CHAPTER 21

Quil:

Quil was sitting in his car, scrolling through the music on his phone as he waited to pick Claire up from school. He was trying to find something to soothe and calm him since he was feeling so anxious about her. He couldn't get the thought out of his head that Bennett was somehow, someway, going to do something, to screw this up. But he knew how reliable Bennett was and he figured the feeling of foreboding was just stemming from Collin's recent exploits that he was still trying to clean up the mess from. He thought for the millionth time how relieved he would be when he picked Jacob up at the airport later that evening and officially passed the baton of responsibility to the shoulders where they rightfully belonged. He started drumming his fingers anxiously across the steering wheel as he focused again on the ache of worry about Claire that had settled in his stomach since that morning.

He knew that since it was Bennett's first day back, he would be worried about Claire anyways, but this was different. This was deeper. This was worried about her, and about them. She had said they were fine, but she wasn't. She was off.

He had been beyond surprised when she had first kissed his neck in that quiet moment after her lunch with her ex-boyfriend, but then all reason had been completely lost from him, and after that…. well things had just gotten a little out of hand. He had somehow miraculously found his sanity in time to keep things from escalating too far, but still… things had gone far enough. She had regretted it and he knew it.

That all made sense to him. Claire was sixteen and a virgin, so all her reactions had been rational, even understandable. What he couldn't make sense of was her behavior since.

He couldn't figure out why she hadn't thrown her boundaries back up in his face and tried to push him away from her, at least in a physical sense. That would be reasonable, that way she could protect herself from a repeat of the intense flame burning between them that seemed to have gotten her burned. But instead she was somehow satisfied to maintain the casual kissing relationship they seemed to have tripped head first into.

Claire wasn't usually very physically affectionate. She wasn't even a particularly big hugger. But she had surprised Quil with a casual kiss each moment that he could have possibly wanted one, without fail, since she had surprised him with their unexpected make-out session. Every single time. It was like she could anticipate his wants before he even could. She just seemed to know when he would feel the urge and then didn't even wait for him to ask for it before she doled it out for him. As much as Quil would have liked her sudden not-so-public displays of affection (and he would have really liked it) he was too immensely concerned about it to actually enjoy it.

He needed to figure out where these kisses from her were coming from and where she was while she was giving them, because she definitely wasn't there in the moment with him. He had already decided that he was going to ask her to sneak away to spend the night at his place tonight. He felt guilty for specifically asking her to sneak around behind her parents back, especially after he had just promised Robert the day before that he would always look out for Claire and that he would never ask her to do something that wasn't in her best interest, but that was how he justified it. They needed some time alone to talk through whatever was going on with them and that was in Claire's best interest, right?

He just had this thought that kept cropping up unexpectedly all day long; that he just wished she was angry with him for what had happened between them. Her being angry would be so much easier for him to understand, he knew how to deal with that. This. This he didn't have any idea how to handle. She wasn't mad at all. It was like she was so disappointed she had completely given up.

He had been alarmed at her appearance when she had walked out of the front door to meet him in his car that morning. She looked incredibly beautiful in her skirt that was just short enough to be tempting without being too revealing but she had definitely put less effort in herself than she usually did. She was even wearing a sweater that she had already worn that week and was hardly wearing any makeup at all. It just wasn't like her. And her attitude seemed to have a complete lack of energy. Claire had always been some what of a spit-fire but now it seemed like she was deflated somehow. He could probably have suggested that they run off to Vegas and elope together and she would have agreed simply because she didn't seem to have the energy to not go along with whatever he wanted.

He was worried. That was for sure. The two giant hickeys on his neck definitely weren't helping the situation either. They were like over-obvious flashing neon reminders of her regret.

He had just been debating if he wanted to ask Jacob for advice on how to handle this situation he had managed to get himself into, when the bell rang ending the day of the high school that he was parked in front of. He was surprised when Claire was one of the first people out the doors.

Uh-oh, that can't be a good sign. He quickly thought to himself. Claire was usually one of the last to leave if not actually late leaving school. He couldn't read her face at all and she seemed distracted. She was looking down as she quickly walked to the car and hopped in. She shoved her bag down by her feet and quickly pulled the door closed behind her all in the same motion before she grabbed at her seatbelt above her right shoulder.

"Hi," he said softly while tilting his face to try to catch her eye.

She didn't respond. She didn't even seem to hear him. She slipped down so that she was slouching so low in her seat she almost couldn't be seen from out of the window.

She brought her hand up to her face where she wrapped her thumb and fingers around her temples, completely covering her face and then mumbled to herself, "Think, Claire. Just think."

Definitely not a good sign! He thought while watching her.

"Claire?" he asked her concerned.

She turned to look at him when he said her name, but her eyes slipped past his face to land on the hickeys on his neck again.

"Crap. And then there's that!" She said to herself, fixating on them just like he was worried she would.

"Claire? What's going on? You okay?" he asked her, wishing he could go back to a year ago when he felt like he always understood her perfectly.

She had become distracted before he had even finished speaking, she was looking out the window before she said,

"Crap! Go, Quil! Let's just get out of here already!"

She was practically shrieking by the end making Quil even more worried about her. Her wanting to get away from school was also not a great sign.

"I'm going to kill him." Quil said to himself as he put the car in reserve and pulled out.

He was already debating, based on Claire's reactions, if he was going to permanently pull Bennett out from school or if he should leave him up to Jake to deal with. He didn't know what specifically Claire was upset about this time, but he had a good guess as to who was responsible.

She started sniffing back tears as soon as she heard his remark, but she surprised him when she asked,

"What time are we leaving to pick Jacob up from the airport?"

He would have thought she was just trying to change the subject so that he wouldn't be upset with Bennett, except for the fact that she had asked it so urgently, like she needed to know as quickly as possible.

"Um…. We need to leave in about an hour..."

It took him a second to think of the answer because he was so concerned about what was wrong with her. His mind felt the same way it had for those months without here. The imprinted part of his brain was ringing alarms again; Claire. Claire. Something's wrong with Claire. Fix it Quil. Claire.

"That should work." She seemed to mumble to herself as she reached down to her backpack and dug her phone out of the front pocket.

"What do you mean? Work for what?" he asked her confused but she seemed glued to her phone suddenly.

He was trying to wait patiently for her to tell him what had happened and not hound her when she seemed so keyed up, but she was starting to become frustratingly cryptic, especially while the alarm was ringing in his head.

She looked up from her phone suddenly when he parked the car in front of the shop like usual.

"What…. Oh, I need you to take me home… I guess I didn't say that." She said quickly.

He was pretty surprised since for the last week he had brought her home with him after she finished school before taking her home for the day. She seemed flustered like her mind was in several places at once. He thought again about how he needed time with her to work out whatever was going on with her….and with them.

"Claire…." He said stunned and shocked. She hadn't been back since their steamy make-out session the day before. "I won't touch you, I promise."

"What?" she asked seeming shocked. "NO, Quil! It's not you! I just don't have time to hang out, I need to pack before we leave for the airport!"

She put her hand on his cheek and reached all the way over until she surprised him again by kissing him softly as if she was trying to prove that he wasn't the problem. As nice as the kiss was he was just left more concerned then ever.

"Claire," he said shocked as he grabbed her hand when she pulled it back from his face. "What is going on!? What the hell happened at school? Why do you need to pack? You aren't going anywhere." he paused for a second before he asked insistently, "Right!?"

She continued to seem flustered as she stared out in front of her for a second before she said,

"I'll explain while I pack, okay? But we're fine. Alright? I promise, we're fine!"

Quil felt the nervous pit in his gut twist sickeningly into a ball. Why was she packing? There was no reason that he could think of that didn't end painfully for him. She hadn't told him to pack too and it didn't escape his notice; if she was going somewhere it was without him. He also didn't like the way she kept saying that they were fine. She had said it that morning too and every time she said it, it made him more nervous like they definitely weren't fine. She said it so desperately, like she was trying to convince herself it was true.

She sucked in a sharp breath and Quil noticed that she was tearing up again as she said,

"Wait here, I'll be right back. I just want to say goodbye to Butch."

She reached over quickly and opened her door before he could stop her.

"Claire, wait! Where are you going!?" he called after her, but she was already running into the shop.

She had left the car door open behind her, so he knew she was planning on coming right back or else he would have followed her and demanded some explanations.

It took all of his control to not snap the steering wheel in his hands as he sat waiting for Claire. He was just about to get out and follow her inside to find out what exactly was going on with her when she came running back out to the car while wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Claire! What happened at school? What did he do?" he immediately pestered her the second she was in the car again.

She just shook her head while staring forward and refusing to look at him. Quil was pulling out when she choked back a sob and said,

"Nothing. He didn't do anything wrong."

He was at a complete loss and was momentarily speechless until he pulled up in front of her house a minute later. He quickly turned off the car and turn around in his seat to face her before he said,

"Claire, whatever happened, whatever he did, I need to know about it."

She nodded with her shaking hand covering her mouth. She seemed like she couldn't speak. She took a huge breath and reached over with her shaking hand to open the door.

"Wait! Claire!" he said urgently. He needed to pin her down and get some real answers from her.

She stopped and turned back to him. She wasn't shaking anymore, and she seemed oddly calm even though there were silent tears that seemed to keep leaking out of her eyes.

She reached out and put her hand on his cheek, he immediately grabbed it, holding her to him before she could suddenly hurry off away from him again. She took another breath before she looked up to meet his eyes for the first time and said quickly,

"I love you, Quil."

"I love you too." He said automatically while not understanding what was happening and feeling like there was a fish hook suddenly yanking at the twisted knot in his gut.

She nodded and swallowed before she said softly,

"….I….I have to go away for a while, okay? But it's not because of you. You. Are. Perfect. And I wish I could stay here for you but I …. I just…. I'm a mess right now, Quil… I need to go… I …." She seemed to be flustering again as she tried to pull her hand away and get out of the car.

"Claire, wait!" He said firmly as he grabbed her wrist and refused to let it slide through his fingers. "What are you talking about? You can't go anywhere." He said completely dumbfounded.

He didn't like the way she was explaining how she had to leave, as if she was saying goodbye. She had already left his life for four months and it had only been ten days since he had gotten her back; she couldn't leave.

She nodded and squeezed his hand before she said, "Come on, I have to pack."

She pulled insistently at her arm until he let it go and she slipped out of the car. He immediately followed her. She was already running up the walk when he asked disbelievingly, "Where are you going!?"

She was opening the front door and he had to run after her to try to catch up to her. She was running up the stairs when he closed the door behind him and heard her call behind her an answer to his question,

"I'm going to Tennessee."

Quil himself was now shaking and feeling like he was losing control as he ran so fast up the stairs that it literally wasn't humanly possible. He couldn't process what she was telling him, and he needed her to explain it to him. She was in the hall taking a suitcase out of the linen closet. She seemed like she was in a hurry as she dragged it to her room looking at the clock on the wall before throwing it on her bed.

"What do you mean you're going to Tennessee? That doesn't make any sense!" he told her quickly, feeling like this must be some sort of cruel practical joke at his expense.

"You remember Tami? My aunt? She lives in Tennessee now, and I'm going to go stay with her for a while." She answered quietly without looking at him as she opened the suitcase.

She seemed calmer now that she was quickly moving about packing. Quil had vague memories of Robert and Emily's sister Tami who he had met a few times at various Young family events over the years.

"What!? Why!?" he asked her completely nonplussed.

"I just have to get away for a while, alright?" she answered as she opened her underwear drawer and started packing its contents into her suitcase.

Quil would have thought that he was too distracted by the situation to think at all about all of the underwear that he was now suddenly immensely curious to see Claire in, but apparently he wasn't.

He was shaking his head and Claire stopped suddenly to look at him and said insistently,

"Don't worry! This won't be like last fall! I'm not pushing you away this time. We'll talk all the time, alright? Everyday. Multiple times a day!"

Her reassurances suddenly made it all real and brought it home to him the fact that she was really preparing to go.

"What!? No, Claire, you can't just leave! You're a minor. You're still in high school. You have to book a flight, you can't just show up at the airport." He said, quickly trying to debunk the idea of her leaving.

She nodded her head as she started pulling pajama's out and packing them.

"I know. I talked to some of my teachers already. I'm going to do what I can online while I'm gone. My dad booked me a flight this afternoon. I was just checking in and downloading my boarding pass on my phone in the car." She explained.

Her responses temporarily stunned him as he processed how prepared she already was to leave.

"Why!?" he asked shocked.

How had all of this happened just while she was at school and what could possibly be her reasoning for doing it? He stepped in front of her suitcase as she turned back from her dresser with a pair of jeans in her hand. If she expected him to let her leave, then she had at least better give him a damn good reason.

"Here. I'll take care of that before we go. Come on." She said as she gestured at her own neck and threw her jeans on the bed next to her suitcase, refusing to acknowledge her reasons for suddenly flying to Tennessee.

She grabbed his lifeless hand and dragged him out of her room and down the stairs. She slipped her hand out of his when they got to the table and said,

"Here, sit down for a second, Quil."

He was too stunned by everything that was happening around him to move. He just stood there staring after her as she opened the freezer and pulled out a spoon.

"Here. Put this against your hickeys. It's cold but it'll help them heal faster." She said handing it to him and pushing him into a chair.

That yanked him out of his stunned stupor as he said,

"How do you know that?"

He himself had used the frozen spoon trick a few times back in the day but he did not like the idea of Claire needing to know about it's effectiveness.

She refused to answer him as she said, "I'll get something to cover them up." And ran back upstairs.

Quil's head was still reeling. He couldn't seem to understand how this thing that affected him so much was happening without him. It was clear to him though that this train was running and he either needed to get on board or get left behind. He was shaking his head trying to catch up when she came downstairs again, this time with a makeup bag in her hand. She set the bag on the table next to him and then went and got a sharpie out of the kitchen drawer. She handed it to him and said,

"Here, you number each product after I use it, then when I'm gone you can apply it yourself until they heal. It'll probably only take you another day until their gone you heal so fast."

He nodded his head numbly while thinking that he really didn't care if anyone saw them. He hadn't even used the spoon she had handed him. She made him turn his head at a funny angle to expose his neck while she started applying the makeup to cover up the marks she had left on him. He didn't understand why she was doing it. Why did it matter enough to hide them if she wasn't going to be around when someone asked who they were from?

She worked quickly and handed Quil each product after she was finished with it so that he could write the order number it was to be used on it before she put it in the small bag she had brought down with her. There were at least six steps, so it made sense as to why she had him number them, there was no way he would remember it all.

He hadn't said anything while she was standing close, working on covering up the physical evidence of their recent unexpected exploits. He just sat there, silently feeling numbed and shocked.

When she went to hand him the bag of makeup to take home with him and said, "Here, now you can do it tomorrow." it finally set in that she wasn't just leaving… she was going to be gone. He wouldn't see her tomorrow. He didn't even know when the next time would be that he'd see her again. Again. He had already lived enough of his life that way in just the last few months and he didn't think he could handle anymore.

He reached out from where he was sitting on his chair and wrapped his arm around her waist. She had already turned to head back up the stairs and keep packing, but he held her trapped in his arm, refusing to let her go. She wasn't fighting against him, at least not physically, but she wouldn't look at him as she was forced to take a step back and turn around to face him while he pulled her to his side.

"Claire…" he demanded, "Why? Why are you going? …. Yesterday… yesterday shouldn't have happened. I know that. But you don't need to-" she looked up sharply and said,

"It's not about yesterday!" she sounded shocked that he would think that it was. "I mean I shouldn't have… We shouldn't of….it just… it's not about yesterday." She flustered making Quil feel less certain than ever that it wasn't about the day before. It was just like the way she kept saying they were fine.

"Then why? Why are you leaving?" he demanded still refusing to let her go. He couldn't let her go. He had already made that mistake once, he wasn't going to make it again.

She looked down again and started biting her lip in stress almost as hard as she had done that morning when she had seen the hickeys she had left on his neck.

"You were right before…." She whispered.

He was instantly nervous. So, it was about yesterday….

"Right about what?" he heard his voice shake a little when he asked. He was terrified of the answer that he so desperately needed.

"…It…. It's about Bennett…. That's why… he's why I'm leaving." She whispered while still staring at the floor.

Bennett. He just knew that kid was going to screw this up somehow. And now because of him she was trying to leave him again.

"What did he do?" he whispered back calmly, determined to get the answers he needed to fix this. He knew Claire best, he could fix this if she would just explain what was wrong.

She just shook her head as he saw the tears start to fall down her face. Whatever Bennett had done was clearly painful for her and she obviously didn't want to talk about it. He would have let it drop to relieve her discomfort if it weren't so important that he get answers from her.

"Claire, what did he do?" he asked more insistently while still trying to be sensitive to her pain.

She took in a very shaky breath and said, "…. He…. He…."

She couldn't seem to get it out and she quickly brought her free left hand that had been wrapped around Quil's shoulder up to cover her mouth. A horrible thought had just occurred to him that might explain why Claire might be so upset and suddenly want to leave.

"Did he touch you!?" Quil demanded, surprised at the idea but knowing exactly how badly Bennett had wanted to still be with her.

"NO!" She sounded shocked and offended at the idea as she looked back at him, "He would never do that!"

"Then what happened!?" he demanded, completely at a loss.

"HE IMPRINTED! He imprinted on Macy! Right there in front of me, he just looked at her and then... he was gone…he …... he…." and she was sobbing. She had said it so rushed and yet Quil could feel her reliving it as she tried to explain what it had been like to witness Bennett find his own soulmate.

Quil was shocked. He didn't even know how to feel about it. He wasn't even sure he believed it.

"How… How can you be sure?" he asked her a little doubtfully.

She collapsed onto his lap where she sat sobbing, hunched over with her hand covering her mouth.

"I saw the way he looked at her!" she cried out desperately between sobs.

Quil was still so shocked that he hadn't made any move to hold her or comfort her in anyway. He just sat there with his arms loosely around her as she sat on his lap.

"How did he look at her?" he asked, still confused.

She chocked back a sob to whisper,

"…The same way you look at me…."

Quil just sat there for a second completely stunned and trying to process everything that was happening. After almost a full minute of Claire sobbing on his lap, he put his hand on her back and said in a voice that sounded dead in his ears,

"Come on, I'll help you pack. What time does your flight leave?"

After that he helped Claire get ready to go while doing his best to shove his intense instinct to refuse to let her leave his side, as far away as he could. He wasn't that helpful in the packing department since he kept noticing different pieces of underwear she had packed and deciding that they were way too sexy for her to leave with and taking them out to put back in her drawer while she continued to tell him her flight details and about her aunt's ranch where she would be staying.

The first time he did this he didn't think that she had noticed until she came back to her dresser a minute later and pulled the two bras and the pair of panties he had put in there back out and set them back in the mesh pocket of her suitcase without acknowledging it at all. He was still feeling a little numb and there wasn't enough for him to focus on that wasn't too painful, so he tried again.

When she went into the bathroom to grab her toothbrush while telling him about how she would be getting assignments emailed to her from her teachers, he reached back into the pocket and took them back out again, this time grabbing a nude colored bra and a pair of plain black cotton panties and stuck them in her suitcase to replace the lace set he had taken out.

Claire asked him if he would be okay by himself with Butch as she poked her head out the door, which of course he thought was ridiculous, and then went back into the bathroom before she came back out with her makeup bag in hand. She set it in her suitcase before she grabbed the bra and panties that Quil had placed inside, under the rest of her underwear where he thought she wouldn't see it, took them back to her dresser and grabbed the original set as she reminded him to not forget to walk Butch as she placed it back in her bag.

She was going through the shower in her bathroom and packing her shampoo when Quil grabbed the same sexy set for the third time, thinking he didn't have anything to lose by trying again. He was just opening her dresser drawer when she said,

"Quil! Quit trying to repack my underwear!"

He placed them in the drawer and closed it, he turned to look at her standing in the bathroom doorway where she had caught him red-handed.

"What do you need sexy underwear for anyways? If no one is going to see it, why wear it?" he asked hoping to not sound controlling while making sure that no one would be seeing her in her underwear.

"Don't be misogynistic!" she demanded as she crossed in front of him and pulled her underwear back out of the drawer.

"How is that misogynistic?" he asked. Possessive maybe but misogynistic? He wasn't exactly trying to oppress her with more moderate underwear.

"You're implying that I choose my underwear based on how men will react to it instead of what I want to wear. That what I wear is somehow for someone else's benefit" She explained calmly while repacking it.

Quil shrugged at her explanation, not really having a good defense. Though he suddenly felt a lot better about the underwear she chose to wear.

She finished packing quickly after that. As she went through and packed her purse, Quil carried her suitcase and duffle bag she had packed down the stairs and out to the car while reminding himself that it was his job to always support her doing what was best for her… even if it wasn't what wasbestfor him.

She came out quickly and locked the door since no one else was home yet.

The two-hour drive to Seattle went by remarkably quickly all while the closer they got to Claire leaving the stronger Quil's instincts to beg her to stay became. He knew exactly how to manipulate her when he wanted to, but he kept reasoning with himself that it would be wrong to do it in this scenario. He was suddenly losing the battle with his self-control again the same way he had been losing his battle to steer clear of her physically. Obviously, the day before had proven he had almost no grasp on it.

As he pulled into short-term parking his hands started shaking. He parked at a spot much farther back from the doors to check-in and baggage claim than he needed to. She was digging through her purse and asking absentmindedly, "You don't think I'll need my passport, do you?" when he turned to her and asked more desperately then he would have liked,

"When are you coming home again?"

She stopped to look up at him. She bit her lip and looked back down before she said,

"I don't know. I don't even have a return flight booked yet."

Though not completely unexpected it was not the answer he had wanted to hear. Quil looked forward so that he wasn't looking at her as he sucked in a breath and grabbed onto whatever self-control he had left as he popped the trunk and got out of the car.

She followed him and reached to grab her duffle bag to carry before he pushed her arm aside. He easily slipped the handle of it over the pull-out handle of the suitcase before he slammed the now empty trunk and grabbed Claire's hand. They started to walk toward the flight check-ins since she had to check her bags while he pulled her luggage behind him.

She was quiet and seemed distracted as they walked together. He had to resist the urge to squeeze her hand as tightly as he could, knowing that it would just break her small fingers his were wrapped around. He couldn't get the thought out of his head that if he held on tight enough she wouldn't be able to let go of him.

When they reached the airline check-in that she needed Quil's control broke again, this time completely. He felt like something literally snapped inside him and he just couldn't let her leave. He quickly turned to her.

"You don't have to do this! You don't have to go, Claire!"

"Quil!" she said desperately as she teared up looking at him.

Her mascara was almost gone now from all her crying, but it had left small smudges around her eyes where she had wiped away at it and somehow the crying had just enhanced her beauty instead of diminishing it. Noticing how beautiful she was did nothing to add to Quil's control as he tried (and he was really trying) to let her go. He couldn't help it. As much as he wanted to do what was best for her he just couldn't let her walk away. It was like she would be taking his heart away with her, and not in a sappy romantic way, like she would literally be taking one of his most vital organs that he needed every second of everyday, and his survival instincts simply kicked in with a sense of self-preservation.

"No, listen! You don't have to go back to school. We'll just avoid Bennett and Macy." She flinched when he said their names even though he was speaking so quickly he was surprised she could understand him. "We'll just hold up at my place like we did last summer. We can watch Big Bang and hang out with Butch. Just please, Claire, don't go. Just stay! Stay here with me! I'm begging you, Claire, don't go."

"Quil!" she cried, she had to let go of his hand to wipe at her face while she looked back down. "I can't…. I have to go…"

"But what if I'm ready!?" he asked her desperately as she looked back up at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"Last week when I tried to kiss you, you asked if I was ready; If I was ready for more! You didn't want me to kiss you until I was… but I am, Claire, I'm ready! I was ready then, and I'm ready now! I want more. I want to be with you! But I can't if you leave! Just stay and give me a chance to prove that I'm ready for more. I know you want that too! I love you, Claire. I'm in love with you! Just give me a chance to prove it!" he begged, so desperate for her to stay.

She was sobbing into her hand as she looked down at her feet. Quil felt ashamed to do it but like he had no control from stopping himself as he put his hands on her cheeks and his forehead against hers to gain the physical contact he needed to transfer his emotions to her.

And he did. He pushed all his love and fear and longing and desire for her to stay, on her as she cried with her forehead against his and her hand on top of his on her cheek. He would be horrified that he was trying so hard to manipulate her if it weren't for the fact that he was so desperate to get her to stay.

For the first time ever, she pushed all of his emotions back to him, rejecting them and in the process he felt the tiniest bit of her own emotions. He didn't think that she had meant for him to taste them, but he had. She was in pain at leaving, just like he was, but her pain at staying far out-weighed her pain at leaving.

"Claire!" he begged as he started to sob too.

"I can't, Quil! I can't be with you!" she cried out desperately.

"Why!? Why not just try!? I can make you forget about him, about them. Let's just try!" he continued to beg with his face against hers.

She shook her head as she pulled back from him.

"Claire-" he tried again, refusing to let her go, now that his control was so far gone he knew he couldn't stop until he convinced her to stay with him.

"Because!" she seemed to snap painfully as she tried to pull back from his hands that refused to relinquish her.

"Claire!" he cried while trying again to send her his feelings that she was sending right back.

"I'm still in love with him!"

She finally looked up at him as it rushed urgently out of her like she couldn't contain it anymore.

"I can't be with you because I love him!"

It felt like she had slapped him with it.

He finally dropped her and took a step back. He had known that she loved Bennett, and he had no right to expect her to be over it all of ten days after they had broken up, but he was still stunned at how much it hurt him to hear her admit it, especially to admit it like that, as the reason she couldn't be with him.

"I'm sorry, Quil!" She cried like she was in pain. "I want to give you everything! I want to be with you! We belong together, I know that! But I can't! I have to find a way to get over him so that I can move on, but I can't… not here… not now." She seemed desperate for him to understand.

He nodded at her as he tried to summon any feeling of numbness. She took a deep breath and seemed to pull herself together enough to stop crying.

"I'll call you everyday, okay? And I'll text you all day long, alright? So, we're always together, even if we aren't!"

She suddenly grabbed at her left wrist with her casted right arm. She slipped off the braided leather Quileute promise bracelet that he had made for her years ago. He hadn't even realized she was wearing it.

"Here! Take this, so that you'll know that I'll always come back!"

She stepped up to him and pushed it into his hand a few feet in front of her. Quil took it in his hand as he pulled it up to look at it. It was so small he couldn't believe that it still fit her. Claire couldn't have been older than ten when he had given it to her.

"Quil!" She said, passionately demanding his attention, he looked back down at her as she said, "I will come back to you! Just hold on to this until I do!" and then she stepped up on her toes as she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down to meet her.

And then she kissed him in a way she never had before.

She felt rushed and almost angry but somehow Quil could feel her underlying promise in her kiss. She was telling the truth. She wanted to be there with him, but she just couldn't until she got over her love for someone else. He quickly grabbed her and pulled her body to his, returning her kiss and finally expressing to her how much he wanted to be with her in a way that words never could.

She pulled back after someone walking past whistled at them. She bit her lip and pressed her forehead to his as she came back down on her heels. He just smiled at her, a little relieved in spite of everything. It was amazing to not have to shove aside his feelings for her, to be able to kiss her the way he wanted to. He felt a sense of release at finally being able to revel in his love for her.

Quil pulled his hands up from her waist to hold her soft face and run his fingers through her hair around her face that had fallen out of her ponytail. She closed her eyes and breathed against him. She seemed like she was soaking in their almost perfect moment. He knew it could never be completely perfect while she was still in love with Bennett and then it suddenly clicked for him that that was why she had to leave.

"I have to go." She whispered against him with her eyes still closed.

Quil nodded his head against hers before he pulled her back in and kissed her softly. Once, twice, and then a soft lingering third time before he pulled back.

She couldn't seem to look at him as she wiped at her mouth and her tears and then grabbed her bags and walked away. He could technically walk her all the way to security, but he knew there was no way he could handle another goodbye. He couldn't even stand to watch her walk away as he turned away and swallowed down his own emotions.

He wiped at his face as he looked down at the bracelet that she had left in his hand. It had been a promise that he had given to her years ago; that he would always be there for her. Whatever she needed, he would be there. But she had left it as a promise to him. A promise that she would come back; that she would come back and be with him.

What she needed was to go. She would keep her promise and he needed to keep his.

Quil swallowed again and blinked away his tears, before he turned around and headed to baggage claim to wait for Jacob. He loved Claire and knew she wanted to be there with him too... so just like it had always been assumed;

he would wait for her.

*Author's Note*

AND... That's a wrap! Alright, my lovely, beautiful, dear-to-my-heart readers, that's officially the ending of Imprintation! I know you're probably thinking that I'm just the worst and that things aren't really resolved at all but never fear! The story picks up right where it left off in the sequel ... Clarification (I'm also considering spelling it Claire-ification but idk... that feels really punny... thoughts?)So, I never had any intention to write Claire and Quil's story into multiple books but when I got to this point and realized that I was already 450 pages in and still had a lot of story to tell, it become clear that breaking it up was necessary! I'm sorry if it feels like the story is just randomly stopping but I promise that it gets right into the action in Clarification so I hope you will continue on this journey with me!

I so hope that you enjoyed Imprintation and that if you did you'll consider either leaving me a a review or even sending me a PM telling me what you liked about it! If your just a ghost reader... well that's cool too, thanks for reading!

So, I'm not giving an official date as to when I'll be putting out Clarification but since the vast majority of it is already written I'm just giving myself a 2-3 week timeline before I do. I do know that I will be releasing it chapter by chapter the same way I have with Imprintation, So... If you would like to be updated when I do, then consider following me as an author or simply follow Imprintation as a story because I will be posting the first chapter here and I'll try to include a link or at least instructions to finding Clarification.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for reading. I really do hope you enjoyed it because I know how much I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for sharing this experience with me!

xoxo

Jess