I was not expecting the pain, that's for sure. Even with the sun itself sleeping next to me, soreness washed over my body as I shifted, a groan slipping past my lips. Jared's eyes fluttered open at the noise, his thick lashes nearly reaching his eyebrows. He furrowed them as he took in my discomfort?

"Are you okay?" he nearly yelled, shooting upwards. His hands were roaming my body, turning me over here and there as if he were looking for something. Please don't let there be bruises…please don't let there be bruises…I prayed silently. Relief washed over me as Jared hadn't found any clues as to why I'd be in pain.

"Very sore. Very, very, very sore." I murmured, batting my eyes sleepily. Jared frowned.

"I was expecting that, Sam told us about it. I just…damn, Kim. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I said I was sore, not that I was sorry about it." I smirked. Jared rolled his eyes and crawled over me, cuddling me against his chest and planting kisses along my jaw. I giggled like a two year old at the sensation, the noise only getting louder when he attacked my ribs with his fingers. I thrashed in the sheets, begging him to stop, screaming that I'd pee myself if he didn't quit soon. I kissed him to make the tickles go away.

"You cheated." He frowned as I pulled away triumphantly. I shrugged, hopping out of bed too quickly and grimacing as the pain shot up in my legs. Jared laughed as I wobbled to the dresser, pulling out decent enough clothes to wear around the house.

They were waiting for us downstairs, annoyance written on Sam's face as he and Paul patched up a hole we'd put through the hall. Emily raised an eyebrow at me and stood as she put a few loose items she'd found on the floor in a cabinet.

"So…someone had fun last night." She smirked. I rolled my eyes, the heat rushing to my cheeks when she smacked my thigh, the pain causing me to stagger. "Sore, are we?" she teased, laughing when I swatted at her. "How was it?"

I thought about this for a moment as she handed me a mug of hot coco, sitting down at the table.

"Hot." I smiled. Em waited for details. "Just…hot. He was everywhere, you know how warm they are, but it was more than that. The stuff that runs through his veins is unmatched by anything I've ever witnessed in my entire life. He was an animal." I laughed at the corniness of my own words, unable to find any others that would still manage to perfectly describe last night. "He was amazing. I swear it felt like he invented the damn sport."

Jared swooped into the dining room, planting a kiss on my cheek before taking a seat next to me.

"You guys talking about my innocence?"

"Somewhat. We've come to the decision that you, Jared Thail, are irresistibly hot-blooded." I winked at him, earning another kiss, this one more passionate. If Emily hadn't coughed loudly, we probably would've put another hole in the wall. Jared and I stared at each other for a while before turning back to Emily, as if she had just arrived. She threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Ugh! I give up, Sam! These two are a lost cause."

"No, no, no," Sam said, walking in and halting Emily's exit. He steered her back towards her seat, before taking it and setting her on his lap.

"We need to talk." He stared at us.

"It was Jared's idea." I blurted out, earning a swat from him. I scooped his jaw off the floor and smiled awkwardly, shifting on his lap. Sam's eyes shifted exasperatedly between us, seeming like he'd lost all hope for our pair.

"This has nothing to do with you two breaking my house," he grumbled. "Though I should sue you or something. This has to do with you and Emily." Em and I exchanged looks.

"What did I do?" She cried, swatting at him. He held her at arm's length, trying to avoid her wrath.

"You and Kim get in trouble every time you two are together-" our shouts of disagreement and defense flew across the dining room, Jared holding onto my hips as to restrain me from crawling across the table and clawing at Sam in Emily's aid. "You DO! You know it's true, both of you. So I need you to do me a favor."

I pouted on Jared's lap, crossing my arms as Emily did the same.

"You guys can't go anywhere with just the pair of you anymore. And we don't want you two to be alone, no matter where you're at." More shouts of disagreement.

"So what the hell am I supposed to do? Spend 24/7 with my parents? JORDYN? Have you ever spent an HOUR with Jordyn? God, it's worse than-"

"NO, you don't have to spend forever with Jordyn, you get to spend forever with me." Jared beamed. "If you don't mind." He added quickly. My heart melted at his words.

"Of course I don't mind." I smiled, and we were back to staring at each other for minutes on end. I pushed my forehead to his and wrinkled my nose.

"You're adorable."

"You're perfect."

"You're blind."

"I can see just fine, Mrs. Thail." I smiled unbelievably at him, throwing my arms around his neck and shoving my lips to his. Mrs. Thail? MRS. KIM THAIL? I nearly had a heart attack. I would've, if I hadn't been so comfortable in my current position. I could feel myself starting to get hot again, starting to want him like I had last night. Where was another wall when you needed one?

"AHEM." Sam coughed, startling us out of our stupor. I stared awkwardly around the room, trying to look at anything except his disapproving look. "We're serious about this, you guys need to be protected if these things don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon."

Em and I rolled our eyes in sync, nearly unable to contain our annoyance. After agreeing not to be near each other without Sam or Jared present, I slid off my wolf boy's lap and threw on some clothes upstairs, Em tossing me the car keys as I headed out the door.

"What did we just talk about?" Jared cried, snatching the keys out of my hand. I shot him a look, grabbing for my escape-but he only held them up higher, and Lord knows that by the time I went and got a ladder, he would've found a place to hide them.

"Fine," I sighed. "Come with me then."

"Come home with you?"

"Well I wasn't planning on going anywhere else." I rolled my eyes again. Jared smiled triumphantly and steered me towards Emily's small car.

I watched the trees turn into a blur around us, keeping my eyes peeled for something interesting to look at.

"Are you mad I took you home?" Jared asked, worry filling his tone. I laughed a little to myself.

"You're cute when you're worried," I teased, poking him. "Of course I'm not mad, I just didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night." I winked. Jared laughed nervously and ran his fingers through his perfect straight hair. I bit my lip, staring at him for a moment.

"You regret it, don't you?" he asked quietly. I waited for him to catch my desperate expression.

"NO! No, Jared, I don't at all. Trust me, there's absolutely nothing about last night that I regret, and if there's no one I would've rather experienced it with." I replied quickly, nearly grabbing him and shaking him wildly.

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart." I murmured, taking his hand and lacing my fingers with his. He smiled, turning a corner when Jacob Black stumbled into the middle of the road.

Jared slammed on the breaks, throwing his arm in front of me to stop me from being thrown into the dashboard. The tires screeched against the asphalt, stopping inches away from Jacob's shaking figure. He was convulsing, like he was having a seizure, like….

"Like you." I breathed. Jared looked at me worriedly. "Jared he's shaking like you and Sam, he's one of you!" Jacob's eyes shot to mine as if he'd heard me, his face starting to turn red. Jared nearly threw himself out of the car, wrapping his arms around Jacob and beginning to tow him away.

"Kim, drive home-I'll see you later, I promise, I-Damn, Jacob! Sit down!" Jacob wrestled against his hold, the pair of them exploding out of their skin at the same time. I watched my wolf tumble away with the other one, disappearing into the forest.

"Boys." I groaned softly, shaking my head before crawling into the driver's seat. I peeled the car off the side of the road, the trees moving swiftly next to me once more.

My window was a lot higher up than Jared had made it look. I threw myself at it and heaved, my legs kicking at nothing but air beneath me as I struggled to pull myself up. Quiet, Quiet…

"SWEET BALLS." I screamed, the window coming down on my lower back as I tried to slide to my familiar wooden floor. Jordyn shot out of bed, her blonde waves flying wildly around her. She raised an eyebrow as I twisted, my torso laying flat on the floor and my feet hitting the ground next to me. I opened one eye and peeked at her as she laughed quietly, throwing her face in the sheets to stifle her giggles.

"Another long night?" she teased. I rubbed my sore thighs.

"Very long." I groaned, crawling under my covers. We both laid back down, staring at each other from across the room.

"So…"

"So?"

"So where were you?" she cried.

"I might have been with Jared…" I smiled, knowing she'd love the juicy gossip. Her mouth fell open, her eyes wide.

"No."

"Yes ma'am."

"And…"

"And we broke things. Lots of things."

"Sexual barriers?"

"More than you'd approve of." I smiled. Her mouth fell open even wider.

"DID YOU GUYS?"

"…Perhaps."

"KIM CONWELLER YOU TELL ME RIGHT NOW!" She squealed, nearly tumbling out of her own bed and crawling into mine. I moved over under the covers to make room for her, like we had when we were 4 years old.

"Yes, we did." I caved. She waited for details. "We were fighting, practically screaming at each other and I was so mad that I just let it all out. I told him how pissed I was, I told him that I was sick of him leading me on and…"

"And what?"

"He kissed me. In the rain."

"You lucky bastard."

"He carried me inside, it was like the WHOLE time all I could feel was him, he was so warm, Jordyn!"

"Did he ask?"

"Of course he asked, but he didn't really need to. He was breathing so heavy he barely managed to get it out." We giggled. "Yeah, he just told me that if we didn't stop at that point we wouldn't be able to period…so we kept going!"

"Is he big."

"Huge."

"What? You could kill yourself like that!"

"Then again I was never a quitter."

"Kimberly Conweller!"

"What, it's a part of nature, hormones and what not."

"Do you regret it?"

"Of course I don't regret it, he's my best friend Jor."

"Two days ago you couldn't stand the kid."

"I'll never be able to stand the kid, but that's what makes me want to keep him around."

"So you two are….what? What are you two now?"

"Well I'd like to assume she's my girlfriend."

Our mouths both popped open in horror at the sound of Jared's voice. Slowly we pulled the covers off and sat out of bed, Jared leaning against the window and smirking, raising an eyebrow at us. We both fell into a fit of nervous laughter, burying ourselves in the sheets again.

"Sweet God help me." Jordyn laughed, sitting up. I leaned against the wall, pulling my knees against my chest and patting the spot on the bed next to me for Jared as he swung into the room numbly.

"A lot more graceful than Kim did it…" Jordyn mumbled, sticking her tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes as Jared threw an arm around me.

"So what happened to Lucas?" I asked as she ripped a brush through her curls. She rolled her eyes.

"I don't even know. Well I do, but I don't. It's like you said with what's-his-face here, he's my best friend but I just can't stand him. We're too much alike!"

"Jordyn, he took the big V, you can't just get rid of him because he gets annoying every once in a while!"

"The big V was gonna get lost sooner or later anyway!" she cried. "And I wouldn't get rid of him for a stupid reason like that, if I ever got rid of him at all. I'm supposed to go see him tonight."

"Does Mom know you're leaving?"

"Does Mom ever know I'm leaving?"

"Good point." I laughed, leaning against Jar. He was warm. Cozy.

"You wouldn't tell on me, would you?"

"Did you really just ask me that question?" I eyed her and she shook her head.

"Sorry, sorry. Just nervous is all. Don't want anything bad to happen, you know how weird she gets."

"Oh most definitely, shame on her, being worried about those rebellious children of hers."

"We are NOT rebellious! Not in the slightest."

"No, never, not at all, especially not when we spend half our weekend crawling through our bedroom window."

"Whatever, everybody does that."

I rolled my eyes as she left for the bathroom, the shower coming on seconds later.

"How's Jacob?" I asked quietly, letting Jared pick me up and set me in his lap.

"He's been better, that's for sure."

"Was I right?"

"Aren't you always?"

"Jared…"

"Sorry, Sorry. Yeah, you were right. He isn't happy about it at all, especially now that he knows about the Cullens. He's-"

"Cullens? Like the family in Forks? I thought they were from Alaska?"

"Everybody thinks they're from Alaska."

"You don't mean they're-"

"Yep. 100%, except they don't eat human blood. They hunt animals instead."

"Huh. That's different…at least they aren't here to hurt anybody."

"Whatever, they're sick no matter what they're killing." The hate in his voice was shocking, I'd never heard it before and didn't think I'd ever have to with the way he usually acted. "Sorry." He murmured again. "It's a wolf thing. We have a natural…distaste…for all things vampire involved."

"Why?"

"It's just how it is. They're our natural born enemies, and no matter what they do, harmless or not, the second they move into town they cause problems."

"But I thought they didn't hurt people?"

"The Cullens don't, but their friends do, and as soon as any other leech moves into the area, somebody else turns. Seth Clearwater?"

"No, you're joking."

"Only took a few months after Harry died, and Sam just now found out. " I shook my head in disbelief. This was odd. Very odd.

We spent the rest of the day together like nothing had happened. Mom eventually woke up, doing nothing but raising an eyebrow at me when she spotted us sprawled out on the couch, bundled up like two Eskimos in Antarctica. Of course she fired millions of questions at him, How's your family, What's your favorite sport, are you a werewolf….

"Awkward…" Jared mumbled as my jaw hit the floor.

"I was bound to find out sometime," Mom smiled innocently, her eyes shifting between us. "The Elders are just as gossip-prone as the high school kids are around here." She laughed. "Of course we can't tell Jordyn, we can't tell anybody, not even about the Imprint."

"You know about that too?"

"Your kid falls in love with a lumberjack and starts sneaking out every other night and staying over at Sam Uley's, you're bound to found out why sooner or later Sweetheart. It's my job."

I smiled at Jared who was beaming at my Mom, in love with her sudden burst of understanding.

"What's it like?" she asked quietly. She was the second person to ask me that.

"Uhm….it's….different. It isn't like anything I've ever felt in my entire life, completely new, fresh, as if I didn't even think or know it existed. He's sort of my rock. As soon as something goes wrong my first instinct is to go find him, knowing he can fix it." I said honestly, my soft voice filling the room. Jared rubbed my side and kissed my ear softly.

"For us, it's more of a physical thing than a mental thing. I mean of course it's both, but physically she is the only thing that keeps me tied to this Earth. If she were missing, it'd be like walking in no man's land. I'd have no idea what to do with this world, just cause it isn't relaly a world without her. I need her to live."

My Mom shifted her eyes between the pair of us, a hint of envy glinting behind the joy in them. She bit her lip and nodded, heading off into the other room. When she'd left to go grocery shopping, Jared nudged my side.

"What was that about?"

"You saw it too, huh?"

"Did something happen?

I sighed, turning to face him so that we were both squished on our itty bitty couch. Jared stared at me intently.

"My Dad wasn't the best," I started, knowing it would be a long story. "He was good, I swear, he really was. It just….I…."

"Breathe. You're with me." He murmured against my ear. I took a deep breath and started over.

"He was a good father. Great, even. He was the best you could ask for, my best friend at times. But he drank a lot. More than a lot. After a while it got bad, he wasn't coming home some days, wasn't showing up at work, not sports games, not church, nothing ya know? When my Mom started asking questions he got really defensive, didn't want to talk to her about anything, to any of us for that matter.

'One night I woke up. I was 8, and I found him in the kitchen. He was sitting at the table, just staring as if he were waiting for someone to walk through the door and kill us all. He looked scared, but as soon as he saw me his face stiffened out like it usually did. I sat across from him, and he was so quiet…

'He told me never to give up. 'Don't ever be a quitter, KBear. It'll ruin you, ruin everyone around you. No one should ever have the upper hand, no matter what situation it is. Take fear out of the equation. You're your own boss. Take fear out of the equation. Out of the equation.' And then he stuck a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger."

Jared's face was a mix of anger and distress as he clung tighter to me, placing a kiss on the top of my head.

"There wasn't really much to do afterwards. I just stared at him, waited for him to get back up or something, waited for Jordyn to walk out and save me, but I was completely rigid. Eventually Mom came out having heard the noise and called 911. She just…it wasn't the same after that you know? It was different, always has been. Now the second either of us shows the slightest bit of rebellion she launches into a rant about how we're on a one-way track to hell."

"I love you." Jared murmured into my hair after a few moments. "I love you and I can't promise you that you'll never have to see anything like that again, but I will promise that I'll be there to keep the nightmares away afterwards."

I stared at the love of my life, wondering why I had no more objections to giving him my heart. I wanted him more than anything, I would kill for him, run through a field of leeches for him, chop out my heart and hand it to him on a plate if he needed it. I loved Jared Thail, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"I love you too." I whispered, closing my eyes as we cuddled.