Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content in this fic is mine! Story is rated M and may contain adult content.

**short time-skip Bella POV**

15 minutes. Checking my watch I see that that's exactly how long it's been since Sam's been gone. Christine is sitting on the back edge of the tub by the wall with her arms around her knees. Joshua is sitting with his back against the vanity facing the door, and I'm sitting with my back against the tub.

He sees me fidgeting and asks, "So, Bella, do you know much about Sam as a child?"

I know he's attempting to distract me and I take it gladly, "No, he doesn't remember much before you left, and it's hard for him to talk about his mom."

Joshua nods and I see the pain in his eyes and I ask, "You really loved her didn't you?"

He nods again wiping tears from his eyes as he answers, "I loved them both, more than anything, but I wasn't strong enough to give up the drugs. Samantha and Sam meant everything to me, and it terrified me that I could lose control the way I did with her. I was terrified to think that I could lose control with Sam that way. He was always such a happy, sweet natured kid. I knew he'd do something with building or construction, from the time he could toddle he was always following after me as I fixed something around the house. He loved for me to show him how things worked."

He takes a deep breath and continues, "I abandoned them both for their own good, and then I met Kay, and I loved her as well. In my heart of hearts though, I knew that what I was doing with her was wrong, I was still married and I had a son that I never saw. I couldn't tell her about them because then I'd have to admit why I had left them. In the end when she got pregnant I was just so sick of myself, and I started to self-destruct. I had already left one family to keep them safe from me. Knowing that I was leaving both my children with no father was horrible, knowing that it was better for them that way was worse."

I put my hand on his arm and I tell him, "Josh, honestly I think you did the right thing. I think Sam thinks so too, if he didn't think your reasons for leaving were good ones he would not have allowed me to invite you over here today. If he didn't deep down agree with the choices you made in taking yourself out of their lives he wouldn't be giving you an opportunity to be back in his life."

Embry interrupts and I jump a little as his voice comes through the door, "Bella's right, I can't speak for Sam, but I think that you taking yourself out of our lives at that point proves that you loved us more than even yourself. You could have stayed and let the drugs consume us all, beaten on our mother's in front of us, beaten on us. Some men prefer for their families to suffer along with them. If all you inflicted on us was your absence, I'm okay with that. I forgive you, Dad."

Josh has tears sliding down his face and Christine goes over to sit next to him. He puts an arm around her shoulders and she hugs him tight as he chokes out, "Th, thank you, Embry."

Embry makes an affirmative noise and I call out, "Everything clear Em?"

He calls back, "Yeah Bells, all quiet on the western front and all that. Honestly I think Sam was right, the snow probably ruined what was probably a well thought out plot, I'm sure whoever did it is kicking themselves right now that they didn't wait a week or so. Makes me wonder who'll get found stranded on the road when the plows go out."

I start to open the door and he calls out, "Keep it shut, and locked B. I don't want to face the wrath of Alpha Dad if he comes back to find that we disobeyed a direct order and put his mate and cub in danger."

Sighing I say, "But if the snow ruined their plan…"

Embry interrupts, "Better safe than sorry Bella."

**Time-skip Sam POV**

An hour, that's how long we've been running and looking for our brothers. Sixty minutes of running around in circles. Sixty minutes of hearing the ear splitting echo of their howls. Sixty minutes of flat NO luck!

Other than the howling they are silent, a fact that I am extremely grateful for. Jake and Quil flank me as we run deeper into the woods, most of our normal tracking methods are useless, the snow hasn't let up at all which means their tracks and scent are covered almost as soon as they are lain.

Finally I stop, the other two stop next to me and I think at them, 'Wait, let's stop for a minute you guys. I need to think. They've stopped running, they're howling, but there's something odd. When J and I were in high school, some of our other friends got their hands on a tray of hash brownies. They broke us off some and we split it amongst ourselves. They forgot to tell us they were giving us enough for like 6 people. J completely freaked and he ran off into the woods. I was honestly surprised he could walk. When I came down a bit I went looking for him, I need to remember where I found him."

Thinking back I've almost got it when the howls come again and I lose it. Shit! It reverberates like it's hitting a wall. We've been going around in circles trying to find it and having no luck. I know that there's a connection but I can't seem to connect it.

The howls come again and out of nowhere I see a lone bat struggling in the snow and it hits me, 'The fucking caves! That's where he went then, the same shit about things in the trees and blah blah blah. He said the caves were safe, no trees. I'd bet anything that that's where they are.'

We start running again, down through the snow covered woods. Finally, after about 20 minutes of slipping and tripping over each other, we emerge onto the beach and for just a moment all 3 of us are stunned speechless. The waves are crashing upon the remnants of their brothers frozen on the shore and the moon is peaking out from behind a cloud, the snow has finally let up enough for us to see properly and the effect is stunning.

Jake breaks the stunned silence, 'It's beautiful, makes me wish I had a camera so the girls could see this.'

I think, 'The wolf mind means you'll never forget it though. Come on guys, lets get to the caves.'

We make our way down the beach carefully using our claws to dig into the ice and stabilize ourselves. The howl's come again and this time they're close. Coming to a stop at the edge of the cave Quil thinks out, 'What if it's a trap?'

I think back, 'I don't think it's possible. Maybe it would have been, but with this weather, I don't think so. Even so, be alert, eyes and noses open.'

I inhale deeply and now I get a very faint scent, Jared. 'We're going the right way, I can smell J.'

Quil inhales deeper, 'I got Paul's scent too, they're definitely in there.'

I can feel the worry in his mind and I think, 'you guys wait out here, if there's trouble don't worry about me you just run as fast as your legs can carry you back to Bella. You got that?'

They both nod in the affirmative and I pad forward tentatively into the cave. As my eyes adjust to the interior I can see a couple things of driftwood. Inching deeper in I catch the fast heartbeat and breathing of one of the guys, 'Jared, stand up'

He stands up and I can see him now, I trot over to him and check him over quickly, he seems fine and I ask him, 'Where's Paul?'

At the sound of his name Paul whines and I follow the sound over to him, I check him over and am relieved that physically at least they're both okay. Sighing in relief I order them, 'Both of you follow me, no distractions.'

They follow me out of the cave and the only thing going through my mind now is, 'Let's go, gotta get back to Bella.'

As we break the mouth of the cave Jake and Quil fall in behind Paul and J to make sure they don't veer off course. I'm not worried though with the order but as we get into the deeper part of the woods the anxiety and fear rolling off both Paul and J is overwhelming.

We push through it and we all keep going. I'm not getting any disturbing feelings through the imprint bond and Embry hasn't phased in and I breathe a sigh of relief as we push faster through the last couple of miles of forest.

We break through the trees into my yard and I skid to a halt and take a deep, deep inhale. Nothing smells off, and we move forward to the porch steps, 'Wait out here, I'll go in and grab clothes for you guys.'

Jake and Quil say thanks while Paul and J just roll around in the snow. Shaking my head I order, 'Jared! Paul! I want you guys to stay perfectly still until I tell you otherwise.'

Immediately they both sit still as statues and I roll my eyes as I phase back. I have to admit I've never used the Alpha this much but I'm so fucking thankful for that damn voice right now. Shivering I run into the house and grab the clothes I threw into the kitchen. I throw them on and move quickly into the spare room, calling out to Embry, "Em, all clear man, meet me in the living room in 5 minutes okay? I gotta get clothes for the others."

He calls back sounding relieved, "Alright man, I'm glad you found them."

I nod to myself thinking just how lucky I was to have remembered about the caves when I did. Otherwise God only knows how long it would have taken, as it is I've been gone for nearly 2 hours. I grab a bunch of shorts and tees from the dresser in Embry's room and stop in the bathroom to grab 3 large towels and bring them out to the yard.

Jake and Quil phase back and run up to me to grab the towels and the clothes before going into the kitchen to get dressed. I shake my head looking at J and Paul in their wolf forms still sitting exactly where I left them.

I let the Alpha into my voice as I order, "Paul, Jared, you may both move, but you must phase back and come directly to me."

In the blink of an eye where the two wolves sat are a very naked Jared and Paul in their human forms. They come directly to me and I order again as I hand them the towels and clothes, "Go inside dry off and put the clothes on. Then I want you both to lay down on the couches in the living room, and STAY there unless you have to use the bathroom."

They take the towels and go immediately inside. I stick my feet into my boots by the side of the door and take a few minutes to do a perimeter check. Nothing is moving except the wind, and snow. I am the absolute only person outside on this block right now, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

I go into the house to find Paul and J on the couches, and my father and Embry in the kitchen. Quil is sitting in my recliner, and Bella is helping Christine to take vitals on Paul and J.

Paul is rambling about Rachel and J is singing a song about Kim. I laugh a little and Bella smiles up at me briefly. My sister catches my eye and I ask, "Do you think you could tell what they're on?"

She sighs, "It could be any number of things. I don't think we'll get any real answers until they sober up. My guess would be anything from ingested hash, to LSD or Peyote. I need to ask, do you guys use any recreational drugs?"

Taking a deep breath I answer, "We all smoke weed. That's it though, Bella used to also before she got pregnant. The guys all get their smoke from me though, and mine's been fine, obviously I'm not out of my mind and I smoked a bowl early this morning to take the edge off of meeting you guys."

She nods and asks, "How does it affect you?"

I get where the questions are going and I answer truthfully, "Honestly, much the same as it did when we were human. The high just doesn't last as long usually but it's intensity is generally the same."

She nods again and says, "Okay, well that gives me some idea about your systems. I'd guess that whatever they ingested they ingested quite a lot of it without knowing. You figure they've probably been high like this for the last 5 hours or so?"

Nodding I say, "Probably about that. They would have had to take a lot for it to last so long…usually we have to have a whole galaxy to get that high, and it's been a while since we've done that. Not since before Bella got pregnant."

Christine tilts her head questioningly, "Galaxy?"

Bella answers, "It's when you take like 4 or more pieces, pack them full, and smoke them in succession. The guys do that when they really want to let off some steam. This isn't weed though I can tell you that for sure, none of us have ever had hallucinations on weed."

Christine nods and says, "Okay, so you're telling me it takes about a quarter ounce of bud to put you on stupid for 5 hours. I would think that ingesting, not smoking but eating, about a half oz of hash could do this to them. Other options are the equivalent of a few tabs of ecstasy, or about a half ounce of mushrooms. I can tell you it's definitely not cocaine, or heroin though. I could take some blood, I have some drawing equipment in my bag. I'd have to have a lab run the tests though. I had wanted to get a blood sample from Bella just to run her levels and stuff to make sure that they were consistent with the due date that the old PA at the clinic had given her."

Sighing I run my hand through my hair and say, "Bella, can you call Rosalie, please?"

Bella and Rose had been keeping in touch through e-mail since the night we got engaged. Rose had been absolutely thrilled for Bella when she told her about the baby, and made her promise to take lots of pictures and video since she wouldn't ever be able to meet the baby in person.

**Bella POV**

I get my phone and scroll through it until I find Rose's number, I hit it in and wait as it rings. On the third ring she picks up, "Hey Bella! How's it going? I saw on the weather channel that you guys are getting slammed with snow! I hope you were home!"

Rolling my eyes a little I answer, "Hey Rosie, everything is good, Sam's father and his sister arrived and they actually got stuck in the house with us during the snowstorm. It's been nice though mostly given us a chance to talk about some stuff. Umm, I'm actually calling because we've got a small problem."

She sounds slightly worried as she asks, "What kind of problem?"

Sighing I tell her, "Someone drugged 2 of the guys. Sam's sister can take some blood from them but obviously we can't have a normal lab doing the tests. Sam wants to know I think if Carlisle can do the tests on it to figure out what they were given."

She pauses, thinking for a minute before answering, "I don't see why that would be a problem. Why don't I put him on the phone, you can put Sam on with him, and they can iron out the logistics."

I sigh relieved this time as I say, "That would be great, Rosie. Thank you."

She tells me it's no problem and I pass the phone over to Sam.

**Sam POV**

Bella hands me the phone and I wait until I hear Carlisle come on, "Hello? Sam?"

I sigh in relief as I answer, "Hey, Dr Cullen. I'm sorry to bother you, I take it you either heard Bella talking or Rose explained the situation?"

He gives an affirmative and says, "Yes, I heard, I would be glad to run the tests. Do you need our help with anything? I can assure you that there have been no vampires in that area since well before you and Bella got engaged."

His assurance actually does make me feel better and I answer, "No, thank you but I think we have it under control. This is a problem with a human, and I'm betting I know which human. I will take care of it personally. My sister is going to draw the blood from them, I can have one of my boys run it up to the Canadian border by Blaine, if you could have one of yours meet them to pick it up I would appreciate it."

He answers, "I'll send Rose, and Emmett. Say, 2 hours?"

Sighing in relief I answer, "That sounds great, thank you Dr. Cullen. I really appreciate it."

Dr Cullen answers, "It's no problem Sam, even though I can't see her anymore, I still think of Bella as one of the family. I'll call you when I have the results."

We hang up, and Christine goes to get her bag. For her safety I order, "Jared, Paul, Christine is going to take some blood from you. You both need to hold perfectly still until she tells you she's finished."

Christine comes back and they go still as statues. She puts a small rubber strap around Paul's arm and then inserts a butterfly needle into his vein, she loads a test tube into the vac and it quickly fills up with blood. She flips it back and forth a few times before labeling it with a p on the label and putting it to the side.

Finishing up with Paul she moves over to J and does the whole process over again. Bella peeks out the door and calls back, "It looks like the snow finally stopped."

Quil has his phone out and is texting and I snap, "Quil, who are you texting?"

He looks up surprised and answers, "I was just going to let Claire know everything was okay."

I shake my head, as I snap, "NO! Quil something was going on today with her parents. Why today of all days did they leave you alone? Whoever's plan this is, they were in on it."

He narrows his eyes at me, "Are you insinuating that Claire would help anyone hurt Bella? Hurt the baby?"

Shaking my head I say, "No, Quil. I'm not saying she would. Her parent's though? I wouldn't put anything past them. You know they hate the influence that they think Bella has over Claire; I think they would do just about anything to get the rest of us out of Claire's life. They may not have known what all was going on, I'm not saying they did it purposely. Someone may have just told them to turn a blind eye for today and told them that if they did that Bella wouldn't be friendly with Claire anymore. Who are they close to?"

He thinks for a minute and says, "I don't know, Claire has some cousins up in Makah that they seem to see a lot."

Makah…Where Leah, and Harry went. I narrow my eyes and sigh because honestly until Paul and J come down I can't even make any full announcements. I hate repeating myself.

Bella comes up to me and I wrap my arms around her. Christine comes and hands me the vials. I ask, "Who wants to run these up to the border?"

Jake steps up, "I'll do it. I'm gunna bring my cell phone and take some pictures while I'm out there."

Shaking my head and laughing a little I say, "Take as many as you want, just do it after you meet with Blondie and The Hulk."

He nods and takes them from Chris who has wrapped them up with plastic wrap and a couple of those hand warmer things to keep the blood from freezing. Jake puts them in the bag that he keeps his phone in and ties it around his ankle as he goes outside.

Josh comes in a minute later and goes over to Bella, "Bella honey, I put out a plate on the table for you with a glass of water. You didn't really get to eat much earlier. You should rest some."

She starts to say she isn't hungry and her stomach rumbles. She laughs and says thank you as she heads into the kitchen. I follow her in as Quil gets up and lets Josh sit in my recliner.

I check over the plate Josh made her, just making sure nothing smells weird. While I'm 90% sure that this is something to do with the Clearwater's, my guard is up and everyone other than my boys, Charlie, and Bella herself are suspect.

Bella arches an eyebrow at me as she asks quietly, "Do you want to test the water?"

I pass her the plate and take a sip of her water, finding it fine I hand it to her and she says, "Please don't tell me you suspect them."

I shake my head, "No, I'm 90% sure this has Clearwater written all over it. Better safe than sorry though Bell."

She nods and says, "I know it's hard for you Sam, but you need to try to trust your dad."

I sigh, "He's not my dad Bell. He's my father, in the strictest sense of the word. He gave me his DNA, but he's not responsible for the man I've become."

She sighs, "Isn't he though? Think of it this way Sam, what if he hadn't walked away? What if he'd stayed, like Paul's dad?"

I wince slightly because the image that conjures in my head is way too graphic. Paul's father was an abusive alcoholic who beat on Paul and his mother until Paul got big enough to fight back. His father left when Paul finally had enough and beat the crap out of him, after he beat the crap out of Paul's mother.

I sigh, "I see your point. He at least cared enough about all of us not to put us through that hell."

She continues eating and in between bites tells me, "We talked some while you were gone. He really loved you and your mom, honey. I could see it in his eyes when he talked about you both. He asked if I knew anything about you as a boy, it was sweet of him to try and distract me from worrying about you. I told him that it was hard for you to talk about your mom. I could see the pain in his eyes Sam. He loved her. I know it's hard for you to trust him Sam, but he loves you."

I take a deep breath, "What about Em's mom?"

She looks confused, "What about her?"

I ask, "Did he love her too?"

She sighs, "I think he cared about her a great deal, maybe if he wasn't feeling the guilt over your mom it could have been love. He definitely valued her though, enough that he didn't fight her when she told him to get lost."

I nod and Christine calls in, "Sam?"

Bella waves me off and I go back through to the living room, "Yeah?"

She answers, "I think they should start coming down soon."

Nodding I sit with my back against the sofa. Embry shows her his room so she can lay down for a while. I turn to my father and say, "Thank you."

He looks at me confused and asks, "For?"

I smile and answer, "For distracting Bella from worrying about me. I can't guarantee anything, but I'm trying. I think I can trust you, it's just going to take some time before I trust that feeling."

He starts to talk and J groans out, "uuughh…..What happened? I feel like I got run over by a truck."

I stand up and look at his eyes quickly, his pupils are back to their normal size and I sigh in relief as I answer, "Someone drugged you, and Paul. You were out in the storm out of your minds."

His eyes widen and he asks, "Is everyone okay? Was there an attack?"

I realize then that he doesn't realize and I reply, "No, but we got lucky. Mother Nature was on our side. There's approximately 3 and a half feet of snow outside. The two of you were lost in a whiteout."

He arches an eyebrow at me and asks, "That's Mother Nature being on our side? Damn I hope she's never on the other guy's side!"

I laugh a little and shake my head. I'm about to tell him the whole story when Paul groans out, "Why do I feel like I've been running circles around the res for hours but I can't remember a damn bit of it?"

Jared speaks up, "We were drugged man."

Paul scowls, "No kidding? Sam, everything okay?"

I nod and say, "Okay, here's the thing. You guys were drugged, I think it was an attempt to get us all out dealing with you, in the hopes that we would leave Bella unprotected. Obviously whoever planned this wasn't counting on a goddamn blizzard with whiteout conditions. We're going to have to really step up patrols until this psycho tries again though. I need you guys to think back, did you eat anything out of the ordinary? Did you share anything? Did you eat or drink anything that neither of you or your imprints made?"

They both think for a minute before exclaiming at the same time, "The MUFFINS!"

Bella comes in at that moment and they both turn on her and start yelling at once, "WHAT THE FUCK BELLA! WHY DID YOU DRUG US?"

She looks startled and I pull her behind me as I snap, "ENOUGH! Why the FUCK are the two of you accusing Bella?"

Jared answers, "When Paul and I went to patrol we found a basket with these huge blueberry streusel muffins. They had kind of a funny aftertaste, but they were still the second most delicious blueberry muffins I've ever tasted. There was a note with them, it said, 'For all my boys, Love, Bella'. We know she left them for all of us to share, but they were just so good!"

I turn to Bella with my eyebrow raised, and she says dryly, "Sam, if I had made muffins you would have smelled them. Someone planted them. Someone who knew that you'd eat them if it had my name on it, someone who knew where you guys patrolled, and who knows my name."

I sigh and turn back to see the two of them standing there sheepishly. I sigh, "Okay, new rule, unless Bella physically hands you food it is suspect! Do not assume she made things you find in the woods, even if they DO have her name on them! Clear?"

They nod and I continue, "We're on high alert now guys. It hasn't been like this in a while, but it's needed. Someone attempted to drug us all, someone is planning something having to do with Bella. We have to be vigilant. Do not eat things you find in the WOODS! I can't believe I even have to say that! Full patrols around wherever Bella is. No one gets near her without us knowing about it. Paul, you're with her all day at school, I'm trusting you to protect her there."

He nods at me and says, "You can count on me. Don't worry, I will never be so stupid as to eat something when I don't know exactly where it came from, or who made it, again."

I nod and J breaks in, "Sam, I might have been hallucinating it but did I hear that you think my Aunt and Uncle had something to do with this?"

I sigh and answer, "I don't know J. I don't want to think that, but I think it's just a little too coincidental that they all of a sudden pick today to give Quil and Claire some freedom. Don't you?"

He nods and I continue, "Look, we can't be focused on the who. We have to be focused on the when. When will this person try again? When will we catch them? You guys are gunna have to crash here until the plows go out. I have to call Charlie and let him know what's going on. He needs to be on the lookout for anyone trapped on the road from the Makah res."

We all nod and Bella gets up and starts to go into the kitchen, I catch her around her waist rubbing my hand over her stomach as I ask, "Where are you going?"

She snuggles in closer to me and holds on tight for a minute before answering, "I was going to go in and start getting something ready for dinner. Paul and Jared have had a loooong day, they deserve a home cooked meal."

I roll my eyes at her as Paul's head pops up from the couch and I say, "You, love of my life, mother of my child, are not cooking tonight. You are going to go into our room and catch a nap. This has been a long, emotionally draining, day. Quite frankly I think we could ALL use a nap."

I turn to my father and tell him, "Dad, the old spare room is free if you'd like to go take a nap as well, I think it'll be a while yet before the plows finally make their way out."

The smile lights up his face and I realize that I called him Dad. He regains his composure and says, "I think I will do that, thank you again, Son."

I nod and he turns to Bella, "You make sure you listen to my boy, Bella, he only has your best interests in mind. You do look a little tired sweetie, I think my grandson wants a lie down."

She shakes her head laughing as she replies, "Maybe you're right. Thank you for everything Josh. The sheets and everything in the guest room are clean, none of the boys have slept over lately and I changed everything at the beginning of the week."

He waves her off, "You keep a lovely house Bella, Samantha would be proud of the way you're running it."

I can see that the compliment takes her by surprise but she definitely appreciates it. Her eyes tear up a little as she says, "Thank you Josh. I really appreciate that."

She turns and I wrap my arms around her pulling her close and holding her tight against me as I revel in the fact that we're all safe, we're all home, and maybe this whole thing is going to work out fine. I tilt her chin up and brush my lips gently over hers as I ask, "Do you want me to bring you in a drink, or anything?"

She kisses me gently before replying, "nah, I have a bottle of water on the nightstand so I should be good."

I watch her as she goes into the room and Paul comes up and snaps his fingers in front of my face as he asks, "Hey Alpha, what now?"

I sigh and sink down in my recliner as Paul goes back and sits down next to Quil, I take a deep breath looking around at my brothers, and say, "Now? Now we wait. We wait, for Jake to get back. We wait, for Dr. Cullen to call us and tell us what the fuck you guys were on. We wait, for the next time this bastard thinks he's going to make a try. We wait, to take whomever it is OUT! I'm done playing games. Whoever this sick fuck is they think they're going to come down here, drug my brothers, and threaten my wife and unborn child? FUCK that! You better believe that THIS big bad wolf is DONE playing Mr. Nice Guy!"

A/N: So I've been going nonstop with this chapter since I posted the last one. Love you guys so much for the reviews! I'm on a roll with this now so hopefully I'll get at least one more chapter up before the weekend is up. Can anyone guess who all is involved? Hint Hint: there may be some who you really would not expect. There's going to be a time skip next chapter, not too far, a couple of weeks maybe. Keep leaving the love!