Chapter – 21

It took Lil a couple of minutes to calm down and stop trembling. She was a witch, the powers came natural to her but it still took a toll on her to use them against someone, even one as evil and deserving as Jane. Once able to stand, to everyone's surprise, and against everyone's advice, she walked directly to Alec. Before anyone could stop her she extended her palm and paralyzed them. For once Jake was glad to see Felix jumped to her side but one look had him in the same predicament as the rest.

"I want you to know that I'm truly sorry" Lil practically whispered, trying to keep her voice from cracking "I know you hate me right now and I totally understand, but I want to you to know that I wouldn't have killed her if for a second I believed she would've given up her absurd and unjustified obsession with killing me and my family" Alec just stared at her "I hope you can forgive me someday and accept that even though I carried out the punishment, it was her actions and those alone that brought this upon her"

"You're sincere" Alec stated in disbelief.

The kid was probably centuries old, centuries he had lived with the Draculas in the castle of hell, centuries in which apologies were non-existent, and honesty, sincerity and compassion were fairytales. Taking all that into consideration, it was expected that Lil's action floored him.

"I am" Lil nodded and by that time she couldn't hold the tears back "That kid right there" she said pointing to Jess "That's half of my heart. There's no way someone can touch him without hurting me so I know the pain I just caused you and you have no idea how much I wished things could've gone down a different way, but we both know your sister was never gonna give up" she took a deep breath "From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry for your loss"

Since Alec didn't say another word or moved a muscle, Lil unfroze everyone as she turned around and walked back to their group and into Jake's arms. Edward leaned over and whispered in Lil's ear.

"He doesn't hold you responsible"

Jane was mourned for about a second, then the clean-up crew showed up and if it wasn't for Lil being covered in her blood, no one would be able to tell anything happened. Of course the next order of business was the Cullen's rehumanitized status. Even though Lil appeared to be completely unconcerned, Jake could feel the tension in her body and the irregular pattern of her breathing. Lil's biggest fear was that the Dracula's would try to use the whole 'humans can't know' law to their advantage and either, turn them, keep them or worst case scenario, kill them.

"Half-breeds, shape-shifting wolves, unbelievably powerful witches and now human immortals" Aro said with incredulity "The Cullen coven never ceases to amaze"

Turns out the Cullens were right all along. Immortality gave Aro and his posse the feeling of indestructibility, if that was taken away, they had nothing. They were not gonna mess with Lil or her loved ones if she had the power to do such a thing. Of course everyone was curious and asked millions of questions, which were answered a lot more patiently that Jake and the guys would ever be capable of doing. Aro appeared to be or pretended to be utterly amazed by the idea of humanity with immortality powers and left the subject behind as 'a great chapter in their history' and wished everyone the best of luck.

Knowing just how uncomfortable Jake was by being in close proximity to the castle of doom, Lil had Tink book them the next flight outta Italy the moment they walked out of the gates. Even though they had only spent a couple of hours in there, it felt like an eternity before they stepped out to fresh air. Though they left immediately, the tension didn't cease for quite some time. It wasn't until they were halfway to New York that everyone took a deep breath and relaxed. It was over, another crisis they battled together and came out safe and sound.

Edward, Paul and Emmett were dying to get home to their wives, they wanted the next plane to Seattle, but to no one's surprise Tink, Lil and Nicky wanted to stay in New York for some shopping.

"No better way to get over all the drama than shopping" Nicky smiled as Jake, Embry and Jasper gave them the 'are you kidding?' look.

"I've never been out in New York during the daytime" Tink said in her best 'pretty please' face.

"We can go apartment hunting for Mags" Lil added "Saves us the trip later"

"And Lil needs maternity clothes" Nicky smiled

"Where else can I find her cute and trendy maternity clothes?" Tink said as if it was a great dilemma "And she's gonna need them soon"

"Excuse you!" Lil complained, making everyone laugh.

"Come on, Lil" Nicky laughed "With that daddy?" she said pointing to Jake "Psh! You'll be beach ball status in a few weeks"

"Uh!" Lil scuffed in shock, covering her nonexistent bump with her hands.

"She'll always be the sexiest woman on earth" Jake smiled, kissing Lil's cheek.

Lil stuck her tongue out at Nicky and looked away, pretending to be offended. Nicky laughed and threw her arms around her cousin.

"You know I love you" she smiled, placing kisses all over Lil's face.

"Ew! Get away!" Lil chuckled, pushing Nicky back "I don't know where your lips have been"

"But I do" Emmett smiled looking at Embry, causing everyone to laugh.

Since there was absolutely no way to stop the girls when they set their minds on something, the guys didn't have a choice but to agree. There was no need to book another flight since the Cullen's private jet was awaiting them, but while Tink reserved suites in the Four Seasons for their stay, Edward set everything up so the jet would drop them guys off and pick up Blondie, Maggie and Seth, who Lil was set in including in Maggie's transition to NY, claiming it would help him.

Jake knew the girls were more than capable of taking care of business, but it still made him feel a lot better to know Seth would be with them. Not only would the wolf telepathy keep them connected at all times in case there was trouble, but it also kept the crazy girls from going overboard.

Jake, Embry and Jasper hated being away from their girls and would miss them greatly, but not enough to endure torturous days of nonstop shopping. With a lot of hug and kisses, the girls set the boys off. They weren't a foot away when the girls went from 'I love you' and 'I'll miss you' to 'we're gonna have so much fun' and 'what store do we hit first?' The guys couldn't help but laugh out loud. Funniest thing was they went from 'don't stay long' and 'be careful' to 'shoving each other and yelling move out the way' and 'I'm picking the movie'. Without the girls to keep them on check, it was gonna be a long flight home.

….. ***** …..

They had been looking at condos all day. Claiming real-estate was a great investment, Edward had faxed them a list of great properties within the Juilliard neighborhood. Of course once Alice found out The Apthorp was the most exclusive and sought-after building in New York City, there was no convincing her of seeing others.

"A one bedroom is 1.5 mill" Maggie complained "I wasn't even planning on buying"

"Ugh" Alice rolled her eyes "Don't pretend you can't afford it" she groaned "It's perfect for you, safe, close to school, great location, close to everything" she smiled with that face that meant there was no stopping her "You can sell it when you're done with New York and make a good profit"

"We're just pretending I have a choice here, right?" Mags grumbled

"Yay!" Alice jumped up and down, clapping her hands "Don't you worry" she said running off with the realtor "I'll take care of everything"

"She always does" Nicky laughed

"I guess this means furniture shopping" Rosalie smiled

Rosalie and Nicky immediately began to run around the condo, making lists of what needed to be bought. After a few minutes Alice ran in and yanked Mags away to sign some forms. Lily looked over and saw Seth, who had yet to say a word all day, staring out a corner window.

"You're not losing her" she said wrapping her arm around his waist and resting her head on his arm.

"Sure feels like it" he whispered, resting his head on hers.

"You big dumdum" she smiled "You can come visit her anytime you want, and you know she'll be doing the same whenever possible"

"Not the same, Lil"

"You know, New York has some fine community and technical colleges" she wiggled her brows when he frowned down at her in confusion "I bet with my help you can have your GED by spring semester"

"You mean…."

"She moved to LaPush to stay close to you" she answered "Maybe it's time you return the gesture"

"You know I can't"

"You're no longer a small pack of 8 doing your best to protect the town, Seth" Lil argued "We're now a pack of 16 wolves, 8 ex-vampires and 2 witches with nothing to do cause vampires stay as far away from us as possible. We can handle that without you just fine, thank you very much"

"You think the guys would be ok with it?"

"To be honest with you" Nicky said wrapping her arm around his waist from his otherside "They're quite disappointed that you haven't thought of this yourself"

"Honestly, kid" Rosalie smiled "When you proposed we figured that was the plan, to move with her"

"Spring semester, ha?" he smiled; Lily nodded with a big smile "Why didn't anybody tell me any of this before?"

"We were hoping you'd figure it out on your own" Nicky answered "But if being here didn't give you a clue, it was never gonna happen"

You could literally see the wheels in his head turning away. Suddenly he remembered something important. Well, someone. "Mom"

"She has Charlie" Rose smiled

"And Leah every weekend" Nicky added

"And the rest of us" Lil added "She won't be alone, I promise"

"Spring, ha?"

"What about spring?" Mags asked as she walked in with Alice, a huge folder in hand.

"I was telling him how beautiful Central Park is in the spring" Lily quickly lied.

"Yeah" Seth smiled, for once following along and not blurting out the first thing that came to mind "Central Park in the spring sounds nice, I'll have to come"

"I hope not only in spring" Mags smiled, walking into his arms.

While Rosalie began to ask Mags about the color scheme she wanted for the condo, Lily pulled the pixie aside.

"You couldn't give me a heads-up you were coming in the room?"

"You couldn't wait till I got the furniture to convince the giant?" Alice answered "Kiss chic furniture goodbye" she sighed "Now I gotta get something he can fit in"

"You did great in our house" Lil smiled

"Damn these giants" she smirked

It was gonna be hard convincing the picky and opinionated Mags into furniture and a color scheme that would fit a guy's taste too, and without cluing her in on Seth's plans. Good thing it was Alice on task because she was probably the one person who could pull it off.

Furniture shopping did not sound the least bit entertaining so while Alice, Mags and Seth went on their quest to get the condo furnished and ready to live in by the time they returned to Washington, Lily, Nicky and Rosalie hit every shop in Manhattan.

Delivery service is a double edged sword. On the one side, tremendously convenient to continue about your shopping day without having to carry the bags around, at ease knowing they'll be waiting at your suite when you get back. But on the other side, it extremely easy to lose track of just how much you'd bought. When they got back to the suite, the floor was covered in bags. They could see the bed, just couldn't get to it.

It took the girls almost an hour to turn hundreds of bags into a couple dozen and neatly arrange them in a corner so they had room to move around. After receiving a text from Alice claiming they still had a couple more hours of condo decorating to do, Rosalie, Nicky and Lily showered, dressed up and headed to dinner and a night out on the town.

Too full from all the food they ate at the Brazilian grill, and not in the mood for theater, they decided to walk around Time Square and enjoy the sight of the big apple's nightlife.

"I know what I wanna do" Nick suddenly smiled, instantly beginning to text away on her cell.

Knowing her well, it couldn't be anything good. Rosalie and Lily smiled and shook their heads but continued walking as Nick continued doing whatever she was doing on her phone. When she finally looked up, it was to flag down a cab. By then they were curious so Rose and Lily didn't bother asking questions and hopped in. A couple of minutes later they were dropped off in front of a brick building with huge glass windows.

"This is what you wanna do?" Lily laughed "Get inked? Again?"

"I only have one"

Lily held up her wrist, reminding her she had more than one.

"That one doesn't count" Nicky argued

"If it's on your body, it counts"

"We should all do it" Nick wiggled her brows with her big 'let's be bad' smile.

Lily was about to tell her she was nuts when Rose interrupted her "I'll do it"

"You will?" Lily and Nicky chorused. Lily in complete disbelief while Nicky in utter excitement.

"Always wanted one" Rosalie smiled, a little nervous "But it was a human experience I couldn't have"

"You can now, baby" Nicky beamed, grabbing Rosalie's hand and pulling her into the shop.

Nicky knew exactly what she wanted and got to it right away. After flipping through dozens of picture books, Rosalie figured she knew what she wanted all along. Not knowing what to expect, she was a bit nervous and maybe even scared, though she would never admit it much less say it out loud but Lily knew better and ignored her assurances of being fine and sat with her, holding her hand while she got tattooed. Rosalie and Nicky were not gonna let her leave without new ink, after much argument and taunting, Lily finally gave in to shut them up.

Nicky got a slightly different version of Lily's wolf tattoo. While Lily's moon was her crescent birthmark, Nick got a full moon done and her howling wolf was gray with dark spots, identical to Embry. Rosalie also got something to represent her man. She got some awesome grizzly bear paw prints on her upper right thigh. Lily didn't really wanna get another tattoo but compromised and got two small additions to her old one. She added a small star on either side of her crescent moon to represent her twins.

"Emmett is gonna freak when he sees it" Rosalie smiled as she looked through her purse for the suite's key.

"Get ready to see him come home with some ink" Nicky laughed

"Oh he definitely will" Lily laughed "And probably more than one"

They had been so giddy about their little mischief, they had completely forgotten about something. Well more like someone. The someone who just happened to throw the door wide open, standing with her tiny arms across her chest, buried brows and small foot tapping away in annoyance.

"You got tattooed?" Alice asked accusingly "WITHOUT ME?"

When Seth began to laugh, Lily knew exactly what was coming next. Mags little blonde head peeked from behind Alice.

"You go get inked and don't take me? Ugh!" Mags turned around and walked towards the other room complaining away "Sure, they buy half of New York and get inked and I get to spend 6 hours looking at china, that's fair"

Alice walked into the kitchen doing the same. "Why wait for me to go with them? Not like I might be interested in getting a tattoo. Not like I enjoy shopping. No! Not me!"

Lily, Nicky and Rosalie didn't say a word; it would've only made things worse. They sat in the living room with Seth and tried to hold in the smiles, which wasn't easy with him laughing so hard he was crying. When an hour later Alice and Maggie were still marching around the suite complaining, Seth went on to watching tv and Lily, Rosalie and Nicky went to texting their guys, making sure to nod and 'uh huh' every once in a while.

"They aint never gonna let this go" Seth sighed

"Its gonna be one long ass night" Nicky chuckled

"Thank god both of them sleep now" Lily smiled

"Uh huh" they all chorused