A/N: Thank you for all the positive reviews so far from Perfecta999, ciasteczko and foxgodess07.

I enjoy writing this so I'm happy someone is reading it.

Again if someone would like to be my beta please PM me.

Here is chapter 2!

"Jesus, when you come back, you come back." Nora said fluttering around my apartment making sure we had everything we needed before heading to the Sonnet office. Her outfit was more or less the same as yesterday except she had a large wool coat on. "You're certainly not fucking around are you?"

I wanted to look good, it would be the first time in three months I had appeared in public. If Bill was watching and waiting he would see these pictures. My hair was styled up into a pompadour, I was wearing black stilettos ankle boots, tight red high waisted jeans, a black lace bra and a fitted leather jacket which was open to show my midriff. My large brown eyes were rimmed with black eyeliner, my cheeks were rouged and my lips were a dark red cherry colour. "I look angry." I managed to spit out as I lit another cigarette. I'd quit tomorrow, today was going to be far too stressful.

"You should be fucking angry. You all should be." She collected keys off the coffee table and handed me a pair of aviators. "You ready?"

I shook my head. "No."

"It'll be..." She trailed off as she thought of something not so devastating to say.

"Fucking horrific." I finished her sentence as I stood, with my boots on I towered over her 5'3 frame more than I already did. I was 5'11 and my usually slim shape had become far too skinny since I had been living off of bourbon, cigarettes and coffee for the last three months. I'd have to make sure I started eating and exercising properly again. Eric would make sure of it, he was going to be angry when he saw me.

"It's two and a half meters between the building and car. What could go wrong?" She asked me as she ushered me out of the apartment and into the hallway.

"Famous last words." I muttered taking a drag.

The elevator ride was fine, nothing happened except the intake of chemicals and nicotine into my lungs. When the doors opened I could see them, the paps, waiting for me.

"Stand there." Nora said and she brought her phone to ear. "You ready?" She asked to who I could only assume was my driver. "The second she's in the car the door is closed and the car is off thirty seconds later, understand?" Another pause. "Good." She hung up her phone and looked at me. "Let's go."

Nora walked ahead of me as I braced myself, it had been ten years and I still wasn't entirely used to this part of fame. I put the cigarette in between my lips and pushed my glasses up on my face, taking a deep breath in. The door opened and I was drowned in a sea of flashes. The sounds of lenses opening and closing, capturing me forever in a moment, my name being screamed at me, superficially questions about my appearance, questions about Perihelion, questions about Bill I would never answer.

Everything moved in slow motion but in reality I was outside for no more than ten seconds. The door shut behind me and I took a long drag of the cigarette with a shaky hand.

"Now that wasn't so bad." Nora said cheerfully as she climbed into the passenger seat next to the driver.

"It was okay." I admitted. "Not as bad as it could have been."

Nora was looking at her phone. "Everyone is already at the office." The car took off down the street.

"A circus?" I inquired.

"Eric described it as a zoo. We'll take you around back, I'll let Russell know to expect you there." Nora was a lot of things and an amazing personal assistant was definitely one of them.

A few paparazzi followed us from our apartment to the office but were denied access to the delivery entrance as we pulled in. I watched the enormous crowd waiting at the front of the building as we passed. Normally, my old normal, there would never be this many photographers but because of the spilt I was tabloid gold and everyone wanted their cut. They were hoping to catch a glimpse of me or more importantly Bill.

I sunk back into my seat and threw my cigarette out the window as we drove towards the back of the building. We stopped abruptly and Nora jumped out of the car opening my door.

I walked with with her until we reached a set of service elevators, an intern was waiting for us. "Hello Ms. Stackhouse, we're very happy you could come." He smiled at me. He was young, his acne was blending in with the freckles on his face and his red hair looked soft like goose feathers. He couldn't have been more than a hundred pounds soaking wet and he was sweating furiously. Someone had given him this chance to collect me, if he could do it without fucking it up that could mean a promotion and anything was better than being an intern.

"Thanks for having me." I smiled taking off my glasses.

He motioned to the elevators and we all stepped inside and took it as high as it would take us. At the tenth floor we got off and switched to the actual elevators in the building. The intern said nothing to me, he stood silently watching the numbers change as we past all the other unimportant floors. I heard once that a person's success could be determined based on the floor their meetings were held on and we were going to the tippy top.

Once the doors opened the kid took us the final door at the end of a long hallway. "This is where I leave you," he said smiling.

"Thanks." I smiled back.

He just nodded and walked away while I turned to look at Nora. "Make sure someone knows that kid did a good job." I told her as she nodded and walked in the direction we had just come from. I had had handlers in the past who had asked me all sorts of personal questions, had tried to give me demo tapes, and snap photos without permission but this intern was respectful and efficient. He deserved to be awarded for that.

I was alone and stood staring at the door nervously. Finally I put my hand on the doorknob and let myself in. The room was large, a kitchen was right in front of me and a sitting area with a coffee table and TV was beyond that. To my left was a long conference table with another TV on the far wall, the windows were floor to ceiling and lined the farthest wall. Everything was either cream or grey in colour.

I realized the room was silent and everyone was looking at me. "Sook?" Tara finally said. She was closest to me in the kitchen making a tea.

I looked over at her and nodded. She was wearing a white fitted dress with capped sleeves that came to just above the knee. It hugged her in all the right places and looked flawless against her dark skin. Her hair was shorter since the last time I had seen her. It was now a warm brown colour and straight, resting on her shoulders. She wore no make-up, she didn't need to, her lashes were naturally long, her chocolate coloured eyes wide, her cheeks carried a natural flush and her lips were large and pouty. She was so beautiful and it hit me in that moment how much I had missed one of my dearest friends. "Tara." I whispered as I ran to hug her. "I missed you."

She laughed wrapping her arms tightly around me. The heels she was wearing helped close our height difference. "I missed you too babe." She kissed my cheek. "Don't disappear again, okay? We're all here for you and we can't imagine how difficult it must be for you but please let us try."

"I'm sorry." I managed to say through my tears that were now rolling down my cheeks.

"Don't be sorry." She cooed as she rubbed my back. "I love the hair by the way."

I touched the back of my head as I stepped away from her. "Yeah, I think I needed a change. It's really drastic I know."

"It looks good." Alcide smirked as he walked over to me wearing his usual white t-shirt, loose fitting blue jeans and converse sneakers. His tattoos peaking out here and there. "Where'd you go, Legs?" He asked as he pulled me into a hug. Legs was my nickname because I had legs for days. Eric had started calling me it to annoy me but eventually it stuck.

"I needed some me time." I inhaled the familiar smell of his black-brown hair. He had been using the same shampoo since high school, Head and Shoulders.

"Well you got three solid months of it, you think you're ready to do this again? Join the circus one more time?" He asked releasing me.

"I want to be." I answered truthfully. I couldn't imagine giving up music all together and being in this room with all of them made me want to believe that I could do this. The problem with being in the same room with all them was it was a glaring remind of who was missing, it was the reason we were forced to be here.

"We'll get there Sook, don't panic." He encouragingly nudged my shoulder with his fist. "You should go talk to Blue Eyes over there, he's been going out his mind wanting to see you."

Both Alcide's gaze and my own drifted to where Eric was sitting. He was in the farthest chair and his feet were propped up on the table. He was reclining and I couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not because of the large black aviators that covered his eyes.

I walked up to him slowly trying to decide what to say. Out of all the people I shut out during my meltdown, which was still very much in process, Eric's presence was missed the most. I had actually seen him once during that time but our meeting didn't end well. Even though I had known Tara longer, Eric was my best friend. We just had a connection I couldn't explain, I instantly calmed in his presence even when we were at each other's throats, which was a lot. Eric and I always needed to be right and we had short, fiery tempers. I always called him out on his shit and he always called me out on mine but we could never stay apart for very long.

His hair was slicked back and he had grown a beard, thick blonde hair covered the lower half of his face. He had been going to the gym and his black Modern Lovers t-shirt strained against his bulging arms and full chest. He had gotten a new tattoo, finding space amongst his nearly covered arms. The fresh ink was a pair of red lips wedged in between a portrait of his childhood dog Toby and the Perihelion tattoo we all had. His dark jeans were new, fitting him perfectly and a pair of black dress shoes adorned his feet.

I stood next to him silently. There were a thousand things I had to say, I should say. I'm sorry. I missed you. I needed you but I'm so fucking stupid and isolated myself. You're my best friend and I love you.

But that wasn't what I said, what I said was much more simple. "Hey." I lightly kicked his leg with my foot.

He stirred and looked in my direction. He took his feet off the table and removed his glasses, turning his chair towards me. He looked tired and stressed. "So this is what a quarter life crisis looks like on you?" There was no humour in his words.

"Do you not like it?" I asked, my hand immediately touching my hair.

"When was the last time you ate?" He asked, I knew my weight loss was going to piss him off.

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"You don't know? Sookie, if you're going to shut us out at least take care of yourself." He sighed.

"I've just…" I shook my head and rubbed the back of my head. "I'll make more effort to eat correctly." I didn't want to fight with him, not today.

He stood and walked towards me stopping only inches away. I couldn't look anywhere other than his icy blue eyes, he was just taller than me and held my gaze. His demeanour, the way he was carrying his body told me how he was feeling, he was serious, angry and sad. "Don't do that again, " he said sternly. "Don't fucking disappear, don't shut me out and stop fucking destroying yourself over him." His voice never went higher than a whisper.

I nodded, crying instantly before I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled my body flush against his. "I'm sorry." I muttered before placing a kiss on his neck. "I'm so sorry." He just tightened his hold on me and placed a kiss on my temple as I rested my head on his shoulder. "Everything reminds me of him." I sobbed into his shoulder.

"I know." He murmured. "I miss him too."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do now." I was trying to control myself but my emotions were too raw next to Eric and I couldn't stop.

"You have to find a new normal." He consoled.

It wasn't a coincidence that I had heard this saying more than once in less than a day. It was a band motto of sorts. After the release of our first album all of us were having trouble adjusting to the massive changes in our lives, we were upset that our lives were no longer 'normal'. Eric was the first one to say the words, he said them to me three and a half weeks before our first Grammys. After that everything seemed easier to deal with, to let go of the past and accept the present and future. It also gave us the title of our second album.

I nodded. "I need time." I said stepping away from him wiping my face, "but you're right, I can't destroy myself over this. I have to stop doing what I'm doing."

A small smile spread across his lips and he squeezed my hand reassuringly as Russell, Nora and our manager Sam Merlotte entered the room.

"Hey everyone!" Russell exclaimed as Sam began hugging Tara and Alcide, it had been awhile since we had seen him.

Russell looked over my way. "Sookie what happened to you?" He took a seat at the head of the table. "Are you a lesbian now?" He was wearing a black business suit and I decided I liked Russell better business instead of casual.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes Russell because my sexual orientation is directly correlated with the length of my hair." I shook my head.

I sat down in the chair beside Eric's and I heard him mumble, "prick."

I laughed at his little jab at Russell and realized it was the first I could remember laughing in a long time, a real laugh.

Sam approached Eric and myself and kissed my cheek while giving my shoulder a squeeze. "It's good to see you."

"You too." I smiled warmly. Sam was forty-two years old, he was average height, dusty blonde-brown hair, narrow blue-grey eyes and a permanent five o'clock shadow. He had been our manager since we released our first album. He loved the money but he loved the music more and us most. We were given all the credit for our success but I believed we wouldn't have made it this far without Sam.

He shook Eric's hand and took a seat. Tara and Alcide found their seats and Nora settled into the couch, eyes glued to her phone.

"Alright guys lets talk about why you're all here." Russell sang happily. "What the fuck are you gonna do now?"

[Posted by Just Jared]

Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - 11:02am - Is Sookie Stackhouse in trouble? The guitarist from band Perihelion made her first appearance in three months today rocking a very short, dark hair style and a shockingly gaunt frame. Heartbreak seems to have taken a toll on Stackhouse who ended her ten year relationship with the bands front man Bill Compton in the fall of last year.

An insider close to the band said Stackhouse has spiralled over the past three months and her scarily skinny frame could be the result of heavy drug use. Friends and family have been encouraging her to enter rehab but she has refused to seek treatment.

Sookie was headed to Sonnet Indie's head office today joined by her remaining band mates giving hope to all Perihelion fans out there. Hopefully Sookie will get the help she needs so we can get new music sooner rather than later.

What did you guys think? I've introduced the band and I'm very excited to expand and write these characters. Also I love tattooed Eric. I love tattoos.

I also want to say, I have no idea how the music industry actually works, this is how I wish it worked.

Please review if you have the time.

Thanks for reading!