29. Goes away in the end R

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.


Of course Emily had the baby party organised and half the fucking reservation invited before he can say anything about it. She spent money they didn't have on pink and blue balloons and other stupid baby themed decorations. He told her to wait. He told her she might miscarry or something and she looked at him like he was insane. He argued it was common in the first trimester for first time pregnancies.

"I am your perfect mate… chosen for you by the gods," she reminded him for about the thousandth time. "Surely the gods would make sure that nothing would happen to our baby?"

He bit his tongue on the retort that it actually had to exist before the gods could protect anything. He half doesn't want to check out the test. He studied it and it looked like a positive result, but as Paul had suggested, she just needed to get a pregnant woman to piss on it for her. But it smelt like her piss, not someone else's. He had suggested to Emily that they should go to the doctor to confirm but she waved him away with excuses.

She was his imprint; he couldn't bring himself to accuse her, without some kind of proof. And to do that, he needed to take her to a doctor or make her do another test. And so far, he was having no luck managing to get her to do either. He wished he could just pick her up and drag her to the doctor's, but if she ordered him not to, he couldn't do it.

He tried to avoid having sex with her. He literally ran away. Phased and ran. There was no patrol. He didn't care. He tried to keep a lid on his thoughts. All the pack members had their own shit to deal with; they didn't need to deal with his as well. And he was so used to dealing with things by himself.

One afternoon about two weeks after her joyful announcement he was using their home computer. He's not very computer savvy but occasionally he has to use one to order supplies, and do stuff for the construction business. He typed some words into a search engine and got something completely unrelated and unexpected. Christ, everything was on the internet.

And then he had a thought. He thought he ought to check if it was possible for a store bought pregnancy test to return the wrong result; a false positive. He's not accusing her of faking it, he convinced himself. He just wanted to know if it was possible. Maybe she didn't make a mistake, maybe the test did? He knew in the back of his mind, that he was clutching at straws.

He didn't know what to search for, but he typed in 'false positive pregnancy test'. It came up in the search list. A number of options appeared. Most of which suggested that it was extremely rare but that it was possible. But then further down the page one entry caught his eye.

The link was a different colour; it had been read before on this computer.

'This will show you how to make a pregnancy test positive for whatever reason you would like,' the header said happily. He felt sick to his stomach. With a growing sense of dread he clicked on the link to a wiki how page, titled 'make a positive pregnancy test'.

The page opened. He opened the article and it showed a little video on how to break open a pregnancy test of a particular brand and add a line with a particular kind of pen. Or to draw an extra line and make the negative a positive and then glue it back together. Lots of warnings about how this is funny for an April fool's joke.

He could think of nothing less funny. He sat there frozen for some time.

wikihow(dot)com/Make-a-Positive-Pregnancy-Test

[AN: personally I cannot see any way a false pregnancy test would be a funny joke.]

He shut the page down. He didn't bother to clear the history folder. She didn't, if he did it now, she would know he had found it. She was so sure of herself she didn't even bother hiding her tracks. And using their home computer? That was dumb.

Paul was smarter. She should have got a pregnant friend to do the test for her. No glue reside, no history folder on the computer. She was dumb or maybe not; he could smell the difference if she got someone else to piss on it for her.

Smell. She doesn't smell different Shadow pointed out quietly. He has been almost silent for days. Sam kind of missed him.

No she doesn't, he agreed.

Where's the test? He needed to check the test. He found it in the bottom drawer of the bathroom vanity. It's the same brand as one in the little video. A coincidence? He didn't think so. He sniffed at it. He can smell her urine and now he can smell the scent of glue. They had sex the night before; he had succumbed. He knew it was a bad idea, but the pain eased when they were close together and he really couldn't deny her. And he just couldn't believe that she could be lying to him. Not like he believed it now. Why would she even look up a video like that? There was no other reason to look it up.

It's not her fertile days, Shadow added. She can't get pregnant this week.

He was gutted. He knew she had been manipulative in the past; but this? This was too much.

Confirm, muttered Shadow. Scent.

Sam nodded to himself. Shadow was right; she should smell different if she was pregnant. The way women on birth control smelled to him. Shadow trusted his nose and so did Sam. He stopped beating himself up for fucking her, it didn't help the situation. He needed confirmation.

He waited for her to get home and he hugged her; shoved his nose into the space behind her ear. She almost purred with contentment and happiness. She didn't smell any different. And he knew she was lying to him.

He just dropped his arms and walked away from her.

He needed to run. He needed to think. Away from her.

She called after him, but he was gone. Gone before she could get it together to order him back.

He ran for hours in wolf form. What can he do? He has to break the imprint. He knew his pack will support him, but the Elders? He needed to harass old Quil; he needed to know if it was possible to break an imprint. And sooner rather than later. He would not touch her again. He did not give a fuck how much pain it caused him.

She had betrayed him; her imprint. She had lied and cheated. She had not done anything right by him and now she had really broken his heart.

Then… Bella Bella Bella… Shadow added intently.

She's with Paul. She's happy. You want her to be happy don't you?

No answer from Shadow on that one.

He had to break the imprint.

It's the only solution. He had done everything else first for them. He can do this too. First to phase, first to imprint, first to lead, first for everything.

First to dump her lying ass.

He will not fuck her again; even if she ordered him to. So he didn't want to go home. Where could he go?

He found himself knocking on Jake's door at some crazy hour of the morning. The party is at lunch time tomorrow. Did he let her hang herself? Make her the laughing stock of the rez? He didn't like to do that. She was still his imprint and he was hardwired to protect her from harm; even self inflicted harm.

Jake opened the door; naked, reeking of sex and Leah and rubbing at his eyes. He just waved at the couch. Sam slept there. He would talk to Billy in the morning.

In the morning Leah gave him a sympathetic hug and headed out. He laid it all out for Billy and Jake backed him up. Billy had no idea any of this was happening.

"Ask any of the pack if you want confirmation," Sam suggested.

"I believe you, Sam. Why didn't you come to me before?" Billy asked.

"I am not used to asking for help, Billy. I do things by myself; I work it out. And she is my imprint. The council is all 'imprinting is the best thing to ever happen to you' … 'it's a long held tradition from the time of Taha Aki' … blah blah…" Sam sounded as bitter as he obviously felt. Jake and Billy exchanged a look.

"That's Old Quil's idea. I am not so sure…Quil with a child seems wrong to me; even if she is his imprint. It has too many issues; should he wait for her? What if she never sees him as a true partner?" Billy added.

Sam spoke, "I asked old Quil to research how to break an imprint. He said he had to do a spirit quest and couldn't say when he'd get back to me. Originally I asked for Quil. He's happy, but I agree that it seems wrong. But if she is faking a pregnancy…"

"At least she isn't cheating on you…" Jake suggested. "Imagine? That might take years to work out. When your kid didn't phase."

Sam actually paused at that thought; Christ, that would be an even bigger mess. Thank god she was not that smart.

I'd know, put in Shadow. He would too; scent.

Billy looked amused. "And you believed Old Quil's reasons for the delay?" he pointed out.

"Fuck!" Sam swore. "Sneaky old…" he bit his lip before he insulted an Elder of the tribe.

"Quil and Claire is a big ick factor," said Jake. "We see inside his head; he's not a sicko, he doesn't think of her like that. I am not sure if it is imprinting itself… I mean Leah and I, are fine… I think it's just Emily."

"She has twisted it somehow," suggested Sam.

"Dad, she orders him to do stuff," Jake added.

Billy raised an eyebrow.

Sam looked embarrassed. "I can't deny her…" Sam muttered. "… it physically hurts… if it came to choosing between her or the pack, I might do the right thing, but if she ordered me to do the opposite I would hesitate, and that hesitation may be long enough for …" He didn't know what to say. "I'm a fucking doormat and I hate it."

Billy just nodded.

"If he has to take the time to argue with her, a vampire could have torn apart the tribe," Jake pointed out.

Billy was silent. He was studying Sam.

"She's been stirring up the gossips too," Jake added. "About Joshua Uley and Embry's father and about Bella dating Paul. She somehow got in with the bitches at school and they have been making Bella's life hard at High School as well. They've been spreading rumours about Paul. He's good now… but it doesn't take much for people to believe otherwise… you know… it is Paul."

Sam looked incensed at that. He didn't know that. Paul had never mentioned it either.

Jake shrugged at Sam's look. "None of the rumours were true; Bella knew that. And you couldn't have done anything about it, Sam. Bella said she could look after herself."

"Ahhh," said Billy. "I wondered why the gossip had started up now."

Billy gave Sam his trademark x-ray stare.

Sam blinked.

"Why do you want to break the imprint, Sam? Other than her behaviour."

"He's in love with Bella," said Jake easily.

Billy almost rolled his eyes. "Isn't everyone?" he commented.

"That's actually Paul's theory," Jake laughed.

"Excuse me?" asked Billy.

"Oh, Paul thinks that the pack follow the Alpha's lead. And that therefore, because Sam and I both…" he paused and substituted a word. "…care for her, so does the whole pack."

"Huh," said Billy. "It might make some sense. But is the risk enough to break your imprint for?" he asked Sam.

"I think she loves him," stated Jake. "And his wolf is obsessed with her… has been since that night he found her in the forest."

"Jacob!" Sam whined.

"Oh come on Sam," Jake argued. "If you were free of Emily, she would never have been with Paul in the first place. You would have claimed her for yourself. Heck, you would have fought me for her!"

"But she is with Paul and she seems happy." It almost killed Sam to say it.

"Sam… don't attack me… but Emily has not been right as your imprint, not from the very first day. She has to go. This is just the last straw. Whether Bella is free or not; you need to break the imprint." Jake didn't say that he should have done it months ago; but Sam could tell that was what he was thinking. If he had been free before Bella and Paul started dating…

He sighed. He couldn't think like that. He had done what he thought was the right thing at the time. They were fighting the red headed vampire bitch then, breaking his imprint wasn't his highest priority right then. Sam Uley had never been known to shirk responsibility.

Billy chuckled. "Let me order old Quil to hurry up his research. You will have to go back and not give anything away to Emily. Can you do that, Sam?"

Sam nodded.

Billy turned to wheel away. "Oh," he called over his shoulder. "Do not tell old Quil your theory about the Alpha feelings influencing the whole pack. He does not need to know that."

"No," Sam uttered a weak laugh. "He's a terrible gossip himself, but at least he doesn't share all kinds of secret information." Sam glared at Jacob pointedly, but he cheerfully ignored him.

"More coffee, Sam?" Jake offered.

FF_2154210_ - 19/10/2011 02:16:00 AM