Rescuing Me

Chapter Nine "Washington"

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my characters that are made up!

November 23rd Lily POV

I sighed as I packed for Uncle Billy's house. My mom worried over what I was packing. "Are you sure that's enough?"

"Mom it's only for a week." I laughed at her. "Would you chill out?" We were going out to Washington for Thanksgiving to visit with Uncle Billy and Jacob. Taylor would be joining us because Bridgette was staying at school with her friends over the break. She had many tests she had to study for after the break.

"I'm sorry, let me just go downstairs." She looked at me with, I swear, teary eyes. What was up with her? Was it because she was going home for the first time in awhile? I shook my head and finished my packing. It would be nice to get out of New Jersey for a week. Things had been pretty quiet since Arron and Ana's fatal case. We'd had about one case—an older gentlemen with dementia that we found. Things were going back to normal at Ray's. His daughter had been staying here taking care of him while us employees ran the diner. Of course we were all just waiting for something to happen.

Taylor came and picked up me, Mom and Trixie. She would be going with us because Mom was worried about her being alone all week even if there was someone to take care of her. Bow was spending the week over at Cheyenne's house.

The flight was about six hours long. When we finally made it around six that evening and Jacob was waiting to pick us up in his rabbit. I knew he had finished the car himself and was very proud of it. Mom would be staying in Jacob's room since Jacob would be over Bella and Edward's house while Taylor and I would be sleeping out in the living room on an air mattress. Billy warned both of us that he had excellent hearing. I blushed and just couldn't believe it was even being brought up. We weren't having sex!

"We're going to walk down to the beach!" I called out as Taylor and I walked out the door with Trixie. My Mom shouted back that she'd heard me. La Push Beach wasn't too far from Billy's house. It was chilly out and the waves were a gray color but it was still the beach. Trixie sniffed, inspecting every new smell and sound. Taylor grabbed my hand as we walked and I took a deep breath.

"Feels nice to not to have any worries for a bit, huh?" Taylor smiled over at me. I nodded.

"It feels like everything has been lifted for a little while. I mean I know he's still out there and there's still reason to worry but out here, I'm just Lily."

"I'm glad you get to feel this way." Taylor gave my hand a quick squeeze. "You deserve to have a normal life after the crap you went through years ago."

I sighed. "Well it doesn't seem like that's gonna happen until we find him.

"We will find him." Taylor vowed. I leaned over and kissed him.

"I hope so." I was about to say more when I heard someone call my name. It was Jacob with another guy that looked Quileute. He had short black hair and looked to a bit younger than Jacob. Jacob was eighteen, almost nineteen so the guy was probably around my age. He was in shape like Jacob and wore a sleeveless shirt. How were they not cold?! "Hey Jake!" I smiled at my older cousin. He greeted Taylor and gave Trixie a rub on her head.

"I heard you guys down here so I figured I might as well start introducing you to people so you can learn everyone's name by Thursday." Jake smiled back at me. "This is Seth Clearwater, one of my friends." I turned towards Seth, who was wearing a friendly smile, and our eyes met. Seth's smile grew wider as he stared at me and his eyes had a sparkle to them.

"Nice to meet you." I said to Seth, feeling a bit breathless as Seth stared at me. What was going on? Jake moved his eyes between the both of us and his eyebrows came together. Taylor stepped forward to greet Seth. I met Jake's eyes as Taylor shook Seth's hand. His brown eyes held questions and worry in them.

"We won't bother you two any more." Jake joked as he took a step back. "We're headed back to Cullen's house, I'll see you for dinner tonight, okay Lil?" I nodded with a smile.

"See ya!" Taylor grabbed my hand and waved at Jake and Seth as they walked away. I could see Seth glancing back at me and glancing at Taylor's and mine hands.

…...

Seth POV

I imprinted! I couldn't stop smiling. It had finally happened! I was so unbelievably happy, of course it was a little awkward it was Jake's younger cousin but I couldn't help it. She was so pretty with her light brown hair hanging just past her shoulders and her eyes were a dark brown that reminded me of mahogany. While I was staring into them I knew she felt something too.

"I can't believe you imprinted on my cousin." Jake's words brought me out of my excited thoughts. I turned towards him warily.

"You're not mad are you?"

"Mad?" Jake laughed. "No, Seth, I'm not mad. It's not like you did it on purpose...and while it may at first be complicated, my cousin is going to find happiness with a great guy." Jake punched my shoulder lightly and I grinned at him. I had Jake's approval. It was great! Then his words sank in.

"What do you mean by complicated?" I lifted my eyebrows questioningly. Jake grimaced.

"Well that guy she was with..Taylor...that's her boyfriend." I felt my excitement deflate a little bit. A boyfriend could definitely be a problem. "And she lives in New Jersey, Seth. That's all the way across the country."

That would be a problem! "What do you think will happen when she leaves?" Jake shrugged and I knew he didn't know either.

"No one has ever really been away from their imprint except for a few days..." Jake trailed off. I knew who he was talking about. Quil and Claire.

"What will happen to her?" Would she feel pain while she was away from me or be okay?

"Again, I'm not sure. We've never dealt with this. Maybe we should talk to Sam or my Dad about it." I nodded in agreement. So we switched our course and stopped by Jake's house. We could hear Billy talking to Jake's Aunt Rose. They both looked at us as we walked in. Billy smiled happy to see his son.

"Hello Jacob, Seth." He greeted us both warmly. "Seth this is my sister Rose." I shook her hand politely. This was my imprint's mother. I wanted her to like me.

"It's nice to meet you Ma'am." I smiled at her. She smiled back at me.

"Uh, Dad, Seth needs to talk to you about something if you have a minute." Billy and Jacob's eyes locked. After a moment Billy wheeled himself towards the front door. I helped him out the door and faced him on the small porch.

"You imprinted." Billy said it calmly and not like a question. I nodded.

"On your niece." I blushed a bit as Billy stared at me. Then he laughed and I looked at him questioningly.

"If one of you was going to imprint on her, I'd rather it be you, Seth." Billy's face held a smile. "Congratulations!" He gave me a pat on the arm. I looked down happy but frustrated.

"What will happen when she leaves?" I asked the former chief quietly. Billy sobered quickly. I knew it was going to be something bad.

…...

Lily POV-Thanksgiving Day

Things had been a little..weird around here for the past few days. Uncle Billy kept looking at me strangely and when Jacob came around, he brought his friend Seth, who stared at me and offered to show Taylor and I around. We usually hung out with Seth during the day and walked around La Push. I always ended up in the middle of Taylor and Seth when we walked. Trixie would run along the beach or the forest with us. She really worried me on the cliffs, sniffing around the edge.

Now as we walked into the beautiful little house that Jacob had told me was Sam and Emily Uley's house, I gasped a bit in surprise. There were many men—well boys actually I guess—all around the room and they were all obviously Quileute. They were tall and muscular like Jacob and Seth, they also all had the dark black hair.

I could see Taylor's eyebrows lift and knew he felt small compared to them. "Hey Lily!" Seth's shout made everyone turn towards us. I blushed and waved at Seth.

"Hey Seth." I said shyly. He came over and started introducing us to everyone. There was Paul, Jared, Embry, Quil, Sam, Emily, Kim, Claire, Bella's father Charlie(why wasn't he with Bella I wondered), his sister Leah and his mother Sue. Then he introduced the three of us. I could see Jacob grinning at Seth amused and his sister Leah looked like she was sizing me up for something. His mother stared at me and she wore a bittersweet smile.

I sat down between Seth and Taylor at the table. "You didn't bring Trixie?" Seth asked as he passed me the biscuits. I shook my head.

"I wasn't sure how Sam and Emily felt about dogs so I left her at Billy's." I didn't notice the look all the boys exchanged with a grin.

"So Lily, Jacob tells us you're part of a search and rescue team back in New Jersey?" Charlie asked and I remembered Jake telling me that Charlie was the chief of police in Forks.

"Yes, I just started a few months ago. Taylor's been with the team for longer." I accepted the bowl of potatoes from Taylor.

Charlie nodded, looking thoughtful. "Maybe sometime when you have some spare time before you leave you could talk to me a little about it? We've thought about starting a unit out here but we've just never had anyone who would help out."

I smiled at him. "Of course! I would love to." Charlie smiled back at me.

"That's great! Maybe if we get it started and running, you'd like to come back after you graduate and work with the team I get together?"

I felt honored that he wanted me to work with his team. "Yeah, I would love to. I'm taking my SATs in a few weeks since I'm graduating early, we could try to work something out then."

"Graduating early?" Sue asked, leaning forward to see me around Seth.

"Yeah, I have all my credits done so I'm actually graduating in January. I'll take my SATs before Christmas and then I'll be done with school." I hoped no one asked why I was graduating early. They probably would just think that I didn't want to wait til June to graduate. I mean if a senior could graduate early, they would, wouldn't they?

"What do you want to do after you graduate, do you know?" Sue said to me.

I wasn't really sure with everything going on..I hadn't thought about it. "I'm not sure. I'm leaning towards the police academy or something along the lines of emergency work. But even after I graduate I have six months before I can apply to the police academy since I'll only be seventeen."

"Kid, if you ever need a job, you can have one with me." Charlie said to me and he was serious. "You have determination in you and you're committed to your work. I like that in my officers."

I felt a bit stunned but flattered. "Well thank you Charlie. Unfortunately Washington is a little far away from my mom."

"Maybe we could move here." I fell silent at my mom's words. Move here? Was she really thinking about moving back to Washington?

"I think that would be something we'd have to discuss." I stared at my mom. She wouldn't make the decision without me right?

"Well of course we'd talk about it beforehand. I wouldn't just up and move you." She assured me. Emily, seeing the discomfort in the conversation, started asking about my mother. I sat eating silently with Taylor and Seth both looking at me weirdly.

Seth leaned over and nudged my arm. "Hey, we're having a bonfire at the beach tonight, do you think you'd wanna come?"

"Sure! That sounds like fun." I agreed happily. And it did. A beach bonfire and Jacob's friends. Definitely fun.

…...

Later as I walked to the beach with Jacob, Nessie and Trixie, I wasn't so sure about the bonfire. Taylor had stayed with Charlie Swan, Sue and my mom back at the house watching football games. But Jake told me to come anyways so I did.

"So we're going to hear all the legends?" Nessie asked excitedly and I smiled at the young girl's excitement. I was excited too. Of course I've heard the stories before but never like this.

"Yes, my dad is going to tell them all." Billy was already down at the bonfire. I could see his face lit up by the fire as we got closer and he laughed with Sam Uley about something. We greeted everyone as we arrived. Jake and Nessie sat down by Embry and the only seat left was between Seth and Paul. Seth grinned at me as I sat down.

"Where's Taylor?" He asked handing me a roasting stick and a bag of marshmallows. I smiled back at him.

"He stayed with Charlie, your mom and my mom to watch the football game. Your mom talked him into it." I laughed thinking about Sue persisting he stay with Charlie and watch the game. "'Course he didn't much convincing he wanted to stay anyways but didn't want to upset me."

"Have you heard the stories before?" I nodded.

"Billy has told them to me before and so has my mother when I was a child but I've never heard them like this." Billy cleared his throat and we all turned to face him as he started telling the stories. I listened closely and I felt like I could almost see everything play out in my mind. It felt real as Billy talked.

I shivered and Seth put his jacket over my shoulders. I looked towards him. "Oh I'm not cold," I whispered. "It's just so chillingly amazing the way Uncle Billy tells the stories."

"Well keep it anyways, it'll probably get colder here soon." So I left it on my shoulders and tried not to be distracted by the woodsy smell it held. Seth grabbed my hand and I was wondering what he was doing until I realized my marshmallow was on fire. Whoops! I pulled it out of the fire, blew it out and let it cool a bit before I tried picking it off the stick.

Seth chuckled at me and tried helping me pick it off the stick. Billy had taken a break between the stories to get some water and all eyes were on us as we laughed and flicked marshmallow bits at each other. I groaned as a piece got into my hair. "That's gonna be hard to get out!"

Seth leaned over and picked it out of my hair trying to be gentle. As our eyes met, I felt like I should be feeling all kinds of wrong right now. The way we were acting together and because Taylor wasn't here. But I wasn't. It felt somehow like it was supposed to be right.

I looked away quickly and got up, busying myself with trying to find Trixie. She was sniffing around a log a few feet away and I walked up to her, getting her attention. I got on my knees beside her and pretended to check her collar. I felt unsettled by tonight. What was going on with me?

…...

That night as I laid beside Taylor, who was already asleep, I tried to think about what had went on tonight. After had gotten done with Trixie, Billy told one more story before we left. Jake was going back with Nessie so he had Seth walk me and Billy up to the house. It had been kind of quiet, although Seth had tried to talk to me, I just wasn't really talkative after what had happened. I had wished him a good night at the door and walked Billy in, waiting for Taylor to get back.

He hadn't really noticed anything was off or didn't mention it if he did. I could hear voices down the hallway and as I listened harder, I realized it was Mom and Billy. "Why didn't you tell me they were back?" Who was back?

"I guess I didn't really see the need to." Billy sighed as he responded to my mom's question. Who were they talking about? "You live across the country, it's not like you were here."

"What about Jake?" Jake?

"Yes he's a part of it." A part of what?!

"The boy, Seth, him too?" What were Seth and Jake a part of? I leaned on the edge of the air mattress trying to hear everything.

"Yes—well he kind of, well Lily is—" I didn't hear the rest because I felt Taylor's arm on me.

"Hey, what are you doing all the way over there?" Taylor nuzzled his face into my neck and pulled me towards him.

"I was just feeling kind of hot so I just moved away for a moment." I whispered. Billy and Mom's conversation had come to a halt. I might as well go to sleep now and question them in the morning.

…...

Jacob POV

"So Seth imprinted." I said a bit awkwardly as we all sat in the Cullen's living room. Nessie was sleeping upstairs in Alice and Jasper's bed.

"On who?!" Bella smiled as she asked. I sighed and ran my hands over my face. Edward looked pained as well.

"Lily." Bella's eyes widened in shock.

"But—but she's with Taylor!" Bella whispered. I don't know why she whispered. There was only the Cullen's around and maybe Leah to hear.

"I know."

"Did he tell her?" Esme looked worried. I knew Seth was one of her favorite of our packs, he loved the Cullen's too. I shook my head.

"No, he's just enjoying her being around. But she goes back Sunday and we're all a little worried what's gonna happen when she does." I felt lost because I didn't know what to do for Lily or Seth. "Aunt Rose hasn't told Lily but she's thinking of moving back out here with everything that's going on in New Jersey. Lily didn't seem so thrilled when her mom suggested it after your dad offered her—Lily—a job."

"Charlie offered Lily a job?" Bella asked, a bit stunned. I nodded.

"Said if she wanted to become an officer he'd gladly take her help and he wants to stay a search and rescue team here. She's supposed to help out with that. I know she'll be coming back out after her SATs to help Charlie. My dad is working on Aunt Rose, trying to get her to move her after Lily is done all her testing."

"So Seth at the most right now will only be away from her for a couple of weeks?" Esme seemed relieved.

"Yeah, it'll be a sucky couple of weeks but the kid's got spirit and he's always so happy. He should be okay. I hope." Seth was such a happy guy, I didn't want this to ruin him.

…...

Lily POV

I was walking along the beach with my mom and she threw a stick down the beach for Trixie. "So what were you and Uncle Billy talking about last night?"

Her face froze then smoothed over. "Nothing important honey, just talking about Jacob and Seth's group of friends. They're running a kind of patrol since there's really no police department in La Push. That's all."

"Oh." I said with a frown. "Well when you asked why he didn't tell you "they" were back who were you referring to?"

"Bears." My mom replied. "Ah, there's been some bear sightings recently in the area. Jake and the boys have been tracking them."

I nodded, believing her. "They all seem a little young to be doing this."

Mom chuckled. "It's not really official, it's volunteer so as long as they're over sixteen., they're okay to help out."

"Kind of like S&R back home."

"Exactly." She put her arm around my shoulders. "How about we go into town and get some more ingredients to make another pie? Your uncle is complaining he got none of the pie."

I snorted. "He may not have with Jake and his friends." We both laughed as we made our way back to the house. I didn't know my mother had been lying to me.

…...

When we got back home, I fell back into the routine I was used to. I went to school, went to work, trained with S&R then studied for my SATs. They were coming up fast, it was already December fourteenth and I would take the SATs plus my final exams on the seventeenth, the Thursday before our Christmas break.

My whole world came crashing down when I came home that Monday(the 14th) and saw my mom crying over a piece of paper. "Mom? What's wrong?!" I rushed to her side. She handed it wordlessly to me. There were only three sentences written out.

I will get to her soon. Enjoy the next few months with her since it'll be her last. She won't be seeing her eighteenth birthday in July.

I dropped the paper to the table and cold fear ran through me. He was basically saying he was going to find me and murder me before July rolled around.

"That's it. That makes my mind up." My head snapped around to look at my mom as her teary words came out.

"What?" I asked confused. She wiped tears away from her face.

"We're moving to Washington after you finish all your exams." She said and her voice left no room to argue. We'd be moving to Washington. "Start packing your things tonight."

…...

A/N: Hey readers! Sorry it's been awhile since there was an update! I've had ideas but haven't been able to write them out. This happens to me sometimes and it sucks so bad because I KNOW what I want to happen, I just struggle to get there! Anyways, here's your chapter! I'd love to see some reviews! I'll be updating stories every few days/weekly now, I promise! I've been doing great with my other stories and the story will be moving along now that we're getting to where I want it to be!

I hope you like it and I'd like to hear your thoughts about Seth imprinting. If you are a fan of Phantom Stallion/ Phantom Stallion: Wild Horse Island(Horse series by Terri Farley), I have two new stories called Sophie's Choice(PS) and You Are The Only Exception(PS:WHI-just published yesterday). If you've read the series, check them out if you haven't already.

Thanks for reading! -Quinnandseth'sgirl15