2010

Harry Clearwater's Place

"Come on kid, you have to want something. Mikey got that big party, you can have one too" Harry coaxed. But I refused to budge, I didn't want anything for my birthday. School wasn't fun but it was better than it cpuld hsve been, that didn't mean that I had a whole lot of friends though. What I wanted was a dinner with Tyler, Seth, my father and Harry...maybe even Chief Swan. The men in my life had definitely taken care of me and this would be a way to say thanks. I hadn't talked to Karen about it but I wasn't sure if she'd say yes, so until I knew for sure I would say that I didn't want anything.

"No can do Kams, you're going to get something good. At least from me...who knows what old time nonsense dad will give you" Seth laughed. He had a great relationship with Harry, he always teased his father about how old he was, but he had never felt comfortable with teasing our mother. Not that it mattered anymore anyway, after she was released she had never come back home. I was used to not having her around but Seth wasn't, it seemed like he was fine with her being gone.

"Who are you calling old? Women still find me very attractive, son. I've still got it" Harry grinned, and I couldn't help laughing as he posed to show off his 'muscles'. " Yeah Sethy, he's still got it" I joined in. Being around Harry was wonderful, he treated me the same way that he treated Seth and it made me feel like we were family too. And we were family now. Whenever Harry gave me an allowance I would hand the money over to Seth, it was going towards new fishing poles for Christmas. I knew that my father loved me but he had nevet had a relationship like this with me, Harry was definitely a father figure in my life. He was the first one I had told when I had gotten my period and he literally run down to the shop and talked to Joy Ateara for half an hour about what would be best for me.

Seth had laughed when he had found his father with different packets of tampons and sanitary pads in his arms but he helped figure out, honestly I was just as clueless as they were about what to get so I was glad that they hadn't come home with the tampons. That was only one of the ways that Harry was there for all the little things; he helped sew my buttons back in and always asked if I had a coat with me, he'd always remember that I hated onions and wouldn't put any in my food, and taught me how to walk in heels when Tyler and I had had our first real date in Port Angeles. Well he didn't really teach me how to walk in heels, he had linked his arm in mine while I practiced walking so that I wouldn't fall and "break my damn ankle" in those "torture traps".

"Exactly, listen to Kimmy son, she knows that I still have it" Harry winked, and he turned his head back to the television while Seth and I carried on our conversation on the love seat. "So, are you finally going to tell me how you got so tall? And don't say growth spurt" I asked. In the last few weeks he had sprouted up like a weed and he'd occasionally get a little cranky, I had chalked it up to puberty in the beginning. Especially when he started eating for four people. But could he grow from just over five feet to almost seven in such a short space of time? Did that even happen?

"No clue Kams, we're in the same boat here...but my body is good enough to steal those imaginery women dad is always bragging about" he made sure to say it loud enough so that Harry could hear him. Harry's only response was to throw a piece of beef jerky at Seth's head, but Seth managed to catch it with his mouth. While I highly doubted that it was puberty that had turned him into Super Seth there was a chance thst it was, Seth wasn't the only to suddenly grow taller and pack on the muscle. Jacob, Sam, Brady and even Paul were all starting to look bigger too, but Seth and Jacob seemed to be the only two that weren't as short tempered as the rest. Sam was so angry these days that his long time girlfriend Leah had left him, and Collin was avoiding Brady at all costs.

"Okay, while you steal the women I'm going to head down to the beach, Tyler and I are going to hang out for a bit before he drives me back" I told them both. I kissed and hugged Seth before doing the same to Harry, and he once again made sure that I had taken something warm with me. The walk to First Beach was only a few minutes long and I worked hard to get there as quickly as possible, Tyler taking me along on his evening runs certainly helped me jog and cut the time in half.

I didn't have to look very hard for Tyler's faded blue second hand hatchback, it had doors that were a slightly lighter shade of blue than the rest of the car. But it was still his pride and joy and I loved that we had a warm and dry place to make out in when we wanted to be out of the house. He was in the back seat of the car with a large flask in his hands, knowing Tyler that would be his mother's hot chocolate.

"Come on in babe" he smiled, and he held the door open while I shimmied up to his side. There was already a blanket back here from the times that we had hung out before and a pair of my pumps that I thought I had lost. "How was Seth and Harry?" he asked, But he didn't seem very interested in my answer, he had already moved forward to put his lips on mine. Kissing Tyler was always amazing, he knew how use his tongue to make me moan and his hands were always pulling me close against his chest before they started clutch and grope at my hips and my butt.

"They're both good" I breathed, moving my mouth from his lips to his neck. The moment my lips touched his neck he moaned and pulled me into his lap so that his erection could rub into while I left hot marks on his skin. "That mouth of yours Kim..." he drifted off, and I loved that I could hear the smile in his voice. His hand slipped into my leggings and before I knew it we were both out of breath and laying against the back seat of his car. And right on cue Tyler wrapped the blanket around my body while he rolled the windows down, trying to de-fog the car after our escapade.

Newton House

After another 'last kiss' from Tyler on the front porch I had finally made my way into the house, all of the lights were off but the television was still on and somewhere upstairs someone was playing music. There was never really a curfew set in place but my father always made it known that he would wait up for me until I got home. "Kim, come here for a minute" he called from the living room.

It felt like I was in trouble, instead of almost sixteen I felt like I was five years old and my hand was in the cookie jar. "Yes dad?" I answered quietly. My father and I never spoke much, I knew that he cared and did what he could to protect me (he had already shown that when he moved me into Forks) but conversation was not his strong suite. Unlike the other times that he had waited up for me he had Karen at his side, and while I had assumed that Mike was upstairs he was there too. And on the table was an envelope and a large box.

"This came from your mother, it's a birthday gift, she wants you to have it" he told me. That was...I didn't even know that anyone had kept in contact with her. "You-you talked to her?" I asked him, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. If she had decided to make contact wht wouldn't she start with her children? "She has been trying to get better for you and your brother, Kimberly. She didn't want you to see her like that" he tried. My eyes went back to the box on the table, it was twice the size of a bread bin, what could she possibly have given me?

"But she let you see her like that, didn't she?" I wanted to know. He looked to Karen and then back to me, Karen seemed passive and not even interested in what was going on. "Yes she did, I took her to a rehabilitation centre. And she is doing well there" he informed. Rehab? She wouldn't even let us see if she really was trying to get better? Not even send us letters or call to see if we were okay. "I don't want her gift" I whispered. I wouldn't let het swoop back in with a present aand act like it was okay, her prison sentence had ended months ago. Months. And she had still avoided us.

"Kimberly please, addiction is her struggle, and she is trying to get better for both you and Seth. Give her the chance to make things right" he pleaded. He made me so angry defending her like that, she was the one who had hurt her family by disappearing without a word, and even when she was here she had never protected any of us. "I don't even what she's 'addicted' to, all I know is that she left me. And that was years ago. The second I was out of her house she stopped caring...or did I imagine that she never visited or ignored my calls I asked him.

"Don't raise your voice at me. She is still your mother, so you will take that gift upstairs and open it and you will write her a letter thanking her for the gift" he suddenly said sternly. It was bewildering that he was fighting me so hard on this, he had never been this involved in anything other than the move here and the incident with Jacob. Why did it matter that she decided to start talking again when she hadn't been involved in my life in years. I hadn't talked to her in years, long before there had been any sign of addiction. And I had come to terms with the fact that I was no longer important when I wasn't in her house.

"No. I. Won't. I don't want this and I don't want to talk to her. She doesn't get to do this, not when she's the one that stopped acting like a mother. She never even tried to get me to understand this, no one did. I'm not going to entertain whatever this is" Isaid through my teeth. And that seemed to be the wrong thing to say to him, I could see him get more and more angry and his fists clenched at his side. It was the first time I had ever seen a reaction like this from him and I was wary about what he might do.

"And why do you think it is that no one tells you anything in this house? We are your family Kimberly and you've never acted like it. Should Mike tell ypu, huh, when you keep throwing your relationship with Seth in his face? Or should it be Karen? She is the only woman in your life right now and you still treat her like a stranger. Or should it be me? I'm your father, Kim, your fucking father and it's not like you give a shit. You give everyone a chance to be in your life but your family, and then you run out there and play the damn victim!" he shouted.

"That's enough! Every time Sue makes her way back into our lives you lose your fucking mind! Kim isn't perfect, but Mike isn't either, and you seemed to understand that until Sue needed your help again. Just last week you were talking about how hard she was trying to fit into this family and let people in and today it's a different story" Karen yelled, she had made her way across the room and pulled Mike and I to our feet. "Kids, go visit the Crowley's for a while. I'll come back and get you" she whispered hurriedly. And Mike did something he had never done before, he pulled me into his side and walked us out.

Mike and I had walked slowly to the Crowley house, but it was only once we were under a streetlight that I saw thst he was crying. We had never been close to one another, but we had both had...unpleasant evenings, and while I thought he might push me away when I hugged him he hadn't. He had stopped crying but he did hug me tightly and lay his head on my shoulder. "He's, like, still in love with her or something. He gets crazy when she's involved" he said quietly.

Crowley House

When Mike and I stood at the front door hand-in-hand I could see the surprise on Tyler's face, but he didn't ask what had happened. When Mr and Mrs Crowley started to open up the sofa bed and put out dinner, without even asking what was wrong, I had the idea that this wasn't the first time Mike had come here like this. It was just the first time someone had come here with him. "There's some more pizza in the fridge kids, and you can watch some TV try not to stay up too late. Remember Tyler, you and Kim are not sharing a bed...but you can sleep down here on one of the other couches if you want" after Mrs Crowley had given some more basic rules she followed her husband upstairs with baby Emma in her arms.

That night was filled with silence, the only noise came from the television or the chewing sounds of pizza. Mike had decided to sleep on the couch and he had let me take the sofa bed, Tyler had brought his air mattress down from his room and set it up on the floor next to the sofa bed. Instead of talking Tyler held my hand and quietly hummed a song I had never heard of while I fell asleep, and last thing I thought was that I had to find a way down to La Push to talk to Seth.