Introduction

"C'mon, Sam, are we gonna go or not? I'm starving," said Quil.

"You realize that she's not just your personal chef, right?" Sam replied.

"Since when?"

Sam ignored this. "Her nieces are gonna be visiting form the Makah Reservation, so watch the language."

"Alright, alright," Quil complied as he stepped into the passenger side of Sam's truck. They had been on patrol, just routine stuff, nothing major. Now it was Jacob and Embry's shift, and the two boys were going to Emily's house.

Sam drove quickly, eager to arrive and see his fiancée.

"Emily," he called, strolling through the doorway.

"In here," she replied from the other room. Sam and Quil walked forward to the living room, covering the kitchen in three long strides. Emily was playing with building blocks on the floor with her two nieces.

"Hey, Emily," Quil greeted her.

"Hi, Quil. These are my nieces, Claire and Anna." The two-year-old Claire looked up at the sound of her name, and then over to Quil, who didn't hear what she said next, simply because the world stopped turning the instant his eyes saw Claire's. The Earth shattered, and he fell into nothingness; the only thing he could see was her face, she was the only thing that was real. He heard voices talking in the background, but where were they coming from? But more importantly, who cares? Their words were unintelligible, just an incoherent drone, worthy of no attention. Nothing was worthy of any attention, except for Claire.

Suddenly, she got up and tottered over to Emily.

"Mm," she grunted, tugging on Emily's sleeve.

"What is it? What's wrong?" inquired Quil urgently. "What can I do?"

Two pairs of questioning eyes turned toward him.

"What!" he demanded. "What's wrong?"

"I think she's just hungry…" said Emily in a strange tone. "I'll go get her a banana."

"No, let me do it, I'm faster," Quil said over his shoulder, already sprinting out of the room, Ignoring the bewildered faces behind him. Quil returned no more than twenty seconds later, carrying a purple plastic bowl full of banana, already peeled and sliced. He gently handed it to Claire, who smiled up at him.

He melted.

For the better part of two hours, Quil played everything from Barbie to Hide-and-Go-Seek with Claire Finally Sam announced that it was time for them to leave. Quil gave Claire a kiss on the cheek, said goodbye to Emily, and strode out the door to the truck.

"What was that?" Sam demanded as he shoved the key into the ignition.

"What are you talking about?"

"Back at Emily's. You didn't take your eyes off Claire for two seconds." The truck lurched forward, moving towards the cliffs.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No…just kind of…strange, they way you looked at her, like you would jump in front of a train for her or something… it almost reminded me of… never mind," he amended quickly.

A few moments had passed, when Sam suddenly slammed on the brakes.

"What—"

"What is the most important thing in the world to you?" Sam demanded urgently.

"Claire." The look on Sam's face distracting him, Quil answered without thought, but then instantly looked as if he said a cuss word in front of his grandma.

Sam's expression changed from urgency to . "Quil," he said, "Quil, I think you imprinted with Claire."

"But that's—" Quil's protest was instantly quelled by the feeling of recognized truth bubbling up inside him. "You're right," he finally whispered.

"Let's go," said Sam abruptly, stopping in front of the cliffs. I'm calling a meeting. We have to tell the others."

A few minutes later, eight large, half-naked boys emerged from the woods by the truck.

"What's up?" inquired Embry.

"Did you find a trail?" asked Jacob.

"No, it's something much… closer to home," Sam replied. The other boys gave him questioning looks, so he elaborated. "Quil imprinted. I guess it's a lot more common than the stories suggest."

"What?! With who?!" Jacob and Embry said loudly at the same time.

Sam took a deep breath and replied, "Emily's niece, Claire." Jacob and Embry, who had been to Emily's house the previous day, were astounded.

"But… that's… she… too… little!" Jacob spluttered.

"Apparently not," Sam replied gravely.

Quil, who had been silent through all this, looked up when Jared called his name.

"Quil?" he paused. "How did it happen?"

"I don't really know… I just looked at her and then nothing else mattered. It was like I had to do and be anything she wanted or needed, but it wasn't like someone was making me; I wanted to, I needed to."

"That sounds about right," Jared supplied after a minute of silence.

"Yeah, I thought so, too," Jacob commented.

"So what am I going to do?" Quil asked.

Sam answered him. "You'll just have to be patient for a few years. It's your only choice."