A/N: Happy Holidays, everybody! I hope this a satisfactory Christmas gift/New Years, since I missed Halloween and Thanksgiving!

DJ, turn it up!

Animal - Ke$ha
Bass Down Low - Dev & The Cataracs
Everything Back But You - Avril Lavigne
Freak the Freak Out - Victorious Cast
I Hate this Part - Pussycat Dolls
If U Seek Amy - Britney Spears
If We Ever Meet Again - Timbaland (feat. Katy Perry)
Kiss N' Tell - Ke$ha
Live Like We're Dying - Kris Allen
Think Twice - Eve 6
Year Without Rain - Selena Gomez & The Scene
You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette

Chapter 11

PAINTBALLERZ UNITE! (Don't Piss Off Sydney)

October 13th

Four days after I'd confronted Embry, it was my eighteenth birthday! My mom decided that even with as big of a house as we had, it wasn't big enough for my birthday extravaganza. So what did she do? Rented a paintball field. And when I say paintball field, I mean a field two miles across, complete with half of it emerged within the trees; perfect for hard-core paintballers. Everyone had been required to either wear the camo cargo pants or skirt with a white or black tank top. I'd also added my own stipulation, and had painted everyone in war-paint.

Now we all stood in line - aside from my mom, (Dad had suited up with us) Emily, Sarah, Brady and Kim's parents, Jared's parents and Jake's dad, who were staying in the spectators section that was basically a big, clear plastic barrier that would protect them from the incoming shots - and waited for the start of the game. It was clear who would be paired up before we even chose paint colors. We'd all been paired up into twos and threes. My brothers and dad had become the gray team; for what reason, I could not fathom. Sam and Alicia had paired up because Emily was taking care of the twins in the spectators section, making up the blue team. Then there was Seth and Leah, who made up the green team - Clearwaters are dangerous when together, so they actually pose a threat to my paintball prowess.

Then, of course, the imprints had all paired up; Claire and Quil were the yellow team, Jared and Kim were orange, much to Kim's disappointment, and Paul and I made up the red team; the color of blood, cue evil laugh. Embry and Jake made up the black team - Billy had found this hilarious - meaning that Collin and Brady were stuck with purple, though they'd fought adamantly with Jared for orange, and Kim had almost let them have it, but she broke before Jared could - damn puppy pout - and she was still stuck with orange.

For identification purposes, I'd also bought a bunch of different colored bandannas for each team. Everyone was currently tying theirs onto different parts of their bodies. Paul was helping me tie one half of my bandanna, which I ripped down the center, around my neck, choker style while I busied myself tying it around my hair in a pony-tail. Paul had tied his around his bicep. He finished tying it around my neck, and I turned to him, high-fiving. He picked up our guns and threw one at me, which I caught easily. He glanced over at me with a silly grin as I slipped my eye protectors on - red tinted, of course.

I looked out at everyone else to see how they'd done their bandannas and started laughing. The gray team - a.k.a my dad and brothers - had somehow managed to find a way to tack theirs to their backs like capes and were striking heroic poses.

Leah and Seth had tied theirs onto the right strap of each of their shirts and currently looked to be discussing strategy. Shit. That's not good. The blue team were split - Sam over near the spectators booth, talking to Em though the shatter-proof glass, and Alicia watching and laughing as her son tackled Jake in order to get the double barreled gun. Claire and Kim were set glaring at each other. They looked like twins. They'd both gone for the skirt option over the cargo pants, had both worn white tank tops, their bracelet bearing arms on their hips and hair styled in the same fashion which their respectively colored bandanna.

Claire and Kim were the only ones wearing the skirt though, well, out of the people who were playing, cause the mom's had bought some similar, more conservative ones, because Leah and Alicia had both gone with the cargo pants option, and as the birthday girl, I'd made a completely new option for myself - say hello to my camo short shorts, which I knew Paul loved by the way he looked when he had arrived at the pitch.

The game was set to begin a few moments later. We'd all picked our guns of choice, locked and loaded them and were standing with our groups or partners. My mom took her stand at the announcers board. "Okay, by the end of this game, I expect every last one of you to be covered in other people's paint!" There were a series of whooping noises, yelling and a war-cry on my part. "There are three prizes to be won - cleanest group, which is basically the team that comes back with the least paint all over them, paint champs, which are the ones who come back with the most of their paint on other people, and best team, which we will judge. We'll be watching - on your marks, get set, go!"

Paul grabbed my hand and picked me up, slinging me onto his back and then throwing his gun up to I could catch it. His gun landed in my hands and he took off. Paul and I had chosen our specific guns because we knew this was going to happen. While everyone else was fleeing to get under the cover of the trees, I started shooting from Paul's back, hitting Claire in the hip and Raf in the shoulder. Leah had a similar idea, but was running and shooting at the same time. I shot once at her just before we reached the tree-line, and saw it just barely nick the top of her head, splattering all over her hair. Oh, if that had been any other girl, I would be so screwed. I could see other couples scrambling farther through the treeline, but Paul and I stopped once we couldn't see the open field anymore.

I jumped off of his back, throwing his gun at him like a pro, and he caught it. I opened my chamber and added some extra ammo to replace what I'd lost. "I'm gonna find our checkpoint," I said, closing the chamber of the gun by jerking the gun forward so gravity did the work for me. "See if you can find any other checkpoints, then go for high-ground." And by high-ground, I meant climb a tree and make some aerial shots. I holstered my little paintball gun that I owned personally and grinned up at him, holding the long one loosely in my right hand. He smiled and pulled me in for a kiss. "See you later, babe. Kick some ass for me," I said in a flirty manner before taking off.

Embry, I knew, could be a great strategist - he helped me plan the school bit, after all - but I knew my real competition would be Leah and Seth. They were both good at this kinda thing and Leah would take it seriously like me. But I played paintball with some serious bros back in Texas, and I wouldn't go down easily.

I skidded to a stop, the dead leaves under my feet making a crackling sound. I cursed and got the mirror out of my pocket, leaning against the tree and putting the mirror out so that I could see if anyone was coming. I flashed it three times, covering all my blind spots, and seeing that the coast was clear, put the mirror back in my pocket and took off again, running around trees like my life depended on it.

I must have gone the opposite direction of everyone else because I had yet to shoot at anyone and anyone had yet to shoot at me. But I'd found the blue ammo stash and checkpoint, and filling my little gun with their shots, I fired at the trees, depleting a good portion of their extra ammo. Sabotage! I found myself laughing evilly as I ran from the scene, looking for my team's stash. Someone must have been closer by than I thought because not a second later, when I paused to breathe - laughing evilly and running at the same time will really take it out of you - I heard something scrambling to get closer to my location. I hid myself behind the tree and got out my mirror again. Flashing it, I saw a flash of yellow on black hair, and knew it was Claire. She was also already splattered with paint. Ha ha ha!

I jumped out from behind the tree and nailed her straight in the chest. It winded her and she dropped her gun, allowing me to get away. I also saw that I wasn't the only red paint splatter that decorated her white tank. Good job, Paul, good job. I briefly wondered how he was doing. Based on Claire's shirt, I'd say not bad, but he'd run out of ammo sometime or another.

Ten minutes later, I still hadn't found our stash, though I'd managed to sabotage orange's checkpoint and made it a point to laugh evilly as I left the crime scene. I'd gone as far as I could in that direction, so I turned and started heading back towards where I knew the real fight would be. I hadn't been shot once, but knew that if either of the teams I'd sabotaged found their stashes before the game was over, I'd be on a couple people's lists... I'd also only wasted one shot so I was still pretty good on ammo myself. Plus I had my mini gun for insurance.

Every hundred feet or so, I'd stop and listen, or check around with my mirror. Caution is key. Then, if I was sure I would be safe, I continued on, still on a quest for the red's ammo post. I almost passed out, however, when I heard the chamber of a gun slide closed above me. How the hell had I been so careless? I can't have been the only one to come up with the idea of taking people out, sniper style. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact of a paint ball on my back, but after a second, I heard a loud thump on the ground, like whoever it was had just jumped out of the tree. "I see you're doing well, baby." I sighed in relief and turned to smack Paul on the shoulder. "You scared the hell out of me; I thought I was going to get sniped!" He just laughed. Oh, if he wasn't my boyfriend...

And then I took a good look at him. He was almost as clean as I was, except for two gray shots, one green and one purple. "You know, your brothers aren't bad shots," said Paul, as he pointed to the one on the left side of his chest and the one that had hit him square in the stomach. "While I was fighting them off, Seth came in and got a lucky shot, but then Brady got their, took one shot at me, Seth noticed and they started battling each other so I was able to get away." He gave me a grin. "With a few shots at Brady and Seth, of course."

"I sabotaged Jared and Kim's stash as well as Sam and Alicia's stash."

He nodded, impressed. "Good thing, 'cause I saw Jared shooting at Leah earlier and all those summers he spent hunting with his dad really paid off. Luckily, to balance him out, Kim's never held a gun and can't shoot straight for her life, so after he's jacked her gun and used up all the paint, they won't be a threat." Sounded good to me.

"Alright," I said, gathering my thoughts and going through all our options. "Have you found our stash?" I looked up and got an affirmative nod. "And is it still in good shape?" Another affirmative. "How are you on ammo?"

He shrugged. "Since I refilled, I've only shot a couple times. I'll be good for a while yet, I think. How are you on ammo?" He didn't wait for my response; he simply plucked the big gun from my hand and the small gun from my holster. He opened the chamber and peered inside, and then bounced the small one up and down in his palm. "Have you fired off at all?" he asked, one eyebrow raise in a questioning sort of way. Smug jerk.

"I fired and hit Claire. Other than that, just the two I started with." I'd almost forgotten that I'd gotten Leah and Claire before the game had really started.

He looked me up and down. "Well, at least you're clean." He chuckled as I took another good swipe at his arm. "I'm kidding, Sydney, jeez." He was still laughing and I almost shot him, just for good measure, but decided against it when I heard a scuffling to my side. Instead, I covered his mouth with one hand and motioned for him to be quiet with the other. His reaction was immediate and he leaned down so I could climb onto his back. I could see the gears in his head turning. "Keep her clean, and we'll win the cleanest couple." It was only after I heard it that I realized he was actually muttering it and not just thinking it. For a second, I had myself worried.

I was peaking at the oncoming person from between his shoulder and neck, trying to keep myself from being exposed too much. Embry and Jake appeared and Paul took aim. "Dude, wait!" Embry practically yelled, waving his hands around like a crazy man. "Jake and I come in peace, and to form a truce." He took one look at the two of us. "Going for cleanest couple, I see," he said with a grin. "Well then this works out just perfectly. You two empty out your guns, fill them with our color, and shoot at anyone whose coming around while we stand in front and take any shots." He gestured to himself and Jake's shirts. "We already have no chance at cleanest couple, so why not win Paint Champs?" I looked them over. They were right. They were both covered in paint, especially Jake. And a lot of it was green. My mind went back to the day I first met the pack.

"Yeah, cause Leah would have beaten Jake and Paul to death if they'd gone with her. You know Jake and Leah have never been the greatest of friends." I would bet a lot of things that Leah had been the one to cover Jake in all that green paint. And if I remembered the second part right... "And her and Paul would fight to the finish..." well, I guess a deal was the best way to go.

Embry must have seen the gears in my head turning, because he was looking to me, not Paul. He stepped forward and stuck out a hand. "Do we have an accord?" he asked. I gave an evil grin, took aim, shot and hit him square in the forehead before jumping off Paul's back, and stepping forward to shake his hand.

"We have an accord."

Jake was laughing his ass off while Embry was attempting to look at his forehead. I smiled, having had part of my revenge. I turned back around going to jump back on Paul's back, and he gave me a high-five. I smiled as his hand closed around mine and he pulled me onto his back. "Slick, baby girl, slick." He sounded proud. Yeah, like he had any right to be proud. I'm the one who taught him that sometimes the small victories are the sweetest.

Embry wiped his forehead off and very purposely wiped it on Jake's chest. "Good," Embry said, "then the deal is made and shall not be broken. Come and load your guns with our colors, comrades."

I briefly wondered if Embry knew what that meant but didn't linger on it. After all, Embry was good with strategy, when he wanted to be. Maybe this was his plan the entire time; to team up with Paul and I, for some reason or another. This just happened to work in my favor. Suddenly, all three boys stiffened. "Leah's coming this way." Well, shit. She probably wanted revenge for what I did to her hair.

But I just smiled. "Bring it."

Leah did show herself soon enough, but by then, the boys had flanked me on all sides. Even if they couldn't keep Paul clean, they were going to keep me as clean as possible. I took aim and fired, a black splatter appearing on her left breast, which caused Embry and Jake to laugh as they opened fire on her too. Someone else must have heard the ruckus because Paul was steadfastly ignoring the paint war on Embry and Jake's side and staring at the trees. Before I knew it, Collin and Brady were charging through, purple paint balls flying every which way. I heard a couple make contact with Paul's chest, but the rest flew randomly, two actually hitting Leah on the opposite side of the battle. Leah paused, realizing that a new color had entered the stream. Jake and Embry stopped shooting at her, wondering what was going to happen next.

She crept around the cluster that the four of us had formed and trained her eyes on Collin and Brady. I couldn't fathom what was going through her mind, but as long as it wasn't, 'Kill Sydney,' yeah, I was okay with it. Leah could rival me in the scary department, and believe me, she had more claws to back it up.

Collin and Brady also saw where they'd hit her, and then the look in her eyes. They stopped shooting. Leah lunged. "RUN AWAY!" Collin yelled sharply and both he and Brady turned on heel and ran like they had the hounds of hell after them. It was amazing. I openly laughed and the boys joined me. I also made sure to shoot Collin on the back as he made his escape. Ah, paint ball. How I love you.

The four of us traveled in a group, spreading out every time someone came too close. We blasted the hell out of Kim on her way to find Jared. At one point, I was moved onto Embry's back so Paul could get some high-up shots. He ended up getting my dad and brothers twice apiece. And then I was moved to Jake's back when Embry was chosen to lead the oncoming Seth away from me, since he and Leah had yet to make a single shot at me. I felt rather like a baby koala, but it was pretty fun, so I couldn't care too much.

I was still on Jake's back when I heard the ten minute siren go off. It would have been an excellent cover if it weren't for the fact that Jake could smell, and I saw them coming just before it went off. I leaned in to talk into his ear. "They're coming from your right." He whipped around so fast that I almost flew off his back, but just fast enough so that the paintball that would have hit me landed squarely against his chest. I grinned because I knew there couldn't be too many more of those coming. I mean, I'd sabotaged the blue teams extra paint balls. Alicia and Sam came into view, Alicia pointing her gun very purposefully at Jake's shoulder. I hurried to make myself scarce as I could on his back, hanging off so that as little of me was exposed as possible.

"You've teamed up," Sam noticed, clearly amused. "I knew Embry would be smart enough to secure his own safety. After all, it's not wise to piss of Sydney." I grinned. Damn right that wasn't wise. "And I see you've all taken quite the effort to keep little Ms. Rambo safe." Ha ha, funny Sam. I gently nudged Jake's arm out of the way and positioned my paint ball gun so that it pointed at Sam. I didn't think he saw. I grinned again, evilly, and shot, hitting him straight in the chest. It surprised him into releasing his gun, but Alicia was quick to strike back.

Jake took every hit. "Run, Syd. Sam can't get you and still make it on time to the starters point." I grinned because Sam was still looking for the gun that had gotten hung up on a tree above him. Jake backed up to a tree so that I could run without getting hit. And I did run. I heard others running too.

Someone came up directly behind me, took one arm and all but threw me into the air. I screamed until I landed, arms latched rather tightly around someone's neck. "Would you like a ride?" That was the smug voice of Embry. I glared at him, leaned down and bit his shoulder. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Embry exclaimed, turning his head to look at me with that stupid grin of his. Insert new glare here. "Save that for Paul. I hear he likes it... rough."

You know those cartoons where when they here something shocking, their jaws drop clear to the floor and their eyes pop out of their skull? Well, I'm pretty sure that my face resembled theirs, except mine was as red as a fire-truck too. And not completely with embarrassment either. I was dying to ask one question; 'Who the hell told you that, where does she live and is she taller than me?' Okay, maybe that constitutes as three questions, but believe me, the way I ask it, it'll sound like one. But instead of letting my brief moment of jealousy get to me, I just gave Embry a swipe across the head - instant relief of anger. And the best part about it is that it doesn't hurt him, so he can't complain. He usually laughs anyway.

We burst out of the tree-line and I saw that we were the first ones out. "EMBRY! Drop me here." He skidded to a stop and let me down, utterly confused. I walked until I found a bit of tall grass and laid down on my stomach, my paintball gun trained on the tree-line. Embry saw what I was doing and joined me.

They didn't keep us waiting long. The first ones out were Jared and Kim, Jared pulling Kim along. Embry and I shot at them; they didn't even seem to care. I noticed that neither of them had guns anymore and that they were both covered in all sorts of paint, Kim more so than Jared. Kim had also lost her orange tinted eye protectors somewhere and was squeezing her eyes shut. That had to suck. Close behind them were Collin and Brady, both sporting several spots of their own paint on their shirts, as well as that of everyone else, and they were being chased by none other than Leah. I almost laughed, but settled for shooting at the three of them, hitting my mark almost every time, but hey, no one's a perfect shot.

Now, up until this point, everyone had been coming in somewhat down field, so they weren't able to see us shooting at them, but when I looked back to the front, someone was coming right for us. They were a a yard away, a foot away, in the air to jump over us; I positioned my gun, shut my eyes, hoping whoever it was wouldn't land on me, and shot. A nanosecond later, I heard an exclamation of pain and a loud thump as whoever it was landed on the ground heavily.

I opened one eye to look at whoever I had shot. What I saw nearly made me pee my pants. Quil was crumpled on the ground, whimpering, holding his manly area in agony. I looked at my gun, satisfied. I'd have to remember that next time Embry ticked me off. I gave Embry an evil grin, and he definitely understood my meaning as he paled considerably and squirmed uncomfortably, looking on at Quil in pity.

"Embry, why are you two on the ground?" That was the frustrated voice of Paul as I was yet again, swooped up into the air. I get it; I was injured, but it was my head, not my legs. I can walk! I didn't voice this, though. Just sighed as he carried me bridal style and drummed my fingers against his arm in a bored fashion.

The three of us made it to the starters point where we had to hand in our guns and wait for everyone else. Jake joined us soon enough, thoroughly blasted with blue, but looking rather satisfied. I saw why when Sam and Alicia walked their way back to the starters point, completely covered in black paint. Not just them either - Claire too, who had come out of the forest, looking like she'd been through hell.

Once everyone made it back and all guns were handed in, it was time to announce the winners.

My mom took center. "Alright, that was a very interesting match of paintball," she said, eying some people more than others. I put on an angelic face and mimed a halo. She just rolled her eyes. "I think it's clear who won the Paint Free portion of this round as Sydney was the only player in the game to come back utterly paint free. How she managed that, we've decided we don't want to know." This caused a round of chuckling and my own pout. "Don't piss Sydney off, right Quil?" This set off even more laughter. Is this a birthday girl roast? "Therefor, Sydney, Paul, you win the 'No Paint Zone' medals." She picked up two medals out of a box and threw them to us.

"And then, of course, the less obvious Paint Champs section winners. This was a hard one because many of you shot a really good game, but looking at you now, I guess only one team had a great strategy to win this part." She picked up two medals. "Jake, Embry, employing Sydney and Paul to help you was a great idea, especially seeing the amount of red paint all over my husband and Seth." She threw them the medals and I heard Leah cursing. "You two win the 'Termipainter' medals." Worst pun ever, Mom, worst pun ever.

She picked up the last medals and said, "And by unanimous vote, the best team was made up by my sons, Raf and Leo, and my husband, Jed - sorry honey, you don't get a medal." He just shrugged as Raf and Leo ran up to hug my mom and get their own medals. My mom gave each of them a medal and hugged them back.

We all flooded into the spectators booth, miraculously fitting, someway or another, and started eating. At some point, Billy started doing an Elvis impersonation for some reason, I couldn't tell you exactly why, but he ended up getting a piece of pizza flung in his face, courtesy of his own son. My mom had had to diffuse an oncoming food-fight with that one, Emily helping by hitting someone - cough cough, Embry, cough cough - over the head with a large metal spoon. Thank Godfrey for Em and her cooking supplies of justice, otherwise we'd never be able to keep this pack of boys under control.

Sometime later, my mom started throwing - literally - hot pink eye protectors at the girls. The guys all looked extremely confused. I caught my pair expertly and smiled at my mom. She then dug back in her bag for the rest of the 'stuff.' All the girls got up from where they were sitting and stood in the corner of the spectators booth. Lets just say my mom went really all out for my eighteenth birthday. My mom came over with the bag and started passing out the little crop jackets, also bright pink in color. Emily joined us, grabbing her own jacket and also fishing out her hot pink army hat. Some of the guys were standing, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I shrugged on my own bright pink crop jacket. My mom, Kim and Claire had come up with the idea, but I wasn't going to object just because everything they chose was pink.

The back of my jacket said 'LeHaye' in big, bold black letters and they handed me a rhinestone necklace that said 'Captain,' which is what I was referred to occasionally when I came up with a devious plan or whenever someone was trying to employ me to help get back at someone else. It was a nickname and a form of flattery all in one.

Looking around, other names on the jackets flashed. Leah turned around and 'Clearwater' was plastered across her back, and her necklace, interestingly enough, said 'Head Bitch.' How she got away with that, I will never know. Kim was busy trying to right her jacket which read 'Knight.' Her necklace just said 'Kimmy.' Claire was strutting, showing off her jacket like a model, flashing the large 'Leighton' around for all it was worth and Emily stared adoringly at the 'Uley' on the back of her jacket. For a second, I imagined my own back saying Walker instead of LeHaye.

That daydream was interrupted by Embry yelling indignantly as Emily through his full length jacket at his face. "Sydney," he said, slightly irritated, holding up his brown hoodie and showing me the 'Call' splayed across the back, "care to explain?"

I smiled evilly. "My thank you for attending my birthday party as well as your team colors. Next round is boys versus girls."

"But we out-number you!" Jake exclaimed, laughing, and the others joined in, but some of the laughs were more nervous than others. I even saw Jared pulling nervously at his collar. Ah, so he must be catching on to our scheme. Not that it matters. Even if he has, its not like him knowing about it will deter us any. We've been planning this for two days and subtly practicing in that time too.

Leah and I look over at each other, exchanging a cool, high-five/secret handshake that we've been developing for the past month or so. Perfect time to use it I think. Kim sees this and gives a mocking little laugh. "Doesn't matter. Even without Alicia, we can still kick your ass." My mom gave her a stern look. "Sorry, Missy. We can still kick your butt."

"Oh," Claire said, remembering something, "you guys also lose Leo, Raf and Jed. Even it out a little more." She shrugged, smiling. The real reason was to get it down to pack members and imprints only. The nine boys lined up nervously, all taking their jackets and putting them on and getting their guns. Nine wolves against four imprints and another wolf. This was almost too easy. The only two not looking even the slightest bit worried were Paul and Embry. I could remedy that - easy.

Embry smirked. "Don't hurt yourself, sweetheart," he mocked.

I gave him a sweet smile. "Can I hurt you instead?"

His grin dropped and he pointed his gun at me, miming shooting. "Bring it, LeHaye." Oh, so he was challenging me now? He seems to have forgotten the revenge against him that I owe myself. I just cock a smirk

"Oh, it's brought, Call."

-Forever His-

This time, they didn't blare a horn and have us run into the brush like an angry mob. Know what my my did? Had everyone blind folded and brought into the forest by someone else. Needless to say, that took a bit of time, getting everyone situated. But now all the girls had found each other again and we were following Leah. We'd already predetermined that the boys would split up into small groups to look for us and we were currently positioning ourselves so as to intercept them.

"Okay," Leah said, throwing her gun at me, which I caught easily. "My nose works a little - well, a lot - better when I'm a wolf. Sydney, care to do the translations?" I grinned by way of answer. She grinned back and ran behind a tree, coming out a moment later, a wolf. She was a very pretty wolf. Mostly a dark mocha color with a few places that were sandy in color, such as her paws. She gave what seemed to be a wolf grin and I heard Claire and Kim giggle a bit. I just rolled my eyes as I heard Leah take in a breath, then a few smaller ones. "Three are close, two are moderately going the right way and four of them went in the wrong direction. Closest to us now is... Sam. Brady is about twenty feet off from him, but he should be easy enough to take care of."

I relayed this info to the other girls and then turned to Emily. "You're up. Show these girls how its done, mama wolf."

She smiled, handing her gun over to Claire and all but skipping to where I was directing her. There was a small gap between trees and she found a root and sat down, situating herself so that it looked like she had tripped over it. For the effect, she let an extremely pained look cross over her face and held onto her ankle.

Sam didn't fail. He appeared at the tree-line within moments of Emily getting into character. She whimpered when he came into view. Sam dropped his gun. Again! I couldn't believe my luck and sent Kim to grab it. She did so gladly, happy she wouldn't have to shoot. Sam, however, wasn't paying any attention to anything but his wife who was on the dirty forest floor, all but crying. He approached her and I could see Kim's tall lean figure darting through the trees, toward where the gun laid on the ground. "Em, what happened, are you okay?"

He leaned down and helped her up. She used him as a crutch and leaned against his side, her apparently twisted ankle held in the air at an awkward angle. "I ran into Brady." My Godfrey, this lady's a genius. "He pushed me, saying he wanted to get back at Leah and I was in his way, and my foot caught the root and I fell and twisted it."

I nearly yelled in triumph when, simultaneously, the anger registered on Sam's face and Kim picked up his gun. Sam walked Emily over to a fallen log and set her down gently. But what happened next nearly made me pass out. Just as Sam turned around, Brady appeared out of virtually nowhere. "Alright, Sam! You got her. I'm going to go for Leah myself - get a little revenge for earlier." He mimed shooting. Leah and I snorted simultaneously. We both knew if he ran into her, he'd be high tailing it the other way, not shooting. Boys and their egos.

Sam was trying to calm himself, but Brady had just dug himself a six foot hole. Rule number one in the pack: Never hurt another member's imprint, and though Brady hadn't actually hurt Emily... well, Sam didn't know that.

Sam was shaking - badly. I'd never even seen Sam somewhat angry and now he was loosing it. He'd always been Mr. Composed and though I'd seen imprinting in action before, what with all the lovey-dovey couples around me most of the time, I'd never seen how a wolf was affected when his imprint was hurt. It was new. It was exciting. It was somewhat frightening, to be honest. I could see Sam trying to calm himself down, but I don't think it worked. One second, Sam was standing in front of Emily, trying to keep his head, and the next, he was across the clearing, ramming into Brady. Brady didn't have a chance to react. He was sent back in the air, his gun knocked from his hand. It seemed to happen in slow motion after that. Brady, still airborne, sailed through the air and cracked his skull against a tree. It made a horrible sound as the wood splintered from the impact and he fell to the ground, knocked out.

I was proud when I saw Kim going for Brady's gun which had flown back into the trees when it had been knocked from his hand. I turned to Claire who had been quiet up until this point. Her eyes were the size of saucers, watching Sam as he stood over Brady's unconscious form. I snapped in front of her face to grab her attention and her brown eyes immediately pulled to mine. "Do you have the stuff?" I asked and she nodded, mutely digging into her bright pink back pack and handing me what I wanted.

Sam was distracted and didn't see or hear me enter the clearing. I looked at Em and she nodded. I grinned evilly, coming up behind Sam and readying myself. I leaped up, bringing the pink bandanna over his head to wrap around his neck and landing again, bringing Sam with me so that he had to lean back in what seemed a most painful manner. I winced at the sound he made as he pulled at the pink material constricting around his throat. "Sam," I said in a sing-song voice, "you don't want to hurt me, do you?" He stopped resisting immediately. "That's right. Paul wouldn't like that. So be a good little wolf and relax while your wife ties you up." If he wasn't a wolf, that wouldn't have worked, but since he was, I could be a little rougher than usual, bordering on domestic violence in some places.

Emily came forward, grabbing some rope and duck tape from Claire and started binding her husband's hands and feet. A moment later, Sam sat in front of us, next to an unconscious Brady, who we'd also tied up for precautionary purposes. Both were thoroughly shot with pink. Sam was looking at the five of us like he'd never seen us before. Claire held up a camera. "Say I forfeit!" And snapped a picture.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I forfeit."

I smiled. "Good," I said, pulling a piece of pink duck tape out and tearing it with my teeth. I leaned down and stuck it securely on Sam's mouth. He quirked an eyebrow at me, as if to say, 'Really, Syd, duck tape?' "Then I won't have to have Leah break you into submission." I winked at him as his eyes widened comically. "It wouldn't have been fun for you."

Sam looked over at Emily. "Sorry, honey," she said, shrugging and grinning, "but I can't piss off Sydney." That seemed to be the mantra for today, though I could see why Emily said it. She knew my plan for Embry if he didn't cooperate when we caught him. I smiled and shrugged. No one was really scared of me - just my anger. She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. "Love you. See you later."

The five of us started walking off. "We'll come back for you, Sam. And maybe we'll untie you. Depends on what Emily wants." I wink at him and he rolls his eyes in response.

In the next half hour, we disposed of Collin, Jake, Quil and Seth who didn't go down without a fight, explaining the paint splatters on my leg and on Claire and Kim's shirts. We also lost Emily when we had to scatter due to an attack by Jake and Quil, and though no shots made contact with the four of us who remained, I couldn't speak for Emily. We'd also taken extra precaution when incapacitating Jake and Quil because of their little sneak attack. Three of us had to pile on Jake to stop him.

We were all currently waiting for Embry who was coming this way, according to Leah's nose. Leah had also accidentally shredded her shirt earlier and she was now wearing her cargo pants and a crop jacket that barely hid her breasts from view. Needless to say, she wasn't happy about that. Leah was all about the conservative. Currently, she was lying on her stomach opposite from me, holding a rope. The reason I was on the ground with her? Claire and Kim didn't want to get dirty. Go figure. They're already covered in paint. I'm the only one here who can get any dirtier.

Embry came into view and Leah and I pulled, just as he reached our rope. But it's Embry so he didn't just fall. No, he sprawled and then tumbled down the little slope a couple feet away. He grunted as he made contact with the ground. Leah and I jumped up, running over to him. I immediately straddled him, sitting on his chest and Leah grabbed his gun. Embry opened his eyes and said, "Why Sydney, what would Paul think of this?"

I rolled my eyes and gave him an unamused look. "I have Leah positioned to break your nose with your own gun," the teasing look immediately slipped from his features. "So I suggest you just shut up and listen to the deal I'm going to make you." He nodded slowly. I smiled at him. "Smart boy." I grabbed the small gun from my mini holster and held it up for him to see. "See this?" I asked. He nodded again. "It's unloaded. There are only two people we haven't gotten yet. You want to take a guess at who?"

"I'm guessing Paul, since I just saw him and... Quil?"

"Close," I said, grinning. "Very close. No, actually, we got Quil and Jake when they sprung a surprise attack on us. The other person we've yet to... immobilize is Jared. So what you're going to do is stage a threat to Kim - act malevolent - and we're going to attack Jared from behind while he's distracted." I heard Leah cock her gun and aim it at his face. "No funny business or Leah will kick your ass to the moon. Got it?"

He nods and I offer him the gun, which he takes. I get off of him and he stands up. "You know Syd, you're a lot scarier now that you know the secret. You don't worry about not hurting us anymore."

I shrug. "Mental scarring is good enough for me."

He mutters something about demented short people and gets into position. "Oh, by the way, Leah. Nice boobs. That little crop jacket provides a very nice view of them when one's on the ground." I see her eyes get big and she starts stomping towards him. He doesn't even look slightly deterred. "Remember, Leah. You need me. Jared's onto you guys. Without me, he'll be impossible to get without some very heavy fire on all of you." She stops dead in her tracks but gives Embry a death glare that I wouldn't doubt actually burnt a bit.

Claire, Leah and I all hide from view as Kim stands, holding her gun loosely at her side, Embry pointing my small one at her. Leah whisper yells, "He's coming!" and the act begins. Kim's set trying to figure out how the gun works and Embry starts talking about how Jared wants to win just as much as he does and that being shot doesn't hurt as much as she thinks it will. Jared comes into view, giving Embry an odd look.

"Um, dude. She can't shoot." Well, that didn't go how I wanted it to. "It's wrong to attack a defenseless lady." Oh, there's the part where he defends his girl. "Go shoot Sydney or Leah or something." Leah and I look at each other, silently communicating. Screw my plan.

Leah and I jumped out of the brush, landing solidly on Jared and knocking him to the ground. Leah rips the gun from his grip and brings his hands behind him where I make quick work of them, tying them tightly, then tying his feet together. He's yelling into the ground, probably eating a bit of muddy dirt too, and when Leah flips him, I'm sure to duck tape his mouth quickly. I stand up, Leah and I still glaring down at him. Claire picks up the gun Leah discarded and empties it, rendering it useless.

Jared's trying to yell at us through the tape but its coming out all garbled and muffled. Leah and I smirk at him. Kim comes over and sits on his chest, much like I'd done to Embry earlier. Jared gives her a look. "Sorry, baby. You ran your mouth in front of the wrong people. Lucky for you, we're almost done. The only person left is Paul."

"Someone say my name?"

I looked up quickly to see Paul, staring at the scene in front of them. And then he starts laughing. "I... assume this was... your... plan, Sydney," he managed between his chuckles before breaking out into even more laughter. I smiled, proud of myself. Paul doesn't have a gun, for some reason, but I decide not to question it. He smiles and holds his arms out for me, and I shrug, happy to comply. "Short, evil genius, you will be the end of me."

Embry rolls his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest. "She'll be the end of the world." He looks around. "Dude, what happened to your gun?"

"Emily stole it," he said, shrugging, "said she needed it to protect herself and find Sydney. I think my gun was the anti-Sydney tracker, or something, since I couldn't find you. I decided not to fight and handed it over. She shot me twice and that was the end of it." That's... kinda odd. But whatever. I snuggled closer into Paul's chest. "Guess that means the girls won."

Yep, that pretty much sums up life.

"Almost," I said evilly, grabbing a gun from Kim. She handed it over, questioning my motives silently. I grin evilly at Embry and aim.

"Whoa, whoa, Sydney! Can we talk about this?" His eyes are wide and he looks scared, but he's not making any move away from me. I wonder why that is. He has his hands up. "Please, don't shoot me sissy." He gives me a puppy dog pout. "You wouldn't shoot your own brother, would you? Your best amigo? Your partner in crime?" It's really too bad he wasn't my imprint - he might have had a fighting chance then.

"Let me see," I said, pausing to look thoughtful. "NO!" And I shot.

Embry fell to the floor, grasping his many area that was covered in pink paint. I handed the fun back to Kim, triumphant. "Now we're done."

-Forever His-

We were back at my house now, eating cake and opening presents, and I'll be damned if not everyone there got me a gift, including parents. My Godfrey, I was going to be rich by the end of the night since the parents decided money would be the most appropriate thing to give an eighteen year old girl. My parents gave me a giant art kit. And now, I was just starting on the pack's gifts.

I decided opening the girl's gifts first would be safest. I made a grab for the one with multicolored 'Happy Birthdays' written all over that said from Kim on the card. I opened it to see a long, black piece of material that, when pulled out, was a knee-length, cotton, curve hugging, off the shoulder dress. It was gorgeous. Kim saw my face and grinned. "You have to open Jared's next. They go together." Okay, so at least Jared's wasn't going to kill me. I grabbed his next and pulled out a pair of black, strappy heels and a little silk black clutch purse. "Perfect for when Claire and I start bringing you to this club in Seattle - it's fantastic." I'm pretty sure the smile I forced was less than enthusiastic.

Claire shoved her present at me before I had a chance to even look up from Kim's. She was grinning brightly. "Open ours next!"

I giggled at her eagerness and tore off the red wrapping paper, taking the lid off the box and peeking inside. She and Quil, though I strongly suspected she picked it out and he paid for it, had gotten me two pairs of dark wash jeans, three lacy camisoles, a casual sweater dress and a hoodie with roses wrapping around it, looking like ivy on an old wall. "I'm just taking a guess here, but I think you guys think I don't have enough dresses." I quirk an eyebrow at them and they don innocent faces. I smiled, shake my head and put it back in the box so I don't lose it.

The next gift handed to me is from Leah. It's a small little jewelry box and when I open it, its four little sets of studs in green, dark blue, red and clear. I grin again. I haven't been able to wear my earrings in so long. I doubt these guys even knew I had my ears pieced until now, judging by the looks on their faces as I poke the green ones in. Their eyes widen further as I also take out the blue pair and put them in my second hole. I swore Kim's eyes almost popped out of her skull when I put the clear ones in too, and then when I put the fourth pair through my cartilage, I thought Claire was going to pass out. I turned to Leah. "Thanks. How do they look on me."

She's obviously trying not to laugh and is failing miserably. "Fabulous, but I think you might still be missing a pair... or two." Or three, I thought, laughing myself. She tossed me another box or four, this time in onyx, light blue, gray and purple. I put the onyx ones in above the clear ones, followed by the light blue and then by the purple, which was underneath the red.

"I have my ears pierced seven times up," I explain and the looks on Kim and Claire's faces are enough to make me give them a sheepish look.

Embry gives me a mischievous look and wriggles his eyebrows at me. "Any... other piercings we should know about?"

"Want me to shoot you again?"

Embry fell silent, looking down at the table like it was the single most interesting thing in the room. I grin and take the present that Emily offers me. Its wrapped in simple blue paper and a white ribbon. I ripped it off and there was a picture of me and Paul on the beach. I don't remember him lifting me off the ground, but it seems that he had. And lucky me, the picture was taken from an angle where you couldn't see my gash or the bruising on my neck. I briefly wondered how she had taken this without my knowing, but decided I didn't care. Also, tucked in the corner of the frame was a Starbucks gift card. I love my life!

I jumped up and gave Emily a hug, nearly squishing Nick. He made a little gurgling sound and I leaned down to give him a kiss on the forehead, then did a dorky happy dance. I pointed to Paul. "You, me, the pack and this gift card, next Saturday. You'll see what real coffee's all about." Because, of course, La Push and Forks are the only places in the country without a Starbucks.

Everyone laughed. "I think she likes it," someone said as I hugged the gift card to my chest while the picture was passed around. The girls all awed over it, though they had seen it in person. I stuck my tongue out and took my picture back, putting it in the box with Claire's stuff.

"Mine next!" Embry exclaimed, all but throwing his package at me. The package was midsized, and on the front was a rather well drawn mudkip from the Pokemon series. Underneath it was written, 'So I hear you like mudkips.' I laughed and tore off the paper. Embry's face fell in half at the sight of his mudkip's tail being torn off, but he got over it quickly, trying to gauge my reaction, I suppose. He watched me as I painfully slowly opened the box. Inside was the full first season of the original Pokemon series. Lifting that out, there was also a pad of paper. "So I hear you like drawing," Embry joked and I rolled my eyes, lifting the pad of paper. Underneath that was a little booklet with the title Embry's coupons. I didn't know whether to be scared or not.

Opening the booklet, the first one said, 'Good for one Embry hug.' I smiled and shook my head, flipping the page. There were five Embry hug coupons, two coupons that offered to have him cook me a meal, one bad date escape coupon - as if I'd need that - four to have him draw something for me and three for a massage. I laughed, ripping out the first page of the coupon book and hugged him, handing him the slip of paper too. "Thank you, Embry."

He handed the slip back to me. "That one was on the house."

I grinned, taking the slip back and putting it in my pocket before picking up another gift from the pile. I was about to open it when it was snatched from my hands. By Paul. I gave him a halfhearted glare. "It's mine. I want you to open it last." He gave me a sheepish smile and I shrugged, grabbing a different gift.

Collin and Brady had pitched in with each other and gotten me a good easel and some sketch pads and pens. Jake promised me two free maintenance checks on my car - on top of the fix he was already doing from the incident with Cade. And Seth... well, Seth's gift confused me. He had gotten me a scrap book - no doubt Sue's idea - but the thing was, it was already filled with photos of me and the pack; photos I don't remember ever having taken. There were pictures of the girls and I and me when Mick and Nick had been born. There was also a picture of me the day after I'd been attacked, looking terrible. There were all sorts of pictures and all of them were really good. I just didn't remember having taking any of them.

After I finished looking through the scrap book, Paul handed me his and a rose. I don't know where he pulled the rose from, but he had managed it somehow. The box he gave me was a slightly larger than average jewelry box in blue satin. I opened it and inside was a necklace and a matching bracelet. The bracelet was a charm bracelet that had something on it for everyone in the pack with their names engraved on the back in tiny letters so I would be sure to know who it was supposed to represent. The necklace was on a thin, silver chain and on it was a single, silver wolf. I gasped. Paul grinned. "Do you like it?"

"Like it?" I asked, incredulous. "I love it! Help me put it on?" He smiled and I turned around. The cool silver landed around my neck and I heard it clasp behind me.

I turned around. "Now you look perfect," he said.

"Just like my birthday, huh?" I asked with a silly grin.

He just laughed and kissed me. Perfect birthday indeed.

A/N: Longest chapter ever! I'm just sorry it was a filler.

This chapter was originally supposed to be the pack's holidays, but then I remembered two very important characters had birthdays in the midst of this! So, as a result, the Holidays have been pushed back a chapter. The chapter after next will actually relate to the plot line, however.

I had hoped to get this in by Christmas, but untimely as always, it was late. So I apologize. And I would also like to say that I will not be able to update till the 29th, at least.

Embry: Yeah, cause she's leaving us out in the cold.
Me: No, because I have musical practices and homework!
Paul: He's right, Jas. You are kinda hanging us out to dry.
Me: No, Paul! Not you too! I love you guys, but I'm sorry, school's more important.
Embry: Oh, I see how it is. You love your precious school more than us.
Paul: Actually, she hates school.
Me: Thank you Paul.
Paul: But she's still ditching us for it.
Me: Awwww D: Everyone's against the shorty.
Paul: Review!
Embry: Hey, that was my line!

Actually, Embry, that was my line. So, review! Tell me what you think. Did you like it, did you hate it? Should musical practice kill me to prevent me spreading my poison to the world. Sometimes, I think it should. Favorite scene? Favorite line? Was anyone else glad to have Embry back in this chapter?

Embry: I WAS!
Me: Of course you were.
Embry: Review for my glorious return.
Paul: No, review for my romantic ways.
Me: No, review for me! Actually, you know what? REVIEW FOR ALL THREE!
Embry: Oh, great she's rhyming again.
Me: Shut your freaking mouth, Embry Call!

Madly Yours,
Jassabella