Hey, so just a little forewarning, the end of the story is coming pretty soon. I know that if I really wanted to I could pan it out longer because there are just so many ideas running through my mind, but in the end, I think the characters are just about ready to handle things on their own without my meddling. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as previous ones.

Chapter 25:

I turned out of the driveway and made it a mile and a half down the road before I had to pull the truck over. I was laughing so hard, it was a wonder that I could breathe at all. The image of Paul in that Pluto suit….

I…

Can't…

Breathe…

My imagination didn't do the real visual any justice.

If I had a million dollars, I would have given it all to see through the fabric covering Paul's and Quil's faces. They had to be beat red with embarrassment.

Oh to be a billionaire.

I didn't know how Claire could stay any longer, without bursting at the seams. I had to get out of there, every second I felt my mouth twitching to crack up. The last thing I needed was for the two werewolves at the party to get mildly annoyed, so at the first chance I hopped in Paul's truck. Flagging Claire down, I told her to tell Paul I was heading out to Kim's place and made my getta-way.

Poor Claire, she was going to need a lot of self control before the day was done. When I left, "Pluto" and "Goofy" were singing Disney songs. To be honest that was the last straw that broke this camel's back. Those two may be the sexiest men in one of the most sensational bands in the United States, but when they were reduced to singing Disney songs, their keys and pitches were all over the place!

Man do I love that werewolf.

Smiling, I passed through the small town of Forks. So much had happened since the first time I drove through this town. It was amazing really, how much time had altered my entire life.

I was just passing a familiar brick building, when I decided to pop in for a visit.

What could it hurt, I thought. Maybe, if I say the right things, I could land a job.

Walking into the doctor's office, I immediately saw the youthfully, pale face of the doctor's wife.

"Hello," I smiled.

She must have remembered me from before, because she stood up saying, "Talliah, I was wondering if you were going to risk coming back."

I felt my eyebrows crawl together in confusion.

"Risk coming back?" I repeated.

"Yes," Dr. Cullen said, walking towards us from one of the back rooms. "Sadly, because this is a hospital, a lot of people don't want to come back in fear of catching a virus."

I had tried to prepare myself for how stunning the doctor was, but my memory hadn't prepared me well. In that moment I was more than grateful that Paul wasn't with me and that no one could read my thoughts. Not that I was about to jump on the doctor, but I knew Paul would have noticed my reaction and gotten defensive. It really was weird though, because as attracted as I was to this stranger, my instincts always went haywire around him.

I wonder if he's a serial killer masquerading as a doctor, like on those Lifetime movies.

In that moment the doctor chuckled, and I lifted my head up in his direction. Damn, I hadn't been paying attention, had he said something funny that I wasn't aware of?

"So," Dr. Cullen went on, "I'm assuming you're here to inquire about that medical billing position from a while back."

I smiled, relieved that he did, in fact, remember who I was.

"Yes," I replied. "Are you hiring still?"

I saw the two of them share a quick glance. The same action would have given me whiplash had I recreated it with Paul.

"You are staying then? In the area I mean," Mrs. Cullen said, but in all actuality it sounded closer to a person singing.

"Yes," I smiled, "I actually ended up moving to La Push."

"Right next door," Dr. Cullen replied.

I tried to keep up my smile. I had thought living 'next door' would be deemed a benefit to my potential future employers; but in seeing their hesitation, I wasn't so sure anymore

I glanced past them to look at the time; maybe I should make a quick excuse and save myself the embarrassment of not being hired. My eyes passed the picture of a young girl that I had only recently discovered was now a grown woman.

Nessie.

Spotting an opportunity, I said, "I recently met your daughter, and I must say that I was more than shocked to realize she was no longer a child."

Mrs. Cullen immediately smiled.

"Age is really on your side," I went on, "you two don't look a day older than that photo; especially considering your daughter is now an adult."

"Please," Mrs. Cullen laughed, "Call us by our first names: Edward and Bella. Nessie told us about your introduction, and any friend of our daughter's is a friend of ours."

I smiled, until I realized what Nessie could have potentially told them about our introduction. That day I had been very upset with Paul and Ana, so I hadn't been on my best behavior.

I wanted to groan.

Mr. Cu—Edward, put his arm around his wife stating. "Yes, anyone that scares Jacob into growing up, is a friend of mine."

Bella rolled her eyes, tinkling with laughter, "I bet you were just dying to say that?"

The look they shared, had me questioning whether or not Edward was actually a werewolf, like every other guy around here seemed to be, that had imprinted on Bella. The pure love in the room that radiated off of the look he sent her had me wanting to turn around, whisk Paul away from the fundraiser and make passionate love to him.

Instead I stood awkwardly by, pretending fascination with a picture on the wall.

A waterfall, oh joy.

"Well," said Edward, bringing my attention back to him. "The medical billing position is still open if you're interested."

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from jumping up and down.

"Yes," I replied, "I'm very interested."

"Good," stated Bella, "It'll be great to work with another woman for a change."

I laughed when Edward made a sad face at his wife. She ignored him, grabbing my hand to pull me behind the desk.

I was immediately startled by how frozen her hand was. My eyes flew to her face, she definitely did look pale. Maybe she was sick.

I was about to say something but Edward interrupted me. "Remind me again love, did you put that new shipment of icepacks away?"

Bella immediately dropped my hand. "Oh… yes."

Ice packs huh? That must be why her hands are so cold. I'm such a worry wart, I was starting to turn into Todd.

Great, just what I needed.

Lifting my head, it was hard to argue that she looked healthy because of her white coloring. Oh well, maybe she was just one of those lucky model types with flawlessly pale skin.

I was envious for a minute, then thought of all the times she must get sunburned instead of tanned.

Poor soul.

When I looked up at Edward he was smiling. What for, I had no idea.

He didn't strike me as the loony type.

His lips twitched, pulling my mind in a different direction entirely that had me immediately chanting: Paul, Paul, Paul.

"Here we are," Bella said, pulling out what looked to be a handful of documents. "You're going to have to fill these out and return them by the end of the week. Then you can officially start working as soon as you get settled in."

"It sounds like a plan," I beamed, my mind racing with the exciting news to tell Paul.

After another short conversation and a few goodbyes, I was out of the door, doing a mental cha-cha on my way to the truck.

Paul was going to flip when he found out that I already landed a job within the first week of being here. I couldn't wait to tell him!

In all of my excitement, I decided not to drive over to Kim's. She would notice and ask me a million questions, and I wanted to break the news to Paul first.

It seemed liked hours had passed, before I heard the familiar sound of tires on our gravel driveway. Peeping out of the kitchen window, I could see that it was Claire and her ever faithful Goofy dropping Paul off.

I was slightly disappointed that they weren't stopping for a visit, but the idea of telling Paul privately was just as exciting. I couldn't stop grinning!

I didn't give my sexy man a chance to get half way to the house before I whipped open the door. I probably looked like a crazy woman with all of my exhilaration bubbling up, but I didn't care.

Paul was about five feet away from me, when he suddenly stopped.

The intensity of the stare he sent my way caused a shudder to go down my spine, I had only seen that look one other time.

Before I knew what was going on, Paul was at my side holding my arm in a violent grip, as he shouted Quil's name out. My mind didn't even had time to register the truck backing up before, Paul tugged me closer to his body. I felt like a bug stuck to a fly trap.

"Who's here?" Paul asked me, as shudders started to overtake his entire figure.

"P- Paul," I stuttered, his body language was scaring me. What was going on?

"Answer me!" He said, shaking me in the little room he provided to be between us. Our bodies were now so close together that I had a hard time trying to decipher if it was him or me shaking.

By now Quil had stopped the truck and was pulling Claire behind him, just as closely as Paul was holding me to his.

"Do you smell that?" Paul asked, to which Quil just nodded.

"No one's here," I answered, scared out of my mind for reasons that only the two werewolves in my company seemed to know.

"Stay here," Paul said, gently shoving me into Quil.

"Watch her," he ordered, before disappearing into the house.

"What's going on? Is Paul okay? Why is he shaking?" I asked, in between heartbeats.

"Quil?" Claire's calm voice asked, showing me just how hysterical I was starting to sound.

What was I doing? I'm not the hysterical type, I immediately got a hold of my self.

"Vampire," he said.

And that's all he needed to say to make us both shut up and the hysteria in my mind to bubble up again.

I was anxiously looking at the door, waiting to see Paul come walking outside. Right when I was in the middle of devising a plan to escape Quil, Paul came from around the back of the house.

"The scent is barely traceable inside the house," Paul said roughly, as he glanced in our direction. I needed his touch, just as much as he needed mine, when he pulled me away from Quil.

"Did anyone stop by? They could have been selling something?" he asked me, as if the last part was my cue to say 'oh now I remember'.

Yah right.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "No one's been here since I got here."

Earlier I had been amazed because I hadn't seen him shudder after he returned but I could feel the small quakes in his arm that was around me. Trying to comfort him, I was in the process of running my hand across his face, when he growled.

He growled.

At me.

Capturing my hand in his, he snapped, "Who touched you?"

"Touched me?" I asked.

His grip tightened.

"Paul, that hurts," I said, not really in conviction because I knew he didn't know his own strength.

"WHO TOUCHED YOU!" he growled, starting to shake violently again. His hold on my arm was starting to make me wince.

"PAUL!" Quil hollered, stepping towards us. "Let her go!"

The immense pain in Paul's eyes was overwhelming as at first he took a step a way, then slowly he kept moving back.

"They touched her!" he said, shaking his head, as a new wave of tremors over took his body.

"I know man, calm down. We'll figure it out," Quil said, gently placing himself between my werewolf and me.

It didn't look like Paul was going to calm down, his posture was only getting more tense.

"Paul?" I said his name in worry. He gave me the briefest of looks, but I'll never forget the agony in his eyes.

"Don't let her out of your sight," he ordered, before turning his trembling back and running into the woods.

The silence that proceeded was numbing.

After watching the woods for a few minutes, Quil turned around to face me.

"Tell me everything that happened from the minute you left the fundraiser," he ordered.

I didn't bother arguing or making a sarcastic comment. My only hope, was that by answering all of his questions, then maybe Paul would return sooner.

"I drove about a mile up the road before pulling over –"

"Did someone pull you over?"

"No, I –"

"Did you meet up with anyone?"

"No, I –"

"Then why did you stop?"

My eyes were slits now, Quil was lucky I didn't turn into a werewolf when I was angry.

"Why don't I ask her?" Claire interjected, realizing that I was about to whip some ass; with heated words that is.

"I don't think that's a good idea –"

She didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence. "Start from the beginning Talli, and then when you finish, I'll ask you questions."

I would have smirked, if I wasn't preoccupied with the thought that Paul had went all werewolfy on me again.

"Like I said before, I pulled over halfway down the road to get out a good laugh." Somehow that statement no longer held any humor for me, so I didn't bother to pause for a breath. "I didn't meet or recall seeing anyone, while I was there. Then I drove through Forks and –"

I stopped talking, trying to decide on whether or not I should tell them the news before I told Paul.

"You what?" Quil interrupted.

"Well, I was really hoping I could tell Paul this first," I looked over at Claire. "You know, couple stuff."

She nodded, but I knew without her having to say anything that she was insisting that I tell them. "Well I stopped by the doctor's office to see if they had that job opening still available and they did."

I smiled at Claire, "I got the job."

I was amazed that I could smile, when I was so worried about what was going on with Paul.

"Congratulations," Claire said at the same moment Quil huffed, "Well there we go."

"You have to promise not to tell Paul," I said anxiously. "I'm really hoping to see his reaction."

"Ha!" Quil barked. "You already have honey."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Quil," his imprint said in warning.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Come on, let's go inside."

"Wait," I said to his retreating back. "Don't you want to hear the rest of what happened?"

"Claire, do you want to explain this?"

"Uh, sure," she said, seeming kind of hesitant.

My eyebrows perked up in interest.

"Well, you see –"

I loved Claire to death, but this was the time that Kim usually butted in to blurt out all the important stuff.

"Please Claire," I said, letting her hear just how nervous I was about Paul.

"The Cullen's are vampires, albeit they're good vampires." My jaw dropped as she went on. "That's the scent Paul must have smelled and well, now we know."

I sat down on the ground, stunned.

"She has a sitting fetish, when she's processing things, doesn't she?" I heard Quil ask.

"It's better than screaming," Sam said, from out of nowhere.

I glanced up. He gave me a polite smile, "Paul sent me to check on you."

I would have been much happier had he come himself, instead of sending Sam as his errand boy.

My concern got the best of me, so I asked, "Is he okay?"

His smiled tensed, "You'll see him in a bit, once he cools down."

I was slightly annoyed that Sam didn't answer my question, but the information he did give me, did a lot to calm me; so I didn't complain.

Yet.

"Come on now," Sam said, holding his hand out for me to grab. "Let's get inside."

I reached for his hand, mainly because I felt it would be insulting to ignore him. Meanwhile, a thousand thoughts were running through my head. The most prevalent one; was the Cullens.

Once we were all inside I asked no one in particular, "How are the Cullens good vampires?"

The answer I received came in the form of a tribal legend mixed with a bunch of tid bits from Quil, such as: "veggie bloodsuckers" or "wanna be good guys".

I ignored Quil's two cents for the most part, trying to not let his bias alter my opinion of the friendly beings that I happen to have met and liked twice already.

After Sam finished with the legends, I asked about Nessie and Jacob's role in all this, which brought on a whole new fountain of information.

Wow.

Right when I thought I had this fantasy world all figured out – BAM – there's more.

Although I was happy about the ending, regardless of how twisted it turned out, I was starting to get a major headache from all the drama.

And I was really starting to get irritated that Paul hadn't returned.

And that Quil was chomping on his chips so loudly.

And oh yah… that Paul should have been back by now.

I was steaming; didn't he know that I was just as concerned for his safety as he was for mine?

"To bad about the job though," I heard Quil say with his mouth full of food.

I quirked an eyebrow, asking, "Why?"

"I know you were really looking forward to it."

"So?" I asked, completely oblivious as to what point he was trying to make.

Quil's eyes bugged, "Holy –"

"Quil!" Claire yelled.

"Fudge!" he finished.

Claire smiled.

"Sam, is she serious?" Quil asked, as if I wasn't less than ten feet away from him.

I rolled my eyes, not really caring about where this conversation was going. Quil's logic was beyond me.

"Uh," Sam looked uncertain, before he turned around and asked, "You're not serious about still taking the hospital job with the Cullens, are you?"

I gave them both a weird look, "Of course, why not?"

"Holy –"

"Quil!"

"- Fudge, she is serious," Quil exclaimed.

I shrugged my shoulders. "If they don't harm people, I don't see the problem."

When nobody, meaning Quil, said anything, I thought the issue was settled. It wasn't until it struck me that the room had grown eerily quiet, that I looked up at all of their worried faces.

I only then felt the cool breeze on the back of my neck, being let in from the front door. I swiveled in my seat, glancing in the same direction as everybody else in the room.

Behind me.

"There isn't going to be a problem," Paul said from his intimidating stance by the doorway, "because you're not working with them."