Hello, so a few mistakes have been pointed out totally my fault, I had noticed them after I posted the chapters when it was too late to change, best start proof reading better! Anyway to clear them up, in my head Savannah has BLUE eyes, not sure why I later put green. Jacob, Embry, Quil, Savannah and Kim are seniors, Seth is a junior, Brady and Collin Sophmores. Forgive me, I'm just being a bad writer and getting lazy with my story info. Sorry for the mistakes, don't think badly of me they were honestly me not proof reading! I'm sure I'll probably make more somewhere along the line but as long as you still enjoy it then it's ok ! :D Thank you for letting me know anyway :D

Anyway, thank you for the reviews and keep them coming!

"So Sam was really angry then?" Kim asked as she rummaged on the grocery store shelf for a candy bar. I nodded at her and she gave me a knowing smirk, Sam had been nothing but angry since he busted in on Paul and I having a cupcake batter fight/nearly kiss. I wasn't even sure it was, it was something.

I had thought he would calm down after sleeping it off but I had woken up the next morning to a mere grunt of acknowledgment from him before he stormed out and returned five hours later with an even bigger scowl on his face. Even Emily had steered clear of him. That was a week ago, the mood had lightened and I now got actual words from him but if anybody said one thing wrong then he would flip out. I had said that one thing this morning and ended up having to escape with Kim to Forks to drop and pick up her little sister from ballet.

I hadn't even said anything bad, I had simply asked if Paul was going with them for their suit fittings tomorrow and he flipped out. Not at me but just in general, he had mumbled a series of curses to himself before getting a look from Emily meaning he sulked out to his garage and began banging things around outside.

"He's fallen out with nearly every pack member this week" Kim gave a smirk as she spoke finally finding the candy she wanted and turning to me with a pleased look in her eyes. She was right, he had fought with every single one and most of them were only winding him up on purpose.

"What do you think his issue is? Do you think it's me? Because of the whole Paul in the kitchen thing?" I sounded worried as I followed her up the aisle toward the soda's and watched her grab two cokes.

"No, no it's not about you" She was lying; I could tell she was lying because her voice went high.

"So it is me then, because if it isn't me and something I did then the only other person I can think of is Paul"

Kim stopped and turned to me, her teeth nibbling at her lip. She knew something. "Look Savannah, you haven't done anything wrong from what I can guess is that he probably got protective over you and flipped out at Paul for it"

"Are they fighting? I mean it wasn't even anything to get protective over because it was nothing, he was helping me cleanup"

"What your mouth?"

"Kim" I snapped and her hand flew over her own mouth, she obviously hadn't meant that to be out loud. "We didn't kiss, he's just a friend and Sam got the wrong idea. You know what his problem is don't you? It's me isn't it?"

"Savannah, stop worrying. Sam is not angry at you; he's just stressed out at the minute. I for one am glad you are finally friends with Paul, that fake dislike was beginning to wind me up" She offered another smile and slapped her money down on the counter before walking for the door and out into the drizzling rain of Forks.

"I haven't seen him since then, he probably hates me again" I grumbled following her down the street toward where the dance school lay, he hadn't been round in the week following Sam's outburst. I wasn't sure whether Sam told him to stay away or whether I had done something, I had pushed him too much about telling me about him. I had probably annoyed him again.

"Why don't you go ask him?"

I looked across at Kim like she was stupid, that was the stupidest thing she had ever said. "Oh yeah, I'll just go to his house and ask him if he is still my friend and probably walk in on him screwing Rachel, good idea Kim" She smirked at me but her eyes fell on the road behind me, her cheeks flushing pink as she looked.

"Or you could just cross the road and ask him while he's not screwing Rachel but stood watching us" She sung quietly and my heart sunk to my stomach, he was stood behind me. I slowly turned to look and sure enough on the opposite side of the road he was hanging half way out of his door, his arms stretched in as if grabbing something from the seat but he was looking at us, a slightly puzzled look on his handsome face. I was screwed, he so heard me. "I'm going to go inside, I'll see you in a minute or just text me if you go with Paul"

"I'm not going" I started but she waved to me and walked in through the double glass doors of the dance studios. "home with Paul" My words came out in a pathetic whisper and I turned to see Paul still watching me, I couldn't just walk inside now, I had to go over.

"Hey" I tried smiling normally as I crossed the quiet road toward him but my heart beat was picking up with each step I took.

"Hey" He returned and fully unloaded his hands and a grocery bag from his truck before slamming the door with his hip. "What are you doing in Forks?" He frowned as he looked me up and down; I was in skinny jeans and a t-shirt that was now soaking from the drizzles of rain hitting me.

"I came with Kim to take her sister to dance" I paused for a second before deciding to tell the truth about Sam. "And I was trying to avoid Sam; he's not in the best of moods"

"Is he ever?" Paul quipped and I had to fight the urge to smile, I guess Sam was a fairly moody person but I think it was because he was so serious. "Did you argue?" His own voice turned harsher now and as he stared down at me he looked slightly worried, I shook my head but he knew I was lying and so I nodded.

"Not anything big, he just keeps flying off at things. He only just started speaking to me two days ago"

"Because of me"

"No" I shook my head as he spoke, a sad tone to his voice and I was desperate to change it. "No, because Sam is Sam and he always has a stick up his ass" I offered and my words made the sad look in Paul's eyes turn to amusement as he gave a brief chuckle.

"I guess" He stopped and looked at me, his face screwed up as the rain hit him. He was going to say something but every time he opened his mouth his words faltered. Maybe I should just start it.

"Sorry about what I said to Kim, I didn't realise you were here" Why had I said that? That would bring up Rachel and I did not want to bring her up right now. His jaw clenched tightly together and he looked up at the sky before back down at me, his body giving short breaths like he was calming himself. Maybe I had pissed him off. I took a step back and he noticed, his body slacking from its hard posture.

"Its fine, but just for the record I have nothing to do with her anymore" He spoke like he wanted to understand and believe it, I think I did. He kept saying she was nothing to him so maybe she wasn't, maybe I was just being a stupid girl who hated another one for no reason. "And of course I'm still your friend, it was me that screwed up last week" He went on and I nodded with him, he hadn't screwed up. I had had such a good night with him until Sam got assy.

I crossed my arms tightly across my stomach in an attempt to keep warm as the cold rain continued to splatter against my wet clothes and my eyes glanced at the building behind Paul, it was a big place but it didn't look like a home.

"Why are you in Forks?" I asked while continuing to look for a sign to the place behind him, Pauls arms clutched at the grocery bag tighter and he looked at the blue building before back at me.

"Visiting my dad" He spoke in a sigh.

"He works here?" I guess it could be offices or something, Forks was a long way to travel for work every day.

"Not exactly, I should probably go in" His voice went rigid and his body turned to walk in, he was obviously done talking to me.

My heart sunk again and my body ached in rejection as I turned to walk back to the dance studio I would do anything not to step foot in, obviously Paul wasn't in the mood to talk anymore.

"Wait" His rough voice called as I went to step out into the road and I turned back to him, his white top was see through thanks to the rain and his arm muscles twitched as he clung onto the brown bag. "Did you want to come in with me?" His voice shook; I don't think he was sure about this. I wasn't, I didn't want to meet his dad, what if he hated me?

"Do you want me to come in with you?" I flipped the question around and Paul gave another look at the building behind him before back down at me, his hard frown easing up to a sheepish smile.

"Yes"

That was all I needed to hear, he sounded firm as he said it and my legs automatically carried me toward him, his smile growing only slightly as I strode into step beside him and up the steps toward the sliding glass doors. I didn't know what I was expecting but I wasn't expecting what I saw when we walked in, the room was white and sort of like a waiting room, there was a reception area and then two corridors leading off of the room. Behind the desk sat two ladies, one fairly one and the other old, both of them looked up as we walked in and both of them gave friendly smiles to Paul.

"Hello Paul, go on up" The older one spoke clearly and pressed a button on a key paid in front of her, a door to the right buzzed and swung open.

"Thanks Shirley" Paul called back before walking ahead of me to the door, he held it open for me still not meeting my eyes as we went. He seemed nervous, I kept looking at him but he didn't look back he just strode on down the long white painted corridor with blue carpets. It smelt like disinfectant, almost like a hospital.

As we carried on down the long corridor rooms began popping up on either side, most doors were closed but the doors held names and photographs of men and woman, some of them old some of them not so old. We passed one that was open and I glanced in, it was like a hospital room except more homely, there was an elderly man on a bed and a nurse bent over laughing with him as she tucked blankets over his body. It was a nursing home, his dad worked in a nursing home. I think.

My body kept walking but stopped harshly as I flew into the back of Paul, he had stopped in front of a closed door and gave me another quick glance before twisting the door knob. My eyes fell on the door and my heart thudded painfully as I realised why we were here. On the door lay a photo of a man, a tanned man with shoulder length hair, he looked like Paul. Underneath the picture lay a name, Tommy LaHote.

His dad was living here. He couldn't be, his dad couldn't be that old, the picture didn't look that old. I watched Paul from behind as he walked into the room, it took me a minute but once my chest began thudding properly I followed him in. The room was huge, a bathroom lay to the side and a wardrobe, then there was a bed, a TV and a sofa.

"Hey dad" Paul's voice broke out over the dim noise of the TV, my eyes scanned the room seeing shelves full of pictures, trophies, brightly coloured lava lamps and snow globes, lots of snow globes. I stopped at the foot of the bed and light filled the room as the sound of curtains being drawn pulled me back to look at Paul, he was pulling them back and he set the grocery bag down on a small wooden table before looking at the big armchair that lay directly in front of the bay windows.

"Dad, I brought my friend with me" He talked again and his eyes glanced nervously at me. "This is Savannah, she's Sam Uley's little sister from Chicago, I mentioned her before" He went on and he looked over at me expectantly, he had spoke about me. "This is my dad, Tommy" He gave a tiny shadow of a smile before letting his eyes all back on the big armchair. I followed suit and my gaze met a mans, not an old man, he was maybe in his late fifties but he looked ill. He was slumped in the chair with a blanket covering him, he seemed frail and his face slowly turned to face me but his eyes barely looked me up and down before he looked back to his son. His dad was a patient here, wherever here was.

...

"So" Paul's words came out in a long awkward tone as we walked out of the building and into the cold evening of Forks, it was getting dark but the rain had stopped.

"So" I copied him, my eyes giving a quick scan for Kim's car, she had gone. I had been in their for three hours with Paul, watching as he chatted to his dad who never chatted back. He occasional nodded, or gave a twitch of his mouth that I guess was a smile but he didn't speak. The little man in the chair would look at me from time to time, his sad eyes turning curious as he watched me looking at his snow globes. I imagine he had towered in height when he was healthy, but he wasn't healthy, anybody could see that.

"So" Paul said again and shoved his hands in his pockets walking straight past his car and down the road. I followed him without dispute until we reached a tiny diner in a wooden shack of a building, there were about ten tables inside and most of them full but Paul led me to one in the corner and pulled the inner chair out for me before sitting himself down opposite.

"So" I copied again and leaned forward to look at him, that experience had been different.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken you in without explaining to you" His sad face turned sadder and he passed the sugar shaker between his hands not meeting my look.

"It's fine, I mean I'm slightly confused but it's ok" He nodded at me but said nothing, he just stared at the sugar shaker before turning it upside down and making a mound of sugar on the wooden table. "So, he's your dad" I started and he nodded.

He opened his mouth to say something but the waitress interrupted.

"Just a water please" I spoke first when Paul said nothing; he was gripping the shaker so tightly in his hands I was sure it would break.

"A coffee, thanks" He finally choked out and the waitress walked off again, Paul glanced at me before back at the mound of sugar he had created. His thick index finger shot out and he began making patterns on the table. "He wasn't always like that" He suddenly spoke out as I took a napkin and began ripping it to shreds, I needed something to do. "My dad" I looked up to meet his eye contact and he gave a short sigh.

"He used to be healthy and strong but then one day he wasn't" He stopped as the waitress placed our drinks in front of us and he went about adding five spoonfuls of sugar to his coffee. "It was the day I phased actually, I was supposed to meet him and go fishing but I was late, I was too busy hanging out with my friends at the time and I stood him up, when I got home he was on the floor barely breathing, he was dying" He stopped and added yet another spoonful of sugar. I felt a lump forming in my throat not from tears but how sad Paul was, it was killing me. "Although sometimes I think maybe it would have been better if he had, anything would be better than how he is now"

"Paul" I whispered out barely able to over the closing in my throat and chest, he looked back at me and shook his head.

"My mom met us at the hospital with my sister, when she got there she was so distraught that I started freaking out, then the doctor came out to talk to us said he had had a stroke and then two seizures, he had been alone because I was too busy with my friends. It was my fault and so I ran away, I phased and your brother found me. I went home two weeks later and my dad was in a wheelchair barely able to move his own fingers. My mom was trying to care for him and work in order to pay the bills and my sister, well she hated me for leaving when they needed me"

"Paul you don't have to" I offered as I saw how uncomfortable he was getting, I didn't need to know this, not if it made him so upset. He shook his head at me though.

"We're friends and friends talk right? I'm talking" He seemed to be on autopilot now and his body straightened up in his chair. "After I phased I had to start patrolling more, I was out all the time sorting pack business and the months went on and I just shut everything around me out, I didn't go to college like I had planned, I stayed out most nights and I quit my job here. My mom got sick, she was stressed out and tired from working so hard and taking care of dad, trying to be there for my sister who was in her senior year and I was never around to help, I didn't even notice her getting sick. My sister would try to tell me but I put it down to her being bitter that I was never home or that I didn't hang out with her like I had before because in my mind they were the ones who didn't understand me"

He gripped harder at his coffee mug and the liquid tipped over the side, sloshing against the table. "My mom caught me sneaking home one night after patrol, at the time I paid no attention to how she looked but now I see it, how pale she was and thin, she was sat at the kitchen table and she begged me to go to my sister's graduation and so I did, I went for all of twenty minutes before racing back for patrol. Two days later my mom collapsed, she never came home and that summer my sister packed up and left. We had a blazing row, she blamed me for mom always being alone and struggling while I was out partying with my friends because she had no idea that I was really trying to save her and my family from leeches, she told me she hated me and she grabbed her things and left. My dad got worse and ended up in the home; I come and see him every day, he can't talk but he's all I have left"

He looked back up at me, his usually sparkling eyes held no life to them only sadness and I felt my own tears welling up. I had no idea, I had just thought he was a dick but he wasn't, he had been through things. "Don't look at me like that"

"Like what?" I croaked out as he shook his head and rubbed his forehead with his hands.

"Like I'm the last little puppy in the shop, I don't like pity. I am a big boy, I made my bed and now I'm sleeping in it"

"Paul" I cut him off, my body sitting upright as he spoke. He blamed himself. "You didn't cause any of that stuff; you can't blame yourself for it when you couldn't have changed it"

"You blame yourself" He croaked back and I let my head fall to the side as I watched him questioningly. "I can see it whenever you mention Chicago or your mom; you blame yourself for her crash so why can't I blame myself? It was my fault, I should have been with my dad, I should have helped my mom and I should have supported Millie, my sister. I put the pack before my family and now they are all gone"

My heart thumped horribly and the lump in my throat grew, I did blame myself but only because it was me. She was rushing to get to me because I was so stubborn about her being there. He couldn't stop his dad's stroke; he had a duty to protect this tribe if he had left the pack to care for his dad with his mom then people could have died.

"You're there for your dad now Paul, he can see that and I can see that he loves you being there. Paul, your mom wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself for what happened and Millie will come around eventually" I had no idea what to say, he looked so upset.

"And neither would your mom" He copied me, a shadow of a smile lighting his face. I guess we did have common ground.

"It gets easier right?" I sighed out. It had too, losing a parent sucked.

"Yes" Paul lied and I looked up at him, he smiled a little more and shrugged. "No, it just gets easier to hide it from other people. It's been a year since my mom died and it still feels like yesterday I got the phone call" He breathed out and my heart sunk again. I hated losing people. He lifted the sugar up and poured more into his coffee.

"Please stop putting sugar in your coffee" I piped up as he kept it pouring in, which was not healthy.

He gave a little smirk and pushed the mug away. "I don't even want this coffee, I don't even drink coffee. You ready? I should get you home before Sam has another bitch fit" He pushed himself up from the table and just like that the sadness in his eyes vanished and he was back to guarded, he had learned to build walls and he did it so well that had I not seen him break a second ago I would swear he was fine. I stood up and followed him out into the darkening evening, the rain had picked up again and I fell into step beside him as we walked toward his car.

"Are you and Sam arguing because of me?" I asked as he sped through the bendy roads toward La Push, the trees whizzed by and the truck was filled only by the soft music from the old radio. Paul glanced at me, his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter before he shifted in his seat.

"No, we are arguing because of me"

"Because of last week and you being at the house with me?" I yawned as I asked and he smiled, whether it was from the memory of last week or because when I yawn I squeak I wasn't sure.

"Uhh no, more because I'm pissing him off with how difficult I can be"

"You can be difficult" I yawned again and curled up against the cold door, another smile hit Paul's face and I looked back at the window. I was tired as hell.

"Sometimes, but only when I need to be"

"Why do you need to be difficult now?"

The car sped up and Paul's body moved again. "Because I'm trying to keep someone else that I care about from being hurt by me, I'm not a good person to be around Savannah" He was being serious and I tried to turn to face him, my body was too heavy though and so I stayed resting against the window.

"You're wrong, you are a good person you've just had bad things happen to you. And if the person you care so much about cares about you too then no matter how badly you screw up, they will forgive you" I shivered as I spoke and my teeth chattered together, a hand came across and pulled on mine and as I eyes began drooping shut I felt myself being bulled against Paul's body as he drove, I would have blushed or had butterflies but my body was too tired and so all I could do was smile as his warmth hit my damp clothes.

"I hope so" He whispered as the car sped up again, I could have sworn I felt something press against the top of my head as if in a kiss but by the time I registered the feeling there it was gone and the darkness was passing over my mind until I drifted into a sleep that my cold body craved, today had been a long day.