A/N: Sookie's back home, Michele and Jason have gotten married, and nobody got kidnapped! This is the next-to-last chapter of Sookie Ever After.

Disclaimer: not mine

When I got back to Bon Temps, everything was just as it had been when I left. I went to Jason and Michele's wedding, and it was more moving and special than I'd ever expected. I kicked myself for having been judgmental about their decision to not have it in a church.

Quite a few familiar faces had already shown up by the time I was setting dishes out for their potluck reception. I looked up to see Alcide parking his big pickup in the gravel driveway. He congratulated the happy couple, then made his way over to see me - and to get a heaping plate of food. I dished him out some of my homemade mac and cheese and said, "Hey, Alcide. I didn't realize you were coming."

He smiled at me. "Hey, Sookie, good to see you. Yeah, I got Jason on one of my project crews. The pay's about the same to start, but if he keeps at it he can make decent money. Your brother seems like a real good worker."

I returned his smile, but it was a little strained, because I realized he was also here to collect his favor from me. "Must run in the family," I said. "Well, you get in touch with me about that pack favor. I gotta head back in and help Michele. There's beer in the cooler."

I left Alcide standing there and quickly retreated inside. The rest of the night, although there were plenty of werepanthers around, I was able to completely avoid supe politics to eat and talk and dance. Sure, a few of them had heard about my new role with the vampires, but everybody seemed to know that this was not the day to ask me about it. We were all here (except maybe Alcide) for Jason and Michele, and it was beautiful and love-filled.

The next few weeks went by rather uneventfully. I kind of missed having Karin around all the time, now that Eric had called her away to be his second. She did come by the house a few times for fighting lessons, which were great fun and definitely helping me get in better shape. Eric and Pam were busy with their new responsibilities, and I hadn't heard from them. I didn't know yet if I would get a chance to resume my friendship with them, and that made me sad. Bill tried to drop by now and then, but I mostly just chatted with him out on the porch, offering him a True Blood from time to time. He was much less fun than Eric and Pam, and I found I was missing them both. Technically I could go back to Fangtasia now, but I just didn't feel up to it yet.

I was no longer under what seemed like constant threat of attack, but managed to stay pretty busy. I was fielding requests from the vampire authority to consult to the state and federal BVAs, and coordinating with councils and Quinn (strictly professionally) about summits in other regions. I had a few conversations with the Weres in Congress - another very good idea of mine. I could do much of the work by video chat, and my new responsibilities took up about two thirds of my work time. There was an event coming up in California in a couple of months, and I was pretty excited - it would be the furthest west I'd ever traveled, and I might even get to see the Pacific ocean. I was always glad to return home, but I didn't mind seeing a bit more of the world.

I was also slowly filling my life with more human-oriented activities, like visits to Tara's twins, shifts at Merlotte's, and some much needed repairs around my old house. I visited Hunter a couple of times, and started a college fund for him. I had done the same for Tara's twins, and also prepaid for a local babysitting agency for six months so Tara and JB could have some adult time when they needed it. I had a lot more wiggle room in my budget now, and I wanted to use it to help the people I loved.

Sam and I didn't talk too much about everything that had happened - we saw each other at work, and went out to Crawdad's for dinner as friends and business partners from time to time, but that was it. I wasn't really dating anyone, and still didn't want to take up with any of the human men from around Bon Temps. That hadn't changed - there was still a very good reason I had so often preferred the company of the quiet vampires.

And then one evening, while finishing up a video call with Amelia, my cell phone rang from Fangtasia's number. I panicked for a moment, thinking they were calling to demand I do something dangerous - some of my old thought habits were hard to break. My anxiety ratcheted up even further when I considered that the call might be from Eric. Amelia talked me down, and convinced me to call back. She finally persuaded me by saying they might need me to do some actual work with the state BVA, or it might just be Pam calling to arrange a get together. Since I couldn't know whether it was trouble without calling, I swallowed my anxieties and dialed.

Pam answered the line, which surprised me, since she was in charge at Fangtasia these days. I tried to take a business-like approach to the call. "Pam, it's Sookie, I missed your call. What did you need?"

"Hmm, what I 'need' is for you to get down here and cheer up this ridiculous Viking. His position is secure, and now he is getting on my nerves. What I will settle for is you getting your ass in a cute dress and coming down here to shake it for my customers. This place could use some sunshine." I knew Pam wouldn't mind watching me, either.

"Look, Pam, it's late, and I'm not really available for bored Vampire and fangbanger duty. I'm sure you can manage." I hesitated, then asked her quietly, "Is Eric doing okay? With everything?"

"Come see for yourself, Tinkerbell."

"Whatever, Pam. I'll be happy to come see you sometime, but I'm not coming out tonight. I haven't heard from Eric since the summit anyway, so I'm not sure it would do any good. We haven't exactly resolved things." I remembered the deal I'd made with him at the ball, and he hadn't taken me up on it so far. Maybe he never would.

Vampires don't seem big on lengthy phone calls, so it wasn't long before Pam finished needling me and hung up. Part of me ached a little to think of Eric sulking in Fangtasia, and the rest of me was mad that I'd gotten excited by the call. I was not some pacifier Pam could throw at Eric when he got cranky, and I wanted to hear from him directly before I just turned up at Fangtasia while he was there.

Thinking about Eric had a way of making me swing between emotions, something I'd probably be more used to if I'd had the usual run of boyfriends. I grabbed a pint of ice cream from the freezer and settled onto the couch with a spoon and a distractingly sad movie. I knew eventually I'd quit feeling that unsettled pit in my stomach whenever I had too much time alone to think about things. After I sniffled through the film, I dragged myself to bed and finally drifted off to sleep.

A/N: The last chapter should be up later this week!