justsookie | you're working for the police and the private, the pirates and the pilots

In all the years that Sookie's worked alongside Lafayette at Merlotte's, she's only ever known him to skip out on work when real shit's been going down. He's a man who takes pride in his work, and who has a real way with the kitchen, treating it as kindly as someone might a close friend and serving every meal with love and care. When Robin disappeared from Semele's, it was a deep loss for the both of them, not only of a friend but also of a benefactor, and so Sookie and Lafayette had stayed up late into the night to figure out a plan of action that wouldn't let Goodfellow's restaurant fall into disrepair.

For Lafayette not to show up after all that work and effort is completely unlike him. Which is why, before even bothering to stop by her apartment for a much needed break and shower, Sookie practically flies on over to Lafayette's apartment, digging in her purse for the spare key and bursting inside.

It's empty. No sign of struggle. No ransom note. But, more importantly, there's almost no sign of Lafayette left. None of his candles, his statues, his necklaces and scarves draped around with perfume lingering on each bead. Nothing, save for a large shawl thrown over the couch.

Knowing full well what it likely means, Sookie rushes on ahead and bites down on her lower lip, hard, almost enough to draw blood as she wraps herself in the shawl, breathing in the scent and stifling the air until her heart stops pounding enough to leap out of her chest.

Only then does she pack up her things, making her way slowly over to Jason's apartment. She has to believe that he hasn't vanished too. She has to believe, stopping on the sidewalk to peer up at the building, where the lights of the suite are still thankfully on.

Feeling her eyes start to burn at the corners of her eyes, she knocks on the door.

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Jason shows up at the door with the sort of befuddled, scruffy look to him that suggests he may have fallen asleep on the couch with the TV on before she knocked. But to his credit, he gives her a tired grin. "Hey, Sook, c'mon in."

Then there's a double take.

"Hey. Hey, Sookie, you okay? What's wrong?" Jason automatically enfolds his sister into a hug.

"Oh god," Sookie whispers to herself, closing her eyes gratefully as she wraps her arms back up around Jason's shoulders, keeping him close. He's still here. He's still here, he hasn't vanished, and she isn't the only one from Bon Temps left in the city of Darrow. She isn't without her family.

"I'm so glad you're still here; I thought maybe I'd come here and you'd be—" Sookie pulls back, her hands dropping to rest on either of Jason's shoulders, giving them a squeeze. "Jason, Lafayette's gone. He didn't show up at work today even though I really, really needed him there, and then when I went to check at his apartment, all of his things had vanished. All except for this scarf. Maybe you can check again at the department, but I don't think anything happened to him, I think he just, he just disappeared. People here do that, right?"

Sookie takes a breath, feeling it shudder through her lungs. "I'm so glad you didn't go, too."

Jason cusses quietly into his sister's hair. Shit, shit, shit fuck. He knows what that shit means, and looks like Sookie does too. Jason gives her an extra squeeze before he pulls back enough to look at her face.

"Yeah, looks like he mighta disappeared then. 'Specially if...." Jason sighs. "Yeah. But hey, chances are he went home, and at least he's with people who care about him there too."

He rubs her biceps to try and get her a little warmer. "And I'm here. I ain't goin' nowhere. You wanna stay here tonight, Sook?"

"But there's so much shit going on back home, too," Sookie says, and she can't even bring herself to apologize for the swear, because it's the only way to really get across the feeling of Bon Temps nowadays. It's been overrun with trouble for a long time, brewing since long before Sookie was the one to really set it all off. Sookie knows that Lafayette always preferred things in Darrow, aside from missing a couple friends and family.

"You don't know what could happen to him if he went back home. I hope... no, I hope he went somewhere with a lot of beautiful men as gorgeous as he is, and that he can find himself happiness there," she adds, babbling a little as she clings to Jason, sniffling as she turns to settle under his arm, one hand closed tight around his shirt. "You'd better not go anywhere, though. If you do, I'm comin' with. Doesn't matter where it is. If you head somewhere I can't reach from here, you'd better take me with you. I don't wanna bother you and Fred tonight, though, if you had plans."

"I know things are bad at home," Jason tells her, resting his chin on the top of her head. "And maybe this sounds dumb, but I always figured he was gonna be one that comes out on top of it. Maybe we all do, at home, somehow. And... I know that both you and me are there, and we're still us, so we'll be lookin' out for him too."

He exhales with a low whistle. "And that, Sook, is just figurin' he goes straight home. There's places like this. Maybe he goes to one of those. A place like this, or that island. Maybe he goes there. That's real talk, I bet he doesn't even have to go to Bon Temps if he doesn't wanna." Turning slightly to kiss her forehead, he adds, "We're not goin' anywhere tonight. Just stay here."

While it's heartening to hear Jason tell of his optimism, Sookie doesn't feel the same way. Maybe she did for a while, when the three of them had been in Darrow and everything, save for the occasional bee, seemed calm and steady and secure. But with one of them having disappeared, it's easy for Sookie to imagine all the ways that the rest of their little world might crumble apart. She doesn't trust herself to prevent that.

It's been a while since she's had confidence in herself, in that respect.

"He's been through so much shit. I wish the world was fair enough to stop piling more on him. On any of us. I thought maybe this was it, this was our way of escaping, but... god, I don't know. I just don't know what I'd do if you ever left. Maybe I'm overreacting," she murmurs softly, hands tightening on his shirt. "I hate feelin' so scared."

At the sound of her fear, Jason wraps her up in his arms again, thinking maybe he can make up for all the times he didn't comfort her right when she was little. "It's okay to be scared," he mutters, resting his cheek against her hair. "I mean, we've got it good here. Better than we had it there, yeah, but there's no way this just happened and that's it. Shit, I'm no good at this, Sook, but we ain't in control of what this place is, and we can't spend all our time worryin' about it. Now, you're smart enough you might not be able to help it, but we're gonna try."

If it means he holds weekly supernatural speed-dating meetings for her, just to keep her exasperated and entertained, or maybe gets her a pet too, a dog or some kinda fancy hamster, he'll do it.

"Scared's gonna happen, but we're gonna get through. If I've learned anything through all that bullshit at home, that's it."

Sookie sighs heavily, leaning into her brother's embrace and throwing an arm over his waist. There's a sense of security that comes from being wrapped up in his embrace like this, like a child being swaddled in blankets, protected from exposure to the world. When she closes her eyes, she can hear the steadiness of his pulse, and it brings down the chaos of her own thoughts.

"I know. I know that we can't just live life always worryin' about what we'll lose next. If I get started down that line of thinking..." The grasp of Sookie's hand loosens on the fabric of Jason's shirt, until she's able to stretch her fingers out and simply rest them there. "If I get started down that line of thinking, I'll never stop. And I'll feel guilty for everything. I'll figure it out, though. I'll figure out how to pull my chin up, run that damned restaurant Robin Goodfellow left behind, and get back into the swing of things."

She sniffles. "Tell me something good? How are things with Fred?"

Jason grins, despite the situation with their missing friend, 'cos yeah, things with Fred are good. "Well," he drawls, guiding Sookie over to the couch to sit down with him. "I'm askin' her to move in with me over Christmas. I got, uh, a puppy and everything. And then the master plan is that I ask her to marry me sometime in the spring."

He has an arm around his sister's shoulders, and he peers sidelong at her to see what her reaction will be. Good, he thinks, though who would have ever suspected Jason Stackhouse of wanting to settle down?

But here he is.

For a moment, all that Sookie can do is stare. It isn't the first time that she's known Jason to fall madly in love, but it is the first time that she feels he's gone about it in a sensible way. Courted her, got to know her, let the relationship build and deepen over time. It's one that she'd be willing to bet on, and maybe that's what's the most exciting about it all.

Sookie squeaks.

"Oh my god, oh my god," she squeals, leaning over to pull Jason into another hug. "You're asking her to move in with you, really? It's about time, seriously, I thought you'd never get around to it. Oh, she's gonna say yes for sure. Both times, I hope! It'd be nice to have a sister for a change."

you're working for the police and the private, the pirates and the pilots

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