I'm not going to apologize for the late update. Real Life is suckety right now and from computer problems and moving from Seattle to Florida; I am really stressed out. So I have decided I am not going to feel pressure about posting my FF. They are my one little slice of enjoyment and I don't ever want to turn them into something dreaded. So, here's an update. PLEASE leave me a little review if you have a second. I'm incredibly depressed and nothing takes my mind from my troubles like a review does. Thank you!
It was nice to wake up with a little person next to you, Tiffany thought as she came full awake. It had been a good nine years since Embry had slept in her bed with her and she kind of missed it as a mother. Hannah was still asleep snuggled up against her side and Tiffany couldn't help but run a hand over her hair and smile when the little girl stretched and turned over. She seemed to try and hang on to sleep desperately and it amused Tiffany greatly. Embry was the same way. He loved to sleep and resisted waking up with every fiber of his being.
As she thought of her son, the events of yesterday flooded the forefront of her mind and she froze as she realized that everything she thought she knew had been turned upside on it's head. Her son was a true-to-life shape-shifter who turned into a giant wolf. How was that even possible? She looked at the beautiful little girl curled up on her bed and shuddered for an instant. She had seen her body literally burst into a white wolf on the backseat of her Toyota. It was enough to send someone to a mental hospital but Tiffany was made of sterner stuff. No matter what anyone thought of her, she had more back bone than anyone gave her credit for.
She smiled now as she looked at Hannah. She remembered her as a baby and tiny child when her mother came to visit on the reservation. She was sure no one knew, but Kaiya Clearwater was one of the only people she had ever considered a close friend and she was definitely the only person Tiffany trusted completely. Before Kaiya had gotten married, she had made it a mission to befriend Tiffany who was pregnant with Embry at the time. She had helped Tiffany buy everything she would need for her baby and was just generally a major support system bundled into one effervescent person.
When she came to reservation with her baby a few years later, she had made a point to visit Tiffany. Embry had been almost two and Johannah three months and he had loved the little dark haired baby so much. In fact, she had pictures of him holding her and if she wasn't mistaken, there was a photo of him kissing baby Johannah on the face. She smiled now as she thought of it. She would have to dig it out and show it to him. With his new-found fascination with the girl, he would probably be embarrassed. But that was a perk of being a parent right?
It was still very early in the morning and Tiffany stretched before turning over onto her stomach and getting comfortable. She didn't have to go into work until noon and she figured after the stressful day yesterday, a few more hours of sleep would do her good. Maybe she would make the kids breakfast before she left. They were both obsessed with food; she was sure they would love it. It must have something to do with exploding into a giant dog, the need for massive quantities of food.
No matter how weirded out she was by the fact that her son turned into a giant dog, she was still relieved that he wasn't into drugs or anything illegal. Her thoughts were cut off when she felt a hot hand on her back. She suddenly felt very sleepy and didn't fight the feeling as it took her under.
"Embry." He felt a touch on his face and his wolf dragged him from sleep. "Embry," Hannah whispered and he bolted upright in bed.
"Huh? Wha?" He looked at her in alarm. "Are you okay?"
She nodded at him with wide eyes and wrinkled her nose. "I'm hungry." He smiled in relief when his mind processed that she was unharmed and was just in need of food.
"Oh," he said dumbly, still fuzzy from his deep, dream filled sleep. "Um, I'll make you breakfast." She smiled and nodded.
"Okay." Her voice was sweet and quiet and he couldn't help but smile stupidly at her. She just stood looking at him and he felt his face heat up. He luckily had a cotton sheet covering his waist and he seriously reevaluated sleeping in the raw when Hannah was in the house.
"Um, Hannah? I need to get dressed before I make you food." Her eyes went round again and her mouth matched them. He thought that she looked so utterly adorable as she turned and scuttled out of the room. He stretched and then pulled out a clean pair of shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt.
Hannah was waiting in the hall, her hands held in front of her as she stood looking at his door. She was dressed in a little t-shirt and shorts and her hair was mussed around her face. When he opened the door and stepped out of his room, she slipped her hand into his and smiled up at him.
"What do we get to eat?" She asked eagerly. He couldn't believe how much she loved food. He thought he and his wolf had major anxiety issues over food, but she was just plain obsessed with it. He liked that.
"Well, I guess whatever you want. I know how to cook a whole bunch of stuff." She beamed at him, and he realized it was pride of him in her eyes.
"Can you make waffles?"
He grinned back at her. "Oh yeah."
"Two more," Hannah said and Embry poured more batter into the waffle maker. He never truly appreciated his mother's love of kitchen gadgetry until he became a ravenous wolf. She had an industrial Belgian waffle maker and he was currently putting it to good use to feed Hannah and himself. He also had her cast iron griddle covering two of the burners and was in the process of frying the second batch of bacon and eggs.
He and Hannah had already eaten two waffles each and a mountain of bacon and eggs and he was working on a second round of food for the both of them while she ate a third waffle. He couldn't believe that in the span of a few short days, he wouldn't even care about his own hunger until he was sure that Hannah was taken care of.
"Is your mom okay?" She asked from where she sat at the kitchen counter. Embry shrugged but couldn't help smiling when he looked at Hannah.
"She's probably freaked out still but my mom's a lot tougher than people give her credit for." His mom was still sleeping and Embry thought it was best to let her as long as she needed to. Yesterday had been pretty rough on her and she had to work today. He figured he would make her breakfast when she woke up. He had to give her credit for doing a pretty good job raising him. He had never appreciated her teaching him to cook either until he had Hannah to use it on and now as he stood wielding a spatula, he felt lucky that his mom had invested a lot into him as a child and adolescent.
"I didn't mean to," Hannah said quietly and he snapped out of his reverie to stare at her. She was looking morosely at her plate, her waffle abandoned as she looked close to tears. Panic instantly seized him as he felt her distress.
"What?" He said alarmed. "What's wrong?" Oh, hell. He wasn't paying attention to her! What had she said while his mind was drifting? Hannah looked at him with her pretty face puckered into a worried frown.
"I didn't mean to go back to a dog in her car. They scared me so bad and I was trying to wait to see you but I couldn't." He instantly dropped the spatula and turned off the stove as he circled around to where she was sitting. He lifted her easily into his arms and she hugged him back as fiercely as he did her.
"Of course you didn't," he soothed her. "I know that and so does mom. It's okay," he brushed his hand down her back and she pressed her cheek to his.
"So she's not mad?" she asked in a small voice and he tugged her back to look in her green eyes.
"No, she's not mad. Just give her a few days to process everything and she'll be fine." Hannah nodded and then shocked him by touching her nose to his and rubbing it affectionately like wolves would.
"The waffle's burning," she said and he turned to look at the smoking appliance with her still in his arms.
"Oh shit!" he said and she giggled. He set her hurriedly on the counter and picked the blackened waffle out with his bare fingers before wiping out the iron and refilling it with batter. "Hey," he said playfully when he realized she was eating the half-crisped bacon off the griddle. She grinned with her little nose scrunched up. Her smile fell and her eyes widened suddenly as she looked at something over his shoulder and he turned to see what she was staring at.
"Hi, mom," Embry greeted his mother as she stood in the door of the kitchen looking at him and Hannah. She shook her head a little and smiled faintly.
"Hey, I see I don't have to make you two breakfast," she said with a touch of humor in her voice. Hannah was finishing the bacon strip in her greasy fingers and smiled bashfully. His mom crossed the kitchen and took out a mug, pouring herself coffee. She stood next to where Hannah was sitting on the counter still and touched a hand to the girl's head.
"Did we wake you up?" Embry watched the two of them in a really good mood as Hannah asked this politely.
"No. My alarm did." His mom sighed. "Some people have to go to work." His antennae was up instantly and Embry let a growl rumble quietly in his chest.
"Is that prick Dennis bugging you still?" His mom smacked his arm lightly.
"Embry!" She looked over at Hannah and he rolled his eyes. "And no; he's not bugging me anymore. I think he's too scared to cross you."
That made him smile. He wasn't eighteen yet and he had men in positions of responsibility walking straight in fear of him. Dennis Morrow, the Forks hospital administrator had harassed his mom for months before Embry had confronted him in the hospital car park. It pleased him that his quietly delivered words had scared the older man into leaving his mother alone.
"Want some breakfast?" he asked and Tiffany smiled.
"Sure," she answered and he went to work, taking out the fresh waffle and putting in another. He scraped the ruined eggs off the griddle and turned it back on. Within minutes he had her breakfast ready and she gave him a one arm hug as she accepted it. She sat at the island and Hannah slid off the counter to go back to her seat next to his mom.
"Embry cooks really good," she said and his mom smiled.
"He does, doesn't he?" she answered with more than a little pride in her voice. He reloaded a plate for Hannah and then made himself a second mammoth portion. He stood at the counter eating with them, all three in a jovial mood but he felt a tiny undercurrent of tension from his mom. She was freaked out he knew, but like always, she was overcoming her own personal feelings and being what others needed her to be.
"I'm supposed to help Emily today," Hannah said quietly when she was finished eating. She looked at him with a shy look. "Can you take me there later?"
He smiled what Seth called the stupid-imprint-grin and nodded. "Of course. We can go home first if you want to get anything and then go to Emily's."
"Okay." She turned and looked at his mom. "Can I still come see you sometimes?" His mom's fork clattered to her plate and she swiveled on her stool to reach out to Hannah.
"Of course you can!" She pulled the girl to her and squeezed her in a hug. "You can come here whenever you want. I was just a little freaked out yesterday." She smiled softly and touched Hannah's face. "I'll be okay, just give me a few days to process it and I'll be okay."
Hannah smiled hesitantly and hugged his mom around the neck again. "I'm sorry I turned into a dog in your car."
His mom actually chuckled. "It's alright, just don't make a habit of it. I don't want to have to worry about my seats."
Embry cleaned up the kitchen with Hannah helping him some, while his mom got ready for work. She came down the hall in her scrubs and smiled at them both, giving Embry a hug and Hannah a kiss on the head.
"You two be good," she said.
"Of course. I'm taking her over to Emily's now." Tiffany picked up her purse and made sure her keys, phone and wallet were inside.
"Why don't I just drop you off on my way?" They all left the house together and the two of them got dropped at Sam and Emily's. Embry had called Seth and Hannah had gotten on the phone to tell him what she wanted him to bring her from their house when he came for lunch. She was pressed close to Embry's side as they entered Emily's house who smiled at Hannah. The young girl looked around to see who all was there. As it turned out, Emily was alone and Hannah relaxed with a little smile.
It was several hours until lunch and he figured he should catch up with the pack and find out what was going on. He had been solely focused on Hannah and had hardly given a thought about normal life.
"Embry." He looked down at her pretty face when she called his name. "I'll see you at lunch, okay?" she said and blinked slowly. He sighed as he felt a feeling of everything being right in the world. "I'm gonna be with Emily."
He nodded and crouched down. "If you need me, just call my phone and I'll come back, okay?" She grinned with a hand on his cheek.
"Don't worry about me." She pushed him out the door with her tiny little hand and he only moved because she wanted him to.