Okay, I don't have anything smart to say, so I won't bore you with my ramblings, just give you the chapter.

Betaed by Breathesgirl

Disclaimer: You can always try to uninvite me from this story.

Previously:

The time flew and I barely noticed when it was already time for me to get ready for work. I had already changed into my uniform and checked on Jason and told him not to wait up for me since I wouldn't be back until late in the night, when I was surprised by a knock on the door.

There was a red-headed woman on my porch: judging by the mental signature she was a werewolf.

I opened the door and looked at her blankly, nervously wondering if she was someone I should recognise.

"I'm here officially, so I'll be polite," she said, confusing me even more.

I stepped back to let her in. I was suddenly struck by a question: Why was I so hell bent on hiding my memory loss? Wouldn't it be better to just tell the truth? I had to consider Jason though: it would be even harder to get people to believe that both Jason and I had amnesia at the same time. It would sound awfully suspicious. I decided to think about it more later, but for now to try to avoid being exposed by the red-head unless there was no other way.

"Miss Stackhouse, we started a preliminary investigation on the account of Jackson's were community," said my wolf-guest.

I had no idea what she was talking about. I sighed internally. Oh, well. If I was giving myself away, there was nothing I could do about it. I had to ask:

"In what case?"

Fortunately, she didn't look surprised with my lack of knowledge on the subject. I invited her with a gesture to follow me into the living-room.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have much time right now, I was just getting ready for work," I warned.

"I'll make it quick then. Two nights ago, the woman abjured by Alcide, that were with a strange haircut...?" she trailed off.

I barely stopped my eyes from bulging. The only female were I remembered from Jackson and with a connection to Alcide was his ex-girlfriend, psychopathic bitch Debbie Pelt.

No, I'm not exaggerating. If anybody thinks I shouldn't speak so harshly of her I suggest they find out how it feels to be locked up inside a cartrunk with an injured, starved vampire; then we'll talk.

"Debbie," I whispered.

The woman (whose name I still didn't know) nodded. She was hard to read.

"That's the one," she confirmed.

Alcide abjured Debbie? What does it mean? Maybe there was still some hope for him?

"So what did Debbie do?"

"She never got back home. Her family is worried, especially since they heard about Alcide. They are afraid that something might have happened to her. We're trying to find her."

I stifled a snort (not entirely successfully). They were worried about Debbie? Debbie's well-being was the least of my concerns. To be honest I was more worried about anybody who had the misfortune to meet her.

"Well, I'm the last person Debbie would talk to about her plans. I'm sorry, but I can't help you."

The werewolf made a face.

"Honestly, I think she'd rather eat broken glass than come to see you, but we have to check with everybody who was there that night."

Was where? – I thought.

Two nights ago. Two nights ago, meaning during the last night I didn't remember. The night of the battle with the witches – at least according to the scarce information provided by Eric.

"I have no idea where she is," I said with a clear conscience. It was absolutely true.

"No one claims to have seen Debbie after she left after the battle," she said. "I'm sure she just went away to deal with the humiliation and anger. She's been abjured… it's rather an awful thing. It's been years since I last heard the words."

What words? Maybe Sam would know and could explain it to me.

"Does her family think differently? That she didn't just go somewhere to, um, think things through?"

"They're afraid she might hurt herself," I knew from the tone of her voice and the look on her face that her thoughts on that idea were similar to mine; she knew Debbie. "She wouldn't do anything so convenient for us."

I silently agreed with her.

"What does Alcide think about it?" I asked.

I didn't have a clue what happened between the two of them. I didn't even know why Debbie had been in the area in the first place.

"He's not supposed to be looking for her since he abjured her. He acts like he doesn't care but I noticed that the colonel has been calling him to keep him posted. For now there is nothing to report."

She got up and I followed suit, "This must be the season for missing persons – but I heard that your brother was found and that Eric is himself again." (Who was he before? – I asked myself) "Maybe we'll find Debbie too."

I was slowly beginning to hate the feeling of being the least informed person when it came to my life.

"Sorry for disturbing you," she said when I walked her out.

"Don't mention it," I replied, keeping my voice neutral. "Good luck."

The door closed behind her and I rubbed my forehead. My shift hadn't even begun yet and I was already tired.

Of course Jason wanted to know who I was talking to so I had to talk to him and by the time I was finally ready to go I had to really hurry up. My new red coat made it impossible to keep away the thoughts about Eric. I remembered previous night and the safely tucked away check when I touched the thick material. I should probably make a call to Fangtasia and try to get some things straight.

I rushed into Merlotte's a little late and left my bag Sam's office.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm here now!" I babbled, tying on my apron.

"Sookie, wait," he stopped me before I had a chance to slip out of the room and closed the door for privacy.

"What's going on?" he asked giving me a look that told me that he wasn't going to buy any bullshit excuses.

I sighed and looked deeply into Sam's eyes. He was my friend. I trusted him. This time I didn't feel the need to hide the truth and confessed. I saw that his eyes widened a little when I told him about the unexpected side-effect of breaking Hallow's spell.

"Sam," I said in my no-nonsense voice, "tell me everything you know about that time. Please, it's very important to me. You have no idea how weird this is for me."

I put a hand on his shoulder to stress my point – and I was also hoping that I could repeat the trick I accidentally discovered earlier while talking to Jason and see some lost moments through Sam's eyes by using my telepathy. Yeah, I know, a little rude, but I was desperate.

"Honestly, Sookie, I can't help you much," Sam said worriedly. "We didn't talk a lot in these last couple of days."

An image flashed through my mind – a meeting, here, at Merlotte's – but for now I let Sam talk.

"I know that the whole local supe community was engaged in the fight against the witches, not just vampires. The witches were involved, so were the Weres: They were getting in the Shreveport pack's way. I heard that someone from Fangtasia's human staff got killed when the witches broke in there during the day."

That was all valuable information but I wanted to know more about something else.

"Do you know what I was up to?" I asked trying to steer both the conversation and his thoughts toward the right topic.

"I know that you were hiding Eric," he said slowly.

Sam looked at me nervously. He suspected, or rather he was almost certain that something had happened between the two of us.

Ugh. Did everything have to lead back to Eric?

"That's right," I replied shortly and immediately changed the subject. "Did we see each other during that time?"

"I was at the search party for Jason, as was half of the town. Hey, what happened to him? Andy stormed in today very agitated and drunk two beers all the time cursing both you and Jason."

So I told him that too. Like the good friend he was Sam hugged me and tried to console me. I learned from him that a few of the Hotshot residents were a part of the search party too and that Sam thought that Calvin Norris had eyes for me.

I grimaced. Calvin might be a good guy but the circumstances of our first (second first?) meeting were far from pleasant. Regardless, all of that was starting to make sense and I felt like I was finally walking on slightly more stable ground.

"Hey, you don't by any chance know what happened to Debbie?" I asked suddenly on an impulse.

"Who?"

"Debbie Pelt. Never mind. I guess you don't know her. Apparently, she's missing too. Someone from the Shreveport pack paid me a visit today – a redhead? – and I thought that maybe…"

I abruptly stopped talking when I got a very vivid and violent image from Sam's mind.

"Amanda?!" he asked.

I flinched and took a step back. In his head, I saw Eric launching at the redhead – Amanda – and taking her to the ground – vamp speed, fangs down and all that jazz.

"Sam?" I asked quietly.

He looked at me apologetically and I realised that he knew all along that I was listening to his thoughts, but he let me do it because he just thought it might be easier that way. Sam was one of the few people who wasn't terrified by the idea of me getting into their heads.

He sighed, "It was here," he started. "We all got together – Weres, vamps, shifters, you, Eric, Pam – to talk about our options in fighting the witches and the way we could cooperate. Amanda was here too."

"What happened?" I asked. "What did Eric want from her?"

"Eric… knocked her down a notch."

That he did.

It was a good thing that I saw her recently in a good shape, otherwise I'd be freaking out at that point.

"But why?"

"She insulted you."

Again, I could only blink.

"She insulted me," I repeated numbly, making sure that I heard him correctly. "Eric threatened to rip some woman's throat because she insulted me."

"She was really disrespectful," Sam added quickly, only stunning me more. Was it just me or did he really just sound like he thought Eric's actions had been justified? Come to think of that, Memory Me didn't seem to be too upset with Eric either...

It was getting too much for me so I decided that maybe it would be the best if I just go to work before my head started spinning.

"Anything else?" I asked weakly.

Sam took a minute to think.

"No, that's all I can think of for now. If I remember something important, I'll let you know."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Sookie?"

"Mmm?"

"Are you okay? I mean… you know, beside this, is everything alright?"

I didn't know what to say.

"I can't really think about anything other than this so it's hard to say – but that probably means it is, otherwise I'd know about it."

I smiled a little sourly. I knew that what he really wanted to know was if I was safe and sound because it was no secret that emotionally I was a mess. He nodded in understanding.

My shift passed without any incidents, which I was grateful for. I came home to my brother waiting for me. He looked a little better so we agreed that I would drive him back to his place in the morning. Since I knew pushing it off wouldn't help, I talked to him about the possible consequences of being bitten by a were. It was a difficult conversation;. Jason didn't take my words well . When I felt there was nothing more I could do to help him I exited the room quietly to give him some time to digest the news and I went back to doing my stuff.

After finishing evening chores I wrapped myself tightly into a housecoat, took the phone, sat on my bed and with a heavy sigh picked the number for Fangtasia.

I know you missed him, but Eric is just a phone call away :)

Next time: someone fucks up.

P.S. I'm sure you are aware that True Blood fandom works fast and there are already many great stories dealing with the aftermath of the series final. I'll be adding my own attempt of fixing season 7 later today. If you're interesting in reading it, look for my short story 'Healed' in TB section.