"Okay, Dani. Watch the tip, it's pretty sensitive, and don't-" Bella sighed softly as the younger girl managed to create a pretty decent frosting swirl before the icing began to ooze out of the top of the piping bag. "Don't forget to hold the top of the bag so that doesn't happen."

"Bella, this is as hopeless as me trying to get you to surf." Dani groaned, relaxing back against the Swan's cabinets as she took a seat on the countertop beside their cupcake pan.

"Yet you still try." Bella cracked a small smile as she took the piping bag and took over, quickly frosting the rest of the cupcakes. "Come on, cooking isn't hard at all."

"Says Master Chef Swan." Dani teased but leaned in to watch, trying to figure out what she did wrong every single time. Bella might have been infamously clumsy in every aspect of her life, but she practically glided through the kitchen like she was meant to be there. Dani needed some of that skill before she caught another pan on fire.

"Whatever, Dani." Bella murmured, starting to hand her the icing and then thinking better of it, setting it on the pan instead as she bent down to check on their cookies in the oven. With Jacob ignoring her calls and Charlie working a double shift, she had needed something to occupy her hands and Dani was all too eager to eat whatever she concocted on a baking sheet. "Have you talked to Paul at all?" She wiped her hands across her jeans without thinking about it, leaving floury handprints on her thighs.

Dani nodded, sighing softly as she played with a lock of her hair and stared up at the greenish-yellow cabinetry. "A bit. We talked." Among other things. Her back and muscles had gone back to being sore almost immediately, but while Paul was massaging her, she felt like she was a step away from purring for him.

"That's good. Does he know if anything happened to Jacob?" Bella looked up at her friend, gnawing on her bottom lip for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon. She knew she wasn't ready yet to love Jacob like he deserved, but she wanted to try. She owed him at least that; she owed them all so much for pulling her out of that dark hole she'd dug herself.

Dani sighed softly as she assessed the older girl, wondering if Alpha-Prick Sam would use her as a chew toy for spilling the beans. Ah, hell. She already knows the big furry secret anyway. "Jacob phased last night."

"Jacob is a wolf now?" Bella's hand slipped off her potholder and she jumped, sending the fresh cookies off the side of the pan and plummeting towards the floor as she singed her skin.

Dani leapt off the counter, catching most of the cookies and surprising them both with her reflexes. "Uh…yeah. Jacob wolfed."

"Wow, Dani, how did you…?" Bella sat the pan on the countertop to run her burn under some cool water, not noticing as Dani stared in confusion at the cookies in her hands.

"I don't know…luck I guess?" She carefully sat the cookies back onto the pan for icing and grabbed the broom to sweep up the fatalities so that Bella didn't slip and maim herself.

Bella started to reply, but a knock at the front door cut her off. "Do you mind getting that?"

"Sure. Fix yourself, Bell, I'll be your butler." Dani teased as she walked to the front door, still wondering why the cookies didn't burn her. They hadn't felt hot at all, but she knew they were fresh out of the oven. She tried to brush it off as she opened the front door, only to feel a shiver go through her as she saw who stood on the front steps.

"Hello, I'm Alice Cullen. I was hoping to speak with Bella." The golden-eyed, dark haired girl practically sang as Dani tried to fight off the urge to run upstairs and hide under the bed.

"Uhhh…hold that thought." She turned to dash back into the kitchen before she remembered the vampire rules from Buffy. "And you can't come in! No invite, nope, never, nuh-uh." She called as she ran into the kitchen and nearly tackled Bella.

"What's wrong?!" Bella shrieked as the smaller girl lunged at her, trying to pull her away from the sink.

"Door, vampires, we gotta go! We gotta get a stake or a crossbow or a- your dad is a cop, does he have a flamethrower?" Dani tried to control the shivers as she held onto Bella's shoulders, peering back to make sure the creeps hadn't come in. After all, they had almost undoubtedly been invited in before; she had dated one of them.

"Dani, wait! Vampires?" Bella frowned as she held onto Dani, only to feel all the old wounds threatening to reopen as Alice and Jasper rounded the corner to fill the doorway.

"Honestly, Bella, we just needed to make sure you were okay. Is your friend alright?" Alice spoke as Dani's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"Bella, I didn't invite them in. How'd they get in? How are they out in the sun?" Dani leaned weakly against the counter as she stared at the two in shock. She knew what they had done to Bella, and that was after they claimed to love her. She didn't figure a no-name from La Push would get any special coddling.

"Dani, they aren't like the movies make them out to be." Bella spoke softly, wrapping her arms around herself as she tried not to wonder if he was back. He had left her, and she wasn't going to allow them to come sweeping back in like nothing had happened.

"Oh, good, so they can eat people at all times of the day!" She laughed, a bit maniacally, as she felt her way over to the kitchen table and took a seat before her aching legs gave out and she toppled to the Swan's floor.

"We don't drink from humans." Jasper spoke up from Alice's side, shooting a small apologetic glance to Bella as he remembered the birthday incident. "We won't harm you, miss."

Bella nodded, accepting his silent apology and confirming his words as she stepped closer to Dani. "Are you okay? Do you need to go home?"

"And leave you with…those?" Dani's head shot up, staring up at Bella as though she had lost her mind. Maybe she's under their spell, vampires have those creepy mind fuck powers don't they?

"Dani, they won't hurt me-" Once again, she was interrupted as the back door sprang open and a disheveled Embry Call dashed in.

oooooooooo

Daniel stretched as he woke up, Tiffany wrapped around him like she was afraid he would leave while she was asleep. He glanced over at the clock, knowing it was late and that Dani would probably be out of the cabin by now, and then looked down at the woman in his arms. He knew it was wrong of them, but she was the only thing that kept him from losing it completely most days. With Amanda sick and Paul with the pack, the only comforts he had were Tiffany and drinking until he got lost. Dani would never forgive him if she knew, he knew, but then again, she would never find out.

Tiffany whined softly in her sleep as she felt him moving out from beneath her, peering up at him through squinted, sleepy eyes. "Danny?"

"I gotta head to work." He spoke, pulling his jeans on as he stood up.

Tiffany nodded, rolling over to grab her phone as she checked to make sure she hadn't missed any calls from the hospital. "I should maybe go see if Embry made it back in last night."

He nodded, leaning down and placing a soft kiss against her temple before he grabbed his shirt and headed out.

oooooooooo

Paul was sitting at Sam's kitchen table, listening to his alpha assigning the next patrol schedule when he smelled it. The strong scent of rain that was only amplified by the sudden storm outside. He turned to the door just as Dani burst through, soaked to the bone and followed by Embry.

"Paul!" She wrapped herself around him, diving into his lap and tucking her head against his neck as her body trembled and shook against his.

If he didn't know any better, he'd think she was trying to phase.

"It's okay, Dani. I'm here. It's okay." He murmured, caressing her hips as she clung to him and he stood up, carrying her into the guest room he had been staying in so they could have some semblance of privacy in the house full of wolves.

Sam watched the exchange in shock before turning to Embry with a disapproving glare. "I thought I told you both to stay away from her."

"The Cullens are back in town. Dani was at Bella's when they showed up, almost scared her to death." Embry relayed, trying not to listen as Paul comforted his best friend in the other room. "You need to call a meeting."

Sam stared up at the younger boy expressionlessly as Embry held his ground, not going to defend his obvious choice to save his best friend. "I'll contact the leader. Does she know?"

"She figured it out, Sam. You can't keep them apart any longer." He said it bittersweetly as he listened to the stepsiblings murmuring softly to one another in the other room. He knew that this was where it would end up, with them together, but now it was real. With the quasi imprint and Dani knowing about the pack, they had nothing else to keep them apart and therefore, Embry had lost what was left of his hope. "Just don't mess with them." He turned to leave once more, unwilling to sit back and listen to the girl he loved get cozy with the love of her life.

To her credit, though, she thought she was taking it rather well. It wasn't every day that you saw weird, vegetarian non-vampy vampires in their little, rainy town. Or maybe she'd just never noticed.

"A-and they come out in the daytime! What kind bullshit is that? They can eat people or Bambi or Simba whenever they want, they don't burn!" Dani's eyes were wider than he had ever seen them as she sat astride his lap where he had sat on the edge of his mattress with her. She didn't seem to notice where she sat as she splayed her hands across his chest, staring at her nails as if they held all the secrets and answers of the world. "They probably want to take over the world or something…"

Paul tried not to chuckle as he gently combed his fingers through her hair, his wolf nearly purring and cooing at the feeling of her being in his arms. "First of all, how many lions do you think exist in Washington? I think Simba's safe."

"You know what I mean, asshole." Dani muttered, squeezing her eyes shut as she tucked her face against his burning hot chest. "They could go anywhere at any time and be perfectly fine. You can't even stake them! How are you supposed to kill them? Charlie didn't have a flamethrower."

"Dani, you've been watching too much Buffy." Paul laid back on the bed, pulling her up until she was essentially curled up on his broad, warm chest with his arms around her to hold her. "And technically…they can't go out in major sunlight. That's why they stick to this hellhole, the sun comes out like twice a year."

"But…they were out in the sun today, 'til it started raining." She spoke softly, keeping her face against his warmth as she tried to calm her racing thoughts. She knew that she shouldn't be afraid, logically; she was surrounded by werewolves, apparently, and they would keep the vampires away from her.

"Yeah, they don't burn up in it though. That's why they can come out when it's cloudy or rainy." Paul gently stroked his hand along her back, feeling her warm skin through her soaked t-shirt. To his surprise, she was already starting to dry off, but he chalked it up to his body heat surrounding her.

"What happens to them in sunlight?" Dani peered up at him, biting her bottom lip gently as her emerald eyes found his chocolate ones.

Paul tried not to chuckle as he leaned up to press a tender kiss against her forehead, smoothing the small furrow between her brows. "They sparkle."

"They-" Her eyes widened then narrowed as she scowled at him petulantly. "You're making fun of me."

"I'm serious, Dani, they glitter like fucking disco balls." Paul smirked as he gently brushed a stray lock of wavy, thick hair out of her eyes.

"Oh my god." Dani's shoulders shook as she buried her face in Paul's bare chest, trying to muffle her laughter as she finally let herself calm down after her first vamp meeting. "Like- like those shiny jumpsuits from the seventies!"

Paul's loud, rich laughter joined hers as the stepsiblings laid together, feeling almost like nothing had changed between them.

ooooooooo

"You're doing it wrong." Old Quil stated blandly as he sat on an upturned milk crate, watching his grandson about to hammer through the divider wall in order to open the living space.

Quil groaned, turning to the old man for what felt like the millionth time that morning. "Well then, how about you tell me how to do it?" He ran one dust covered hand through his hair in frustration as Old Quil merely shrugged and tapped his cane on the floor.

"If I tell you, you'll never learn, boy." His eyes sparkled in mirth as Quil turned and swung wildly, embedding the heavy hammer deep into the sheetrock wall. "Good swing."

"Thanks…" Quil scowled as he tried to pull the hammer out and couldn't. "Uh…Grandad?"

"Leverage." He grunted at his grandson as he tried to hide his grin. Quil lifted one foot, placing his worn-out sneaker against the wall and pulling with all his might. The hammer broke free and threw Quil off balance, sending him flying backwards.

"Yaargh!" Quil shouted as he landed across, amongst other things, the old tool chest he had lugged up the stairs to the apartment space. As he dug around beneath himself, procuring the wrench that had stabbed him in the ass and tossing it aside with a muttered growl, Old Quil laughed loudly.

"Told you you were doing it wrong." They both froze as they heard Joy's slippers thudding on the stairs before she burst into the room, eyes looking around wildly. She had been downstairs tending to the store while they worked up here and the crash had startled her.

She gasped as she saw her son sprawled across a pile of tools and rushed over, dropping to her knees beside him and holding his head up, smushing his cheeks as she examined him. "Oh, my baby! Dad, I told you to watch him up here! What hurts, Quilly?"

"Currently, my face." He mumbled as she cupped his face, her long nails poking into the soft baby fat that clung to his cheeks."

"Oopsies." She dropped his head unexpectedly and he groaned as his head dropped back against the metal of the tool chest. "Oh, hey, the wall!"

"That wall is evil." Quil sighed as he sat up, watching his mother, wearing her favorite house slippers and sweatpants, approach the wall where he had left a jagged hole in the sheetrock. "Be careful, mom."

"Oh, please. I've been up here more times than you could count, Quilly." Joy smiled fondly as she remembered the few months that she and Quil's father had lived up here; it was just after they had gotten married and barely had enough money to buy food. "You know, your dad and I had some very nice memories with this wall-"

"Mom!" Quil's face turned pink in horror as he scrambled to stand up, reaching for the hammer that had been flung to the far wall. "I don't need to know!"

"Oh, spoil all my fun." She laughed as she ran a palm over the worn sheetrock, remembering the night they had moved in. The first thing they had done was argue over which frame to hang here on the oddly placed, often inconvenient wall that divided the apartment. She had begged and begged time and time again to just get rid of the damn thing, but Quil hadn't gotten around to it before they got their house.

Quil sighed as he turned back to rifle through the tools, looking for something more powerful as he sat the hammer aside absentmindedly. "Yeah, yeah. Do we have any…I need something-"

He turned around in shock as he heard a thunderous sound behind him. His mother was grinning, sheetrock dust in her dark hair as she clutched the hammer to her chest. Behind her the wall stood nearly bare, huge chunks of the sheetrock torn away to reveal the support beams underneath. "That wall was always a pain the ass. What else do you need broken?"

Both of the Quils stared at her in surprise as she rocked on the balls of her feet, the little, fuzzy pom-poms on her slippers bouncing joyously. "Uh…Just…The rest of the…"

"On it!" Joy turned to finish tearing the sheetrock down as Quil abandoned his seemingly pointless tool hunt and pulled up another crate beside Old Quil to sit out of his mother's way.

"She's a beast." Quil mumbled, scoffing a laugh as Old Quil nodded.

"That is a woman you do not want to piss off." They watched as Joy happily swung the hammer into the wall, humming a happy tune as the debris pile grew larger.

oooooooooo

Leah held her stomach nervously as she sat in the faded leather booth at the diner, staring down into her glass of ice water. She would kill for a steaming cup of strong black coffee, or something stronger, right now, but she added it to the list of things she could say goodbye to for the next few months at least. Another pregnancy perk. Yippee. I hope you two appreciate all this. She felt a strong kick against her palm, as if one of the babies had responded to her, and she smiled despite the heavy lump in her throat.

She knew that they were worth all the sacrifices, even the one she was about to make.

"Lee." He breathed from behind her and she immediately stiffened, wrapping her arms protectively around her belly as she craned her neck to peer up at the man she had once imagined her whole life with.

"Hello, Sam." They stared at each other for a long moment before she cleared her throat quietly, forcing herself to speak past that ever-growing lump. "Uh…Sit?"

"Yes." He glided around her, making her gasp softly as his hot hand grazed her bicep.

"Holy shit, Sam, are you sick?" Her eyes flashed as she glared at him, still holding her babies protectively as Sam folded himself into the small booth. "If you get me sick, I swear to god I-"

"I'm not, Lee. I wouldn't do that." He spoke tenderly as his eyes drifted downwards, only to frown as the table hid her belly from him.

Leah hummed softly, not fully believing him as she took a small sip of her ice water to try to force the nerves down. "You've been full of surprises lately. I don't know what you would do anymore."

He cringed, hearing the ice coating the passive remark as Leah's eyes bored into his. "I know. I'm sorry. I…I'd like a chance to explain myself." Her scent was making his wolf purr, a delicate balance of amber and strawberries that he knew belonged to his children and his…Leah.

"How do explain fucking my cousin behind my back and abandoning me?" Leah shook her head, looking down once his warm, nearly black eyes got too much for her to handle. "Never mind that. We need to discuss the babies."

"I have that extra room, I can clear it out and have it ready for them. You could-" Sam stopped abruptly as Leah shook her head once more, her long hair curtaining her tanned face.

"No, Sam, they live with me. I don't want them around Emily. I know she's your…girlfriend now, but I don't want-" Leah's voice shook as she started to name her biggest condition for the arrangement, and Sam quickly cut her off with a heavy sigh.

"She's not. We aren't, I mean. Not anymore." He looked into her eyes, trying to will her into understanding as her knuckles turned white from gripping her glass so tightly. Any tighter and he would be concerned the glass would shatter in her palm.

"You…aren't with her anymore?" She felt her head starting to spin as she grabbed her bag, trying to stand up as quickly as she could without banging her belly on the table. "I-I can't. I need to go."

"Lee, wait-" Sam stood as well, reaching for her arm only to freeze as she jerked away from him.

"Don't touch me!" She tried to control her breathing as she backed towards the exit, clutching her bag to her belly as if to shield her babies. "Just…don't touch me." She whispered, then turned to dash out of the diner, leaving Sam standing alone by the booth.

oooooooooo

It was a few hours of cuddling and soft whispers before Dani emerged from the bedroom, shrouded protectively under Paul's heavy arm.

"Hey, look who found their way out of bed!" Jared grinned at the younger girl as he sat at the table, gnawing on a piece of fried chicken he'd snatched from the oven. He had been close with Dani his whole childhood; you couldn't be friends with Paul without Dani. They were a package. It had weighed on his conscious knowing that he had a big furry paw in making her life worse.

Paul's hand collided with the back of his head as he passed and Dani returned the smile hesitantly, taking a seat across the kitchen table. "Hi, Jared."

"Hey, little bit." He leaned over, reaching into the pan on the stove and plucking out a chicken thigh. "Here, eat."

"Thanks." She murmured, accepting the chicken and nibbling on it as she watched Paul lean against the counter, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "So…how's wolf life?"

"Fucking awesome. You know we're really fast, right?" Jared smirked as he leaned back, the chair teetering dangerously, balanced on the back two legs. "Gotta be fast to catch the bloodsuckers."

"Hm, save a horse and ride a wolf-man." Dani giggled as Paul let out a pleased growl, his wolf liking the idea as he watched his girl. "So, you guys hunt vampires?"

"Yup. Almighty protectors of our people who sprout fur on command." Paul muttered and Dani detected a hint of bitterness in his voice. Before she could dwell on it, she heard footsteps pounding up the porch and the screen door swung open. Jacob and Embry were at the doorway, shoving each other and laughing as they tried to enter the kitchen first. Jacob had shot up what seemed like a foot more overnight and his long, thick hair had been shorn close to his head, much like all the other pack members.

"Hey, Dani." Jacob greeted as he finally let Embry enter first, trailing in behind him. He leaned down, wrapping the younger girl gratefully in one of his giant hugs. "How ya been?"

"Better than you, I'm guessing. I didn't grow a tail this weekend." She smiled, returning the hug as Paul let out a soft warning growl too low for Dani to hear. Jacob rolled his eyes at his hotheaded packmate before he pulled away, smiling down at her as he took a seat at the table as well.

"Sure, sure." He owed the girl a lot more than she realized; it was her and Bella that figured out the secret. Therefore, Bella knew about the pack and once he got his control lined out, he could see her again.

Dani rolled her eyes as Paul came over, plucking her into his arms and taking her seat, plopping her in his lap and wrapping his arms around her waist tightly. "Paul, you're a possessive ass and you know my conditions."

"What? I was just saving space." He smirked, running his nose gently down her neck as he inhaled her fresh rain scent, delighting in the way she shivered. "I'll behave."

"I'm pretty sure you came out of the womb misbehaving." Dani retorted immediately as she finished her chicken and curled up in Paul's lap, getting comfy since she knew that he probably wouldn't let her move. "Now tell me more about the sparkle-demons."

Paul shrugged as he caressed her slim hips gently, playfully pretending to gnaw on her shoulder. She rewarded him with a giggle, and he smiled before he answered, "What else do you wanna know? The red-eyed ones eat people, gold-eyes eat animals, and they're all dead and smelly and sparkly."

"It's amazing how you can reduce a whole intricate species and all their characteristics into one sentence." Dani chuckles, turning slightly to look up at him. He brushed his warm lips over her forehead tenderly and her eyes flickered shut momentarily.

"Aw, look at the lovebirds." Jared teased as Embry watched from the counter, ignoring the faint trembles in his spine. He knew he wouldn't lose control; he wasn't angry that what he knew would happen finally did. It just hurt more than he expected.

Thank ya for all the reviews and follows, I truly appreciate it! I'm trying to make the chapters a little longer because I know I've kinda drug out the story a bit too much. Lots of stuff is about to happen, though, and I'm excited to finish the next few chapters.

Also, if anyone is good at introductory astronomy, feel free to teach me your magics. I bombed the first exam and went from an A to an F, my 3.0 is shook.