelia released her. "I'm going to bed now." Sookie avoided Amelia's eyes.

"Ok," smiled Amelia. "Good night." Sookie gave her a half-hearted smile. With Preston's freshly laundered clothes neatly folded in her arms, she went to her room and closed the door.

Carefully, she laid Preston's folded jeans and brown tee shirt on the chair in the corner of her room. Her hand brushed the soft cotton of his shirt one last time. Under the chair, on the floor, perfectly positioned with the fronts forward, were Preston's shoes. Next to the chair, on the dresser, neatly aligned were the contents of Preston's jeans: cell phone, key, wallet.

For the hundredth time since getting home, she checked his cell phone again. He had three missed calls now. Sookie hesitated each time it silently had buzzed. She wasn't sure whether to answer it or not. If it was Preston trying to reach her he would have called her on either her cell or home phone. But the only call that came on the house phone had been for Octavia. Her own cell phone beeped only once, letting her know her battery was low.

As Sookie readied herself for bed, she couldn't help feel like everything had stopped working; her limbs, her heart, her lungs, her hands. The entire evening she'd felt like she was drowning in quicksand. She suffered from a slow and oppressive demise. Her lungs felt paralyzed.

It was hard to breathe.

Showered and dressed for sleep, she padded to her bed and slipped beneath her sheets. In the solitude of her room, she finally allowed herself to cry. So many times during the evening she had been tempted to call Niall. She wanted to ask him if he could find Preston for her. It wasn't like him, under the circumstances, not to call her or leave her some message.

"Something's wrong," she lamented.

Sookie agonized; every minute in the darkness felt like an eternity. She tossed back and forth in her bed. A month ago, her Gran's house, where she was surrounded by her childhood memories, had felt like home. Tonight, it didn't hold the same comfort as it once had.

A piece of her felt missing. Or maybe it was the house that was missing something.

"Preston," she cried into her pillow, her breath catching. Not being able to feel him next to her, hear his sounds, or feel his life humming calmly around her – she felt unbalanced. Cold. Alone.

Nothing felt right.

Preston was god knows where and far away from her. Niall wanted Preston as far away from her as possible, Calvin hated Preston, and now Jason didn't want her seeing Preston. With tears in her eyes, she squeezed her pillow.

She wished now that she would have told Preston to leave when he first came into Merlotte's. Then maybe she wouldn't be hurting like she was now. It seemed as if her life would have somehow been simpler if she had only told him, no.

But she wanted him, even now hurting as she was, she still wanted him.

Having been with Preston had felt more like home than her Gran's house did at that moment. She wished that she could zap, because if she could, she would have zapped herself to Baton Rouge where at least she would have been surrounded by Preston's scent.

.

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