SPOV

"Come on, Sam, pick up your damn phone already," I muttered to myself as I sped along the highway. As soon as the officers had left with Eric handcuffed in their patrol car, Pam and I jumped into my car to head to Hope House and try to get Sam to help us clear this all up. There had to have been some sort of mistake. He wouldn't get arrested on parole violation unless I had signed a warrant issuance form. And I most certainly had not signed one.

"Sam Merlotte," said Sam's voice when he answered.

"Finally. It's about damn time you answered."

"Sookie? What's wrong? Why are you sounding so upset?"

"Sam, I was just at Hell's Inferno speaking with Eric," Pam tried to hold a small giggle when I said I'd been speaking to Eric, but in my rage, I ignored it, "and out of nowhere two officers came and arrested him for parole violation!!"

"What the hell? How was a warrant issued? No judge would sign a warrant without your signature."

"That's what I thought as well, but, I saw the warrant myself. It was signed by Judge Hopkins."

"You're kidding me? Hopkins loves us. He would have no reason to go over our heads on anything. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way to Hope House. Pam is with me."

"Okay, tell ya what, I'll get a hold of Judge Hopkins' office and see what I can find out until you get here, okay?"

I hung up the phone and once again put both hands on the steering wheel, and held on as if my life depended on it. Sam was right, this didn't make sense. Of all the judges that we worked with, Judge Hopkins was the one who trusted our opinions the most. There was something definitely wrong here.

As Pam and I walked through the front doors of Hope House, Sam was standing at the front desk waiting for us.

"I talked to Hopkins personally. He assured me that he would never sign an arrest warrant for one your cases without your approval, so, something's definitely fishy here. He can have a vacate warrant order faxed over to the prison to guarantee Eric's immediate release. But, he needs you to sign the discrepancy form before he can do that."

"Once I sign the form and we get everything faxed, how soon will Eric be released?"

"Well, the clerk at the prison has been told to expect the form, so, as soon as she gets it, they'll turn him loose."

"Okay, then you and Pam go to the prison to pick him up, and I'll go to the courthouse and sign the forms for the Judge. Then we can meet back here afterwards and starting sorting this whole mess out."

Sam nodded, and immediately went to get into his car. Pam, however, hesitated for a moment. "Sookie, listen, for what it's worth, Eric really did have only the best of intentions when he offered to pay Crystal off. He said that he'd rather her have money from him than actual money from your family. I know he should've talked to you first, and I warned him several times to tell you what was going on. But, please, give him a chance to tell you what he was thinking when he decided to take this course of action."

I thought for a moment, shook my head, and was surprised to have Pam wrap me into a tight hug. I embraced her back, and heard her chuckle slightly as she whispered in my ear. "See, we're hugging and I'm not even going to try to get you to have sex with me." Oh, that Pam.

She let go of me, squeezed my hand, and ran off to join Sam in his car. I jumped back into mine and made my way to the courthouse as quickly as I could. Once I was inside, I went to Judge Hopkins office as quickly as I possibly could, and knocked. He opened the door immediately.

"Miss Stackhouse, good. I've got all the forms ready, I just need you to sign the discrepancy form, then I'll fax both to the prison, and Mr. Northman should be released fairly quickly."

I took the pen he was holding out for me, and proceeded to sign the form, and watched with relief as he put both of them into his fax machine and sent them off. "Judge, do you have any idea how this happened?"

"I was wondering about that myself. My new assistant had me sign a whole slew of forms earlier today, but, I don't remember her mentioning a warrant for one of your cases. But, the signature stamp shows that it was signed this morning, so, I believe that it was in the stack she'd handed me. I'm not sure if it was an error or not. But you can bet that we'll be researching it in order to find out."

"Well, have you run a background check on your assistant? Maybe it has something to do with her. What's her name?"

"Sophie-Ann LeClerq. And, I did a brief background when she was first hired, but, I've got a clerk running another right now." His phone rang and he held up a finger for me to wait a moment while he answered it. "Yes. Wonderful, thank you so much." He hung up the phone and managed to give me a small smile. "It seems Mr. Northman was just released. Mr. Merlotte said he'd meet you back at Hope House shortly."

"Thank you so much, your honor. I really appreciate it."

"Don't mention it my dear."

EPOV

I was more than just slightly frustrated at being arrested for parole violation. I knew I hadn't violated. Sookie knew I hadn't violated. So, why was a warrant issued? Mercifully, I wouldn't have to stay behind bars to ponder that for too long.

Less than an hour after I'd been put through the booking process, an officer said that my release form had been received, and I was allowed to leave. Pam and Sam Merlotte were waiting in the lobby area for me. When I reached them, Pam gave me a quick hug, and I reached out to shake Sam's hand.

"Thanks for springing me, Sam," I said with a small smile. "Do we know what happened yet?"

"No, but Sookie had met with the judge who signed the warrant, and I spoke to her a minute ago and she said she'll explain everything when we meet her back at Hope House shortly."

Pam, Sam and I all piled into Sam's small car, and made it back to Hope House in record time. It was obvious that everyone was anxious to get this solved. Obviously, someone was trying to maneuver us around, and none of us were very happy about it.

Once we arrived, Sam led us to his office, and offered each of us a seat and a cup of coffee. Pam sat and flipped through an old magazine that was sitting on Sam's desk, and Sam worked on his computer while I paced back and forth in front of the desk.

After twenty minutes had passed, I began to feel nervous. Sookie should've been here by now. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed her number, only to have it go directly to voicemail. That meant that Sookie's phone was turned off. I just hoped it was because her battery was dead, and not something else.

After another agonizing 30 minutes, Sam's cell phone rang. He answered, but didn't say much in the conversation, just listened. I saw his eyes get wider and his face paler, and knew that whatever the caller was telling him wasn't good. After another moment of silence, Sam simply said thank you, and hung up. He vaulted to his feet faster than I imagined he was capable of.

"Get in my car right now. I'll explain on the way," was all he would say. No, this couldn't be good.

Once we were back in the car, I noticed Sam's eyes watching me in his rear-view mirror. "That was a friend of mine who works as a 911 dispatcher. We need to get to the Shreveport Regional Hospital right away. Sookie's been in an accident." I went cold all over, and felt as if someone had just walked over my grave.

"What kind of accident, Sam?" He looked at me again, and I could see that he was gauging whether or not to tell me. "Sam, I need to know. Now."

"She was stopped at a red light. She was rear-ended by another car going at a fast speed, and it pushed her car into the middle of the intersection, and she was hit by another vehicle. Her car rolled twice before finally coming to a stop upside down."

I heard Pam gasp, and I put my hand on her shoulder to try and give comfort, but also, to receive it from her. "Did they say how badly she was hurt?"

"I was told that she is injured, but, it's not nearly as bad as it could've been. She was buckled in, and her car had front and side airbags. I was told that whoever rear-ended her fled the scene. Several witnesses told the police that it looked like they'd hit her on purpose."

I felt rage bubbling inside me, and I saw red. "I'm suddenly starting to wonder if my arrest wasn't part of some master plan to separate and confuse us." I saw Sam nod his head slightly in agreement.

When we got to the hospital, the receptionist in the emergency room told us that Sookie was in surgery, and she told us where we could go to wait for a word with her surgeon. Once we'd arrived at the surgical waiting room, a nurse told us that the surgery that was being performed wasn't anything terribly serious. Her injuries were extremely tame, considering the severity of the impact. A bone in her right thigh had been broken badly enough that it had come through the skin, and an orthopedic surgeon was stabilizing the bone, putting a metal pin in to hold it in place, and should be finished and able to speak with us, soon. Both Pam and Sam relaxed visibly when we got this news. I wished I was able to feel better as well. But, I knew I wouldn't stop worrying until I could see Sookie.

Around 45 minutes later, two doctors entered the waiting room and approached us. "Mr. Northman, Mr. Merlotte?" We nodded our heads to acknowledge our identities. "I'm Dr. Ludwig. I'm the orthopedic surgeon who was working with Miss Stackhouse. I was able to easily repair the damage to the bone and muscles in her leg, and it looks like it will heal up nicely. She was very lucky. The majority of her injuries are superficial. She has several pulled muscles; two broken ribs, and is pretty much covered head to toe in bruises and small scratches. She did hit her head fairly hard on the driver's side window when the car hit her, and, there is a very slight amount of swelling in the brain. Everything shows us though that it will go down, and most likely will not do any permanent damage. It just means that she'll be sleeping for awhile until the swelling is gone." I breathed a sigh of relief, and felt Pam grab my hand. Then, the other doctor spoke.

"Mr. Northman, I'm Dr. Crane. I'm a surgical resident specializing in obstetrics. We've got a fetal monitor on her, and will continue to keep an eye on things, but, it looks like the baby wasn't affected by the crash at all."

I blanched. "I'm sorry, baby?" I felt Pam's grip on my hand tighten.

"Yes, sir. Weren't you aware that she was pregnant? By my measurements, I'd say she's about 6 weeks along."

Good thing there was a chair directly behind me, because I was no longer capable of standing.

A/N I know, I know, another cliff hanger ending. Yes, I'm well aware of the fact that I am cruel. I enjoy it, thank you very much. I hope to have the next chapter up within the next 12 hours. So, go ahead and review and give me your thoughts!!