A/N: Just a little chapter that I hadn't planned on doing, but when I sat down to write the morning, this popped up instead. Huge thanks for the reviews, I am absolutely stunned to be over 900 now, have pinched myself repeatedly!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Bella had drifted off next to me on the couch. I stroked her hair, enjoying how the sound of her heart soothed the angry wolf inside of me. Tonight had been stressful for me, to know that my own father had allowed a wolf to be kept from us left me feeling unsettled. I loved my dad without hesitation, and had never questioned that love once over the years, even when things were very very tough. But tonight had put a thorn in my side. Why wouldn't he have fought for this Michael to be brought amongst us?

"What you thinking there son?" Charlie's voice broke into my internal conflict. I shrugged gently, careful not to wake Bella.

"I guess I'm just feeling kind of let down by dad". Charlie lent forward, "How so?"

I tried to think of a way to explain it to his without saying too much. "Something happened to someone and dad could have fought for it to be fixed properly, but instead he sat back and now it's a mess that I'll need to fix". I wondered if that even made any sense.

Charlie looked thoughtful "Maybe he figured you were the best man for the job?" I couldn't help but dismiss this, "more like he couldn't be bothered". I knew that was spiteful, but I couldn't help myself.

"Well, that's as maybe, but I tell you son, I never saw that man back away from a fight he believed in, not once". I looked at Charlie now, and realised why I was here, it wasn't just Bella, although she was my world. I knew that Charlie would remind me of how much I loved my dad and how proud I always was of him. I settled back into the chair and looked eagerly at Charlie for the story that would soothe me.

"Did your dad ever tell you he fought with Ephraim?" My eyes went wide, the heir fight the Alpha, surely not? Charlie continued "thought that might catch your attention, it did every one else at the time. Now you need to understand, no one, not a soul argued with Ephraim, his word was law. Billy too, never spoke back to him, always did exactly as he asked, just how you used to be. Now Billy had been courting Sarah same as I'd been after Renee. Anyway, things moved quickly th those days and Billy was sure she was the one. So one night we were eating dinner and Billy turns to Ephraim and asks if he can present Sarah as his beloved at the next fire night".

I listened transfixed, I had wondered whether Charlie had known what it had meant when Bella had been presented, but his use of the word beloved earlier and now this proved that he did understand what she meant to me now.

"Ephraim went crazy, first time I'd ever seen him loose his temper, man I was shaking in a corner I tell you. But there was Billy, just eighteen years old, looking him straight in the eye. To this day I never did get it, I wasn't even sure if Ephraim had met Sarah but he seemed to have taken an immediate dislike to the idea. Said he wouldn't have Billy damned to the same fate as him. Ephraim forbid Billy to present her, forbid him to marry her, everything".

I immediately realised what Ephraim had been trying to prevent. He hadn't known whether dad would phase in his lifetime, and with the phasing could come the imprinting, and dad would have had to give up mom, just as Ephraim had to give up his first wife. I tried to imagine what it would have felt like if either dad or Charlie had tried to stand in the way of me being with Bella. I know I would have fought both of them, no matter how much I loved them.

"But your dad fought him every step of the way. When Ephraim refused to allow the Unity Ceremony, your dad and I arranged a small ceremony at the church up here in Forks. It was just me and Renee, Harry and then Sarah's family. Everyone else was too frightened to go against Ephraim. But your dad never backed down. Not when Ephraim wouldn't present the girl's as heirs. Billy lived as an outcast to your people for years".

I was stunned, my dad, disowned by his own father. I tried to remember back to when mom was still around, they always seemed so happy, so content. How could they have lived with that hanging over them. I found my voice eventually "What happened?".

Charlie sat back in the chair and smiled, he tipped his beer can towards me "You" he grinned. My forehead creased up in confusion, I always thought Ephraim had passed before I was born. I certainly don't remember him at all. "After your grandmother passed on, Ephraim got sick, I mean scary sick. I've never seen anyone go from being so huge and powerful to just a shell of a human being". I felt the darkness claw at my chest and pulled Bella tighter to me, I've seen it, I've been it. The death of his imprint would have been like the death of his own heart.

"Sarah was far along with you, but she went to nurse him, mostly it was the other women in the tribe but this time she insisted. As soon as she walked in the room, Ephraim was awake and more alert than he'd been in days. He told her to go home and come back in the morning and to bring Billy with her. That night she went into labour, took no time for you to be born. So in the morning she went back with Billy and you all wrapped up. Billy always said afterwards that he'd never been as frightened in his life as walking into that room that morning. But Ephraim took you in his arms and straight out told Billy that he had been right all along. He passed on not a day or so afterwards but in that time he made them have a big fire and he carried out the Unity Ceremony and presented you as the heir before he took his last breath."

I let my own breath out, I didn't know how long I been holding it. "So don't ever let me hear you say that your father couldn't be bothered to fight. He fought harder than you could possibly imagine, you're the one that starts bellyaching over schoolnights". Charlie raised his eyebrows at me, as if daring me to challenge him. I nodded and smiled.

I wondered what would have happened if dad had fought, and brought Michael over to the res. He was around Sam's age maybe, if he was already trained as a nurse. Sam...of course...it started to make sense. Sam would have guided his transition, he would have phased and if the pull between him and Leah was anything to go by, he could very well have imprinted on her. Imagine, two wolves, the second imprinting on the Alpha's ex, no one else yet phased to intervene, they could have destroyed each other before the rest of us had joined the pack, well before we joined at pack at war with itself.

There is no way the Spirits would have allowed that to happen, so for whatever reason, dad and the others allowed Michael to be kept from us, until the pack was in a position to receive him fairly, without bias. I breathed heavily again and felt Bella stir. She looked at me with sleepy eyes. I kissed her on the forehead. "I might head home actually, say goodnight to dad".

Part of me would always want to stay by her side, but I didn't want the day to end without dad knowing that we were cool. I felt bad now for walking out on him like that, especially after my promise to myself to make sure he felt included in our lives. She smiled happily and nodded. As she kissed me goodnight she whispered "Talking to Sam might be a good idea too".

I motioned for her to go upstairs and waited as she used the bathroom. When she came back in I tucked her into bed and knelt by the side "What hubble bubble have you worked out this time?"

She tried to swat my arm but missed sleepily. I caught her hand and kissed her fingers. "I realised when I was sleeping that he never got his clean break..." She trailed off. Ok, seriously not making any sense, only my queen would use a phrase like 'I realised when I was sleeping'!

She twisted onto her side and leant on her other arm. "When Edward left me in the woods he said things about a clean break" I tried hard to listen to her meaning as the thought of her in the woods with that leech was making my wolf angry again.

"Leah never left you see, although Sam had to give her up, she never went away. He couldn't kiss her or touch her or tell her that he loved her, but he didn't have to let her go. Then when she phased he could even be inside her mind, hear how much she still loved him, even though he couldn't return it".

I was stunned by what she was saying, and horrified. "But he's imprinted, how can he still have these feelings for her?"

She smiled and stroked my face "Tell me honestly, has there ever been anyone inside your heart?" I looked at my sleepy, beautiful queen and shook my head, I had never thought of anyone but her, even before I had become a wolf.

"So your imprinting is absolute, that's all, it didn't have to push anyone out of the way, maybe it wasn't such a clean process for Sam but no one was there at the time to see the difference?"

I kissed her again and made my way downstairs. Charlie gave me a nod as I headed out. The part of my heart that had felt heavy with disappointment at my father had been healed, but there was now a gaping wound where my trust in my second-in-command had once been.