AN: You already know I don't own any of the vampires, because they belong to SM, and the wolves that don't belong to SM, belong to Yay4Shanghai…

As always a special thanks to my awesome beta and the creator of Trisha, David, Ethan, Mark, and Mallory, Yay4Shanghai! BIG thanks to KupKakes09, augustblack, NataliaNicollette, and Ninadoll. With these five lovely ladies, this chapter would not exist. Don't forget to show them some love!

I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter to you. I had a little writer's block and, with school starting next week, I've been in a tizzy. No worries, though, here it is.

CHAPTER 7: BETTER GO AND GET YOUR ARMOR

DAVID'S POV

I have never hated Juarez as much as I did right now. The dumbass was flirting! He thought he was being smooth, speaking Spanish with her, propping his arm on the shelf.

Dammit! She just smiled at him. Mother fucker!

"Juarez! Quit your yapping and get the fucking nails!" I yelled.

"David Uley, you're such a douche, you know that?" Mallory said, standing behind me. "Trisha's just talking to him, she's being friendly. That's what she does. If you have a thing for her, maybe you should quit acting like a scared little boy and do something about it."

"Mallory, you wouldn't know the first thing about it, so shut it!" I bit back at her.

"Please! In case you don't remember, that girl kicked my ass for talking to you," Mallory cocked her head to the side. "Love like that never dies, though I don't know what she sees in you, other than, well," and her eyes met my crotch. I glared at her. "Maybe if you grew a pair and actually talked to her, she'd be smiling at you and not the first guy to actually give her any attention since Ethan left."

Good, I thought. No one better think of touching my Dollface.

"Since when did you become the Love Doctor?" I asked her sarcastically.

"Since I lost your sorry ass and started dating someone with substance, and not just a big…"she was cut off from further describing my "wolf" by Juarez.

I turned to him and growled. "I got the nails, Boss," Juarez said with a huge grin.

"Hey, where's that girl you were dating? Kara's sister, what was her name? Oh, yeah, not Trisha," Mallory giggled.

"Real funny, Mallory. Tiffany moved last week. To Mississippi."

I was horrible at trying not to be totally wrapped up in Trisha. Mark had kept me on my patrol route. She had torn down the whole garage. By herself for the most part, her small framed body, ripping at the boards. I couldn't believe that this girl, Trisha, had once seemed so weak to me. Before the imprint, she was just an annoying little girl that kept my best friend busy. Now, she was her own woman.

"Hey, Mal, I'm gonna go grab some coffee. You want some?" Trisha's voice rang out from the back, as she walked towards us, her bag on her shoulder. She smiled at me and I felt myself get hard just at the sight of her lips. "Good morning, David."

I nodded, trying not to stare, seeing her in her light purple t-shirt and ripped jeans. Her t-shirt clung to her and the v-neck gave just a hint at cleavage and I had to look away before I ended up any harder than I already was.

"I'll have a Mocha. Do you want money?" Mallory said, digging in her pockets.

"Nah, you bought last time. It's my turn," Trisha smiled. "I shall return," she said walking out the door, my eyes glued to her.

"Uley, you are one sick son-of-a-bitch," Juarez said, slapping me on the back.

I had no clue what he was talking about and I furrowed my brows when I looked at him.

"Anyone ever told you, you look like Mr. Snuffleupagus with those eyebrows?" Mallory said from behind the counter.

I pointed at her. "You, shut your mouth," then I turned to Juarez. "What are you talking about?"

Juarez scoffed. "You don't have to be jealous that I was talking to her. We talked about you most of the time. And Mexico. Did you know she lived in Mexico?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know. What'd she say about me?"

I saw Juarez and Mallory both smirk. "Oh, she just said that she used to tutor you in Spanish, and that you both held an affinity for the Fourth of July."

I thought about the Fourth of July. Perhaps the best night of my life to this point. Not just because of the whole physical stuff that sex was, but because we were close that night. It was just her and me…Ethan in South America…her and me… she wanted me, her feelings were still there. The things I had thought she felt me were gone. Trisha could have talked to him about a gabillion different things, but she talked about me…I stood there for a moment, thinking, when what I needed hit me…humility…

"Juarez, pay for this shit and meet me at the truck," I said grinning and heading out the door.

I walked a bit down the street. Actually it was more of a jog, stopping when I arrived at my destination, bursting through the door, the little bells ringing.

Her bright doe eyes looking up, as she stirred her coffee.

"Hey, David. Did you want coffee?" she asked. I stopped to stand in front of her, feeling like there was no place in the world I was ever supposed to be but right here, right beside Trisha, staring into her eyes and getting lost in a sea of chocolate.

I had to do it, like a band-aid, just rip it off, get it out there. "I know you finished tearing down the garage," I started and her eyes widened.

She looked shocked, but she nodded to me.

"Were you gonna rebuild it?" I asked and she nodded to me again.

I took a deep breath. "Do you still want my help?"

She smiled, so big my heart skipped a beat. "Yes," she answered, nodding. "Do you want to come over tonight and take a look? I tore it down but I don't have a clue how to put it back up."

I chuckled at her. "Yeah, I'll come over and take a look."

"Oh, and I have money, I can pay you, I don't want you to think…"I put my hand up and stopped her.

"You pay for all the materials and we'll call it fair," I said as she smiled.

Trisha smiled at me again. "I get off work at six. I should be home a little after that. You wanna come over then?"

"Sure," I grinned at her and could hear her heart speed up. "Um, Juarez is waiting for me, but, I'll see you tonight."

She kept her smile. "See you tonight."

"Yeah," seeing her face as I backed up out the door, headed to the truck.

I grinned most of the day, thinking about seeing her, about the fact that I was going to be spending time with my Dollface. It was hard to hide. Even Juarez couldn't help but grin at me every time he looked at me.

"You never look this excited when you have to help me put up a wall or something," he smirked.

I left the site around five, heading home to grab some stuff I didn't have in my truck before making my way to Trisha's.

"Hey, Sweetie! Where're you off to?" Momma asked, as I started out the door.

"Trisha's," I smiled.

Momma smiled, but looked a little worried. "Um, David, sweetheart, is that something you really want to do?"

I kissed Momma on the cheek. "Yep, I'm gonna help her rebuild the garage."

I could see her stress and worry for me on her face. "David…"

"Momma," I answered her back.

"Are you sure…David, I don't want to see you get hurt again," Momma looked down.

"She's not gonna hurt me, Momma. The person she ran with and to isn't hers anymore. Beside, you know how I feel about Trisha and I know she has feelings for me," It felt wrong having to justify my feelings for my imprint. I knew she was just concerned but I still couldn't help but be a little pissed.

"Just please, don't…"

"Yeah, yeah…don't rush into anything. You sound like Mark," I sighed, grabbing a tape measure. "Momma, you know I can't help how much I feel for her."

She smiled at me again. "That's not what I worry about, sweetheart."

I met her eyes. "It's different now, Momma. I promise, it's gonna be okay."

"Well, tell her I said hello," Momma said, still not sounding convinced, giving me a final hug. I jogged down the porch steps, seeing Dad standing next at Mom's car, getting Jesse out of her car seat.

"Be careful, son," Dad said with a hint of humor, as I threw a few things in the bed of the truck.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm just going to help with the garage, Pops."

"Sure you are," Dad's face hiding a smirk.

"Have fun with you girlfwend, David," my three year old little sister said in her broken vocabulary, showing off the classic Uley grin.

"Thanks Princess, but Trisha's not my girlfriend. She's just a friend," I told her, ruffling her hair.

"I don't know Twisha," Dad sat Jesse down. "I meet her."

It was hard to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest as every turn of the tires got me closer, and I felt the familiar steel cables pulling me to her, to Trisha. I rolled up my sleeves, and took a deep breath, as I unloaded myself from the truck. I had to slow my feet, wanting to run to her door and sweep her off her feet.

I knocked on the door, probably harder than I needed to but I wanted to make sure she heard. The pull got stronger and I knew she was close, the door opening to her smiling face.

"Hi, David," Trisha's cheeks turned a pink color and her heart picked up.

I knew it! I knew she felt something too, I thought to myself. "Hey, Doll—Trisha," I stopped myself from calling her my pet name for her.

"Do you wanna come in for a sec?" she asked as I noticed her purple t-shirt again, seeing it bring out the gorgeous coppery tones of her skin. "I was just slicing up an apple. I have plenty."

I grinned from ear to ear. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

Trisha opened the door wider to let me in and I took in the fresh paint on walls, a rich chocolate color.

"I'm gonna go get the apples. I'll be right back." Trisha walked off to the kitchen.

I glanced around the room, the shelves painted a nice bright white and new pictures sat on the mantle, mixed in with the old ones. There was the one of us after graduation. It'd been there when Billy was alive but it was in a new frame, a pretty silver frame. It looked…important. Next to it was a picture of Trisha and a little girl. At first I thought the girl was probably a Quileute, but she didn't look like anyone I knew and I didn't think Trisha had family that were Makah. She was a cute kid and Trisha had her arm around her.

"Um, who's this in the picture?" I asked Trisha as she sat down the sliced apples.

"Which one?" She asked, taking a bite out of an apple wedge.

I picked it up and took it to her, a look of sadness in her eyes, but a hint of a smile. "Her name is Alondra. She saved me."

My brow furrowed. "She saved you?"

Trisha nodded and then cocked her head. "I don't know if I should tell you this story. I mean, you just started talking to me again and I don't want to ruin that." Her beautiful eyes looked down, and I pushed her chin up with one of my fingers.

"Tell me, please. I wanna know," I said calmly to her, locking our gaze.

"When we got to Mexico, I was a little lost," she said softly.

"Lost? How?" I know there was a little anger in my voice. I couldn't control it, it was how I felt, I was angry that she and pussy wolf left, plain and simple.

"See, I knew this was a bad idea," Trisha looked away again.

"No, no, I didn't mean to sound like an ass, it's just…well, you know," and she nodded at me. "I wanna hear the story though."

"Well, I missed La Push, I missed my parents, the pack, and," she brought her hand up to my cheek, "I missed you."

It seemed a little ironic to me for her to say she missed me. I could've told her the easiest solution to that problem would have been to come home the minute she stepped foot in Mexico and felt lost or to have never left to begin with. It didn't really matter, though. What was done was done and, well, she was here in her house with me now.

"Alondra's an orphan. Um, she was sitting on the steps, crying. This really nice Sister at the orphanage invited us to stay and work there. If I hadn't found Alondra, well…"Trisha trailed off.

I wanted to tell her that she wouldn't have needed that salvation if she'd stayed here with me. But I didn't because the look on her face told me that I owed this little girl in the picture, for helping to keep my Dollface alive. I hadn't stopped to think that it might have been difficult for her leave, in my mind it was all sunshine and tequila, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"Um, should we go check out the space?" I asked her as she smiled and nodded, handing me the paper towel with the apple wrapped in it.

"Sure. Thank you for doing this. I really have no clue what to do," Trisha said as we walked down the porch steps.

"I have to say that I'm impressed with everything you've done, Trisha," I needed to say her name. Her heart sped up again and I grinned at her.

"Thanks," she blushed.

"The yellow is perfect," I said as we kept walking.

"Thanks. Um, I wanna plant purple pansies in the Spring," she nodded, as we both tried not to get caught looking at the other.

Reaching the land that once was home to the garage, I pulled out my tape measure and set to work.

"Did you bring some paper and something to write with?" I asked her, as she nodded. "So, do you want to make it the same size as the last one?"

"Yeah, I think. I mean, I just have one car," Trisha shrugged, grabbing the other end of the tape measure for me.

A thought of hope crossed my mind. I couldn't let her have a one car garage? One car meant only her and I wouldn't have that. No, I was fighting for her love, and I intended to win this time, at all costs. If love was a battlefield, I was geared up and ready to fight, dammit.

"Maybe we should make it a little bigger. You know, just in case you ever need to park two cars in here," I tried not to look at her when I said it, but I didn't need to, her heart speeding a little more and a smile on her face.

"Okay, sounds good to me," she kept her smile. I stopped and looked up at her. Our eyes met, and a feeling I could never get used to or tired of, took over. I used to feel it all the time and I'd felt it a few times since Trisha got back. But it was different now, it was like I could see right into her soul, I saw things I don't think anyone else would. And I felt vulnerable because I knew she could see those things in me too. She smiled bigger and her eyelashes batted a little. She was incredibly sexy without even realizing it. "Thank you for agreeing to help me, David. I know…"

Both of knew we weren't ready for this conversation. The one where we both come up with excuses for why we did things that we did. I didn't want to play a blame game right now. What I wanted now was to not talk about heavy things, unless the heavy thing was a bundle of shingles or some other building material.

So I put my hand up. "It's cool. I've got time now, we're wrapping up a project, anyway, so I'll have time."

"Well, all the same, thanks," I was becoming addicted to that smile, her soft supple lips upturned. Every thought I had in my head went away as I stood there looking at Trisha. My palms started to sweat thinking of all the things I wanted to do to that mouth of hers. My sweaty palms made the tape measure I held in my hand slip and tumble onto the ground. "I'll get it," she said, reaching at the same time as me. Her hand wrapped around it, as my fingertips touched the back of her hand. I felt the familiar electric current run through me and neither of us moved.

TRISHA'S POV

I don't think I could've moved if I wanted to. It was like I was metal and he was a magnet, we were stuck together. I looked up…big mistake. For the first time since I'd been back in La Push, I saw the look, the look I'd missed so much for over two years, I saw David and his love and admiration. And I never wanted that look to go away.

We both took deep breaths, David's fingers finally moving, very slowly up my arm and resting them on my elbow, helping me from my squatting position.

"Thank you," we said at the same time. I couldn't help but feel a teenage giggle come from within me, as David smirked.

"Um, tomorrow, if it's okay with you, I'll come by with some stakes and we can stake off the section for the garage. Then, I'll call a buddy of mine about pouring some concrete," David did the sexy head scratch, "unless you want dirt, like was there before."

I shook my head, still looking at the magnificent being in front of me. "Concrete would probably be best, since we're making it bigger, we might as well make it better, right?" I asked, wanting his opinion, hoping deep down that one day it wouldn't just be my garage, it might be, just may be our garage.

David nodded, still scratching his head, my heart beating faster, and I knew he could hear it. Part of me was glad of that. I wanted him to know what I was feeling.

"So, I'm gonna make a list of stuff we're gonna need. Did you get all the electrical stuff taken care of when you were tearing shit apart?" David smirked.

"Well, there wasn't any electricity running through here. Just an extension cord that ran to the house," I started to feel him examining me, and I looked down.

"I'll have Juarez's brother come take a look. Do we want to put electricity in here?" We…my heart beat faster still, was it possible he wanted a we, too? After everything we'd been through, everything I'd put him through?

"I think so, in case we want to use power tools or something." We…I couldn't deny that it sounded right, more than before, before I'd left. Why was that?

"Yeah, I agree, we don't want to have run extension cords. That's just a pain in the ass." We…David continued writing. "Okay, here's what we'll do. I'll come by the store tomorrow, right about closing and we can get what we need. I'll put it in the truck and we can get started." We…my eyes looked over him, doing what he had done with me, examining, remembering, memorizing every single line, dimple, crease on his arms, his face, his neck. It wasn't just a sexual observation, either, but really seeing David, the things I often overlooked.

"So, um, I think I have everything we'll need. We'll get the stuff, come stake it off, and then we'll be ready to rock," David concluded tapping the pencil.

"Sounds good to me," I smiled to him, and he returned the smile, melting me from the inside out. I walked David to his truck. I took the list from him as I shut his door. "Thank you again, David," and I whispered softly, "I'm sorry," knowing it was very unlikely that even if he heard me, he'd say anything.

"It's no problem," he sat his hand on top of both of mine as they gripped the door. "I'll see ya tomorrow," he said, I tried to savor every last moment of the physical contact, not wanting him to leave. Eventually he moved his hand, starting the truck and driving off. I stood in the same spot, watching him leave as my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I said answering it.

"So, I heard a rumor from a very reliable source, that David stopped by your house tonight. Care to explain?" Mallory's voice dripped of gossip.

I walked my way back into the house, plopping down on the couch. "Oh, yeah? And who's this source."

"I'm not telling but pillow talk is never false," she giggled.

Part of me was dying to know who the hell Mallory was sleeping with, while the other part wanted to know what said sexual partner said. "Well, you tell me the source and what they said and I'll confirm or deny the rumor."

Mallory huffed on the other end. "Fine. It was Juarez." (what about her boyfriend?)

"Juarez? As in David's right hand man Juarez?"

"Yeah. We've been seeing each other for over a year now. No one knows, so you can't say anything," she took a deep breath. "Wow, that actually feels really good to have off my chest. Now, your end of the bargain."

I chuckled, putting my feet up on the coffee table. "It's true. He just left."

"Oooh!" Mallory was practically giddy. "What'd he say? What'd you do? Is he taking you on a date?" I started to wonder who was more excited. Mallory or me.

"We just measured off the space for the garage and talked about what we want to include, what would be best for us," I answered.

She giggled. "Us, we? I knew you wanted him too."

Her words brought a smile to my face as I sat up. "What do you mean too?"

"Ha! Like you can't see that he's absolutely in pain without you?! And don't think I miss your little flushed face when you look at him. My God! You both practically have orgasms when you look at one another," Mallory chuckled at herself. "However, if you both keep this up, you'll be fifty before someone makes a move."

She had a point, but whose responsibility was it to make the first move? I mean, we'd really just started talking again and I didn't want to push him away, but would I really be pushing him away if he wanted it too? This was all entirely too complicated. What happened to the simple "Boy likes girl/Girl likes boy/they get together and have a happy family?" Oh, that's right, it went away the minute I chose to be selfish and all my good intentions disappeared.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I told Mallory, hanging up the phone.

The night's routine was normal, dinner, a visit from Mom and Dad, like every night, a little TV, and then off to bed, thoughts of David feeling every single thing I did. The next day, everything I did, every person I helped at work, I thought of David. And when the time came for him to come in for his normal everyday stop, I was anxious to help him.

"I would use screws for the decking instead of nails. It'll hold better," I told him, answering his questions with enthusiasm and loving when I would get a grin or smile back. And the closer it got to six, the faster my heart would beat and the antsier I got.

"You ready?" David asked, picking up the last of the supplies we needed. He threw them in the truck, then drove to my house, me following in the Mustang.

I got out of the car, helping him unload the truck. I took off my sweater, only in my tight white wife-beater and jeans. I saw his eyes follow every lift of my arms, and watching the beads of sweat form in my cleavage. And like he was teasing me, he stripped his shirt off, revealing his broad, heavenly firm chest. I felt a wetness pool between my legs looking at him, and it was the first real pure sexual feeling I'd had since Ethan left and it was stronger than I expected.

"You wanna grab that end?" David held the string out to me to tie to the stake he'd driven in the ground, shaking me out of my fantasy. I tied it off and then stood to see him, his jeans riding low. I knew for a fact that he'd stopped wearing any sort of underwear after he started phasing. He bent down, to tie off the final string, and then stood, the perfect V of his abdomen evident as his pants sagged more, showing David's body for the natural wonder it was. "I talked to my guy and we're gonna need to put in a few things before the concrete, but I'll be back tomorrow, if that works for you."

Was he really worried if that would work for me? Like I had any other plans.

"Of course," I smiled.

We repeated the same good bye as the night before, him getting in the truck, me standing beside it, telling him thank you and apologizing under my breath. We repeated it for a whole week, spending every evening from about six o'clock on together. After the third day, we started eating dinner together, after the fourth, he let me use nail gun. We kept exchanging glances, watching each other, and my body was about to explode with the sexual tension. Then, on the seven day, exactly one week after he started helping me, almost two months since I'd returned to La Push, David made a move.

NEXT CHAPTER: Fire