Guys, we have Jared and Paul. I hope you're ready for this!
I can tell you I was super excited for these two to finally show up. There's gonna be a lot of bonding going on here.
Surrender
Twilight
Sam Uley / OC
The great thing about new friends is that they bring new energy to your soul
A groan escaped me when an obnoxious ringing sound flooded my dreams. My arm reached out from under my blanket, blindly searching for my phone. I found it, after knocking my current reading project (Howl's Moving Castle - I was on a British literature kick) from the bedside table, and dragged it inside the warm cocoon I had created for myself. I cracked an eye reluctantly, squinting at the bright screen that lit up my room. Ouch.
Sam Calling
A second, louder groan sounded when my eyes turned up to the clock in the corner of my screen.
7:45
It was too early to be awake on a Saturday that wasn't dedicated to hiking. Sam was crazy.
"If this isn't you calling to tell me that you're stood at my door wearing just a thong I'm hanging up and going back to bed," I threatened in a croak, thick with sleep. I wasn't good when I was woken up before my time. It took a long while (and some caffeine-related help) for me to wake up enough to grace human presence with an acceptable amount of enthusiasm.
"No door, no thong." He didn't sound the least bit apologetic. If anything, he sounded amused. Ass.
I hung up.
I'd just rolled over to go back to sleep again when my phone rang again. I huffed and took a second to consider just leaving it to ring out. Why talk to my boyfriend this early in the morning if he wasn't gracing me with his scantily clad presence?
"You hung up? Seriously?" he asked, laughing.
"Hey, I warned you. No thong, no girlfriend."
His deep, rich laughter was infectious. I found myself chuckling along with him as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and pushed myself to sit up, propped against the headboard."Can I convince you to get up and come over to La Push today? Even though I've disappointed you with my lack of thong? That you'll never get me to wear, just so we're on the same page." I whined. Damn. He'd look good in one, too. "No. So, La Push? I want you to meet the new pack member."
"New pack member?" I was less groggy now, and marginally less sore about the apparent ban on thongs. "So last night...?" Our (extremely cheesy) date had been cut short, and neither of us were sure whether it was an actual wolf that had wandered far too close to the Rez, or whether it was a new werewolf on the block. Sam had gone off to play Sherlock Holmes while I had cleaned up and taken myself home. This call must have been him checking in with the news of his discovery.
"Yeah. Jared Cameron." He spoke the name in a way that made me feel like I should know it. I supposed if I was from La Push, I would know. It was such a small place, with a population of less than four hundred, that I was sure everyone knew everyone there. It was like that in Forks, and we had ten times the amount of people. "I know his older brother," he clarified when he didn't get any noises of recognition out of me. "He tags along sometimes. He's only fourteen."
"Fourteen?" Shit, that was young to go through such a life-changing transformation. Kid had barely started going through puberty, and now he had to add werewolfism to his growing list of shit to deal with? Being a teenager was hard enough without having a furry little problem. "How's he taking it?"
I could hear his eyes rolling through the phone. "He's thrilled. Werewolves, y'know?"
A little laugh bubbled up. Yeah, I suppose I could see the allure. Spending your life being surrounded by supernatural fiction, then finding out that the fiction you were hung up over is actually real is incredible. That bit I knew from experience. To find out you were one of those supernaturals? It must have been like every Christmas coming all at once. But it was still a huge change. As cool as it sounded, I wasn't so sure I'd be thrilled if it happened to me. I'd already seen the shitty side of Werewolfism. "I'll bet. So when do you want me to show up and scare the shit out of the newbie?"
"Is an hour enough time to get ready for a little hike? The weather's supposed to be pretty good. I want to build a bonfire on Third Beach and spend the day."
I hadn't been to Third Beach in ages, and a good La Push bonfire in even longer. How did he managed to get me excited about being up and ready before nine am on a Saturday in a five-minute conversation? Could werewolves be witches, too? "An hour is plenty. I'll meet you two at the trailhead at nine. Is there anything you want me to bring?"
Sam was sat on a bench by the kiosk at the top of the trail to Third Beach, chatting with an excitable kid when I arrived. That must have been Jared.
Sam had his back to me. Perfect.
I carefully set my bag down and began creeping towards him, pressing my finger to my lips when Jared caught sight of me.
Bless him, Jared kept Sam occupied pretty damn well as I continued creeping, avoiding crunching the gravel beneath my feet, and holding my breath as I got closer. Super werewolf hearing would catch me out if I wasn't super careful. My hands dropped down on Sam's shoulders and I whispered 'boo' into his ear. No reaction. I pouted, my hands sliding from his shoulders and around his neck to hug him from behind. "You could at least pretend to act surprised."
His hands found my wrists, holding them gently. His thumbs pushed under the sleeves of my shirt, rubbing tenderly over the skin. One thumb just caught the edge of a scar. "I'm not that great of an actor," he responded dryly, turning his head to kiss me. His lips found my jaw first, then peppered my skin with little kisses as he went in search for my lips.
I was chuckling quietly by the time our lips met. The kiss was gentle, slow and unhurried.
"So this is Peggy?" Jared asked when we pulled back, eager for introductions.
"This is," I replied with a nod, resting my chin on Sam's shoulder, and shifting onto the edge of the bench so I was knelt on it behind Sam rather than standing over him awkwardly. "And you're Jared, right? The newest member of the cock-your-leg-when-you-piss patrol."
"Peggy!" Sam elbowed me, which made Jared and I laugh.
I kissed Sam's cheek, then nuzzled against it. "I'm not judging. Just... taking the piss a little."
Sam gave an all-suffering sigh then gave his thigh a purposeful slap. "All right, let's get moving before Peg finds another way to insult us."
The only warning I got that he was planning something was when a grin lit up his face. His hands grabbed my forearms firmly and he shot to his feet, holding me in place before the warning could even register. The sudden shift had me clinging to him tightly. "Sam!" I shrieked, laughing as I wrapped my legs around his waist. "A little warning next time? You're such a dick!"
He laughed, hands dropping from my arms to my thighs, and pulling them upwards to adjust me on his back. "Let's get going. Grab her bag, Jared."
"You're going to carry me to the beach?" I rested my cheek against the side of his head as Sam began trudging towards the trail. Jared fell in line with us, my bag slung over one shoulder. "When you asked me if I fancied a hike down to Third Beach, I thought I might actually be hiking. Is that a strange assumption to make?"
"Very," he replied simply.
I shook my head with a smile, squeezing my arms around him. "So, Jared. You've been a werewolf for a whole five minutes, but how are you liking it so far? Before the fleas get to you? That's Sam's least favourite part, y'know; the fleas. His favourite is the endless hours of amusement he gets from chasing his tail." I clung to Sam tightly when he jerked me roughly, almost letting me drop to the floor. "Asshole."
Another peal of laughter came from Jared. "I love it. I grew up with stories about them - the tribe's protectors. Who'd have thought that they were real? That I was one of them? It's so cool!" His face lit up as he spoke, and the hand not holding my bag strap waved in excited gesticulations. He was so genuinely psyched about becoming a werewolf. It was one thing speculating why on the phone with Sam this morning and another seeing exactly how excited he truly was face to face. It was like becoming a werewolf was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
"Until you get fleas," I teased.
"Until I get fleas," he agreed with the same jovial light-heartedness.
"No one's getting fleas." Sam shook his head. I could almost hear his eyes rolling.
I grinned against his neck. "Good, 'cause I would definitely make you wear a flea collar, and they're not exactly the most fashion-forward things in the world. Not sure I wanna be seen around someone wearing a dog collar."
A whoosh of shocked air escaped me when the world suddenly shifted. My ass hit the ground. A shock of pain ran through me. Shit, ouch! In retaliation, my foot lashed out to his ankle. It buckled under the blow, and Sam dropped, catching himself before he could actually hit the ground. Damn. I'd hoped that he would end up on the floor right beside me.
"Almost," Sam teased, offering his hand to help me up. He hauled me up, then dropped an arm around my shoulders.
Jared was red-faced and almost crying with laughter as he followed us. "You two are hilarious together!"
"Honey, Sam's hilarious by himself," I teased, digging my fingers into Sams hip.
Sam gave a great sigh, shaking his head as he pulled me closer. He failed at hiding his smile.
There were a lot of people at the beach that day - a lot of teens and young adults lounging around little bonfires, some with food, some with alcohol. Most were from La Push. I only counted a handful of non-Quileutes throughout the whole day.
By the time sunset came around, there were only two bonfires besides our own across the whole beach. One was occupied by a little family, and the other was empty for the moment - it's owners were a few feet out, passing a football between themselves.
I scooted closer to our bonfire, reaching my fingers out to warm them on the crackling blue flames.
Sam's attention shifted from his conversation with Jared (working out the kinks of patrolling the area every now and again for stray vampires - something I wasn't interested in listening to) to me. "You cold?" Before I could give an answer, he was shrugging out of his jacket. He shifted over to swing the jacket around my shoulders, drawing it around my body.
My hands gripped the jacket, pulling it closer. The heat coming from it was incredible. I'd never get over how hot Sam actually was. For someone with circulation problems, it was a godsend. My own personal handwarmer in the form of a boyfriend. "Thanks, hon." We shared a sweet little kiss.
"Don't mention it." Instead of moving back over towards Jared, Sam leaned against me, tucking me into his side.
I rested my head on his shoulder. I was starting to love being tucked in against his side like this.
When it seemed like the patrolling conversation wasn't going to start up again, I decided to shift ourselves back to something a little more human. "Hey, Jared, can you grab the shit from the middle pocket of my bag?"
Jared opened up my bag obediently, then wooped. "Smores? I haven't made smores since I was a kid."
I tutted. "Unacceptable, Mr Cameron. We have to remedy that immediately. Go find us some good marshmallow sticks."
He hopped up and disappeared towards the edge of the beach before I had even finished giving the order. There'd definitely be some good marshmallow roasting sticks around.
I watched him go. "He's a good kid, Sam. You'll look after him when you guys get into trouble, right? He's so young."
Sam's fingers entwined with mine, squeezing gently. "I won't let him get hurt." His thumb ran over my knuckles gently. "I don't even want him patrolling too much. Just enough to give him purpose. If we're lucky, he won't meet a vampire."
"Then let's hope we're lucky. I mean, what vampire wants to come to a small town?" Well, y'know, except the vampires that liked Sunnydale or Bon Temps, or Fell's Church... Okay, scratch the last question. Small towns were apparently a mecca for vampire activity. Maybe I should start walking around with garlic in my pocket. "Okay... Maybe we can chain him up in the backyard? Build him a dog house for shade?" I tilted my head up to grin at Sam, but bolted upright mid-way through the turn. "That's it!"
Sam's hand found my shoulder. "What's it?"
"Snoopy." My grin was wide. I'd cracked it. "I'm totally calling him Snoopy."
"Him? Jared?" Sam snorted. "Snoopy? Really?"
"What's with Snoopy?" Jared asked, holding up his haul to show us. Three really good marshmallow-roasting sticks.
"Just deciding your nickname, babe. Now gimme. I've been craving smores since I packed them this morning."
"Snoopy? I guess it's okay." He grimaced, showing me exactly the opposite. Too bad. I'd decided and my word was law on these nicknames. None of them were ever going away.
"It's perfect," I insisted.
The three of us dropped into light chatter while we made up our smores. We marshmallowed our sticks and held them out to the fire. Jared was a two-at-a-time roaster. Sam was a stick-it-right-into-the-flame-and-blacken-it roaster. I was a show-it-the-flame-and-it's-done roaster.
I was the first to chomp down on a completed smore.
"Whoa, head's up!"
A second later, I jerked forward with an oof. Something had hit the back of my shoulder. Hard. My smore went sailing right into the fire. Shit, what a waste.
Sam and Jared were on their feet before I recovered.
A guy ran towards us, looking sheepish. "Shit, sorry. You all right?"
Sam muscled forwards, stepping half in front of me. "Watch what you're doing, Lahote." His body was so tense it was shaking slightly. Jared was almost as bad.
"Hey!" I jumped to my feet, sweeping around Sam, laying a hand on his arm. "Chill. It was just a ball. What's with the testosterone?" I turned my head to the newbie. He was tall, was the first thing I noticed. A little taller than Jared, who was already taller than I was. He had Jared's youthful appearance, too. And the body-shaking tenseness. Why was everyone getting so worked up over a frigging errant football? "I'm fine, don't worry about it." I ducked to pick up the ball and held it out to him. "You and your guys wanna join us for smores? You're gonna have to find your own sticks, though."
"Peggy, what're you doing?" Jared grunted in my ear.
Lahote grinned. "Smores? Can't say no to that. We'll go grab some sticks."
When he disappeared, I was confronted with two not so happy campers. "What has the two of you so pissed off?"
"He hurt you." Sam. He was livid.
I rolled my eyes. "Seriously? He pegged me with a football. He didn't beat me to death. Stray footballs happen. Chill the fuck out, would you? Now, sit down, roast some marshmallows and enjoy tonight, because who fucking cares about a football?"
Sam held my gaze for a long moment before sighing. "Fine."
Despite himself: enjoy himself, he did. We all did, actually. It was great. There was an us and them divide between the two groups initially. It was clear Lahote (Paul) and his friends weren't close with Jared or Sam, though he and Jared were in the same school year and most of the same classes so knew each other pretty well. They got on well enough to make the night a pretty great one, and when Paul and I started belting out Scorpions together, the us and them divide dissolved completely.
Eventually the group began to peter out. Jared was the first to leave, followed shortly after by Paul and his friends. That left Sam and I alone.
"We're doomed to constantly share romantic moments together on the beach, aren't we?" I teased, walking my fingers up his chest as I cuddled closer to him. It was something I enjoyed. I hadn't really ever been one for fantasising about romantic moments on the beach, but the more of them I had with Sam, the more I was coming to enjoy them.
His hand came up, fingers encircling my wrist gently, pulling it up towards his mouth. "It a curse..." His voice faded out and his brows drew together. His fingers began tracing the raised ridges on my skin. "Your scars..."
My lips quivered in shock for a moment before I retreated a little, pulling my hand back. His grip tightened slightly, holding it hostage. "Sam..." I couldn't tell whether that was a warning or a plead. The waver in my voice made it sound way too much like a plead for my liking.
"You share a lot, Peggy. It's good. Refreshing. Sometimes getting reasons for why she's angry at me from Leah was like pulling teeth. You're always upfront about how you feel. It's great. There's no walking on eggshells, because there aren't any." His brows furrowed tighter. "But you don't tell me anything about the past. Nothing... emotional. Peggy, if I ask, will you tell me?"
I swallowed back the lump in my throat.
This had gotten very intense very quickly.
He was right, though. I knew he was right. The divide between us sharing the past was clear. Sam shared a lot. He was so open about pretty much every part of himself. I knew that some of his favourite moments in life were spent with Harry Clearwater, learning how to fish, or with his grandpa Levi, listening to stories about the tribe's history. I knew that he was at his worst when his father had come back to La Push when he was twelve for Levi's funeral, and Joshua wanted nothing to do with him. Didn't want to even look at him. I knew that he clashed a lot with his mom and struggled living with her, but loved her dearly. I knew the ups and downs of his life.
Me? I shared the here and now. If I wasn't happy with him, I told him. If I was happy, he knew. Emotions weren't a problem with me. But the past? What did he know about what made Peggy Peggy? He knew that I was an orphan, that all I had in the way of family was Old Pat. But what else did he know? He didn't know about how little of a shit I gave about my mom. He didn't know that I couldn't live without my music. I wasn't sure he knew that I played guitar. He didn't know about the depression or Cane or the shit I went through in the last year and a half to come back to myself.
I gave a shuddering breath. "You want to know about the scars." It wasn't a question.
He nodded anyway.
"Okay." I had promised him that I would try to make things work with him. That conversation was months ago, but I remembered it like it happened yesterday. With how much he shared with me, it was only fair. A part of me wanted him to know. I liked Sam. I wanted him to know - to know what he was getting into, what he had to deal with.
I'd been waiting for the impossibly perfect moment to tell him all this. The perfect moment, the right time, that would never arrive.
No, that wasn't right. I couldn't bullshit myself. Not with this.
I'd been avoiding it. I didn't want him to know all of this and look at me differently, come to realise how fucked up I was. Leave me.
The screams. Ball. Tighter. Smaller. Smaller. You'll never find anyone like me again! Smallersmallersmaller.
"Just... Let me talk. This... It's not easy."
Who caught the Harry Potter reference?
Are you ready for the next chapter? It's not going to be a happy one, but it paves the way for much more.
Emilee - I'm so glad you enjoyed these chapters enough to binge-read them all! I'm super glad you like Peggy and Chrissy too. I have so much fun writing them. Chrissy will be making an appearance again very soon and you'll get a lot more Peg and Chris interaction.
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MoonGoddess00 - Thank you! I'm glad you love it!
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lsxlbrn - There's a little pack interaction in this chapter. I hope you appreciated it! The packs still only a baby pack right now. Sam and Jared, though Paul will be wolfing out very soon. Pack interaction will be much more fun when there's more of them.
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Annalise17 - Thank you!
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treesofsilverleaves - Thank you! Im glad you think Peggy's quite a realistic character. I'm putting a lot of effort into trying to keep her as realistic as I can.