Sookie had already left by the time Marilyn woke up, Sookie had left her note saying she was close to figuring out who was behind the recent murders, and she would be at work most of the day. Marilyn assumed that the lead Sookie and Sam had discovered a few days ago was good for something. Marilyn put down the note she had found on the fridge and went over to the kitchen counter to make herself a cup of coffee. That's when the phone started to ring the sound resonating throughout the room scaring Marilyn so much that she dropped her coffee, shards of broken ceramic lay all over the floor. She carefully tried to step over the sharps pieces only to lose balance and get a piece stuck in the bottom of her foot. Marilyn clamped her mouth shut to stop herself from screaming out in pain, she managed to get to the phone and answer it. It was one of the neighbours calling with the latest gossip and maybe if Marilyn didn't have a shard of ceramic sticking out of her foot, she might be interested but she just wanted them to get to the point. After standing with the phone to her ear so long a pool of blood had started to form under her foot, she really should sort out the wound but Marilyn's need to know why her neighbour called somehow out wayed the need to stop her foot from bleeding. That's when she heard what she had been waiting for, Jason had been arrested for all the murders. The phone slipped out of Marilyn's hand and hung off the counter bouncing back and forth, Marilyn ran out of the house and all the way to Merlottes. In that moment she had forgotten all about her foot and all she cared about, was telling Sookie about Jason before she had to learn by reading someone's mind. She arrived outside Merlottes her foot throbbing in pain a trail of blood behind her. Marilyn charged into the restaurant the look of determination on her face although she was pretty sure she looked crazy to everyone else. Marilyn charged up to the bar but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. It was Arlene.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" Her gaze travelled down to Marilyn's foot and her face filled with shock "Oh my God your foot. Your bleeding honey."

"Where's Sookie?" Marilyn couldn't focus on anything else. She didn't know why it was so important why she told Sookie about Jason, but she had to. It felt like it was her duty to tell Sookie.

"Well, she just left honey. Rene gave her a lift home. Now why don't you come and sit down so we can get someone to look at that foot of yours."

"Does she know about Jason?"

"Yeah, she visited him earlier on today. Now please sit down."

That's when it hit her of course Sookie already knew she was probably the first one to hear about. All the adrenaline coursing through her blood stopped suddenly and the pain took over. She finally took in her surroundings and the blood flowing from her foot, she was really wishing she had bandaged that up earlier. "Okay." Marilyn said half dazed. Suddenly everything became too much, all the voices talking to her, the eyes staring at her and then everything went dark. Her body went slack as warm hands grabbed at her shoulders trying to hold her up, someone was shouting at someone else to call 911 and a familiar voice whispered in her ear telling her she was going to be okay. That's when she finally let herself go and closed her eyes. The darkness flowed over and for the first time in her life she welcomed it with open arms.

Marilyn rolled over to her side, her limbs getting tangled in the sheets. Pain shot through her foot. Thats when it all came back, her dropping the coffee mug, running to Merlottes, Sookie and then fainting. Oh God. Embarrassment filled her cheeks as she recalled her behaviour in Merlottes. Everyone in the whole town must have seen her. She could never leave this room again; it would be too embarrassing to face everyone after the scene she had made.

Marilyn wrapped her hands around the bedding ready to pull it back when she noticed the pattern, purple butterflies. This was her bedding and then she finally took in the rest of her surroundings. Scanning every aspect of the room she was lying in, she concluded she was in her room. She was home? How did she get here? Marilyn emerged out from the covers and placed both feet on the cold hard wood floor, a chill came up her spine and raised the hairs on her arms. She carefully pushed herself up from the bed, cautious of the injury to her foot. Once she had decided that she was stable enough to stand, Marilyn slowly limped over to the door to her room. She braved herself for the stairs taking it one step at a time. Whilst walking down the staircase she heard voices flow out of the living, she recognised one. That was her sister's voice....and Bills? He was back already. To lost in thought Marilyn stumbled down the last few steps only to be caught by familiar hands.

"Good evening Little Stackhouse. It's nice to see you up and walking or should I say falling? " Eric's voice ran through her head, and she relaxed into his arms.

"Eric?" She asked just to confirm what her head was already telling her.

"Was my sarcastic comment not obvious enough?" He playfully questioned. Marilyn pushed back against Eric enough so she could see his face. She smiled like seeing his face was a comfort to her and it was. He made her feel safe and relaxed. Marilyn quickly gained her balance back, so Eric let go of her waist that she hadn't realised he was holding. She quickly remembered what she had heard before falling down the stairs.

"My sister? Is she here?"

Eric didn't say anything just pointed towards the living room; Marilyn smiled at him as she walked towards the living. And there her sister was lying on the couch, Marilyn couldn't contain herself as she ran towards Sookie and hugged her.

"Marilyn?" Sookie asked as if she wasn't really sure.

"Yeah." Marilyn removed her head from Sookie's neck to fully take in her face, there were stiches on her forehead and black and blue bruise around the rest of her face.

"Rene?" Marilyn asked.

"How did you know?" Sookie questioned with a true look of confusion on her face.

"I read Eric's mind before coming in here. I didn't want to waste time getting you or Sam to explain what happened. So, he was the killer then?"

"Yeah, it was him." Sobs suddenly filled the room and Marilyn realised there were others here apart from Eric who by the looks of it had already left. Marilyn turned around to find that Arlene was the one crying, Marilyn got up off the floor and walk over to give Arlene a hug. Once embraced Marilyn whispered to Arlene "I'm so sorry." That just made her cry more, but Marilyn figured these were more happy than sad tears at least she hoped they were.

Once Sam who was also in the room had finished explaining everything that had happened to catch Marilyn up but also to give Bill and Sookie some space. Marilyn went outside on the porch to get some air, she needed to process everything she had just been told.

"How are you feeling?" He was back. Eric was standing in front of her a look of concern on his face. Whether it was real or not was something else.

"I'll be fine. At least I think I will be." She stopped only to actually look at the man stood in front of her. He was beautifully in the moon light, he looked powerful, dangerous. "How did you know I was hurt? You haven't fed off of me."

"The whole town was talking about what happened to the Stackhouse siblings."

"Great. Well, thank you for checking up on us but I'm tired."

"Are you sure you don't want to join me at fangtasia tonight?" He asked knowing that would get her attention.

"Are you asking me to join you? Are we missing my company already?"

"What would you do if I said yes. That I was missing the company of the mysterious Marilyn Stackhouse."

"Let's go." Marilyn held out her hand and Eric took it. They spent the rest of the evening in each other's company, talking about anything and everything. All the events that had happened over the last few months disappeared into memory. None of that mattered now, her sister was safe and back with Bill, her brother was out of jail and doing his thing and Marilyn? She was spending time with her two favourite vampires most nights and during the day she was working at Merlottes for Sam. She had done it. Marilyn had created a life for herself here at Bon Temps. It was then that she realised that Bon Temps had become her home, and she didn't plan on leaving any time soon.

Author Note: This is the end of season 1 but don't worry I'll be continuing the story through all the remaining seasons. The updates might be a bit slower as I have started school again but I'll try to update as regularly as possible. I hope your enjoying it so far. Happy Reading!