Okay, I find the whole imprinting thing in Twilight to be… creepy. At best. So, I decided to put a little bit of myself into all of the rather… submissive would be an appropriate adjective, La Push girls. It's pretty much a collection of one shots about the imprities.

So, first up is…

Rachel/ Paul!

Pulled Back Down

You fought and strove and cried yourself to sleep at night for four terrible, long, hard years to finally achieve that perfect 4.0 GPA. You didn't date or go teepee houses or go to football games or dances like Becky did. Instead, you sat at home and poured over your books for hours and hours. Becky would come stumbling home far past her midnight curfew and you'd be up long after she had showered and fallen asleep. And why did you do it? Why did you choose to become a social outcast while your twin sister partied and dated and went wild and truly enjoyed her teenage years? Because you knew that you hadn't been blessed with a naturally brilliant mind and that your dad didn't have the money to send you to college unless you got one hell of a scholarship.

And even then, at barely fourteen, you wanted out. It wasn't just about your mom and the memories and having no money; no, you just wanted to be something that this little blip of a town couldn't offer you. You wanted to be free. You wanted to taste freedom.

As you clean your dad's house, you pass the bunk bed that you and Becky shared for eighteen years. And somewhere underneath it, somewhere behind old board games, discarded clothing that you thought had been lost in the wash, behind the books you poured over intently as a teenager, is a scrapbook. And it's not just any scrapbook; it's your Dream Book.

What was it that you had put in there all those years ago? Can you even remember now with all of the time that you spend cooking and cleaning and being a little housewife? I think that you do, but you're just too afraid to show it. Would you like a little reminder?

See castles that princesses lived in was at the top of your list. The closest that you'll probably ever get to that dream now is if you can afford to take your children to Disney Land. And that's still an "if". A lot will still have to change for that dream to come true.

Seeing Italy was up there too. You were so intent on this one that you even signed up to have a pen pal in Florence and kept in contact with her for over ten years. You didn't work three jobs to pay for tuition, you worked three jobs to buy a plane ticket. And only one, too. You have been planning on working your way back, but had planned on staying. But that's a gone dream now. The last time you and Lara e-mailed or IMed or anything was right after college. Before you got caught up in him.

Hawaii is the one of the few that you have actually managed to accomplish. Your sister lives there now, and you had to be her maid of honor in her beach wedding. You had thought her foolish because she was "giving up her dreams", but the truth is, this was her dream. To get married to the man that she loves with all of her heart. That was her Dream Book list.

Of course, since you were just a little girl when you made it, getting married and having children were included. But I don't think that you expected to marry a man that used to bully your little brother and who wasn't even in eighth grade when you graduated from high school. You felt like a pedophile for years, especially in the beginning. And sometimes, should you see one of your old friends when you drive up to Seattle to have a "Girls Night" with Kim and Emily and eventually Claire and all that you have to show for your Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering is a ring on your finger, a husband still looking for a real job while you stay at home, and (as the years drag on) baby weight that you still haven't lost, you begin to feel.. well, like a dowdy little failure.

And then your life changes drastically in a moment. A car accident on highway 101 near Port Angeles is the cause. Thankfully, you and your three children only suffer minor injuries with broken bones, cuts, bruises, and a small cut on the eye that can (and will) be fixed with glasses, but Paul… well, not even his werewolf super powers could completely heal this one.

You see them wheel him out of surgery and you heart aches. Even though this man has ruined your life in many ways by taking your dreams and tossing them out, he is still your husband and the father of your children. No matter what he's done to you, you don't want him to die yet.

The doctor explains that he is in a coma, but that his brain is still functioning. There is a newly discovered, but still experimental, therapy treatment that may help him recover, but the only facility where it is offered is all the way in Chicago. So, you do what any good wife would do. You apply for a job at a medical research lab near Oak Park, then pick the kids up and drive for almost three days to your new house which is about the same size as your old one, but nearly three times the price.

You tell Sam that the reason you're moving is because you just want your husband back and he believes you and eventually lets you move. But you think that he knows about how you just wanted away. You know that Emily persuaded him so that at least someone could kind of get to live out their dreams. And you do for a while.

Your kids make friends and Paul goes into the new therapy program. You work, and work, and work some more to pay the ridiculously large mortgage on your ridiculously small house. You make new friends and earn promotions and even develop a crush on a newly single divorcee that's not you brother's age. He's actually your age and your kids get along great. And your littlest daughters ask if they can be sisters.

But something stops you from getting that annulment of your marriage, even though no one would blame you if you did. Because you know that as soon as Paul wakes up, he'll pull you right back down to where you were. He won't be able to leave the pack, so you'll go back to La Push and be a little house wife while he does nothing for a living because you can't leave him. And David tries and tries and tries to get you to leave him and you know it's what you want because David is truly "The One", but you can't because if you do, he'll find you. And there'll be hell to pay. You'll end up like Emily, or maybe worse.

And every time that you go to visit him and the doctors say that he's improving at an incredibly fast pace, you know that the moment of truth is quickly approaching.

You know that when he drags you back to La Push, there'll be no going back. David said that he would fight for you, that he would press charges for you and testify that he was controlling and borderline physically abusive. But you know that it won't work, so you turn down all four of David's marriage proposals and offers to get your marriage to Paul annulled and patiently wait for the day that Paul wakes up and finds out about your new life that doesn't include him.

It's in second person for a reason.

I think that I had Rachel escape because she's always seemed like the most determined to get out, but I always wanted that threat looming over her shoulder. I kind of wanted her to only have a little bit of freedom because it doesn't feel right to let one 'escape', so to speak.

Well, review, please!