*A/N: Welcome back! This will be the last chapter for a while. Probably for at least a few weeks. But, it has been fun and like I promised before, I will come back. Until then, let your mind wander to where this might be going.

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 14 – The Deal

Seth's POV

She stood in front of me in her cute, little, white nightgown and black – What did they call them? – leggings. She really was beautiful.

"So, now what?" she asked me, casting her flashlight near my face.

She's too trusting to be here with me, I thought.

"Good question," I said, smiling at the way she bit her bottom lip. Just like Bella. What I would give to bite that lip. Suddenly, she looked very anxious, staring at my face. It took me a second to realize what she was looking at.

"Do they scare you?" I asked her. "My fangs?" She smelled divine, like nothing I'd ever smelt before. Her scent promised the most delectable combination of nourishment and . . . power. I was resisting only by some odd, newfound willpower. Perhaps it was simply the thrill of the little game I was playing. It was obvious that she was frightened by me. And, why shouldn't she be? She was in the presence of a killer. The fact that the family had let her come with me was laughable. How naive could they be?

She admitted in a tiny voice, "a little, but not so much. It's just . . . different." She offered a tiny smile, clearly worried that she'd offended me. I laughed a short laugh.

"Yeah, well, there are a lot of things about me that are different from what I'm sure you are used to." I sat down on the forest ground and beckoned her to take a seat beside me by patting the earth. She seemed a little unsure.

I tried to give her a reassuring smile and joked, "I can't promise you that I won't bite, but I promise I will try not to." That seemed to do the trick. I watched as her shoulders relaxed infinitesimally and as she stepped forward and sat beside me. We both looked out over the ridge. It was actually a nice night out, no rain for once. But, I wasn't about to comment on how amazing the fucking stars were. I'm just not that guy.

"I think," she began, pointing toward her house, which was all lit up, shining brightly in the middle of the darkness. "I think that's my house." I looked at her face and watched as her eyes squinted, trying to see the light in the distance.

"It is," I confirmed. "So, you don't see very well, huh?"

Her head snapped to my face, looking utterly offended. "Ugh! You have no tact!"

I shrugged my shoulders and defended myself, "Look, Princess. I have never claimed to be a nice guy, a good apologizer or to have tact. I'm not a good guy and you should really get that into that sweet head of yours." She opened her mouth to say something back, but I stopped her. "But, just for the record, I didn't mean for that to offend you. It was just a question."

She closed her mouth and became thoughtful for just a moment. "No. I don't see well. That's why I wear glasses, why I take a flashlight with me at night. My sight is . . . shit."

Her honesty and openness shocked me. I admired her for her bravery to admit these things. It's never easy to reveal your weaknesses. I responded, "And, obviously, you have a big problem with it or you wouldn't be so touchy about it." I leaned back on my elbows and crossed my ankles together.

"Obviously," she agreed. She didn't turn back to look at me. She sat still, as I admired the way her hair fell in the most perfect of ways down her back. She pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. Her next words surprised me even more. "It's not easy being the freak of the family."

I laughed and she turned to face me. "Why are you laughing at me?!" she demanded. "I'm trying to be honest and open and reveal things that I've never revealed out loud to anyone and I'm only doing that because I'm your imprint and you are supposed to care about me! And comfort me! And not be laughing at me like I'm a fool!" Tears began to swell in her eyes and as one spilled over, onto her cheek, my laughing ceased completely. I had never felt like such an ass and I actually found myself feeing . . . guilty.

"I'm sorry, again. It's just a little comical to me," I tried explaining. She looked at me like I had completely lost my mind. "You think you are the freak of the family? What? Because of the way you limp around? Because you wear glasses? Because you need a flashlight to see at night?" I paused for a moment. "You, Princess, are more normal than all of us. We are the freaks. Not you."

She didn't seem too satisfied, just turned her back on me and muttered, "Hmph. I guess."

We were quiet for a few minutes and I felt a little peaceful for the first time in a long time. She was the one to break the silence. "I'm sorry about your sister. I loved her very much. And she loved you very much."

That brought back the anger. "Don't talk about my sister," I ordered, much more harshly than she deserved. I saw her back flinch a little, so I softened my tone. "Please. I don't wanna talk about her, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry about JJ."

"Thank you," she replied, in that small voice of hers. I heard her soft sobs then, although she was clearly trying to hold them back. I sighed deeply, rolled my eyes and figured this would be the perfect time to touch her. So, I reached my hand out to her and placed it on her back. She tensed slightly and so did I.

The most amazing thing happened when I touched her. I felt. I felt her shirt beneath my hand. I felt the warmth of her body radiating into my hand. I felt her. My eyes popped as I caressed her tensed back. I was in awe. Then she asked a question that broke my heart.

"Why were you disappointed to have imprinted on me?" she asked.

I felt like a piece of shit. "I didn't mean it like that. You aren't the disappointment and again, I'm sorry."

"I would understand you know. I mean, I know I have a lot to offer, but I'm also weak, frail." She turned around to face me causing my hand to leave her back and I found myself feeling frustrated at the absence of the feeling. I leaned back again on both elbows. She took a deep breath, as if preparing herself for some big revelation. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked me in the face.

She spoke frankly then, "I'm not crying because I'm sad. These are happy tears. I never thought this would happen for me. Just yesterday, I was afraid of dying alone. I've always been the one without a partner. I've watched as they've kissed at midnight on New Year's and how they traded flowers on Valentine's Day, not that I really care about that stupid holiday. I've had to hear them go on and on about romantic weekends, or romantic birthday gifts and even some things that weren't so romantic, but . . . dirty. And, I was always happy for them. They deserve that, but I was also very selfish, in that I always envied them for having it when I didn't."

She didn't stop there. She kept speaking and I was no longer sure if she was talking to me or to herself. The words came out of her mouth in an unconscious manner it seemed. "And, then I always had to suffer the pity Valentine's Day gifts and the pity kisses on the cheeks on New Year's. Always! And I know how it sounds! I know I sound selfish! But, I feel like I can tell you. Even though you have seriously offended me and made me very upset several times since we've met. Which, if you think about it is pretty crazy, considering we just met a few hours ago."

She took a deep breath, clearly having had run out of oxygen. I couldn't help but smile. "And I know that I shouldn't want to be here with you, especially after the way you have been a complete and total ass, but I do want to be here. I do and why? That's a good question. I keep asking myself that, but why ask that question when it is so obvious."

Her soliloquy did not appear to be stopping anytime soon, so I laid all the way back, putting my hands under my head and listened as she got it all off her chest. She spoke almost manically, but I found myself liking it very, very much. "I want to be here and you came back, even with all your issues, which I have no doubt are plentiful, because we are soul mates. Like it or not, we are meant to be together!" A huge smile broke across her face and my smile disappeared.

What have I done? I asked myself. This is the worst thing you have ever done.

She continued on, "And I know how cheesy all this is! Soul mates, imprint, blah, blah blah. But, it's true and it's happened to us! And, now neither of us has to be alone ever again. I'm not so naïve to think this is going to be easy. You have some serious demons to conquer. I mean, I have heard the stories, but I can help you. I want to help you. And I think that it's because I've gone so long, wanting so badly, to be someone's imprint that I want to be the best I can for you! "She was smiling widely now, that smile that makes one's cheeks hurt. But, she didn't seem to mind.

"And I know that you are probably thinking that I am going to be the biggest romantic pain in the butt. But it's not like that. I just have to say this or I think I will explode." She finally stopped, taking in large breaths of air. I sat up to be closer to her.

I kept my eyes on her face, so stunning and innocent in the moonlight, so full of hope and love and faith in what she thought was the truth. How can you do this, Seth? You can't. Don't ruin this girl.

I started to tell her the truth, but she cut me off, holding up her hand. "But, don't misunderstand me. I want this. I want this so badly. I've wanted it all my life. But, I will not be taken advantage of, or abused, or misused in any way."

"Elizabeth," I began quietly "Let me talk now." She nodded, giving me permission to speak. In a matter of seconds, a dozen ways of breaking the news to her raced through my mind. I decided to go with the blunt version. I inhaled deeply and let it out.

"I did not imprint on you," I said, in the most straightforward manner I could manage. I waited for her response.

Soon, she was smiling. She thinks I'm joking, I realized. I smiled back at her, trying to be as cool about the situation as I could. Maybe this can be one of those things we both just laugh about.

"I'm not joking," I laughed, just as she was doing. "I didn't imprint on you. I mean, I thought that maybe I was going to, but apparently that part of me died twenty-five years ago when I was bitten. So, there I was in the church parking lot, thinking I'm going to imprint on Nessie's daughter, but nope. Nothing!"

Her laughing slowly died down. Then her face showed nothing but pure confusion. "I don't get the joke."

"I told you. I'm not joking. I'm dead serious about this." Her jaw dropped. I waited for her explosion of anger as the realization hit her, but it never came.

"Huh," was all she said. A look crossed her face that I didn't quite recognize and then she was literally rolling on the forest ground with laughter. At that point, I was the one who was confused, but I joined her in the comical moment.

In a flash, much faster than I thought she would've been capable of, she jerked up, grabbed my hand and then all I felt was the most excruciating shock of pain. It rolled through my body in waves and I wanted to scream in agony, but I couldn't even muster that. A part of me wanted nothing more than the aching to stop, but the other part was gloriously happy. It had been years and years since I'd felt pain, other than that little incident with the girl from the café; and so, more than anything, I welcomed it.

After what seemed like forever, it stopped. I opened my eyes to find her over me, still laughing. "That," she began, speaking matter-of-factly "is for letting me believe that you'd imprinted on me and for letting me make a total fool of myself, you asshole!"

She was leaning over me. Her black hair cascading around my face and she had caused me more physical agony than I could remember feeling. I love you, Princess. From out of nowhere, the thought had hit me and I couldn't deny the truth of it.

"How did you do that?" I asked in complete amazement.

"A gift I got from my cousin Tanya," she said, sitting up and scooting away from me. When she did that, I felt like a toddler who wanted nothing more than to throw a temper tantrum. I hated the idea of her leaving me.

"Tanya? From Denali?" I asked intrigued.

She nodded in confirmation, still giggling."Yep."

"How did you get her gift?"

She threw her arms in the air. "Who cares?" she shouted, slightly hysterical. She stood up and screamed as loud as she could, "I'm such a fool!"

I realized then that I'd pushed her over the edge of sanity.

She doubled over as another laughing fit her. "I seriously thought that you'd . . . I just poured my heart out to you! And you don't even care! You are just a horrible, mean man. Oh, God! All the times in my life that I have felt like an idiot! None of them top this moment!"

I felt awful again as I watched her break apart. I stood up and put a finger to her lips, trying to ignore the amazing way they felt. It had been so long since I'd felt a woman's lips on my fingers. "Elizabeth, I really am sorry. I wanted to get back at your family. It had nothing to do with you really. It was just me being me, just like you said a mean man. I really am sorry." And I meant every word. I felt full of remorse and even more self-hatred than normal.

"You know what? Don't even worry about it! This just confirms everything. I am not worthy of an imprint and I will surely die alone!" Her face turned extraordinarily unhappy. "I'm always going to be alone." Sagging her shoulders, she sighed in defeat.

I hadn't even thought about the words before they came out of my mouth. "How can I make it up to you?"

Elizabeth plopped back down and she pulled her legs to her chest, but she remained silent.

I waited for a long while, a half-hour probably, as she stared out, looking toward the bright lights coming from the Cullen house. Her silence was starting to make me angry, so I asked her impatiently, "Elizabeth?"

She looked at me. "I know what you can do. To make it up to me."

"What?" I demanded harshly.

"Lie."

"Lie?" I asked.

"Yes, lie."

I waited for her to explain and when she didn't I asked her. "Can you expand on that a bit?"

"Lie to my family. Don't tell them that I'm not your imprint. I don't want to be the pathetic girl anymore. I can't take all their pitiful looks again. Not right now. When the time comes, I'll tell them the truth, but when I decide. Until then, lie."

More attracted to her than ever, I felt my evil grin spreading from ear to ear. This is turning out even better than I thought. "I can do that."

"There's one more thing," she said.

"Okay."

"You have to stay with me at all times. Poppy will hear all this in my thoughts the moment that you leave my side, so …"

I interrupted her. "And he can't if I'm with you?"

She shook her head. "No. Something about you blocks out their gifts."

"But, not yours? Cause you just electrocuted the hell out of me."

"I don't know!" she yelled. "I don't have a damn manual about all this!"

"Don't yell at me, Princess!" As much as I adored her, I could still sense the monster in me, wanting to come out and play. She shrank back as I shouted at her.

Looking a little unsure, she began to speak again, "Can I finish part two of how you are going to make this up to me?" I nodded in consent.

She spoke slowly, but I'd never seen someone so focused, so sure of what they want. "I need you to stay with me, so that Poppy can't hear the truth about us in my mind. Then, I want you to take me away."

My head jerked back in surprise. "Take you away? Take you away where?"

"A road trip. From here to Boston, where my family lives now and that's when I will tell them the truth about us. But, I just need time away from them."

"For how long?"

"I don't know. For as long as it takes."

"For as long as it takes to do what?" I wondered.

"I don't want to say. Not yet."

I sat there for a moment, trying to take all of it in. This is not how I saw this day going.

Then, she said, "And I pay."

"You pay? For the trip?"

"Yes. You will be my employee."

"Ha! Your employee?" She nodded, looking as if she hadn't just made a very strange request. "How does that work?"

"You do what I say. To an extent. " I started to get a little excited. This better be some sort of sexual thing. I could get into that.

"Why can't you just do the whole road trip thing yourself?" I pondered.

"Because," she began, "I need your help. I think you are the only one who can help me with what I want."

"And now we get down to it. So, tell me Princess. What is it that you want?" I actually felt giddy to hear her answer.

"To feel bad."

"Okay. Let me get this straight. You want to feel miserable? Who the hell wants that?" I decided that she'd completely lost her mind. She obviously didn't know what the hell she was saying. The poor thing was in shock.

"I didn't say anything about wanting to feel miserable. You took it the wrong way. Wrong synonym. Let me try it like this . . . I don't want to be the pitifully perfect, little angel baby girl of the family for just a little while. I want to be . . . bad." She smiled and the wild look in her eyes made me harder than I ever thought possible. But, she made me understand. She was tired of behaving perfectly, of being trapped in the bubble she lived in.

"So, what do you say?" she asked, all business. "You do these things for me. I pay for the trip. And then I forgive you for being a dick. Do we have a deal?"

Never had I felt so aroused. She was perfect in all the ways and this was my chance to spend more time with her. I wasn't going to give it up. Offering my hand to her, I consented, "Deal."

Shaking my hand and causing me to nearly cum in my pants, she said. "Deal."

She stood up and I followed her motions. "Let's not waste any time. Let's get on with it. You should probably carry me. If we walk, it'll take us hours to get back."

"How do we do this? When we get back to your house?" I asked her, completely enthralled in the little game we were about to play together.

"I thought I'd follow your lead. I imagine that you've had a lot more practice in the area of deceit than I have."

"Good point." I scooped her up in my arms. "So you want to be a bad girl. Tired of being the Black-Cullen Princess?"

"Nobody calls me Princess or Elizabeth as you've been doing. I only get called Elizabeth if they are worried about me. Or if I'm in serious trouble."

"Well, Elizabeth," I began, speaking as dark as I could. I felt her shiver. "If you're with me, you are in serious trouble."

She smiled broadly, her teeth shining in the light of the moon and whispered, "Perfect." I shook my head, still taken aback by her plan. She had certainly surprised the fuck out of me. I would've never guessed that she would be so . . . tempting. But, that's exactly what she was . . . tempting. The exhilaration of it all was nearly more than I could handle.

Too soon, I arrived back at the house and sit her down on the front steps. "Come in with me. Stay near me," she instructed. I nodded sharply, thrilled at where this was going. "Imprinted face," she said. I put on the cheesiest fucking face I could and she gave a sharp nod of approval.

We entered the house and everyone soon joined us in the living room. I was reeling. This was so too damn exciting. We stood in front of everyone as they looked at us in the most suspicious way. Elizabeth spoke to the whole crowd. "We're fine. Better than ever, really." I smiled stupidly, pulled her close to me and put my arm around her, just as I had seen imprinted wolves do with their ladies. They all watched us carefully, observing every movement we made. Especially mine.

I cleared my throat and spoke next. "We really are fine. I know I didn't start this thing off too well, but I'm hoping that I'll have a thousand lifetimes to make it up to her." I took her chin between my fingers and brought her gaze to mine. I stroked her cheek, trying my best to appear to be the sweet-loving imprinted fool. I turned my attention back to the family. "And, to all of you, too of course. I know that I've made so many mistakes and I can't promise that I won't make more. My nature makes it difficult for me to be caring or compassionate in anyway. But maybe now, with Lizzie . . . " I looked back at her and she returned my smile sweetly.

Some of the family members bought our little act completely. Some still looked uncomfortable, but accepted our story as the truth.

I took the lead and explained the idea of a road trip back to Boston, where we would catch up with them. Some, like Nessie and Alice, thought it was a romantic idea. Others, like Jacob and Rose, hated it. But, in the end, they conceded without too much fight.

After a long night of chatting and drinking decaf-coffee, which tasted like ass, everyone decided that those who needed rest should probably go to bed. "Do you sleep, Seth?" asked Carlisle. He'd asked several questions about me throughout the night and although they annoyed me a little, I recognized the care he took to ensure I didn't feel like a "science project," as I had once put it.

"Yes," I answered him. "I do sleep and I enjoy it." Everyone smiled.

"I so wish I could sleep," said Esme. "I miss it so much!" Bella and Edward nodded their heads, agreeing with their "mother."

Elizabeth, who had continuously surprised me throughout the night, following my deceitfulness perfectly, stood up and announced, "Let's go, Seth." She held out a hand to me and I took it willingly.

Jacob and Edward jumped out of their chairs, "Whoa! Whoa!" shouted Jacob, stepping in front of us. "You two are not sleeping in the same bed."

But, of course, they couldn't stand up to their wives.

Bella spoke first, "oh, relax, Edward. This isn't 1920!" Edward started to speak, but one killer look from Bella cut him off.

Nessie agreed, "She's twenty years old and she is his imprint and that should be enough for you, Jacob. Let them go. I do, however, expect you to respect your great-grandparents home, Lizzie. Keep in PG. Understand?"

"Nessie!" Jacob protested.

"Don't Nessie me, Jacob. Either he sleeps in her bed or you both sleep out on the lawn."

I couldn't help the laugh that came out of my throat.

So, after all the good-nights and sleep-tights we went upstairs, into Edward's old bedroom. Elizabeth quickly went for a piece of paper and pencil. She wrote something down and then passed the paper to me.

That was so much fun! It said. You did great! Keep up the good work. We will leave tomorrow just like you told them and then we can relax a little bit.

I wrote back: Sounds good. I held it up and she smiled from ear to ear. Clearly she was enjoying this just as much, if not more than I.

Then I wrote: Do I get to sleep in the bed with you? She shook her head and pointed to the floor. That sucked big time.

She took the paper out of my hands and wrote: Remember, don't leave me tonight!

Before crushing the piece of paper into a pile of dust, I wrote one last thing on it and showed it to her.

I won't. I promise.

*A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! Please review!