Pup and Finley sat on the steps to the Cullen house and untied their laces. Finley's pale freckled face was pensive.
"Are you sure about this? You don't have to do it."
"I'm not going to lie to you, I am terrified, but I'm hoping they like me. I mean I'm guessing no one will eat me if they don't, but still, I hope they like me." They pulled off their muddy sneakers and left them by the door and padded up the stairs to the main part of the house. They came upon with the smiling faces of Renesmee, Edward, Bella, Duncan and Maude and the unblinking stare of Jacob.
"Macaroon?" Duncan shoved a plate of brightly coloured treats in Finley's face. Bella swooped in and showed Finley to a seat at the table.
"Believe me, I know how nerve-wracking this is. Just be thankful Rosalie isn't here. Would you like a drink? Juice? You must be starving. Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes."
"Oh yeah, who will be eating?" Finley said and the Vampires shot each other a look.
"You, me, Mum and Dad" Pup sat down next to him and gave him a reassuring smile. "Duncan's an amazing cook. Hasn't eaten food since the Viking invasion of Scotland but he's a wizard in the kitchen."
"We've all got to have a hobby." Duncan threw in from the kitchen.
"What is Pup to you?" Jacob could not abide the small talk anymore. Finley sat with his mouth open for a moment. "I mean I know she's told you about us and I applaud you for being all calm and cool about it but I don't think my daughter really thought this through when she spilled the beans."
"Jacob." Renesmee tried to sooth him.
"No! This isn't like anything you've seen before Nessie. It's one thing to find out about me but you weren't around when Bella worked out what the bloodsuckers were, it wasn't pretty."
"You can trust me, I wouldn't tell anyone."
"Again I applaud you but you still aren't getting it. Having this secret with us... you're bound into our family. You can't just hang with Pup until you realised she isn't the one for you and move on." Food and drink was being put on the table but Finley could not escape the intensity of Jacob's grilling. "When the Quileute pair up, it's for life and from what I understand from that lot, it's the same thing for Vampires. So I'm guessing what Pup feels for you is going to be permanent. But, you? You're just a boy who met a pretty girl at a party, you can't have any real idea what this means."
"OK, that's enough!" Bella took Jacob by the hand pulling him out of the room.
"No, it's ok. It's completely understandable. Mr Black is right" Finley said softly to the remaining people in the room. "I am totally clueless and, yes I am just a human guy." Pup's heart raced. She placed her hand on Finley's. It was quivering. "I know a seventeen-year-old boy saying 'I never felt anything like this before' means very little to people who have lived so long and seen so much. Teenagers are fickle, I know that. I think, though, if you get to know me you'll see that I'm not like most teenagers."
Pup made her way to where Bella and Jacob were standing on the balcony together, looking out at the evening light on the trees.
"You have to trust her. Trust the genetics. It worked out for us. We've never known anyone to imprint or fall for someone who wasn't steadfast. I've always wondered if we're hard-wired to love people who are suited to this life." It was hard for Pup to imagine how Bella and her father used to be before she was a vampire, but in these moments when she was so soothing and gentle with him she completely understood that they were bonded in a way that could never be undone.
"Maybe you're right, I'm almost scared to ask Duncan and Maude to confirm your theory." They were both silent and Pup stood by the sliding doors, not wanting to intrude on their moment. "What now, though?"
"I know it's a lot to ask," Pup had to speak up " and I've already turned this family on it's head... but could we not do the 'what now's'? The more I'm around Finley, the more I'll understand who I am; the more these talents will develop and we'll be able to make better decisions then. Can we keep all this from... you know who, at least for a while?" Pup had never met any of the Volturi, though she was told that Aro had paid her a visit when she was first born.
Jacob and Bella looked at each other.
"Sure thing, baby. So tonight I can be a regular Dad and scare the crap out of him?"
"No!" Jacob put his arm around his daughter as they walked back downstairs.
They ate and talked and laughed while the sun went down. Duncan called relevant people and used his persuasive skills to make sure no one was worried about Finley's whereabouts. Pup took a shower and changed and Finley did the same, Edward lent him some clothes.
"Do the thing?! Please, Maude?" Duncan and Maude moaned at Pup's request. "They have this amazing party piece where they do a snippet of a dance from every age since Duncan has been alive."
Finley's eyes lit up. Renesmee jostled them to oblige and Jacob set the mood by lighting the fireplace. Duncan stood up and starting picking drums that had been hanging on the walls or sitting decoratively on shelves and handed them to various people and started a mid-tempo beat. He turned to where Maude was sitting and bowed to her, gesturing for her hand. She stood and took his hand and in a flash she spun around him like she was a dandelion seed in the wind - and it began. It started with wild jigs and soon moved into more structured, courtly dances. Duncan was such a large man but when he danced with Maude it was like driftwood in water, pulled by the current with such ease and grace. Maude, of course, was captivating. Her hair bouncing and whirling around, her face so alive with joy.
"Looking at them like this it's hard to imagine that they were ever alone," Pup said quietly to Finley while they watched, "But Duncan existed for hundreds of years without her." They had moved now into a Charleston from the 30's. "The way Duncan tells it, the time before her was like a brutal wasteland."
"I think I'm beginning to understand what he means." Finley said, and he took her hand.
Duncan and Maude had done every decade in the 20th and 21st century and finished with a beautiful contemporary flourish of romantic lifts and spins finishing with Duncan planting a kiss on the end of Maude's nose. Everyone clapped as they sat back down on the sofa. Edward turned to Finley.
"How about you, do you have a party piece?"
"Oh god no! I have nothing like that at all." Finley spluttered. Edward smiled.
"I know the one you've had in your head all day. I could play along on Piano and we have a guitar for you."
"Edward! That is such an ambush!" Though Pup was laughing when she said it but she was cross that Edward had fished around in his head.
Finley looked surprised but could see no way out when a guitar was thrust into his hands. He exchanged some words with Edward about lowering keys and then Finley took a deep breath.
"I can't believe I'm doing this. This song was sung by a woman actually, it's an old song, but I've always loved it..."
"Get on with it!" Duncan heckled. After a moment Edward started some intricate notes on the piano and Finley opened his mouth and in a husky voice began singing 'At Last' originally sung by Etta James. He strummed along on the guitar; it was as if the two had been playing together for years. Pup's body began to vibrate. His voice swung effortlessly around the melody and yet sounded so pained and sad.
At last my love has come along
My lonely days are over and life is like a song, oh yeah
At last the skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up clover the night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to press my cheek to
A thrill I've never known, oh yeah
You smiled, you smiled oh and then the spell was cast
And here we are in Heaven
For you are mine at last
When he finished there was a respectful silence from everyone. Bella broke the silence by applauding.
"That was... you are so good." Pup said to Finley when they were finally alone, taking in some evening air on the balcony.
"Thinking about it maybe I should have sung the Etta James song 'Trust in me'" He said with a twinkle in his eye. She looked at him, the moon lighting his face.
"Long day." He chuckled. "I'm terrified by you, Finley." He stroked her face. "It isn't just the strength of my feelings for you, though, it's something else. When Bella was human and with Edward it took all his strength not to hurt her. He had been a vampire for a long long time and a vegetarian for most of it."
"Pup you're not a vampire... I saw you have seconds of beef wellington tonight, you're definitely not a vampire."
"Maybe not but the feelings I have when I'm around you. They're not all buttercups and roses, you know." Finley looked concerned. "I probably should have made this clearer earlier. Wanting you seems to go hand in hand with these other feelings, more volatile feelings. I don't feel very in control of myself, as we know, but I get these savage urges."
"Do you want to hurt me?"
"No! I can't think of anything worse, but ... what if ... what if these changes that are happening to me... what if I become more animal, what if I hurt you by mistake?"
"These are a lot of 'what if's' Pup." He traced his finger along her eyebrow, down her cheek and over her mouth. "Whatever is going to happen is unavoidable now." He pulled her closer to him. "Getting to know you? It'll be worth it, I know." He kissed her softly.
