A/N:
Some Trivia:
1. This story idea came to me after a read a review left by SoNotYourAverageGirl on my previous story Off and Away. Basically she mentioned how Claire should have gotten sick so I decided to incorporate that little fact into this 4-chap story.
2. I was listening to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde while writing this first chapter. This is not going to be happy lol
3. My word document labels for this story are Death and the Maiden.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters
Before:
"Thanks for breakfast, babe!" Rowena stood on her tippy toes as she kissed her boyfriend, Aonghus, on the cheek. He gave her thick bush of spiral curls a pat and she scowled at him.
"No problem, curly top."
Rowena crossed her arms, pouting. "Don't ever touch a black woman's hair!"
Aonghus, who at 6'0 was taller than Rowena by a good 5 inches. The man had thick, shaggy black hair that looked as though he had stuck his head out of window and did not bother combing it after he was done and he had sky colored eyes that constantly sparkled with mischief. As he looked down at Rowena, he grinned widely; two big dimples adorning each cheek.
"Oh, really? Because you didn't seem to mind so much last night."
Rowena smacked him. "Angie, little people in the room!" She nodded towards their 18 month old daughter, Siobhan, happily playing with a black frying plan on the carpeted living room floor behind them. The tiny toddler, had her mother's curly black hair and her father's sweet baby blues.
"She can't understand us!" Aonghus stated laughing and then he turned to the toddler. "Can you Sisi?"
Sisi gave her father a big, dimpled smile. "Mmmm Da!" Then the toddler was once again engrossed in the fun she was having tossing the frying pan around.
"And besides, you know it's true." Aonghus smirked, knowing very well Rowena couldn't deny it.
"You're lucky that you're tall and muscle-y and…"
"And hot?" Aonghus wiggled his brows, his grin growing.
Rowena pushed him. "Oh shut up."
"So you leaving now?" Aonghus asked as he began gathering their breakfast dishes and placing them in the sink.
Rowena stepped back a few feet as he did so. The kitchen in their tiny apartment was barely big enough to hold the two of them. Standing was okay but movement made the little space slightly uncomfortable and very inconvenient for whoever was trying to clean up.
"Yup."
"Like that? That's how you visit a grave?"
Aonghus's eyes trailed up and down her body, making her shiver. Rowena was dressed in a purple, button up blouse and blue skinny jeans that were snug in all the right places. On her feet, she wore a pair of black and gray Nikes.
Rowena looked down at herself. "What's wrong with this? I didn't even jazz it up!"
Aonghus laughed. "I'm just teasing. You look fine. Just wait." He bent down and planted a gentle kiss to her lips. "Okay, now you can go."
She shook her head at him before grabbing her small brown purse from off of one of the faux granite counter tops and turning to Siobhan.
"Mama loves you!" Rowena blew kisses at the toddler. "Bye bye now!"
The little girl smiled at her mother and waved her little hands around wildly. "Bye! Bye! MAMA!"
Rowena laughed. "Bye Angie, love you!"
"Love you too, Row. Bye."
Then she was out of the front door and heading to her silver Honda Accord in their apartment building's garage so she could make the long drive to La Push.
The gravestone of Robert Brownfeather was a flat, stone grave marker stuck into the earth. It was plain, with no design or picture, just his name, all the important dates (birth and death), and a simple epitaph: Loving son and kind heated man.
Rowena did not say anything. She did not speak any words of love or encouragement that the man had been a good father, she just stared at the grave.
Well, she had relented somewhat.
At first, she had not plan to do anything for her late father's birthday. But here she was, having made a three hour drive on gas she really did not have the money to spend on. She had even stopped by Pike Place Flowers, the little flower shop near her apartment, and got him a rose. She did not have the thirty dollars for the bundle but still she had gotten him one.
Rowena was not angry at the man anymore, she didn't feel disappointment nor did she wish things had been different. She took one last look at the grave before walking away and hopping back into her Accord and driving to First Beach. She intended to take a short relaxing walk before she had to drive three hours back home and then head to a twelve hour shift at the little diner she worked at.
Best laid plans…
Rowena's walk on the beach is mostly a blur, filled with jumbled, rambling thoughts. She walked from one end of the beach to the other and then turned to go back, throughout it all she was in a bit of a haze. Half-way back she bumped into a tall, shirtless stranger. It was like hitting a brick wall.
"Oh! Sorry dude." Rowena straightened herself out, waking from the trance she had been in, before eyeing the tall, muscled, tanned man standing before her.
Rowena stepped away from the man immediately. He was staring at her with the most sickly sweet expression that she had ever seen on his face and it was creeping her out.
"Hi." He stated softly, his voice an awed whisper. His eyes never left her face.
Rowena took a couple of more steps back. It irritated her when the man copied her actions.
"You okay?" She asked, head cocked as she searched his face for any sign of a threat.
His smiled broadly at her. "I love you."
Rowena's eyes grew wide. "Uh…what?"
Two more shirtless men, just as tall as the one standing before her, and a tall woman came running up and stood near the staring stranger.
"Embry, what's up?" One of the shirtless men asked.
"It's her." The man's eyes still did not leave her. He barely acknowledged his friend's presence.
"Holy shit, Embry's imprinted!" The other shirtless guys shouted.
The tall woman smacked a hand over her face and mumbled, "Oh God, not another one."
Rowena looked between the four of them (well three, she was tired of looking at the staring stranger), bewildered. "What the hell is going on?" She asked beginning to panic.
"You're my imprint." The staring man stated.
"And? That doesn't really help."
"It means you're his soul mate. Werewolves call their soulmates imprints." Said the tall woman. "Welcome to the supernatural world." Her words were grim than welcoming.
Now Rowena knew for sure that these people and their staring friend were crazy. "Werewolves? That's impossible!"
They all shook their heads, well not Embry, he just stared at her in awe.
"Get the hell away from me!" Rowena screamed. "You're all fucking crazy."
Embry shook his head. "No I'll show you."
The other two shirtless guys shared a look before they both grabbed Rowena and dragged her away from Embry as she thrashed in her arms.
The tall woman sighed. "You could have just asked her to move guys."
They ignored her. "Go ahead, Embry." One of them called. Embry stripped out of his shorts and then he did it, he shifted on the beach right before Rowena's eyes.
Rowena stared at the large black and white wolf standing before her with wide eyes.
"Fuck my life."
Rowena drove…where was she driving? The wolf-man and three of his friends had hopped into her Accord and were feeding her directions to a house. She had no clue where she was going, she was just taking orders. Really, she should stop taking orders, she should be driving to her tiny apartment, pick up her daughter...Her daughter! What if they never let her leave? What if she never saw her daughter again?! Or Aonghus?! Angie…
"Calm down." It was the woman sitting in the back with the two other, shirtless (why in the world are they shirtless?) men who had hopped in her car alongside wolf man, apparently she had noticed Rowena's fierce grip on the steering wheel. The woman had tanned skin, high cheek bones, and black hair that went to her chin. Her dark eyes were hard and sad.
Rowena took a peek at her through the rearview mirror.
"Easy for you to say, you don't have four strangers sitting in your car. One of them being a giant wolf."
The woman smirked. It was not like Aonghus's though; there was no smile in her dark brown eyes and she did not look very happy. "We're all giant wolves."
"Oh come the fuck on." She banged a fist against her steering wheel hard.
The man sitting in the passenger seat beside her, Embry, reached out to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Rowena flinched away violently, jerking the car as she did so.
"Don't touch me!" She screeched.
Embry moved his hand away instantly. He offered her a smile. "Okay." He stated happily. He really did not want to upset her further.
"Make a right up ahead, it's the house all by itself."
Rowen did as told; taking the right and parking outside of the little house at the end of the road.
"W-what are we doing here?" Rowena asked nervously as they walked into the house; she hated it when her voice shook.
"Just come inside." One of the shirtless guy's had stated.
They guided Rowena into the front of the house, a half-living room, half-kitchen set-up, the room was bathed with the sunlight coming in from the large windows in the living room half. Already in the room and sitting down on the two cream couches was a couple (a tall shirtless man and a woman with scars down the right side of her face), and an elderly man and woman.
"Hey guys!" The scarred woman called as they entered the room. She stood and gestured toward the kitchen. "There's blueber…" She trailed off when she noticed Rowena. "Who's that?"
"I'm Ro-."
"Embry's imprint." One of the shirtless men answered. Rowena scowled at him. "Oww!" The man whined turning to the woman who had been in the car with them. "Come, on Leah! What you do that for?"
The woman, Leah, smiled at him maliciously. "Shut up, Paul." She winked at Rowena and Rowena offered her a small smile back. "We don't know her name. No one asked her."
"Rowena."
Embry wore a sappy, too-sweet smile. "That's pretty."
"No, it's morphine." Rowena stated irritably.
"What?" He still wore that sappy smile.
"Don't worry about it."
Leah and Paul laughed before they both headed over to the muffins in the kitchen.
The other, lankier, shirtless man gave Rowena a smile. "It really is a nice name. Seth by the way." He aimed a hand in her direction.
Rowena shrugged before taking the hand he offered and shaking it. "There are better names."
The man, who had been sitting on the couch, stood. "I'm Sam Uley. This is my wife Emily." He pointed to the scarred woman, she gave a cheery "Hi!" Then he gestured to the elderly man and woman. "This is Quil Ateara III and Sue Clearwater, two of the tribe elders. And well I guess you've already met, Leah and Paul."
Rowena nodded.
"Have they explained things to you?"
"Something about imprinting. And he." She gestured wildly around Embry with both of her hands, "Turned into a giant wolf. I thought that was impossible but obviously it ain't." She eyed Sam curiously. "You're a wolf too aren't you?"
Sam smiled. "Yes. I am the pack alpha as well."
Rowena groaned. "Just great! How about you three?" She eyed Emily, Sue and Old Quil suspiciously.
All three shook their heads at her.
"Good. Well if you all don't mind, I've done what I needed to do, so I'm out."
Rowena desperately wanted to get out of this situation. She was driving home and driving straight to a bar. She had already decided on the drive over to Sam and Emily's that she would call out of work and have Aonghus drop Siobhan at her mother's. She need drinks and lots of them.
"And what were you here for?" The older woman, Sue, had asked. She was a short woman, with dark piercing eyes planted into a face that was just beginning to wrinkle.
"I was leaving flowers on my father's grave. He grew up in La Push and is buried in the cemetery just outside of the reservation.
Sue eyed the young woman, looking over her dark skin and long, bushy spiral curls. Sue's first thought was that Rowena looked like no one who lived in La Push but then she noticed the younger woman's eyes, really noticed them. They were a soft gray.
"Brownfeather." Sue whispered.
Rowena grinned and wiggled her brows. "I'm guessing the eyes gave me away, huh?"
"B-but that's impossible!" Sue sputtered. The girl had never been mentioned before by the Brownfeathers.
"Well as you all told me when I said the same thing about 20 minutes ago: No, it's very possible."
"But the Brownfeathers don't have a granddaughter only a…only a dead son."
Rowena nodded slowly. "Robert Brownfeather, the dead son, is my father." Her face took on a hard, grave expression. "Let's see, long story short: My father and my mother met there sophomore year at WSU and fell in love shortly after meeting. My father's parents didn't want him with my mother, refused to meet her. So he left her. I was born sometime later."
Sue only gaped at Rowena, she couldn't believe that the Brownfeathers would not acknowledge their only grandchild.
"They've never spoken of you."
"To be fair, I don't think my father ever told them about me. I only saw him once a year and got a letter in the mail every other month or so."
"I'm so sorry."
"Don't be." Rowena did not like to be pitied. "Look, I came here to do one thing: To put flowers on a dead man's grave. I didn't come here to be imprinted on, or talk about my sad past or any other thing you people have in mind." She stood then, painfully aware of how close Embry was standing near her. "I have shit to do. So if you don't mind, and I don't care if you do, I'm out."
Embry smiled. "I'll come with you. We can spend some time together. I want to know everything about you."
"About that…" And then she was running. Straight out the door and to her car. She was happy when she didn't see wolf man following behind her.
Inside the house Embry was wide-eyed. He looked around at everyone in the room. "Did she just…?"
Sue stepped toward Embry and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, she'll be back."
Embry looked at her hopefully.
"Row?" Aonghus questions sleepily. He had heard the bedroom door open and the sound of her stumbling into nightstand by the bed but he could barely make out her form in the darkness of the room.
Row's clothes-her jeans, blouse, and bra- fall to the ground in a heap around her already discarded Nikes and socks.
"Row?" He props himself up on his elbows. "Row, what's up?"
The last time Aonghus spoke to Rowena was several hours before. She's called him on her drive back from La Push and told him that she needed him to Siobhan to her mother's, that the diner had called her in earlier than expected.
Aonghus agreed immediately, Rowena had sounded irritated and he wanted to help her not push her further over the edge.
When Rowena drops into the bed beside Aonghus and begins to burrow herself into his chest, the smell vodka hits him hard and he soon comes to the conclusion that Rowena has been anywhere but work.
"Rowena?!" He's wide awake now.
She groans against his chest and her grip around his body tightens.
"Are you okay?"
Another sleepy groan.
"Row?"
Not a sound.
"Row?"
Then a low, rumbling snore.
Aonghus pulled Rowena closer to his body and buried his face into her hair, breathing her in.
"Goodnight, Row."
