A/N: Hope you're all doing swell. BAS 32 soon.

Chapter 4

She got the all clear to go back to work from her doctor a few days later. She had taken the resume with her to the appointment and stopped in at Merlotte's on the way home. She was a little disappointed when Terry Bellefleur was standing behind the bar instead of Sam. She hesitated but then walked up and perched herself on a bar stool.

"Hey there, Sookie. What can I get for you?"

"Hey, Terry. I didn't know that you worked here." She set the papers down in front of her. "Sam asked me to drop off a resume."

Terry was a Vietnam War vet and former POW. He had come back from the jungle a broken man with many demons. He could be unpredictable but he didn't drink and was a hard worker, when he was able, and he tried to be a good man. The scars on his face stood in relief.

"Hey! That's great! I'll put in a good word for you."

She really liked Terry, although he scared her sometimes. She hadn't liked to be anywhere near him when she was young — his thoughts could be terrifying — but she was better at keeping out of his head most of the time these days. Plus, she had a lot more compassion for him now that she was older and understood what he'd been through. Really, she was the one person in town who understood the most; she had seen some of it second-hand, from his perspective.

"That would be great. I don't really want to go back to the Grabbit Kwik."

He shook his head. "I don't blame you one bit, Sookie. I hope you take 'em to the cleaners. Old Jim Fortenberry, too. That dog was a goddamn menace. I'm glad he's dead. One night last fall, he was all the way out by my place. He attacked my catahoula, Ethel. I had to kick the shit out of it to get it to let her go. She was covered in blood…"

He shuddered all over. Sookie closed her eyes and tried so hard to stay out of his head, but he was lost in his memories of war and brutality and his thoughts were eating him alive. They were so loud and vibrant that she had no more choice but to see his torture and hear his screams of pain than he did.

Thankfully, it only lasted a few seconds. She broke out in goosebumps and tried to act natural. She plastered on the crazy smile she used to try to hide her natural reactions to other people's intimate thoughts. She wanted to get out of there fast but she had to do it tactfully.

"Gee, Terry, I'm real sorry. Is she ok?"

He was still a little zoned out still and then shook himself a bit. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, Sookie. She healed up good as new, just about."

"Well, good." She stood up. "Can you be sure to give that resume to Sam when you see him?"

"'Course. I'll go and put it on his desk right now."

"Thanks, Terry. I really appreciate it. It was really good to see you."

She sat in her car for a few minutes to shake off her nerves before she headed for home. Terry's mind was a scary place to be. She didn't know how he could stand it.

She was almost to her long, rutted driveway when she started to wonder if Old Man Fortenberry's horrible dog had been anywhere near the Grabbit Kwik that night. Why was it so hard to believe that there were werewolves in a world with a telepath in it? She wondered if there were other telepaths out there somewhere. Maybe if she bit someone, they would turn into a mind reader during the full moon, too. She snorted.

"Kinky."

The next morning, Sookie decided that it was high time to clean the house. She'd lost three days, pretty much, and it had been over a week since she had done a damn thing to it other than changing her filthy sheets a few days back. She just hadn't felt up to it. She was so messed up inside and had still been in a lot of pain from those three nights. She swept and mopped and dusted and vacuumed and did a load of laundry and hung it out on the line. It was a beautiful, sunny day and she decided to spend the rest of it outside on the chaise lounge, working on her tan.

She put on her smallest bikini and took the romance novel she was reading out there with her and she spent a couple of hours soaking up the rays and occasionally getting a little hot and bothered by her book.

Her thirst drove her inside shortly after three-thirty. She poured herself a sweet tea and noticed that the light was blinking on her answering machine. She pressed the button and took a sip.

"Hey there, this is Sam Merlotte calling for Sookie. I was just wondering if you wanted to come in later on and I can walk you through what you'll be doing and we can get the paperwork out of the way. I'll be here all evening, so just come on down if you can. If not, gimme a call tomorrow and we'll work something out. Thanks!"

She smiled. She decided that she would get dressed and brush her teeth and head right over after she grabbed a quick bite to eat. She'd skipped lunch. She wanted to arrive before the supper rush really got underway. She was happy to have a new job and was looking forward to seeing Sam Merlotte again.

He smiled at her as soon as she walked into Merlotte's.

"Well, hey! I'm glad you made it!"

Maybe a third of the tables were full, as well as half the stools at the bar. Sookie recognized just about everyone there, to some degree or another. She tried to block out their thoughts, although it was hard; a lot of them were about her. Her smile back at Sam had frozen a bit. She softened it, afraid it was reading more like a grimace.

"Thanks! I'm glad you called."

He walked out from behind the bar and led her back to his office. He gestured to the chair across from his desk and sat down behind it.

"We'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. "

He told her about the pay and the job duties and his expectations. He pulled some forms out of a drawer in his desk and handed them to her. She grabbed a pen out of the highball glass on his desk and filled them out.

He showed her around and introduced her to the cook, Lafayette Reynold, and the other bar maids on shift, Arlene Fowler and Charlsie Tooten. Sam and Sookie went over the menu and he showed her how to pour a perfect pint or pitcher of draught.

"Would you like to start tonight? You can shadow Arlene for a while."

She was happy to. They went back to his office and he handed her an apron and she tied it around her waist and headed out front. Arlene and Charlsie were whispering about her behind the bar. She was able to block out some of the mental roar in the room and listen in. She almost felt bad about it.

They had heard the rumours about her, of course, but they were both several years older than Sookie and had only known her as the clerk at the gas station and by reputation. She was relieved that they seemed open to being friendly, and not just in a bless-your-heart kind of way. And they were more interested in the dog attack than her… strangeness.

Although that dog attack had maybe caused her to be even more strange.

The other customers, too, were mostly focused on what had happened that night behind the Grabbit Kwik. She was glad that she had worn black jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She hoped that the scars on her neck didn't show too much. They had faded some, but nowhere near enough. She was self-conscious of them, but she thought that the makeup was doing a good job of camouflaging the bites. She walked over to the other waitresses.

"Hey! Sam wanted me to shadow you for the rest of the evening. "

Arlene smiled. "Well, good. We'll get you up to speed and then I can have an extra smoke break."

Sookie was a little nervous; she wanted to do a good job and having to listen to everyone in the room think about her wasn't helping. She took a deep breath and followed Arlene.

After they checked on all of their tables and Sookie fetched an order of fried pickles and poured a pitcher of Budweiser, Arlene decided that it was time to switch places.

Sookie was a bit of a nervous wreck but she felt like she could give it a try. It wasn't like she hadn't done customer service before. She blocked out as much of the mental noise as she could, plastered on the crazy smile she used to cover up how overwhelmed she was, and just did her best. They knew who she was — she was one of them, even if she wasn't — and most of them felt kind of sorry for her. It made her able to relax a little bit. She had known these people all of her life, really, and knew some of them much more intimately than most of their friends and family members did, thanks to the bird's eye view into their brains. She thought that they were going to go easy on her. She didn't want their pity but she pushed away her pride and took the out.

She was doing a pretty good job. When they had any quiet moments, Arlene told her about her kids, Coby and Lisa, some ins and outs of the job, gossip about their customers and coworkers and anyone else she could think of, and all about the date she'd had the night before with her ex-husband Rene. Sookie liked her and she could tell that Arlene liked her back, even if she hadn't already heard it in Arlene's head.

Rene showed up around ten thirty and Arlene declared Sookie ready to cover her tables while she went outside with him for a cigarette. Charlsie had gone home but the big night rush was over and Sam was behind the bar if she got stuck. She was glad that she felt comfortable enough to go it alone.

But, God, she was tired. She wasn't used to being on her feet like this any longer and her thigh, especially, was starting to really bother her. All of the tables were happy and she sat down at a booth in the corner. Sam had been wiping down the bar and he threw his towel over his shoulder and sat across from her. He smiled.

"So, what do you think?"

She smiled back, despite the pain. "I think it beats the hell out of the Grabbit Kwik."

He laughed. "I like you, Sookie."

She heard him clearly for a moment. God, you smell so good.

She blushed and bit her lip, looking away. Any attention she usually got from men was purely sexual or just mean. Nobody treated her like this. Paid attention to her like she was a smart, sane, desirable, pretty girl with a personality.

She saw the door open over Sam's shoulder and she started to slide out of the seat, ready to greet them and get them a table. She was still the only waitress on the floor. Sam lifted his nose just a bit and then held her wrist. She looked at him and he smiled.

"I'll get this one, Chère. You sit a bit longer. You look tired."

She didn't know what to think about the term of endearment. Dear was a little personal for someone she'd only met once before, especially since he was her boss, but she thought that she liked it.

He was even a hard read when he was touching her, skin to skin, but she couldn't help but get an idea of his thoughts, anyway. He didn't want her to meet whomever it was at the door. But how did he know who it was with his back to the entrance? Had he been expecting someone?

She immediately looked over his shoulder again and her eyes locked with the new customer's. It was the beautiful man from the forest. His long blond hair framed his face, which seemed to glow a little in the gloom of the bar, and his eyes were a clear, bright blue. They were burning into hers.

She was glad that she was still sitting down. She supposed that this was proof enough that whatever had happened to her had happened in the way that it had seemed to happen. He looked the same, only… distorted. But only compared to how she'd seen him in her other form, if that's really what that had been. He was even more gorgeous through her human eyes.

Without a thought, she cast her mental net out at the handsome stranger. There was nothing there except a void where his brain should have been. Her eyes widened a little and then narrowed. Her head cocked a bit to the side. Her nipples tightened. She started to tingle a little between her legs. He was rocket hot and his mind was quiet and she wanted him. Badly. And maybe there was someone she could lose her virginity to, after all. Except that she was kind of terrified of him. She blushed again but she held his gaze a little bit longer, wondering why his mind was so different. Why, out of everyone she'd ever met, was his the only one that was silent?

What are you?