Chapter 13 Quil meets Raven

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer- this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing.

Embry ran to Quil's house. He was dying to see if he had got back safely and how Pititchu was settling in.

He barrelled in the back door without knocking. "Quil?"

"Embry?" but it was Pititchu who answered him. She came into the kitchen and he froze where he was. She was wearing an old button up shirt of Quil's, but it was unbuttoned and she was pretty much not wearing anything else.

"Hey," he said, averting his eyes. "Is Quil around?"

"Water."

He looked confused for a second. "Shower?" he clarified.

She nodded happily.

"You need some more clothes," he reminded her, waving a hand at her unclothed state.

"Oh," she said and scuttled out of the kitchen.

He shook his head and helped himself to some food out of the fridge. Clearly, it was still taking her a while to settle in, but she was at Quil's house, so his family must be okay with it.

"Dude," he heard behind him.

They stopped before they hugged each other but then Embry took the last step and hugged him anyway; one of those boy type shoulder slapping hugs but a hug none the less.

He must have accepted Embry's apology.

"Your family?" Quil asked.

"I found them Quil… I have an uncle who is only 26 and three others I haven't met yet and Raven is my grandmother and she is seriously cool… you should see how she drives a 4WD…"

Quil beamed at him. "I'm glad."

"How is she settling in?" They both knew he meant Pititchu.

"Not bad, she still forgets stuff sometimes…"

"Like clothes?" suggested Embry with a smile.

Quil grinned wickedly. "Like I care… So what's happening?"

"Raven, my grandmother came back with me…"

"Whoa… really? Well let's go see her… Pitchi…" he called.

"Quil?" she came in, mercifully dressed now.

"Embry and I will be back in a minute. Are you okay or do you want to go for a run and I'll track you later?"

She looked so excited. "Forest," she stated.

Quil pulled her in close and kissed her. She kissed him back and went to take her clothes off. Quil grabbed both her hands. "Outside," he reminded her, "in the forest… remember?"

"Sorry," she looked really apologetic. He kissed her again. She skipped out the door. Quil watched her go and Embry watched Quil.

Quil looked back and met his gaze.

"I'm really glad you found her. She's pretty special," Embry was totally sincere.

"Yeah… she's one of a kind, my girl," he looked so proud of her. "We play a kind of game," Quil explained, "she phases and I track her through the woods."

"Sounds like fun," said Embry, "better than chasing squirrels," he laughed.

"Oh yeah," Quil agreed and they headed off for Embry's house.

"Hey Quil, how did Leah take meeting Pititchu?" Embry asked.

"She growled at her," Quil sounded offended.

"Well of course she would."

"What?"

"She's competition for Leah. Leah is the Alpha female. She had to make sure that Pititchu understood that right from the start. If Pititchu was not so submissive, we would have a literal bitch fight on our hands."

"Oh," said Quil as if he had not really thought that one through. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Embry chuckled. "You were kind of busy, and then we fought and I offended you." Embry held his breath; he really hoped they didn't start another fight.

"Yeah…I suppose," grumbled Quil.

Embry thought his mother looked like she needed rescuing when they came into the kitchen. She looked distinctly unhappy.

"Raven, this is my friend Quil. You kind of didn't get to meet him in Neah Bay. He's the one who went with me."

His mother's eyes narrowed at the news that Quil was his willing accomplice but then he always had been with Embry from the time they were tiny little boys; Quil and Jake. It was always the three of them. Who on earth did she think he would have gone with?

It suddenly occurred to Embry that his mother would not approve of Pititchu; especially if she wandered around half clothed. There is no way Quil could explain imprinting to her, so she probably just thought Quil had found this weird girl. He gave Quil a look, but of course, he had no idea what Embry was thinking right now.

He gave her another look. Funny considering what a naughty girl she had been as a youth. In a way, he was oddly disappointed. He thought he might think it was cool that she had done naughty stuff but instead he thought she had not been true to herself. To have abandoned it all so quickly. She probably thought Pititchu was some drug-addled hippy; that was one of her favourite expressions. 'Look at that girl,' she would say while she was watching the television, 'carrying on like some drug addled hippy.'

It crossed his mind that she might have taken drugs or smoked some pot on her wild weekend with his father. Might explain a lot of things; especially her hatred of all things drug related now. Roman had said she was a lot like her father; she really was like him now. She had his intolerance as well. So much for learning from your mistakes.

What was that saying: We dislike most in others what we hate most in ourselves.

Embry looked at Quil. He had become almost as good as Embry at ignoring Embry's mother.

He just turned on his usual charm and he and Raven were laughing within minutes; Quil regaling her with funny Embry stories. The amount of things he and Jake had talked Embry into doing. And that was always the way it had gone. Embry was the voice of conscience; the one who said he didn't think it was a good idea. 'Won't we get into trouble?' was Embry's most voiced statement as a child.

"How old were we when we went frogging that time?" Quil asked him.

"I dunno… five?" said Embry.

"And you slipped on a rock, fell and split your head open on some sharp stone in the river."

"Jake was trying to help me and you were all upset because I had dropped the container of frogs and they all hopped away."

"And the time we stole Harry Clearwater's boat and nearly crashed it on the rocks of James Island."

"Oh my," said Raven.

"And the time we left Embry in the barn after we were jumping from the loft."

Embry rolled his eyes. "I told you I had broken my leg." Embry humphed, "some friends you are, to leave me there… it was ages before somebody heard me. I think it was Old Quil who heard me calling out in the end."

"Oh yeah…" agreed Quil, "he tore strips off me for that one."

They continued on telling Raven more war stories.

Embry accompanied Quil to the edge of the forest. "Just for interest, Quil, what does my mother think of Pititchu?"

Quil twisted his lip. "She doesn't get why I have come home from a weekend away, with a girl who lives with me and my family is okay with it. Marlena frowns at Mum when she sees her around the rez."

"She would," agreed Embry.

"We can't really tell her about imprinting, the big pack secret and all."

"No," agreed Embry.

"She thinks she is a bit odd…" Quil added.

"A drug-addled hippy," they both said at the same time and then they laughed.

Embry clapped Quil on the shoulder and watched as he happily took off into the forest to find his girl. He set off to return the truck to Paul and Bella.

FF_2154210_ - 15/01/2011 12:59:00 PM