AN: God, I'm updating on time again. I'm sorry, you might get used to it ;)
Busy, busy week for me...I've been away. And I still found time to write this? Why yes, I did.
Thanks again to my reviewers, I love hearing from you – especially those I see every week. And it's also great to see new people *coughBIGFATHINTcough*
Uh...yeah. Chapter ten. Wow...double figures! It's also the longest we've had so far...and we'll be getting into the actual BD plot soon, I promise. Again, outtakes for reviews...hope you enjoy xxx :)
"Well, are you coming in or not?"
Paul's frustration rose. "I told you, I can't. I'm sorry."
"God, you're not a very good teenage boy, are you? If you can't come through the door, try the window, Sherlock."
Oh. Right.
Rachel's laugh was the prettiest he'd ever heard. "See you around the back. I'll get you another towel." He started to turn, but she was still speaking. "Want to know a secret, Paul?"
The boy spun back, anxious to know anything he could about the girl he'd imprinted on. "Sure."
The laughter was back in her voice, in the way her lips twisted upwards and how her dark eyes shone. "I peeked."
And then the door was closed, and Paul was left standing alone and dumbfounded in the rain.
Chapter Ten
Paul woke up to a very deja vu moment. Jerked violently backwards from the best dream he'd ever had – in which there was an incredibly pretty, strangely familiar woman curled into his side with her head on his shoulder – he barely had time to register that he was even awake before being dropped with a thud to the ground.
"What the hell, Paul?" a voice raged, and he blinked only to find his vision filled with a very angry Jacob. Eyes blazing with fury, the huge boy stood with his hands on his hips in the middle of the room – which, on a second glance, appeared to be a bedroom. A girl's bedroom...Rachel's bedroom.
Oh. Oh dear.
Behind the boy, Paul could see Rachel – hair beautifully mussed, pyjamas delightfully rumpled – on the bed rubbing blearily at sleep-filled eyes with her fists; so maybe the dream hadn't been all that far from reality after all. Even as he tried to remember desperately just how much of his dream had been real, because he was fairly certain Rachel had been wearing a little less clothing, Jake gave a growl of rage and jerked him up again.
"You're wearing my shirt!" he snarled.
Paul sighed, roughly shrugging the other boy's grip from his arm. "Well, I didn't exactly have any of my own clothes to wear, did I?" he retorted. Now he remembered what had happened the night before; climbing through the living room window while Billy looked on, half-amused and half-disapproving (because honestly, 'sneaking' into a girl's house with the parent's full knowledge was more than a little awkward).
Then there was the agony of waiting in Rachel's room while she showered next door, only made worse by the fact that when he went to have a shower of his own afterwards the bathroom was filled with the scent of her shampoo and he could see her wet footprints on the mat. His imagination went from nought to overdrive in less than three seconds.
After that they'd sat together on her bed (Billy's snores were already floating through the little house) simply talking for hours until Rachel's head dropped down sleepily onto his shoulder as his fingers lazily twirled her sweet-smelling hair between them, as her breathing evened out and she'd fallen asleep snuggled safely into his side. Paul had considered leaving – honestly – but decided that moving would only disturb her and he couldn't possibly do that, particularly as she seemed so tired. It was a pretty good justification for staying the night, he thought.
Jake's petulant voice jerked him back to the present. "Those are my pants, too!"
"Would you like them back?" Paul cocked an eyebrow, hands moving down to the zipper as if to remove them. He felt a surge of amused satisfaction as Jake's face blanched and couldn't help shooting a wink at Rachel – only to find her wickedly gleaming eyes fixed on his fingers.
"No!" Jake sounded panicked. "It's fine. Don't take them off. Don't you dare try to strip in front of my sister again. Ever."
"Oh believe me, he won't have to try," Rachel muttered, in a tone which would have been too low for any normal human being to hear but – unfortunately – was perfectly audible to Paul and Jake. The girl's brother spun around to face her, eyes wild.
"Rachel, don't...just don't..." He swallowed. "My sister, Paul. Why did it have to be my sister?"
Rachel rolled her eyes in exasperation, pushing up from the bed to stand between them. She barely came up to their shoulders. "I'm not solely categorised as your sister, Jacob," she snapped. "And since when does that have anything to do with anything? You made it perfectly clear last night –"
"Jeez, Rach, I'm sorry." Jake held up both of his hands in contrition, backed away from her a step. Paul would have laughed if he wasn't half sure that both of them would have taken his head off for it. "I didn't mean any of that stuff I said. Well, not really," he added defensively under her disbelieving glower. "It's just...God, Rach. It's Paul."
Paul started forward in protest, but his imprint sent him a glance worthy of any schoolteacher. "Paul, I'm dealing with this." He slunk back like a puppy that had just been smacked on the nose for some misdemeanour, realising glumly that this diminutive woman owned them both. There was no possible way he'd win an argument again. Ever. "Jacob, what Paul and I do is none of your business. Hear that? None of it. This is complicated enough without you sticking your big nose in where it's not wanted."
"But –"
"Shut up, Jake." To Paul's amazement, Jake glanced at the floor and shuffled his feet, looking for all the world like a chided five year-old. "Having said that, you have no reason to worry. Paul's only sixteen, and I have absolutely no intention of being arrested. Is that clear?" She glanced between both of them this time, and Paul nodded automatically even as his face fell. The expression of absolute smugness on Jake's features, however, pulled him from his misery enough to snarl.
"Bite me, Jake."
The other boy grinned beatifically. "It'd be my pleasure."
"Boys." Rachel snapped out the word, and even Jacob managed to look a little ashamed. Jerk. "You're going to make an effort to get on, aren't you?"
Over her head, they exchanged glances full of venom. "Of course," Paul ground out.
"Total pansy!" Jake mouthed so Rachel couldn't see. It took every ounce of Paul's self-control – which was, surprisingly, much greater than he'd thought it was, and probably increasing every moment since he'd met Rachel – not to leap across the room and show Jake just how much of a pansy he wasn't.
"Well that's good," Rachel continued, seemingly oblivious. "Especially as Paul's going to be spending a lot more time over here."
"He is?" Jake sounded horrified, and it was Paul's turn to be smug. Even so, he still had to add a brief, "I am?"
"Well, if you want to." Suddenly the comandeering schoolteacher was gone, and Rachel looked suddenly very vulnerable. "I mean, you don't have to...if you don't..."
"I'd love to," Paul interrupted quickly. He hated seeing the plaintive doubt in her eyes, hated that she didn't seem as absolutely certain as he was about how much he wanted to spend time with her. "I'll be here whenever you want me. Hell, I'll be here when you don't want me." That thought panicked him, and he added quickly, "You won't do that, will you?"
"God, no. You won't get bored of me, will you?" Rachel looked just as worried as he felt, and his heart swelled.
"That's impossible. Even if I was here every day –"
"Which you won't be," Jake hissed. "You've got to do your patrols, remember?"
"Oh." Paul's face fell as he caught the steely glint in Jake's eyes, and he had a feeling that he'd be put on the most inconvenient patrol schedule from now on. "Patrol. Yeah."
"Right." Even Rachel looked deflated. "Well, come over whenever you want, Paul."
"I will." When she wasn't looking, Paul smirked at Rachel's brother.
"Speaking of patrol, you're on today." Jake got his own back with that comment, and he knew it. "Fairly soon, actually. So you'd better be going, hadn't you?" His tone was pointed, so much so that Paul couldn't even pretend to ignore it. His shoulders slumped.
"Of course. You have to go." Rachel's obvious disappointment went a massively long way to making Paul feel that little bit better. She would miss him, and as awful as he knew it sounded, he felt glad. If she missed him, he meant something to her.
"I'll be back later," he promised.
"Good." Her smile was radiant.
The mood was spoilt slightly by Jake's gagging sound, and Rachel whirled on him with narrowed eyes. "I didn't say anything!" he protested quickly.
"What are you still doing in my room, Jake?" Rachel hissed. "Go away. And don't you dare even think about coming in here again, not even if you want to so much as borrow a pencil."
"Okay. Okay, Rach. I won't." His eyes grew shrewd. "The same stands for Paul, right?"
The woman turned to study the werewolf who had imprinted on her for a long moment. "Paul," she spoke with dignity, "has to knock first."
Score! It took considerable strength of will – and he congratulated himself on it – not to leap up and do a dance of joy and victory on the bed. He settled for mentally punching the air and sticking his tongue out at Jake...he could gloat over it properly later.
"I hate this," Jake groaned. His sister rose onto her toes, reached up to pat him condescendingly on the cheek.
"Learn to live with it," she advised him sweetly. Paul grinned and shrugged as Jake stormed past him, glowering.
"You need to go, Paul," he growled furiously. "And I want that shirt back. It's my favourite."
Rachel and Paul exchanged amused glances. "Sure, whatever. Have your precious shirt back." He reached up to tug the neck of it over his head, still not breaking eye contact with Rachel. Those dark eyes widened as she took an involuntary step closer – Paul could see in her gaze that she was unaware that she'd moved at all – and he pulled it off the rest of the way as quickly as he could, not wanting to lose that connection between them any longer than absolutely necessary. He needn't have bothered, really, because Rachel's gaze skittered immediately down to the bare expanse of skin exposed, and she drew in a sharp gasp of air.
"He's sixteen...sixteen...sixteen," she chanted under her breath, and Paul's grin widened exponentially. She obviously hadn't intended him to hear, but if she was going to hang out with wolves she'd have to get used to the fact that they heard everything.
"What's sixteen? Rach – Jesus, Paul! Put the damn shirt back on!"
Rachel's head snapped up, the spell broken. "Jacob Black, get the hell out of my bedroom!" she raged.
"I'm not in your room. I'm standing outside. Rach, step away from the dead man."
Paul flipped up his middle finger at Jake, smirking. It probably wasn't the wisest of moves – he'd sure as hell pay for it later – but it was fun while it lasted. Jake was obviously too terrified of his sister to come back into the room, and he had enough control not to phase right there in the house. At least, Paul hoped he did.
"Oh, that was really mature, Paul." Rachel rolled her eyes, but he only grinned in return.
"Rach, since when did being mature have anything to do with anything?"
"About the time you imprinted on a girl four years older than you. Get out of here, Paul." She was laughing, though, so he knew he wasn't in too much trouble. Well, at least not with Rachel; he'd still have to deal with Jake.
"See you later, Rachel." He bent to kiss her cheek, heard a groan from outside the room and had to laugh.
"Shut it, Paul."
"Don't you dare do anything to him, Jacob!" Rachel called after them. "If I see a single mark on him..."
"Oh, you won't," Jake muttered darkly. "We heal fast."
"If she asks, I won't lie," Paul retorted.
"Tattler."
"Aw, I'm sorry, Jakey." The other boy, furious, turned to punch him but Paul was ready; dodging the blow, he broke out into a flat-out sprint towards the forest with Jake in hot pursuit. Pausing just long enough to shed the pants, he was still running when he let the change overtake him, the rhythm of his feet pounding against the damp earth changing to compensate for four legs instead of two, the sounds and scents of the forest enfolding him as he raced on as a wolf.
I'm going to kill you! Jacob snarled.
Aren't you scared of what your sister'll do to you if you try?
Will you two please grow up? Both boys let out a mental groan as they heard Leah's tone, which really didn't help matters. Yes, it's me. Live with it. A note of amusement flashed through her mind as she read the memory which leapt unprompted into Paul's head at her words. Really, Jake? Your favourite shirt? Poor ickle boy.
I hate you.
That's hardly news. And quit being so much like...yourself, the hostility's scaring Collin.
Paul became abruptly aware of the newest werewolf in the pack mind, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. Hey, dude, he offered sheepishly. 'Sup?
A series of too bright, too loud snippets of Collin's life flashed through the collective mind, and all four of them winced.
You'll get used to it, kid, Jake soothed awkwardly, before turning his attention back to Leah. Seriously? The boy's out on patrol with you and you're concerned about how my hostility's going to affect him? Jeez, Leah, that's ass-backwards.
Go screw yourself, Jake.
The two of you are so bitter, maybe you should just screw each other and get it out of your system, Paul suggested mockingly. He was greeted with two vicious snarls and a number of suggestions which made Collin blanch, stammer out an excuse, and disappear.
I love doing that to the kid, Leah murmured matter-of-factly. He's so easy to tease.
Nice, Leah. Paul and Jake shared a moment of mutual exasperation, before realising their agreement and jerking sharply away from it. Asstard.
Jakey.
Beautiful, Leah chipped in, and both she and Jake sniggered. Paul 'shrugged'.
Hey, it was your sister that said it, he grinned, and sensed Jake's amusement wiped right away.
Jerk.
Whatever.
You two are ridiculous, Leah interrupted scornfully. I'll leave the pair of you to it, since I'm off patrol now. Lucky me, she added as an aside, images of the always exuberant Seth bouncing around her mind. Apparently, Sue was driving them into Port Angeles for some much-needed new clothing, and Paul couldn't hold back the wince at the concept of Leah and Seth unleashed on the city. Oh, laugh it up, the girl hissed menacingly.
Wisely, neither boy even considered answering.
He wants you to concentrate on the border today, she continued, and although she didn't think Sam's name there was absolutely no doubt as to who she was referring to. Some movement on the leeches' side...more so than usual. Keep an eye.
What, I'm meant to be patrolling with this jerk ?Jake whined, and Paul's dismay was equally as evident.
Who's laughing now, Jakey? See ya later, Beautiful, she added, and then Leah was gone and it was just the two boys.
I hate you, Paul.
Just wait until I tell Rachel you said that, Jakey... Luckily, there was enough physical distance between them by now that an attack wasn't feasible, but Paul still ran a little faster as an explosion of expletives rang in his ears.
AN: Thanks for reading! And an extra incentive to review – I'm thinking the outtake this week will probably be from Rachel's POV, of the 'sleepover'... xxx :)