A/N: I know, I know. Long, Long, Long time since I updated, but I've been sleeping all day and night…so, sorry!

Disclaimer: do not own twilight or any of its characters. It all belongs to Stephenie Meyer and her wonderfully awesome imagination.

POV: Bella

As Paul and I were walking back towards Jakes house, which is practically mine, we were talking and we started to get to know each other, and behind all of his anger, he's a really swell guy. But no one knows that because they just see him as a temper mental jackass, but it's all a front, a mask, so he can protect himself from all of the judgmental people that live in this town.

"So, what's your favorite food?" he asked me as we were walking down Jakes street.

"Fried chicken fettuccini Alfredo. It's so delicious," I said dreamily.

"I've never heard of it before," Paul said, looking down at the ground.

"Well then, I'll just have to make it for you one night," I told him excitedly. If there's something that I love more than playing Abbie, it's cooking, and I'm a damn good cook.

"Just me or everyone?" he asked, smirking.

"I'll have to think about that," I said before yawning. "I'm tired and Jakes probably stole his bed back from me," I said when Paul looked over.

"What's wrong with your own bed?" he asked.

"Pink. My whole room is pink, and I hate the color. I can't wait until Charlie has it remodeled and expanded," I said, snarling out the word pink.

"You really hate pink don't you?" All I had to do was nod my head yes very fast and he laughed at me. He became thoughtful, or at least he looked thoughtful.

"What's going through that head of yours?" I asked him, really wanting to know what he was thinking about.

"Imprinting. Does it really make you feel as if you've been forced into an arranged marriage?" he asked me sounding so sad, that I didn't know how to answer him at first.

"Kind of, I mean the whole idea of finding your soul mate is in a way, really absurd. The way that I see it, with the whole imprinting thing, is that it turns you into a softer person; it molds you into that perfect fit for the person that's supposed to love you for the rest of your life. It takes the choices that you should be allowed to make on your own away from you, sure it gives you the choice to be whatever the imprintee needs you to be, but it always ends up with a broken heart for someone out there," I said, trying to explain it as best as I could.

"You're wrong about one thing that you said earlier," he told me.

"What do you mean? I said a lot of things earlier," I asked, completely confused about where he was going with this.

"What you said about me, I'm never going to be able to fall in love with someone else, no one's going to be able to make me happy unless you're happy. You're not plain; you're far from plain. You are a very gorgeous woman who has a lot to offer to anyone whether they know it or not. You're strong willed and you have great wit that would scare anyone, well anyone except for me," he said which caused me to giggle some. "But that's not the point that I'm trying to make. My point is, is that you're my imprint, when you walked through that gate behind Charlie earlier, I knew that you could be anything and everything to me, for me, but for you as well," we had stopped walking at that point, standing in front of Jakes house. "Just know that I'll be whatever you need me to be, and that I'll always be on your side," he told me. I heard an 'aw' come from inside and realized that they were listening to us.

I smiled softly at Paul then, knowing that it would have taken him a lot of balls to say that to anyone with the chances of the rest of the pack listening in. "Thank you, Paul, but I need time to think everything that I've either been told or learned through, and I need sleep," I told him.

"I understand, I need to think a lot of stuff through, like how I just ripped my balls off of myself and gave them to you," he said to me softly. I leaned up onto my tippy-toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek before saying bye to him and going inside to kick Jake out of his bed.

When I walked into Jakes house I saw everyone but Paul there. "Does everyone stay up this late or is it just the monsters that go bump in the night?" I asked them looking at everyone before walking back towards Jakes room to go back to bed. "Maybe it is just the monsters that go bump in the night," I muttered to myself.

"Is she always that…cynical about life?" I heard Jared ask someone.

"Nope, last year I wasn't this bad, I'm getting worse by the year!" I shouted back so everyone who wasn't asleep would be able to hear me without anyone having to repeat it.

POV: Billy

Late night, early morning, whatever you would like to call it, all of the wolves minus the three that are on patrol, Bella, and Paul were all gathered around my living room with their half asleep imprints, or in Claire's case, sleeping, knocked out to the world, not a care to have to deal with. But me on the other hand, I'd have to explain some things to the boys about Bella, stuff that she wouldn't willingly tell anyone else, things that you'd only get from someone by watching, and that's all that I've been doing when I saw her.

"Gather round here guys," I told the pack, sitting in my wheelchair in the corner of the moderately sized living room.

"Billy, what happened to her to make her so negative?" Emily asked sweetly, attempting to not fall asleep.

"She was hurt emotionally and mentally her whole life. Her mother started it after Abigail's death, first it was criticism, saying that nothing was ever done right, that it was Bella's fault that Abigail was dead, she did that until she heard Bella playing her guitar, attempting to escape the reality that she lived in. That's when she started to pay attention to Bella, but she only did that when the guitar was around, or if there was someone else in the room with them. Charlie noticed that something was off, but he didn't know what it was, but unless Bella had Abbie with her, then Renee was cold, distant, and then when Renee served up the divorce papers, Charlie was shocked and resigned. He thought that something like that would be coming, but with Renee you could never be sure about anything.

"So then she runs off, taking Bella with her. At this point in time, Bella's only 7, and by the time that she was 10, Renee was forcing her to sing at parties that she would throw, so Bella continued to write, she continued to sing, and that's about the time that Renee met Phil. They started dating, still threw parties, Bella still had to sing, nothing changed at all. Whenever Bella called to talk to Jake, he would always put the phone on speaker, and I would just listen. I could hear the pain and distress in her voice but was too afraid to say anything, knowing that Renee had her conditions stating that whenever Bella called anyone she had to have the phone on speaker.

"When Phil hit the big leagues, Renee coerced him into sending a tape of Bella to recording studios, at first though Phil disagreed, said that it wasn't right, but Renee persuaded him to do it, and so he did, and that's how Bella's 'career' took off. Wherever Phil went with his team, Bella had a concert, during the off season for Phil, Renee forced Bella into recording studios to record, or she forced her to do talk shows and interviews. At first Bella thought that she was living the life, she was famous and she had her fans, she thought that she was happy," I told them, pausing for a moment when I had a glass of water put in my hand. I looked up and saw that Kim had gotten me the glass and I smiled my thanks to her, taking a sip of the water.

"That poor soul," Embry said quietly, causing everyone to look at him, he was a quiet person sure, but he's always joking, he's never serious like he is now, this must be affecting him greatly.

"Yeah, by the time that she was 12, she started to become cynical," I told them quietly hoping that they wouldn't hear, but with the super hearing, they did.

"What do you mean dad?" my son asked me, very confused.

"Do you remember that rushed phone call that you had with her, it was only like 5 minutes long and at midnight, with Bella whispering?" I asked him, waiting for his nod of confirmation, before I explain it to everyone else, when he nodded, I started up again. "When that happened, she was crying softly, but she said that she hated what she had become, that Renee was forcing her to be something that she didn't want to be. She wasn't herself, she was who Renee wanted her to be, and when Bella said that my heart broke for her because I knew that she wouldn't be able to get away from Renee for a while, so I told her that by the time that she's 16 she should be able to get custody transferred over to Charlie, but Renee wouldn't let that happen until she was 17, but then Bella started to date that Cullen kid and she sounded happy when she got around to calling which was less and less, and for three days she disappeared, went somewhere and when she came back she was badly bruised, had a bite mark on her right wrist, but she was happy with him so when Charlie found out, he didn't do anything to make her mad at him because that's all that he wants, he wants his little girl to be happy. Then two weeks ago she calls Jake crying…again and then she went off on him for about an hour and hung up the phone. What was said, I'm not sure, but since she's been here, before she transformed, and even now, all she has known is loneliness, pain, and heartbreak, it's why she's so cynical, so negative, so sad," I said, looking at all of their faces when a howl went up and all of the wolves jumped up and ran out the back door, well all of the wolves minus Bella who was probably knocked out.

"What do you suggest we do about the sleeping Bella?" Emily asked me. "Should we wake her or should we just let her sleep?"

"Let her sleep. If Sam asks, I'll tell him that it was my decision, after everything that has happened today, she flies in, meets a bunch of new people, finds out that her ex is a vampire, that she's a wolf, and that she has a soul mate that she doesn't want to believe is hers, she needs sleep, she needs to process things to a degree or she'll be a cranky bitch when she's awake," I said laughing at the shocked faces of Emily and Kim.

"You called your niece a bitch?" Kim asked me.

"Well, she is a bitch both figuratively and literally, is she not?" I asked her.

"I wouldn't know, I hardly know her, although with that back story, it sounds almost like Paul's life, just that she's not temperamental," Kim replied back.

"It seems as if they are alike in many ways. Paul wants someone better for her, and she wants the same for him, when they won't take the facts as it is and be happy together," Emily said.

"She's stubborn, that's for sure," I told her. "You two should be getting some sleep, go in Jakes room and take Claire with you, there should be enough room on his bed for all of you to fit, just push Bella off to one side," I said before wheeling myself back the hall and into my room to attempt to get some sleep, and I guess I did.

It was about 7 in the morning when I woke to hushed whispers and then a shrill scream that sounded like Bella. I quickly got into my wheelchair and wheeled down the hall. Jakes door was crowded with people, I couldn't see in and I couldn't wheel past them either.

"What's going on?" I heard Emily asked, sounding very sleepy.

"I wake up and there's about 5 faces just staring down at me, and I don't even know them that well and they think that they can just enter my own personal bubble and breathe my air?" Bella shrieked back.

"EVERYONE, LIVING ROOM, NOW!" I shouted, getting looks of shock from a lot of them before they started moving towards the living room and finding a seat. Once everyone was there, I looked at Bella who was glaring at Quil, Embry, Seth, Jared, and Sam, who all had their heads down in shame. "Now, very quietly explain, and one person at a time," I said.

"I woke up and saw those five," Bella said pointing towards the ones that she was glaring at, "standing above me, just staring and it looked like one of them was about to poke me. You know how I am about being poked Uncle Billy," she finished, still glaring at the boys.

"Bella, go cook something, I'll talk to them," I told her before I pointed at the five and told them to go outside. "Emily take a rest on the cooking today, she won't poison it, she'll be fine, she's stingy when it comes to the kitchen, just rest," I said to the look of protest on Emily's face before following the boys outside. "Now, what's your problems?" I asked.

"She didn't respond to the call last night and when we get in there it looked like she was cuddling with Kim," Jared said, sounding jealous.

"She didn't respond to the call because I told Emily to let her sleep, she's a right bitch when she wakes up without enough sleep, now why were you all standing above her?"

"She talks in her sleep," Seth said quietly, causing me to laugh loudly at that.

"Okay, and who was going to poke her and why?" I asked, looking at Quil because I just knew that it was him.

"Uh…me, and because I wanted to see if she would squeal like all girls do when they're poked in the side," he said. "But Sam ordered me too!" he added quickly, causing me to stare at Sam in shock.

"What I was curious too!" he replied.

"Okay, know this, when Bella is asleep she's always very aware of her surroundings, if she thinks that there is a threat, her subconscious mind will alert her and she will go berserk on you. Also, never poke her. Ever, she will kick your ass until you're bruised all over. Is that clear?" I asked them, waiting for them to respond in some way.

"Yeah, I guess," they all responded, sighing slightly.

"Good, now go in there and apologize to Bella," I growled out as best as I could.

"Why would they need to apologize to Bella, Billy?" Charlie asked as him and Paul walked up the stairs to get onto the porch.

"They decided that they were going to stand over her while she was asleep and then apparently Sam ordered Quil to poke her and you know how she is with that," I responded before rolling myself back inside to talk with the others some more.

Sam, Jared, Seth, Quil, and Embry followed behind me and just stood there looking confused, while Charlie went to find a seat on the sofa after kicking Jake off of it, and Paul walked towards the kitchen? Oh that's not good.

"Paul," Jake called, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Why not?" Paul asked, slightly miffed.

"There are knives in there and with how she woke up this morning I'd say that she's not in the best of moods," Jake said in a stage whisper. Paul just had this huge smirk on his face that just screamed trouble before he turned back around and just stood in the doorway of the kitchen for a moment before knocking on the frame.

She must have done something to acknowledge his presence because he asked if it was okay if he came into the kitchen with her, and then he turned around, gave us a smug smile, and walked in.

"Okay, I feel like I'm missing something here," Charlie said, breaking the silence that was going on.

"Well Uncle Charlie, you see…well uhm, you may not like this so remove your gun belt and stay seated," Jake said slowly. "They may or may not have imprinted on each other?" he continued making it a question at the end.