Chapter 21 - I'll be home for Christmas

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 [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.

[AN: yay we got through 20 chapters of the longest day EVER! It was like a season of 24. Now we get the longest meeting… ever.

Again, I am stuck with blanks in the family trees. So I have assumed that blank means no kids. It probably shouldn't but it suits my purposes.]

The tribal meeting hall was slowly filling up. People looked tired; a lot of them had been up all night. Remarkably, no one was in wolf form. There were also a few people who were not wolves, but were imprints, parents or grandparents of them. Everyone there had something to do with the pack; some link. Charlie Swan sat with Sue after telling Bella that they needed to talk.

Bella had scribbled down some notes last night. She had eventually fallen asleep after she and Josh had sex, but she suspected Josh had kept reading. They were both exhausted from the emotional turmoil of that endless day. She thought he looked better than she did. Maybe phasing allowed them to go without sleep or rest? But she was human and was dreading this.

She watched the hall fill up. Sue Clearwater asked people to sit with members of their families. When people asked why, she said it made it easier to demonstrate something. A few were intermarried; Rachel and Paul for instance linked the Blacks and the Uley families. The Clearwaters and Lahotes sat with the Uley group, along with Sam and Emily. Allison Uley was absent; probably babysitting, Bella thought.

She noticed a few more people sneak in and sit up the back. They were a group of interested tribal members who didn't fit in any of the family groups. There were less than four hundred people living on the rez now and nobody was going to toss someone out if they weren't a wolf. The secret was now a tribal one, not just a pack matter.

Jared and Kim sat with the Blacks. Collin and his parents were there, as well as some older women she assumed were Billy's sisters.

Jake brought over Josh's duffel bag. "In all the fuss last night, this ended up at our place."

Josh took it from him and dropped it on the floor near his chair. "Thanks, Jake. I had forgotten about it as well."

Bella was still looking at him when he sat down again.

"What?" he asked her.

"I'm still getting used to the short hair." She leaned across to play with the short strands at the nape of his neck.

He hummed happily. "Keep doing that and we'll be sneaking out the back."

"Oh, I could… you know."

He smiled at her. "It will be all right."

"Look at everyone. They aren't coping; it's too much. They've had no sleep. They won't like what we have to say."

He shrugged. "Regardless, we have to say it."

Billy tried to call the meeting to order. He was still sitting in his wheelchair but rather than being up on the stage he was positioned in front of the people. There was another interruption when Michael Clearwater walked in, Harry's older brother. Sue hugged him and he shook hands with Seth. He sat next to Leah adding another number to the Uley group.

The Ateara family group was very sparse. Just Old Quil and Quil. Then she saw Brady sit with them, as well. His father joined them later with a woman who had the same half shell shocked look that Bella had noticed on a few faces. Things were changing too fast for people to cope with it. She thought the poor woman had seen her husband turn into a wolf and then found out her son had been doing it for years.

Embry came in alone. "Where's your mother?" Quil asked him.

"Gone."

"Gone? What do you mean?" Quil asked.

"She just packed while we were out on patrol. Car's gone and all her stuff."

"Bitch." Quil went back to sit with his grandfather after thumping Embry in the shoulder.

Embry stood with his back against the back wall. Bella suspected that he didn't know which family group to join.

Paul kept looking up the aisle and Bella was unsurprised when a tall man swaggered in with a stride and a confidence so like Paul's, that she knew exactly who he was. And where he chose to sit.

Paul and Rachel were still arguing and had sat apart with an empty chair between them. The man stood in the aisle and looked down at them. Paul had his arms folded.

"That's Niki Lahote," Josh told Bella.

"I knew it. Paul's father."

Niki leaned over to brush a hand over Rachel's head and then pushed Paul in the shoulder. He glared at him and muttered something, but Niki ignored him, said nothing and shoved him again in the head this time until Paul had moved over to sit next to Rachel. Niki took the aisle seat.

Joy Ateara came running in the back door of the meeting hall, breathless and chattering, "Sorry I'm late… I just put my head down on the kitchen table for second and the next thing I knew it was time for the meeting-" She hit a wet patch, either from someone's shoes or raincoat, she slipped and started to fall. Niki moved with that impossible speed the pack all had, and caught her before she hit the floor. Joy was so flustered and so off balance that she kept thanking him and making a scene without really looking at him.

Niki was just looking down at her and still holding onto her.

"I have to get to my seat," she told him, when he wasn't letting her go.

"Your seat is here," he said. He said it so firmly that she just gaped at him.

"Here?"

"With me."

"Pardon?"

"Paul, shove over."

"What?" Paul stopped slouching and looked up at his father. "Oh, for fuck's sake! You imprinted on Quil's mom!"

"What?" said Quil from the other side of the hall. He stood so he could see what was going on.

Paul and Rachel shuffled over one chair.

Niki waved to the empty chair. "Joy, you sit here, unless you want to sit on my lap."

"Ah…oh… I don't know," Joy said. But she went to sit down next to Paul.

Niki frowned at Paul suddenly and grabbed her by the arm.

Paul threw up his hands. "Oh, for crying out loud. I won't touch her. Don't look at me like that."

Niki held Joy back and sat down next to Paul so that Joy was in the aisle seat and away from Paul.

Rachel grinned at Leah and then lost it and snorted.

"Don't you start," Paul warned her.

She flung her arms around his neck. "I love you, you grumpy wolf. I panicked. Becca is my twin. But I'd never leave you. I'm so sorry you thought that was what I meant and I shouldn't have called you insane."

He buried his face in her neck. "Good," he grunted. "If you left me, I'd go too. Deal?"

"Deal."

Quil was still protesting that his mother ought to sit with him. Sam told him to be quiet and sit down.

"Paul's dad!" Quil protested.

Bella thought Embry just looked defeated by more imprinting. She bumped Josh with her elbow. "That's Embry. I heard him say his mother left. So now he may never know about… you know."

Josh looked at him. Then he stood and walked over to him. Clearly but not over loudly, he said, "You need to sit with us, Embry." He indicated where the Uley clan sat with Sam, Lucas and all the others.

"Did Bells tell you to say that?" Embry looked suspicious.

"No. You should sit with the Uleys because you're my son."

Embry stared at him. And then he seemed to stand straighter but he didn't say anything. He looked as if he didn't believe it was happening. His lip wobbled just the smallest bit.

Josh continued, "I haven't seen your mother or a photo of her, but I don't need to. That first time, when I phased. I sent out my awareness looking for Sam; looking for my son… and I found you. Other wolves were phased. I didn't find them."

"Told ya," grunted Paul.

"With your mother gone, I would be proud for you to sit with us." Josh put his arm around Embry and walked him over to the Uley group. Bella reached out and grabbed his hand and made him sit next to her. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

"I-I think so." Embry kept watching Josh after that as if he could not take his eyes off him.

Leah bit her lip and leaned into her Uncle Michael.

Seth held a thumb up to Bella when she glanced at him. He seemed unaffected by all the imprinting and being left out of it; just interested in what was going on.

As the appointed meeting time passed, more and more people just walked in and sit down with family. They made quiet welcomes, exchanged hugs, hands were shaken and few words spoken. Everyone seemed to understand the gravity of the situation.

Billy tried to call it to order again, but in the end it was Old Quil who stood and just held up his hand.

Silence fell.

Billy nodded at the old man and spoke, "Good morning to familiar faces and long absent ones. I think all of you understand that our world is changing." He took a breath. "We have no time for flowery speeches. You all know our history as it is passed down in the songs and stories of our tribe. Some of you have only recently become aware just how true those stories are. Something has made people return. It has brought all of us here to this place at this particular time. In the past, in our stories, we had the ability to transform into wolves and that ability returns to our descendants when it is needed to fight cold ones. Cold ones the rest of the world knows as vampires."

There was a stunned silence from the audience.

He looked over the people. "We have asked you to sit in family groups because our research shows that this ability is carried as a gene in our bloodlines; those of the Ateara, Black and Uley families. Those three made up the last wolf pack in the 1930's. A pack was needed five years ago and it is needed again today. Then, we tried to keep it a secret, now it is no longer possible. Five years ago our youngest members to transform were only thirteen years old. It was too young." His eyes fell on Brady. "It was too much to ask people so young to shoulder such a weight. They did it, they fought the cold ones and most people were completely unaware of it. Some of the pack was also seriously hurt." He looked at Jake.

Old Quil stood. "Our young grow up too fast. It is our burden. The cold ones no longer live near our lands and yet we still change. It is clear that the Gods want our help."

A number of people muttered and spoke.

"How does this family thing work-"

"We haven't seen this-"

"How can we be sure."

Josh stood. "Show me those gene tables," he said. He hung the tables up on a white board at the side of the hall. "See these symbols? A diamond for the Blacks, a triangle for the Atearas and a square for the Uleys? Every person here who has assumed the wolf form carries at least one gene."

People made noises of agreement.

"Stand up if you are here, as I call your name out," Josh said.

"This is the original pack of ten: Sam, Jared, Paul, Embry, Jake, Leah, Seth, Quil, Brady, and Collin." They all stood. "People who didn't change when they did five years ago, but are in their age bracket, and have changed now is only Rachel Black. Her sister, made a difficult choice… she chose her new family." He smiled at Embry. "Thank you."

They resumed their seats.

Old Quil spoke, "There is no one else. The families that carry the genes, no longer have enough young people to change or the children they have are too young." He looked over the family groups. "I only had one son," he said. "I regret that. And he only had one son. And that son was bonded to a child until recently. How many of us only had one child? How many of us had no children?"

The whole pack was made up of only children when Bella thought about it, except Jake and the Clearwaters. She could see people's heads nodding.

Old Quil continued, "Our numbers decrease. The gods are trying to fix this. I will never see my great grandchildren. The pack looked for mates outside of the tribe," he nodded at Sam, whose mate was Makah not Quileute, "to no avail. Now they seek to shock us into action. The tribe is dying out. How many of us are there now? Less than four hundred people live within the tribal lands."

Josh answered him, "Not enough for the God's purposes. So over the last few days, other people have been asked to help. They have had aching bones, their nights are filled with dreams of wolves and they dream of their home; enough to drive them to come here. They have had high fevers and odd, angry rages at nothing… and then they too, have changed into wolves. I did it myself yesterday along with some others. Maybe you won't all change, but if you have those symptoms and you haven't turned furry yet, I'd say it's just a matter of time."

"I got the dreams but I don't know about the rest of it," Michael Clearwater said.

"It could have an upper age limit," Josh said.

"Joy and I thought there were at least sixteen candidates," Charlie said.

"There's your pack… there are your extra wolves," Josh said with a wave at the audience.

"They aren't wolves," Kim argued. "They can't be - they're too old."

"Too old? They aren't even fifty," Josh said. "Half of them are younger than that. How old are you, Adam?"

Brady's father answered, "I'm thirty-eight."

"We've seen them change, Kim," Jared said.

Bella wondered if it was the loss of status Kim was worried about; the more wolves there were, the less special it was to be imprinted on one.

"These wolves aren't children," someone said.

"Who said this was a children's war?"

"Who said it was a war?"

"Why should we help?"

"The gods believe we need as many wolves as we can muster," Billy said. "And we help because it is what we do."

"What about you, Billy?" someone asked.

Billy had been in a wheelchair when he entered, now he stood up and pushed it away. "I am not one hundred percent, but I feel better every day. This is a miracle that cannot be explained in medical terms."

"Something is coming," Old Quil said, "Something the gods are trying to prepare us for. The gods have healed our leader, our chief - ask yourself why? When his son is fit, strong, willing and able to be chief? Why do the gods believe we need the wisdom of William Black? And not just in his sick bed or in his wheelchair - the gods want him on the field of battle."

That was her cue. Bella stood. "Because what is coming, the thing that is threatening you all… is just that powerful."