Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content in this fic is mine! The poll is still open on whether Christine will phase or not so get your votes in, I can't guarantee whether or not the poll results will end up being what actually happens but you guys know that I do put stock in your opinions, so let me know how you feel.

**Short time-skip BPOV**

As soon as we walk into the house I excuse myself to go into the kitchen and turn on the coffee maker before I start getting the food out of the fridge. I had bought a bunch of premade food, sandwiches and some salads and other deli food because even though the morning sickness had finally started to go away, I just couldn't shake how tired I'd been.

I start setting the sandwiches out on platters and I'm almost done with that when Christine comes into the kitchen. She's a beautiful girl tall and lithe with a pretty face, long black hair, the same piercing green eyes as Joshua and Embry, and the same nose and high cheekbones they all share.

I smile at her welcomingly, and she seems shy as she asks, "Can I help with anything Bella? You shouldn't be doing anything too strenuous."

I laugh a little and reply, "You can help me pretend I actually cooked today if you'd like! I brought a bunch of premade food from the store yesterday; I'm just so tired lately. Billy told us that you're an OB/GYN?"

She nods as she comes into the room fully and starts putting food out on trays and in bowls. She looks me over quickly and asks, "So how far along are you?"

I smile as I answer, "11 weeks. The nausea is just starting to fade off a little."

As I say that she opens a container of tuna salad and the smell wafts over, my stomach turns and I choke out, "Spoke too soon, excuse me!"

I hurry to the bathroom and lean over the toilet heaving up the remains of my breakfast, as Sam comes in behind me and gathers my hair up as he strokes my back comfortingly. I finish and lean back on my heels a little as I take a deep breath. Sam looks a little worried as he says, "I thought we were done with this?"

I laugh a little and say, "I guess I'm not that lucky yet. It's normal baby, I just found a new trigger is all."

Charlie pokes his head in and asks, "Bella, you okay?"

I nod and give him a thumbs up, and he smiles and heads back out. I rinse my mouth out quickly and Sam and I head back out to the kitchen. Taking a tentative breath as I step through the door Christine smiles at me as she says, "Don't worry, I got rid of the offending tuna salad."

I smile back at her and reply, "Oh, thank goodness! I'm kind of disappointed, I really was looking forward to being done with the puking!"

She nods and says, "It'll fade off soon enough. I'm starting at the clinic on Monday, when is your next appointment?"

Yawning a little, I say, "excuse me, the nausea faded some but the fatigue is still going strong. My next appointment is March 10th. You're going to be my doctor right?"

She nods and then asks, "I had heard that you didn't want to see the old PA anymore but why couldn't you have seen another doctor there? Not that I don't want to see you as a patient I just wondered what the reason was."

I place my hand on her arm and she gasps, "You're running a fever Bella, I don't have my bag with me, I can go get it..."

I smile as I break in, "I'm not sick, really. I know you probably haven't had a chance to shake Sam or Em's hand but if you did you'd probably think they were dying, they run 10 degrees hotter than normal humans. I've been marked, Sam did it the night we got engaged, and one of the things that changed was my body temperature. It's not that bad, only about 3 degrees but if I went to a normal doctor who had no idea about this supernatural world that we live in, they would want to put me in the hospital to monitor the baby and me."

Christine nods at me and then tilts her head and asks, "marked?"

Oh, I should've realized she wouldn't know. I feel my face color a little as I answer, "Well, imprinting is how the wolf finds his soul mate, it's like every thing that connects them to earth fades away and the only thing that matters is the imprint. The wolf side of them has this urge to claim the imprint, marking is how they do that."

I pull my hair back and she gasps as she sees my mark for the first time. I admit it's strange to look at if you're not expecting it, it literally looks like a wolf sunk his jaws into my neck and then released, it's a series of perfectly shaped teeth marks. The scar tissue is hot to the touch from where he healed it with his saliva, and I know that to anyone outside of our circle it probably looks horrible.

She's just staring at it in shock and I can see her shaking minutely as she angrily chokes out, "Sam did that?"

I start to back up wrapping my arms protectively over my abdomen when Sam and Embry come rushing in. They stand in front of me studying her and finally Sam says, "I think it's okay, she's only shaking a little, she was very new to the change, I think she may actually have escaped it. We'll need to still do the monitoring I recommended to know for sure though."

Christine grits out through her teeth, "How can you both just stand there? Look at her neck! You savaged her, Sam! Do you beat her too?"

I break in, "No! He didn't! Listen, I know that this whole thing must be very confusing and I know it doesn't make sense because you've never been in my position but Sam has NEVER hurt me in ANY way! The wolf needed to claim me; quite honestly it didn't hurt at all! I honestly don't remember being in any pain. I know that it looks ugly, but to those of us who know and understand what it means, it's beautiful. It's also the only way that my child and I would be considered as part of the tribe. I assure you, Sam has never, and would NEVER hurt me!"

Sam puts his arm around my shoulder as he brings me close to him and says to Christine, "I love Bella, Christine. I would never hurt her. If you change you will understand, I'm not sure though. A female wolf is uncharted territory, there's no knowing if you would imprint, no knowing what it would do to your body. The change stops our aging. What that means for a woman, we can't be sure."

She takes a deep breath as she catches something that he's not saying and she asks, "If I stop aging that essentially means I freeze physically, which means I won't have a cycle. I wouldn't be able to have children?"

Sam looks away as he says; "We're not sure what will happen to you in that department. When a wolf finds his imprint he slowly starts to age and her aging if she is younger first speeds up slightly, and then slows down dramatically. How old do you think Bella is, Christine?"

Christine looks me over and says, "22, maybe 23? Somewhere in there."

I shake my head and say, "I only turned 18 in September, just before I met Sam. I'm a senior in high school."

Her eyes widen and she looks at Sam and says, "Dad says you're younger than me. 21?"

Sam nods and she says, "You look like you could pass for 27 or 28 at least. So the imprint, it put her age ahead so that she'd be closer chronologically to you? It didn't stop her aging completely though obviously because she's pregnant."

Sam nods again and says, "Yes well, the mark doesn't make her a wolf. The mark is what starts the wolf aging again though, but very slowly. When and if we are able to stop phasing our aging will start up at a normal human pace again."

She thinks for a minute, "So if I do change, I'll stop aging until I find my imprint? Then if I mark my imprint I'll start to age again?"

Sam nods, "That is our assumption. Though as a female we're not sure if you WOULD imprint. In which case you would start to age again when you were able to control your phase enough to stop phasing altogether. It's very difficult; the wolf makes you edgy and irritable when you don't let it out enough and then you chance phasing in an uncontrolled setting. We could hear you getting upset; that's why we came in here. If you had phased and Bella had been close to you, it would have been catastrophic. She and the baby likely would have died, and then I would have died."

She asks, "What? Why would you have died? I mean I understand what you're saying about Bella and the baby, and I'm sure that if something happened to them it would destroy you, but why would you die? Unless you're saying you would commit suicide."

Sam just takes a deep breath and explains calmly, "You don't understand. The imprint is what holds us to this earth; it's what calms us, what keeps us centered. The love that we have for our imprints, it's a force greater than gravity. If an imprint is killed, her wolf follows her to the afterlife. If Bella were to die, it would literally be like someone ripped my beating heart out of my chest, and I would die."

She looks at the way that Sam is holding me and I see that it clicks. She asks the question that I have been holding onto for a while myself, "What about the baby? What if God forbid, Bella died in childbirth, you would still die? What about the child?"

Sam thinks for a moment and says, "Honestly, I'm not sure, I think that may be the one exception though. The wolf is obviously very protective of his children, I think very young children would be the only thing that could hold him to this earth if his mate were to die."

She nods and I go back to putting the food out. I get it all set up on the table and Sam and I head to the living room. My dad and Joshua are united in their yelling at the screen watching a hockey game. I clear my throat and my Dad looks over as he asks, "What's up Bells?"

I smile at him as I reply, "Lunch is ready."

Joshua gets up from Sam's recliner and gestures to it as he says, "Why don't you sit down here Bella, I can tell you're tired. I'll make you a plate."

I yawn even as I try to tell him I'm not tired. Laughing I concede, "Thank you, I would really appreciate that."

He smiles at me and it's Sam's smile, familiar but different. Dad smiles at me and says, "You make sure you're not overdoing it Bella. That's our grandson you're carrying!"

I groan as I slap my hand to my forehead and say, "Not you too, Dad! You know that none of us know for sure that it's a boy! Just because Sam assumes that Bean is a boy, doesn't mean you guys have to hop on the bandwagon!"

Charlie snickers and says, "I dunno Bella, Sam's pretty sure that it's going to be a boy. He says he can feel it."

I sigh as I reply, "I'm sure he feels what he feels, I'm not saying he doesn't, I just don't want you guys to get your hopes up and then be disappointed if your grandson turns out to be a granddaughter."

Dad scoffs, "Bella I will be happy either way, because girl or boy, that baby will be coming out fishing with Daddy, Billy, Uncle Embry, and Grandpa just as soon as he or she can hold a pole. Can I get you a drink Bells?"

I ask him for a water and he goes in to get it as Embry and Josh come out with plates of their own and Josh says, "I tried to make you a plate and your husband took over, said he wanted to make sure you didn't get anything that might trigger your morning sickness. I defer to his knowledge because honestly the only pregnancy I was around for was when Samantha was pregnant with Sam and even then I was working a lot, so I was pretty useless."

I chuckle a little at that and say, "Sam's been there for everything so far, I couldn't ask for someone better. All this supernatural stuff aside, Sam is the best man I could ever have asked for."

Joshua looks uncomfortable as he says, "I'm glad that he's grown to be a good man, that he didn't make my mistakes."

Sam saves the awkward moment when he comes in with a plate for me, as well as one for himself. He sits down on the sofa near me, handing me my plate, as he asks Joshua, "So, you guys bought that little house that was for sale over by the beach right?"

Josh nods and replies, "Yeah, it's just the two of us for right now, and when your sister finds what she's meant for down here it'll be just me, so that little place was just right. What are your plans for this place? You guys will probably want to have more than just the one child, right?"

We nod and Sam answers, "I always assumed we would just add on here when the time came."

Josh sighs and he sounds wistful when he says, "Your mother and I always thought we'd add on here when we had more children. We actually talked about buying that vacant lot next door."

Sam shrugs, and his voice is awkward as he says, "We've talked a little about that. Obviously Bella has a lot going on right now with finishing school, being pregnant, and everything she does with our families. We're a little overwhelmed to think about it I guess, converting the first guest room into a nursery is about all we can think about right now."

Christine comes in and sits on the couch with Embry following close behind her. My dad comes in and hands me a bottle of water as he says, "I gotta get going for my shift Bells, thanks for the food baby-girl."

He gives me a kiss on the cheek and I get up and walk him over to the door. I open it and see that it's flurrying a little. Turning to Sam I say, "I guess you were wrong about the snow babe, it's barely flurrying out there."

He shrugs and says, "I guess you and the weather man were right. That's good though, you wont be stuck in the house."

Joshua speaks up, "So, you guys are really close with Bella's dad?"

Smiling as I cross to the recliner and sit back down, I answer, "My mom was never much of a mother, she's very self-involved, but my Dad more than makes up for her. I'm very lucky to have him."

Sam nods and says, "Charlie has been very good to me in the time that I've known him. We go fishing every weekend, weather permitting, Embry comes too."

He looks down and says, "Maybe, you could come sometime, if you'd like."

Embry looks at Sam surprised and says, "That'd be cool, Charlie always has beer and stuff, it's a good time."

Josh looks surprised as he says, "I'd like that, thank you boys, I really appreciate that you're willing to spend some time with me. Embry, you're a little young to be drinking aren't you?"

Em laughs and replies, "chronologically yeah, physically no. The wolf makes it near impossible to get drunk. I could chug an entire bottle of straight vodka and it would be like having 1 can of beer to a normal guy."

Christine looks thoughtful as she says, "That must be part of the elevated temperature, heightened metabolism? It burns the alcohol off almost as soon as you drink it. How many of you are there?"

Sam answers, "There are 6 of us. I was first, 2 of my friends Jared Tompkins and Paul Dixon followed within the next year, Embry just before I met Bella, Jacob Black just after I met Bella, and Embry's friend Quil was last."

Joshua asks, "Has anyone else imprinted?"

Embry takes this one, "Actually, we all have. My imprint's name is Angela Weber; she's actually a friend of Bella's from up in Forks. We do a big family dinner every Sunday night; you guys should come tomorrow and meet everyone. Though just to warn you Josh, my mom comes, she usually just stays for dinner though. She doesn't know about the wolf thing."

Christine asks, "What? Why not?"

Sam answers, "Secrecy is for the protection of not just ourselves, but our families as well. The only reason Josh knows is because of his father, the only reason you know is because of the circumstances. None of the rest knew what was coming, they were all told after the fact, and if you lived here it would be the same. If vampires knew who we were, they could target our families, our Imprints! Also, if we just told people what we were they would think we were insane, it would be a disaster!"

Josh shrugs and says, "I understand where you're coming from with the issue of vampires targeting those close to you, but it seems to me that a lot of people know and they don't think you're nuts. All the imprints, that's 5 aside from Bella who apparently didn't think you were insane. Bella's father was Chief of Police in the neighboring town and is now Sherriff down here and apparently HE doesn't think you're crazy. Jakes father knows, the other Elder's know, my guess is the only people who don't know are the other guys parents. How is that fair?"

Sam sighs, "Look, I will concede that it's harder for the guys who have to deal with their parents not knowing. Charlie was told because shortly after I phased we were having a problem with a vampire and Charlie thought it was wild animals killing people and leaving them bloodless. He was going to set traps. Billy told him about me so that I wouldn't be hurt. Then when I imprinted on Bella I told the other Elder's, and Billy sat Charlie down and told him about it so that he would understand about Bella and me."

Christine breaks in, "Okay, what about Embry's imprint? Do her parents know? What about the rest of the imprints? Do their parents know?"

Sam sighs again, "No, they don't. Look, I don't make the decisions about this. The Elder's told me who could and could not be told, so take it up with them. Billy Black told Charlie, even if he hadn't though Bella is 18 and a legal adult."

Embry speaks up, "It's really not a big deal Christine. Most of the imprints parents are pretty cool with the whole situation. My girl Angela's parent's aren't even native, but they can see that Ang and I have something more special than most kids our age, they've always been cool with us."

Christine nods and Joshua speaks up, "Your imprint is also non-native Em?"

Em nods and Sam asks, "Does that bother you?"

Josh looks a little offended, as he answers, "No, it doesn't. I just find it a curious coincidence. Did anyone else imprint on a non-native?"

The guys shake their heads and Josh smiles a little as he says, "Sam did you know that my line isn't pure Quileute?"

Sam shakes his head and says, "I never really knew much about your family. Mom said that even though you grew up here by the time she knew you your parents were deceased and you didn't talk about your ancestry much. She knew the general gist of it and that you were meant to be an Elder but that you didn't want it."

He nods, "Yeah, honestly my father was a hard man, he was very withdrawn and serious. I don't know the things he saw as a wolf but they must have been bad. I'm glad that things don't seem that bad for you. No one knows this outside of me but my mother was actually half white. She moved down here from Tahola with her father and brother. They were dating when my father phased and he must have chosen right because he never imprinted on anyone else. They never told anyone that she wasn't full native because they were afraid that the Elder's would make them break up. I just think it's funny that my boys are the only ones to imprint on non-natives."

Sam says, "My imprint with Bella changed the Pack. She made us immune to the mental gifts that some bloodsuckers hold."

Josh looks at me stunned as he asks, "How do you mean?"

I answer, "Edward Cullen could read minds. Everyone's but mine apparently. Mistakenly he thought that because my mind was closed to him that it meant I was his mate. He showed up the night Sam and I got engaged when we were all at a club in Port Angeles. He couldn't read the guys minds, he said he used to be able to, and Sam had told me a story once about how Edward used to get offended by what the guys were thinking about. We think that when Sam and I imprinted, whatever I have that keeps me from Edward's abilities transferred to Sam and from him through the Pack mind to the rest of them."

Christine interrupts, "Pack mind?"

Sam and Em laugh a little and Sam explains, "When we are in wolf form we can read each other's minds. It's how we communicate with each other in that form."

Christine and Joshua look more than a little surprised but Joshua just shrugs and says, "I guess that makes sense."

The phone rings in the kitchen and I get up to answer it. Crossing to the kitchen I pick it up, "Hello?"

My dad is on the other end, "Bella. Are Josh and Christine still there?"

I tell him, "yeah dad, what's wrong?"

He chuckles a little as he answers, "Look out your back door Kiddo. I just got done with the paperwork I was working on and looked out the window."

I do what he says crossing over and pulling the blinds back from the sliding glass door and I see immediately what my dad is saying, "Holy shit dad! There must be 2 feet of snow out there! When did it start?"

He answers, "It started coming down when I left your house. It didn't seem like it was coming down hard though. I guess that changed after I got here. But that out there is just what's come down in the last hour and a half or so."

Letting out a deep breath I tell him, "That is crazy! Dad how are you gunna get home?"

He scoffs, "Bella I can't go home now, I'm on duty. Don't worry about me; I had the snow chains put on the cruiser last week so as soon as the plows get out I'm good to go. I want you to promise me that you'll stay inside Bella, the roads are covered, and plows won't be out for a while. No one was on call because the damn weather reports said we were only going to get a dusting."

I tell my dad that I promise and I tell him to be safe and he promises that he will and we hang up. I take a deep breath and look outside into the sea of quietly swirling whiteness. Dusting my ass!

I go back into the living room to find two very uncomfortable wolves. I know they both heard me and are just waiting for me to say something. I take another breath as I say, "Um, so that was my Dad. Apparently the snow has really started coming down since he left, the roads are all closed and he said it's going to be a while before plows get out."

Christine gets up and makes a beeline over to the door pulling back the small curtain in front of the window and she lets out a little high-pitched scream as she exclaims, "Oh my GOD! There must be 2 feet of snow out there! The weather man said we were only supposed to get a little!"

Sam looks out and says, "Wait, this isn't right. We should have heard from someone about this. Jared and Paul are on duty today, they would have howled, or phased back and called. Something is wrong."

**Sam POV**

Bella looks frightened now, fuck, I stroke her hair and hold her close as I say, "Don't worry baby, everything is going to be fine. Embry and I are going to call Jake and Quil."

I look at my father and my sister and they look worried, I want to reassure them but my immediate concern is the safety of my brothers. I take Bella's hand as I tell her, "Take my father and go get some flashlights and candles, chances are we'll lose power sometime soon if this keeps up. Remember, worst case scenario, you head for the crawl space."

She nods and kisses me before she gestures for Josh to follow her and I breathe a sigh of relief when he doesn't argue. I take my cell out and call Jake, who picks up on the third ring his voice low and sleep laden, "Hello?"

Fucking kid, "Jake! It's Sam, have you looked outside?"

He moans groggily, as he answers, "No man, I didn't have patrol today so I slept in. I didn't have to meet Shanna till 4, why, what time is it now?"

I feel my temper slipping and I snap, "It's like 2 in the afternoon Jake! There is 2 feet of snow on the ground, and it's practically a white-out out there, AND neither Paul or Jared have howled or checked in, in any way!"

Jake no longer sounds groggy as he exclaims, "What the fuck do you mean? Jared and Paul are supposed to be patrolling around your place! Where the fuck could they be?"

I nod to myself as I reply, "That's exactly what I'm wondering myself here Jake, I need you to phase in, get a report, and then call me back! Do not go looking for them Jake. If you phase and they aren't there you run straight here, do you hear me? Embry is in the kitchen trying to get a hold of Quil so get on it!"

He gives me an affirmative and hangs up the phone. I scan out the front window and see nothing out of the ordinary as Bella and my father come back into the room. Christine and Embry come in from the kitchen at the same time and none of them look happy.

Josh puts the candles around on the mantle and the table while Bella hands Christine a flashlight. Embry looks somber as I catch his eye and he shakes his head indicating he wasn't able to get a hold of Quil.

I walk over to him, leaning in angling myself towards him as I say, "What's the deal?"

He sighs as he replies, "No answer, I called his parent's place, and his cell phone. No answer on either line, but I think he said his parent's were out of town this weekend."

I sigh and say, "I'll try to call Jared's parents, maybe he forgot his cell phone and he's at Claire's."

I dial Jared's parent's number and his dad answers, "Hello?"

I try to sound calm as I say, "Hey, Mr. T, it's Sam Uley, I'm really sorry to bother you but I'm trying to get a hold of Quil and I'm not having any luck at his parents place or his cell. I was wondering if you could give me Claire's home number so that I can try to reach him there?"

Mr. Tompkins answers, "Hey Sam, sure I can help you out, It's 555-8867. Say, you don't know where Jared is do you? Kim called me a couple of minutes ago. With the snow and all she wanted to make sure he wasn't working I think."

I take a deep breath before answering, "I honestly am not sure where J is right now Mr. T. I'll try to get a hold of him and if I hear from him I'll have him call both you and Kim. Thank you for the number."

We hang up and I dial the number he gave me into my cell phone, praying that I find the answers soon. A man picks up, "Hello?"

I answer hurriedly, "Hi, Mr. Young? This is Sam Uley, I'm really sorry to bother you at home now, but I'm looking for Quil. Is he there?"

Hesounds very annoyed as he snaps, "Yes, he's here."

I roll my eyes a little and ask, "Would you put him on the phone please?"

I hear him grumble and then call for Quil. A minute later he picks up, "Hey Sam. What's going on?"

He drops his voice and says, "I didn't have patrol today, man."

Rolling my eyes I exclaim, "Christ Quil, have you even looked outside recently?"

I can almost see him shrug as he laughingly answers, "Umm, sorry, no. Claire and I have been a little caught up. Her parent's have actually been really cool today, they haven't bothered us once."

That's strange, and I know in my gut that it's not good. I try to sound calm as I start to talk too low and fast for anyone else who may be listening as I tell him, "Quil, I need you to leave Claire's place okay? Don't say goodbye to her parents, and don't let them know I'm telling you this okay? Go to the bathroom or into her room and leave from a window. If they ask why I called tell them I was asking you to take a job. This is very important. I haven't heard from J or Paul at all today and they're supposed to be patrolling around my house. Something is wrong. Go to Jakes, or come here, I don't care which, just get out of there."

He answers and I can hear the underlying worry as he strives to sound jovial, "Sam man I'm sorry, I really can't take that job this week. I have a couple of big tests in math and science and I really need to spend all my extra time studying. Thank you for the offer though; I hope you'll keep me in mind for future work. I'll talk to you later man, Bye."

He hangs up the phone and now I'm worried. I look around at everyone and say, "Come with me."

I take Bella's hand and the rest follow us into the bedroom. Embry starts to ask a question and I shake my head at him and continue through to the bathroom. It's the only room with no windows and a lock on the inside. We get inside and I shut the door, locking it as I say, "Something is really wrong. Quil is at Claire's, he said her parent's haven't bothered them once today."

Breaking off I look at Josh and Christine and explain, "I know that that doesn't seem like anything to be worried about, but if you knew Claire's parents you would understand."

Bella and Embry nod at them and I continue, "We haven't heard from Jared, or Paul, and with this weather they would have checked in by now! Something is going on."

Bella starts to talk and my cell rings, she says, "Answer it."

I see that it's Jake and pick it up, "Jake, what's going on?"

Jake takes a deep breath, "Sam! Jared and Paul are completely fucked up! I don't know what's wrong with them but they're phased, and they're geeking out! It's like they're on really hard drugs, like hallucinogens or something. Quil is with me, but we need you, and Em! We need to contain them until whatever they're on wears off!"

I can't even contain myself as I rage, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE FUCKING HIGH?"

Jake breaks in, "uh, I don't think they ingested whatever it is on purpose. They're freaking out because they don't know what's going on. I mean if they were rolling or something, and they knew what they were doing, don't you think they'd be calmer?"

Motherfucker! I take a deep breath calming myself by finding Bella and the baby's heartbeats and concentrating on their proximity as I say, "You're right. This is fucked Jake. Something is really wrong. Someone drugged Paul, and Jared to get Em, and I away from here. Fuck, I have to go. I'll leave Em here though. I'll see you in 10 okay?"

He tells me that that's fine and we hang up. I turn to find everyone staring at me, Bella breaks the silence, "What do you mean you HAVE to go? Why do YOU have to go? Why does anyone have to go? It's a goddamn whiteout out there Sam! No one will see them, and they're damn near indestructible! Stay HERE! PLEASE!"

I gather her into my arms stroking her hair, and talking to her softly, "Shh, shh baby girl, it's okay. Everything is going to be fine, I want you guys to stay in here until I get back with the rest of the guys. I think that this threat is half cocked. I think whoever did it wouldn't have been expecting the snow because no one was, whatever they were planning is fucked, unless it's a vamp we're fine."

She takes a deep breath and says, "But what if it is a vamp? You're leaving us here with Embry and I'm not saying that Embry isn't as good as you I'm just saying that wouldn't you be better off staying here and he can go get Jake and them"

I sigh and Embry kind of rolls his eyes, I know he's not offended by what she said, he's just writing it off as a pregnancy moment. I tilt her face up so that I can look her in the eye as I tell her, "Baby, I need to go Alpha order Jared and Paul to phase back. In their mental state right now if the rest of us had to phase in order to protect you we would all be useless, they are out of their minds and you know what that means to the pack mind. I'm lucky that Jake and Quil were even able to phase back to call me! I love you Bella, but I have to leave you right this minute with my brother who I know loves you like you were his own sister."

Breaking off I turn to Em, "I want you in the bedroom. They lock this door behind you, and you guard it with your life Em. God forbid this is a vamp, I don't care who it is Cullen or no, rip it to shreds and burn it in the fireplace. I'll be back as soon as I can. They stay in the bathroom with the door LOCKED until I get back."

I turn to Joshua and Christine and sigh as I say, "I'm really sorry about this shit you guys, it's not normally like this though. Be safe, whatever Embry tells you to do, do it."

Christine nods and Joshua speaks up, "Be safe out there, son."

I nod and grab Bella and hug her tight, she pulls away slightly and I lean down as she stands on her tiptoes to brush her lips over mine. I trace my finger down the side of her face and say, "I'll be back before you know it Bell, I love you."

She whispers back, "I love you too Sam. Please be safe out there, for the baby and me."

I clutch at my chest jokingly and say, "ugh, guilt trip!"

Her eyes fill with tears and I stroke her hair one last time as I tell her, "It'll be fine Bella, I'll be careful, I promise."

I lean down and plant a soft kiss on her stomach before I turn, and Embry follows me out of the bathroom. I turn and say through the door, "Lock it Bella"

Hearing the click I level Embry with a serious gaze as I tell him, "My whole life is in that bathroom, little brother. Take care of them for me."

He nods, "I will bro."

I turn and make my way to the back porch. Stepping through the door I know that this is not going to be any 5-minute mission. The snow is falling in a blinding torrent, even with my advanced vision I can probably only see as well as a normal human.

The bitter cold cuts through me, and I shudder as I strip my clothes off. I throw them back into the house and shut the door behind me. Naked on my back porch I wade through the snow till I'm in the middle of the yard, shivering slightly I take a deep breath, and phase.

Shit, Jared is screaming nonsense and freaking out about things in the trees, and Paul is laughing uncontrollably. I feel nauseous and shaky, and I desperately need for this to end, 'SILENCE!'

Immediately silence is what I get and I take a deep shuddering breath. They're both still running but they're staying together and I'm assaulted by their panic and fear. 'Paul, Jared, I need you guys to calm down. I need you to stop, and open your eyes, so that I can try to figure out where you are!'

They do what I tell them because the wolf, even stoned out of its gourd, cannot disobey the Alpha. They open their eyes and I look through them. Fuck, Paul is somewhere in almost complete darkness. With Jared all I can see is the blinding white of snow swirling all around, there is no way for me to tell where they are.

I throw back my head and let out an ear splitting howl.

Jake and Quil phase in, and Jake says, 'Sam? Holy shit, thank God they're quiet, Alpha order?'

'Yeah. Look I need you guys to help me find them! Looking through their eyes isn't helping, and we won't be able to track them by scent in this fucking snow! I'm going to Alpha order them to howl in 5-minute intervals. It'll be hard but we should be able to do it, and hopefully do it fairly quickly."

A/N: Okay so I've been working on this chapter off and on and it's been giving me fits but I think it came along nicely. I apologize for the cliff hanger, I'm working on the next chapter as much as I can! Just want to take a minute to thank all of you who read and review! I really love to hear from you all! Thanks to everyone who has put this story on alert or favs too! I really appreciate it!