Disclaimer: Don't own anything Twilight...obviously
JPOV
What? Here I was looking for old man geezer Ryan Fleming and instead I find this gorgeous woman claiming to be none other than the person I am looking for. I'm pretty sure I was standing there gaping like a fish because she just laughed at me and looked me up and down.
"Yeah I get that reaction a lot. Let me guess, you were expecting some old man that didn't know a hammer from a nail?" I chuckled a little and nodded my head.
"Yeah I guess you could say that. All they gave me was your name so I automatically assumed that…well…you were a guy." I blushed a little and rubbed the back of my neck, wondering where this new found sense of emotion came from. It had been years since I had actually laughed and here I was doing it with a complete stranger.
"It happens. So, not to be rude, but who are you and what are you doing on my porch?" I met her eyes and saw a bit of playfulness in them. I managed a smile and extended my hand towards her.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Fleming. My name is Jacob Black. The council told me that you needed help fixing up this old place, so here I am."
"Damn it. I told Billy I would be fine on my own, I should have known that he was up to something that old trickster. And please call me Ryan." She took my hand and my heart sped up when I grasped her soft hand in mine.
"Billy Black?" I asked and she nodded. "Ah, yeah, he is my dad…always sticking his nose where it doesn't belong." She chuckled and took a step back.
"Well Mr. Black, Thank you for offering but I'm sure you have better things to be doing on your Saturday than helping me fix up this piece of crap house. Besides I really had my heart set on doing it alone, you know they say good hard work with your hands is good for the soul or something like that." I opened my mouth to protest but before I could answer a little whirlwind of energy came barreling into the room latching onto Ryan's leg. He looked up at me with his big green eyes, his locks of black hair falling slightly over his face.
"Mommy who's that?" She smiled down at him before struggling to pick him up in her arms.
"Pat this is Mr. Black, this is my son Patrick."
Whoa, son? So if she was married how come her husband couldn't help her fix up this piece of crap house?
I looked down at the boy in her arms and was startled to see that besides Ryan's green eyes, the kid had all the features of one of the tribe. His hair was black, he had the high cheekbones and facial structure of a native and even though his skin wasn't the same shade of caramel as mine it was still obvious that he didn't need sun block. He flashed me a grin and I almost chuckled when I saw that he was missing one of his teeth.
"Wow mister you are ginormous!" Ryan gasped and looked down at Pat.
"Patrick Fleming, you know better than to say rude things like that. Now please apologize to Mr. Black." I managed a grimace grin.
"Please call me Jacob, or Jake if that's easier. And no need to apologize, the kid obviously calls it like he sees it."
She smiled slightly at me and then looked back down to the kid, her love for him obvious in her gaze. A pain shot through my heart as I thought about the love I once had for someone who never returned it; someone that I should have been raising kids with this very moment. I brought a hand up to dull the ache that was growing in my chest as I struggled to breathe evenly. Confusion filtered across Ryan's features as she saw my actions.
"Are you ok Jacob?" I met her eyes to see them full of concern, regardless of the fact that we had just met. Her hand came up in a maternal gesture to rest on my bicep and I couldn't help but embrace the feeling of being comforted by someone before I put up my icy exterior. I grunted a yes in response and took a step back. She shrugged and put Patrick down so he could run back into the house.
"So really Jacob, I should be fine with this hell hole by myself. Please send my thanks to the council and your father though."
"Will your husband be helping you with the renovations?" I saw as hurt clouded her features and she quickly covered it up, trying for a tight smile.
"I don't have a husband." Her voice lacked the normal spark it previously had.
"So it's just you and Patrick then?" She nodded.
"Really Jacob we will be fine."
I wiped a hand over my face trying not to groan in frustration. The ache in my chest had steadily increased and I knew that if I just said ok then I could be on my way to a night of drinking, and pretty soon the ache would be replaced with an all encompassing numbness. However if Billy found out that I didn't help Ryan out with this stupid house than he would most likely have my head on a platter, not to mention the guilt that would swarm me from once again not being a good son.
I decided that the numbness I loved so much would have to wait for now.
"Ryan, look I have no doubt that you could fix this house up by yourself, but I'm pretty sure Billy would kill me if I let you. Not to mention the fact that I didn't really have anything going on today, so you wouldn't actually be keeping me from anything." I tried to sound as friendly as possible. I watched as Ryan struggled with herself internally, no doubt having a battle with her self pride. Finally she sighed in defeat.
"Fine. But I insist on paying you." I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips at that.
"Ryan, that's ridiculous. I'm not taking any money from you. On the reservation we take care of our family, and now you are part of it. Besides you're going to need to save every penny to put into this…erm…lovely house of yours." No sooner had the words left my lips, when one of the shutters from the second floor fell off its hinge and plummeted to the ground, splintering when it made contact.
I honestly couldn't control my body as a laugh started to form in my chest working its way up before finally expelling forth from my mouth with so much force I was shaking. I heard as Ryan's laugh joined mine and before I knew it we were both doubled over clutching our sides as laughter bubbled out both of our mouths. After a couple of minutes we finally calmed down enough to catch our breath.
"Jesus Christ. What did I get myself into?" She chuckled as we both took in the house in front of us.
"Well we certainly have our work cut out for us. Where do we start?"
"Ugh I would like to get the bedrooms done first so we actually have somewhere to sleep. As of now Patrick's room was in good enough shape that we were able to paint. For now we just have a mattress in it and we are living out of boxes until we can get the house up and running. I figured it didn't make sense to unpack everything only to have to pack it up again so we could work on the house." I nodded in response.
"Why don't you come in a give it a look. If you see anything that I need to buy you can just write it down and I'll pick it up." She turned around and I followed her into the structure. If I thought the outside was bad, the inside was even worse. I swallowed as I mentally calculated the costs to fix up this place.
"Um Ryan…this, uh, project, is going to be a lot…of money." She cocked her head at me and grinned.
"Oh trust me I know. Don't worry about it I have it covered. Just tell me what we are going to need and I'll get it." If she had the money why didn't she just buy a nicer place? And how was she allowed to buy this place anyway? Only people from the tribe could live on the reservation, and Ryan was obviously not Quileute.
"If you say so."
We walked around the house and I took notes on the little pad I had as to what needed to be bought. Right now I was just focusing on the structure of the place. The actual build of the house was nice. It was a big house in comparison to the other houses of LaPush. It had two stories with 4 bedrooms 2 ½ baths and a big kitchen. Ryan's favorite part of the house was the giant bay windows in the living room that overlooked First Beach. She said that the view was one of the only reasons she decided to keep the house and not just scratch it and start fresh. The same view could be seen from the floor to ceiling windows in the master bedroom as well.
After taking stock of the house we sat down at the rickety old kitchen table.
"Well Jacob, since you did all this for me, the least I could do is feed you." I was about to protest that I needed to be getting home but my traitorous stomach chose that moment to growl particularly loud. I felt heat rise up to my cheeks as she laughed. I shook it off and motioned to the pathetic excuse of a kitchen around us.
"Um, how do you plan on making food with appliances from the stone-age?" She smiled at me and whipped out her cell phone.
"Takeout ok with you?"
"Any food is ok with me."
I grinned back at her as she phoned in for a couple of pizzas. I realized then that I wasn't in a rush to get home and get to drinking. What really startled me was the fact that the ache in my chest was almost nonexistent then entire time I was around Ryan. For the first time in ten years I felt something other than anger and remorse. I had actually been laughing before, genuine laughing at something. A little bit of me couldn't help but hope that maybe I was finally moving on, but the sensible part of me shut that thought down quickly.
Remember what happened the last time you let someone in. They took your heart, your soul…don't let it happen again.
Once again I felt the walls around me go up and Ryan looked at me confused as I went from smiling to my signature set jaw with a stony face. Patrick came racing into the room again and looked at me. His smile immediately dropped to a scowl and he looked pissed off as hell.
"Don't look at my mommy like that mister Jacob." She smiled down at him and hugged him.
"Oh hush Patrick its nothing." She glanced from him to me quickly and my expression softened a little.
"Sorry little man I didn't mean to I was just thinking of something that got me upset." He gave me a skeptical look before turning back to his mother.
"You want me to take care of this guy mommy?" Ryan smiled before winking at me.
"That's ok Patrick, Jacob didn't do anything wrong. Why don't you go play with your transformers and I'll call you when the pizza gets here." He sighed and looked skeptically between Ryan and I before storming off to his room. I couldn't help but chuckle at the balls the kid had.
"Don't mind him. He is just a bit overprotective of me." I nodded and a comfortable silence came over the table.
"Jacob. Thank you for helping with this. I know you are probably really busy with work and everything, so I know you wont have a lot of time to be over here, but thank you for going around and assessing the place."
"Of course."
"So Jacob what do you do?"
"I work for an auto design company. I draw out and design the bodies of high end cars." I couldn't help the little burst of pride as I talked about my job. It was one of the only things that kept me going.
"Wow that's awesome."
"What about you?" I saw her blush a little before tilting her head up.
"I'm a photographer."
"Oh yea? What do you photograph?" She tensed up for a moment before continuing.
"Well I used to do work overseas, but now I mostly photograph nature. Most recently I've been taking pictures of wild animals."
"Nice."
We continued in easy conversation and ate pizza with Patrick when it came. After dinner I thanked her and told her I would be by sometime this week to start on the house.
I made it back to my house and walked over to my fridge and grabbed a six pack, making my way to my couch. I popped open the first one to dull the pain and brought it up to my lips. Just before the frothy liquid touched I realized that the clamp around my chest wasn't agonizing. It was still there, but it wasn't intolerable. I set the beer down and turned on the TV. I eventually fell asleep listening to the sounds of the rain beating down on my roof and the lull of the television.
I woke up the next day earlier than usual. Patrolling schedules were lax as of recent because there really weren't any vamps around. No one was on right now and I decided to take a run in my wolf form. Being a wolf was indescribable, but the best part about it was the lack of human emotions involved. When I shifted, my animalistic side came out, overshadowing emotions that weren't vital to my survival. I took off running, making a big loop by the beach and was turning to head home when I caught a recently familiar scent. I followed it deeper into the woods and what I found astounded me.
Ryan was crouched down near a tree; camera in hand and not 10 yards away was a completely matured wolf. I heard the click of the shutter as she shot away and she was making these weird noises in the back of her throat that actually had a pretty soothing quality to them. The wolf was normal size, not anywhere as big as us, and was pure white. Its ears were up and it was relaxed, not at all threatened by Ryan's presence. I kept myself hidden and soundless in the brush behind the wolf and watched as it slowly made its way over to her. She continued to shoot her pictures as it made its way over, and she held out her hand to the creature. It looked at it before pushing its head up to meet it. She smiled and scratched the animal behind its ear, eliciting a purring sound from it.
Was this woman crazy? She was in the wilderness scratching a wild wolf behind the ears; did she have a death wish? What sane person tries to pet a wolf? Apparently Ryan Fleming does. The wolf closed its eyes and lay on the ground in complete submissive position as Ryan continued to pet it.
"Well hello beautiful. You are just gorgeous."
And now the crazy lady was talking to the wolf.
She took a few more pictures before standing up and brushing off her jeans. The wolf looked up at her and she chuckled and held up her camera again to take another picture.
"Rith feadh mac tíre anois beag." She spoke to the animal in a language I didn't understand. I took a step forward and a twig snapped underneath my massive paw.
Shit.
The wolf snapped its head around and gave out a warning growl towards my direction. Ryan looked over and I decided that it would be a great time to leave. I turned and sprinted away as I heard the click of her shutter.
Fuck, she better not have gotten a picture of me. That's all I needed was to have blown our secret we have been hiding for years.
I took off back to my house and phased back. Today the ache in my chest wasn't unbearable, but it still was present. Present enough for me to grab a case of beer and have at it. I called up Quil and Embry and much to their shock invited them over to watch the game, trying to keep my mind off of the woman in the woods.
"Rith feadh mac tíre anois beag"= Run along now little wolf
Ok so the language Ryan was talking to the wolf in is Gaelic. I'm sorry if I butchered it, I just got it from a translator website.
Reviews would be pretty rad.
