Little Flower

by evizyt

"Little Flower is a child's nickname," I whine. "You are a child," Quil replies. But children don't lie awake at night, sweating beyond what's merited by the temperature, dreaming about warm hands sliding over—I cut off that line of thinking, but it is too late. The air crackles with heat and tension and something else besides, and I feel as if I am drowning, drowning in Quil.

4. Epilogue

A/N: Sooo cheesy but I couldn't help it guys, I just couldn't. Enjoy.

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Epilogue

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"KEEP THEM AWAY FROM HER!" Mother is shouting, a blood-curdling shriek that makes the skin on my neck tingle in pain.

We moved to Forks because grandma on my Mother's side is very ill, and she's going to live with us now. I've just turned ten, so Mother says that I'm a big girl, and can help out. Grandma is going to be like a baby, Mother says, with diapers and everything.

We've just unpacked the last box, and so I guess Dad has invited his old school friends over to celebrate. I was visiting Grandpa and Grandma, since they're not moved in yet, but Grandma's hip is bothering her so he drove me home early.

I just walked in, and Dad came to say hi. His friends are all like him, tan and brown, with weathered faces and strong hair. They gleam with a sort of youthful exuberance, and I want to meet them all. Uncle Jacob is there, whom I already know. He would come visit us in Seattle sometimes, where Mother worked as a nurse. And sometimes when Dad took trips, he'd bring Uncle Jacob back with him.

I wonder why I've never met the rest of them before, and why Mother is running out of the kitchen, holding a butcher's knife and looking wild.

It's too late, of course, I've already entered the living room, shaking hands with several of the older men. One boy comes up to me, and he's definitely not old enough to be one of Dad's friends, he looks like a high schooler, maybe eighteen but probably not even that.

"Hey," he says. "I'm Seth."

And then I'm falling through empty space, the black walls of the universe pressing down from all sides, in a crazy windmill that might be more accurately called careening. Stars explode and I finally force my eyes back open, to find myself staring back at Seth. His eyes are curiously hazel-tinted, with greeny-gold flecks throughout the brown, and I sink into them as easily as I sank into the void.

He is looking at me with a strange expression, an expression probably similar to mine, and I offer him a timid smile. He smiles back at me, and I find myself taking a step back, running to hug mother despite the knife, wishing I were smaller so I could hide behind her legs. Something in his smile scared me, hinted at things I wasn't ready to deal with yet.

Mother hands her knife to Dad, glaring at him and Seth with an expression that says she'd rather be using it to gut them, and wraps her arms around me.

"It's okay, sweetie," she says, patting my hair, and then looks at Dad.

"Quil Atera, I am going to kill you."

Dad simply smiles, leaning forward to peck her on the cheek, toying with a strand of her hair. "Oh, Little Flower," he murmurs. "Would you really have it any other way?"