Here's a humpday treat for you!

A/N: Thanks SOOO much to MarinaNamaste for being candid with her thoughts even though she was reluctant to do so. You should read her dirty little Jake and Nessie oneshot called Hot Blooded Need. It's awesome and steamy and just deliciously AU.

The thumping of the music could be heard through Raven's bedroom door, but I wanted just a little time alone with her. The party Alice planned was two nights before graduation because Alice saw that would lead to the greatest attendance. No one else had a party scheduled for this evening and Alice wanted to make sure that Raven, Leslie, and Bear left an indelible mark in the minds of their classmates. And, having been through high school as many times as Alice and the other Cullen's have, she knew exactly how to do it.

Raven was out of her element, but handling it in pure Raven style. She was a natural people pleaser and her ability to overcome her own fears and insecurities was one of the many things I loved about her. She was playing hostess with the mostess and she promised me that she would meet me in her bed room at 9:30 so I could give her my gift. Raven assured me that she would politely extricate herself from whomever she was with, but I had to let her make Alice happy. I knew that Raven needed to try to repay Alice however she saw fit. She didn't like to be the center of attention, but she did it well when she was. It was something that Bella complimented her on.

"Alice pulled this crap with me and I spent the entire night hiding behind Edward," Bella reminisced a week after we drove back to La Push. The Cullens had arrived back in Forks from London and Raven really wanted to visit so we went over after breakfast one day.

"You were hiding from Jacob or hiding from Edward because you were talking to Jacob or looking for Alice who was having a vision of impending doom," Rosalie snorted.

"Or hiding from you because I wanted to be a vampire and you didn't agree with my choice," Bella smiled at the long forgotten argument the sisters had when Bella was still human. "Whatever. I was just trying to point out that Raven is a much better sport that I was," Bella admitted smiling at my girl. And I had to agree. It amazed me that Bella once tried to feed from Raven because Raven's blood called to her, but my blood changed that. I guess I did protect her from vampires even if I couldn't protect her from a lunatic.

I was still nervous about giving her my gift. We had talked about it a few times before, joking around, but I just didn't know how serious she was about it. My knee bobbed up and down with a nervousness I had rarely felt or shown. This was Raven, why was I nervous? She was my Raven. I had to calm down. My mind drifted back to the day my mom gave me the box and its contents. I hoped I could find the confidence I had on that day.

"Mom," I breathed out, "I can't."

"You can and you will," she smiled at me. "I'm so proud of you and you couldn't have made a better choice." She wiped a tear from her eye.

I looked down at the ring in the box that she had placed in my hand. My dad had bought it for my mom when he was just a few months older than me and on their fifteenth wedding anniversary he replaced the diamond chip with a much larger stone. My mom initially freaked out because she thought she lost her ring, but my dad had taken it to the jeweler. Now she was giving that same ring to me to give to Raven.

"I'd give it to Leah…" she didn't finish the sentence because we both knew that Leah just wanted a plain band like most men wore. Leah pontificated about the uselessness of expensive rocks and while passing the ring from mother to daughter was a nice gesture, she'd rather that I have it since I'm already pussy. In reality, it was just a painful reminder to her that dad was gone...I understood that.

"Yeah, I know. I love it. Raven'll love it," I said. "So you don't think I'm stupid for get married at my age?"

"Seth, I understand the imprint and I have watched you and Raven grow up. You two were made for each other and while your imprint is different in its realization than any other imprint, your bond is just as strong. If you know it's right, then why wait?" I didn't have an answer for that question.

I was so grateful for her understanding, because I wasn't going to get it from outside this house. I didn't care, though. I just needed to figure out how to be married and go to college at the same time. The federal funding through the foundation would pay for room and board, but that was in the dorms. I'd looked into it a little bit and there was plenty of married housing and on campus, too…I needed to make sure our scholarships covered those.

"Do you know when you're going to ask her yet?" Mom loved to be in on secrets. I told her that I'd know when the time was right. I'd been carrying the ring with me ever since.

We were able to come down to Portland a few days before her graduation because seniors got out of school almost a week before the underclassmen. Something about calculating grades and determining class rank…I didn't care because that put my graduation day a week after Raven's and I could go down and be with her…and she could be up here for mine. Embry was chomping at the bit to go to Portland and see Leslie, so as soon as we were free we headed out. I told mom I was probably going to do it the night of her graduation party.

I couldn't hear her footsteps over the beat of the music and I was lost in my own thoughts, so when the door opened and suddenly she was standing in front of me, I was a little startled.

"Hey, Twinprint," she said. I smiled at the use of her silly little title for our bond. I loved it, but it was silly.

"Hey, my little socialite," I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards me and onto my lap which effectively stopped my knee bobbing up and down. "I've got something for you." She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me softly.

"You've already given me your heart. I don't need anything else," she said. Warm lips pressed on mine again and she moaned into me. But I had to stay focused. She'd given me a perfect opening. How could I not do it with set up like that?

"Well, I want to make it official," I said and pulled the box from the bed beside me and placed it on her thigh. I heard her gasp of an inhale because it looked like a ring box.

"Seth…" her white teeth shone bright and her excited flush of her russet cheeks made my heart flutter. She was excited and that made a little of my nervousness go away. She was sitting on my lap, so I couldn't get down on one knee, but that was more a paleface tradition, so I didn't think it was too necessary.

Her fingers picked up the box and she shook it like a little kid on Christmas. "Is it a pony?" she asked. She was being coy. Damn, I loved her.

"No. I know you don't like horses." She grinned at me. She actually hated horses. One bit her at a summer camp one year and ever since she's been scared to death of them. She untied the purple ribbon and then tied it on the end of the braid that held her bangs out of her face. The rest of her hair was loose and fanned out as she tilted her head sideways examining all sides of the little ring box.

"Is it a new car?" she asked. "You know I really liked that Audi A3." Her fingers carefully slid under the tape which fastened the silver foil paper that the jeweler who sized it wrapped it in. Alice provided me with her ring size.

"I think that's Edward's department, not mine," I stated as she finally reached the moment when she'd open the box. My heart rate increased in anticipation of her reaction. I hoped she liked it. Would she want a second hand ring from my mother? Should I have bought her a new one? Would she think it was crazy to get married so young and so soon? She placed her hand on my heart as if she could hear the pounding of my scared and nervous heart. She could. She could feel it, too so she smiled at me to reassure me. Then, she opened the box.

Another gasp. Was that a good sign? "Seth? Is this your mom's?" she asked so softly I doubted the vampires could hear her if they were in the room. But a smile crept across her face showing me she was pleased with the offering.

"Raven," I had this well part prepared, "this ring was the token my father gave my mother the day he proposed that they spend the rest of their lives together. He pledged to love and honor my mom until his last dying breath and he was true to that pledge. Raven, I can't remember my life without you in it, nor can I picture my future without you there, either. Will you accept this token as my pledge to love and honor you until my dying breath? Raven, will you be my wife?"

Tears flooded her eyes and I knew that even though she was shaking her head that she was happy. She was going to accept. My girl was about to say yes to marrying me and become my wife.

"One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel," she quoted as she raised her hand to my cheek and brushed her lips across mine. I think that was a yes. Without pulling away from my lips she whispered, "I would be honored to be your wife, Seth. I've always felt like a Clearwater, anyway." I will forever remember the way her full lips felt as she spoke those words that invaded my every sense. I could feel her words as her sweet breath drifted into my mouth leaving her sweet flavor evaporating into sweet music in my ears.

I smiled into her lips and pulled away long enough to place the ring on her finger and it fit perfectly. Then, my lips crashed into hers with a force fueled by all the love and desire I had within me. This was real and Raven just agreed to be my wife. We spent the next few minutes showing each other how much we enjoyed each other.

I was flat on my back when she finally pulled back with her demure little smile. If she would have pushed the issue I would have taken her then…before we were officially married. But she didn't. Instead, she reluctantly pulled away. "We need to get back to the party," she said in a low and husky tone. "We've been gone awhile."

I smiled at her and rose up on my elbows. "Are you sure I can't persuade you to stay?" I moved my hands to her hips and raised my hips and ground my erection into her and she smirked after a moan escaped her lips.

"Seth Clearwater!" she exclaimed. "I wouldn't want to rob you of your virtue before you are legally and lawfully wedded." She leaned back into me and growled, "and if I got started I would not let you stop." I wondered why she chose today to be strong. She rocked back and forth a few more times and then got up. Fuck! She was hot and she was so good at that. She looked back down at her ring. "Come on. I want to show you and this ring off!" My heart swelled with pride and I adjusted myself before we opened the door and headed back to the party.

"Bear!" I heard Raven call. "Look what Seth just gave me!" Bear must have just come out of the bathroom and when he looked down at the ring that Raven was showing him his face split into a huge grin.

"Well that might finally convince him," Bear said under his breath. Leslie was aware that we had super-sensitive hearing, but Bear and Mark were not. Since that night at In-and-Out Burger I had backed off like Raven suggested but Mark had not. That's when I realized that Raven was more annoyed with Mark the harder he tried, so I actually liked him trying. It was amusing to watch…though Raven didn't think so.

Leah came barreling down the hallway just then. "Well did the pussy do it yet?" she asked looking at Raven's hand that was still in Bear's hand. "I guess that's a yes and you said yes." Leah took Raven's hand out of Bear's and pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you said yes. If he married someone like Maddie or Brittany I'd be in jail for murdering all of them. But you I like."

"Leah, fuck!" I said. "Way to ruin a tender moment."

"What? A moment you were having with a third party? Who are you anyway?" Leah barked at Bear looking him up and down.

"Wow," Bear responded. "You were not valedictorian of your charm school, were you?" I really liked Bear, but at the moment, I knew this could go really well, or blow up in all of our faces. Raven stepped in to smooth things over.

"Leah, this is Bear, Leslie's brother. Bear, this is Seth's sister Leah." She made hand movements towards each person she mentioned.

"What the hell kind of name is Bear? You're too pale to be Indian," Leah ribbed.

"Damn woman, you bark like a dog. I am Indian, and it's a nickname." There was a collective gasp from Raven, Leah, and me as those words barreled out of his mouth. There was little movement for a few moments while his words filtered through Leah's mind. She finally cracked a half smile.

"Bear, I think I'm going to like you. You actually have a pair, unlike my brother who tiptoes around everyone and everything." Leah put her arm around Bear and led him out of the hallway and towards the back door where the party was in full swing.

"That could have ended badly," I remarked letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"It still can," Raven observed, "but it could be fun to watch." I chuckled as we followed them out the door. Alice came over and demanded to see the ring and we spent the next hour or so talking with people who were never particularly nice to Raven in the eight months she was here, but were glad they finally got a chance to know her. I caught a few of the hushed conversations about her "snagging" me and speculating on whether or not she knew me before her involvement with Gerry.

"You've made quite an impression on the girls from my school." Raven whispered into my ear as we finally sat down to eat some food. She was sitting on my lap and her arm was possessively around my neck. She fed me from her plate, again in a very possessive manner.

"Hey. What's with the possessive girl act?" I leaned in and mumbled through a mouthful of little smokies. "I like it. It's kind of sexy," I growled in her ear after I swallowed my food.

"Just letting everyone know that your mine. You've heard them, right?" she asked and then leaned in to kiss my lips making loud and obnoxious smacking noises. I couldn't help but smile at the spectacle we were making.

"God you two!" Leah said as she plopped down in the empty chair next to us. "Get a room." Bear sat next to Leah smirking.

"They already did," he said. "and she came out engaged." He picked up bagel pizza from my plate and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. "Next time she could come out pregnant."

"You're disgusting," Leah said through a smirk. I didn't know if she was referring to how he ate or to impregnating Raven.

"Hey!" Raven yelled, "go get your own plate!" Her bottom lip stuck out in a little pout and I couldn't resist kissing it. We had just emerged from a bedroom engaged…and I wouldn't have minded trying to get her pregnant. Maybe Bear wasn't too far off.

"Chill, Flo-Jo. It has too many carbs for you anyway," he said to Raven. "It's not Friday. Eat your vegetables… or Seth's face which you seem to be enjoying." I flipped him off behind her back and he chuckled.

"That's disgusting, too," Leah quipped. She sounded happy, though, and we all knew she was just kidding. I kept on kissing Raven in sweet little pecks because I didn't mind her showing all the other girls-and Mark-who I was with. I could hear Bear and Leah's conversation though.

"So, man-Bear, you're graduating, too, right? What are you going to be when you grow up?" Leah asked. "That's what we're supposed to ask at these shin-digs, right?" Raven had moved her little kiss fest down my neck and I lost part of the conversation as she hit that spot right under my ear that made my toes curl and made my wolf want to pin her to a wall with my hips.

"…but I'm going to the University of Washington with Leslie and I've got about a year before I have to figure it out," Bear finished. It was the most I remembered him saying at one time, ever.

"Yeah. Raven conned me into filling out all that paperwork, too," Leah deadpanned. I knew she was totally excited about getting out of La Push if only for a few years. It was her opportunity to reinvent herself; I heard her talking to mom about it. It was my turn to attack Raven's neck.

"So what are you going to be when you grow up?" Bear kicked at her shoe as he said it gathering her attention away from us. I thought about giving Raven a hickey to brag about, but I thought her ring was enough.

"I'm in the same boat as you, Care-Bear. Maybe we can figure it out together," Leah responded. Raven heard my chuckle at both Leah's nickname for Bear and the fact that she was being so damned affable. She almost looked happy.

"You keep sucking on her neck like that, Seth, I'm going to think you're a vampire." I heard my pack leader's voice and Raven jumped up to hug him.

"Jake!" Raven squealed. "I didn't know you were coming down!" He picked her up and swung her around.

"Raven there's nothing left of you, chica! You're looking great!" She blushed through her smile. "I see that rock, though. You're going to make it official, huh, Seth?" He'd already seen my intentions in my thoughts but he didn't know I'd finally done it and she said yes. I just beamed back at him. The whispers that followed this interaction were also amusing. Jake was an amazing masculine specimen and keeping his imprint in a baby on the DL meant there were many frustrated girls in La Push and Forks as well as a lot of speculation as to the relationship between Bella, Edward, and Jake. He ignored it though being perfectly contented with Nessie. And, here at the party so many girls wished they had made friends with Raven earlier so that she could have introduced them to her "hot" friends. I just shook my head.

The Cullens kept to one side of the yard along with Leslie parents. Sue and Charlie were coming down on the day of graduation. It was about eight when Mr. Pelones arrived and Raven made sure she was the one who answered the door and led him to where the adults sat. After we ran into him at the restaurant Raven and I broke the news to Leslie and her family and we all agreed that he should not be punished for what his son had done. Her parents noted that he had become much more distant at the office, which seemed normal after the death of a child. But now they went out of their way to make sure he was included and informed about graduation and the party. Mr. Pelones stayed most of the night and at first he seemed very ill at ease. But as the evening progressed he seemed to loosen up and enjoy himself a little. I'd assumed Jasper played a little role in that as well.

Jake finally let go of my girl and then she and Renesmee caught up for a few moments talking about London, Harry Potter, and Doctor Who. We were all spending the day sightseeing in Portland tomorrow, so Raven was left, for the most part, with her classmates. By 11:30 most of the school kids had gone so it was basically Leslie's family remaining, though Leslie and Embry had disappeared for a conspicuously long period of time. Good for Embry, I thought. Mark was sulking and sitting with the Cullens and his parents for most of the night, though he kept his distance from Gerry's father.

We were sitting around a table littered with empty soda cans and paper plates that contained remnants of party food on them. Embry and Leslie returned but Leah and Bear were missing. I looked around to see if I could see them and I spotted the top of Leah and Bear's heads as they lay in the grass looking up at the stars. They were talking quietly and I could probably have made out their conversation if I'd paid attention, but I wanted to give Leah some privacy.

When I turned back around Mark was standing by Raven's chair looking down at her. His eyes raked over her hand and he shook his head.

"So it's true?" Mark said. "You're really engaged? At eighteen, you're engaged?" His incredulous tone was actually laced with pain. If I wasn't so damn mad at him I would have felt sorry for the guy. "What kind of message is going to send to my sister, huh? Have you thought of that? She does everything you do." I was about to say something, but the look on Raven's face told me to just sit back and enjoy the show.

"Mark I have tried to be patient with you. I've tried to be nice to you. Dammit, I like you as a person so it really pains me to say this but: Fuck. Off." His eyes widened, all movement stopped except for the darting of eyes between Mark and Raven. She'd only just begun. She stood up and took a step towards him. "How dare you throw a jealous temper tantrum here and tonight? And how dare you pawn your hurt and jealous feelings off on some misguided and misplaced concern for your sister? I'm not even sure why you thought you had a chance with me as I have never given you any indication that Seth wasn't the entire center of my universe. Fuck you, Mark. I'm done being nice to you."

Leah and Bear were now picking themselves off the grass and heading towards us and Bear looked very concerned. If I didn't know better, Bear had anticipated something like this happening and was coming over to do what he could. He was rough around the edges, but his love for his family did shine through when he wasn't irritating the shit out of them. A lot like Leah, actually.

Mark just stood there looking at his shoes. "Raven, I just think…"

"Enough!" Raven said tersely. "You may think, but you don't know. Seth is my choice. I. Choose. Him. I have never considered you. And I don't need to consider, Mark. I don't need to look around. You don't know what I've been through and how he's helped me through some of the hardest and darkest times of my life. You clearly don't see and understand our connection and our bond. This ring on my finger was my acceptance of his proposal because of all of those things of which you. Know. Nothing. If I even begin to look around after all I've been through and promised Seth, why would you even want me?" She shrugged her shoulders and paused seemingly waiting for an answer to her rhetorical question. "Now suck it up, quit moping and Move. On." Her voice was curt and she accented the last two words with little pokes to his chest.

"Who the fuck is picking on my soon-to-be sister?" Leah's voice boomed from behind Mark's back.

"That would be my shithead brother who can't take, purchase, or steal a clue no matter how many people try to foist one on him," Bear answered.

Mark was irritated and ready to unleash on whoever had just spoken so he turned around towards Leah, "Who the fu…" he was about to return Leah's question when they both locked eyes and just stared at each other, mouths open.

Bear looked between his new friend and his brother confused.

"Holy shit," Raven said.

"What?" Leslie asked, confused.

"Is that what Leslie and I looked like?" Embry asked.

"Almost," I answered.

Leah had finally imprinted.

On Mark.

A/N: Some of you have been slacking on showing love. PLEASE review. I dropped two bombshells on you. TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL. Please I ask in humble supplication. :)

A/N2: Not too many typos here. :)