The wedding was beautiful and so was Bella and Edward. Thankfully, the ceremony was short and sweet because I get bored pretty quickly. I got front row seats, of course, sitting on the end next to Emmett and laying my head on his huge arm.

I made the mistake of letting my thoughts wander and imagined myself in a big, white dress standing at the alter next to a certain particularly attractive native –American Indian I knew that was sitting in the other section of chairs and occasionally stealing glances in my direction. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing as I was. Before I knew it, I was shaking due my brother's clapping that was joined in by everyone else at the closing.

After that was all over, we stood up to leave and Carlisle made serious eye contact with me to remind me that I was supposed to stay away from Charlie and Renee as much as possible. I nodded to let him know that I was being mindful of it. I looked somewhat different than I used to and they weren't exactly expecting me to be there but I still needed to be careful.

Right after everyone had filed out and went into the reception area, I immediately began searching for Seth. I had no one else to talk to here and I needed him for a project I was working on. I stood on my tippy toes and scanned the exiting crowd for his mop of black hair. After a minute or so, I gave up just to turn around and see Seth standing right behind me glancing over the crowd too.

"Who are we looking for?" He asked, as if I should have already known he was going to be next to me every second possible so I couldn't possibly be trying to find him.

I smiled and shook my head. He's right, I should've known. "No one."

He smiled back and put his arm out for me to take it. "Shall we?" He said in a very uncharacteristically way, wanting to escort me to the reception. I took it and we began walking.

"Hey, Seth?" I started.

"Yeah…I mean….um….Yes, Miss Cullen?"

"I don't have any money to get Bella and Edward a wedding present and I figured you didn't either, so I thought we could work on something together here to give them afterwards. Mom said she'd buy me anything I wanted to get them but it's just not the same thing, ya know?"

"Oh, sure I do! But what is that we're gonna do for 'em? It looks like Alice already has everything covered."

I stopped our walking, opened up a black bag and pulled out a fancy, expensive camcorder. OK, maybe Mom did buy me a little something to help out. "We, Mr. Clearwater, are going to make Bella and Edward their own private video of friends and family congratulating them and wishing them well on their big day."

"Hey, that's an awesome idea! They'll love it!"

"I agree." I said, feeling proud I had thought of it. "It'll be a perfect keepsake for them."

"Yeah, they'll be able to watch hundreds of years from now!"

I hadn't thought THAT far ahead yet but I guess he was right. "I wonder if we'll be watching it with them."

He looked deep into my eyes and I looked back into his. We shared an intimate moment where we both knew that if we were both still around hundreds of years from now, we'd have spent those years together. We would have gone through so much by then. Outliving each other's families, seeing friends grow up, get married, have children and die, see styles, trends and fads come and go and witness everything from great historical events to rise and fall of nations. The whole time being side-by-side just as were right then.

"I sure do hope so." He said in a voice so that held so much emotion, I almost couldn't handle the intensity. I had to change our focus.

"Look, there's some of their friends from school over by the cake." I said, leading him towards the four teenagers. "We'll see if they want to be in it!"

"It's so freakin' huge, I keep expecting someone to pop out of it." Mike was joking.

"The Cullens are going to be eating off this thing for weeks." Eric agreed with a nod.

"Well, I'm not impressed." Jessica said in a smug voice, obviously VERY impressed.

"Are you kidding? It's gorgeous!" The dark-haired girl said, putting her camera up to snap a pic.

"I just thought it'd be bigger, ya know?" Jessica retorted.

"Yeah…" Eric replied in a patronizing tone, knowing what Jessica was up to.

I was just about to introduce myself and ask them if they would like to be in Seth's and my video when Alice and Jasper walked up. I knew they had heard what Jessica said but, of course, they would never lead on to it.

"HI!" Angela greeted them enthusiastically.

"Hi, guys!" Alice returned.

"We were just saying how pretty everything is, you know, just saying." Jessica said, her fakeness showing straight through.

"Thank you so much!" Alice said, knowing Jessica all too well. "You don't think it's too much?" Jasper smirked at his wife's question.

"No." Jessica said sardonically, while the boys shook their heads.

"Not at all." Angela told them.

I used that break in the conversation to make my inquiry. "Hey, do ya'll wanna be a video that my….um….boyfriend and I are making for Bella and Edward? Just say something short and sweet about them on their happy day."

"Alright!"

"Sure."

"Why not?

"We'd love to!"

"Great! Come follow us." Seth said, gesturing them to come with us outside.

After they had all said a few words, Seth and I took turns as well. I already had all of my family and the Denali clan say something, so that about wrapped it up until the reception. We began packing away some of the equipment.

"So, how is Jake doing?" I asked Seth, knowing he'd know better than anyone.

He shrugged. "The love of his life is marrying another man…."

"Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question."

"It's not. Everyone else is expecting him to move on too." He assured me. "I mean, most of the time I feel bad for him but sometimes even I just want to tell him to get over it and just be happy for her. That is, until I think of how I would feel if you…" He trailed off but then shook his head as if he were convincing himself of something. "But it's completely different."

"Why? Because you imprinted?" I asked. He nodded confidently. I weighed that in my mind for a second. "So you love me more that Jacob loves Bella?"

He paused and gazed at me like he was waiting to see my reaction to that. I had none. I knew the way Jake felt towards Bella and to think that Seth's feelings for me were greater than that….Well, it was just overwhelming.

"He's coming by later." He said after a few moments.

"Oh, that'll be….interesting." I said with concern. Seth nodded in agreement like were thinking the same thing; Sure, it'd be great for him to drop by, but is it really the wisest thing to do? Too many humans around for there to be a vampire vs. werewolf battle right now.

"Hey, what are you going to do about Charlie and Renee seeing you today?" Seth asked, just as we were done. "I'm amazed they haven't already."

"Alice said they wouldn't as long as I was careful….and I have been VERY careful." I said and then turned around, ready to mingle with the guests.

"Come talk to my mom and Billy." Seth urged. "They haven't seen you in a long time….at least not since you got back from Texas."

I shuttered. It was easy to forget what my life was really like when I was in the middle of such a normal event in another person's life. I guess this is why my family tried their best to live and act human all the time. The more you act human, the more you feel human.

"So, speaking of your mom, I noticed a little….'thing' going on between her and Uncle Charlie." I mentioned, wanting to know how he felt about it. "Is that not cute or what!?"

"What?" He sounded genuinely perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"Ya know…. Something romantic blossoming in their relationship." I smiled coyly. "Adorable!"

He stopped walking and looked at me like I had just grown two heads and that he found it to be incredibly amusing. "Lanie, that's crazy talk!"

"No, it's not! You mean you seriously haven't noticed?" I asked in disbelief. "Even Uncle Billy's noticed!"

He just shook his head in bewilderment at what he thought was my wild imagination and kept on walking. I rolled my eyes and skipped up next to him just as we reached Billy and Sue.

"You just watch and pay attention, Mr. Clearwater. You'll see." I whispered in his ear.


"Hey, man! It's nice to see you!" Seth greeted my brother as we finally made our way over to them with Billy, Sue and Charlie behind us. "I'm happy for you."

"Thank you." Edward returned with a handshake. Even though Bella and I had already seen each other, we hugged. It gave me an excuse to face away from Charlie. He didn't pay me too much mind, he was just told that I was Seth's girlfriend.

"I hope you'll be happy, Bella." Uncle Billy said sincerely.

"Thank you, Billy." She responded. "Have you heard from him?"

"I'm sure Jake wishes you the best." He said, knowing who she was talking about.

"Well, I plan on getting drunk." Charlie announced after a short, awkward silence. "I hear they're serving up some pretty fancy champagne. Sue, can I get you a glass?"

Sue opened her mouth to speak but Billy instantly saw what was going on and decided to interrupt them.

"Sparkling Fire Water." He interjected, turning and around and pushing his wheelchair between them, running over Charlie's feet. "Sounds great."

I immediately looked over to Seth and raised my eyebrows with a smirk as if to say, 'See, I told you so!'

He just shook his head again and laughed, following Billy and the others as they walked away.

The Denalis came up at that moment and Edward introduced them to his new wife. They all took turns welcoming her into the family….all except Irina, who was glaring at Uncle Billy and Seth. I took me awhile to remember why. The werewolves killed her potential mate, Laurent.

She had seen me be really close and friendly with Seth all day and was extremely bothered by it. Even so, it wasn't like she was angry at me personally but that she was angry towards the Cullens for allowing me to associate with him. She couldn't understand why my feelings would be considered over hers, especially considering the situation.

See, regular vampires view humans as being about the same level as humans see livestock. You may grow especially attached to one for one reason or another and make it your pet but their main purpose is to be your food. Cullens view humans as….well,…humans. The Denalis view humans as somewhere in between. They're not food but they're not exactly equals either.

"Irina," Carmen urged to her apprehensive sister. "Come meet Bella."

"I can't do this." She replied softly, her voice betraying her emotions.

"You promised." Tanya sharply reminded her, implying that had already had this discussion at home.

"They invited one." She said through clenched teeth, glaring at Seth, who seemed to know what was going on and having mixed feelings about it.

"But he's just one of the little ones!" I defended my imprinter. "And he's my soulmate." I wasn't expecting to add that last part, it just sorta came out.

Our cousin was highly perturbed and confused by this information and became even more upset by hearing it. Not that she took it seriously but she could see that the Cullens accepted it and accepted him.

"Irina, he's our friend." Edward said earnestly and calmly.

"They killed Laurent." She insisted.

"He tried to kill Bella." Edward tried convincing her.

"I don't believe that." She said, starting to cry. "He wanted to be like us. To live in peace with humans…with me."

"I'm sorry." Was all Edward could say.

Irina didn't accept that and stormed off despite being called back by her family. The others were quite embarrassed and appauled by their sister's behavior. I could tell they were used to always being proper.

"Well, let's not monopolize the bride." Eleazar said, trying to smooth over the situation. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." Bella replied.

"Sorry." Carmen apologized, while walking away with the others.

"Well what's a wedding without some family drama?" Edward said, trying to lighten the tense mood he could tell that both his bride and I were in.


After all the toasts were made, the cake was cut, the bouquet and garter tossed and the first dances were done, Seth and I stood back and watched everyone freestyle dance… neither one of us were brave enough to try it ourselves. Then a slow song came on and I closed my eyes and started swaying to the rhythm.

"Miss Cullen, do you…. do you wanna dance…. with…um…with me?" I heard Seth ask. I guess he was confident enough with his slow dancing skills to give this a whirl.

I opened my eyes and saw him standing in front of me looking nervous as heck like some monumental discovery was riding on my decision. I was hesitant for several reasons. For one, I had never danced with a boy I liked before. Another, my family would see us and for some reason that embarrassed me a little. Lastly, Irina was already mad at my family and I didn't want to make it worse.

I glanced over at my parents who were dancing themselves at the moment and overheard what I was thinking. My mother made a face like she understood and my father gestured for me to go ahead.

"Yes, I do." I said with a smile, which he returned.

Seth pulled me out to the dance floor and I put my hand on his shoulder. He acted like he didn't know where to place his hand and finally decided on my upper back. I rolled my eyes and we began.

I immediately noticed Edward and Bella leave the room like they had a good yet unexpected reason for it. I couldn't imagine why.…

"It's because Jake just showed up and Bella wants to see him." Seth's voice pulled me out of my curiosity.

I stopped dancing and stared at him with a horrified expression. "Can…Can you read my mind too?"

He laughed. "No! But I saw where you were looking and then you seemed confused."

"Oh." I said and went back to dancing. "Well, you aren't you just Mr. Observant?"

He grinned broadly. "I have more than one reason to not look away from your face for a single second."

"The first is because you imprinted on me and the second is….?"

He laughed. "Don't you know how beau…what you look like!? I've caught every guy in this place gawking at you at least once."

"They're bored."

He shook his head. "Ya know, I always figured I'd get a girlfriend one day even though none of them have like me yet and since I'm kinda blah looking, I thought she'd be just plain or maybe average but…" He pulled back and gazed at my face for a second and even gave my body a quick once-over before running his hand through his hair. "DAMN!"

I blushed and laughed nervously as we went back to dancing. "Seth, you are far from blah looking." I could feel him puff out his chest.

"So how 'bout us catching the flowers and garter thing, huh?" He not-so-casually mentioned. I could tell that, as usual, he wanted to know what I thought because it'd give him some clue as to how I felt about our relationship and essentially, him. "Such a coincidence!"

"Yeah, that was…interesting." I commented. I had a feeling that Bella and Edward deliberately threw the items specifically at us and that Seth noticed it too. Regardless, it made him grin from ear-to-ear with satisfaction. I secretly thought it was cute too.

"I sure am glad you came to the wedding, Seth." I sighed sentimentally. "I really love…"

Instantly his face shot over in the direction of the back of the house like he heard something and was worried about it. I looked to him in question and he grabbed my hand. "We gotta go!"

The both of us took off and ran outside on the back deck where we saw Jacob and Bella in the middle of a conversation. I was confused because I expected this to be more melancholy and sentimental but Jake seemed almost furious. We had come too late for us to know exactly what they were talking about.

"What? While you're still human!?" Jake questions in disgust. "You can't be serious, Bella. Tell me you're not that stupid!"

"I mean, it's really none of your business…." Bella seemed a little embarrassed about whatever it was.

Jacob grabs her arms very tightly. "No! You can't do this! Listen to me, Bella…"

"Let me go!" Bella demands, pulling away from him.

Seth had crouched a little next to me like he wanted to jump in and stop Jake but wasn't sure if it was his place. Luckily, Edward showed up just in time.

"Jacob, calm down, alright?" He says with way more patience than Jacob deserved.

"Are you out of your mind? You'll kill her!" He starts moving towards my brother in a threatening manner.

Suddenly, Seth jumps over the railing and runs up behind Jacob to refrain him from getting into it with Edward. "Walk away Jacob!" He says in a kind yet firm yet way.

Jake doesn't listen but instead pushes Seth off his back so hard that Seth falls to the ground. I gasp in horror and fear that he may have gotten hurt and I suppose, had he been completely human, he might have been. I surprised myself by how overly-concerned I was…way more worried than I would have been if it were someone else.

It didn't last long, though because Seth instantly bounced back and was on his feet a second later. But not before Quil and Embry appeared out of nowhere and took up where Seth left off, holding back Jacob, which he fought his way out of in a hurry.

"Enough, Jacob!" Sam ordered. He and the rest of the pack had apparently been in the woods the entire time.

"Stay outta this, SAM!" Jacob warns.

"You're not going to start something that we'll have to finish."

"She'll die!"

"She's not our concern anymore."

Jacob seemed angered by this inevitable news. Even my imprinter was saddened by it and the callousness in which it was said. There was a moment of silence before Jacob storms past Sam, brushing forcibly past him as he leaves, with Embry and Quil at his heels.

They all start to go except Seth, who stands there looking distressed and torn on what to do. On one hand he has a wonderful evening with his imprintee and a wedding in which her family has invited him to attend and on the other hand is his loyalty to his wolf pack. Sam made the decision for him.

"Let's go, Seth!" Sam voice booms.

Seth casts one final longing glance in my direction and I nod back to him, telling him I understand and that it's alright with me if he goes. It helps, but I could still see how down hearted he is as he disappears into the forest.


Sorry it's taken so long! Please let me know what you think. I LOVE when people mention details!