38. Bath time

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

AN: this story will top out at 44 chapters for those who asked, and those who didn't…

They got back to her house and unpacked the groceries. She shivered as she put the rest of the popsicles in the freezer. She put all the ingredients for the chocolate cake in one bag; ready to take to his place. She threw in her Bundt tin too, just in case they made more than one cake. She had some freezer meals for Charlie; at least they were healthy choice dinners and were better than pizza.

"You want to shower here?" she asked Paul.

He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Happy memories…no… I want you in my house; as soon as possible."

She smiled at him. "Okay." She squirmed. "I'm kind of sticky…"

He leered. "I know."

She glanced at the groceries. She was so fixated on feeding Charlie; she hadn't thought to get food for them. "What are you going to feed me?"

He looked offended. "I've got food."

He always did feed her; she had to give him that. She wrote out a note for Charlie telling him his dinners and favourite ice cream was in the freezer. She didn't tell him it was partially melted. Or why. She said she'd see him Sunday night and she would have her cell and charger if he needed to call her for any reason.

"Can you wipe down the truck seats while I pack some school books? I do have to do some study and Leah said she'd help with chemistry."

"She did? Wow." He hugged her. "You have the magic touch with that woman."

"Don't be silly. I just try, and I suppose I am a woman…" she conceded. "She likes you, too." She passed him some spray cleaner and a roll of paper towels and shooed him out of the kitchen. She went to pack.

She locked up the house and threw everything in the truck.

"Can I drive?" he asked.

"Sure if you tell me what happened with Sam and Leah; I need to know which toes to avoid treading on, you know."

"All right."

He had driven for a while when she poked him in the thigh. "Come on…" she chided.

"Imprinting…"

"Yes," she prompted. "You told me that part."

"It gets worse… Sam and Leah were almost engaged… he phased and disappeared for three weeks… when he came back the council wouldn't let him tell Leah anything about it… she was not his imprint… blah blah… so he lied to her… and she's not stupid…" he took a deep breath. "That was the first problem; the lying. But then her cousin and best friend came to visit from the Makah rez… Emily."

"Oh no… You said they were almost engaged but she was Leah's friend? And family too?"

"Yeah… not so much anymore…" He glanced at her. "Sam keeps those memories under a pretty tight lid, but I suspect he and Emily were fighting over Leah when he phased and tore half her face off…"

"They are all wounded… not just Leah…"

"Maybe… Sam still loves Leah but she doesn't understand imprinting… I guess nobody can until you experience it. The rest of the pack can get a kind of look into their heads… its all sunshine and fucking lollipops." He shuddered. "I dunno… maybe if you could love someone first…"

"Why wasn't Leah his imprint? I mean she's a wolf and everything."

"No idea… and Sam loved her. And his wolf likes her too. I mean when he is phased, he tries, but he can't order her to do stuff, you know… not like he can the rest of us. There's this layer underneath…it's like the wolf wants to protect her. She's our only female I suppose."

"So if both Sam and his wolf preferred her … the imprint overrode that?"

"Maybe the tribal gods hold all the trump cards? Powerful stuff… but … you've got no choice… that's what I don't like. We have enough shit to put up with, without losing the right to choose our own mate."

She patted him on the leg; it seemed inadequate somehow. Suddenly she got why he was telling her this now.

"The party…"

"Huh?"

"There will be lots of strangers… at the party."

He sighed. "Yeah."

"Oh."

Dear God. What would she do if he imprinted at the party? If he ran into some nice Makah girl in the queue for the salads. If she was going to let him mark her; it should be soon. She could lose him altogether. She blinked quickly at the thought. If it even overrode that?

"Hey, hey." He reached a hand out to her. She took it and squeezed. He felt so strong and so warm.

She took in a deep breath. She didn't want to lose him. She didn't want his choices to be taken away from him. She played with his fingers, looking down at his russet skinned hand.

"Does marking… you know biting… does that override an imprint?"

He studied her, and then glanced back to the road. "I don't know. Nobody does. This is all new to us."

"Thank you for being honest. Imprinting is not common… is it?"

"Again, nobody knows. So far it's just been Sam and Jared."

"Leah said Jake would have imprinted on me if he could have forced it."

"She's right about that."

"How does it affect the women? The imprintees? Is that what you call them?"

"We just call them imprints." He frowned as if he was thinking about it. "I don't know… but I guess this guy who adores you and sees you as the centre of his world, would be hard to deny… the current wisdom is that the wolf will be whatever the imprint needs."

"So… that would mean Emily needed Sam; like that…she could have told him to be Leah's husband."

"Shit! I never thought of that!" he glanced at her. "You're smart, you know. Whatever… Sam never tried to fight it. Maybe she did? Maybe that was what the fight was about?"

"So I could just tell Jake to be my friend, if he imprinted on me."

"Not sure Jake would be happy with that."

There was silence for a while; each lost in their own thoughts.

"Not me! Ain't gonna happen," Paul stated vehemently. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

She believed him. He would kill himself fighting it, she suspected.

"Poor Leah… Now she can't leave. Becoming a wolf cost her everything; her freedom, her choices, her man, and her future, she gave up that scholarship…"

"And her father," put in Paul. "He had a heart attack when she phased in the living room. She tore the couch apart evidently. Then Seth …" He paused. "She hates that too… that Seth got dragged into it as well."

"She won't be going to the party will she?"

"Nope."

They were at his house by then and it was starting to get dark.

"Oh thank god. I sooo need a bath."

He leered at her. "My watermelon girl," he said.

"Yeah… that was pretty intense…"

He frowned. "I didn't hurt you?" he checked.

"No. No more than I did you? How are the scratches?"

He actually looked pleased. "Healing."

"How big is your bath?"

"We'll fit."

"Excellent."

She unpacked her bag. He had cleared a drawer for her. He probably just threw it on the floor somewhere, but a drawer seemed like a significant step to her. Leah had said she had rights in Paul's house according to Paul, and it seemed like she did. She stood there for a minute just staring at it and thinking, before she packed her stuff in it.

He was cooking dinner. He said it was a one pot thing and would wait in the oven until they were ready to eat.

She went into the bathroom and had a quick shower to rinse off the remains of the Popsicle. Then she ran the bath. It was pretty big, but so was Paul. He seemed sure they would fit. He crowded in behind her in the doorway.

"Not too much water… it'll overflow."

"I get cold if I am out of the water," she grizzled.

"Not with me in the bath, baby."

"Huh." Her own personal bath heater.

He stripped off and climbed in; holding his arms up to her. She climbed in on top of him. He manoeuvred her around so that she lay with her back on his chest. She lay right along the top of his body.

She giggled. "I'm not even in the water."

"All right swap… but no complaining if I drown you."

"Well I won't be able to complain… I'll be drowning…"

He chuckled.

She sank under the water with a pleased sound. He dropped himself onto her with a small splash. He had his legs folded up at the knees and his head lay on her chest. She wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh, I like this way," she commented. She played with his hair and kept touching him. His eyes closed and he looked supremely comfortable, even folded up as he was.

"You're thinking," he mumbled.

"I am." Pause. "You gave me a drawer."

"Yeah. A whole drawer." He was sarcastic. Pause. "Is this a girl thing?"

"I guess it must be. It seemed like a big step to me."

"It's a drawer."

"Well…" she blustered.

"Jeez woman… put my shit back in it if you want."

"So you didn't want me to move in?" she asked.

"What? How did we get there from a drawer?"

He lifted his head and frowned at her.

She was looking nervous.

"Women…" he shook his head. He looked at her seriously. "You can have everything… if you want it," he suggested. He kissed her between her breasts, and then shifted up to nibble at the side of her neck; a not so subtle reminder of what he wanted.

She squirmed under him. "But… you're only…"

He interrupted. "Don't you give me the age argument! I know what I want."

"Oh," she said. She smiled at him and hugged him back to her chest. "You're not going to change your mind?" she asked tentatively.

"Doubt it." He tried to shrug but couldn't. "Who knows with this shit?"

She thought about it. Most people had no guarantees in their relationships. Each time you went into one with your heart held out; it could be hugged and nurtured or stomped on and broken into little pieces. That was the risk you took.

But she was pretty sure he loved her.

Paul lifted himself off her when the water got too cold and padded off to serve dinner. She dried herself off and put on one of his t-shirts. It was like a dress on her.

His casserole was delicious and he ate all the leftovers. Then they watched TV for a little while and then they just curled up in his bed together. He spooned her from behind, as well as he could with his height. His bicep was her pillow. They both fell asleep very quickly.

FF_2154210_ - 2/08/2011 02:56:00 PM