Chapter 8 – Paul's Epiphany

"Mila…Mila…Honey, are you up?" A syrupy sweet voice asked.

Mila moved around on the bed and sucked in a breath through clenched teeth when she felt a twinge of pain in her left leg. Her eyes fluttered open as she looked around the room and saw Emily standing next to the bed. "What happened?" She was slightly disoriented from having fallen asleep.

Emily frowned slightly. "You're in my guest room, are you fully awake sweetie?" Emily watched as Mila moved around slightly and sat up, running her fingers through her hair.

Mila nodded slowly. "Yea sorry; I kind of forgot where I was for a minute. What time is it?"

Emily checked the watch strapped to her left wrist. "It's almost seven. Why don't you come down and eat some dinner with the guys. I made pasta and chicken, it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself too." Emily smiled cheekily. "Take a few minutes; it will be ready when you come down."

Mila nodded as she watched the slightly older lady slip out of the door. Mila moved around again and her leg was slightly tender as she stood and slowly made her way to the rest room. As she used the facilities she looked at her leg and she could see the purple bruises where the stitches were closing her flesh. She washed her hands and splashed a little cold water on her face to get some of the sleepy feeling out of her system.

Mila slowly made her way down the steps and as she rounded the corner the first person she ran into was Paul; who immediately grabbed her before she could fall.

"Sorry…"

His voice was so quiet. Mila couldn't help smiling softly up at him as she nodded. "No it's okay. I didn't see you there; it was my fault."

"Can we talk in private for a minute?" Paul questioned softly. He watched as Mila nodded before turning and going back around the corner into the hallway. Paul leaned against the wall as he shook his head. "I wanted to say I was sorry about your leg. I know it's going to hurt for a few days, if there's anything I can do for you, let me know."

Mila shook her head no. "It's not too terrible; it was just a couple of stitches. I've had worse before." She watched as Paul's onyx eyes dipped down and he made a face when he saw the bruises on her leg. Her fingertips brushed against Paul's forearm. "Hey…" Paul's eyes went back to hers as she smiled softly. "Don't worry about it. You saved my life. I should be at your beck and call for a while. I probably wouldn't be standing here with you if you and Jared hadn't killed that thing." Mila pushed up on her toes as she kissed his cheek softly. "Thank you." She whispered before she cleared her throat. "We better get in there Emily will come looking for me if I don't show up in the kitchen for dinner."

Paul watched as she shrugged and walked around him. He soon followed her as he tried to figure out what he was feeling. His stomach felt weird and his heart even weirder. What the hell was going on with him? He walked into the kitchen and could see Emily giving him a funny look. He walked over and leaned down to her height. "We need to talk later." He whispered to her. Sam was standing next to her so he knew Sam heard him as well. They both nodded to him.

Once everyone had eaten, Jared and Kim took Mila home.

Emily couldn't believe how hard the guys had Mila laughing at their antics. She could tell something was going on with Paul. He was unusually quiet which was completely not like him. He seemed to pay attention to Mila only when she wasn't looking at him; at times he seemed slightly jealous that the others had been making her laugh so hard. Emily watched as Mila left and Paul started pacing the living room rug.

Emily and Sam followed into the living room as everyone else vacated the house. They either had patrol or had to get their imprints home. Sam sat on the couch and watched as Emily sat down on the arm of the couch and placed her hand on Sam's shoulder as his hand went to the top of her thigh. Emily watched as Paul continued to pace. "What's going on Paul? You wanted to talk; tell me what's on your mind."

Paul raked his finger through his hair several times before he finally stopped moving and looked at Emily. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with me Em. I can't stop thinking about Mila. I know I didn't imprint on her. So why the hell do I feel like this?"

Emily frowned. She knew it had been two years since his beloved Jenna was killed. No one knew what to do to help him through the pain and depression and he shut down for a while. Emily stood up as she stepped in the line of Paul's pacing path and he came to an abrupt stop as she reached out and touched his chest with her index finger and could feel his heart practically beating a path to get out. "What does this say? Because you already know this is going to help you make up your mind every time."

Paul looked down at her finger and knew she could feel it too. "I know you feel it Em. It feels weird." Paul took Emily's hand and opened the rest of her fingers up and placed the whole palm of her hand over his heart. "I haven't felt like this since I first imprinted on Jenna." Paul closed his eyes as he took a few calming deep breaths; before he opened his eyes and looked down into the soft brown almond shaped eyes that belonged to his alpha's wife. "What am I going to do Em?" He couldn't help but ask.

Emily shook her head negatively. "Obviously you are attracted to Mila otherwise you're heart wouldn't be trying to beat out of your chest and follow her right out the door." Emily smiled softly. "If you're heart is doing this when she's not here; I can only imagine what it's doing when she's in the same room with you."

Paul couldn't help the smile that came across his lips when he thought of Mila and his encounter in the hallway. Her touching his arm was something he wasn't expecting but it was a nice feeling. "We were talking in the hallway and I had apologized about biting her leg and said if she needed anything to let me know. T-then I looked down and saw her leg; fuck Em it looked so bad; I felt so bad. Then she touched my arm. I swear little electrical sparks covered my entire forearm and they slowly moved up to my shoulder and then went into my chest."

Sam couldn't help the chuckle that escaped, but controlled it when Emily turned around and glared at him. "You know none of you have known what falling in love feels like; you all imprinted and fell in love with your imprints. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you're falling in love with Mila without the imprint." Sam stood up as he looked at Emily. "Falling in love on your own as opposed to falling in love with your imprint are two VERY different things. They are two different feelings. My love for Emily is completely different then what my love for Leah was. I thought Leah was the love of my life but I know Emily IS the love of my life."

Emily nodded. "Everyone has a true love of their life. Maybe Jenna wasn't it. Maybe that's what drew Mila to move to La Push."

Paul shook his head slowly as he inhaled. "God her scent is all over this house and all over me. I can't get her out of my head. What am I going to do Emily?"

Emily cupped Paul's overly heated cheeks as she pulled his head down and kissed his cheek softly. "You deal with it as you see fit. Maybe this is a sign of things to change for the better. Ask her to a movie or lunch; get to know her. Tell her about your life and she can share hers with you as well. Maybe all you each gain is friendship from it, but you'll never know if you try avoiding her.

"Friendship; I can do that." Paul tried to sound confident. "I think."

Paul left for his house, but for some reason Mila's scent made him follow the path of Jared's truck. Paul sat in the tree line watching Mila's windows. He watched as she moved around the house; possibly cleaning, but he couldn't be sure since the curtains were closed. He stayed there until the lights in the house went out and every window was black as night. She went to bed and as he headed home he was thinking up reasons to visit her the following day.

Paul fell asleep with Mila on his mind and hoping he could honestly get to know her. He wouldn't mind a ketchup and mustard shower again; though he also wouldn't mind getting her covered in the two condiments as well.