Clare and Quil
The first time he saw her it was at the beach. He had been casually walking down the wind swept plain when he had heard a crystal giggle that pierced the barren air. He turned to see who could make such a perfect noise and that was when the world shifted.
She was so young, only two, yet Quil felt his world give and shift until nothing but her mattered. It felt like lightning was running through his veins, except it was a gentle as a summer's breeze, yet powerful as the raging river. All he could think was that he would do anything, be anyone, if only she would smile at him.
He had walked over to her, where she was playing in the sand in her pink sweater set complete with white and pink sneakers. Her hair was made of midnight and ash and her eyes held the stars in them. How could one person be so perfect? She was small, but she would grow and he would make sure that she never felt unloved.
He had knelt down in the sand next to her as she pushed her hands through her mocha hands, humming a little tune with words only she could understand. She seemed oblivious to the strange teenager in the sand so close to her he could reach out and touch her. He felt like he couldn't breath, how could this perfection exist? It was exquisite torture that only she could cause yet he knew that if she went away he would surly die from lack of it.
Suddenly she stopped her shifting of the sand and laughed holding her hands high. She turned to him and in that instance he knew that he would rather die then see her cry. She held out her fist and slowly uncurled it revealing a white shell, chipped but perfect because she had touched it.
She reached out for him and took his hand, placing the grooved shell into his calloused hand. Then she looked at him in his eyes and smiled a smile just for him and he couldn't resist. He grabbed her and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. Instead of crying or screaming at this stranger she giggled again and snuggled into his embrace.
She was his soul mate only stronger. Is this what Sam feels? Quil wondered. He had felt the emotions of the pack but they seemed weak, diluted somehow. Perhaps it was because he was so new but in a way it was a comfort not to feel Leah's bitterness full force of Jacob's denial.
He had imprinted though. Then came the shock he had imprinted…with a two year old. It wasn't wrong, he knew that, it just wasn't normal. Quil snorted, normal, right like that's ever gonna happen again. She was his now and he would make sure that she had everything she could ever want. In her youth she would have the perfect brother as she grew she would have the best friend in the world and then she would have her true love. She would never feel unloved, not so long as he had breath in his body.
So entranced with his love being in his arms he didn't even notice Emily approach them.
"Quil? Is that you?" Her voice was like honey on his heart wound. He knew he couldn't hide from her, she probably knew already anyway, so he turned to face her.
Her eyes widened when she looked him in the eye. She saw it, the all encompassing love that doomed a soul to be forever shackled to another. Willing servitude.
"She…she's it," he whispered, he voice feeling as if he had never used it yet screamed from the mountains for a week strait. He couldn't let go of her, she was content to be in his arms, her hands clasped behind his neck.
"Quil, Clair's two. Don't you think this is sort of soon?" But she knew it wasn't, she knew that much from Sam. Once it happened there was no going back. A life sentence, just like everything else.
"Clair," he cooed to the now sleeping girl, she must have dozed off in his arms. She snuggled deeper into his chest causing his heart to constrict with unrestrained joy.
Emily looked at them contemplating before saying, "All right my cousin's looking for her. She seems to have wandered off. Why don't you bring her back and we can explain to her mother that you're gonna be hanging around a lot more often."
Quil nodded and stood slowly so as not to jostle and wake the girl.