A/n: Okay so this is really long but I was hoping to give you something you like and could chew on while I'm writing the next chapter. Love to hear what you think and what I can fix so REVIEW!!!
Much love,
~That Silver Ring~
"5, 6, 7, 8…"
Claire was fiddling with the necklace that I got her for her birthday last year; she did this when ever she was nervous. Five year old Claire was going to her first day of dance. Sarah was driving and I was in the passenger seat by request of Claire herself.
"What if they all make fun of me?" Claire asked looking out the window.
"Don't worry sweetie you'll be fine," Sarah reassured her but Claire turned and bore her big green eyes into me.
"Claire you'll be amazing, you dance around the kitchen all of the time, you're a natural ballerina." I told her, getting her to smile.
"I do, don't I!?, thanks Quil." And with that she went to looking out the window once more. But when we finally got to the studio, which was in Forks, Claire was all worked up again. I went around to her side of the car to get her out of it. With pink dance bag in hand Claire, Sarah, and I entered the studio. Inside was a group of moms and their daughters, all who were around Claire's age. One woman, who was in tights and a leotard, took us into one of the many rooms. There were chairs outside of it for the parents to wait on while to girls danced in the mirrored room itself. The woman, who was very cheerful, gave a short speech about the studio and what the girls would be learning. Then she told the moms to leave the room and for the girls to get on their ballet shoes; it was time for class! I squatted down next to Claire and took the small, pink, ballet shoes out of her bag and helped her slip them on. With a quick hug and a hurried "thanks" she skipped off to sit in the circle of girls in the middle of the room.
"How nice of you son to come see your daughter off at her first day of class," I heard someone talking to Sarah as I stood up.
"He's not my son," she corrected, "Quil's just a good family friend and my daughter, Claire, if just fascinated with him. He's her best friend."
"Oh," the woman replied back unsure of what to say. Sarah and I grabbed seats so that we could see Claire giggling and dancing with the other girls. Before I knew it the hour class was over and an out of breathe Claire was excitedly running to me, to tell me everything.
"Quil, it was so much fun!"
"What did I tell you? I knew that you would have a great time."
"I did, I really did Quil!"
I skipped with Claire all the way back to the car and buckled her in. All the way home, Claire's face held her little glowing smile.
xxXxx
It was August but Claire was already trying out for a Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker to be exact. I found the whole thing to be too early to be worrying about a Christmas show, but Sarah told me that this dance company was very serious and wanted things to be perfect. Of course, Claire was all excited. She was dressed in a black leotard and pink tights; she looked like the perfect dancer. Claire was now six but had done exceedingly well in her dance classes, and her teacher, Miss Darcy, suggested for her to try out for this ballet. Claire was nervous, fiddling with her wolf necklace; it was giving me Déjà Vu from last year when Sarah and I were driving her to her first ever dance class.
We got Claire there early so she could warm up and get situated before she had to start dancing. They took her name and Sarah had to fill out this little sheet of paper for her before Claire could get her number, she was to be #12. Claire did all that she could to prepare for this moment, but now it was time for her and the other girls her age to go in and dance.
"We were brought into the room and we just danced, like it was a class," Claire said her voice shaking. Her nerves got the best of her after she did stuff like this. "I messed up so bad, you wouldn't even believe it. I won't make it, I just know it. The other girls were way better then me and I was way taller then the rest of them."
"Claire you'll do fine, I bet they didn't even see your mistakes. I mean how could they see every little detail of your dancing when they were trying to watch all those girls at once? I bet you that they didn't even notice," Sarah said to her.
I grabbed Claire up in a hug before opening the car door for her. "Claire, you did fantastic I just know it. Just wait, in two weeks you'll get a letter in the mail telling you made the company."
I turned out to be right. Claire got her company acceptance letter just two weeks after the tryout date. She screamed and danced around the house with her letter for five whole minutes. Practices were to begin in just a week, and at the first one Claire would find out what she was going to be.
"I'm going to be a mouse I just know it, that's what all the girls my age are."
"What's wrong with being a mouse?" I asked her in the car ride to her first practice. Sarah was working so I got the honor of taking Claire.
"Oh nothing I guess." I laughed at Claire's weary response.
Claire did end up being a mouse, but she also got the honor of being the snow princess. The company manager came up to me when I came to collect Claire after she was done dancing.
"This little one has a lot of talent, Mr…."
"Ateara"
"Well I'm very glad that Claire decided to tryout. See you next weekend."
"Sounds like we have a star on our hands!?" I told Claire once the woman had walked away, her high ballet bun swaying as she did. Claire just giggled at me and skipped to the car.
The company manager, whose name is Daniel, was completely right. In the ballet, Claire stood out form her peers; she was amazing. Sarah agreed with me and was so glad that Claire had found a promising talent.
After the show, Sarah and Claudia, who had gone to gather Claire and all her stuff from the dressing room, met me in the lobby of the theater. Claire ran right into my open arms.
"You were the cutest bear out of them all. I think I will call you Clairebear"
"Quil I was a MOUSE!"
"Hahaha I was just kidding sweetie, but you looked great."
"Thank you, can I do it again next year?" Sarah gave me an assuring nod and I told Claire that yes, she could keep doing the show for as long as she wanted to. Claire made many friends by being in the company, and she started to dance more and more. Her skills were quickly growing despite her young age.
xxXxx
Seven year old Claire was doing so well at dance, her teachers had moved her up into higher level classes. She was even starting to do a form of torture that dancers call dancing en pointe. It's where they wear these shoes with wood in the toes, which is flat. It allows them to go up on their toes. I remember the day that Claire came home from her first class en pointe. She had tears in her eyes and she kept saying that her feet hurt really, really bad. I felt so bad for her that when we got back to her house I insisted on coming in and tending to Claire; I hated to see her in pain. Through slight bursts of pain, she told me that she actually loved dancing in the shoes, but that at the end of class her feet were just in so much pain. She also told me that her teacher said she would adjust quickly, her feet just needed to harder up.
Once again, Claire's teacher was right. Her feet did end up getting used to the harsh dancing and pointe ended up being her favorite class. Claire was so graceful like a fairy and was constantly dancing around the house when I watched her and Claudia. I personally think that dance was one of the best things Sarah ever did for her.
For Claire's seventh birthday I had gotten her a new chain for her necklace. The old one was too small on Claire and she couldn't dance with it being that tight. She never took it off. Not when she was sleeping, dancing, at school, or just around the house, I never saw Claire take it off. I was just worried about what would happen next year, when she would be eight, the infamous year in which we would be telling her about the pack. Would she be frightened when she found out what that the little charm was actually me??
xxXxx
"Sarah, I don't think I can do this."
"Quil, yes you can. It's not just your relationship with her that is one the lines, all of ours are," Sam said making a sweeping gesture with his hand allowing me to survey the faces of the Pack. We were all sitting in Sam and Emily's living room.
"Quil, me and Sam wouldn't have chosen the age of eight if we didn't think it would be best for Claire." As Sarah said this I looked around the room once more; to me they were just a bunch of burly, misfit guys who were bonded by what they are. But how would Claire see them? Me? Especially once she knew that we are werewolves.
Claire's birthday was a week ago and she was now eight. I had Sarah and Sam let me take a week to think about telling Claire before we all sat down and decided when to actually tell her. My week was up and I still didn't know what to do. I'd been contemplating the whole scene in my mind, trying to map it out, so all went well. The Pack was so annoyed by this, but I was totally clueless.
"Okay, so here's what we'll do, unless Quil comes up with anything better, which I highly doubt." Sam teased. "Sarah will spend the day with Claire, we'll have Claud out with a friend, and she will tell her that we all have something very special to tell her but that she has to be a "big girl" about it. Then she'll bring Claire here where we will be waiting to tell her our secret and answer whatever questions she has. And last but not least we will show her our wolf forms. Any questions or comments?
"No, Nope, Not Really," the Pack all replied. My response, however, was slightly delayed. "Yeah okay. Sounds easy enough."
"Great," Sam said clapping his hands together, "now that that's settled, when do you think would be a good time to execute this plan?" he asked turning to Sarah.
"How about Saturday, does that work for everyone?" the whole Pack said 'yeah', and that was it, meeting adjourned. My future was set. Paul, Embry, Seth and the rest of the Pack left but I stayed behind to talk to Sarah.
"Hey Sarah, are you sure Claire can handle this? I mean," But she cut me off there. "Quil, she's eight, she'll be okay."
The days came and went and next thing I knew it was Saturday. Sam had me stay at his house, so I couldn't go and listen in to Sarah and Claire's conversation.
Claire's POV
A/n: Yay! I'm finally introducing Claire's POV, but I still don't know if I will keep it up.
Okay so I was totally lost. My mom made Claudia go over to a friend's house and now we are just sitting here. She was acting very weird like she was nervous and upset at the same time.
"Hey Mom. What's wrong," she stopped me there by raising her hand.
"Okay Claire, it's time you know something."
"Okay, tell me."
"You know Uncle Sam and all of his and Emily's friends; well they have a secret that we have decided to tell you." I still didn't know where this was going but I shook my head in a 'yes' manner. "Okay well Clairebear here's the thing," (ever since my first dance in the Nutcracker Quil's nickname for me had really caught on.) "So you know uncle Sam and his friends?" she asked again.
"Yeah, of course I know them, I hang out with one every day, Quil, remember?!" I giggled at this trying to loosen up the feeling in the room, it was all way too stuffy. She started to laugh as well but then got serious once more.
"Okay, well we are going to go over to Sam and Emily's and meet up with the whole lot of them. Then they will all tell you their secret, okay?"
"Yeah, sure, will Quil be there?" she nodded her head and rolled her eyes with a smile at my response to this. It took a lot to separate Quil and I. "Then let's get going!" I pressed
"Well first we have to make sure that you realize you can not tell anyone, that includes your school friends and even Claudia."
"What," I went off, "I can't tell Claud?!" I wasn't so much upset as I was surprised. If I wasn't able to tell my own sister, this must be big. Gosh I can't wait to know something that she doesn't. Now that I was settled, I answered, "Okay, yeah, sure. I'm all in! Let's go to Aunt Em's." Mom kept giving me questioning glances but we got into the car and drove to Sam and Emily's. When we got to the door Emily answered the bell and brought us in. As soon as I stepped into the big, cozy, home, I could smell the woods. Quil, Uncle Sam, and all of their friends always smelled like the outdoors and I loved it. Once I continued my way into the living room, the house seemed to shrink. There had to be at least twenty guys, all about Quil's size packed into the room! I knew most of them very well, but others I had only seen at family parties. I looked around the room at them all. They all were totally relaxed except for one who was hunched over from his spot on the couch. I knew immediately that it was my Quil from his chocolate brown hair. I didn't have the time to see what was wrong with him for I was being shoved down into a chair that Em had brought from the kitchen. Sam got up and started to give a lecture, but I wasn't too keen on paying attention, I was more focused on looking at all of the guys. I have never noticed it before but they all looked so much alike. All of them are tan and tall and HUDGE. They were all no shorter than six foot five. And even though I knew they ranged in age from sixteen to roughly thirty, they all looked a young twenty. Finally I was snapped back into attention by Sam saying my name. He had apparently noticed that I was not listening.
"Claire! Please listen. Okay so to repeat myself, if you have noticed all of us here have a very tight connection between us. We are practically brothers, part of a group, or a pack you might say. Claire, you know that our tribe legends right? The ones about how we are from wolves," he paused only slightly to give me the time to nod. "Well what if I was to tell you that they are true, and we, all of us, can change into wolves?" I had a great erg to laugh but something inside of me knew that now was defiantly not the time. I scanned the room and all of them were staring keenly at me, as to survey my first reaction to this. All I could muster in response was another nod. In a way this did make sense. All of them were like a big pack. They ate like animals, and always felt more comfortable outdoors. In all actuality I had looked into this before. After being told the legends as bed time stories from Quil I have had vivid dreams of them. One that I have over and over is of my uncle and his group going for a run, but all I see is these big wolf like creatures in the forest around the Rez. I never thought that my dreams held some fraction of reality. "I believe you." I found myself saying. "Yes, I understand. But I have one question" I said this as I moved my focus from Sam to Quil. "May I see what you all look like?" The room seemed to breath just then due to everyone letting out their breathes. I had not noticed this but everyone in the room aside form me had been holding his or her breath. Sam was the first one to register what I asked. He said yes and that that was really part of the plan.
He led the group of us outside and into a big clearing in the woods. My mother, aunt and I were left alone in it for only the smallest amount of time. Next thing I knew, a procession of giant wolf like creatures was coming out of an opening in the circle of trees. It was the same one in fact that the men had exited out of; this, of course, was the Pack. Aunt Emily named them off as each made it's way in front of us and bowed its head. "That's your Uncle, and there's Jake, and Embrey, Seth, Brady, Collin…." The list seemed endless. But finally the last wolf came into the clearing. It was a beautiful chocolate brown. It's fur was the same color as Quil's hair. "Quil," I whispered. The wolves head snapped up at this. He must have heard me. This wolf did something different then the rest; he came over and gently pushed into my side, kind of like a cat would. I put my hand in his fur. He was so soft; I just couldn't get over it. I jumped at the howl that came from the wolf who I knew was my uncle. It must have been some kind of single because as soon as it was over the Pack was marching back out of the clearing. The included Quil, who, if I was not mistaken, looked sad to go.
Later that day I found myself not able to shut up. I spent a solid four hours talking with Quil in my living room. He explained to me the details of being a wolf, including the ability to be immortal. I found the whole thing very cool, and thought about how fun it would be to be a wolf, maybe one like Leah. Quil had relaxed from this afternoon but still was on edge. He was acting as if the whole thing would hit me at a later time and I would go running from the room in fear at any second. But I was okay with the idea. I just sat there asking away while fiddling with my necklace.
"So, you figured out it was me." Quil stated more then asked.
"Yeah, I just knew it was you. And the color of your fur was a big hint." At this he gave me a confused look. "Well your hair and fur are both the same chocolate brown color." He apparently hadn't noticed this for himself, and laughed at how dumb he had been not to. Our conversation had been a good one full of serious moments and giggles. I only really had one question left. "Okay so pertaining to my necklace." At this a smile spread across his face. "I take it that it is supposed to be you?" He gave me another pleased look, glad that I was putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
"Yeah, I made the wolf for you when you were younger. It was like a hint, a small part of my other half for you to have."
"Oh I get it!" With that I embraced Quil into a tight hug. A switch seemed to click in him then, that I was not bound to flee from the room and never want to see him of any of my family friends again.
On my eighth birthday Quil had came over to celebrate with a few family members. I told my mother that I didn't want a big party, but just a small get together. This year Quil had got me yet another chain for my necklace. I had broken the last one while dancing around and was unable to wear it for a week! But what was different was that along with the new chain Quil had gotten me a paw print charm to go along with my carved wolf. I did not know till the day that they told me the family secret that these charms represented much, much, more then symbols of a mythical being. I have the feeling that I will have an interesting and different childhood then most girls my age.
A/n: (Insert evil laugh here) little does Claire know that her life is about to take a huge tumble….well I don't have any of the next chapter written but like a sentence, and I'm going on vacay so all ya'll are going to have to wait, but I will most likely write a lot and be able to post like uber the following week, in which I willl get back. I hope you guys are liking this so far and are not getting confused by me doing an exert of Claire's life then referring back to her birthday, I just wasn't sure how to write it. Oh and BIG news I'm changing the title…duh duh duhhhh to A Quick Hug and a Hurried Thanks…..hope that's okay and you like it…well review!!!!
Mucho love,
~That Silver Ring~