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1) Paul One Shot

I wrote a one shot for a contest I recently won. It's based on when Paul imprints on Rachel. I hope you'll check it out. It's called "Apologetic Imprint (Paul's POV)." You can find it on my profile page. And please leave a review. :D

2) For The Love Of Imprint Blog

I recently started a blog with another writer, Dazzled~By~Jake. It's going to contain a lot of different Twilight Saga topics including: character analysis, tips and suggestions, movie and book discussions, and so on. I hope you'll check it out. You can find the link on my profile page.

And sorry for the delay in this chapter. I've had a lot going on recently. This one is for ChloeHeartless X and BadRomance'Darling for starting Nate topics in my forum. Thanks for loving my OCs so much.

Chapter 25 – Birthday Wishes

Embry's POV

My son hated me. Yep, there was no doubt in my mind. Luke hated me with all the fiery passion his little six-year-old body could muster.

We started off okay while he was in the hospital. When I wasn't doing rounds or covering my shift in the ER, I was visiting Luke and Rebecca in his hospital room. At first, things had been fine between us, when he thought I was just a doctor checking on his progress. He was open and friendly with a touch of shyness.

When he caught me staring at his mom one too many times though, his happy expression transformed into a permanent scowl. He started responding to my questions regarding his well-being with short monosyllable answers. And he always felt a constant urge to tell me the wondrous achievements of his "father" Ian…surfer boy extraordinaire. I didn't know a child of his age could be so in touch with his sarcastic side. I would have patted him on the back and congratulated him for taking a leaf out of his old man's notebook if I wasn't so damned frustrated.

Rebecca saw all of this happening. She became very good at pacing in an effort to keep herself calm anytime Luke started to act up. She never let Luke get rude and he never crossed that line. If there seemed to be one thing he did respect in my presence, it was his mother. He obviously adored her, which made him seem to hate me even worse. Rebecca told me she wanted to tell Luke the truth…more than once in fact, but I asked her to wait until I got on his good side a little more. At the rate we were going though it didn't seem like that was ever going to happen.

Luke was out of the hospital within a week of his surgery. After he was fully vaccinated, he was released. Rebecca left with her purse filled with pre-cautionary antibiotics and multi-vitamins to help Luke's immune system, which was now more vulnerable without his spleen. I went to see him off as they left that day. He probably would have ignored me if Rebecca hadn't told him to thank me for all my care. He muttered a "thanks," holding his mother's hand and staring at the ground the entire time.

Things did not improve over the next few weeks. Rebecca was always trying to throw us together. She'd invite me over to dinner with her, Luke, and Billy as she and Luke were living at Billy's house. Or she'd come up with excuses for me to come over. Once was because she needed "help" hanging up a shelf. Another time she asked me to take a look at her perfectly tuned car engine. I knew what she was doing and I didn't complain. But Luke still went out of his way to pretend I either didn't exist, or he continued with his sarcastic remarks.

When I wasn't at the hospital or at Billy's house for some trumped up reason from

Rebecca, I resorted to stationing myself outside of their house at night. I'd get done with my shift, phase, and high-tail it to La Push. Nate Uley and his pack usually left me alone whenever I was in wolf form, though I did have to help them once when a nomad vampire came to the area and attacked someone near Port Angeles. I was pissed that my nightly stalking had been interrupted, but my anger helped spur a quick end to the bloodsucker.

A month after Luke's accident, I was invited to Nate's 18th birthday party. A lot of the old pack was going to be there. The retired wolves, Paul, Jared, Quil, Collin, Rafe, and Mac were all going to be there along with their families. The active wolves, Brady, Azra, Seth, and Devlin were also all coming.

Jacob and his family were not planning on attending. Things were still tense between Sam and Jacob after the fight they'd had during the summer. Plus, their sons, Gabe and Nate, couldn't stand each other and had already gotten into trouble at school because of their mutual animosity. Some of the other pack members weren't able to make it either. Leah and her family had moved to Oregon and couldn't make it. Neither could Ethan, Will, or Tristen.

I knew Sam was hoping that Ryan would show up, but the last anyone heard, he was still stuck in D.C., much to Sam and Nate's disappoint. They really wanted him back as Gracie seemed to be getting more out of control. They were pretty sure it had to do with a subconscious need for her to be with her imprint, but they couldn't force Ryan to come back any earlier than he could. In the meantime, they had to put up with Gracie's obnoxious, lip-pierced boyfriend, Zack Murray.

When I got to the Uley house, Emily greeted me with a huge hug before directing me in the backyard. I passed Rachel, Claire, and Sam's mom, Dorothy, in the kitchen. Nodding to them I headed outside.

"Embry, hey," Seth called.

I made my way over to the grill where Sam was standing with Quil, Azra, Seth, and Paul. Sam was notorious for being a horrible cook so Paul was doing the honors. There were piles of hotdogs and hamburgers just waiting to be cooked. Wolves, retired or active, had tremendous appetites.

Looking around, I noticed Paul's son Devlin and Nate were sitting in lawn chairs nearby, Nate looking forlorn. I knew he had to be disappointed that his imprint wasn't coming. Brady was sitting in another chair, reading a story to Quil's daughter Kayley. Kayley didn't look at the book once as she stared at Brady in complete adoration. I'd never seen a 15-month-old sit so still. I turned my gaze back to the group I was standing with. Quil had a stupid, goofy smile on his face.

"What's your problem?" I asked as I grabbed one of the burgers Paul had just finished cooking and polished it off in a few bites.

"What?" Quil said, trying to force his expression into a straight face.

"Why are you so happy?"

"Can't a guy smile?" Quil remarked, putting on a hurt expression.

"No," Paul and I answered at the same time.

"He's been like this at work all week," Azra said, taking a swig of the beer he was holding.

"Yeah, I interrupted him changing Kayley's crappy diaper earlier and he was humming," Sam said. "I agree…I think there's something going on."

"Whatever," Quil said, rolling his eyes.

His attention was immediately distracted as Claire walked into the backyard with Collin and his wife Lindsey. Quil's face lit up as soon as he saw his wife. He didn't say another word to us as he made a beeline for Claire, wrapping his arm around her waist and kissing the top of her head. They made their way over to us.

"Who's the man? This guy right here!" Collin said, smiling broadly as he jabbed himself in the chest with his two thumbs.

Lindsey, who was standing next to her husband, rolled her eyes before she also started smiling.

"I'm pregnant!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"No way!" Claire said, Quil's arm still wrapped around her. "I'm pregnant too!"

The girls stared at each other for a moment before they started shrieking and hugging each other. They were best friends who shared everything and now they were going to share this. Everyone started congratulating the expectant parents. I wondered if I was the only one who noticed Azra's face lingering on Claire's for a minute, his expression pained before he quickly turned to take another swig of his beer.

"So I guess that means I'm the man," Quil smirked. "You know…cause this is baby number two, which means my super swimmers did their job not once but twice now."

'Or how about you're both idiots?" I joked. Everyone started talking about the forthcoming cubs and whether they would have boys or girls.

Jared and Kim arrived with their daughter Hayley. Their other daughter Hanna was still attending her school for the performing arts in Michigan, but she and her imprinted wolf Devlin kept in touch all the time by email and phone. Hayley saw Seth and headed over to him, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a secluded part of the yard. Jared looked like he wanted to deck Seth, but Kim just rolled her eyes. I quickly lost focus on the soap opera playing out before my eyes when I picked up the sweet familiar scent of lavender and vanilla.

Turning, I watched as Rebecca and Rachel came out into the backyard. Paul and Rachel's youngest son Sean was walking behind them talking animatedly to Luke. The pull I always felt towards Rebecca tugged hard in her direction as I stared at her. I forced myself to look away so that I could focus on Luke. I knew he was given a clean bill of health upon his last checkup with his doctor. He wasn't suffering any adverse effects from losing his spleen.

"Hey," I said as I walked quickly over to them. Luke stopped talking to his cousin long enough to glare at me.

"Hi Embry," Rebecca beamed before turning to put her arm around our son's shoulders. "Luke, say hello."

"Hello Dr. Call," Luke muttered to the ground.

I sighed. This was his latest thing. If he addressed me at all, it was Dr. Call.

"Hey Luke," I said, trying to remain patient. "You know you can call me Embry."

He looked me straight in the eye then and said, "My father always told me to be polite to my elders."

With that, he moved out of his mother's hold and made his way over to his older cousin Devlin whom he adored.

"Em…" Rebecca said in a frustrated tone, shaking her head.

"Don't worry about it," I replied.

I looked at Rebecca carefully. She was wearing black slacks and a long sleeved, light blue shirt that clung to her in all the right spots. Her hair was up in a messy bun, her make-up natural. She looked amazing.

"You look really nice," was all I could muster. I reached up and pushed back a tendril of hair that had escaped its confinement. My fingertips brushed her cheek and I heard Rebecca's heart speed up.

"Thanks," she said softly. I think Rachel left to join Paul but I wasn't sure. I wasn't aware of anything but Rebecca in that moment.

"Mom, I'm hungry." Luke suddenly appeared, pulling on Rebecca's hand and effectively dousing water on the proverbial flames we were creating.

"Hmm?" Rebecca murmured, still staring at me.

"Food mom," Luke insisted.

"Sure, sure," Rebecca nodded as she let Luke lead her away from me. I smiled at her reaction and felt incredible satisfaction in knowing I was the cause of that dazed expression on her face.

I grabbed a beer from the cooler and took a seat on one of the lawn chairs set out. The seat next to me was conspicuously empty. I tried not to get too hopeful that Rebecca would join me. I watched as she helped Luke get his food. He filled his plate before carefully carrying it over to where Sean was sitting. Rebecca grabbed her own food and looked around. My heart sank as she made her way over to where Rachel and Paul were sitting with Quil, Claire, Lindsey, Collin, Sam, and Emily. She paused and glanced towards the area I was sitting in. As soon as she saw me, her face broke out into a hesitant smile. I nodded and pointed to the chair next to me with my head. She quickly walked over to me and sat down.

"Did you eat already?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah, right before you got here," I replied, though I knew I hadn't eaten enough. My stomach was still too tense from my latest encounter with Luke to eat anything at the moment.

"So…uh…where's your girlfriend?" Rebecca casually questioned.

I glanced at Rebecca who was twisting her burger in circles on her plate, before I looked at Luke who was talking to Sean and one of the other wolf kids, Rafe Elwah's son, Tauri. Ah, fuck it. What did I have to lose?

"Amy and I broke up," I finally said.

Rebecca was taking a bite of her burger when I said this. She momentarily coughed, before looking at me with a mix of sympathy and something else.

"I'm sorry Em, I hope it wasn't because of Luke or anything I did," Rebecca replied sincerely. She had no idea how much my break up with Amy had to do with her.

"No, we…uh…we broke up a couple of months ago," I admitted. Rebecca began coughing again and I had to ask, "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Rebecca said through her coughs. "I just had some food go down wrong."

"Let me get you some water," I responded, getting up quickly and heading towards the cooler. All that was left was beer so I went inside to get Rebecca a glass of water. I was filling it when I heard little feet enter the kitchen.

"Why do you act like that around my mom all the time?" I turned around to find my son staring at me with a petulant look on his face.

"What do you mean?" I asked, putting the glass on the counter so that I could lean against it, crossing my arms across my chest.

"You're always watching her and hanging around her," Luke scowled.

"I didn't realize I was."

"My mom loves my dad. She said he'll always have a place in her heart. She cried all the time when he was in the hospital."

I swallowed over the painful lump in my throat. "I'm sure she did. Becks and I go way back. We've been friends since I was your age."

"Hmph," was Luke's only reply. He crossed his scrawny arms over his chest.

"Hey Embry, I'll just take a--" Rebecca came into the kitchen.

She looked from me to our son with a strange smile on her face. It was then that I realized Luke and I were standing in the exact same pose. I unfolded my arms.

"What's going on?" Rebecca asked, her eyes narrowed on Luke.

"I don't like him!" Luke stated, pointing at me with added emphasis.

"Lucas Mason! Apologize for being rude."

"Sorry," Luke muttered, not meeting my eyes. He looked in his mom's direction and said, "I'm gonna go play with Sean."

He stormed out of the room to join Rachel's son outside. He didn't look at me once.

"So…that went well," I tried to joke, but my stomach was clenched painfully.

"I'm so sorry Em," Rebecca said, walking over to me. "He's still trying to adjust to living here and he misses Ian. Give him time."

"Sure," I tried to smile but it failed to reach my lips. My own son hated me. I tried to think of something positive.

"So you gave him my middle name?"

"Yeah," Rebecca said, blushing slightly before taking a sip of the water I'd prepared for her.

She leaned against the counter. "We need to tell him Embry."

"I know," I sighed. "Do you think he'll hate me worse?"

Rebecca reached out and squeezed my arm in comfort, causing my skin to tingle where she touched.

"He's just confused," Rebecca said. "He doesn't know you yet…once he does, I know he'll love you."

"How do you know that for sure?" I asked in a low tone.

"I…you're very easy to love," Rebecca whispered.

Without even realizing it, our bodies had gravitated towards each other and we were now touching toe to toe. Rebecca looked up at me with need noticeable in her large eyes. And I was drawn to it. I didn't even want to resist. I reached and cupped the side of her face with one hand, tilting her head so that her lips were at a more reachable angle. My head lowered as Rebecca put her hands on my chest, standing up on her toes to bring her closer to my mouth. Our lips were mere inches apart when Emily came into the kitchen causing us to hurriedly step away from each other. Emily was speaking over her shoulder not paying attention to what she'd just walked in on.

"I'll grab more burgers Sam, just let Paul cook," Emily yelled out before she turned and froze. "Oops, sorry…didn't mean to interrupt. I just need to grab some more food."

Emily practically sped through the kitchen, quickly leaving as abruptly as she arrived, but the mood was broken. Rebecca and I were already a good foot apart.

"Em…I need to tell you something," Rebecca said, running one finger over Emily's spotless counter top.

"Sure," I replied, still trying to get my composure. I had a feeling that whatever she was about to tell me was going to be something I wouldn't like.

"I'm going back to Hawaii. I--"

"No," I interrupted, running a shaky hand through my hair. "You can't leave me, dammit!"

I turned away from her and put my hands on one the kitchen chair tops. Rebecca wrapped her arms around me from behind and placed her cheek against my back.

"You misunderstood," Rebecca explained, hugging me tighter. "I'm not moving back to Hawaii. I've waited too long…"

Rebecca didn't finish. I turned so that I could hug her. I'd waited too long to. Just the idea of not having Rebecca or Luke around filled me with a void that was unsurpassable. Whether Rebecca and I were together or not, she and Luke were my family. I wouldn't recover this time if I lost them.

"Why are you going back?" I asked, holding her even closer to me so that my cheek rested against the top of her head.

"To finalize the divorce and complete the sale of my gallery," Rebecca murmured.

"How long will you be gone?"

"About a week," Rebecca said, pulling back only far enough so that she could look into my eyes.

I lowered my head to try to kiss her again but stopped. I couldn't do this yet. I couldn't rush our relationship. And a part of me was terrified that she would go back to Hawaii and remember how much she once loved Ian. Breaking out of our hold, I grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the backyard.

"We should see if it's time for cake," I said.

Once we got outside, I was recruited into playing a game of football with the guys. We split into two teams. Sam acted as captain of one team. Nate was captain of the other. It ended up being original wolves versus the newer wolves. Paul, Jared, Quil, Collin, Brady and I ended up on one team. Sam also requested Luke play with us, which I knew I'd have to thank him for later. Gracie made the foolish mistake of insisting that her boyfriend Zack play as well so Sam begrudgingly invited him to join our team.

Nate's team consisted of Seth, who didn't want to get into the same huddle with Jared. Jared was still too pissed about Seth making moves on his 17-year-old daughter. A lot of the wolves who had changed around the Renesmee/Volturi battle were also on Team Nate. Azra joined the opposing team along with Rafe and Mac. Rafe's son Tauri also joined Nate's team, though he was Luke's age. Rounding out the other members were Paul and Rachel's sons, Devlin and Sean, and Mac's son Jason. Jason was a huge 12-year-old. I knew Nate was watching him carefully. After that vampire showed up in Port Angeles, Jason grew about 6 inches in two weeks.

The teams were evenly matched. Team Nate had more kids on their side, but they also had most of the active wolves. The game didn't start off well.

Nate lightly body checked Gracie's boyfriend Zack. He went flying across the yard, a move which left him pale and shaking like a leaf on the ground. Gracie cursed Nate out before grabbing Zack's hand. They disappeared soon after. Sam was smirking before he yelled at Nate for hurting someone weaker than him. But I'd never seen Sam look prouder of his son. From there, things just got ugly.

Brady was running with the ball when Kayley cried out. He stopped moving immediately, standing in the middle of the playing field as his eyes searched frantically for his imprint. Devlin didn't even hesitate to plow him over. Brady got jarred so badly that he had to quit…no big loss for him. He cheered from the sidelines, holding Kayley tenderly.

Jared dogged Seth like a shadow. Seth was quicker and stronger being active still, but Jared had determination on his side. Every chance he got, he went after Seth. Jared's daughter, Hayley, could be heard most of the game either yelling at her dad or cheering Seth on.

I had passed Quil the ball and he was running for a touchdown when Azra came out of nowhere and went after him. He looked like he was out for blood and he showed no mercy as he grabbed Quil around the waist and body-slammed him to the ground. When Quil got up, his lip was bleeding.

"What the hell Az?" Quil yelled.

"Sorry," Azra muttered, quickly walking away as Claire ran over to hand Quil a napkin.

The game was tied when I carefully passed the ball to Luke. With a fierce look on his face, he took off running. Rebecca was right, the kid was fast. I body checked any wolves that got in Luke's way as he made his way to the end zone. As soon as he scored, he spiked the ball before doing a little victory dance. Luke ran over to me with a gleeful smile on his face, his hand outstretched. I moved my hand out and he smacked it excitedly with his own.

Emily called out that it was time for cake and ice cream. Nate was congratulating Luke on his winning touchdown when his eyes widened and he looked over to the back door of the house. Moments later Nessie Black and her daughter, Meena, appeared.

"Ness, you came," Emily said, coming over to hug her. "Jake with you?"

"No, he took Gabe hunting," Ness explained before adding. "I'm sorry we're so late."

"You're here…" Nate remarked, looking dumbfounded as he made his way to his imprint. Meena shyly smiled and nodded back. He just stared at her in return.

Emily, smiling like a sap, grabbed Ness and pulled her towards the other wives, giving their kids a moment.

"Here," Meena said, handing Nate a small present in the shape of a CD case.

Nate opened it, revealing some obscure band that I had never heard of.

"Do you have that one?" Meena asked hesitantly. "My Grandpa Edward recommended it."

"No, but I'm sure I'll love it," Nate replied, smiling so brightly I half expected his face to explode.

"You gonna cut the cake, or moon over your girl," Collin shouted out. Sam went up and smacked him on the back of the head.

Both Nate and Meena's faces turned beet red, but they made their way over to where the cake and ice cream were. Gracie appeared in that moment, looking ticked off. She was sans her boyfriend, but the huge hickey on her neck was very telling of what they had been up to.

"Nate, you ass…" Gracie started to say when she noticed Meena. She quickly looked around before saying, "Hey Meena, did Gabe come with you?"

"No, he couldn't make it," Meena said in a proper tone. "He told me to tell you hello though."

"Hmm," was Gracie's only response as she sat down next to her mother.

We began to sing happy birthday. Nate didn't even notice. His eyes were permanently fixated on Meena, who kept giving him side glances.

"Nate, it helps if you blow out the candles," Rafe Elwah said. Rafe was not only a retired wolf, but he was also a teacher at the high school and knew all the teens well.

"Oh," Nate jumped.

"Make a wish," Emily insisted.

Nate gave Meena another quick glance, before he blew out his candles. The cake was soon passed out. I sat down next to Paul and Rachel at a picnic table that had been set up. Rebecca sat opposite me. The girls were talking about the fact that there would soon be two new babies on the Rez. As I listened to the nuances of Rebecca's voice as she spoke, a piece of cake suddenly appeared on the table in front of me. I looked over and saw Luke staring at me intently.

"Thanks Luke," I said in a surprised tone.

"You're welcome," Luke replied shyly, before sitting down next to me and digging into his own cake.

I noticed that he was sitting closer to me than was necessary. I wanted to wrap my arm around him, like Mac was currently doing with his youngest son Joe. But this was a small step in the right direction and I'd take it.

With a relieved smile, I glanced at Rebecca. She was smiling back at me with happy tears in her eyes. I took the fork that Luke had also thought to provide and took a bite of the cake my son had given me.

I had never tasted anything so sweet in all my life.

A/N – If all the wolves are confusing to you, I have all their histories in my forum. Now, I'm not a big fan of posting on the weekend because reviews are always lower, but I didn't want to make you wait any longer for this chapter. That said, please review.