"Hey, Em. Is- is Jacob there?"

Alex winced, hoping she didn't sound as pathetic as she thought. She wanted information, wanted to grill Sam about what had happened, and although she knew she owed Jacob an explanation, she was still reluctant to see him. At Emily's knowing hum, it was obvious she had failed nonchalance. "Wow, good to hear from you, Alex." Emily sounded more disapproving than Alex had ever heard her, and she winced again.

"Sorry. I should have… called." Alex apologized lamely, taking a heavy seat on her couch. She ran her hand over her face tiredly. "I've just been…processing, I guess."

"And?" Emily prompted unashamedly. Alex sighed, and Emily sighed too. "Alex, Imprinting is a serious thing – it transcends all the-"

"Look, Emily, no offense, but I really don't want to hear it." Alex interrupted, scowling. "It's not- I mean, it can't-" she snapped her mouth shut. "I just don't want to talk about it, and I'm willing to bet he doesn't either."

"Okay." Emily sounded a little tired. "And, no, he's not here. They're all running double patrols since Saturday." At that, her voice gave the faintest tremor of fear, and Alex's chest panged at the thought of Emily all alone in her house.

"I'm coming over." Alex said firmly.

"What? No, honey it's okay, it's late – I don't like the idea of you running around at night." Emily said worriedly, and Alex could just picture her pinched, concerned face. Guilt settled heavily on her shoulders. Emily had been there for her so many times now, and Alex hadn't been repaying her kindness the way she should have been.

"I'll see you soon." She told Emily and ended the call as Emily began to protest again. She knew Emily wouldn't have said anything to Sam about being frightened, wouldn't have admitted it to anyone – it was just the woman's nature to avoid troubling others with her own whims, entirely selfless. But Alex was a bulldozer, and had no qualms about forcibly settling Emily's nerves, whether the other woman wanted it or not.

She pulled on her tracksuits over her running shorts, and hastily shoved her toothbrush into her backpack, before heading determinedly for Kitty's room, and knocking sharply on her sister's white-painted door. She didn't wait for Kitty's response, opening the door wide, and making her elder sister jump with a squeak from where she'd been bent over her guitar.

"Alex! You gave me a heart attack." Kitty admonished, but couldn't seem to hide her small smile of delight as Alex wavered uncertainly at her bedroom's threshold. Alex had been distancing herself from Kitty too – avoiding Jacob and Embry meant avoiding the whole pack, which included her sister – and she realised this was probably the first time she'd spoken to her sister in almost a week.

"Sorry." She grunted, hoping her sister would realise she was apologizing for the radio silence too. At Kitty's growing grin, she knew she had. "Um. Will you drive me to Emily's? And, buy some chocolate too? I don't have any pocket money."

Kitty looked surprised. "Why? What's wrong with Em?" She stood, reaching for her own phone, clearly intent on calling her friend, but Alex stopped her.

"She'll be fine, I think. She needs some company. Maybe we should ask Kim to come too… I'm not good at…" Alex swallowed uncomfortably. "Sleepover things."

Kitty trilled excitedly, making Alex wince. "Aww, you are just the cutest, Alex! Of course, I will, just let me call Kim, okay? I'll meet you in the car." With that, Alex found herself hustled out of the room as Kitty began dancing around, collecting various magazines and tubes of what looked like lipsticks, and several bottles of nail polish.

What had she gotten herself into?

Emily had been so surprised to see them all; wrapped in her pink fuzzy bathrobe, bunny slippers on, and her hair piled on her head secured with a scrunchy. It was the most off guard Alex had ever seen her, though as Kim and Kitty had squealed and pulled out matching animal slippers – Kim's little puppies, Kitty's penguin shaped – she figured this was just one more side of Emily she hadn't seen before.

It was only after the second movie had been put on, Kim carefully applying a face mask to her sister as Alex was pretending to peruse nail polish colours on the couch, did Emily approach her privately.

"Thank you, Alex." Alex looked up as Emily took a seat next to her, smiling at her with a warmth that made her stomach flip. "I-I needed this…" Emily admitted quietly, looking at the others fondly as they began to argue about Kim accidentally putting the mask up Kitty's nostrils – "you moved!" "Because you poked me!" – and picking up a bottle of light purple to hand to Alex.

Alex took it, ducking her head. "It's alright." She said gruffly. "I know I've made things… shitty."

Emily hummed, taking the nail polish back, and shaking it. She gestured for Alex to extend her hand, and Alex obeyed, stretching her fingers out over Emily's knee. As Emily unscrewed the cap, she cleared her throat. "I can't pretend to understand exactly what you're feeling, Alex, but when Sam Imprinted on me – he was dating someone else." Alex's eyes widened, and she resisted the urge to gawk like an idiot. What Emily and Sam had was so pure, so strong, it beggared belief that it had begun in chaos. Emily sighed. "Yep. To make things worse, he was dating my cousin. Leah and I had been close like sisters, but Sam…"

Alex frowned. "That… sucks."

"Tell me about it." Emily laughed humourlessly. "Leah still won't- I mean I understand, because she can never know why, but it hurts to have her hate me." Emily's hands were deft as she worked, despite the unhappy twist her beautiful face had taken on. "And I tried, I really tried. I pushed him away, time and time again. Because I hated myself too – for even having feelings for him. It took… this," She paused to briefly gesture at her face, and though there was old emotional hurt in her face, there was no self-consciousness. Alex was glad for that at least. "For me to see that he was a good person, ironically. He was by my side every hour of every day, and the rest is history." She smiled slightly, looking a little furtive. "I won't ever tell him, and you can't either, but I'm glad it happened. I don't know – like karma or something, for disrupting so much happiness for so long. Three people hurt so badly…" she trailed off as she resealed the bottle, and when she set it down, Alex threw her arms around her, disregarding the wet polish on her nails. Emily made a surprised noise.

Alex embraced her fiercely, hiding her expression in Emily's shoulder. When she pulled away, Emily was blinking suspiciously shiny eyes, and Kitty and Kim were looking at them in confusion. Alex cleared her throat. "Thanks… for the nail polish." She said.

Emily nodded. "Of course, honey. I'm just- I'm just going to get you a robe… I don't want you to be left out!" she threw to the room at large, with a large smile, bustling off in the next moment. Kim and Kitty watched her go a little suspiciously, and Alex drew their attention.

"Um, can I try the face mask?" she asked, making Kim turn and grin.

"Of course! It's so good for your skin…" Kim went off on a tangent on the benefits of the varying ingredients, which Alex tuned out in favour of watching her sister, who was still worrying at her bottom lip, staring after Emily.

"Will you…" Alex cast around desperately for another 'sleepover-activity' to divert her sister. "Braid my hair?" she settled on, and Kitty nodded with a smile.

"It's so nice to have you here, Alex." Kitty told her, as she settled behind her.

Kim perked up from her position over Alex, nearly dropping a glob of facemask onto the carpet. "Yeah! We'll have to get you a pair of slippers! What animal do you want? Oh wait! Don't speak you'll get mask in your mouth." Alex resisted the urge to laugh, as Kitty began to gently comb through her hair.

Her sister hummed. "Your hair is a little short, Alex… They won't be very good." Alex gave a half-hearted shrug. "Well, hopefully they withstand the night." With that, her sister stifled a yawn as Emily entered the room clutching a large, dark grey version of the fluffy bathrobe she was still wearing.

"You can borrow Sam's." She told Alex, placing the robe in her lap, and picking up a bottle of blue polish to begin on herself. Alex couldn't help but laugh then, picturing Sam with a facemask on, reclining in his living room, wrapped in his robe. The sudden taste of mask, and Kim's indignant squeals made her recoil, spitting her mouthful right back into the bowl Kim was clutching, making Emily and Kitty burst into laughter.

Alex didn't really care about the discomfort then; the way Emily and her sister were laughing more than enough to ease the worry she had been feeling.

Maybe Emily was right; she did need to talk to Jacob, if just to explain herself, and reaffirm the boundaries of their relationship. It wasn't good for anyone for them to be fighting the way they were.

She missed him; missed her best friend.

They were exhausted, but the day's work wasn't over.

Sam had been clear that the quick break they would be taking was to be both quick, and a break – not a rest – they needed to stay alert.

Jacob felt anything but alert as they ran for home. He could barely keep his attention on Paul's grey behind as they ran single file through the dense trees. They'd gone almost to Seattle the last night, he and Jared, partnered as they were every second night. Jacob knew that his deliberate shifting between Sam and Jared on patrol was because his Alpha was still angry about Saturday. He was keeping a close eye on Jacob, and it rankled.

So, he'd slipped up once, so what? Paul probably-

Paul's growl filtered through the wind back to him, and Jacob took the sharp rebuke through the link without falter. Truth hurts, Lahote.

Shut up, pup, or I'll show you what really hurts.

Jacob was almost incensed enough to push himself harder, to run just close enough so that he could nip at Paul's big, ugly ass and-

Enough. Both of you. We're nearly home.

Nearly home for Sam, at least. Jacob couldn't call the pack's clubhouse home just yet. No – it was still too unfamiliar, and he could still smell Alex there – though perhaps her influence there would have faded by now. Jacob couldn't deny he was grateful she had stayed away. He needed to know how she had gotten in his head, but was unwilling to see her. She made him too angry.

Bella, on the other hand, had been like a sweet balm, and though he was forbidden from seeing her – at least the thought of her didn't make his heart rate pick up, and his gut and chest heat angrily.

Give it a rest, loser.

Jacob snapped at Paul, and felt the man's indecision over stopping to fight with him, or keep running to get to food and a phone to call Kitty. If Jacob could roll his eyes, he would. It made him sick, how needy and dependant they all were, like the Imprint sucked every last-

I said, enough.

Sam's voice carried enough Alpha weight to literally stop Jacob's train of thought, and he twitched under the force of it. He could smell they were close now, years old barriers of Sam's own scent warding off animal intruders, and to his surprise, he could smell himself, mixed with the others.

Embry nosed at his shoulder as they slowed in the copse of trees just before the house, where they kept spare clothing. It's because you're Pack, too, Jake. His friend's voice was kind, unchanged by the shit-show they had both found themselves in, and Jacob reminded himself that he wasn't alone, in any sense, anymore.

He Phased back as the others did, pulling on a pair of cut-offs, and brushing some dirt off his knees. When he straightened, Sam was fixing him with a stern look, arms crossed over his chest in a pose Jacob was beginning to associate with an oncoming lecture.

The others, also sensing the cue, filtered silently out of the clearing, and though Jacob knew they weren't out of earshot, he could appreciate the illusion of privacy.

"You need to talk to Alex." Sam begun, making him blink. Not exactly how he thought Sam would begin, but okay.

"I know. I'll call her or something." Jacob said, maybe a little too dismissively, because Sam sighed at him in exasperation.

"No. Face to face. What happened on Saturday proves that you need her-" Sam held up a hand as he opened his mouth to protest – what happened on Saturday was a freaky invasion of privacy and he was not okay with it – but Sam didn't seem to care. "You claimed you decided to remain friends, but so far, I haven't seen any evidence of that either. Alex is Pack, Jacob, and she's been Pack longer than you have."

"Yeah, but only because of me." Jacob argued. Sure, Alex had been 'accepted' by the wolves, but that was only because they could instinctually sense she was an Imprint. Or whatever.

Sam shook his head. "It doesn't matter. She is Pack, and she is your Imprint. You both have a responsibility to each other, whether you can accept it or not. Be the bigger man, Jacob." With that, Sam turned and left him there, and Jacob stood, scowling at where he had been.

Be the bigger man…

Jacob wasn't sure how to bury whatever emotions Alex inspired in him, but neither was he sure how to stop missing her too. Missing what they had had. She had been his best friend, and maybe it was a wolf thing, but he couldn't just forget the loyalty they'd had. Sam was right – and god, he couldn't believe he had just though that – they did need to talk.

He jogged towards the house, jumping lightly over the three porch steps, and let himself in to the house. At first, the silence confused him, already used to the loud chaos that cramming all of them under one roof inspired.

Embry turned as he crossed the threshold, eyes shining with a fond mirth, a finger to his lips, Paul gesticulating wildly behind him. He raised an eyebrow, peering around his friend to take in the scene in the living room.

For a moment, he just stared.

Because there she was: sprawled gracelessly on the living room floor, limbs wild, face slack and soft in sleep, strawberry-blonde hair falling out of braids atop her head, kept off her face with a pink fluffy headband. From here, he could see the pale purple colour of her nails, jarring in the fact that he'd never once seen her with her nails painted.

Alex.

The current bane of his existence, and yet the one person he'd been needing to see.