OOPSIE! I meant to upload this one first... and I think I did but replaced it by accident. Sorry, I'm new at this!
Welcome to The Imprint Chronicles, A series of one-shots that capture the moments of various wolves and their (very) significant others. I plan on doing quite a few of these because sometimes a scene just pops into my head and it doesn't belong in any of my stories and then it ends up on paper.
I disclaim: All Characters that you recognize belong to SM. But I have a few in there and they like to talk to me so please don't steal them :)
I'm starting TIC's with the first one I wrote because I think it's my strongest one and I really like it. Ryan, the eldest Uley son escapes his responsibilities as a wolf and potential alpha by applying to Florida State without his parent's consent and moving the day after graduation... which they don't really agree with. He finally mans up and comes back home after he has no reason to stay away and becomes reacquainted with an old friend, Lena Rivers, Paul and Rachel's eldest daughter. So, without further au du, Ryan Alec Uley and Lena Noel Rivers. R&R, por favor =)
I was exhausted. And it wasn't just from jet-lag. I hadn't realized how exhausing living the college-frat boy/marine/werewolf/cop life had become. I was going to miss it, yeah, but I also missed Sammy and Leila and Jason and all of my friends and the rest of the pack.
I wasn't supposed to go to college - drinking till I puked and having seven girlfriends at once and doing some drug/sexual experimentation - I was supposed to stay in La Push and become the next Alpha and imprint and have little wolf-babies and that's just the way it was supposed to fucking happen. But I had never been one to do what he was supposed to do, so when Dad flipped out about me being accepted into Florida State, I packed and used my life savings to get the hell out. I had spoken to Mom a lot; she hadn't flipped at all. She was sad I was leaving but she understood. She had wanted to go to college too; she had never wanted to be the girl who got married right out of high school to the boy next door and start poppin' them out. I talked a lot to Leila and Sammy too but never to Dad.
So, back to my point, I hadn't talked to Samuel Joshua Uley Sr. in four years all because I got accepted into college and didn't imprint. How fucked up was that? He was being totally irrational about it. Maybe if I had given him some warning instead of just springing it on him... But that's besides the point. He was the one that freaked out, not me.
I got my bachelors and joined the military, toured South America for a while, came back to Florida and entered the Police Academy. So now I'm a cop/marine/warewolf. Awesome combo, eh? I was all of this kind of intimidating stuff and I was hesitant (caugh-terrified-caugh) to walk up the front steps of my childhood home and greet my family. I had put it off way too long anyway; I'd been in town for two weeks, well, in Forks, but still in the Pacific Northwest and I hadn't come back to visit. Everyone still thought I was in Florida.
I wasn't paying attention one day, just driving around town, testing out my new jeep, when I accidently drove into La Push by habit. I had made it all the way to the docks when I finally realized I needed to get the fuck out but it was too late. Billy Black (probably rolling himself home from my house) had spotted me and that old man new exactly who everyone was, even if they have been gone for a good four years. So I drove him home and then, of all the times that Sammy needed to be at Seth's house, he was there and spotted me pulling out of the driveway.
I loved my little brother (I was all of one minute and thirty-seven seconds older) but he had this thing about him where once he got something stuck in his head, he wasn't going to let it go. We call it stubbornness and it's apparently a Uley Family trait. I had two days. Forty-eight freaking hours, he gave me, to come to the house because Sammy didn't have to patrol for the next two days and once he phased he would spill all. There was no negotiating, no flexibility when it came to Samuel Joshua Uley Jr.
So I sat in the stupid motel room in Forks and had a mental screaming match with myself about what to say. I could apologize, I could give him the cold shoulder, I could ignore him, I could act like nothing happened, I could run again, I could punch him in the face, I could could come at a time when he was conveniently out or at work... There were so many possibilities.
No matter how I sliced it, this was going to suck. Mom was going to cry and insist we have a coming home party, Leila was going to be all grown up with - gulp - breasts, and Sammy was probably going to go hangout with all of the people he made friends with when I split, and all of my old friends are going to be all over me about why I didn't keep in touch and the pack was going to be their normal, obnoxious selves. It sufficed to say that I was not excited for this. But I was back and I needed to be a man.
Leaping lightly up the steps, I entered the foyer. It smelled like... home. There's absolutely no way to describe how your own home smells. But there was something else in with it. It was fruity and sharp, kind of like kiwi's and mangos yet citrusy like an orange. I liked it. I didn't think anything of it, of course, but I should've. I walked into the kitchen, expecting mom being the one heartbeat in the room, but I was met with the most breathtaking woman I have ever seen. She turned at my sharp intake of breathe and I was hit hard with her eyes, a striking green, and her overall beauty. She was captvating, shy yet so capable of drawing me in. I had no idea who she was, none at all, but she obviously belonged here, mixing juice in a piture in my mothers kitchen with her small, delicate hands.
I didn't know how to react at all, so I just stared awestruck at her. She broke into a grin when she squinted a little and recognized me.
"Ryan! You're back! When did you- never mind, it doesn't matter, I just can't believe you're home!" She ran over and hugged me tight around the middle. It knocked the wind out of me and I had to fight off tears as she laid her head against my abdomen, it felt so amazing.
It was that bad. I mean, I heard it was bad, but this was horrible. Imprinting. I was overwhelmed, my body knowing how to react without my brain telling it to, I hugged her back. She lifted her head and stepped back all to soon. I spotted a beautiful little beauty mark near her nose and I knew who she was immediately.
Lena Noel Rivers.
Dear God, help me. Every memory, every recollection, every encounter filled my thoughts. How had I not seen her until now? Not only had I not seen her, but I had ignored her. She took one look at my gobsmacked expression and her eyes grew to the size of saucers.
"Oh dear..." she said and then she swayed slighlty in her spot. I was at her side immediately, gripping her by the elbows.
"Lena! Are you okay?"
"I'm wonderful," she giggled a little breathlessly. Her soft warm skin felt good in my hands so I didn't let go. "Are you aware of what just happened?" She asked, all traces of giddiness gone like she suddenly realized something absolutely horrifying.
"Um... yes?" I wasn't sure what the correct answer was.
"Then I am so, so sorry," she sighed as tears started to well in her eyes. My heart broke. Literally tore in half and started ripping into shreds.
"What No! I don't unders-"
"I'm so sorry that you're stuck with me. That must be horrible. I don't even like being stuck with me. We'll have to figure out a way to stop this. Maybe I should go." Her voice shook and I was a little concerned about her mental health. Stuck with her? More like lucky to even be in the same room as her.
"No! Don't go... I mean, please... please don't go." I breathed. Where had my ability to speak gone? A few tears slipped from her eyes and I automatically let go of one her arms to wipe it away. Her heart rate accelerated and panic was written across her face. "What's wrong?" I asked immediately.
"This is completely unfair to you. And-and you're going to realize that and I'm going to be back to square one. I need to go, Ryan." When she said my name again, I nearly exploded. But she couldn't go. I loved her. I loved her.
"No. You can't go." She already knew why. Why was she fighting this?
"I-I need to," she stuttered out and tried to walk away but I was still holding her by one arm. I pulled her back to me and caught her by the waist. Her breathing hitched and her heart rate accelerated once more.
"You don't need to go. Don't go." I didn't care what we would do if she stayed but she couldn't leave. I'd follow her to the ends of the earth; she couldn't escape me.
"I'm not... I'm not one of - I can't give you. You wouldn't understand." She said looking panicked. Her anxiety was putting my nerves on overdrive and I'm sure my face now mirrored hers.
"Maybe not but might as well give it a shot. Tell me, Lena." I liked the way her name rolled off of my tongue. Lena, Lena, Lena.
"I'm not one of those girls, Ryan. Remember the ones you dated in high school, when you ignored me? Remember the pretty ones and sometimes the beautiful ones? I can't..." That's what she was worried about? She wasn't beautiful?
"Yeah, you're right. You're not beautiful. You're gorgeous, amazing, unbelievable. You're perfect. Don't ever doubt that." She looked a little stunned and I was moving a little fast but it didn't matter because I had her in my arms.
I had ignored the bookworm in high school, I had acted like I didn't know her, like we weren't part of this close knit circle and that she wasn't one of my best friends in the past. I acted like we hadn't even met; she wasn't one of the people I said goodbye to when I had left. I didn't know... I couldn't have possibly known. But that didn't make me any less of an asshole. I had the urge to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness.
"I'm so sorry." That's all I could think of to say.
"It's... I don't know yet. I need to go. " She had almost said 'i'ts okay' but she didn't. She was so close, her voice had a forgiving conviction about it but she didn't follow through.
I didn't deserve her but that didn't stop me from wanting her. I wanted her to want me, more importantly. I wanted to erase the past, undo it and make different decisions. The first day of freshman year, when she came to sit next to me in English with her glasses and braces and wild hair and old clothes, I wish I had stayed. I wish I had ignored what my football friends had been saying about her. I wish I had told them to shut the fuck up about one of my best friends instead of making fun of her as well. I wish, I wish, I wish...
Wishing wasn't going to do anything, contrary to Cinderella's belief. I needed to show her, make her understand that this was real and serious. I didn't have an argument, though, because imprinting isn't natural or real; it's intense and extraordinary and could quite possibly hold great potential. But it wasn't natural and I knew that would be her argument: that I wouldn't look twice if it wasn't for some stupid mythical bond.
So now I stood in the kitchen, dumbfounded and staring at the hands that had just let her go. Mom came in suddenly and dropped a vase full of flowers on the floor. I didn't have the capacity to even look at her, I just continued to look at my hands like a jackass.
"Ryan!" I looked up at her and then back down at her hands. "What's the matter?" She knew something was wrong. I couldn't seem to make my voice work. Might be the whole 'brain shutting down without imprint nearby' thing... "I know that look," she whispered. I didn't register her hands on my face or the big footsteps coming down the hall.
"Sam... he.. he-" she didn't get to finish because Dad walked in, took one look at his first born and the look on my face on broke into a wild grin. Now that I fucking registered; somethings just run that deep. I growled at him and put my hands down. His grin disappeared. He looked down and I wasn't sure what that meant or why my father looking a little sheepish made me feel like an asshole.
We stood silently for a few more tense moments before I could think of anything to say. "I imprinted." And my mind drifted quickly back to Lena. Lena, Lena, Lena.
"I know."
"I'm so proud of you, baby," Mom whispered as she ran her hands through my hair and kissed my cheek, true to her nature, like it was something that I could help - like it was a big accomplishment.
"We need to talk, son." I don't know why, but those words felt really good. I hadn't been called 'son' in a long time, it felt. My dad hadn't looked that proud of me in a long time. I felt sick at the thought of me liking that he was proud because I had imprinted. Yet still happy he was proud. Emotions are fucked up.
"Okay." What else was I supposed to say? He lead me into the living room and I sat in my favorite arm chair while he took the love seat. I could hear Mom busying herself in the kitchen, a nervous habit.
"I uh. I'm... I don't," he stuttered out. Dad was never good at the whole 'talking and expressing emotions' thing. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Ryan. I'm sorry I let this happen, I'm sorry I haven't talked to you and I'm sorry I acted like such an..."
"Asshole?" I supplied.
"Yeah." Those words: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. They felt nice.
"I'm sorry too. I should've discussed it with you. That was pretty stupid of me to just make that decision on my own."
"But look at what you've done Ryan, you're in the force and you joined the army - how'd you do that, by the way?" I knew he'd be curious about that, it's not like werewolves have normal blood and pee and other bodily fluids.
"It was expensive."
"I see. I want you to know that I'm not just proud of you right now because you imprinted. It's also because of what you've become. A soldier, a marine, an officer. You went to college and you made something of yourself, Ryan. And I am proud to call you my son." It was my turn to look down. For all of the bashing I did, my dad was a pretty cool guy, especially when he said stuff like that.
"Thank you, Dad. I'm proud to call you my dad." I didn't know what else to say. I was proud, right now, to call Samuel Joshua Uley Sr. my father. It felt good, to have some type of positive feeling associated with my dad. So we sat and bonded for a few moments, letting the feeling sink in. It was good, this new feeling. It felt like everything was... lighter, in a sense. Easier to breathe, the air wasn't thick with anxiety and apprehension.
"So tell me about it. Your life, I mean. Mom tells me but I want to hear it first hand." I wanted to, I really did, but I needed to go because now that this was resolved there was no more time left for this.
"I'd love to sit and chat but I have to go convince my imprint that I'm not an asshole anymore and that she's amazing. No big deal, right?" He snorted and wished me luck.
"Who is it, by the way?"
"Lena, Lena Rivers." He sucked in a deep breath through his teeth.
"Good luck. Don't screw it up too bad, alright. Your mother will kill you." I smiled at the memory of Dad telling me about his disaster of an imprint one time.
"Thanks, I'll try not to keep up a traditon, alright?"
"Yeah, that'd be bad. Don't do that. Go get'em tiger!" I laughed and he clapped me on the back before making his way into the kitchen to go distract Mom from her duties. Ew...
I didn't really know where to start. What the hell does a twenty-three year old werewolf do when his imprint was tormented by him in high school and now hates him? You go find Jared Taylor, that's what you do. Uncle Jared has a way of making everything become clear, even stupid things. So I ran swiftly through the woods that lead to Aunt Kim and Uncle Jared's and landed on the porch in a matter of seconds.
"Unlce Jay!" I yelled through the house as I knocked on the door.
"Ryan?" Aiden called from the livingroom as Max, their big old dog ran to me. I patted him on the head and he was content so I took that as my okay to go into the house.
"'Sup A-Man?" I greeted him with what I could guess was a distracted smile.
"'Sup A-Man?' is all I get. Dude, are you serious?" I looked at him this time, really looked. He was huge, indicating that he had joined the pack. I launched myself at him and hugged him.
"Oh, Aiden! I've missed you so much. I simply can't bare it!" I recited in true to form Jackass-Ryan. He laughed and pushed me off of him.
"Alright point taken, jerk."
"Great. Now where's your dad?"
"Jason's gonna be so pissed that you didn't ask for him first." I was getting impatient.
"Aiden, focus!"
"Right. Uhm... work? Out? With Mom? Pick one."
"How 'bout you tell me where he is before I kick your ass?"
"I could take you now, I bet."
"Aiden!'
"Alright! He's grocery shopping with my mom. You can't cut in on their special time!" He called after me but I was already headed toward the one grocery store in La Push. I felt like I was wasting time but I didn't want to mess this up. Lord knows I was probably screwed from the beginning.
I headed into the small supermarket and sniffed a few times not-so-disretly. I followed my nose and ended up in the cereal isle where Uncle Jared was thinking very hard about a box of Captain Crunch and Raisin Bran.
"Take both and hide the Captain Crunch, she'll never know." I said as I walked down the aisle. He turned his head quickly and looked a little stunned.
"Ryan?" He sniffed once and then smiled in a true wolf-like manor, relaxing once recognizing my scent. He pulled me into one of those man-hugs and clapped me on the back. "When did you get back? How the hell have you been?"
"Um, yesterday and good. I have a situation, though."
"Okay..."
"Uhm. I imprinted and... she hates me."
"Congratulations! I don't think she hates you." He gave me a disproving look that said he didn't beleive me.
"No. I'm serious."
"Who is she."
"Lena."
"Oh boy..." That did not sound good at all.
"Why 'Oh boy'?" I asked slightly hysterical.
"Besides the fact that Paul's gonna flip? Besides the fact that you were a total asshole to her in high school? Besides the fact that she's engaged?" Oh boy was right. Engaged. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Paul was going to try and kill me but that I could handle. I think I might beg him to kill me, actually. "You okay?" He asked as I began to wobble slightly, letting this hit me full in the chest.
"No." And then I turned and ran out of the store quickly.
I followed my nose towards her apartment on the west side of the rez., taking shortcuts through the woods and ending up at the door. I knocked three times but no one answered. The door wasn't locked so I pushed it open and breathed in deep. Dear God it was intoxicating.
I looked around, noting the beautiful furnishing and colors. The living room was done in a soft brown and light blue with many art pieces covering the wall. The kitchen was in light wood and a light green color. I looked at the many photographs and artworks. There was a wall of pictures in the living room and I walked over to them, memorizing Lena's posture and her body language, her outfits and her facial expression. She looked happy but distant.
Directly in the middle of the wall of photos were two small photographs taken the summer before freshman year at a Fourth of July party hosted at the Rivers' house. There were two, one underneath the other. The first one was of Lena and I sitting together. I had my arm around her shoulder and we were sitting on top of a picnic table looking up at the camera. The one underneath was of me kissing Lena's cheek as she laughed. We looked so happy. We were happy before I went and screwed up one of the best things. I ran my hand over the glass and felt an overwhelming surge of despair. How was I going to fix this?
I turned and stopped looking at the picture, not liking the feeling it was giving me. I sniffed and walked in the direction of her scent. That overpowering mango citrusy smell. I loved it. And then I heard the featherlight heart-beat. I didn't have the best hearing out of the pack but still, it was so light. Like more of a fluttering than an actual beat. I knocked on the door that the breathing and the heartbeat were coming from. There was a squeak and then some shuffling before Lena suddenly appeared in the door.
"What are you doing here?" She was slightly out if breath, and her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks shining with moisture. She had been crying. Over me, I assumed.
"I'm sorry." I couldn't think of anything else to say. I couldn't find the words. "I'm so incredibly sorry."
"I know how it works, Ryan." That stung. She knows - she thinks - that she wouldn't have mattered if I hadn't imprinted on her. She needed to know that it was fate.
"No, no you don't. I don't think you understand. You know that theory that my dad has, the one that says the reason for imprinting is to find our genetically matched mate that will reproduce the strongest wolves?" She nodded so I continued. "Well I think he's full of shit. On more than this, but that's not the point." She chuckled a little and wiped her eyes. "I think that it's fate and karma. Fate because everything happens for a reason. It may not be a good reason, but a reason nonetheless. And I think it's Karma because all of the wolves that I know and all of their imprints deserve each other. Whether it's because one needed the other or because they were just good together." She looked a little confused.
"Like take Embry and Kayleigh. He was messed up and Kayleigh's like a rock and he... latched on. And she pulled him out of that black hole that he was in. He was drowning in himself and she saved him. He's a great person and she's a great person and he deserved to to have some help and she deserved to have him." Did she get that?
"Oh," she didn't seemed enlightened at all.
"And Seth and Lily! Seth is one of the best guys that I know and everybody loves Lily and they're just perfect for each other. And Jared and Kim. Kim needed him. And her deserved her. They lean on each other, they're part of each other." I was sucking at this. Couldn't she just understand? She looked contemplative. And then she nodded, a hard look replacing the glassy one that had previously accompanied the tears. That look didn't belong there.
"I leaned on you. Remember? You were my best friend, do you remember any of that? Do you remember how I held your hand when you grasped for it?" All of those times that I looked for it, I thought maybe she would know that I didn't really hate her. "Do you remember how I held you when you were falling apart?" Grandma Young's funeral, when my Dad hit me the first time, when my Mom fell apart after she miscarried. "Do you remember every time you needed someone to talk to, someone real?" Of course. "Did it mean one thing to you that I waited for you?" She waited?
"You're engaged..." I whispered. I was on overload, she never gave speeches, she didn't even talk much to begin with so when she said all of that, I knew it was the way she felt. And being that close to her, being so close to knowing what she was feeling was unnerving.
"I broke it off three months ago." Oh sweet Jesus that felt so good. But it didn't last long because a tear slid down her cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb before I could help it, catching her cheek in my palm. I held it there until she turned away.
"Does anyone else know that?"
"No... Mom and Dad really liked him and I don't w-want to disappoint them anymore." A million questions ran through my mind. Why was she a disappointment? Why did they like him so much? Who was he? What did he have that I didn't? How could I make her feel better?
"You couldn't disappoint them."
"You haven't been home in a while."
"Tell me about it," I grabbed her tiny hand in mine and lead her to the couch, sitting us both down. She looked reluctant. "Please," I added.
"Well I was supposed to go to New York, I was enrolled at Cornell, and I wanted to be a vet. But I veered into the city once and... didn't go back. I got caught up and went to art school, majored in photography. Dad was so mad. Mom... I don't know, she wasn't happy." She let another tear slide and I fought the urge to wipe it like I did the last one.
"Why would they be mad? They're beautiful, all of them," I said gesturing towards the wall of photos.
"Thank you, it's just... I'm the oldest so they expect me to set the standard and they think I'm just some flaky art goof off now and-" She stopped suddenly and her eyes widened. I started to get concerned but she just smiled knowingly. "You always knew how to make me talk. I hadn't realized that-that I needed to talk about this."
"You see! You see! You need me. And I obviously needed/need you so... You see!" God, I was so eloquent. But I just wanted her to know it, to feel it. And I couldn't find words to do that.
"Yeah, maybe you're right. I just - you might have to give me some time. To get back to where I need to be. Is that okay?"
"Anything you need, Lena, anything."
"I think that maybe this could be something really good. I-I've missed you, even when you hated me." It felt good to hear that but it was tainted by the 'even when you hated me' part.
"I'm so sorry. I was stupid and young and you need to know that I've regretted letting this happen to us everyday of my life."
"Well, it's partially my fault; I should've stood up to you and told you how it was."
"I'd like you to do that, actually. Tell me how it is Lena."
"I'm not good at it," she said blushing.
"Come on! Please?" I pulled out the puppy eyes and the lower lip and she relented. I'm just that good.
"Ryan Alec Uley! You are unbelievable! Who do you think I am? Your personal lean-to when you need me. If you want this you're going to work for it!" I stared dumbfounded for a good thirty seconds before I stood to attention and saluted her in true military fashion. She giggled and I did too.
It felt good to be like this with her. It had been so long since we were friends. She was always the one, I don't know how I didn't see that. How could I have not picked up on the fact that every time I had felt down I had run to her? And even though I was a complete and total asshole to her, she always let me in. And she talked to me, or just held my hand and she made me dinner a few times. Either way, she was always the one and I had left her time after time like she was nothing. I had left her like I had known that she as going to take me back every time. Stupid, selfish, arrogant bastard.
I'd do anything, everything, countless things to earn her forgiveness and never let her down again. Eight years worth of hurt wouldn't be fixed in another eight years. It would take a lifetime of countless effort that I was more than willing to give to her, My Lena.