Disclaimer- Anything relatable to the Twilight series belongs to Stephenie Meyer and her publishers.
Summary- When Claire finds out that Quil imprinted on her, both are forced to re-evaluate their friendship, and find out if it's love, before it's too late.
Warning- Breaking Dawn spoilers, although the book was received with many mixed feelings, I will not disrespect Stephenie's wishes for the books.
(Any opinions/discussions of the book will be gladly answered via PM)
Author's Note- Apologies about the delay. I am taking college level classes this year, and it's a lot of work, and I am balancing extra-curricular. I hope you will all forgive me and understand :D
Chapter four:
A week passed with no hint or sign of the nomadic pack. The wolves increased protection, having more patrol roaming every night, but there were no traces of the foreign pack. Sam wasn't relaxing yet, however, and would maintain heavy watch for at least another few weeks.
Claire was in the kitchen baking cookies, waiting for her weekly movie date with Quil. She had been baking most of the afternoon, a chocolate-vanilla cake, and two batches of cookies.
Perhaps it was hormones, perhaps it was her desire to impress Quil that had her baking, and Quil loved her baking. What was that saying? The way to a man's heart was through his stomach. She already had Quil's heart, she didn't know why she wanted more of it.
Did she want more of it? She recalled the conversation she had with Emily, thinking about her thoughts on being with Quil less than platonically.
As she grabbed the cookies from the oven, the door opened. Quil walked in and tossed his DVD of choice on the counter and placed his hands on his hips. Claire practically threw the cookies on top of the oven and rushed into his arms. He made a noise, a noise not uncommon for him. It was a rumble in his chest, a cross between a sigh and a moan, at the sound of it, Claire's heart flipped.
She pulled back, going to straighten her hair, but found she was still wearing her oven mitts. She laughed a little, out of genuine amusement and slight embarrassment. Why was she like this?
"I see you've been baking" Quil said as he grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from the plate on the table.
"Yeah," Claire said, placing the just-baked cookies on the cooling rack, "I like to make you happy" she admitted quickly.
Quil's mouth quirked into a smile and he closed his eyes as he bit into the cookie, "Jesus Claire" he practically moaned, "These are amazing"
She smiled at him and grabbed some soda, cake and cookies and took them into the adjoining living room and came back looking at Quil, "What's the movie tonight?"
Quil grinned, moving forward, playing with the tassels on her apron, "Titanic" he said grabbing the apron and lifting it over her head.
"Really?" Claire asked, "I commend you on that"
Quil laughed, "Mostly it's because Sam wants me to patrol tonight and I'd rather delay it"
They moved into the living room, and settled on the couch in their usual spots. At the beginning, they were always a few inches away, but over the course of the movie, Quil would often stretch his legs and put his arm around her. She's usually let her head fall onto his shoulder and they would sometimes just sit, or maybe fall asleep depending on the movie.
Claire put in the DVD and automatically moved closer to Quil. He smiled and put his arm around her. Claire thought as the opening credits showed Dennis Quaid sinking into the ocean. this night was different from other nights. Maybe it was the lurking danger of the pack, or maybe it was the realization that she undoubtedly had these feelings for her best friend.
The emotions that coursed through her proved that.
Quil was thinking how nice it was to have his arm around her, and how nice it would be to never leave. It was time to tell her that she was his imprint. She knew about imprinting, she had even asked one if he had, and he had changed the subject unable to lie, unable to tell the truth.
Maybe he should just tell her now.
Thoughts were raging in their minds as Jack and Rose were drawn together. It was intense, and a little awkward as they sat near each other, both desiring that for themselves.
The ending had Claire crying, as always and Quil held her to his chest, combing his fingers through her hair, kissing it once or twice. She wiped her eyes and laughed, "Sorry"
Quil laughed too, "It's alright, I expected it" He grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table and gently rubbed away the tears. In a split decision, he kissed her cheek, but lingered longer than he usually would. She smiled up at him, longing to express how much she loved him, and how un-platonic those feelings had become.
"Claire, I have something I want to tell you," Quil said, gathering courage with his words.
"Yeah?" She asked, sitting cross-legged on the couch facing him.
"I--" He began when Jacob barging through the door interrupted him.
"Dude, the pack is waiting on you. The nomadic pack is back" Jake said, in only a pair of sweat pants.
Quil clenched his fists, knowing he wouldn't be able to explain anything to Claire now that she had probably gotten all upset.
"All right" he said, jerking his head as a symbol for Jake to get out. Jake got the hint and left the room.
Quil turned to Claire, her eyes were wide with fear, "Will you fight?" she asked, grabbing his hands
"Hard to say," he said "If we do, it doesn't matter much, we can't die, remember?"
"Still" Claire whispered in protest, "You might get hurt."
"We heal fast" Quil shrugged and smiled, lifting her off the couch and pulling her into his chest, "Listen now, we'll be safe. I won't ever leave you"
"Good" Claire sniffled, "Because I can't be without you now"
Quil lifted her face toward his and kissed her on the forehead, and once on the cheek, dangerously close to her mouth. She sighed as his arms left her, and he turned toward the door, "See you tomorrow morning, Claire-bear" He said, smiling.
"I love you" Claire said, staring into his eyes.
"I love you too" Quil replied, almost stepping to open the door, but propelling back and scooping her up in his arms once again.
It wasn't unusual for goodbyes to take a long time, but this feeling between them was unusual, this heaviness of secrets and feelings, this heaviness of choices. Quil wished so desperately he could tell Claire that she was his imprint, but that conversation would require time, much more then they had now.
Claire let go first, "Go protect your pack, Quil"
He sighed and let go again, "Bye, Claire."
--OO--
Quil phased quickly, and followed the thoughts of the pack to the western boarder. There were his brothers, standing defensive around Sam, who was in human form, dressed in sweat pants, and there were six werewolves surrounding the other male in human form, naked. Quil ran and stepped into his place in rank, Sam looked at him, a silent warning that he should attempt to be prompt from now on.
The other Alpha was African and wore dreadlocks, his very composure had turned dog-like, he wore a scowl on his face, and his eyes shown bright. His arms and hands were covered in hair, and looked large. "I will not converse with you until your pack phases to human form" he said in an accent that spoke of a South African
"We should expect your pack to do the same as well" Sam said, serenely.
The foreign Alpha nodded, and then looked at his pack. Sam looked at his brothers and signaled them to phase. The boys spread out into the woods, and phased, putting on sweatpants, or tying shirts around their waists for modesty's sake, they would not care about their naked-ness if it was just them, but they did not know the foreign pack.
Upon return, the foreign pack were all in their human form, unclothed, and seemingly comfortable with their nakedness. All ethnicities were represented, and it led Quil to believe that one werewolf happened upon another, and they happened upon another and their tribe was built.
"My name is Peter, and these are my brothers" the foreign alpha said, gesturing to his pack.
"My name is Sam, and these are my brothers" Sam replied, gesturing to them.
They all still held an incredibly defensive pose around Sam, ready to phase, ready to fight, they were still in pack mentality.
"You can tell your brothers to stand down," Peter said, "We will not attack you unjustly"
Sam glanced at them, "Do not lose control" was all he said, and glanced back at Peter.
"We rarely come across another pack, especially ones from the same region. Each of us were alone in our journey of phasing, and we found each other over many journeys" Peter said, "We do not wish to cause destruction, but we often fight for regions we like. We like this one"
"Well," Sam said, "This is a large region, we only protect La Push, but we would like you to refrain from hunting in this region though, to remain inconspicuous, we had quite a lot of trouble with that awhile ago."
"I understand this is your home" Peter said, "But my pack finds many things they like about it"
"What are you proposing?" Sam asked
"We want this land, and we will fight you for it." Peter said simply, smiling lightly.
A growl rumbled through Paul's chest, and he began to shake. Jacob and Embry laid hands on him to keep him steady. When it seemed he could no longer remain still they dragged him from the pack, and let him phase. He went tearing out into the woods, releasing his pent up energies.
"You have young ones I see" Peter said condescendingly
"No" Sam said, "They're just protective of what is there's. We offer you no trouble, brothers, just ask you to move on, there is much more around these areas"
"Regardless," Peter said, "we will fight you"
"What if we don't choose to fight?" Jacob said, out of turn
"Then we will take" Peter said, "My brothers and I will come tomorrow to hear your decision, Alpha."
Sam bowed gracefully and watched the other pack phase and scatter into the woods.
The weight of unspoken words hung in the air, but they all knew they couldn't speak until Sam did. And when he did, the words were no surprise, "We will fight. this is our land, this is our home, and this is what we are meant to protect"
The pack all nodded at the same time, assent of the plan and Sam nodded as well, "Jacob, Embry, Seth and Leah, patrol the borders tonight. Quil, go back home to Claire and tell her what you were going to tell her before I sent Jake to fetch you"
Quil smiled, and ran back to Claire's house. The weight of the fight was looming on him, but perhaps he could find a ray of hope beyond it all.
Author's Note- Sam kinda reminded me a Carlisle a bit in this chapter.
Please Review, Girls.